What's up people!

Today's newsletter comes to you from New York City where I have been hanging for the last week. On Saturday, I raced in the Brooklyn Half Marathon and finished with a personal best of 1 hour 24 minutes and 26 seconds. It was really fun to set a challenging goal for myself and then go out and execute on it. 

This is a great reminder of how impactful goal setting can be. I'm a believer of speaking goals into existence. When you write down or say your goals out loud, it adds an element of accountability. Whether we hit the goal or not doesn't really matter. What matters is being intentional and making the attempt. 

Overall, Brooklyn was a great time. I felt like the course was pretty favorable even with some of the hills. I definitely recommend checking out this race next year if you live in the area! 

Wellness Tip

Incorporating speed workout into your running routine

I'm a big fan of mixing in speed workouts in between foundational runs when training for a race. One of my favorites is the Fartlek. I'm going to break down what it is, how to do it, and why it's important. Let's dive in.

What is a Fartlek workout?

A type of running training that involves alternating between periods of sprinting and slower jogging at a variable pace. It can be done anywhere: a track, treadmill, street, or trail. The specific breakdown of how much sprinting vs jogging is up to you. 

How to do a Fartlek: 

What I love about Fartleks is the flexibility. You get to choose your paces, interval lengths, and total time of the workout. Most of the time, I will use a combination of track distances and time to determine when I change up my intervals. But you could also just go for a run in the neighborhood and on every 3rd street you sprint. It's really up to what works best for you!

Here is one of my go to Fartlek workouts: 

• 2 mile warm up
• Open striders for 100 meters
• 10 rounds of 2 min fast and 2 min slow
  • 2 min fast @ 610 - 630 pace
  • 2 min slow  of easy jog
• 2 mile cool down

Why is it important?

Speed training increases your heart rate and gets your body used to getting it under control. Also, the most important part of running is being consistent. Going for the same run at the same pace over and over gets boring. Workouts like the Fartlek where you get to mix it up make running fun and will help you stay motivated to keep up with training.

Quick Tips: 

• Don't focus too much on time. Focus on your effort instead
• Try incorporating a speed workout once a week
• These are especially important for trying to hit a fast marathon time

Mindset Framework

Controlling what you can control

Many things in life are out of our control.

So wherever you are reading this right now whether it's at home, on your lunch break at work, or in between classes at school, it's important to remember that you are not going to be able to control everything in your life. Maybe you have a leak in your house you have to deal with, or there was terrible traffic that caused you to be late for work, or you pulled your back during a workout. These things happen and we can't change them. But what we do have control over is our response to these situations.

You can get frustrated and complain about how your house is a disaster or you choose to be grateful for what you have and calmly get the issue fixed.

You can blame other people for the accident causing you to be late or you can stay 30 minutes later that day to finish the work you missed.

You can use your pulled back as an excuse to sit on the sofa all day or you can find other ways to stay active.

It's about taking control of the present moment. Think about how you treat yourself and what you are telling yourself in your mind. It's in these moments where we get to control our attitude and the actions that we take after being presented with a difficult situation.

We get to decide whether we want to view something in a positive or negative light. 

What is an area in your life where you can turn a "negative" situation into a positive through your mindset and actions?