Greatness is Within...

I have injured myself… again. It is confirmed that I have a tear in my right calf muscle. How bad the tear is we are not yet 100% sure I still need to go for a diagnostic ultrasound so they can see the damage I have done.

In the last 24 hours I have felt a variety of emotions from sadness to anger and then to fear. Last night I was sitting on my couch crying and saying to Mike “Why do I have to strive for greatness, why can’t I just be happy with completing a marathon why is it that I want to train to Boston qualify and to obtain elite status”! I can’t really answer that all I know is I was born with the overachiever gene and I never do anything halfhearted, it is all or nothing.

I tweeted earlier today “There is no injury in mediocrity, why can't I settle for being less than great”, and than I received a tweet from @TheLostGrad “Ain’t no injuries, but there damn sure ain’t no Glory either!!” It was this that made me realize how much of a wimp I am being. Yes I have an injury, is it the end of the world, NO!!

I thought back to Nike’s Find Greatness campaign along with a commercial that was aired at the Olympics this last summer  and they made me realize that setback happen, obstacles jump in our way but it how we overcome those obstacles and setbacks that prove if we are truly great or not.

"Now here's the reality of it. You don't want to be walking off with any regrets. 

Be annoyed. Go cry. You're on the line between breaking point and breaking through.

In struggle, you'll find strength. 

Now get over that line! Dig for that extra inch!

Take the best you can do! And do better! 

Every second is a moment in time. But this second is a moment in history."

Last night I felt like my dream to run was Boston was slipping out of my hands. I felt like throwing in the towel and giving up. This morning brought me a fresh new prospective. I might be out for a few weeks I might lose a little bit of my endurance in the short run but in the long run I am going to come back and I am going to come back stronger and faster than ever because there is greatness inside of me and I am not going to allow a little injury get in my way of qualifying for Boston.

I have given myself an hour to grieve over my lost training and my calf and now I am ready to fight, ready to do everything in my power to heal and come back strong.

I have to change up my training a little bit. My physio said once I am healed I will have to reduce mileage and speed for a period of time until I am back to normal but my physio is amazing and has always gotten me back on my feet in better condition than before I started seeing him.

Today I found greatness within myself, greatness that was always there but I didn’t realize was there, today I am a stronger person than I was yesterday.

My Love For Marathons and San Fran

I recently just read a post by Kara Goucher called “I Am InLove with the Boston Marathon”. It is such an inspiring post and makes me even more excited to run qualify for Boston. It has also inspired me to write my own post on my love for San Francisco.

I have not yet qualified for Boston and have not ran it so I am not in love with Boston yet, however I am in love with San Francisco.

Nike Women’s Marathon was my debut marathon and it will always have a little piece of my heart. I loved running in Nike Women’s and getting the opportunity to run my very first marathon gave me the confidence that I could handle the distance, I could never thank Nike Women enough for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. Before running Nike Women's I had only ever ran a 10km race.

I am returning to Nike Women’s Marathon again in the October with Teams in Training. I am so excited to run the city of San Francisco and for a great cause. I will run my third marathon the day before my 28^th birthday, a year and 1 week after I ran my very first marathon!!

The other day I was ranting and raving about my love for San Francisco and my love for the Nike Women’s marathon and my friend asked me “Tiara, why do you love San Francisco so much, I mean don’t the hills scare you?” the answer is yes. They scare me a lot!! But there is so much more that I love about San Fran. The memory of those hills is what is pushing me through my training right now because nothing can be worst than those hills, that I was no 100% prepared for.

San Fran reminds me of being home in Newfoundland or Halifax again. It has a very welcoming and loving feel and the ocean just pulls me in and doesn't want me to leave.

If you have never run the Nike Women’s you need to enter the lottery or sign up with TNT and give this amazing city a chance to steal a little piece of your heart, I know you too will fall in love with marathons and the city of San Francisco. 

