Grow the Good

Fiona Oakes is an elite marathon runner, who has completed over 100 marathons and finished in the top 20 in two of the world’s Major Marathon series, winning the Main Start and placing in the top 20 in the Great North Run. She holds four Guinness recognized World Records in endurance events including being the fastest woman to run a Marathon on every Continent. But Fiona doesn’t consider herself a...

Bob Doyle is a law of attraction expert and coach. The law of attraction is a belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person's life. He focuses heavily on helping people decide who they want to be and how they want to express themselves. Bob has been teaching these principles through programs, live events, podcasts, coaching, writing and more si...

In 2017, Hillary Allen experienced a life threatening accident that had the potential to completely derail her career as an endurance athlete. She fell 150 feet off a ridge-line during a race in Norway. With 14 broken bones, she was told she’d never run again, and most definitely not compete at an elite level. She overcame the odds and made a full recovery to return to elite level racing.  Hillary...

Small wins are possibly one of the most important aspects of progress, motivation, and confidence in our lives that are overlooked. The reality is that they are the building blocks, the steps, the brush strokes to building a masterpiece. No one suddenly has a big, flashy achievement. They are the many steps to get there that build resilience and character, not the achievement itself. The irony is...

James Lawrence, also known as the Iron Cowboy, is a mindset and fitness coach, best known for testing his mental and physical limits. In 2021, James set out to complete 100 Ironman-distance triathlons in 100 days. He ended up doing 101 triathlons in 101 days. The Conquer 100 wasn’t the first time James tested his athletic limits. It started when his wife signed him up for a marathon. But one marat...

Cycling has been a lifeline for Haley Smith. Haley, a top professional cyclist, competed in the cross-country event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the bronze medal, and was named to the 2020 Canadian Olympic team and competed in the delayed summer games in 2021. She recently signed with Maxxis Factory Racing after a decade with Norco. But cycling has been more than competition to Haley; i...

Dr. Diana Hill focuses on ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - and specializes in evidence-based and compassion-focused approaches.  Diana started as a biopsychology major and also practiced yoga and mindfulness to manage her struggles with anxiety and eating. After her undergraduate degree, she went for her PhD in clinical psychology. She became the clinical director at La Luna Center, an in...

Impostor Syndrome - you've heard of it. You've probably felt it. It happens when we discount our ability in a certain area or areas, despite obvious evidence to the contrary. For example, I've been World Champion. I've won major races around the world. I've been US National Champion 4 times. I have been a paid professional athlete since 2014…. and yet at times… I still do...

Gretchen Rubin has a knack for taking a huge amount of information and making it clear and relatable for the masses. Her focus is happiness and human nature and has several bestselling books, including The Happiness Project and The Four Tendencies. Her work draws from cutting-edge science, the wisdom of the ages, lessons from popular culture, and her own experiences to explore how we can make our...

Brian Asbill, MD, board certified in Cardiovascular Diseases and Clinical Lipidology, had a career defining moment back in 2013 (he’ll talk about this during the podcast). One of his patients, who had already survived two open heart surgeries and was still experiencing chest pain, came in to see him after a recommendation for a third surgery by a different doctor. Brian had a book in his office by...

Today, you'll learn the difference between fierce self-compassion and tender self-compassion. In 2017, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Kristin Neff to talk about her book “Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself,” and the basics of self-compassion. This week, I had the opportunity to reconnect with Kristin, doing a deeper dive into self-compassion and learning m...

Our family made a lot of changes in the last year to our lives. We moved to an entirely new town, bought a house, changed our work environment, got pregnant with our second child, and we are raising a sweet toddler! Each month, I like bringing a solo episode to you. Usually, it's about a well-researched topic as it relates to topics covered on the show (and you can get weekly doses in my news...

