Is there anything so festive as a leisurely, lingering breakfast? The kind where you sit around in your jammies for longer than seems responsible, refilling your coffee mug and plate with whatever the decadent menu has to offer? This year, these Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles with Caramelized Pears are at the top of my list of things to make when the opportunity to have such a merry morning reveals itself. Because they’re powerpacked with all the things our bodies need to have a little winter adventure. But also because when it comes to fueling our bodies whole, JOY is a VII (very important ingredient) even though it’s often overlooked.
Last weekend, after a perhaps less festive breakfast situation (scrambled eggs and toast with jam,) I headed out for a ride and ended up enjoying an the company of my dear friend Ruth Winder. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and she had since completed her racing season on the Lifetime Grand Prix since our last spin. She’s looking forward to 2023 and has some big goals…but few of them are measured by times, watts, or podiums.
Instead, she’s focusing on cultivating intuition. Finding balance. She – like many of us female athletes – has experienced mixed messages and has felt the imposition of a negative image of food and fueling during her professional career. She recognizes, that to perform her best, and find the next level of her own career (which is really saying something, ahem) shes’ gotta trust herself. Weave in what makes her happy. Joy is her number one ingredient.
It isn’t common that athletes take this leap themselves, to be very honest but I’m incredibly proud of Ruth for knowing that it was time to, honestly, cut the bullshit and dig in. Happiness, humanity, longevity and joy aren’t part of our discussion in sport, and they’re only just starting to be ingredients we truly honor for life.
Instead, we set out to prescribe. To measure. Even though many of life’s greatest accomplishments come from a place within us that are impossible to measure.
As an Olympian, and professional athlete, Ruth has had the opportunity to train under some exceptional coaches and to receive lots and lots of training advice. Unfortunately, it took many years for her to recognize that the prescriptive diets and recommendations from the dieticians and nutritionists surrounding her were lacking in one critical department: joy was never an ingredient.
And this is a concept that has stuck with me all week as I’m whittling through my work, considering what to share with you here, and during this time of year when the commentary seems to be that we’re all “falling off the bandwagon,” during these weeks of enjoyment, reflection, connection and celebration. Modern nutrition would say we’re sabotaging our training efforts with festive occasions and decadent meals, eating cookies as snacks and missing out on training for social obligations and merriment. What if this isn’t sabotaging anything at all…and instead, it’s actually REFILLING a very real tank that helps keep us fueled for greatness, all year long?
In my experience, as an athlete myself and with others, these next few weeks aren’t the time to slay yourself trying to fit in each training session. To scold yourself for missing the gym, that early morning run, or having an extra cookie as a post-workout snack. This is the time to embrace the joys of the season. To listen to your gut, learn your intuition, and sit a little while longer with the people you love, weave a bit more playfulness into your training, and to make sure that JOY is an ingredient that you’re using (and enjoying) often.
If we lack joy, and enjoyment – in what we do, what we eat, how we drive our days – then it doesn’t really matter what the outcome. We could win Olympic gold fifty times over, but those victories will lack their luster if we didn’t enjoy the process of getting there.
It’s completely possible (and honestly, likely) to be a badass, AND to enjoy the efforts (and fuel) that get you there – but it’s up to you to weave it into whatever is on your plate.
Make these waffles. Relish in your jammies. Snuggle with your people. Turn in, rest, and move in ways that make you feel alive – not just ways that your training calendar suggest you’ll thrive. This is the ultimate in seasonal eating and living friends; a natural alignment with the time of year and the rhythms of nature. No other window of the year provides the opportunity for this much joy – harvest every morsel and enjoy.
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