Serena Williams Core Power - 30 Day NTC Challenge

As you probably already know by now Nike Women have released an updated to their Nike Training Club app with a few new bonus content workouts. The feature this month is beautiful and amazing Serena Williams. All this workout requires is a stability ball and resistance bands and no you don’t have to do so many minutes to unlock the workout.

As a runner I try to work on my core as much as possible – however, sometimes I get lazy and I figure what I do is enough. My core strength is what helps me maintain my pace through those long miles. As a runner when I saw this workout open up I got beyond excited to see it was a core focused workout and it only takes 15 minutes.

I always love a good challenge and I always love to challenge myself. In the Month of April I have a challenge for you!!

April is 30 days of Serena Williams Core Power workout.

Here are the rules: You do Serena Williams Core Power workout once a day for 30 days and hashtag your workout with #CorePower. This will encourage those who are also involved in the challenge. 

Not only will this help improve your core strength but you will gain yourself some mad NTC minutes. 450 minutes to be exact, on top of what you already do on your own.

Who is in this challenge with me!? Tweet me at @TiaraBeth or comment below.

I want to make sure I hold all of you accountable. Also you can hold me accountable. With my first marathon 68 days away I need more core power.

Ready, set, let’s go! 

Exclusive Serena Williams Content

I have teamed up with Nike Women to bring you exclusive content from Nike Training Club. 

Those of you Nike Training Club enthusiast probably already know that Nike Training Club has teamed up with Serena Williams to bring you an exclusive Serena Williams workout. 

What I adore most about Nike Training Club app is that all the workouts are created by Nike trainers themselves or Nike athelets. These workouts are tried and tested and they work. 

I have been using the NTC app since 2009 and I am well over 14,000 minutes. This app has motivated me to keep pushing through my workouts. With each workout you do you can open more and more exclusive workouts from different trainers and athletes. 

This month the focus is Serena Williams and the workout is AMAZING!! If you want to work your core this is the workout is for you. Grab your iPhone,open your NTC app and download this workout. Get your stability ball and resistance bands ready because this workout is GREAT!!

The Nike Training Club app has helped me get through a marathon and is assisting me through a second. The app has made me stronger, faster and an overall better runner.I hope it does the same for you. 

NikeFuel Band - A Game Changer

Fuel Check

I adore Nike and its products that is no secret but they have one invention that is definitely my beloved products it is something I use and wear on a daily basis, this product has become a second skin to me, it is my NikeFuel band.

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about my NikeFuel band. I believe it is becoming more widespread in Canada and people are beginning to spot just what it is I have been wearing on my wrist for the past 8 months.

Today while getting ready for my second workout of the day two of my co-workers asked me what I had around my wrist. I am constantly enthusiastic to talk about Nike especially the NikeFuel band.

Lady 1 questioned me if it was a toy, she stated that her daughter has been asking her for one but she has been hesitant to purchase it for her. I was flabbergasted that someone would think the NikeFuel band is a toy.

I told her my story of how the NikeFuel band has improved my life:

Since I received my NikeFuel band 8 months ago I have succeeded in losing 26 pounds, 4 inches around my waist and it has significantly amplified the amount of energy I have. I have gone from loathing morning workouts to falling in love with my morning runs and furthermost I love the person I am becoming – confident, happy and energetic.

Lady 2 asked how a band that goes around my wrist could do all of that for a person.

Last Week's Fuel board

I revealed them how the NikeFuel band works and how I make the world my playground. “Through a sports-tested accelerometer, Nike+ FuelBand tracks your daily activity including running, walking, basketball, dancing and dozens of everyday activities. It tracks each step taken and calorie burned. It also tells the time of day.” I set a daily goal for myself – mine is 4,000 – and the NikeFuel band motivates me to work hard to reach my goal so I can receive achievements and rewards. Not only am I competing with myself to reach my goal on a daily basis but I am also competing with my NikeFuel band friends on Facebook. I hate losing so I don’t like seeing myself not in the top spot of my Fuel Leaderboard and therefore I push myself each day to go above and beyond my daily goal each and everyday. My day doesn't end at 4,000.

