Grow the Good

Alison Desir and Amir Figueroa are on a mission for social change.  The two individually found their love of running – Amir’s father died of HIV when Amir was 4 and Alison was struggling with depression and some very hard life challenges with a bad break-up and a very sick father.  And from there, they found running through seeing others lead by example.  Amir saw a friend with HIV walk a marathon and raise money for Harlem United.  Alison saw a friend on social media who was a black man training for a marathon and felt empowered to do it too. And now?  Leading by their own examples is changing the world.  Before they met, Amir and Alison started their own running groups to build community in Harlem and met because of similar hashtag they were using.  They decided to join forces. Not only did they join forces, but they got married and had a beautiful baby boy named Kouri about a year ago.  For Alison and Amir, it’s not just about running, it’s not just about having a club.  It’s about running for social change to create diversity and leadership in communities.  Walkers, joggers, and runners of all ages and abilities show up for Harlem Run evenings. 

I got to speak with Amir and Alison individually.  Amir is a Boston Marathon x, ultra runner, and senior researcher at Colombia University. Amir and I chatted about his new foray into fatherhood and what that means to him since he lost his father at a young age.  We talked about running with purpose, the power of vulnerability and good communication, and how the grit and life lessons from ultra running can empower us in daily life, especially with all the challenges in 2020.  We also talked about COVID and his research at Colombia University.

Alison Desir was named by Women's Running as one of twenty women who are changing the sport of running.  Her father nicknamed her Powdered Feet to describe her as someone so active that you never see them.  She is doing so many impactful projects and is a strong voice for women’s rights and people of color. She also has not one, but two master’s degrees.  We talked about the importance of being a voice for others, how Harlem Run continues to be an inclusive group that attracts all different types of walkers, runners, jogger, and people from differing backgrounds, a few of her incredible advocacy projects, the topic of gender constructs with raising children, running as a vehicle for social change and so much more.

• New Parenthood
• Running with purpose
• Harlem Run and creating an inclusive environment
• Vulnerability in communication
• Being a voice for others to create opportunity
• When to quit
• Run 4 All Women - (an initiative that has raised over $150,000 for Planned Parenthood)
• Alison’s advice for fundraising
• Gender constructs related to raising children

• Follow Alison Desir and Amir Figueroa on Instagram
• Sign up for free: Meaning Thru Movement
• Alison Desir’s website
• Amir Figueroa’s website
• Harlem Run
• Book about quitting mentioned: Seth Godin- The Dip
• https://globalwomxnruncollective.com/
• "The truth is, when I go for a run as a black woman, that in and of itself is a political act and one that puts me at risk—fearing for my life. As long a

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

Katerina Nash is a timeless force in the sport of cycling.  Not only is she a 2x Olympian in Mountain Biking, but she also has been to the Olympics twice for cross-country ski racing in 1998 and 2002.  Her first Olympics was a the age of 17 and again in London 2012 and Rio 2016.  Originally from the Czech Republic, Katerina moved to the U.S. in 2000 on a college scholarship for cross-country ski racing.  Katerina has proven to be among the world’s most versatile and enduring athletes, showing the world that women can remain competitive at the highest levels into their forties.

She dominated every where she goes- CX, mtb, stage racing, Downieville... She has been on multiple World Championship and World Cup podiums in both CX and MTB and she also has won BC Bike race numerous times and competed in her first EWS in 2019.

• growing up in Czechoslovakia
• from Nordic Skiing to her first Olympics (mtb) in 1996
• Moving to the USA and choosing mountain biking
• Clif Bar and her long term sponsorship 
• how sponsorship expectations and her racing evolved over the years
• types of training for success across disciplines
• Katerina's relationship with success and goal setting
• dealing with failures of disappointments
• how she maintains balance
• being a more mature athlete, how training has changed
• President of UCI Athlete's Commission & women's racing
• listener Qs
  • dog breed
  • pre race dinner
  • lost her temper before?
  • type of laundry detergent & clean-up after a CX race
  • how long will she keep racing
  • Folsom rodeo

• Follow Katerina Nash on Instagram
• Follow Katerina Nash on Twitter
• Team Clif Bar

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

Ayesha McGowan is the first African American female Professional Cyclist, riding for Liv Cycling. She's on a mission to advocate for representation and is an inspiration for the next generation of African American female cyclists.  Her bicycle has been a tool to not only help her accomplish her dreams, but as a vehicle for storytelling and social change.  Ayesha noticed that our sport of competitive cycling was being represented in the media by white men and she took action. Her tagline is "Representation Matters."  Her voice and mission have created diversity across brands, media, teams, and organizations. She's been on the cover of Outside Magazine, partnered with Nike's Dream Bigger video series, and has spoken on stages, podcasts, and articles on why it's important to have representation in sport, in the media, and in the industry.

