In today's episode we continue our Action series.  I pave the way for some serious talk about naysayers, fear, purpose and success, failure and focus and resiliency.  In many ways our action needs to be unavailable to others.

I'm not sure if anyone actually cares but today I'm going to share a bit about my workout today as I train for Trail Mix, Superior and there might be another one.

Yesterday I climbed 2.6 miles in 40 minutes while my daughter shot 500 shots.

Sometimes I head into a workout with a very definitive plan.  I didn't do that today.  Bear and I went to Home Depot for a bit while we waited for Chuck and Don's to open.  We need to get out more.  Then I figured out some insurance stuff and got ready to exercise. 

I try and pick my spots usually.  I can tell my training has been getting better.  I'm able to climb a little easier and even run short distances without walking.  

The next thing I feel I should address is my weight.  It's a lot of work to carry 20 extra pounds for more than 30 miles.  I'll add 10 minutes of cardio upon waking and start doing more intermittent fasting and that should come right off.  I am older now though so who knows.

My nutrition is getting tighter and I'm starting to say no at night more to that dark chocolate bar or big bowl of nuts and cheese.  Lots of celebrations here in February for my family so that makes it a little tougher too.

Strength is the next element to add.  I'd been building to this workout for some time, probably three weeks or so.  Deadlifts are one of my favorite exercises and they are always an option when it's time to workout.  

My plan today was to stay lighter with them and maybe add some speed.  That's exactly what ended up happening.  I'll caption a few pictures here if you want to see what I did.

Check out the Relentless Courage Podcast Group over on Facebook.  I go live in there before and after recording podcast episodes.  There are additional stories, podcast set up and podcast final thoughts.  

In the latest episode I read Cardio Efficiency Programming and shared that ebook in the group.

I tell my story so that those experiencing what I experienced know that I can relate to what they're going through.  I don't tell my story to get pity or so people feel sorry for me.  You can save your pity for someone else.  I don't want it.  The stuff I went through was a direct result of the choices I made.  

Since I started making choices that align more with growth and purpose I feel that it's important for me to share the parts of my journey that have helped me along the way.  I'm not saying there is anything extra special about me or the things I went through.  I just might be in a different spot than those that want to move toward something.  

There are many mentors and folks that are much further along than me which is why I prioritize reading (sometimes I'm better than others) and seeking out folks that not only believe in what I'm trying to do, encourage and question what I'm trying to do to help me grow and become clearer in my service, but do things that keep themselves moving forward too.  

I look back to 2013 when all this started and honestly don't really remember much.  Every single day I have been pressing in, learning, growing and trying to keep moving forward.  There have been setbacks.  There have been periods of rest, walking, periods of running and periods of intervals in my growth.  I truly believe that the days stack on each other and as they continue to accumulate we become better at moving and growing.  

While I might not know yet where all this will take me I'm pretty sure I'll continue to share my story and serve those looking to grow.

There are a few places you can find me.  I've got a couple of facebook pages.  There's one "Jon Howard - Athlete".  That's the home of An Athlete's Diary and is the account that links to my Instagram where I usually post pictures of workouts and various other adventures.  There's the "Relentless Courage" page where I share the latest podcast episodes and will grow that page with the folks who join me over there.  There's the "Relentless Courage Podcast Group" over on facebook as well.  That's the spot where I go live when recording the podcast episodes.  There's the Relentless Courage Podcast on iTunes or you can find Relentless Courage on Soundcloud as well.  I'm on Strava.  The last spot to mention here is Instagram @_jonhoward.

To conclude here I truly believe I'm just getting started and don't share my story for any pity or anything like that.  I share my story so that those looking to break free can know that it's a process and I've been through a lot of it too.  By no means do I think I have it all figured out.  I don't.  I have learned a lot about struggle and overcoming challenges and I continue to learn about those things every single day.  Some days I learn more than others.

​If you're with me, let's go!

Here is a brief story behind the Nourish Life Coaching Program.

Motivation is tricky in and of itself.  I am a believer that it is much more productive to live disciplined than it is to live motivated.  That’s not what this is about though.
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Over the next number of weeks in the Relentless Courage Podcast Group on Facebook, I’ll be recording and sharing Nourish, one of the RCC5 (Relentless Courage Core 5) life coaching resources.  The group is growing and we’d love to have you join us!

One of the Action Challenges in the Exercise pillar of health and success is “train for an event or series of events”.  In 2020 the events that usually fill my running calendar were all cancelled.  I did the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee but that contributed to more of an over training feel than a one or two day event would.  

So, this year, in 2021, I am hoping for a few events to actually go.  One of those events is Superior Spring 50k.  I have completed that event 7 or 8 times now and last year did it alone at a local park.  It was tough like I knew it would be and also provided me the opportunity to train for a date and time.  There’s a lot of value in that for me and there might be for you too.

