Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.

Tag Archives: kelley


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Power to the She and Me?

Zen and a 10lb med ball

Back in October I received a message suggesting that I apply for a local athletic wear sponsorship program. The message mentioned that… “This would be perfect for you.  Every year we have one sponsored athlete who inspires our business and our customers. As a Sponsored Athlete, you would be our stores spokesperson, the person who embodies our spirit and leads an active, healthy lifestyle.  Applications are due by the end of the week.” 

Well… I’d known about the program but never thought in a million years that I had a chance. So, like we all do way too often… I blew it off. That is until I received the above message. At that point I figured it was a “sign” and had no choice but to launch into hyper-mode.

Magically with the support of my wing-woman I managed to pull together a meaty presentation that included a 10-question application. Question #1 was, “Tell us your Story.” Yikes, I thought. When you’ve been around as long as I have your story tends to be kind of long. This might take a while…

If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know whether I got the sponsorship or not. The rest of you will have to wait to find out. For now I thought I’d share question #1, My Story.

#1 – Tell us your story. How did your athletic Journey begin, and how has it evolved? What athletic and life events have shaped who you are as a person? What inspires your commitment to your sport?

On June 1st 1997, I completed my first 100-mile bike ride. At the time I weighed nearly 220 lbs. I signed up for the event with The Leukemia Society’s Team in Training program because my friend Michelle was convinced, “we’d lose tons of weight and meet hot guys.”

Unfortunately, all the “hot guys” rode much faster and saw us as nothing more than something to navigate around. And, since Michelle and I lived on a diet of French fries and red wine, neither of us lost more than a few pounds. In the end we both managed to survive the event, Michelle was simply happy to be finished, but for me, this is where my story truly begins.

After that first century ride, I was hooked on cycling. I learned that you didn’t have to be a skinny-minny to ride a bike well. In the years that followed I went on to coach cyclists for TNT and was later appointed Assistant Head Coach for the NorCal TNT program. It was coaching for TNT that gave me the opportunity to witness just how unbelievably inspiring it is to watch an unlikely athlete, a regular, everyday person reach their goal. Most everyone I worked with struggled to ride a bicycle up the smallest hill at first, often so frustrated they were brought to tears. It was heart breaking. For me it was seeing the excitement and pride on those participants’ faces as they crossed the finish line that often brought tears to my eyes.

In 2002, I was talked into trying bike racing. At 42 years old and 163 pounds, I entered my very first race. Older and at least 40 lbs. heavier than anyone else in the field, miraculously I managed to win the race. Frankly, I was shocked as the race was a hill climb from Stinson Beach up to the top of Mt. Tam. Me, the heavy girl with the big legs won an uphill bike race. Astonishing! After that race, I raced my bicycle for various local teams until finally starting my own team. I officially retired as an “elite” cyclist in 2006. After that first race I went on to take 1st place in just one other event, although I enjoyed years of successful top 10 finishes.

These events have led me to where I am today. I’ve seen for myself that you really can do anything you set your mind to, no matter who you are or what you look like. Today my life is dedicated to encouraging the unlikely athlete to step outside of her comfort zone and go for it.

Personally, I am not currently committed to any one sport. I love to run, ride, practice yoga and taking the occasional swim in freezing Aquatic Park. My commitment is to being the best I can be at whatever sport I am participating in on any given moment. My inspiration comes from my current clients and the memory of those TNT days. I am inspired by everyone I’ve helped, seeing the joy in their eyes when they discover that they really can do anything.


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Do not look up!

Do not look up!

With our Run for the Seals 4 mile foot race just around the corner, my clients are starting to get a little worried about the “hills” along the course. See, the course description states that the route is “hilly in parts.” Those three small words have evoked large-scale panic in my brave, newbie runners.

