Grow the Good

Latest Episodes:

What to Do if You're Struggling May 05, 2022

Show notes

Sometimes life can feel hard and overwhelming. Big life changes often cause discomfort and stress, but out of it comes growth. Growth is something most of us want, but it's normally not something that feels good all the time. With growth can come a period of struggling, and sometimes that feeling of struggling can feel like it'll last forever.

Personally, I am struggling right now. Having a newborn baby (second child) along with my son who just turned two, all while trying to meet the demands of being a Professional Athlete, run my business, have my weekly podcast while maintaining a high standard, sending out articles I write in my weekly newsletter, and have very limited childcare help has been far more stressful and overwhelming than I anticipated. In my line of work, I don't get to take a maternity leave. Some of my work is work that needs to be done consistently that I have made a commitment to do. For the podcast, I recorded three months of guests in advance before having my daughter and left a bit of space for solo articles/episodes like this one. When you're a creator, you don't get to just step away without penalties. Adding in sleep deprivation, hormonal changes, and trying to rehab and recover from birth adds to the layer of difficulty because it is harder to cope from a shakier foundation.

Key Takeaways

What to Do if You're Struggling with Overwhelm
What to Do if You're Struggling with Confidence
What to Do if You're Struggling with Motivation

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

Closing the Gender Gap in Sports Research with Emily Kraus, MD and Megan Roche, MD Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

This week’s podcast features a discussion with Stanford Female Athlete Science And Translational Research (FASTR) Program Director Dr. Emily Kraus and Lead Researcher Dr. Megan Roche. The FASTR program seeks to help close the gender gap in sports science research with an emphasis on early identification and interventions to prevent injury and identify ways to optimize performance in female athletes. The program hopes to “inspire female athletes to learn more about their bodies and embrace what makes them strong and unique. Through proper education surrounding fueling, recovery, mental health, and more [they] encourage the development [of] lifelong athletes.”

Dr. Kraus is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. She specializes in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation sports medicine. She is involved in several research projects, including The Healthy Runner Project, a multicenter prospective interventional study focused on bone stress injury prevention in collegiate middle and long distance runners.

Dr. Kraus also spends time performing gait analysis at the Stanford Run Safe Injury Prevention Program and serves as a medical advisor for the Adaptive Sports Injury Prevention Program at the Palo Alto VA.

She has completed seven marathons including the Boston Marathon twice and one 50k ultramarathon.

Dr. Roche has a medical degree from Stanford University but is now a Ph.D. candidate in Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford focusing on bone health in athletes and the genetic predictors of sports injury. Dr. Roche is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity and is helping launch Stanford’s Lifestyle Medicine Initiative.

Dr. Roche is a five-time national trail running champion, a North American Mountain Running Champion, and a six-time member of Team USA. She is a co-author of the book “The Happy Runner” and a co-founder of Some Work All Play, a coaching group centered around finding long-term fulfillment in the process of running.

In this episode, you'll learn about low energy availability, bone health, proper fueling and more!

Key Takeaways

How Drs. Emily Kraus and Megan Roche started working together
The push to study female athletes
What is low energy availability
How this also applies to men
How sex hormones affect bone health
What does proper fueling look like
How mental health impacts low energy availability
Early symptoms of low energy availability
Bone health and longevity as an athlete
Genetic predictors of sports injury

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

The World's Toughest Running Feats Fueled by Veganism with 4x Guinness Book of World Records Holder Fiona Oakes Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Fiona Oakes is an elite marathon runner, who has completed over 100 marathons and finished in the top 20 in two of the world’s Major Marathon series, winning the Main Start and placing in the top 20 in the Great North Run. She holds four Guinness recognized World Records in endurance events including being the fastest woman to run a Marathon on every Continent. But Fiona doesn’t consider herself a great runner. All of her runs and accolades are in service of a greater purpose - care and love for animals.

Fiona is a vegan. Helping others understand the reasons behind her lifestyle drives her to participate in runs around the world.

Fiona became the first vegan woman to complete the Marathon de Sables - a race she has completed twice more since - and in 2013 won the North Pole Marathon and its 'sister' race the Antarctic Ice Marathon.

She also runs to bring awareness to her animal sanctuary - Towerhill Stables Animal Sanctuary - which she founded in 1996.

Fiona is the subject of a documentary called Running for Good and is the author of a book of the same name.

In this podcast, Sonya and Fiona talk about her pursuit to promote veganism, her career as a runner, and her love of animals.

Key Takeaways:

Who is Fiona Oakes
Running for a reason
Love of animals
Veganism
What is talent
Falling into different global races
How to keep going
Animal sanctuary

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

The Keys to Transformation with Bob Doyle Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Bob Doyle is a law of attraction expert and coach. The law of attraction is a belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person's life. He focuses heavily on helping people decide who they want to be and how they want to express themselves. Bob has been teaching these principles through programs, live events, podcasts, coaching, writing and more since 1998. He’s best known for his contribution to the film and book “The Secret.”

He has recently shifted from the metaphysical aspects of the law of attraction to a more biological look at what controls our experiences and our brain. Bob is passionate about the neuroplasticity side of transformation. Digging into identifying where you might be living life on autopilot, how to take action and change your personal story, and the importance of consistency are key elements of this conversation. We also talked about how to make your vision a reality, something that is often missed in the Law of Attraction. It's about action and allowing the discomfort that comes with it.

Bob believes that wiring determines the quality of your experience, the actions you’ll take and the results you get, and ultimately what you do with those results.

