kids couch to 5k

💫It’s Time to Be Apart of Something Amazing

Sweet friends,

2020 is off to a great start! Are you feeling like you are ready to be apart of something bigger? Something that will impact the lives of others?

We are challenging and encouraging you to take a leap of faith and step into a new opportunity that will give back, make an impact on the local community, and fill your heart AND your spirit.

Join the committee team for our 2nd-annual Fit for a Miracle 5K benefitting Extra Special People!

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Fit for a Miracle 5k Committee

After such an incredible event last year, where we were able to raise close to $18,000, we are absolutely thrilled to host our 2nd-annual Fit for a Miracle 5k benefitting ESP, with bigger goals this year, but we won’t be able to pull it off without YOUR help.

The race is dedicated to helping the Athens community live transformed in body, mind, and spirit. All of the proceeds from this event will be donated toward Extra Special People and help to fund the new Miracle League Complex.

ESP creates ​opportunities for people with disabilities and their families to engage connect and thrive ​through summer camp, after-school and family support. The ESP Miracle League will provide transformative experiences for individuals of abilities to thrive​ through the magic of accessible play and inclusive baseball. The ESP Miracle League complex will include a rubberized baseball field, inclusive playground, and splash-pad.

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Committee Roles:

Below are some roles that need to be filled within the committee in order for us to pull off the Fit for a Miracle 5K:

  • Networking

  • Design/Marketing

  • Organizing Volunteers

  • Registration

  • Execution

  • Fundraising/Support

  • General Planning

  • Sponsorship

    If any of these roles sound like something you could take on, we would love for you to pray about it and join us for our first committee meeting on Wednesday, January 29th, at 11:30am in the TransFit studio.

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Thank you in advance for your contribution to this incredible event.

We are expectant for the impact of this year’s Fit for a Miracle 5k.

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It is not too late to set your goals for 2020.  

A new year gives you time to start fresh with your goals. Let's not look back at the past and “what we should have done”, but rather look to the present moment and the future. Setting goals will allow you to focus on what you want to accomplish—your dreams and your passions. Setting goals and completing action steps will help you to make what seems impossible, become possible!  

Our Holiday Extravaganza winner, Julie Bayne, recommended this salad, so give it a try!If you didn’t get a chance to check out her spotlight, click HERE. You will want to read her transformation story!

Our Holiday Extravaganza winner, Julie Bayne, recommended this salad, so give it a try!

If you didn’t get a chance to check out her spotlight, click HERE. You will want to read her transformation story!

Famous Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup uncooked quinoa

  • 2 cups shredded red cabbage, depending on how much crunch you like

  • 1 red bell pepper, diced

  • 1/4 cup diced red onion

  • 1 cup shredded carrots

  • ½ cup chopped cilantro

  • ¼ cup diced green onions

  • ½ cup cashew halves or peanuts (honey-roasted is good)

  • Optional: 1 cup edamame or chickpeas

  • Fresh lime, for a bit of tang

    For the dressing:

  • ¼ cup all natural peanut butter

  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

  • 3 tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos

  • 1 tablespoon honey (use agave or pure maple syrup if vegan)

  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or red wine vinegar

  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil or more sesame oil

  • Water to thin, if necessary

Instructions:

  1. To cook quinoa: In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with fork; place in large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. You should have a little over 2 cups of quinoa.

  2. To make dressing: Add peanut butter and honey or agave to a medium microwave safe bowl; heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Add in ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and both sesame and olive oil and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. If you want a thinner dressing, simply stir in a teaspoon or two of water or olive oil.

  3. Add as much or as little dressing as you’d like to the quinoa. I always start out with a little bit of dressing and usually add more to suit my taste preferences. Alternatively you can save the dressing for later and add when you are ready to eat; however the flavors of the dressing usually soak into the salad so I love adding it to the quinoa first.

  4. Next fold in red pepper, onion, cabbage, carrots, and cilantro into the quinoa. Garnish with cashews and green onions. Serve chilled or at room temperature with lime wedges, if desired.

Winter Meal Plan

Having a hard time figuring out how to eat wisely and stay on track with your nutrition goals? No need to worry!

We’ve got you covered with some meal planning inspiration.

This is a whole weeks worth of balanced nutrition that will keep you energized and satisfied throughout any day! Carve out at least two hours to prep your meals for the week and then experience the convenience of not stressing over what to eat! If you need more nutrition assistance, reach out to our Registered Dietician, Kaeti Shurling, today! 

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Monday’s Modified MLK Schedule

TransFormer Sessions

5:30am

9:30am

6:00pm

Celebrate each small victory for the rest of January. You CAN reach that goal, run that extra mile, swap a Coke for water, or make it in the studio one more day a week. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it. Commit to your dreams and goals today! 