Here’s what I have to say about the psychology of hills and words:

  • First – Remember that “hilly” to one person is rolling or flattish to another. Everything is relative. Don’t let someone else’s words get your feathers in a fluff. Remember my “Do not crawl on the stairs” melt down?
  • Second – When the elevation starts to go up, shut everything out of your head, listen to your calm slow breath like it’s music and “focus” on that. If you start gasping then slow the hell down and get your focus and breath back.
  • Third – Do not look up. Look straight ahead just up the road, but do not look up the hill! If you look up and see how far you have to go you’ll freak yourself out, panic and lose your focus. The climb is almost always easier than you think it will be.
  • Forth – Break the task down into small, easy to digest chunks. Think to yourself “let me just get to the first switch-back,” once there, get yourself to the big tree or some other small goal and keep it going, all the way to the top.
  • Lastly – Never anticipate the top. Trust that it’s there and keep going until you find it. Remember, once you’re over the top you get to go down!

And there you have it. Kelley’s hard earned words of climbing mind games and wisdom. Use it wisely…


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FMFW’s are back by popular demand!

Glow Sticks are cool.

When I was in high school, my mom made me get up at 5am to run with her before work. She was afraid to run alone in the dark because she thought she’d get mugged, or fall into a ditch. As an adult I can see her point and while a creepy guy did follow us once, neither of us fell, and frankly you can get hurt just as easily in the light of day. Plus, creepy guys harass day and night! So, no more excuses folks, go it alone or grab a friend and get out there!

Back in the day, my mom and I ran with flashlights. Now they have fancy contraptions called headlamps, you strap ‘em to your head and look like a coal miner. Then, there’s my personal favorite the Glow Stick. Glow Sticks don’t really light your path but they’re hella fun and they come in super cool colors.

So, at the very least, giddy up and go for a walk around the well-lit city. How about this: make a pact with a friend or your kids to walk by the light of each full moon this year. Full moons come around only once a month (except twice in Aug this year) and the added light should keep you from falling off an unseen cliff or something.

For those of you here in San Francisco, I’ve made it easy for you. All you have to do is come walk with me! I’ll even bring Glow Sticks for the dark nights. Here’s the deets:

Full Moon Fitness Walks
There’s no better way to celebrate our beautiful city than to go for a walk by the light of the full moon. The evening of each full moon this year we’ll walk, look at the sights and visit corners of The City you may never have seen. Walking is the perfect way to shrug off stress, burn calories and breathe fresh air. Along the way we’ll have the opportunity to talk about your fitness questions, take in the views and participate in some light stretching and toning exercises. This is a low impact workout designed to offer folks a casual relaxing way to get a little exercise. Make no mistake however, this is a workout, you will sweat!

Time: 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Cost: 9 workouts for $50 paid in advance, or $10 drop in
Dogs are absolutely welcome as long as they’re friendly!

Schedule:
February 7th – Meet in the East Beach Parking lot on Crissy Field. Look for the orange windsock.
March 8th– TBD
April 6th – TBD
May 5th – TBD
June 4th – TBD
July 3rd – Sorry no walk this day
August 1st – TBD
August 31st – TBD
September 29th – Harvest moon! We’ll head for the hill for this one!
October 29th – TBD
November 28th – Last FMFW of the year!

For more information and to sign up contact Kelley@motionstarved.com


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Thank you 2011!

This is my last post of 2011. It’s been a wonderful year and I have you, my readers, friends and clients to thank for that.

As I sit here at my desk gulping down a Pluto’s salad racing to get everything done, I’m reflecting on the year gone by. I ask myself, “do I have an regrets?” No, never. I don’t believe in them, I believe only in opportunities to learn and make life better.

With that, I leave you a little homework assignment to ponder as you start planning your 2012. Consider what I ask, and we’ll talk more about these topics in the new year.

  • Make a list of all the fun things you’d like to do in 2012? They can be new things or things you’d like to do again. Here’s an example of 100 super cool ideas Jennifer suggests.
  • Pay it forward. Think of small, unexpected ways you can do something nice for a stranger. If you haven’t seen the move Pay it Forward, watch it!
  • Think about what you should do rather than what you should not. Same goes for food/diets. I saw Chef Alton John on TV last night. He lost 50 lbs by making a list of all the things that he should eat and concentrated on those foods. He never thought about or considered the foods he should not eat. The same thinking can be applied to anything in your life.