Maybe it is just me but having something to look forward to gives me deadlines as it relates to physical events and also as it relates to other things too.  For example, I will set creative deadlines and set goals based on event dates.  That way I can have a time sensitive goal and I can also leverage the high performing brain that comes with clear purpose and a focused mind.

So, as I look forward to Superior Spring 50k 2021, an event which I will need to gut out no matter what, I set goals around the weekend that event may take place.  My plan is to execute locally if the North Shore version can’t happen again this year.  I’ll get as ready as I can in the next five weeks and toe a line to cover 31 miles on foot.  

It will probably take me around seven hours as I don’t do these things to be in a hurry.  They help me set goals, give me deadlines and manufacture motivation to get things done.  Once my Superior Spring 2021 experience is over I’ll pick the next one, set new goals on tight timelines and leverage the high performing brain that comes with clear purpose and a focused mind.

Do you manufacture motivation in your life?  How so?  Comment and let me know.

That’s a fair question.  After all, listening to the Relentless Courage Podcast hosted by someone who didn’t feel qualified might not make much sense.  

From 2012 to 2016 I worked at Training Edge Sports, LLC (my company).  TES was supposed to be a business geared towards training athletes.  Instead opportunity led to Corporate Wellness and Executive Personal Training.  We put together incredible stuff for the staff like Wellness Education, Healthy Snack Options (like the actual food, not just information), Twice weekly trainer led exercise sessions, we introduced daily stretching and so much more.  It was amazing.  Another beautiful part of my life lost due to alcohol.

Since 2017 I made some changes for the better personally, began to grow spiritually and got excited about new possibilities again.  Howywood Kindergarten Corp. is the international Digital Educational Resource company my wife started in 2011 after the birth of our third child.  I jumped into working marketing for that company and we saw a nice increase year over year sales.  That business has continued to grow through today and that’s what I’ll invest most of my thought into as it relates to business doing the Relentless Courage Podcast, at least for now. 

In 2019 I started working at OrangeTheory Fitness and would do so up until COVID hit the fitness industry as hard as any other.  I was essentially out of work effective February 2020.  Since we didn’t have much going on I hit Howywood hard.  Teachers needed resources transitioning to distance and hybrid learning models and we were on the line creating and marketing non stop for a month.  Seriously, we were stuck in the same house and had our heads down working the whole time.  My hope is that we were able to “be there” when teachers around the world needed us to be.  We tried to do our part and continue to.
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I have been coaching my entire professional career and have a personal training certification from NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), Nutrition Coach Certification from Precision Nutrition and am a Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM.

At this point these are a few of the reasons I feel qualified.  All it takes is guts really though, at least to start.  Live today with RELENTLESS COURAGE!

Are you spending your days in a way you’ll be proud of when you look back on them?

This is a question I ask myself all the time.  Here’s a little bit of my story from 2012 until now as I prepare to share my Affordable Digital Life Coaching Resources Vision, Block/Rhythm, Action, Nourish and Energize through my Relentless Courage Podcast platform.

One of the first activities I’ll challenge listeners with  is “Aged Reflection”.  In this activity we’ll imagine we’re older and looking back.  Will we be proud of what we see?

On to my story.  There's some never before shared authenticity in here that's a little bit scary to share.

In 2012 and 2013 I did not finish (DNF) in my annual attempts at covering 100 miles on foot.  There were many reasons for this for reasons I’ve shared a lot over the years.  

In 2013 I stopped drinking after hitting rock bottom near the end of 2012 and enrolled in the first ever School of Greatness Academy.  Lewis Howes, who I played college football with started showing up everywhere on social media and I had no idea why but it was exciting because I knew him and that was about the extent of it.  I applied to the Academy and was accepted!  My whole world opened up as I would be connecting with people from all over the world.   You can check out his podcast, The School of Greatness.  Here's an episode I just listened to with Grant Cardone.

Around this same time I quit the job I was working for a new, better opportunity helping to revitalize culture at one Minnesota Manufacturing Company.  I also began to write these Life Coaching Resources.  As I wrote I imagined all of the people I would be able to help overcome things in their own lives.

I had three small children at the time, my wife is a Kindergarten teacher and business owner so I had the idea it was on me to create space for her to create and expand so that’s what I did.  Many mornings, as I’m guessing parents can relate to, I would work in the early morning and bring kids to school by 7:30am.  PGC was a blessing during this time as they provided me with flexibility and accepted my leadership.  I was on fire during this time as my head was clear for the first time in a long time and the world was wide open!