Check out our website for more blogsinspirationrecipesworkouts, and more!

Join us for Bible Study on Thursday's at 12pm in the TransFit studio. It is never too later to join in. We would love you to join us! 

Please let us know how we can serve you! Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to schedule a on-on-one with a Personal Trainer, Running Coach, or Dietician!

Blessings, 

Team TransFit

🙌 Are you Ready for a Miracle in March?

Sweet friends,

March is here! Your dedication and motivation throughout February truly inspired us and we had such an incredible month in the studio with you all. Pam’s Esther Bible Study has helped us stay committed and grow our faith. We are so blessed to spend time with TransFit Girls every Wednesday, helping them learn more about body, mind, and spirit! And wasn’t Valentine’s week SO much fun? We ended February strong with our Self Defense lunch & learn— we absolutely loved spending time bonding with you all while learning valuable skills to protect ourselves!

Please send us your February calendar challenge sheets. We want to see your hard work and reward you for it! You can post it to social media (make sure to tag us), text it to us, or email it to us at transfitathens@gmail.com!

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Fit for a Miracle 5k

Exciting news! We are absolutely thrilled to announce a project we’ve been working on— our first annual Fit for a Miracle 5k benefitting ESP, hosted by TransFit Athens and scheduled to take place on May 4, 2019 at 5:00 pm. We will also have a Miracle Mile (1 mile fun run) at 4:30 pm. Registration for each event will begin the hour before it starts. The race is dedicated to helping the Athens community live transformed in body, mind and spirit. All of the proceeds from this event will be donated toward Extra Special People and help to fund the new Miracle League Complex. If you or your business would like to help sponsor this event please email us.

ESP creates ​opportunities for people with disabilities and their families to engage connect and thrive ​through summer camp, after-school and family support. The ESP Miracle League will provide transformative experiences for individuals of abilities to thrive​ through the magic of accessible play and inclusive baseball. The ESP Miracle League complex will include a rubberized baseball field, inclusive playground and splash-pad.

We have an awesome Couch to 5K ebook on our website HERE that you can purchase to help you train for our upcoming 5K! You can also get our kids version of the Couch to 5K plan HERE.

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Entry is $15 with a t-shirt for the Miracle Mile. Entry for the 5K will be $25 with a t-shirt until April 26th, or $30 with a t-shirt on race day (while supplies last). You can register for this event online at active.com or click the button below to download our mail-in registration form. If you or anyone you know is interested in sponsoring this event, you can download the sponsor form by clicking the second button below!

The Fit for a Miracle 5K is not only an amazing opportunity to increase your fitness, but it’s also in support of an incredible cause. ESP is very near to our hearts because Kaeti Shurling, our incredible registered dietitian on staff, has a daughter with disabilities. Please read Kaeti’s story about her little miracle below!

“Almost exactly a year ago Nick and I found out we were going to become parents. And a few months after that, in a single day, we found out that our baby was a GIRL, she had Down syndrome, and she had 3 cystic hygromas that were likely going to inhibit her from making it into this world. That day is a blur and crystal clear all at the same time. It remains the scariest day of my life. For a moment Nick and I felt completely helpless. But it didn’t last long. God quickly wrapped us in hope as friends, family and even strangers flocked to us with their prayers, kind words and gestures. In a matter of days I was praying for a miracle that I KNEW God was capable of preforming. And he did. Less than a month later, Wynnie’s hygromas had completely disappeared! Yet the miracles kept coming. Among those that filled our hearts with hope was our ESP family. With every Java Joy coffee cart visit, we’ve grown more and more close to ESP. Nick and I are so fortunate for Laura Graben and Laura Whitaker who’ve treated us as part of the family from the start. We are in love with the participants we’ve met and how they love on our sweet Wynnie who arrived healthily into this world in October. ESP is part of our miracle! They get us excited for what’s to come with our differently-abled little girl!

We hope that our story will shed some light on how wonderful ESP’s mission is and we encourage you to help them continue to touch so many families as they have ours!

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A new month means… you guessed it, a new calendar! In February we did cardio every day in honor of heart health. This month we are focused on being ABSolutely motivated in March! Print this calendar out, write down the abdominal exercise you do each day, and color it in! You can download a printable version of the calendar by clicking the button below or grab one in the studio.

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Fun March Events

HIIT Tuesdays

You asked, we answered!! We will now be offering our HIIT cardio classes on Tuesday’s at 5:30 am. This is an incredible workout and we guarantee you will leave feeling amazing- transformed in body, mind, and spirit! You can sign up for these sessions on our app HERE. Read our blog about the benefits of HIIT here.

