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In this episode I talk about losing 100lbs twice and the evolution of my relationship with food, fitness, and spartan racing. I and was overweight as a kid, teen, and adult. I always felt like I wasn't athletic or coordinated and like my coaches didn't value my efforts when it came to sports. I started yo yo dieting in college and once lost a lot of weight for all the wrong reasons. Life happened and as a result of losing weight for the wrong reasons and not the right way I gained it all back. In April 2016 I started a new weight-loss journey, this time making sure that fitness was a key component. Three trainers and different types of training and 105 lbs lost later I am now a dedicated OCR athlete. I race age group in Spartan races and have had a few podiums but most importantly I have discovered myself and my love for being fit and pushing my own limits. This episode lays out my story over the past 4 years. There were ups and downs but all the parts make me the athlete and confident mentally strong human I have today. My journey will be an important piece of this podcast moving forward.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/levelup-ocr/support

Becoming a competitive spartan racer in 2021 might be your plan. I am here to provide some insight about whether or not you need a coach. Getting a Spartan specific running coach changed not only my racing overall but my mindset and honestly my life. I am passionate about being a successful competitive Spartan racer. There are a variety of reasons why getting a Spartan specific coach or running coach in general can change your racing pathway. If you want to get to the nitty gritty of things and just hear how my coach inspired me then feel free to fast forward to 6:30.   https://www.spartan.com  Spartan YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/SpartanRaceTube  My Instagram @ambermae_ocr   My Coach's Instagram @ashmillost22   My Blog https://fueled-and-focused.com/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/levelup-ocr/support

In this episode (audio brought over from my YouTube channel), I discuss my personal experience of transitioning from Spartan race open to age group. I lost 100 pounds and ran my first Spartan race in June 2017. After completing in 2 Spartan sprints I transitioned to age group for an early start time but I fell in love with competing and running age group in one race motivated me to improve upon my skills so that I could continue to do it for more races and place better and better each time. I joined age group before being "fast" or having a "clean" race and the more I competed the more I stepped up my gain. Eventually I found myself on the podium 3 times and in the top 10 in multiple races. As long as you are ready to attempt everything, go out there with a competitive can do attitude, and accept and do ALL penalties then you can run age group.  IG: ambermae_ocr YouTube: Amber Mae Nelson  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf53jOXFI0DcGJ6DtYSqlVw --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/levelup-ocr/support