Nicole Handler Lives Life with a Three Word Motto: Fit, Full, & Focus

On today’s episode of the show, I’m running and chatting with Nicole Handler from FitFul Focus.

Nicole Handler, Rocking the Dopey Hat and Medals

Nicole made the decision to really take control of her health in 2012, and that is about the same time that she was bitten by the running bug.

Just Keep Going

When Nicole started running, she was motivated by a friend who seemingly could run forever.

His advice to Nicole was simple and straight forward: when you feel like you have to stop, just push to go a little bit farther. 

That sounds simple, but it can be a real struggle to continue to push when all you want to do is stop. Nicole adopted “just keep going” as her mantra, and it helped her to get over the hump from hating each run to loving the sport and continuing to see improvement because of the work and effort she was putting in.

Running was Just the Start

When Nicole decided to focus on improving her health, she didn’t just focus on adding running to the mix.

She also made a conscious effort to improve her diet as well, and set a challenge for herself to go vegetarian for a month. Nicole realized she was eating too much fast food, and by going vegetarian she was able to pretty much kick the fast food habit.

She has also, somewhat more recently, gotten into doing CrossFit.

While I’ve struggled to embrace the relationship between CrossFit and endurance running, Nicole (and a few other runners I know) has really seen an improvement to her running since incorporating CrossFit into her routine.

Whether CrossFit is your thing or not, talking with Nicole further solidifies my stance that regular cross training is absolutely beneficial for distance runners in order to improve your race times and decrease your odds of suffering an injury.

Getting Ready for the New York City Marathon

Later this year, Nicole will be running the New York City marathon for the first time.

To say she is excited for the race may be an understatement.

Nicole Handler Running in NYC

Nicole lives in New York, and she’s looking forward to running through her city and soaking up the atmosphere and crowd support.

What You Eat Matters

When it comes to losing eat, which was a big part of Nicole’s focus when she started taking control of her health, the food that you eat really matters.

And as Nicole correctly pointed out, that doesn’t mean that you have to eat less.

Eating higher quality foods, and staying away from processed food, really makes a difference.

One thing to remember, however, is that just because you’re eating healthier foods doesn’t mean that you can’t still enjoy some treats from time to time.

One dessert that Nicole is a fan of are these Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies.

Tell Me Those Don’t Look Good!

Seriously, tell me that those don’t look delicious! Want to try them? Click here for the recipe and let me know what you think!

And be sure to check out the recipe page on Nicole’s website, for ideas/suggestions for a wide variety of things to try that are real/whole food based.

Talking with @fitfulfocus about taking control of her health in more ways than one! #runchat #healthyliving Click To Tweet

If you haven’t done so already, make sure you connect with Nicole! Check out her blog for loads of useful articles/information, and make sure to connect with her on your social media channel of choice (her handle across all platforms is fitfulfocus) and thank her for being on the show.

As Always, I’d Love to Know What Stood Out to You From this Episode! Let Me Know Your Takeaway in the Comments Below!

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