Garmin Women PH Spotlight: Lexi Noval–“Be kind to yourself.”

 

1) When did you start using Garmin? How and why did you start the Garmin journey?

I started using Garmin 2 years ago because I wanted to be more efficient with my training, workouts and daily habits. I saw that Garmin has several features that could help me make the most of my daily routine:

• It helped analyze my sleeping and stress patterns so I could figure out what times were best for me to rest in the middle of work, and what times I should wake up and sleep based on how my body reacted to daily activities.
• I also loved how accurate Garmin's GPS is during outdoor races, other watches I used before didn't show the real area and distance I ran, but Garmin showed me my real route, and helped me pace myself.
• Garmin also has a lot of training features that ranges from yoga, cycling, strength workouts, cardio, swimming...etc. But of course my favorite is running – especially because you can program your watch to "coach you". I've been using the interval run feature, and I no longer need to check my phone and have it on my hand to know when to tell me to go slow, speed up or rest... I just wait for my watch to buzz... so it's very convenient.

 

2) What does #GarminWomen mean for you? How does it feel to be recognized as one of the #GarminWomen?

I feel proud and honored of course to be a part of the Garmin Philippines Family. Being able to represent a brand that I really believe in gives me butterflies when I think about it.

Garmin to me is not just a watch brand, it represents people from all walks of life, who want to make the most out of their life by understanding what their body needs. You may be in a corporate job, but you wearing a Garmin watch that helps you manage your stress so that you can be the best boss to your employees, it will inspire you to move and be healthy so that you're able to have enough energy to finish work and spend time with the people you love. You may also be an athlete challenging yourself to do better, or pursuing your dreams to reach the podium!

No matter who you are, or where you are in your life, you're wearing a Garmin watch because you want to do better. To create your life best life.

So to me, being a #GarminWoman is just that. To live by example. By showing how I can create my best life, no matter what that looks like at the moment. Whether it's working as a Global Operations Manager, growing my FlexFit community, or training for races. To live in the moment, and enjoy the journey life has to bring.

 

3) What would you say is unique about your story in your journey of beating yesterday as a #GarminWoman ?

To me, beating yesterday doesn't simply mean just doing better than my previous run or training day. It means becoming a better person than I was yesterday. I have struggled a lot with my insecurities, self-diminishing thoughts, imposter syndrome, managing my emotions, and having a victim mentality. Beating yesterday to me is rising above these thoughts in my head that have limited me for the longest time. All of which I wasn't aware of till about ¾ years ago. It was only then I was able to recreate my life for the better - after becoming aware of self-deprecating habits.

 

4) What is your favorite activity to do? 

Right now, chatting with my Flexsisters in Flexfit about our latest mindfulness session, exploring unique ways of working out... Running, of course! and SURFING. 🙂

 

5) What’s your advice to other women aspiring to find that work, life, sport/passion balance? 

Fitness is different for everybody, so routines would be different as well. What works for one person might not mean that it would work for you. It's really like trial and error, so be kind to yourself would be my number one advice. No one has their A-game on all the time. So it's natural to feel tired, or lose some motivation. And that's ok. Listen to your body, and try to figure out what works for you. It also helps to be part of a supportive community. You are a product of your surroundings, so if you're constantly interacting with people with the same goal, chances are, it'll be easier for you to make choices and act on tips that move you towards your goal.

6) What do you like most about your Garmin?

I love several things about my Garmin Venu at the moment:

• The music! I’m able to listen to my Spotify music anywhere I go.
• I like exploring and fusing different kinds of fitness, so I'm happy that I can create my own workout tracker, on top of the sports apps already built in.
• I’m able to understand my body better, and how i can operate through my day with the pulses sensor, stress tracking and menstrual tracking. My boyfriend also appreciates the fact that I'm able to notify him to prepare for my mood swings... LOOOL
• I also like that I'm able to train more efficiently. Knowing my heartrate zones, and when I still can push myself to exert more effort gives me more awareness in my capabilities.

 

7) Please tell us a little more about yourself. (Where you're from, what you do, what else are you passionate about?)

I was born in manila, but raised in Iligan City. That's a small city in the island of Mindanao, so my days growing up were spent either in school, tutor, my mom's ballet/dance classes, or mountain biking with my dad. Fitness for me has always been a way of bonding with my friends and family. Now, I'm a global operations manager of a machine learning company based in San Francisco- called Scale AI. And I'm based in La Union since the pandemic, so I started surfing! Right now, I'm also focused on growing an All Women's Lifestyle Community called FlexFit South East Asia.