Again, thank you for reading my words and for playing along. I hope I’ve helped or inspired you in some small way.

Have a wonderful holiday, I’ll see you in January.

Kelley


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The Season of Eating 101

Too much turkey

It’s started. I call it The Season of Eating. There’s really no way to get around it, one way or another your healthy living tendencies will go to shit during this period. Some of us will manage better than others, but basically we’ll all suffer a shift in our waistlines and our exercise regiment.

First and foremost, do not to panic! Worrying will only stress you out causing you to eat or drink more, elevating the situation.

I’m not going to lie; I cave during The Season of Eating. I definitely dive head first into most opportunities to suck down yummy food and drink. Miraculously, I usually manage to keep the same jean size but it’s not a pretty picture nor is it easy.

Anyway, here are just a few little things that I personally keep in mind during these challenging times. They work for me and they’re pretty painless.

  • Baked goods – Eat only homemade stuff or things that you can be darn sure will be worth the calories. When confronted with a cookie tray from Cost-Co, skip it and wait until someone passes the truffles or homemade snacks.
  • The same goes for the cheese platter. If you can’t skip it all together then pass up the blocks of Safeway cheese and wait for the artisan cheese platter to surface. It might not appear for a day or two but it will at some point!
  • Sign yourself up for a workout class or organized event. Perhaps a New Years Eve or NY Day run, cycle or walk. There are tons to choose from. It’ll force you to stay on top of your workouts. I’ve signed myself for a New Years Eve half marathon that I’m not fit for at the current moment, so like it or not I’ll have to dig deep and train, impending cookie gut and all!
  • Keep moving. I like to keep moving. It tuckers me out sometimes but it helps keep the furnace burning.  Examples: Walk and take the stairs everywhere possible. Get up in the morning, have your coffee and go for a walk/run/ride or what ever you can manage for as long as you can manage it. 10 minutes is better than nothing! Mid day, walk/take a yoga class, just move for at least 10 minutes. Same goes for the evening, don’t just go home and sit on the sofa ever. Even if you can’t do this every day do what you can when you can. Make the effort it does help!

Here are some numbers that might motivate you. 10 minutes of: (The math will obviously vary depending on your body weight, composition and the pace at which you perform the task)

  • Walking at brisk pace will burn 54 calories
  • Heavy cleaning will burn 54 calories
  • Step-ups (using stairs) burns 175 calories
  • Raking leaves burns 40 calories

And, try these lean muscle builders. Remember, the more muscle you have the more calories you’ll burn just sitting at the table next to the cheese platter.

  •  Squats—Do ‘em while you brush your teeth
  • Walking Lunges — As you move about your home
  • Push-Ups — Do 10 every time you find yourself at the kitchen sink. (Against the wall or on the floor)
  • Curls — With a can of soup or bottle of detergent
  • Plank Position — While reheating food. Hold for 30 seconds and work up to 3 minutes.
  • Crunches — There are a thousand versions. Pick the ones you like and do ‘em while you watch the weather.

So there you go, these are things that help me. If you want to be, or if you can be super good, then skip all the holiday treats, simply walk past the cookie platter and when cooking, find ways to make healthier versions of the dishes you serve. Unfortunately total abstinence won’t work for me so I’ve found these other things that help me. As for you, it’s up to you to find ways to enjoy the season and manage your waistline at the same time, I can only offer suggestions.

The bottom line, enjoy this time, no matter what.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I’ll be on back Monday 11/28 with something very gripping to say…

P.s. Click here if you want to know how far you’ll have to run/etc to burn off the bits of your T-giving dinner. I say, just keep moving and stop counting!


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It’s my birthday and I’ll do what I want to

That's a lot of candles!

If you follow along you’ll have noticed that I’ve completely slacked off this week. I have no excuse. I just didn’t feel I had anything interesting to say so I didn’t post like I usually do.

Today however, is my birthday. Normally I wouldn’t toot my own horn unless I did something amazing, but today I’m going to talk about me anyway.