It has transformed me from being a person that hated the mornings to a person that loves working out in the mornings. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my NikeFuel band leaderboard. If I am not in the top spot it means there is no time to sleep in and let the day get away on me I have to seize my opportunity to regain the top position. 

Most mornings by the time I am done my workouts and ready to head to work I am sitting around 3,000 NikeFuel just 1,000 off of my goal. By lunch time I am nearing my goal, but does this mean I stop of course not. I grab every opportunity I have to Make It Count, if that means taking 28 flights of stairs, running knee high sprints while I am waiting for my print job, using a bathroom on another floor to walk further. Just because I have a desk job it doesn’t stop me from racking up as much fuel as possible. 

Making all these changes in my life to gain more NikeFuel has helped me achieve my weight loss goals and become the person I want to be.

As I was telling my co-workers about my NikeFuel band they commented that I am very passionate about it and yes I am, but I am passionate about anything that gets people moving because as you can see movement has helped me out a lot.

If you don’t already have a NikeFuel band what are you waiting for? Get yourself a NikeFuel band and join us on Twitter and Facebook for some friendly competition, new friends and fun times.

National Eating Disorder Week

It is National Eating Disorder week and as much as it makes me happy that we have a national eating disorder week it also saddens me that so many people have to go through having this horrible disease.

I remember being younger and thinking to myself “why do people have eating disorders, it is easy to eat” until I developed an eating disorder than I realized how hard eating could be.

I remember the first time I really started to hate my body it was the year that the Britney Spears video for “Hit Me Baby One More Time” came out and there was this tall, skinny blonde girl who all the guys loved and all the girls wanted to be and there I was short, tanned skin and dark hair but most of all I had muscle from being a swimmer. 

All of a sudden out of nowhere I was having thoughts of inadequacy I wasn't good enough, pretty enough, smart enough to be considered pretty. The guys would make fun of me and say stuff like “You look like the Terminator” a few of them even nicknamed me The Tiaraator because I had what they called crazy muscles. I wanted nothing more but for these to be gone. 

This is when my life started to spiral out of control.

Anorexia later turned into binge eating and soon my small frame of 120 pounds turned into a large frame of 250 pounds. Once again an eating disorder caught me but this time it was bulimia. I would become so depressed for being overweight that I would eat everything in the house and purge it out. This was a cycle for me for years.

One day I found the gym and in the beginning the gym was an enemy. I would eat and eat and eat than feel bad about what I eat so I would go to the gym for hours on end and spin and run and stair climb and swim until I felt better about myself and than do it again the next day. I remember my roommate asked me once if I was ok. To me I was no longer starving myself or binging and purging so I didn’t have a disorder. I was not skinny so there was no way this was an eating disorder, so I kind of fell through the cracks. I could fake that everything was fine around my parents.

These days I am healthy. I still exhibit signs of the Eating Disorder lurking in the corners and that will always be there but more often than not I can force those feeling out.

 I have found a better way to cope. I found a true friend in running. The road is always there and willing to listen to my problems. I have gone out on a run to have a good cry and flush out the feelings of not being enough. 

Running has embraced me and I have embraced running. When I finish a run I feel like I am more than enough I feel good enough.

I believe that my feelings of inadequacy are the reasons I have been able to gain so much speed in a short period of time. I take the negative feelings that the eating disorder brings me and I take them out in my run. This inspires me to be a better run.

Sometimes  I wish I could go back and talk to my 14 year old self I would say:

Dear Tiara,

You are beautiful exactly the way you are. Though the boys may make fun of you now it is only because they are jealous of you and maybe a little envious of your amazing muscles. Don't let people and the media get you down because it isn't real and one day you are going to be happy with being fit, you will work hard for it. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but there will come a day when you are happy to have muscles. Love your body for what it can do because it can do amazing things, don't hate on yourself. You are strong and beautiful and talented and you will make it through this.

Tips that Motivate Me to Run

1. GET A NEW PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES. Honestly, getting a new pair of running shoes get me out the door. I love trying them out and seeing how they feel and I love mixing them with my different running outfits. If I am totally struggling to get out there I get a new pair of shoes.