Recently, Ayesha was named to the Top 50 most influential people in cycling by CyclingNews for being an advocate for women of color in the bike industry. 

Check out her most recent blog posts: 

Consistency Builds Trust

Do You Get It Now?

Silence is an Agreement

“In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

• how Ayesha found bike racing and mentors
• journey into road racing/how road racing works
• women's racing inspiration
• representation vs tokenism
• equality vs equity
• why you shouldn't say "I don't see color" & implicit biases
• sea otter comments
• brand support
• Do Better Together

• Ayesha McGowan's Website: A Quick Brown Fox
• Join the Challenge: DoBetterRide.com
• Half the Road documentary
• Sea Otter Article she wrote
• Follow Ayesha on Instagram
• Her Nike Project: Dream Crazier

• Obama's Anguish and Action 
• A Google Doc with TONS of links, books, and more

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

Once per month, I'm checking in with you to talk about my journey as a new athlete mom. I'll talk about time management, how getting back to and maintaining a training schedule is going post-partum, the mental and emotional pieces too.  I'll tell you what it's really like and hopefully give you some nuggets you can apply to your own lives as well.

This podcast is supported by Wahoo Fitness who have been a great partner during my journey as a pregnant athlete and new mom!

If aren't an audio fan and you want to read the transcription, scroll down a bit.

"Your starting point isn't your endpoint and a growth mindset means that knowing that whatever that number is, you can improve on it. But if you don't ever look at that number. If you don't get up the courage to say where am I starting from, if you never look at that you'll never get better and you'll never be able to measure that improvement."

"The only thing to be ashamed of is not looking and not trying to make changes to a situation that maybe you want to change."

• my riding post-partum
• introducing structured training at 2 months
• the challenge of getting started again
• dealing with anxiety related to assessments (like a test, a race, fitness)
• talking about my TrainerRoad Ramp Test
• your starting point is not your endpoint
• look for improvement
• attention follows intention.

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

I'm pretty excited about today's guest.  The best thing about podcasting is I get to learn even more about a person's story, even when they are a friend!  I first met David Swain when we connected over Prokit.  Prokit celebrates adventurers and the athletic experience, whether you’re just getting started or breaking world records. The platform is designed to help cut through the noise, learn from the best, and find the community you need to reach your potential.

David Swain is the co-founder of Prokit along with Angela Zaeh.  The idea first popped in his head in 2013 when he signed up for his first cyclocross race. Just like all of us when we start new things, David wondered how to train, what gear to use, where to race, what to eat, what events his friends are doing and the idea of Prokit was born.  But David is so much more than the founder of Prokit.

His experience in communication and team building is unparalleled.   David's story is interesting and a wild ride- from driving cross-country to San Francisco, to traveling the world, and eventually landing at FB in 2008, he has had a lot of diverse experiences.  He's written speeches for Mark Zuckerberg, fought massive international communications fires, and launched the Like button to the world.  And in 2013, David joined the leadership team at Instagram and worked on everything that went into building the company, the brand, and the approach to growing it internationally.  He had a team of 23 people in nine countries and did everything from meeting with Pope Francis to navigating how Instagram created its internal culture, goal setting, and more.  You can imagine the challenges of working in such an intense environment as we all have experienced the birth and growth of Instagram!

In this podcast, we talked about communication strategies as individuals, in teams and relationships, the power of a whiteboard, the importance of diversity when building a team.  We talked about how to give and receive feedback, how meditation has been a gamechanger for David, the difference between meaning and happiness and so much more.

This podcast is supported by Wahoo Fitness who have been a great partner during my journey as a pregnant athlete and new mom!

• the importance of communication
• decision making: how to narrow down your idea
• diversity, vulnerability, and creating a space for constructive feedback
• power of meditation
• the momentum of ProKit
• avoiding burnout in startups
• how to celebrate success
• the difference between meaning and happiness

• Sign up for ProKit
• David's article on Building a Meaningful Career
• Common Threads Podcast
• When David interviewed me on the Common Threads Podcast

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

39 trillion. That is approximately how many bacteria that are living in your gut. Guess what feeds them? You. Everything you eat is either a step towards better health or a strike against it.  If you want gut flora that help balance your hormones, reduce your chances of cancer, reverse Type 2 Diabetes, prevent neuropsychiatric conditions like ADHD, Alzheimers, and depression, then you need to eat fiber.  Yes! Fiber is about so much more than pooping regularly.  So how do you make sure you have a healthy gut?  You talk to Dr. B, you eat as many different sources of fiber as you can, and you pick up the book, Fiber Fueled.

