What does it take to overcome personal limits?  Former Professional Triathlete and Entrepreneur, Izzy Fischer knows all about it. From bumping up against limiting beliefs as a young swimmer to overcoming an eating disorder, Izzy has figured how to thrive.   Who is Izzy Fischer?  Izzy Fischer the co-founder and formulator of Plant Bites – a plant-based no added sugar workout fuel – perfect energy replacement for gels and gummies, and head of Enterprise Development for Complement, a business that delivers high-quality products to complement lifestyles who eat a plant-based diet.    Izzy is originally from Boulder, CO and has always had a love for the outdoors, cycling, and hiking.  She was a swimmer at a young age and discovered the biggest limits she faced were the ones she placed on herself.  Eventually, she moved on to triathlon and has raced in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice in 2019.   Her plant-based roots actually stemmed from an unhealthy vegan diet geared toward losing weight as fast as possible (she talks about the difference between plant-based and vegan as well).    As an athlete who grew up with poor self-esteem – she fell victim to the pressures of diet culture, fad dieting, and weight loss for performance by peers, coaches and societal pressures and struggled with a severe eating disorder. She discovered that plant-based diets are rooted in science and longevity. Once she understood how to eat for health, everything clicked.   After recovery – Izzy became passionate about eating for health, rather than eating for weight loss – and is now changing the way that nutrition in athletics is conceptualized.  Her story about accepting your body and accepting yourself is one that will resonate. And now? She’s training for the Leadville 100.   Izzy and Sonya chat about their love for plant-based diet(s) and how it’s so much of a different world than fad-diet culture, eating disorders in athletics and how to be your own self-advocate and fall back in love with yourself.    

When things started clicking for me in my triathlon career was when I started to love myself. I mean truly, which sounds so cliche and simple, but when I started to demonstrate self-worth outside of what I looked like, and knew that I was capable of these hard things, knew that I could go do whatever I put my mind out to, I was unstoppable.

-Izzy Fischer

 

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• growing up as a competitive swimmer
• overcoming personal limits
• learning self-love
• wrestling with her eating disorder
• becoming plant-based
• optimizing diet for weight versus health
• plant-based performance
• her favorite mantras for self-compassion

Listen Now: Overcoming Personal Limits

 

Links

• Check out Plant Bites
• Follow Izzy Fischer and Plant Bites on IG
• Izzy’s website
• Check out 80/20 Plants for personalized Plant-Based Nutrition Coaching

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asy to follow Mobility & Stretching for Cyclists

You know you should be stretching or doing some strength work as a cyclist, but you just can’t get started. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with too many options. Maybe you want to

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

An often overlooked part of endurance training is strength training for cyclists. Many of us just want to ride our bike, but we don't realize that strength training helps us prevent injury and actually ride stronger!  Enter Derek Teel-  founder of Dialed Health and podcast host of strength training for cyclists.

Derek Teel believes in leading from the front.  From racing as a Professional Mountain Biker in enduro races to building his online and in-person fitness company, Dialed Health- he is definitely leading from the front. 

Consistency is the most important thing when it comes to success, and strength training is no exception.  Derek says you need to strength train a minimum of two times per week to see results.  He also said these sessions need to be full-body sessions.

Dialed Health's mission is to take people to a higher level in their health and fitness through honestly assessing current health efforts and evaluating future goals. While strength training is a major focus, Derek also regularly helps people with nutrition tracking.

"The seven effective movements are these movements right here.  You have a knee dominant movement, which is something like a step-up or a lunge. You have hip dominant like a squat or a deadlift. You have core, so anything like a plank or a Paloff press. You have horizontal push which is like a push-up. Horizontal pull which is a row. and then vertical push and pull which is like a shoulder press and a pull up for example. So you basically want to stop looking at specific moves and start looking at everything like movements, because you only have a couple days a week… so also that parameters of two days of strength training is the minimum based off of supercompensation."

