September | 2012 | Run For Your Life

Archive for September, 2012|Monthly archive page

Food, GNC, Ragnar Relay, running, San Diego

Mind Games

In Fitness, Food, Road race, Running, San Diego on September 30, 2012 at 3:50 am

I set out early this morning for a 10 mile run with two of my best running buddies. Both have pushed me through many a painful runs while marathon training. There is something special about the bond you share with your ‘endurance’ friends. They get it. They understand when everyone else just thinks you’re crazy.

Last weekend said friend and I ran 8 miles, fairly easy.

Danielle, my dearest friend.

This weekend, knowing I should run long, was already in the mindset that I didn’t want to run more than 6 miles. This week starts an intense training month leading up to Ragnar Relay, so I thought I’d take it easy this morning. Nope. Danielle says “I’m running ten”. She is one of the LUCKY few who was accepted in to the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco (SOOOOO happy for her) in a few weeks. It’s a lottery entry, she is stoked to be running it. So, how can I leave her hanging for 10 miles alone? So another friend and I man up and run it with her. Endurance was fine, but my legs hated every step of it. Bricks, much? Especially those last two miles where they were cursing me. Yes, I heard them. And the red lights, the dreaded red lights. Stopping and going, might as well just shoot me now. Ok, so I might be a tad dramatic…but you get my point. The funny thing is, how many times have I ran 10 miles? I’ve lost count. But I still have those runs where I feel like a beginner and not quite sure how to make my legs move forward. Those are the runs where I have to visualize what awaits me at the finish…

Recovery

A delicious Con Pane cinnamon roll and roasted turkey sandwich. I’m telling you what, you haven’t experienced a deli quite like Con Pane. It makes ANY run worth it! Oh and the San Diego skyline isn’t a bad view either.

Fun in the sun

Took the kids to Coronado to run around this afternoon.

A trick I learned (thanks Holly!) during marathon training to help aid in recovery was to “rinse” your legs using a water hose, as soon as you could after a run. There were many a run, I was standing in my driveway hosing my legs down with ice cold water. But, I swear by it. Same effect as an ice bath, just a tad more bearable. I say that because my legs were sore today and standing in the ocean had the same effect. It was COLD today. But the kids loved it.

Pre-RUN: GNC’s Pro-scuplt and 1 orange.

I’ve also added these bad boys to my supplements.

GNC Triple Strength Fish Oil 1500

Fish Oil

GNC Probiotics Ultra 5 Probiotic Complex with Fiber

Reduces harmful bacteria and aids in good bacteria for digestion.

GNC Total Lean Engergizing Lean Chew

Energy chews

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend!

▶ View 2 Comments

Beach, Cooking, Exercise, Fall, Recipe, running

Yummy Eats

In CrossFit, Fall, Fitness, Food, Life, Recipe, Running, San Diego on September 29, 2012 at 1:00 am

Homemade taco seasoning

Do you make your own taco seasoning? Well you should ;).

What you need:

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic & onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt & pepper

It won’t turn your meat that weird orange color and tastes better.

Almost done with September…notice our Disney week?

Did a 3 mile beach run last night, averaged a 7:45 pace. Was your run this gorgeous?

Sunset run.

Friday ‘WOD’: Run 200m, 11 push-ups, 11 weighted walking lunges (35lb weight plate), 11 thrusters. 5 rounds for time.

Core workout: Plank 2 spidey, reverse plank w/ leg lift, V-ups, ankle taps, butterfly sit-ups. 5 rounds, 15 reps each.

Happy Fall!! We might not get all the beautiful tree colors of fall, but my Birds of Paradise have bloomed! Love them!

Birds of Paradise are blooming!

▶ View 2 Comments

California Adventure, Disneyland, Exercise, Vacation

Hotel workin’ out & California Adventure

In California, Fitness, Vacation on September 28, 2012 at 10:17 pm

I have to give major props to my GNC GenetixHD backpack (that I got free w/ purchase)…it’s an awesome backpack.

I carried this backpack all over Disneyland for 3 days.

Also wore my Reebok Cross-fit Nano’s for 3 days straight. Have I mentioned I adore these shoes? Ran 8 miles in them last weekend and they were great!

Hotel ‘gym’ – got my WOD on!

Crossfit WOD ‘ Susan’: Run 200m (treadmill), 10 squats, 10 push-ups – 5 rounds for time.

No excuses next time you are traveling!

Day 3 of Disneyland was spent exploring California Adventure. Very impressed by this park and took advantage of the fast pass system because it was CROWDED.

California Adventure – Day 3

Notice how unhappy Sophie is?

Cousins

Alden meeting Donald Duck!

Like my Minnie ears??

Ariel’s Carousel.