Emily Oster tells it like it is. The Professor of Economics at Brown University is known for her books that take a data-driven approach to pregnancy and parenting. Wondering what’s behind the sushi rule during pregnancy or how much coffee you’re allowed to drink? Curious about co-sleeping? Potty Training? Emily provides the data and analysis that drive these well-known rules.  Emily’s first book,...

Dani Taylor and Giacomo are vegan bodybuilders. Sounds a little bit like an oxymoron, right? But these two married athletes are amazing examples for how you can be plant-based, strong, and champions. In this podcast, Dani, Taylor and Sonya sat down to talk about how to be a vegan bodybuilder, what steps to take to incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet, and their work coaching through V...

In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Katy Milkman, a professor at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, to discuss behavior sciences, behavior change, setting goals, and much more. Katy conducts research that looks at insights from economics and psychology and how they can be harnessed to change consequential behavio...

Excuses can show up in several forms, especially when it comes to following through with goals and commitments. The biggest excuse often comes in the form of procrastination. We say we will do something later and then we never do it. Other forms of excuses show up as a reason to let yourself off the hook. Maybe you feel like you're too tired, too lazy, too unmotivated, or you just hate doing...

We all have ideas of what we want our life to look like. It could be something like weight loss, improving speed on the bike or running, or even cooking more at home.  When you set those goals, how do you go about doing it? Have you set goals and ultimately lost motivation or simply got out of the habit? With the impending New Year, many of us like to think about what we want to accomplish. In fac...

Imagine rocketing head and face-first down a frozen track around 80 miles per hour with the rapidly moving ground just inches from your face. Well, that sport is called Skeleton and Duff Gibson won a gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics for being the best. Not only that, but he is the oldest gold medalist in history in the Winter Olympics, winning gold at age 39 after decades finding his niche i...

Muay Thai is a martial art and combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques, and being plant-based has been a gamechanger for Cass Warbeck. Cass Warbeck started training martial arts at the age of 11 and is a black belt in Goju Ryu karate and black level in Kurama Yama kickboxing. After reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell in 2013, she went plant-based a...

"It's too late for me. I'm too old to start." Have you ever used these excuses are barriers? Meet Ian Morgan, an ultrarunner who is crushing it in his 50s. And guess what? He didn't even start on this journey until he was in his mid-40s. Ian was primarily focused on his engineering career and property investment company in his 20s and 30s. Realizing that a primary focus on...

Have you ever noticed that when you get close to the end of something hard, you wish you were at the finish line? I notice this feeling the most in a mountain bike race. It doesn't matter how long the event is, but when I'm 70% done (or sometimes even before), I start dreaming of the finish line. It also happens during a workout or a project.  We start anticipating being done and then wi...

Sarah Sturm is a cyclist who can't be grouped into a specific category of cycling. Although you might know her bright smile and speedy results from gravel, she is a 2x Singlespeed Cyclocross National Champion, a podium finisher at the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race this year, has multiple high-profile gravel accolades (aka Belgian Waffle Ride, Steamboat Gravel (SBT GRVL), Oregon Trail Grave...

Most of us try to balance the act of doing and the feeling of being in our lives. We ask ourselves questions like, "How can I work hard and have success without burning out? What do I need to do to feel fulfilled while striving for improvement?" Brad Stulberg, author of the bestselling author of the new book,  The Practice of Groundedness , and also  Peak Performance regularly researches...

Sonya has been committed to a plant-based diet for almost a decade. Her interest in and passion for the benefits of plant-based eating has led her to connect to those equally committed to the space.  Cue this week’s episode with Stevan Mirkovich - owner of Planted Expo, a trade show, platform and network to connect Canadians to local vegan and plant-based businesses. Sonya will be speaking at Plan...

This week, Sonya gets personal and talks about all the details of her second pregnancy. She shares her experience from the first 20 weeks and some of the lessons she learned from her first pregnancy with her son. Key Takeaways: Why we decided to have a baby now Early pregnancy experience with a SURPRISE My biggest lesson as a parent Knowing when to trust your doctor How self-compassion and accepta...