2. RUNNING QUESTIONS "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp, or are you going to be strong today?'" --Peter Maher, two-time Olympic marathoner from Canada.

3. GET OFF THE CEMENT. It's hard to stay motivated with shinsplints, or knee pain, so get off the pavement for a few run and try trail running or get on a track and try working your speed.

4. LOOK TO THE PAST. I have days where I need to focus on a race I did or another good to run get me out the door.

5. SIGN UP FOR A MARATHON having a goal always gets me into training mode, it also gets me eating cleaner. Find a marathon and sign up for one!!

6. THINK FAST. On my long runs I like to split it in half in my head. I tell myself “Ok Tiara you can run these 7 miles easy than when I get to my 7 mile half way point I tell myself ok now get back as fast as you can.” It pushes me but also gets my long mileage in and builds my fast endurance at the same time.

7. GOOD-TO-GO PLAYLIST Download songs that will keep you going. My current favorites are Rhinna, Elli Goulding and Florance and the Machine.

8. FIND A NEW PATH. I find that running the same path all the time can get monotonous so for my long runs I try every so often to find a new path to run I map it out using MapMyRuns.com and I go. Using a new path tends to slow me down though as I need to get used to a new route but it is nice to change it up every so often.   

9. RUNNING COMMENTARY "No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." --Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four-minute mile

10. THE BOSTON MARATHON is a year away. Think you can get there? (Go to www.baa.org for qualifying times.) Than you can run with me! When I run my long runs and I start to get tired I repeat to myself “You are Training to Qualify for Boston” it keeps me going.

11. READ THIS The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, a short story by Alan Sillitoe, tells the tale of a rebellious youth in a reformatory who runs in solitude and makes a stand against a system he doesn't believe in. You'll have new appreciation for the power of solo runs.

12. PLAY IN THE STREET. Skip a dreaded track workout for a fartlek (Swedish for "speed play") session. After 10 minutes of easy jogging, run hard between two telephone poles, and then slow down until you pass two dogs. Then see if you can beat the next person you meet up with to a distant destination, followed by a jog to the next bridge. There are no set rules, so make it up as you go along. These are my favorite and help me get through those long runs.

13. THE BATHROOM can wait till the sun goes down. Your tempo run can't so get those shoes on and hit the road.

14. RUN AT LUNCH. Daniel Sheil, a marathon coach in Portland, Oregon, recommends lunchtime runs for two reasons: (1) You get your workout in before the day gets away from you; (2) You get a midday break from work stress. Lunch workouts have become my favorite and prevent me from spending calories and money.

15. THAT NEW RUNNING WATCH you want? Buy it, but only after you have broken a record like your fastest half marathon.

16. BUDDY UP. Find a “rabbit” to run with. Every so often I get Mike to run with me. He runs an impressive 2 hour 54 minute marathon so pacing myself to keep up with him helps me increase my pace. Trust me I don’t want to look like a wimp to my boyfriend so I push myself not to take any stops.

17. HAVE A DAILY NIKEFULE GOAL. I have a rule, if I come home and my NikeFuel goal is not 5,000 I have to do another workout. It keeps me motivated, it keeps me pushing and it holds me accountable not to slack off during the day if I don’t want to go home and do another workout once I get home. My Nike Kinect training is slacking because of it but right now my focus is running.

18. MAKE A MASSAGE APPOINTMENT for the day of your long run it gives something to look forward to after my long run and it pushes me out the door to get my run in.

19. GET YOURSELF A HEARTY DOG who needs lots of exercise. You'll always have a reason for a daily jog. I want to get a dog so bad but sadly I wouldn't fit one in my apartment.

20. RUN THROUGH A SPRING STORM. It is refreshing and with the wind and rain you are surely to run faster.

21. RUNNING COMMENTARY "A lot of people run a race to see who's fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." --Steve Prefontaine

22. FEEL A NEED FOR SPEED. Sometimes I just need to run to see how fast I can get myself going it is invigorating for me. I take these runs to the rack and run 400 meters 4 times as fast as I can go. It is refreshing to get speed since training for a marathon requires endurance.

