Elizabeth Knight Has A Whole Body Approach To Her Coaching
Today’s guest is an integrative health coach that has both a clinical doctorate of nursing practice degree along with a Ph.D. in nursing science.
Along with her nursing background, she’s also a running coach and has found success by integrating both areas of expertise.
We have a lot of ground to cover and I’m excited to go a few easy miles with Elizabeth Knight today.
Elizabeth Knight
Taking the Pressure Off
Elizabeth Knight ran her first 50k this past October, after never running until she was an adult.
She loves the 50k distance for a variety of reasons.
When non-runners hear about ultra distances, they often think the distance seems unimaginable.
Elizabeth enjoys trails because they aren’t time focused and every race is so unique.
When Elizabeth ran road races, she found that she was pushed in a time-focused direction which misaligned with why she got into the sport.
It’s a frequent occurrence that people get pulled into a time-focused competitive direction when it doesn’t always serve them well.
Running As an Outlet
Elizabeth refers to herself as an adult-onset runner having never been active in track or cross country growing up.
It was during her years in nursing school that she decided to take up running.
Nursing school was intense and Elizabeth needed an outlet.
As an introvert, running appealed to her as something she could do solo.
Once she graduated, her first job was as an ICU nurse.
Elizabeth worked nights and running was convenient because it fits in wherever and whenever she could make it happen.
Along with the convenience factor, running also change how she viewed her health.
Her husband’s family has a history of heart disease, and Elizabeth saw firsthand how running could benefit her health directly.
Elizabeth Knight
Committing To Herself
Elizabeth vividly recalls the chaos the US healthcare system experienced in the early stages of the pandemic.
During that time, something in her changed.
She realized that she was only giving a partial effort when it came to her job and running.
In 2020, made the decision to change that and hired a coach to help her go all in with running.
That one decision changed the way she related to herself both at work and in running.
Though she hadn’t yet run a marathon, Elizabeth shared with her husband that she wanted to run an ultra.
Her husband thought it was a crazy idea, but was willing to support her in this goal.
A fire was lit within Elizabeth as she looked ahead to what she was capable of.
No Substitute For Movement
As Elizabeth looks ahead to 2023, she knows there will be another ultra in her race schedule.
She loves trail running and ultra distances, but she is also aware that ultra running isn’t for everyone.
Running may not appeal to everyone, but as a health professional, Elizabeth knows firsthand how important movement is for good health.
In America, normal daily life often involves being sedentary.
Elizabeth won’t dispute that running is hard.
It takes consistency and belief in yourself before running begins to feel good.
Typical human nature is to not try if you don’t think you will succeed.
Advice that Elizabeth gives to new runners is to track tangible things such as mood, energy, and appearance, as a way to notice immediate benefits.
Health Coach
Elizabeth fills her time by working part-time in primary care as a nurse practitioner and the rest of her time as an integrative health coach.
She is focused on helping people create healthier habits.
Coaching is a skill and so is being able to implement knowledge.
It is Elizabeth’s goal to be able to cultivate healthy habits in her clients while also giving them the tools to succeed in the future.
She encourages them to have a clear reason why they want to run.
Defining a reason will help them to identify what is standing in the way of where they are and where they want to be.
There is a clear connection between improving overall health and improved performance.
The roles of sleep, nutrition, and stress management are often overlooked and underestimated in improving performance.
Elizabeth Knight
Maintain Self-Awareness
Life is not linear and changes frequently, therefore adjustment is often necessary.
Elizabeth stresses to her clients to be kind and curious with themselves throughout the process.
Continue to pinpoint what is working and what is not working in order to make changes along the way to help improve.
Building self-awareness in life in general can be a helpful tool for success.
Detailed log-keeping can help when making adjustments in the future.
Elizabeth is a firm believer that it is the little things in training that lead to big improvements over time.
Breakthroughs happen when preconceived notions are let go.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Stay connected with Elizabeth Knight by following her on Instagram and/or Facebook.
Elizabeth Knight is an integrative health coach that takes a whole body approach to her coaching. She has a unique viewpoint from her many years in healthcare.. Share on X
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