Lunch and Learn

Save the date! This month’s lunch and learn will be Thursday, March 28th from 12-1 pm. In honor of our Fit for a Miracle 5K, we are focusing on healthy and efficient running form! More to come on this informative, fun lunch and learn!

Running Group

Starting March 4th, join us for this group on Mondays at 8:20am outside TransFit. Improve your running efficiency with proper form, increase your strength and balance with running-specific exercises, expand your cardiovascular capabilities with an outdoor runners workout. Revive your body practicing essential stretches for runners! This session is designed for every level. Whether you are new to running or looking to increase speed and efficiency, this group will be beneficial for you! Sign up for this on our free app HERE. Email Lisa HERE if you have any questions.

TransFit Girls

We’re so excited our TransFit Girls sessions will continue through March, Wednesdays at 4:15! This class will not meet Wednesday, March 13th. It’s never too late to sign your girls up! You can purchase the sessions on our website HERE or our free app HERE.

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Contact a TransFit Staff Member

Lisa Patton: As mentioned above, Lisa is available to train you or provide you with a plan to accomplish your fitness goals, whatever they may be! Want to run a 5k or a marathon Lisa can create the plan to fit your needs. To schedule a one-on-one with Lisa, contact her HERE.

Eliza Harris: Eliza is our amazing new personal trainer who is so excited to meet everyone and help them with their personal fitness goals. If you haven’t read our blog on Eliza’s introduction, check it out HERE. Email Eliza to schedule a one-on-one HERE!

Kaeti Shurling: Kaeti is our amazing registered dietician here at TransFit! She can help you with nutrition and meal planning to meet your goals no matter where you are in your journey! Additionally, she has experience working with various dietary restrictions. Contact Kaeti to set up a one-on-one HERE.

Caroline Ward: Meet with Caroline to discuss any of your whole body health and fitness goals for the month of March. We are excited to serve you! Message Caroline HERE.

Pam Adams: Pam would love to meet with you about any of your spiritual goals or prayer requests! Email her to set up a meeting HERE.

If you would like to meet with any other TransFit Personal Trainers or staff, email us HERE!

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Check out our website for more blogs, inspiration, recipes, workouts, and more!

Let us know how we can serve you! We are so excited for a miracle in March! Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to schedule a on-on-one!

Blessings, 

Team TransFit

On Your Mark, Get Set, RUN!

Happy Friday beautiful friend- we made it! Enjoy and give your best the last day of this beautiful week! Make each and every day count on your journey to total body transformation! Exciting news....next Friday 6 am come join us for our new Free Runners Workout! Please sign up for this session on Mind Body so we know you are coming! We will meet at TransFit parking lot at 6am next Friday! All friends are welcome to join! The TransFit Team wants to help you reach your whole body health goals and getting in extra cardio is always essential! All you need is your running shoes and a smile! 

If you are not a "runner" walking and jogging is just as important for your transformation. Meet below, Lisa Patton, our new TransFit Running Coach and Lisa tells us her Top 10 Reasons to Run below! Come out of your comfort zone and try out this new workout- walkers, joggers, runners, sprinters are all welcome as we encourage & inspire each other to be our best! 

Car                                            Caroline Ward & Lisa Patton

Car                                            Caroline Ward & Lisa Patton

As we dive into summer, I am thrilled to come alongside you in your whole body fitness journey. I have meet many of you at early morning TransFit sessions and look forward to seeing more of your smiling faces during our Runners Workout. I am TransFit’s Running Coach, Lisa Patton, and running is my favorite way to get my cardio!

We are combining running with specific strength exercises that focus on glutes, legs, and core to get the ultimate cardio and strength workout. TransFit’s ideal location allows us the opportunity to take advantage of the UGA track. Our Runners Workout will start at TransFit with a walk/jog to the track. Using body weight strength exercises we will fire up muscles groups needed to be healthy runners. On the track we will get our hearts pumping as we build a strong cardiovascular foundation for our healthy lifestyle. A walk/ jog back to TransFit will cool us down and have us ready for essential stretches. 

Why run for cardio? Here are my top 10 reason’s Running is my FAVORITE CARDIO! 


Lisa’s Top 10 Reason’s to RUN! 

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

10. To achieve goals! 

There is a variety of goals to be set for a run; finishing a workout, going farther, going faster, and more. As an added bonus, setting and achieving goals boost your confidence and self esteem!

9. To tone legs and butt! 

Not only is running an awesome heart pumping workout, it also serves as strength training for your legs and booty! When running your lower body carries your entire body weight and with each run your bones and muscles get stronger.

8. You can do it anywhere. 

At the park, in the city, in the neighborhood, or on the beach you can run. If the weather doesn’t allow, hit the treadmill.