Some things you need to know about me are that I have zero patience; I despise excuses and people who constantly make them. I adore animals, I eat things that are bad for me, I drink a little too much wine sometimes and I don’t play hard to get, I am hard to get. I stop listening when people talk about negative things or their shitty lives, jobs or physical/mental ailments. If I like you, I will do pretty much anything for you to a fault (hence my being single). If I don’t like/respect you, I block you out because I feel we should focus on, and spend our time/energy on/with those who offer positive experiences. I believe we should surround ourselves with friends and lovers that make our lives better and whose lives we can better. People seem to like me but I find that odd, as I am not an easy person. In the end, I feel that life is about coming to terms with one’s self and truly appreciating the gifts that The Universe gave to us.

When I say that we need to appreciate the things The Universe has given us I mean all the things. The people, the good ones and the bad ones. The nuances of our bodies, the things we like and the things we don’t. The simple things like the really chubby ladybug that landed on my pillow today and the chicken dinner I “cooked” for Jackie’s dad years ago. Appreciate the things you’ve learned and be excited for the things you will come to learn.

One of the most important things I’ve learned in my life (and I just recently figured it out) is that you must let people be who they are. If you change them, they will no longer be the person you cared for. Appreciate, and embrace the good and the bad within the people you choose to spend your time with. If you can simply not bear to let them be who they are, then let them go.

Lastly, we are in control of our lives. Each of us makes zillions of decisions every day that drive our lives in the direction they’re heading. Remember this, and take responsibility for yourself and your life.

I leave you with those words of wisdom and that lovely view into the mind of Kelley. I hope you take the wisdom part to heart…


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If you aren’t climbing you’re descending

Mosaic Staircase, Inner Sunset, SF

I hate to be the one to point this out but the holidays are right around the corner and with that come parties and food and a zillion reasons not to workout.

In an effort to keep you moving and looking fab in your holiday attire I’ll be holding Stair Climbing Workouts every Saturday @ 9am, beginning this week through Saturday 12/17.

The beauty of climbing stairs is no matter your pace you always get a fantastic cardio and booty-boosting workout. These workouts will include core and stretching exercises as well as interval stair climbing. Participants are encouraged to climb at their own pace but will be urged to push themselves. Walkers as well as runners are welcome.

The price for 7, one-hour workouts is $35 paid in advance, the drop-in rate is $10 per workout. Be advised that taking advantage of the “paid in advance” rate is not only economical, paying in advance encourages one to workout on those days when getting out of bed is extra hard. We workout rain or shine!

Each Saturday we’ll climb a different set of stairs visiting all parts of San Francisco. I will post, and email the schedule once I have a group assembled.

This weekend’s workout will commence: 11/5/2011 – 9am sharp, @ Lyon and Broadway. We’ll be kicking off the season on the famous Lyon Street Stairs.

If you can’t manage getting to my scheduled workouts you can still get your climb on! No matter where you live or what time you workout I’m certain you can find some stairs to climb. If you need ideas or inspiration there are books, websites and even apps for your phone that can help. For those of you here in San Francisco I recommend, the book; Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Adah Bakalinsky or the iPhone app SF Stairways (it’s a little buggy but it’s only 99 cents.) it even tells you how much cab fare is back to your house should you need a lift home.

No excuses, it’s time to start climbing off those cocktails and cookies! Contact me if you would like to join our Stair Climbing Workouts here in SF.


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Stoked to be in the water – Jeff Clark

Okay so I must admit I get all hot and bothered when the conversation turns to surfing and surfers. See, I grew up in San Diego just blocks from the beach. Until the day I turned 20 and moved north, I basically spent every day of my life on the beach. Yep, I was a “surfer chick,” or wanabe. I never did get the hang of surfing but I was excellent at posing on the beach with my long, sun-bleached hair waiting for my yummy, bronzed surfer-boyfriend to come in. Oh…those were the days.

So, when my friend Cindy sent an email asking for volunteers to try paddleboarding at the famed Mavericks (Mavericks is surfer HQ here on the NorCal coast), I jumped at the opportunity like a shark after a hunk of meat.