In 2014 I knew I needed to change things up a bit in order to finish the 100 Mile distance on foot.  So, I created Nourish.  Nourish consists of four pillars of health and success and 3-5 actions under each pillar.  The pillars are stress management, sleep habits, food choices and exercise.  During 2014 we rolled out these programs through email, posters, table toppers and just conversation at PGC.  I finished the 2014 Superior 100 Mile Trail Race but felt like I still had a lot to prove.  Finishing didn’t fulfill me like I had imagined it would.

In 2015 my grandfather began his battle with Alzheimers.  He and I would spend quite a bit of time together and his death in the fall of 2015 was very hard for me to cope with.  At Mile 72 in the Superior 100 I quit, just stopped running, got in the car and headed home.  I turned back to the bottle and got locked into that pattern again for the next five or six months.  Then a new rock bottom.  It was around the time of my 36th birthday and I thought it might be a good idea to “celebrate” with 36 shots of Jack straight from the bottle.  Those 36 shots all came over the span of about an hour, 5 or 6 at a time.  This was not a good idea but I woke up and turned to God and these Life Coaching Resources. 

In 2013 and 2014 when I wrote them, my intent was to share them with the world and change humanity forever!  That didn’t happen but they did help me.  It was the most anticlimactic effort I’ve ever put in.  I finished writing, filming, releasing and just trying to figure out ways to share with very little response.  I didn’t really know how to handle response at the time anyway so any little bit of encouragement I took as sarcasm and discounted it.  

I didn’t like myself very much, at all really in 2016.  In fact, after another failed attempt at Superior 100 I contemplated (I had what I needed to succeed) suicide.  It feels risky to even share this but authenticity is what I’m after.  That decision making process is one I’ll never forget.  Having made that call in yet another rock bottom moment it has been full steam ahead.

In 2017 I did not attempt the 100 mile distance for the first time since 2011 and instead volunteered and enjoyed Superior in a different way.  I needed to take some time and recenter my efforts.  Howywood Kindergarten was growing and since I basically threw away my job at PGC in 2016, I had time and energy to invest in many aspects of that Digital Educational Resource business.  

2018 and 2019 were fun!  2018 was my fastest Superior 100 finish in a little over 34 hours and it could have been faster if I would have cared how fast it was.  I would rebound by using the Digital Life Coaching Resources I’d created for myself and begin finding creative ways to share them with others.  I wrote on my blog, shot videos, produced “An Athlete’s Diary”, began skiing to embrace winter.  My brother and I made our way to Canada to participate in the Sleeping Giant Loppet north of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Upon the completion of the 2019 Superior 100 I produced a story on the podcast called “A Tale of Two Trips - My Superior 100 Story”.  If you’d like to listen, it’s episode 13.  There is also a blog post if you prefer written form.  You can search for the title at jonhoward.co.

In 2020, while the world shook a bit, we plowed ahead, Katie creating Distance Learning resources for teachers who needed them and I worked harder on Howywood than I ever have in the past making sure teachers could find the resources they needed to keep moving their classrooms forward.  We saw great growth in 2020 and are on track to continue growing through 2021.  

During the summer of 2020 I decided to participate in a virtual ultra marathon I guess you could call it.  The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee took place between May 1 and August 31.  Runners were challenged to cover 635 miles on foot.  That ended up being about five miles per day after taking a big part of June off.  Near the end of June I had a decision to make.  Was I going to continue grinding on this GVRAT to finish by August 31 or would I throw in the towel and focus my energy in other areas.  During two runs I decided to push forward.  But… I didn’t just want to push forward.  I wanted to let people into the ultra world and decided to do the 60 Days of Hustle.  If you were friends with me on Facebook then you probably heard me talk about it and saw information on your social media.  I actually invested a couple hundred dollars in ads.  I think I made $8 and that might have been my sister and I might have even paid her back.  It forced me to go through Vision, Block/Rhythm, Action, Nourish and Energize while writing the program and scheduling the posts in our 60 Days of Hustle facebook group and I got to go through with daily reminders as well for July and August.  I used this 60 Days of Hustle to continue growing Howywood Kindergarten and our busiest season doubled in length.

You see the Relentless Courage I named this podcast for isn’t acute courage, its relentless courage.  There is nothing relentless about facing fear one time and moving on.  Relentless courage is a movement.  I was talking to a friend the other day about growing this brand and mentioned in our conversation that fear isn’t going anywhere.  In fact it seems like a pretty reliable default.  Predators prey on fear and history shows some leaders use fear to control and manipulate.  It’s easy.  More on that another time.

The reason I write today is because I’m going through these Digital Life Coaching Resources myself.  That’s the selfish bit.  Because I know they can help you too I’m sharing them on my podcast platform however small that may be.  It’s not super easy to share this stuff.  It would be a lot easier to just keep it to myself and not give up the hours to record and produce it.  But, when I look back during my “Aged Reflection” I want to see that I put myself out there and did what I could to help others enjoy and make the most of their experience.