-Derek Teel

Seven Effective Movements for Strength Training

• knee dominant movement: step up or lunge
• hip dominant movement: squat or deadlift
• core: Plank or Paloff press
• horizontal push: push-up
• horizontal pull: row
• vertical push: Shoulder Press
• vertical row: Pull Up

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• Nutrition for cyclists & measuring your calories
• Portion control 
• Weight loss for performance
• The 7 Effective Movements
• Balancing strength and endurance training
• How to time strength training with cycling intervals
• Strength vs mobility
• Crash resilience
• What you need for your home gym

Strength Training for Cycling Exercises

[embed]https://youtu.be/chSTSgCYL9c[/embed]

Posterior Pelvic Tilt: Great for low back pain!

https://youtu.be/JPaiq9wd7ko

Lay on the ground with your feet planted and knees bent at about 90°. Now, try to eliminate the space between the floor and your lower back by simultaneously contracting your lower abs and “tucking” your hips. Reinforcing the brain/muscle connection with your lower abdominals can help keep them more active while riding, reducing strain on your lower back. Do 10 slow reps before each workout or ride.

What You Need For a Home Gym

• Adjustable Dumbells
• TRX Strap
• Online coaching like Dialed Health
• Pull Up Bar
• Resistance Bands

Listen Now: Strength Training for Cycling Links

• Check out Dialed Health and Derek Teel's programming
• Follow

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

A common topic of conversation is nutrition tips for endurance athletes.  There are many different approaches, but understanding the basics of sports nutrition will help you make personalized decisions to find the right fit for you.  Enter: Anne Guzman- sports nutritionist.

Anne is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist with the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, specializing in Sports Nutrition as a Sports Nutrition Consultant. She believes that athletes often undermine their training by not fueling their bodies with proper nutrition as well as not timing their nutrition optimally for performance gains.

Anne has an interesting background as an athlete. She was a Varsity Freestyle Wrestler and also become a Professional Road Cyclist, racing both nationally and internationally. She has competed in World Cup Races, the 2007 Pan Am Games as well as in Europe. Anne's curiosity and love of learning enabled her to also use her own body as an experiment for recovery and race nutrition.

"But when it comes time to get down and dirty and train hard, you have to be willing to... yeah you can do it with potatoes, but eat some easily digestible carbohydrates to fuel the work. I think it’s a big picture, an athlete needs both sports nutrition and good daily nutrition but it’s about knowing when you have to kind of step more into the performance nutrition based on how close you are to your training and what you’re doing on the bike. And a lot of it has to do with digestion."

-Anne Guzman

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• Anne's love of learning
• Sports nutrition for activity level
• nutrition for competitive athletes versus exercising for health
• nutrition pitfalls of endurance athletes (carbs, caffeine strategy, hydration)
• the right kind of fatigue
• should you take supplements?
• restricting calories

When to Eat Carbohydrates and How Much?

Listen Now: Nutrition Tips for Endurance Athletes

Links

• Check out all of Anne's articles on Prokit
• Follow Anne on twitter
• visit Anne Guzman's website
• Learn about RED-S
• Get the Plant Powered Academy Cookbook!
• Listen to this episode all about sports nutrition I recorded with Roxanne Vogel of GU Energy Labs
• Listen to Anne Guzman's podcast! 

___ Try Inside Tracker Blood Test for Athletes

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How does the InsideTracker blood test work?

• They measure over 30 biomarkers like cortisol, hsCRP (inflammation), magnesium, vitamin D, ferritin and so much more.
• Each biomarker shows an optimized range and how you can

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

The journey of being an athlete mother is an interesting one.  From being a pregnant athlete to navigating life and training with a baby, there are so many personal insights to be gained! This podcast is segment is supported by Wahoo Fitness who has been a great partner during my journey as a pregnant athlete and new mom!

My husband, Matt Ewonus has joined me on many of these Athlete Motherhood series because parenthood is really what it's about! In this episode, we talked about how consistency is so key when you are an athlete mother.

"It’s like the grinch, you feel your heart growing from that little crunchy pea up into the bigger.  You get wooed by this little person who is now looking at you with these adoring eyes and playing with you, and you just can’t help but melt.  It’s just the funnest thing. Each month that goes by, he’s more and more engaging and more and more fun. And then you know how to push is buttons and how to make him laugh and how to have fun with him. Each month that goes by for me as a father- and it’s just the craziest thing even to say that word “father”. As a father, you start to  feel more like a father and less like a provider."