Rather than rambling on about our adventure I’ll simply let you see for yourself how the day transpired. It’s pretty tame, there were no massive waves and no surfer boys (aside from the world-renowned Jeff Clark!) but there were lots of really nice people and we had a fantastic time.

Rule #1 if you don’t want your shades to sink when you fall off the board, put them on a leash. I was too cheap to buy a leash so I did a little MacGyver work.

                 

Ever try to squeeze into one of these things? Kind of gross if you ask me.

At this point we’re done with our paddle. That’s Cindy on the left, me, Cassandra our fantastic teacher and Diana in the sexy little top.

You get extra points if you can do a downward dog sans falling in the drink.

So there you have it. A nice relaxing way to spend a sunny day. We saw stingrays and a few harbor seals popped their heads up to have a little chuckle (do you think seals can laugh? Seriously, can they?) I can’t say that I got a workout paddleboarding but that’s mostly because I was too focused on staying on the board. According to Cassandra there are things you can to do work a little harder. Next time I’ll be braver and head for where the big waves and the surfer boys are (yea right!).

As they say at the beach…  It was pretty bitchen! Thanks gals for an awesome day.

P.s. If you want to check out paddleboarding at Mavericks, call Cassandra. She was really great and the prices are super reasonable!


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I want to but…

That's Me & Mr. Skinny

Yesterday I read an article about how to keep people interested in your writing. It said that it’s important to let your readers know that you aren’t perfect. Nobody wants to be read about perfect people or people who presume to be perfect. Being perfect doesn’t inspire. It also said to be genuine and let your personality shine through. Thank goodness I thought, lord knows I’m not perfect and trying to hide my personality is like trying to hide my big nose.

After reading the article I did a little self-check. Do I pretend to be a know-it-all? Do I practice what I preach or am I full of shit? I decided that I actually do make an effort to follow my own advice and I think I’m pretty genuine. Last week I encouraged folks to try chia seeds even thought I hadn’t tried them myself, and in truth, I wasn’t in any hurry to do so. After my little self-check I decided I’d better get some chia seeds and have a taste. I’m happy to report that they’re pretty unobtrusive as far as taste goes and they really do expand in liquid so don’t let ‘em sit around in a smoothie or something. You’ll be sorry.

If you follow along, I tend to spout off exercise challenges and routines for you to try. Those I do try before I write them, but in some cases I don’t actually keep them up. Take Kelley’s Ab Challenge from a few months back where I published a photo of my very own abs. My abs looked pretty good at that point and I was working to make them look even better. At the time of the challenge I did keep up my end of the bargain, however since then I’ve slacked off so badly that I had to loosen my belt a notch last night. Can you imagine, a trainer letting such a simple thing as her abs go to chub? It’s beyond shameful!

As for my pushing you to try different things, get out of your comfort zone; I do try to keep up that end of things but here again, not always. Most recently my trainer friend Dawn challenged me to push my running pace by taking a minute off my average mile. I did make an effort to reach this goal but it was half-assed and now I’m ashamed of myself.

I once had a friend who I was absolutely crazy about but he had a habit of saying “I want to but…” In his case, “I want to but…” meant he’d rather be with someone other than me. To this day those words continue to haunt me. When you say “I want to but… “  You don’t get credit for saying or thinking that you want to do something.  You only get credit when you actually make the effort to do it. Remember, actions speak louder than words in everything you do.

So, I wanted us all to try chia seeds, I got on it and I tried them. I want us to step outside of our comfort zones so this weekend I’m taking a paddleboard lesson at the famed Mavericks. No, I am not perfect nor am I that interesting really, which is why I try new things like chia seeds and potentially make a fool out of my self on a paddleboard, in a wet suit that’s sure to emphasize my currently less than impressive abdominal zone.

In the end, I am not a perfect know-it-all, the only difference between some, and me is that I make the effort. “I want to but…”  is not in my phrase book.

See you Monday; if I survive I should have an amusing paddleboard report that’s sure to reek of personality.

Make me proud this weekend…