If you're a fan of this podcast, you more than likely listened to my first episode with gastroenterologist and now new author, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz.  As he likes to be called, Dr B is an MD and an internationally recognized gut health expert. He is passionate about the incredible healing power that lives inside you—your gut microbiota. Dr. B's medical training involved 16years at America's elite institutions. He completed a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, a medical degree from Georgetown University, and Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Northwestern University. He also has an exploding instagram account and you can follow Dr. B on Instagram at @theguthealthmd.

His new book, Fiber Fueled came out just last week. It's the first of its kind in a plant-based guide to gut-health.  He took his research and experience as an MD, the 600 references cited in the book and built an incredible book that is interesting to read, easy to understand, and every page has important takeaways.  He also tells you what foods to eat, how to cook them, and even has a 4-week guide with 70 recipes.

The biggest takeaway from this show is that you should eat as much variety of whole plant foods as you can.

• Book Writing
• what does a gastroenterologist actually do?
• how digestion works
• Fiber 101
• What if you already eat a lot of veggies and fiber-filled foods already, but still eat meat and dairy?
• gut health and immunity
• how much fiber is too much? Can you introduce too much at once?
• the gut as part of the endocrine system
• birth, babies, breast milk and fiber
• FGOALS acronym: foods to eat for your gut
• fermented foods
• gut health and athletic performance

• Listen to my first episode with Dr. B
• The study that changed how Dr. B practiced medicine
• Follow Dr. B on instagram
• Dr. Will Bullsiewicz Dr. B's Website
• Rip Esselstyn's podcast with Dr. B

• Get FIBER FUELED
• Trifecta of Healthy by Dr. Angie Sadeghi
• Your Body In Balance by Dr. Neal Barnard

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

I really enjoy public speaking and have had the honor to give keynote speeches on the topics of positive psychology, motivation and habits, nutrition and even cycling-specific talks at business, leadership, tech, and nutrition conferences.  One of my favorite stories to include is an old Cherokee parable. I wanted to share it with you because it embodies the power of our perspective.   Perspective and choosing what stories to tell ourselves and how we interpret daily events and emotions is one of the most powerful practices you can have.

One evening an old Cherokee man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

How many times has something happened that you found frustrating? Did you play the scenario over and over in your head?  What happened when you continued to think about it, how you were maybe wronged or disrespected, or how you wish you could have said something or done something different to defend yourself?  What about on the opposite side?  What about interpreting something that happened and looking for all the positive things associated with it?

Choosing what you focus on includes choosing the way you perceive what's happening around you. The way we explain our world and daily events that happen to us deeply affect whether we have an optimistic or pessimistic view of the world. It affects whether we feel empowered or helpless. Learned helplessness is what makes you give up because you think that you don't have any control over something- it's the belief that your actions really won't change the outcome. Your explanatory style ultimately determines how you view misfortunes and whether or not you'll give up easily.  I'll go deeper in another podcast covering Martin Seligman, PhD's research and elements of explanatory style as it relates to optimism and pessimism.

For now, I'll challenge you to use mindfulness to simply start paying attention to which wolf you are feeding.  Are you feeding your fears? Are you looking for ways people offend you?  Are you looking for ways the world is against you?  Or are you giving people the benefit of the doubt? Are you looking for opportunities in challenges? Are you choosing to turn something that could be construed as bad into something fun or exciting? If you can also realize that misfortunes are temporary and are not personalized to you, it'll help you feed the good wolf.

So... which one will you feed today?

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

Pregnancy and motherhood looks different for everyone, but in this week's podcast episode I have a chat with fellow new cyclist mother, Laura King about our pregnancies and post-partum life.  We talked about topics you may not be accustomed to hearing about like miscarriage, pelvic floor health after birth and also maybe more familiar topics like what it's like to ride during pregnancy, how we are maintaining our identities, and more!