7. Running burns serious calories. 

Typically running can burn an estimate of 100 calories per 10 minutes depending on pace. Jogging/Running helps us keep a healthy body weight. After a run be ready to fuel your body with healthy food choices.

6. Running gets you outdoors to enjoy God’s beautiful creation. 

God has giving us such an incredible world to enjoy. Even if your not going to stop and smell the flowers during your cardio workout, you can look around and smile and thank God for His awesome work.

5. Running reduces stress! 

Not that any of us have stress in our lives, but just in case please note: Minutes into your run your brain begins to release hormones that naturally improve your mood, making you calmer and more relaxed....YES, PLEASE.

4. Running can be family time. 

Your run can include the kids biking beside you or a chat with your husband about weekend plans. A run can look like a fun game of chase with the entire family. When its race time the family can be there cheering you on or running beside you.

3. Running is SOCIAL! 

It is amazing how much better you feel after a run with your friends. It’s a time to encourage each other, sometimes vent, and then encourage again. It’s a recipe swap and family activity planning. It’s also a chance to get to know someone new and make friendships that will always share a special bond.

2. Alone time. 

I know I just raved about running being fun with family and friends, but sometimes it also a time to be alone. A time to clear your mind, to be quiet, to think, to daydream, to pray, to listen.

AND MY NUMBER 1 REASON TO RUN... 

1. WORSHIP! 

God has giving us such amazing gifts; our bodies, our friends, our health, our minds, our world, our family. These are just a few of the things we are reminded of and can praise Him for on a run! 

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous” Psalm 139:13-14


We would love to see you at our next running session! In addition to the running session, you can get your whole family involved in running! Try our new ebook- Kids Couch to 5K. This ebook features a couch to 5K program, runner's workouts, healthy snacks and recipes, and more! You can purchase the ebook online at the TransFit Athens shop. Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com if you have any questions! 


Enjoy your weekend! Remember the June goals you have set! 

Try the runner's workout this weekend! Let us know how we can help you! We can't wait to see you in studio or on the track next week! 

Blessings,

Team TransFit

 

 

Kids get active! Family Couch to 5k Program!

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Summer is a great time to be outside -running for fun, or training for a race. I love talking with mothers who are doing both, and they tell me how much their kids want to run with them. It's always a great idea to get your child to start a healthy habit, but we need to be cautious about the right way to do so. Just because children seem hyperactive and energetic, doesn't mean they'll be ready to run a few miles right off the bat! Kids need a plan, just as adults do, and they need incentives along the way. Download the chart below for a Kids Couch to 5k Program. This program is designed to gradually build up endurance through 10 stages until they are ready to run for 30 minutes straight! Add in games like a scavenger hunt,capture the flag, or dodge ball as fun running games! Start this program with your kids for some fun family bonding, and you may even spark a passion for a lifetime of running on the way!

kids couch to 5k

kids couch to 5k

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Even though this program is designed for children, it can be used by anyone to train for a 5k. If you find it hard to start the regimen by yourself or with your children Transfit offers customized running plans for people of all ages and levels- we love walkers too!!!

Please email me at transfitathens@gmail.com if you would like to discuss a customized running program or visit http://www.transfitathens.com/running.html

Remember to stay hydrated and to stretch with any physical activity for best results!

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Happy running,

Caroline

Fall In Love With Running- The Ultimate Runner's Workout!

Fall is an amazing time of the year for running or brisk walking. The early start of the day is now bright for morning runs. Thankfully, here in Georgia, the afternoons are still warm and sunny, making quick lunchtime runs or brisk walks a treat!

Lyla & Ayn Paker at a local run having a blast!

Fall is also the season for a lot of races, from 5ks to marathons, and it's the perfect time to start training for spring races. While training for running races, it's easy to just focus on building up mileage or doing interval training. However, it is also beneficial to include some strength training to properly develop your muscles and help prevent injuries. With that in mind, I've developed a workout designed with runners in mind.  You can do this workout at home, all you need is a stability ball, dumbbells, and a bench or a step! Have fun with this full body runner's workout!

Ultimate Workout for Runners

One way to make running more rewarding is involve your family. My kids love going on short runs and participating in fun runs. However, just because kids seem full of energy, doesn't mean they're ready to jump right in to a full 5k. Properly training for a race is just as important for kids as it is for adults, if not more so since kids are still growing and developing. Practice good habits with your children like developing a good post run stretching routine and slowly increasing the amount of time spent running or walking. The following plan is one that my children and my friends have used with great success.

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The most important part of running is having fun! So try the strength workout, go for a walk or jog with your kids, and get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. Fall in love with running or walking to enjoy your healthy lifestyle!

Blessings,

Caroline