So as I prepare for this Life Coaching marathon I would love it if you would engage this brand and become active in this movement.  Most of us won’t admit we experience fear.  It’s looked at as a sign of weakness.  I’ll admit I experience fear.  But… I also experience relentless courage and you can too!  Live today with Relentless Courage!

Follow @rltscourage on Instagram
Follow @rltscourage on Facebook
Subscribe to Relentless Courage on Apple Podcast
Search up the “Relentless Courage Podcast” Group on Facebook (this is where I will be hosting all of the links to this Life Coaching marathon so make sure you connect here)

For the past few months I've been kind of silent here online.  There's no real reason for that.  It's just been there hasn't been much to write about... It's probably more that writing and working this brand haven't been a priority.  

You see, this brand doesn't make any money, at least not yet.  I do this because I want to give back and share what I've learned through addiction, ultra marathoning and many years of running my own Corporate Wellness Company, Training Edge Sports, LLC.  

The plan here forward is to share more about what my life looks like.  I guess you could say I'm going to try and be even more authentic.  There's my wife's (and my) business selling Digital Educational Resources where I'm on it seven days a week.  There's the driving, oh the driving!  We're getting a dog soon and are really looking forward to that new adventure.  
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I tell my kids that it's good to try new things and get involved in new things as they get older.  I've found it helps freshen things up and keep that curiosity rolling.

I'm not sure if I'll do any events this summer.  The training might not fit for the long stuff but rest assured there will be training, and who knows, a good friend of mine says, "just be a couple weeks ready for anything all the time and go from there."  I like it J!

So, my programs are Vision, Block/Rhythm, Action, Nourish and Energize are all full of amazing content.  Not Coaching, but Content.  I suppose there could be space for Coaching though if anyone wanted to work with me real time.  Back to the title of this blog post.  I've got plans.  My plans are to share the content in those programs that I've been working through and revising for the past four or five years.  We tried a Facebook Group last summer and had some good engagement.  

My plans are to use my Relentless Courage Podcast platform to share these life changing resources with you.  You can follow me on Soundcloud or Subscribe to the iTunes Podcast to be notified of new episodes.  I haven't quite mapped it out yet and I might not map it out at all.  While I've been through these programs multiple times since I wrote them, I look forward to going through them with you.  It helps to be reminded of some of these things.  We can get to places in our lives where a reset is helpful, almost necessary sometimes to "keep that spark".  At least that's the way I see it.  So come on the journey and keep the spark alive in you!  

Live today with Relentless Courage!

Jon

P.S. I don't want to go back and cut this up so I'll share a few pictures of the past six months or so at the bottom here.

P.P.S. I'm also attaching a writing I did a few years ago about Cardio Efficiency Programming.  You can get a pretty good idea of what's going on inside your body by listening to your body and using what you learn to create a workout for yourself in real time.  I hope it helps!

No pictures today.  We're going speed round as I want to get this in there for future reference.  Maybe I'll come back and update once we get into colder months here in MN.  60 Days of Hustle is still happening.  Go to the 60 Days of Hustle page here on my site and sign up today.  There's still lots of great content to be dripped over the next month or so.  Invite your friends and go through the 60 DOH with a group!  If you're not satisfied, I'll refund you every penny of your $8.

8.46 miles which was longer than I planned on traveling.  It's been steamy here in MN and this was no different.

We walked 1.82 miles in Wayzata while Elli was at Cross Country and Hannah wanted to show me some cool trails at a local park so we knocked out 3.5 miles over the midday.  Check out my Instagram to see some videos of our time together @_jonhoward.

This run brought me under 200 miles to go in The Great Virtual Race Across Tennesse.  It was steamy.

This was a mistake.  I biked my longest distance ever at over 25 miles and humidity was at 99.9%.  It was a poor rest day activity and has led to a prolonged recovery period which I'm sitting in now.

5.9 miles in the afternoon and .86 in the morning for a small family celebration.  Every mile counts.

6.19 miles and again, it was steamy.  About 4 miles into this run I decided it was time for a break.  I walked it in, reflected on my journey to this point and mapped out what the next four days would look like with no running to make happen.  There is plenty to do and I'm getting a bunch of stuff done!  

I am preparing for a final push that will last the month of August.  I'll still walk a bit as to not burden myself with too much catch up.  I'll likely be about 20 miles behind the buzzard which will put me needing to average around six miles per day every day in August.  I haven't run much in the mornings but may switch my schedule up so I can get some miles done in cooler temps.  That will likely be good for energy levels.

I created this 60 DOH so you could come with me on my journey across Tennessee.  There is still time to join and I guarantee if you join now you'll get your $8 worth and much more!  We talk Vision, Block/Rhythm, Action, Nourish and Energize.  JOIN TODAY!  I'll provide you with a full $8 refund if you're not fully satisfied.