A quick bit about Laura King:

Laura’s background in competitive swimming led to 12 years competing in triathlon, including the Ironman World Championships and earning a pro license. An invitation to USA Cycling's Talent ID Camp and a simultaneous job offer for a major industry position presented a fork in the road, and her decision to take the industry position and pursue racing as a passion provided the right balance of career and sport. Nonetheless, her credibility as a competitor has served her well in a successful career of over a decade in Sales and Marketing in the outdoor industry. A brief Xterra Triathlon stint revealed a love of the dirt, and a mountain biker/gravel racer was born. Though she still races in the pro/elite field, her heart is in getting more girls and women on bikes, the camaraderie, the satisfaction of a huge effort, and the corollary travel and experiences. It's also how she met her favorite wheel—her husband, professional cyclist Ted King, with whom she is currently spearheading Rooted Vermont.

This podcast is supported by Wahoo Fitness who have been a great partner during my journey as a pregnant athlete and new mom!

• Mitigating risk when riding while pregnant
• Laura's experience with fertility
• Discussion on knowing how much riding is safe
• Sonya and Laura on miscarriage
• Post-Partum life and return to training
• Dealing with fear and uncertainty
• Stereotypes
• Reframing other's negative lens with new parenthood

• Book Mentioned: Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by James Clapp
• Follow Laura King Instagram
• Laura's training article on ProKit: Pregnancy + The Athlete
• My Pregnancy Blog Posts

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

Derek Loudermilk might be one of the most interesting people you've ever met.  He's discovered a new species of virus while in graduate school, he's traveled the world as a professional cyclist, he became an entrepreneur and digital nomad - including doing this with a wife and a child under the age of 3.  He's created his own path as an author, podcaster, speaker, coach, and guide to help people start living the life they imagined.  How did this all really start?  With a blood clot in his brain after being given a 75% chance of dying. 

In his quest to understand the future of entrepreneurship around the world, Derek Loudermilk has traveled to every US state, 40 countries, and lived on four continents. He is the author of his book SuperConductors. 

• the power of community
• his journey to living around the world and becoming an entrepreneur
• falling in love with adventure at Yellowstone
• how to remove barriers and make changes
• where does confidence come from?
• how to become a digital nomad
• the law of attraction and tapping into your intuition
• finding your identity through transformation
• importance of gratitude for shifting negative thoughts
• what is heroic coaching?
• making sense of the metaphysical in a western world
• what it's like to slow down after years of travel
• a few tips for traveling with little kids

• DerekLoudermilk.com
• Listen to Derek's Podcast: The Art of Adventure
• Book: The 4 Hour Workweek
• Mentioned: NomadList.com
• Book: Lynn McTaggart The Power of 8

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

Stacy Sims, PhD is a leading global expert on female Physiology & endurance training.  You may be familiar with her popular book that I've personally read a few times, ROAR.  It is a science-based layperson's book explaining the sex differences in training and nutrition and addressing the dogma for women in exercise, nutrition, and health outcomes. She says that women are not small men and we should not be generalizing women when it comes to training, recovery, supplements and more because our physiology is different from men. Unfortunately, the majority of research is done on men so it's been hard to decode things like how we should alter training based on where women are in their hormonal monthly cycle.  Dr. Sims has done an incredible amount of work providing a body of information so women can make better and more informed choices. 

Let me tell you more about Dr. Sims background. She is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Waikato after returning to academia from a 6-year hiatus in industry. She is an applied researcher, innovator and entrepreneur in human performance, specifically sex differences in training, nutrition, and environmental conditions.

Prior to being launched into industry, she served as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University from 2007 to 2012, where she specialized in sex differences of environmental and nutritional considerations for recovery and performance. 

If you're not impressed yet, her contributions to the international research environment and the sports nutrition industry has established a new niche in sports nutrition; and established her reputation as the expert in sex differences in training, nutrition, and health. As a direct result, she has been named as one of the to 50 visionaries of the running industry (2015), one of the top 40 women changing the paradigm of her field (2017), one of the top four visionaries in the outdoor sport industry (2017), and one of the top four individuals changing the landscape in triathlon nutrition (2017).

• Stereotypes about women
• Decoding hormone cycles and what they mean for performance
• Supplements for high hormone phase to perform better
• workout recovery for women
• women & pain tolerance
• which birth control is best
• how to sleep better during high hormone phases
• sports nutrition plans for women
• fructose and iron absorption
• training adjustments for the onset of puberty
• Perimenopause and menopause: body composition, diet, protein
• why women should not fast or eat low carb diets
• why women should continue training during pregnancy

• Get Dr. Sims book: Roar
• DrStacySims.com
• Dr Sims TEDx Talk

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