Key Takeaways

The courage to explore creativity
Where the law of attraction goes wrong
Transformation personality types seeker, wizard, skeptic, people pleaser
How to define and scale your vision
Why people stay stuck

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

A Life-Threatening Fall and the Resilience of Trail Runner Hillary Allen Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

In 2017, Hillary Allen experienced a life threatening accident that had the potential to completely derail her career as an endurance athlete. She fell 150 feet off a ridge-line during a race in Norway. With 14 broken bones, she was told she’d never run again, and most definitely not compete at an elite level. She overcame the odds and made a full recovery to return to elite level racing.

Hillary, nicknamed “Hillygoat” because of her love and skill for running fast on steep, technical mountain terrain, has raced all over the world.

In 2021, Hillary published a book about her accident and long road to recovery called Out and Back.

Hillary received her masters degree in neuroscience, physiology and structural biology, and is also a running coach.

In this podcast, Sonya and Hillary talked about her career as a runner, her injury, overcoming the odds to return better than before and the importance of self-belief to get there.

Key Takeaways:

Where spirit of adventure came from
How she became a runner
Exploring curiosity
What is sky running
Falling off a 150’ cliff and almost dying
Depression from injury
Getting back to sky running post injury
Where does self-belief come from
How to train for ultra endurance gravel cycling and running

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

The Importance of Small Wins Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

Small wins are possibly one of the most important aspects of progress, motivation, and confidence in our lives that are overlooked. The reality is that they are the building blocks, the steps, the brush strokes to building a masterpiece. No one suddenly has a big, flashy achievement. They are the many steps to get there that build resilience and character, not the achievement itself. The irony is that a lot of people feel silly when they acknowledge something small or simple. We tend to rank small or simple tasks as not impactful or not important. The reality is that small wins matter a lot more than you'd think.

Key Takeaways

How Small Wins Matter: Identity and Competence
Small Wins Boost Confidence
Small Wins are Essential For Momentum

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

Iron Cowboy James Lawrence: What It Takes to Do 101 Iron-Distance Triathlons in Consecutive Days Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

James Lawrence, also known as the Iron Cowboy, is a mindset and fitness coach, best known for testing his mental and physical limits. In 2021, James set out to complete 100 Ironman-distance triathlons in 100 days. He ended up doing 101 triathlons in 101 days.

The Conquer 100 wasn’t the first time James tested his athletic limits. It started when his wife signed him up for a marathon. But one marathon wasn’t enough, so he tried a sprint triathlon. He was hooked, and in 2011, he completed 20 half-Ironman distances in 22 weeks and then 30 full-Ironman distances in 2012. In 2015, he completed 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 states in 50 days.

In this episode, the Iron Cowboy talks with Sonya about his 101 Ironman-distance triathlons in 101 consecutive days - the planning, the pain, the wins and expectations.

Key Takeaways

Guiding principles and ethos
Importance of celebrating small wins
How they planned the 101
Dealing with the monotony of the 101
Managing internal and external expectations
Importance of his mantra Here We Go
Some of the injuries he incurred
Insights post Conquer 100

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

The Mindfulness of Cycling with Olympian Haley Smith Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Cycling has been a lifeline for Haley Smith. Haley, a top professional cyclist, competed in the cross-country event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the bronze medal, and was named to the 2020 Canadian Olympic team and competed in the delayed summer games in 2021. She recently signed with Maxxis Factory Racing after a decade with Norco.

But cycling has been more than competition to Haley; it’s been a tool to manage her mental health.

In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Haley to talk about her path to cycling, battling anxiety, mindfulness, expanding views of success and more.

Key Takeaways

Getting started in cycling
Battling anxiety
Mindfulness work to manage mental health
Cycling as a meditative activity
Not avoiding difficult things
Finding mountain biking
Staying in the moment and daily improvements with cycling
Measuring improvement - expanding view of success
Working on outlook and attitude
Goal setting
The Olympic experience

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

Healthy Striving and Psychological Flexibility with Dr. Diana Hill Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Dr. Diana Hill focuses on ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - and specializes in evidence-based and compassion-focused approaches.

Diana started as a biopsychology major and also practiced yoga and mindfulness to manage her struggles with anxiety and eating. After her undergraduate degree, she went for her PhD in clinical psychology. She became the clinical director at La Luna Center, an intensive outpatient center for eating disorders that embraces feminine, and holistic, integrative approaches to healing, designing programs centered around ACT.

After becoming a mother, Diana moved back to Santa Barbara, and started a private practice. To stay on top of the most current psychology research, she started a podcast called Psychologists Off the Clock with her colleague Dr. Debbie Sorenson in 2016. She also wrote a book with Dr. Sorenson called ACT Daily Journal: Get Unstuck and Live Fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, released in 2021.

Diana also records a podcast called Your Life in Process and offers a Foundation of ACT course.

In this podcast, Sonya and Diana talk about acceptance based therapy, mindfulness, and more.

Key Takeaways

Acceptance-based therapy
Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness
What acceptance means
A “yes” brain
Values - qualities of action that you bring to situations
Psychological flexibility and the six core processes
Harnessing energy
Resting even though you feel guilty
Enoughness
Being efficient with your time
Celebrating successes

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

Understanding Impostor Syndrome and How to Deal with It Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

Impostor Syndrome - you've heard of it. You've probably felt it. It happens when we discount our ability in a certain area or areas, despite obvious evidence to the contrary. For example, I've been World Champion. I've won major races around the world. I've been US National Champion 4 times. I have been a paid professional athlete since 2014…. and yet at times… I still do not feel like I am a “real pro.” Boom. Impostor Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome shows up in many areas of our lives (even if we have advanced degrees, tons of experience, and heaps of success). It can be paralyzing and prevent us from getting started or going after our goals and dreams.

In this episode, I talk about: