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Your monthly dose of positive from the POSITIVE RUNNING MOVEMENT®
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Newsletter, May 29, 2019

"Running played a central role in recovery but more than the act of running it was my re introduction to nature as a trail runner that made my recovery journey possible. Spending hours outside exploring trail networks...simply connecting with our natural space served as a healing salve."
Joshua Stevens, professional ultra trail and mountain runner
Welcome to the latest monthly newsletter from the POSITIVE RUNNING MOVEMENT. We trust that your year is going well so far, and that your running and life is good for you!

Here in Estes Park, our Spring so far has been wetter than usual, with fresh snowfall this morning! Looking forward to warmer days, and abundant growth of our tress and wildflowers! It has been so exhilarating and so much fun to be able to explore our local trails and find what nature has in store for us! I hope that your weather wherever you are has meant you have had the chance to enjoy several adventures outdoors too.

We are excited to bring you more news on our program, tips for focusing on your positives as an athlete, as well as inspiring positive running stories, news on our positive running camps, positive running pictures, and more.


Our positive running story this time is on Joshua Stevens, a professional trail and mountain runner who just happens to live a short distance away from us here in Estes Park, Colorado. Joshua is a father of three, a 24 year army veteran, a vegetarian, and works at Boulder Running Company in Boulder. Back in 2011 he was told he would not likely run again following two spinal surgeries that also left him addicted to opioids. He combines a gentle humility and concern for all living beings with a fierce competitive drive as a runner. Check out the result of our interview below.

Our positive running tip for this newsletter is on how important sleep is for us as runners. We share a number of functions that being sleep deprived affects, and then 5 key tips on how to make sure you're getting enough! With so many in our population not getting enough sleep, this is really really really important subject.

Our inspirational video this newsletter also features a humorous video illustrating what our brain does when we're asleep. This illustration scratches the surface of what goes on while we're getting our beauty time! We are sure you will enjoy this video!


We bet you are interested in finding out more about how activacuity can help you find your positives -  we invite you to find out more by visiting activacuity.com.  

Wishing you and yours a wonderful month of June that is just around the corner, and hope that Mother nature is sending you signs that Summer is very close now! We wish you all the best for 2019 and beyond!


Get engaged with your positives!
Terry Chiplin, Estes Park, CO, USA - Visionary behind activacuity® and the POSITIVE RUNNING MOVEMENT®
Inspiration - positive running story and positive running pictures
Positive running story - Joshua Stevens   
Our positive running story this time is on Joshua Stevens, a professional trail and mountain runner who just happens to live a short distance away from us here in Estes Park, Colorado. Joshua is a father of three, a 24 year army veteran, a vegetarian, and works at Boulder Running Company in Boulder. I have recently had the honor to connect with Joshua on the 2019 US Trail Running Conference and a couple of other projects, and am delighted to add an interview with Joshua to our positive running story series.

Check out the result of our interview at the link below:


Read more
Share your positive running pictures!
We want to see your positive running pictures, and we bet that everyone else does too! Send them to us, share them on our Facebook page, or just tag us on your positive running moments when you share them on social media with #positiverunningmovement. In the meantime, here is a very positive picture to whet your appetite!



#positiverunningmovement
Positive tip of the newsletter

Why sleep could be the best training program element for runners

Sleep is often the least important factor that we might think of when it comes to our training. For many of us sleep is the first thing that we may cut back on when it comes to our lifestyle, yet we now understand that not getting enough sleep can have a significant impact on our performance. 
In a recent feature from Fatigue Science.com, they listed the following factors of athletic performance that sleep plays a key role in supporting:

  • Reaction times
  • Motor function
  • Motivation
  • Focus
  • Stress regulation
  • Muscle recovery
  • Sprint performance
  • Muscle glycogen
  • Glucose metabolism
  • Memory and learning
  • Injury risk
  • Illness rates
  • Unwanted weight gain
A great quote from Casey Smith, the Head Athletic Trainer of the Dallas Mavericks, puts the importance of sleep into perspective:
“If you told an athlete you had a treatment that would reduce the chemicals associated with stress, that would naturally increase human growth hormone, that enhances recovery rate, that improves performance, they would all do it. Sleep does all of those things.”

So, ok, we understand that sleep is a critical component for us as athletes; however, for many people getting to sleep, and staying there, can be a huge challenge. Here are some guidelines to how you can help fix that.

Sleep is often the first thing we cut back on
In a recent feature by speaker and Life Coach, Whitney Gordon-Mead, shared that a survey by the National Sleep Foundation revealed that over two-thirds of women associate their sleep problems with stress. Yet, over half of the women polled said that sleep is the first thing they give up when they get overscheduled. Sound familiar?

How to prioritize your sleep
Whitney also recommends practicing relaxation techniques, where you deliberately and intentionally relax your body, literally training your body to relax on a regular basis - just as with our physiological and mental training, consistency is key. Here are 5 key tips that will hopefully help to get you in the mood:

  1. Meditation - our friends at Headspace have great sleep meditation sessions as part of their excellent app.
  2. Use your imagination - use the positive power of your mind to imagine you're in a beautiful place in nature
  3. Do a body scan - focus on relaxing each part of your body starting at your feet, and working up to your head and neck. We recommend thinking of the different parts of your body as something warm and relaxed, like cooked spaghetti.
  4. Focus on gratitude - think about all the many wonderful and amazing things in your life that you are grateful for.
  5. Plan for it - set a time in advance that you will settle down to get relaxed to prepare to sleep. Don't let your schedule be swayed by watching that last episode of GOT again!

One of the services we can provide is an interview to highlight areas where you could prioritize sleep and gain the benefit of regular recovery that matches and supports your athletic training. Contact us to find out more.

SEND US YOUR IDEAS FOR POSITIVE TIPS
Join Trail Sisters!
We encourage you to register for the Trail Sisters bi-weekly newsletter! You benefit from exclusive offers, and save 15% at the TS store too.
Positive inspirational video
Our inspirational video for this newsletter comes from the Huffington Post, and is a humorous illustration of some of the things your brain gets up to while you're asleep. This all goes all while we are resting, so imagine how busy the brain is while we're awake! We hope you enjoy this video!
Positive running camps in Estes Park, Colorado
A short video that shows how much fun we got up to at our women's running camps in 2018! Enjoy watching, and we look forward to seeing you in 2019!
Registration has just opened for for our 2019 positive training camps in Estes Park! Each camp is founded on positive running, and includes guided imagery sessions.
Here is the schedule for our women's running camps for this year:
Beginner women's compact running camp - May 30 - June 3 - sold out
Beginner women's full running camp - June 17-23 - sold out
Advanced women's running camp - July 15-21- sold out
Intermediate women's full running camp - August 5-11 - sold out
Intermediate women's compact running camp - August 21-25 - sold out
Not sure which level of camp is right for you? Details are on each link to help guide you through the options.
A short video that gives you an idea of the kind of trail entertainment you can enjoy at one of our trail running camps -  we look forward to seeing you in 2019!
The schedule for our 2019 co-ed trail running camps are as follows, registration is open:
Spring camp - May 15-20 - sold out
Fall camp - September 11-16 - 4 spots available
If you have any questions on any of our camps, feel free to reach out and contact us, we would love to hear from you!
Take the Clean Sport Pledge

Clean Sport Collective is a community of powerful voices comprised of athletes, brands, events, clubs, fans and public to support the pursuit of clean sport and athletics through the absence of performance enhancing drugs. The badge to the left shows my pledge to the Clean Sport Collective.

With the help of their partners, the Collective works together to bring the importance of clean sport to the general public through awareness, testing, industry advocacy and restoration.
Awareness is the first step. Our sports do have a problem with performance enhancing drugs, but together we can fight for positive change.

  1. Go to the Charters Page and find your charter
  2. Sign and submit the pledge that corresponds with you
  3. Show your support for the Collective by purchasing Clean Sport gear and donating
  4. Share the badge on your social media accounts with the #cleansportco
Vacation Races and Lucid Images - positive race pictures

This series is brought to you courtesy of Lucid Images, an event photography company dedicated to capturing moments in the most natural way possible, striving to make each photograph unique enough to tell its own story. They've teamed up with Vacation Races, an organization that stages half marathons in different national parks to showcase the beauty of our natural world.
Active at Altitude is the Official Training Partner for all the races in the 2019 Vacation Races series - check out more details on the series and the training program options available at this link.
activacuity - the first guided imagery app for athletes!

Why guided imagery?

Guided imagery is a gentle yet powerful technique that focuses and directs the imagination. An imagery session involves all the senses, and mobilizes unconscious and pre-conscious processes to deliver conscious goals. As a listener, you are empowered to use your own imagination to create a detailed, complete experience to move you towards a goal that you have determined.

A session can involve visual, auditory & kinesthetic (movement or physical feelings) imagery. When you use your imagination in a directed way, you create neural patterns and connections in the brain, in exactly the same way that you use drills to improve your running form, and create new neural pathways to your muscles.

Your mind is one of your greatest assets, and yet it is also one that very few athletes pay much attention to.  Mental training is at least as important as physical training, and should be part of a daily training regimen for all athletes, regardless of pace level or ability. The daily sessions contained in activacuity™ provide a mechanism to train the mind, develop new neural pathways with a positive focus, and result in enhanced focus, confidence and performance for all athletes. Use activacuityon a daily basis, and create a positive support system for your physical training and performances.

activacuity® for enhanced focus, confidence, spirit, athletic experience & performance for all athletes

GO TO ACTIVACUITY WEBSITE
Sent from ESTES PARK, COLORADO, the home of the POSITIVE RUNNING MOVEMENT™

Thank you for being part of the movement and look out for our next newsletter!
Copyright © 2019 activacuity from Active at Altitude, All rights reserved.


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