-Matt Ewonus

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• the personal value of podcasting
• consistency + grind
• the power of daily actions
• why train mental skills?
• how having a baby has impacted our relationship
• how we communicate as a couple
• the relationship between older babies and fathers
• nutrition tips for plant-based babies

Mental Skills for Athletes

  Resources

• My episode with Brenda Davis and Reshma Shaw on plant-based nutrition for families
• Get the book: Nourish (the book for plant-based families)
• check out Plant-Based Juniors
• Get my updated cookbook- Plant-Powered Academy

Thanks to our Podcast Sponsor:

Easy to follow Mobility & Stretching for Cyclists

You know you should be stretching or doing some strength work as a cyclist, but you just can’t get started. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with too many options. Maybe you want to start but don’t know what’s best for cyclists.  Well, Dynamic Cyclist has you covered

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Kathryn Bertine is a retired professional female cyclist, an activist for equity in women's pro cycling, author, and documentary filmmaker.  You might have heard of the film,  Half the Road, which chronicles the inequality in women's cycling that also is a metaphor for life. 

With Half the Road, Kathryn noticed that the women's road races were often shorter than the men’s events, prize money was pitifully lower, and in some cases, non-existent, the female pros had no base salary nor any sort of union to protect their best interests, and the governing body of the sport treated the female racers like second-class citizens. Kathryn couldn't help but wonder why this was so, and her voice as an activist got louder.  Things have improved since Half the Road came out in 2014, but we still have a long way to go.

The powers that be continued to reject and shun her when her "why" got deafening loud, and she started asking big questions, but it didn't stop her from becoming a pro cyclist at the age of 37.  She raced five years on the pro circuit with four UCI domestic and World Tour teams Colavita, Wiggle-Honda, BMW, and Cylance Pro Cycling. She retired from racing in 2017 but remains active in advancing equity for women’s pro cycling.

Kathryn also started the social activism movement Le Tour Entier to bring parity to women’s professional road cycling, starting with the Tour de France. She and her team succeeded, and the women’s field was included in 2014 with the addition of La Course by Tour de France.

She is the author of 4 books, with her newest book, Stand, just hitting book stores.  Stand is Kathryn Bertine's memoir on activism, a manual for progress, and what really happened behind closed doors in her life while making big changes.  Change and social activism don't come easy.  With unabashed honesty, humor, and authenticity, Kathryn lets you in behind the scenes as she wrestled with the question, "Is the journey worth the struggle?"

As you can see, Kathryn has made huge waves for women's professional cycling, and she's not done yet. 

"Change is possible. Activism isn’t relegated to the wealthy, the famous, the politicians, the influencers. We “regular people” have the power to make change happen, too." - Kathryn Bertine "You can't just run into the battlefield of change and change the world without your own personal world changing as well." - Kathryn Bertine "I think it's really important that people know that within us can coexist sensitivity and insecurities, but also strength and power. And I do have some self-belief that - yeah, you know what, we are all capable of creating change. I think each and every one of us has the ability to rally the troops to call out change and make things happen, and I'm proof of that. I'm not famous, I'm not wealthy, I'm not a politician or a celebrity Instagrammer. But if I was able to affect change at the Tour de France, then anybody can create change and make something happen." - Kathryn Bertine Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• having the confidence to speak your mind
• the current state of inequity in women's professional cycling
• making Half the Road
• how to have more self-belief
• the power of vulnerability
• how to be an activist
• the ghosting that happens in the cycling industry
• the women's Tour de France

Resources

• Follow Kathyrn Bertine on Instagram
• Go to

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Robyn Conley downs, author and podcast host of The Feel Good Effect believes wellness needs to be simplified into small shifts to create big changes in your mindset, behaviors and decision making.

The Feel Good Effect takes Robyn's big ideas and makes them easy to execute with simple shifts. Her website, Real Food Whole Life is home to all things health and wellness and Robyn uses simple, science-backed strategies to help people cut through life’s clutter to uncover small shifts that create huge change. She believes in finding more calm, ease and joy in your life right now; and lives by her motto, gentle is the new perfect.

Holding a Master’s degree in education with an emphasis in behavior change, and 4 years of public policy & health change at the doctoral level, Robyn's work taps into cutting-edge science around psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and habits. Recently named one of the Most Influential Women in Wellness, she helps people cut through life’s clutter to uncover small shifts that create huge change.  Make sure you also check out Real Food Whole Life which is the home of the Feel Good Effect.

What is Real Food Whole Life? Health and Wellness according to Robyn Conley Downs is about self-compassion, gratitude and flexibility. It's about making important decisions, how to stop beating yourself up, and how to switch from a striving mindset to a feel good mindset.   "The perfection, all-or-nothing thinking, comparison path isn’t a great one, but it’s often the one we’re on. But we can start walking a different direction with self-compassion, and gratitude and flexible thinking and we can end up getting different results."                                                    -Robyn Conley Downs Topics Discussed: Real Food Whole Life (How to make better decisions and routines)

• how to make sustained changed in your life
• identifying thought patterns that hold you back
• the problem with willpower
• how to create a routine if you hate routines
• how to make big decisions in life
• how to stop beating yourself up
• The Feel Good Challenge

Listen Now about The Feel Good Effect   Resources

• Follow Robyn of Real Food Whole Life on instagram
• Buy the book: The Feel Good Effect
• Check out The Feel Good Effect Podcast
• Listen to my short podcast on boosting willpower
• Check out The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

Thanks to our Podcast Sponsor:

Easy to follow Mobility & Stretching for Cyclists

You know you should be stretching or doing some strength work as a cyclist, but you just can't get started. Maybe you're overwhelmed with too many options. Maybe you want to start but don't know what's best for cyclists.  Well, Dynamic Cyclist has you covered with foam rolling routines, strength training, and even injury rehab programs that are simple, effici e

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Nikki Brammeier is a cyclocross champion and had her first baby during lockdown in 2020.  Nikki has stood on many World Cup Cyclocross podiums (12 to be exact), has been British National Champion across multiple disciplines of cycling, and has had great success in road racing as well. She is also a cycling coach and founder of her company, Mudiita Coaching.

"My aim is to inspire, coach, and mentor the next generation of cyclists using my past experience, creating happy, healthy bike riders"

-Nikki Brammeier

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• 3 key elements to becoming a cyclocross champion (resilience, support, passion)
• how to avoid burnout as a cyclist
• Nikki Brammeier's decision to retire from cycling
• pregnancy, breastfeeding, and fluctuating hormones
• how Nikki handled training as a pregnant athlete
• post-partum healing, body image, and resilient parenting

"I think that's one thing being an athlete teaches you is you learn to read your body quite well. Your mental well-being is important and your baby senses that. That time away, just those few hours on your bike or going for a run, or doing something for yourself is so important for you to be  the best mom you can be because you come back and you're more full of energy and ready to give your all."     -Nikki Brammeier

Resources

• Follow Nikki Brammeier on Instagram
• Check out Mudiita Coaching

------------- InsideTrack: Take a Selfie from the Inside

Get 25% off all tests with this link!

InsideTracker is a company that uses bloodwork to assess biomarkers, blood analysis, athletic performance, and nutrition software to optimize fitness and longevity.  Founded in 2009, the Boston company first started working with professional athletes who wanted to see what their biomarkers, hormone and mineral profiles looked like during their training and how they could use nutrition and lifestyle to improve.  They measure over 30 biomarkers and recommend food and supplements to optimize thinks like your energy, cognition, endurance, heart health, and more. I started working with InsideTracker in 2017.  I liked it because their ranges for your biomarkers change based on your goals. I also think it’s important to have baseline and also recurrent bloodwork as you age and also simply as an athlete.

Listen to the Episode with Jonathan Levitt from InsideTracker

 

 

 

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Molly Hurford is the co-host of The Consummate Athlete Podcast and her new book co-written with her husband: Becoming a Consummate Athlete.  Molly Hurford has built her career with several aims in mind: Write constantly, race often, travel frequently and live on her own terms, mostly outside.  Molly has been on this podcast a couple of times because she contributes so much to our community.  She’s also the author of multiple books on cycling and nutrition including a book about Saddle Sores that is popular. She also has a series called Shred Girls, a young adult fiction series focused on getting girls excited about bikes. Molly is also the author of the book How To Get Sponsored as well as her new course on ProKit.

"A consummate athlete seeks health, community, and adventure through movement." - Molly Hurford and Peter Glassford

In this episode, we do a deep dive into what it means to be a Consummate Athlete.

Molly likes everything bike and everything trail running.

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• all about habits and sticking to them

• what is RED-S / her pod with Anne Guzman
• the number on the bathroom scale
• athletic identity
• journaling for athletes- favorite prompts; weekly review, gratitude journal
• head to toe skin care
• 30 second bedtime habit

Listen Now Resources

• Get Becoming a Consummate Athlete Book
• Get the Athlete Sponsorship Guide
• Take her Sponsorship Course on ProKit
• Get Shred-Girls
• Check out Outdoor Edit (Molly's website)
• Listen to the Consummate Athlete
• Follow Molly on Instagram

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2 Ways to Give Back to the Show

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Confidence - it can be hard to boost your confidence when you feel like you are lacking it.  But research shows that increasing confidence is actually a trainable skill.  A lack of confidence can show up in many different forms; being worried about what other people will think of you, fear of rejection when putting yourself out there,  feeling like you don't have the skills, education, or training to for a task or role, or fear of it not going a certain way and what that could mean about you.  It's normal to experience all of these feelings, but part of mental toughness means you are able to recognize and allow them, investigate the what or the why, and then use mindfulness and some mental tools to overcome it.

There are several elements of self-confidence and a potent one is self-acceptance   One of the biggest landmines with detracting from self-confidence is comparing yourself to others.  I've been there- I feel great about what I did... until I've seen what others have done.  The first step is realizing that you're comparing. The self-awareness around your thoughts and then asking what insight you can gain from it is very powerful. If you find that comparing yourself to others is draining your confidence, check out this post I wrote on how to stop comparing yourself to others.

As a side note, if you're looking improve your mental toughness and boost confidence, check out my Mindset Academy. You'll find 22 lessons based on many years of research, real-life experience and real-world takeaways.

Read the complete show notes.

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Pelvic health and training the pelvic floor for performance was something I thought only applied to pregnancy and post-partum women. So when I became pregnant, I went to see not one, but two pelvic floor physios to learn as much as I could about it.  During pregnancy, it mostly about education, but once I had my baby it was time to do the work.  I had some initial symptoms after having my baby- some that disappeared on their own and some that mandated professional help (that have since resolved).  The thing about pelvic health is that it isn't just for women and it isn't just for pregnancy.  If you're an athlete, you might be missing a key piece of making your body work for you. I learned that the pelvic floor isn't just the muscles in your pelvis. It's how your entire core works in synchronicity- your diaphragm and breathing coordination with your abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles.

In general, many athletes have tighter pelvic floor muscles.  I've always ha a tendency toward flared ribs, a tight thoracic spine and pectoral muscles. I found that retraining (or rather training my pelvic floor for the first time), I got stronger and more coordinated using my core and with breathing.  It's something I'm continuing to work on.  That's where I met Corinne Wade.  I went to see her post-partum to make sure I came back even stronger.

Corinne is a registered physiotherapist and has specialized in pelvic health for over 25 years.  She is the proud owner of Kare Physiotherapy and provides high-quality pelvic floor rehabilitation and treatment to men and women with pelvic floor pain or dysfunction. She is passionate about Women's health and has a keen interest in helping women and female athletes strengthen their core and pelvic floor muscles postpartum. Corinne frequently lectures on many topics including male and female incontinence, core strengthening, injuries related to pregnancy, and male/female sexual dysfunction. She is a member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, the Canadian Continence Foundation, the International Pelvic Pain Society and the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.

 

Topics Discussed in the Podcast 

• what is the pelvic floor works and how it's connected to the diaphragm
• how to breathe properly
• addressing the common, but not talked about: painful sex
• some stretches to address a tight thoracic spine
• Mythbusting around pelvic health
  • you only need to see a pelvic floor physio if you've had a baby
  • c-sections don't need to see a pelvic floor physio
  • only females need pevlic floor physio
  • leaking urine is normal
  • I'm too old/it's too late to get help
• expectations around pregnancy and fitness
• debunking the fear around diastasis recti 
• let's talk about prolapse
• do kegels do anything?
• training the pelvic floor for performance

Listen Now

 

 

Resources

• Instagram: KarePhysio
• Corinne Wade's website: Karephysio.com

• Corinne's general athlete/pelvic floor resources:

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.