The Healthy Food Serenade

Heads up: I'm about to reveal a potentially embarrassing but hopefully helpful fitness tip that I hope makes you either:

a) find comfort in the fact that as dorky as you are, there is someone even dorkier,
b) get inspired to try it yourself, or 
c) do both. :)

Music is a great motivator for me when I'm running, and I often use music with my clients to illustrate points, emphasize milestones, and celebrate the start of new exciting chapters in wellness. When I set out for a run, I crank it up and sometimes even stop to dance a little in the street. But over time, I've started catching myself finding more and more metaphors for food relationships in music. It first happened when I caught myself singing along to Queen's "Let Me Live" and directing the lyrics towards my anger at sugar for always taking, taking, taking and never giving back:

Why don't you take another little piece of my soul

Why don't you shape it and shake it

til you're really in control

All you do is take

And all I do is give

All that I'm asking

Is a chance to live

It seemed to really describe the roller coaster of trying to live in moderation with sugar, but knowing that I never really could have a healthy life as long as it was flowing through my body. Over the years, I've found more and more songs that illustrate how I feel about food - great food relationships and not-so-great ones - and really enjoy serenading them as I run. Today, it was Christina Augilera singing "Makes Me Wanna Pray." Here's a sample of the lyrics that seemed to define how I feel about healthy food:

What is this feeling coming over me?

I'm taken back in disbelief

Is this really me, ha! in the mirror I see?

Staring back at me: Could it be? 

A new reflection of a woman complete

All of a sudden I'm so care-free (well alright)

'cause love is doing something strange to me (well alright)

Got a new flame, ha! 

haven't been the same

Something in me's changed, rearranged

And I feel that I've been saved

You got me feeling like you're that something I've been missing

Everything's heaven 'cause life with you has been a blessing

If you click on the video below, turn it up loud! Come to that dorky place with me and sing a love song to the key to being in love with yourself, the choices you make, and the body you get to live in.

Get out there and get healthy today, even if you stop to dance in the streets and sing love songs to healthy food! I won't judge you. :)

Simple September = Slackerville?

I feel like such a slacker for only doing one workout. Isn't that ridiculous? I think so. But, since I am making sure to keep September simple, I'm trying to avert my eyes from my inner over-achiever's (and my outer over-achiever's, too) temper tantrum and pretend like its no big whoop.

I stumbled into the two-a-day workout routine by accident, I promise! I always do my morning workout, rain or shine no matter what because the alternative is unacceptable to me, but lately I've also been popping the baby into my Kelty Kids hiking backpack and going for a hike for a few miles. When I looked up to see how many calories that burned, I was shocked: over 300 calories for an hour of walking! So that was a nice little boon to my day.

And before I knew it, two workouts a day became the norm. The morning weights/plyo/run or elliptical routine, and then the 2 or 3 mile hike with a 25 lb pack. And I started getting tiiiiiired.

Plus the baby's not sleeping AT ALL so that doesn't help. Grrr.

Anyway, this morning I didn't hike because we were doing other stuff. I felt kind of like a slacker. So I told myself we would walk later. But we haven't done it yet. Then I realized how ridiculous it was that I was feeling bad about not working out twice a day.

Hey, isn't September supposed to be simple? In honor of that idea, I am declaring it okay to not work out twice a day, and its okay to not feel guilty about it too. I love my two-a-days. I love how I feel when I am really active, and I enjoy the extra calories I get to eat as a result. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it!

It's okay to not feel bad about only exercising one time today.
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Get out there and get healthy. Even if you only workout once a day. :)

HH

Hey Dad, let's go for a run!

This morning when I was running, I came upon a few nice surprises. The first was the weather. It was actually nice outside and for once I didn't feel like I was in a sauna with someone holding an iron to my face and pressing the steam button. That was nice.

The second was almost running into a deer! I was running along and heard a little shuffling sound next to me. Thinking it was a squirrel or a rabbit, I just hopped over a little to let it scurry away. Then I glanced over and saw a big deer bounding in the other direction and realized how close I came to being nose-to-nose with it! I love the wildlife on my run, but I'm not sure I want to get that up close and personal. Luckily I think she felt the same way about me.

The third really made my morning. Turning a corner to head into the homeward stretch of my five miles, I came across two other runners. Not an unusual thing, as my neighborhood is pretty well populated with people running, biking, or walking in the mornings. But these two got a second glance: a small boy, maybe third or fourth grade, running with his dad.

Awwww.

I was immediately taken back 20 years or so to when I used to run with my dad in the mornings before school. It wasn't a regular thing, and thinking back I'm sure I held him back so much that he had to go and run again at lunchtime to get his real workout in.  But those mornings were really special, and they introduced me to a sport that has been a source of pride, success, and fun for me. 

In a time when its hard to tear kids away from the TV, computer, video games, or whatever else is keeping them stationary, it was really refreshing to see this father-son workout. I wrote about the impact my dad has had on my health journey back a couple of years ago, and still love to see families in action to get healthy together.

Here are some great resources for doing just that:

Kids Exercise and Food Journal - a free online journal that teaches kids about healthy habits and rewards them for creating them.

Tips for Family Fitness - fun and easy ways to infuse your weekends with healthy fun.

Kid Fitness: When Your Child Won't Exercise

Get out there and get healthy today, and bring the kids along!

HH

The Day the Garrrrmin Died

My Garmin didn't actually die, just the battery.


Anyway, this is a story about a series of revelations I've had recently that have convinced me that I am actually doing a pretty decent job of becoming a pretty decent runner.

Fitness shocked the heck out of me this week!

First, the story of sneaky fitness. On Monday, the baby and I decided we needed a change of scenery so we ran a different route. We usually stay in the neighborhood but we went out on a busier road (yes, dad, we stayed on the sidewalk) for a quick out-and-back five miles. Woah. Yeah, I decided pretty quick that the old scenery was juuuust fine. Between the cars zipping past us, the cross walks jiggling the stroller and waking up the baby, and navigating all of the pinecones and branches from a recent storm, it was seriously the most stressful run I've had in a long time. I could not wait to get home. But, as I glanced at my Garmin to get a look at our pace, I realized that I had just a mile and a half to go and was ahead of schedule. That's right, even with all of this junk in our way I was somehow running faster! It was enough motivation for me to pick up the pace, run through a couple of walk intervals, and take about 20 seconds off our time. Hey, 20 seconds is a big deal when you're pushing a stroller uphill into the wind!


I felt pretty badass.


Then, on Tuesday we went out (on our regular route thankyouverymuch) and did our same old boring run. Except we were freaky fast again, taking a whole 2 minutes off of our total running time. My goal has been to slowly shave time off to gradually get to a comfortable and sustainable 9 minute mile and finish a half marathon in less than two hours. Baby steps.


Wednesday was an elliptical day because we had the baby's 4-month checkup. I know, already?!? He's doing great by the way. Twelve pounds, twelve ounces of awesome!


Then today, I strapped the Garmin to the handle of the car seat (all the better to see it, my dears), and it told me the sad news: battery low. Crap, I thought. How will I know when to run and when to walk? How will I know how fast I am going? How will I know if we beat our time?


I felt pretty bummed out.


I decided I'd just have to wing it. I set the timer on my phone so I would at least know if we beat our best time, and then decided to just run it and see what happened. 


I did pretty great! It was nice to run without watching the clock and I surprised myself with how far I could go without needing to walk. Then, I started to wonder why I was so surprised. I run six days a week, have completed three half marathons and have a fourth next weekend, and I've been doing this for years. Why am I still doubting myself as a runner? I don't know.


But, this week was a "hey doofus" bonk on the head that I've probably crossed the threshold to become a well-conditioned runner. It feels good to be here and know that my body is still transforming.


My Garmin is charging now so I will have it again on Saturday for my long run. I'm excited to see what's in store for me as a runner. Whatever that may be, getting out there and getting healthy every day is what has gotten me there. Get out there and get healthy today...you might surprise yourself too!

Miles of Smiles

This has circulated the web for a while but it still makes me smile because it is so true. I honestly cringe when I see pictures of myself running. Either I am grimacing, my skin has been captured in an unfortunately timed jiggle, or I just look like a big ole dork. I'd much rather remember how I felt when I was running, not what I looked like!

Kind of like dancing. :)


Get out there and get healthy today, no matter what you look like!

Five Half Marathon Lessons

Not my fastest, not my slowest,
but I ran the whole way!

Top Five Things I Realized During the Tallahassee Half Marathon on Sunday:


1. This race is a lot more fun when I am running (and talking) with my friend Edie. I missed you, girl! You have to run with me next year!


2. It takes a few extra safety pins, but it is possible to cover your muffin top with your race number. However, stuffing your fuel belt with chap stick and a granola bar and then wearing it under your shirt like I did totally negates the slimming effect.


3. Apparently, based on the number of people who referred to me as, "man,"  I look like a boy from the back. 


4. Fatigue makes a difference! The baby got up twice in the night before the race, and I felt it in every step.  I think I was rounding mile 1 when I started having to talk myself through the race. I thought my body had adapted to less sleep but I guess that only counts for folding laundry and running errands, not running 13 miles.  :)


5. Even when I run slow, even when I run badly, even when I am exhausted and bored and lonely, and even when I am mistaken for a boy, crossing the finish line on a race of that distance always makes me feel really proud. I've come a long way as a runner and an athlete and I feel very thankful to be able to run 13.1 like it ain't no thang.


One month to go before the Mardi Gras Half Marathon! My finishing time on Sunday was 2:15:54 (my watch, not theirs), so hopefully I can shave a little off of that and finish a little faster in March.  2:05 would look very nice!


I'll get started on that tomorrow. Today, the way I am getting out there and getting healthy is by taking a nap!

Why I Ran the 9th Mile Second

Sometimes, even for a regular runner, there is that workout that looms ahead, being all intimidating and ominous and messing with your head. For me, it was the nine miles I needed to run last weekend in preparation for the Mardi Gras Half Marathon. I've been adding one mile a week for the past month or so, which when you break it down is not that big of a deal. It's, like, two and a half songs. A measly 10 tenths of a mile. About 15 furtive glances at my Garmin, and roughly an extra ten minutes of running. Big whoop. When I look at it in those kinds of terms, it's a lot easier to face. But sometimes I still get nervous and wonder, can I really do that?


The 9-miler was making me nervous. I don't know why, because I had not had any bad runs and in fact had been having some really great workouts. I knew I wanted to stick to an 8-mile route that I had recently had good luck with, and just tack on an extra mile. And that's when I thought of a nifty little way to make my nine miles feel more like 8: I ran the 9th mile second.

What? 

I looked at it this way: adding another mile on to an already taxing 8-mile run just seems mean to me. I'd just be thinking about it the whole time anyway, psyching myself out over nothing. Putting it in the middle works better, but about 1.5 miles into my run, there is a good spot to make a quick detour, go out and back for a mile, and get back on the route. I decided to make that my 9th mile. By getting it over with at the beginning of my run, I was quickly back in 8-mile territory, which I was completely comfortable with.


I know, it's a little nutty and delusional. But it worked! I ran the 9th mile second, and the rest of the run was a piece of cake!

It reminded me that most of fitness is mental. Yes, our bodies get stronger and more conditioned and physical changes occur, but the process that gets us to that point is 100% mental. By running that 9th mile while I was still fresh, and convincing myself that it was over and out of the way and I was just on a regular run after that, it freed me from feeling pressured to do anything other than keep putting one foot in front of the next. 


If you have mental hurdles to get over, get creative in the ways you approach them. Do what you can to turn them into bite-sized pieces (one song, six mailboxes to pass, 100 steps, etc.) to make them easier to manage. Or, rearrange your thinking so you do the hard part first and the rest is easy! It worked for me and now 10 miles is something I am looking forward to.


Play some mind games today: get out there and get healthy!

Can't workout? Imagine you can!

I'm still a few weeks away from being able to really workout. And let's be honest, after three months of pretty much nothing, my first stab at retro-fitting myself isn't likely to be really working out. But hey, I'll take it.


One thing has creeped into my mind lately and it's a little freaky: just how normal not exercising has become. Just as we get accustomed to any change, like sleeping through the night or getting to eat at regular intervals or remembering to look in the mirror before leaving the house (all of which have made swift exits from my life in the past month); I've become accustomed to not exercising. Scary. I hate it. I really really don't like it one stinking bit.


I used to ache for the gym, and now it's a distant memory. Muscle soreness?  Please. My eyelids and boobs are the only thing getting a workout these days. It's all for a good cause (cause my baby is WAY cute and super sweet) but still, I don't like how not working out has become my new normal.


Visualization helps. By imagining myself working out, remembering myself in a fitter body, and visualizing what I will do and how I will feel when I am able to be more active, I can remind my brain that this is not the new normal, that I will get back to the old normal, and that it better not forget it for one single second.


I've been unhealthy and I've been healthy. Healthy is better. Here's how I am on the way to getting back there!

Now come on, enough babbling. Get out there and get healthy!

Rear-end Mirrors

You know how it seems like some women are just never happy with how they look even though they look perfectly fine to everyone else? Yeah, I've been that woman. Seriously, who hasn't? Our eyes are not calibrated for reality when we're looking at ourselves (or our children, for that matter). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in most cases women drop themselves like a hot potato.

I left negative self-talk in 2010 because it was just bringing me down and making me feel, well, pathetic.  I don't like feeling pathetic so I stopped.  Since I've stopped using my obviously malfunctioning mirror as a gauge for my self-esteem, I've realized how much of how I feel about myself is related to how active I am. When I'm working out and eating well, I feel like a bombshell. When I can't get to the gym or have a few days of haphazard nutrition, I feel more like a bomb.  No rocket science there. It's virtually the same body either way, but it's a lot easier to feel positive and confident about it when I am taking an active role in making it stronger.

Well, that all reversed itself on me last weekend. I've been working out consistently throughout my pregnancy, but I haven't been feeling very bombshellish. I've tried to remind myself that it's time to stop being so selfish and suck it up because it's just temporary and seriously, get a grip, how shallow can I be? It worked for a while but I still felt larger than life.

Then on Saturday I came home from my 5 mile run, high on endorphins. I was so thrilled that I had such a great workout that I didn't think twice when my son wanted to take pictures of me. As I flipped through them I was caught off-guard.  I wasn't seeing a mushy, over-stuffed, sloth of a person. I saw someone who looked pretty darn awesome for five months pregnant and just back from a run. In fact, I felt so great about it that I uploaded them to my Facebook page.

It was nice to have that reversal of perspective. I was immediately able to appreciate the level of fitness I have been able to maintain and be proud of it. I had gotten caught up in self-pity over what I felt I had to give up but realized I hadn't given up anything. I had gained the best gift of all: a strong body that can maintain fitness throughout pregnancy, a husband who showers me with compliments no matter how hard I make it for him to do so, and a son who wants to take my picture.

Cue the sheepish grin. I guess I have it pretty good afterall.  Remember folks, a lot of fitness is mental, and the messages we send ourselves resonate loud and clear. Don't be afraid to look in your rear-view mirror: believe the nice things people tell you and look for a few of them yourself.

In other words, get out there and get healthy!

My ladder's new rung

The past few years have been like climbing an athletic ladder of awesome. The Ultimate Fitness Challenge, my first triathlon, a couple of half marathons, and a steady fine-tuning of my personal fitness into a place where I was having a lot of fun challening myself and doing what I love and ending each day completely used up and maxed out.  I've loved it!

But this year, I didn't do the Ultimate Fitness Challenge like I had hoped.  I didn't even register for the training camp like I had planned.  I didn't sign up for the Red Hills Triathlon, and the last time I ran more than 8 miles was the half marathon back in February.  My Turkey Trot goal this year is not a sub-90 minute 15k, but the 1-mile Gobbler...and that's just a maybe.  Why?

Because I'm running for two!

Yep, I've taken up residence in that wacky world of food cravings, undeniable fatigue, and purposeful weight gain!  My family and I are thrilled to be welcoming another little personality into our lives, and I am rolling with the punches of being a walking science experiment for the next six months. 

In my first pregnancy, I gained 75 lbs.  S-E-V-E-N-T-Y  F-I-V-E.  I knew that it was highly unlikely that I would give birth to the world's first 75-lb baby, and I hoped against reason that I was one of those women whose bodies just sprung back into their pre-baby shape after leaving the hospital.

I was not one of those women.

No, I sweated off every single one of those pounds, and then some, off over the course of about 18 months and ended up in the best shape of my life.  It was honorable, but it was a pain and this time I'd rather just not gain that much and skip to the fun part.  So I've been sticking to my workouts and eating as healthy as I can even with cravings for ham sandwiches and cake (not together, thankfully).

I'm really looking forward to this new rung on the ladder and seeing what happens.  So far, I've been able to strike a balance somewhere between being that perfectly fit pregnant woman that everyone secretly resents and being the total couch potato that I was last time.  It's a good place to be, and I hope I can enjoy it while it lasts.

It's hard to watch my gym buddies heave their way through challenging, sweaty workouts while I scale it back, but hey, that's where I am right now. And that's cool.

I'm totally gonna kick some Turkey Trot butt on that Gobbler.  :)

Good day!

Thoughts on Running While Not Running

I've been thinking a lot about running lately, specifically endurance running, more specifically ultrarunning.  If you're not familiar with ultrarunning or ultra-marathoning it's basically running for people who think a mere marathon is a yawn.  The distances vary, but it seems that the run of the mill ultrarunner is pretty familiar with the 100-mile distance. 

Running 100 miles. I just want to be clear because that boggles my brain.

It's been on my mind because the concept of impossibility has been on my mind.  And, because I just renewed my subscription to Runner's World and reading about it makes my head spin.

A few years ago, the thought of running a marathon was abhorrent to me.  I just could not fathom why I would want to do something like that.  But now, after doing two half marathons and hearing about marathon training from other mere mortals who have done several of them, it suddenly doesn't seem so impossible. In fact, I plan to run a marathon by 2013 and don't see any reason why that would not happen.

So now, ultrarunning is my new WTF??? HOW on EARTH can someone do that?  It makes me wonder if someday I will apply the same logic to ultrarunning that I once applied to marathons.  Never say never!

Anyway, I have two points to all of this rambling.  The first is how every time I read another story about an ultrarunner accomplishing some amazing feat, I think about all of the people who claim they can't even make it to a 30-minute Zumba class.  The second is how I really need to update my definition of impossible.  I used to think I would never run a marathon, but now I plan to.  What else did I used to think was ludicrous but is actually a perfectly reasonable expectation?

Bottom line is, I'm spending time this week thinking about what we think our bodies can do, what they can actually do, and the self-made gap that lies between.  

And next week I'll start working on ways to close it. :)   After all, I'm pretty sure even ultramarathoners get those kinds of things done one step at a time.

Good day!

Half-Marathon: The Second Time's the Charm!

Ya know, it's amazing how much better you can run when you don't have a sinus infection and haven't just heard that your grandmother died. Those are the conditions under which I ran my first half in October, and it s-u-c-k-e-d.  I wasn't there mentally at all and my physical presence was only in the most literal sense.  When I crossed the finish line of that race, it was from sheer determination and because my sister shamed me into it. I was out for the count and felt like crap.

The second time was better to infinity and beyond!  The race was yesterday and not only did I feel great, the weather was phenomenal, the people were super-super, and my energy and health were right there with me.  I had the wonderful experience of running most of the race with a friend who was doing her first half (go Edie!), and saw so many other friends along the route including getting to "meet" one of my favorite local tweeps, @AHealthyJD, who was volunteering at a junction point.  It was so great to see her there and shout out a hello!  The feeling of community was definitely in high gear yesterday, and it made a big difference for me.

The run was flat, fast, and gorgeous. I felt like I was gliding over the pavement and sailed into the last bit of the race with energy to spare. I had a good strategy this time:

1. I wore compression socks, which did wonders for my sore calf muscles. I highly recommend them! I wore CEP brand socks and bought them at Capital City Runners. I am so not a bright pink girl, but my socks were the brightest pink you can find.  My eyes still hurt from looking at them.

2. I popped two Advil at mile 2 to prevent calf muscle inflammation later in my run. I have no clue if it did anything worthwhile but I'll probably do it again cause I'm superstitious that way.

3. I had a Lara bar in my fuel belt, broken into four pieces. I ate a piece and drank a bit of water at miles 6, 8, 10, and 12.  I don't eat Gu because of the artificial sugars and additives. 

4. I gave my husband a banana, a Lara bar, and a bottle of water to hold at the finish line in hopes of avoiding the blood sugar plummet I had at my last half.  It felt so good to have some good clean calories right away! 

My run was out of this world and I had a great race. Uber kudos to Gulf Winds Track Club for organizing the event, TroubleAfoot for covering it, friends at Boot Camps to Go and Tallahassee Society of Association Executives for cheering me on from the sidelines, and all of the great people on Twitter who made my day so wonderful with cheers and well wishes. 

Oh, I finished the race in 2:07:07, which is 11 minutes faster than my last half and three minutes faster than my goal time. woo hoo! I'm inching closer to the benchmark of completing a half in fewer than two hours...which is the point at which I'll consider doing a full marathon. Is NYC in my future?

In the meantime, I'm still grinning. And, yeah...thinking of a new goal. 

Any ideas?

Injury Prevention: Not just for muscles anymore

I've got a half marathon coming up on Sunday, and I've got a sore achilles tendon. So I've been resting a lot this week, which has made me feel kind of ornery and blobby. I don't like resting.


I also have a wonderful friend who sent me this helpful article on preventing common running injuries. It has some good examples of exercises you can do every day to strengthen the muscles that usually get hurt while running to prevent getting sidelined. I've already started doing some of them and I hope they work!


And thinking about muscle injury prevention made me start thinking about goal injury prevention, and the things I can do every day to protect my goals just like I should protect my muscles.  The same things that happen to our muscles - strain, overuse, or just bad form - can jeopardize our goals, so I came up with these strategies to keep myself in check:


1. Stretch, don't strain! Stretch goals motivate me because I like to challenge myself to do more. But creating too many unrealistic goals is just a good way to make sure you get a lot of things done just half-way and don't ever really achieve anything great for yourself. I have a tendency to make unrealistic goals in the hopes that they will motivate me to be more amazing, but really they just make me mediocre. I say go for a stretch goal! A stretch goal. Singular.


2. Don't overtrain!  Just like muscles, goals need a rest sometimes.  It can be liberating to go for a period of time without a goal, even. I usually last about five minutes in that environment, but I think it is important to give your brain and your body a rest. Once you've achieved a goal, just live in that success for a while before jumping right back into something new. A friend of mine once called it, "goal fatigue." Give your goals some more time in the spotlight before replacing them with something bigger and better!


3. Use good form! As you'll remember, effective goals are SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Action-based, Realistic, and Time-bound. Apply these criteria to any goals you make and it is really hard to go wrong.  This also applies to the environment you create for your goals to live in. Are you creating environments where you can thrive, or expecting your goal to rise above unrealistic circumstances? Are you going into each situation with a clear head and focused on a successful outcome or just hoping for the best?  


2011 is a year of excellence, I can feel it. My goals are coming true and yours can too! Just make sure to protect them, strengthen them, and keep them safe from injury.


Your brain is a pretty powerful muscle, too. Use it!


Good day

Don't Dread the Tread

There's one thing absolutely guaranteed about fitness: options.  One of my all-time favorite things about exercise is the almost limitless variety of healthy stuff to do in my city; if I am bored it is my own darn fault.  We have running clubs, boot camp, cross fit, spinning studios, full-service gyms, personal training studios, a rock climbing gym, our own triathlon and marathon, and miles of beautiful hiking and biking trails.  You have to really try hard to claim ignorance to convince anyone around here that you can't get any exercise.  I'm lucky!

So with all of the options around, sometimes I wonder why I keep ending up on a treadmill.  The answer is simple: I like it.  I work out on a treadmill at least twice a week and its more versatile than you think.  Here's a few things I do to get a great workout on a treadmill; if you hate them I'll give you your calories back.

1. Add Intervals!
I'll admit it - running for an hour on a treadmill is boring. I spice it up by doing intervals, and use a great podcast by Skip Orem, who runs the site http://www.getfitpod.com/.  I like episode #138, the Reserve Request HIIT Running Workout for the Treadmill, but there are others as well including podcasts for walkers.  Skip tells you when to run, when to walk, and takes you from leisurely walk to omygodiamgonnapuke in literally 60 seconds. But don't worry, if you do puke, you can hit pause. Skip will wait.

2. Change Direction!
Every few minutes, add 30-60 seconds of  side shuffles or backwards walking to your treadmill workout. The most important thing to keep in mind here is safety - hang on to the side rails until you get your balance so you don't fall and get injured. Then you won't get to workout at all, which is pretty much the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish.  Check out this video for an example of the side-shuffle.  It's a great way to work different parts of your legs, increase your coordination, and work on overall balance. 

3. Mess with the Controls!
Running and walking uphill automatically makes your body work harder and burn more calories.  Plus its great for your butt, and shorts season is coming up so you might want to consider adding some hills to your workout!  Every minute or so, go all "diabolical robot takes over the command center" and mess with the controls on your treadmill.  Increase the incline, speed up the belt, and just wreak havoc on your central nervous system.  Not only will the time fly by, your body will get a great workout just trying to stay one step ahead of you. 

It gets a bad rap for being boring, but your treadmill doesn't have to be a dreadmill!  Stop being so mean to your treadmill and give it another chance!

Good day!

Half-Marathon Primping



Having a picture taken mid-run is
so glamorous. LOL Credit for this goes
to Herb Wills of Trouble Afoot.

So it seems ironic that in this week of body-image and positive self-talk, I have caught myself thinking about a little piece of prep-work in advance of a half marathon I am running in a few weeks: primping for the photos.
Now, not many people look hip and stylish at the end of a race, and I am definitely not one of them. I look exactly as I should - hot, sweaty, worn out, thirsty, and manically hungry.  Not a good look for most people but I give it my all.

And when I see photos of myself in mid-run, I cringe. Not because of negative self-talk or poor body image - because of what I choose to wear!  I don't usually get myself all gussied up for a workout, but I think I may need to start trying a little harder for actual races that take place in daylight and have spectators. Maybe something that doesn't have holes.  You know that old running mantra, "don't race in new gear?"  I need to start doing that.

So I've been doing my half-marathon primping. I consider it a way to build up the anticipation of a race and get psyched.  I got some spiffy new running tights for Christmas, my favorite and not-quite-shabby-yet wicking shirt, and maybe this time I'll wear a hat that doesn't already have permanent sweat stains (and smells) on it.  That would probably be appreciated by my fellow runners.

I don't have a witty ending to this post. I've been wracking my brain for something cute to say here, but I've got nothing.  :)  Today my blog just is what it isn't.

Kinda like my exercise fashion sense.


Good day!

New Year Resolution Guide: Plan to be successful

One of my 2011 goals (a resolution if you will) is to get faster as a runner. I am doing a half marathon in February and want to do it in 2:10, faster than my 2:18 time from last October. That means I need to run an average of a 10-minute mile. Should be pretty easy, right? I average about 10:15 minutes per mile so I just need to pick it up a bit.


Then I want to get comfortably into a 9:30 mile. And finally I want to complete a half marathon in less than two hours. When I can do that, I'll consider training for a full distance marathon.


That's my SMART goal for running this year: consistently run a 9:30 mile by training for distance events and steadily increasing my speed at each event until I complete a half marathon in less than 2 hours.


Okay, so....I need a plan. "Pick it up a bit," as a training tool only works for about two blocks.  Luckily, my husband got me a Garmin for Christmas so when I've been running, I strap that puppy on and monitor my speed as I run. I learned Sunday that when I start daydreaming, I slow down to about 10:45.  When I snap out of it, 9:45 is easy. And when I'm at 9:26 I feel amazing. But I can't maintain it - that's where the conditioning part comes in. It should be an interesting process.


Here's your New Year's Resolution homework for today - make a plan. Set a goal, make a plan. Dissect your goal into the action steps you need to take - or get other people to take - to see it come to life. Write benchmarks on a calendar so you can visualize when things need to happen. Spend some time visualizing what obstacles may crop up and how you'll deal with them. Write it down, make a plan, and do at least one action from that plan right away.


2011 is going to be a great year!  You can plan on it. :)

My Favorite (Healthy) Things

Oprah's not the only one who can have favorite things, yo.  And even though I will go to my grave arguing that "My Favorite Things" is not a Christmas song, I will jump on the bandwagon and use it as a catchy phrase.  I know, I'm part of the problem.

Anyway, if you're shopping for healthy-minded folks (including yourself) this holiday season, here are some of my must-haves for a healthy 2011. 

1. A good kitchen scale. Being healthy means being accountable to yourself for what goes in your body.  I weigh pretty much every stinkin thing that I eat because my metabolism is just that stubborn and I am just that much of a pain in the butt. Without my digital kitchen scale I would be a take-no-prisoners manic nutcase and that is no lie.  I like mine (see pic) because it folds up and fits in my purse. Yes I take it places with me.  This is wellness without pity, people. Not wellness when you feel like it. 

2. Good fitness shoes.  After years of buying running shoes because they were cute in the store, because I had a coupon, or because they were orange, I finally went and got fitted for shoes like a grown-up.  I went to Capital City Runners where they have this pad you stand on that shows on a screen how you pronate, where your weight is balanced in your feet, etc. and a treadmill hooked up to a video camera so they can evaluate your running stride. I don't know if all of the technical mumbo-jumbo actually resulted in a scientific reason to get different shoes, but I do really love the shoes I bought as a result and have been injury and fatigue-free since, even though they are not orange.  Good shoes cannot be beat! 

3. GoWearFit. You know how much I love my little enabler.  I love it even more since I bought the display piece that shows my calorie burn in real time.  The GoWearFit is more than just a neat-o fitness gadget, it's data gold.  In the six months that I've worn mine, it has earned its $200 price tag time and time again - not only do I get an intense satisfaction from seeing the data attached to my workouts, it provides a calm peace of mind in that I have taken out 99% of the guess-work related to maintaining and improving my fitness.  I only estimate 99% so I don't piss off God.  He has been known to smite me when I get too cheeky.

4. YOU: On a Diet by Dr. Oz and that other guy. There have been like three versions of this book printed since I first read it eons ago, but the fundamentals don't change - eat clean, eat clean every day, and eat clean.  Seriously, eating clean, unprocessed, healthy foods (note: not all clean food is healthy, just eat the healthy ones) is the #1 most important all-time best thing you can do for your health.  This book explains in layman's terms, and with corny jokes and illustrations, how and why.  Buy it for yourself, buy it for a friend, buy it for your office.  And then actually read it, and then actually do it.

Okay, that's enough. We don't want to get greedy! I hope you have a fabulously healthy day!

See you soon!

Underdog? Think again, sucka!

There are these two guys I see running when I am on my way home from work. They are pretty young, maybe college-aged, and they are obviously training for something.  One seems to be the more experienced and athletic of the two, and the other looks like his protege: a little slower, a little less conditioned, a little less athletic.  Anyway, they run down the road and I watch them from my car like some kind of freaky workout stalker. 

Well I saw them again last night, and wow!  The teacher has become the student, my friends.  That little guy who a few weeks ago was struggling to keep up with his buff buddy was like a different runner. It's clear he has been putting in the work, and it showed.  I wanted to roll down my window and cheer him on, but I thought that might be a little weird.  So I cheered for him in my car - woo hoo little runner guy, go on with your bad self.

I love to cheer for the underdog.  Heck I love to cheer for anyone out there working hard to do something!  My football enthusiast friends laugh at me for my practice of rooting for both teams in a game - I just love seeing people accomplish what they work for.  So it made me really happy to see that guy kicking ass on that run. He was LOVING it, too.  He was like a dog with its head sticking out of a car window:

"THIS IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!"

I hope you have a freakin' awesome workout this weekend, the kind that makes whoever has been secretly watching you from their car really, really proud.

Good day!

Playground Logic

Playground logic hits me in the face on a regular basis.  What I mean is the black and white way that kids assess situations that cuts to the chase in a way that we grown-ups have forgotten.  It seems the products of the "everyone gets a trophy," generation have kids who have clearly defined lines of who is a winner and who is a loser.

And since I frequently run races, I frequently have to explain to my son that I just because I didn't finish first, I didn't actually lose.  I mean, I didn't win, but, well, everyone in the race is a winner in some way that is unique to them.  And he looks at me and says, "did you win?"  Well, no.  "Then you didn't win."

yeah, this kid is definitely related to me.

So on Sunday I was painting the front door and watching some of the repeat coverage of the NYC marathon, and Mr. Positive Reinforcement comes wandering around right as the first male finisher is coming in.  He witnesses this and cheers to the TV, "yea!  you won your race!"  It was so sweet.  And then he asked me, "are those people the losers?"

"Those people" would be the people who are coming in just slightly after the first guy.  You know, the ones who ran a marathon in  2 hours, 9 minutes.  Those people.  So we started the conversation again, only this time instead of trying to explain the grainy defintion of "winner" in today's world, we talked about how calling people losers is just not polite, regardless of your opinion of their goal achievements. I think he got it this time.

When I ran the half-marathon last month, all of the finishers got a bottle opener on a lanyard with the race logo printed on it as a keepsake medal.  My kiddo saw it and said, "good job mommy! You won your race!" 

I almost told him that I had not actually won.

But I kept that little nugget of reality to myself and instead just said, "thank you."

Huge shout-out to two of my friends, Elizabeth and Josh, for running on Sunday!  Good job!  You won your race! :) 

Good day!

New Month! New Goals!

Ahhhh.....November. A fresh new clean month.  The past few have been doozys for me so I am really glad to see a calendar with almost nothing on it!  A few races and that's it.  What a treat!

And it's also time to brush off the training goals and set some new ones for 12/31.  So, as of this morning my new training schedule is in full effect:

Mondays: 5 mile run, weights, and Pilates

Tuesdays: 8 mile run and swim (yay!)

Wednesdays: bike intervals, weights, and Pilates

Thursdays: rest. Bah. *grumpy*

Fridays: 5 mile run, weights, possibly swim, and Pilates

Saturdays: bike to my 10 mile run, bike home

Sundays: rest.

I have two 5ks, a 15k, and a 10-mile race over the next eight weeks, which will keep the legs busy, and I am FINALLY getting back in the pool for some swim training.  Becoming a stronger swimmer is a 2011 goal and I like getting a head start.

How about you?  What are you doing to stay fit, healthy, and strong through the next two months?

Have a great day!