23. YOU'LL BE WEARING A BATHING SUIT in another month or so! I remind myself of this every time I want to cut a workout short.

24. GO EARLY. Two-time Olympian Shayne Culpepper says that rather than putting off a run, she'll head out even earlier than usual when she's not in the mood to work out. "If I have that extra cup of coffee or I wait an extra half hour, it becomes too torturous," she says.

25. PAY YOURSELF. When I first started running I was 250 pounds and I hated running so I set a price for attaining a certain weekly mileage goal mine was 10 miles, I was a newbie. When you hit it, pay up I would give myself $10 at the end of the week. Keep your mileage money in a jar, and once it accumulates, buy yourself that new running jacket, shoes, shirt you've been ogling. It makes the mileage totally worth it.

26. ASK A FRIEND TO BIKE alongside you when your running partner isn't available. I have to start doing this more often since I am getting faster than more of my friends and hey they can carry the water.

27. RACE RESULTS STAY ON GOOGLE FOREVER.

28. PROVE YOUR ARE BETTER. I had a bad race at Nike Women’s and I am so excited to prove myself at Calgary Marathon. Not to anyone else just to me.

29. HEAD FOR THE HILLS. I have been told that it is ok to throw a hill workout in in-place of a short run if your body is really beaten down. You can’t run hills lazy you need to put your full body into them. Once I do hill sprints I am excited to get back to just running.

30. RUN FOR A REASON. Do a race for charity TNT is a great charity to run with. They are a guaranteed entry into Nike Women’s Marathon if you are thinking about running that one. Also they provide coaching and run groups to help get you out the door.

31. REMEMBER that you almost always feel better after a run than before it.

32. KEEP A LOG. Nike plus has inspired me to run further and faster. When I see my weekly/monthly/yearly total mileage I want to look at it and be proud. It is what gets me out there when I don’t want to be. Also knowing that I am not in first place on my leader board inspires me to get my run on.

33. DON'T EXPECT EVERY DAY TO BE AMAZING. I am learning that some days will be slower than others, and some days might even hurt a bit. Elizabeth often reminds me that not every run is a race. I always feel horrible about myself if I don’t run at least a sub 8, but you know what not everyone is going to have AMAZING days every day.

34. JUST START. I have days where I think to myself “I don’t want to run today” I make myself run for 10 minutes once I get 10 minutes in I usually finish my run. Just get out there.

35. RUN SOLO and away from the crowds on recovery days. The faster runners on popular routes will make you want to pick up the pace. Alone, you'll be able to listen to your body and reap the recovery you deserve. We all need recovery.

36. THINK YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO RUN? You are wrong. If you have time to facebook, tumblr, tweet you have time to run. Cut something out that you don’t need to be doing and go for 20 minutes. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say they don’t have time. You had time to tell me that, if you have time to make excuses you have time to run.

37. STOP BEING SOCIAL. For me running isn't a social event, especially when I am training. My training partner Jamie knows this and sometimes she tells me when she wants to start up a conversations she will pretend that we are in an actual race. It makes her push harder and in return makes me push harder, she isn't going to beat me.

38. BUY A FULL-LENGTH MIRROR and make sure you look in it every day trust me once you start seeing how running changes your body you won’t be giving up on it.

39. RUNNING COMMENTARY "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough." --Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder

40. A HEALTHY RUNNER IS A HAPPY RUNNER. As soon as I feel like I have injured myself I get to my physio’s office. The moment something feels not right, roll it out, stretch it out and if you have to get it looked at. You don’t want something minor to turn into something major.

41. INVEST IN GOOD GEAR. I love having the newest gear from Nike. It encourages me to get out there and get moving. If you are new to running get your gait tested at a specialty store, invest in a good pair of sneakers that are right for you and get some good gear. Dri-fit gear, Nike has a great selection.