Our Disneyland trip has come to an end! 😦 But we had a blast and I’m looking in to SoCal annual passes. Maybe next time, Sophie will be up for meeting the characters!

▶ Comment

Disneyland, Mickey Mouse, Vacation

Disneyland Day 2

In 2012, California, Vacation on September 27, 2012 at 2:25 am

We did Disneyland Park 2 days in a row to make sure we got to everything we wanted to do. We did more in Fantasyland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country.

On shuttle for day 2!

We missed the carousel the first day, but made our way back to it.

Alden

On the Columbia Voyage ride.

Columbia ship ride.

How Sophie spent most of her time in line for rides. A little nervous…poor girl!

Day 3 – California Adventures up next!

▶ Comment

California Adventure, Disneyland, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Vacation

Disneyland – Day 1 & 2

In 2012, California, Road trip, Vacation on September 26, 2012 at 10:21 am

Protein, coffee, supplements -check!

Making sure I have all my supplies for Disneyland!

All of our snacks.

One downside to being away for several days is taking food. It’s hard to eat healthy on vacation but definitely easier if I take most of our food from home.

Disneyland – Day 1

On shuttle bus headed to Disneyland!

In entrance line.

Ahhh!!! Who feels like a kid again?

Main Street U.S.A.

My beautiful girl!

Castle shot.

Another castle shot.

In line for Roger Rabbit.

Alden & Pluto (my child was terrified of the characters)

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Long day!

The park is decorated for Halloween right now.

Back on Main Street…

Park entrance

Ending our day!

Didn’t make it 5 minutes before conking out!

Day 1 = success and two worn out two year olds! They had a blast though. Sophie wanted nothing to do with the characters but Alden had high fives for all of them. He got to meet Pluto, Goofy, & Mickey! I’ve been to Disney World as well and while it’s amazing and much bigger, there is just something special about Disneyland. It’s original and where it all started. The characters seem much more accessible and there are plenty of rides, even for our young ones. There hasn’t been much they can’t do.

What we did: Buzz Lightyear ride, Space Mountain (it was closed while I was in DW), Space shuttle ride, Mickey’s Toontown, Roger Rabbit ride, met characters. Lines were long on Monday, so we tried to do mostly indoor things. It’s HOT here in SoCal.

I’ll post about Day 2 later. It’s 3:30am here and Sophie and I are both run down and feeling sickly. Blah. California Adventure is in a few short hours!!

Diet, Exercise, Health, Illness, Prevention

Making Time.

In exercise, Fitness, Life, Personal Trainer, Weight loss on September 23, 2012 at 11:01 pm

Make time.

Over the course of studying for my PT cert, I learned about several major diseases that affect Americans and how many of them can be prevented or at least modified. And how my role as a PT is not just to “whip” someone in to shape, but to teach people to be pro-active about their well-being. Which is so much more important than how many bicep curls you can do.

Coronary Heart Disease = leading cause in death in U.S. and most of developed world. So strokes, heart attacks, & hypertension.

Cancer = Just a few short years ago, the American Cancer Society suggested that 1/3 of the 570,280 cancer deaths to occur were related to nutrition, physical inactivity, & obesity. So they could have been prevented. In short, 2/3’s of all cancers are preventable. So cancers like lung, breast cancer, colon cancer, cancer of pancreas, skin cancer, liver cancer – all have risk factors that can be avoided.

Diabetes = National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion says 23.6 million Americans have diabetes (8%) of which those 8%, 90-95% are type 2. Meaning their body does produce insulin but has a high tolerance to it. It used to be called adult-onset, but more and more children are developing type 2. Physical activity and exercise help improve a person’s insulin sensitivity, in turn making it easier for our bodies to utilize the glucose. Obesity is also another major cause of type 2 diabetes.

COPD = 80-90% of individuals suffering from COPD are caused by cigarette smoking. Totally preventable.

You get my point?

Those numbers were a little sobering to read. Most of which can be controlled and maybe prevented by things like diet, exercise controlling obesity & stress, and avoiding smoking. Now yes, there are intrinsic risk factors that we can’t change RIGHT this second. But the above suggestions are things we can take control of.

Something else that is really crazy…a sedentary lifestyle is characterized as anything less than 30 minutes a day/3 times a week/3 months or less. Basically meaning, if you can’t find time for low-moderate (3.0 speed on a treadmill) intensity workouts 30 minutes a day, at least 3 times a week, you are sedentary. And guess what? That’s a risk factor for CHD. So by adding 1.5 hours A WEEK of low-moderate intensity exercise, you are eliminating a risk factor. 1.5 hours a week…that is seriously not hard.

A huge misconception is people think exercise has to be painful. Like I said above, low-moderate intensity is classified as a speed of 3.0 on a treadmill. Leave the ‘no pain, no gain’ mindset for the elite. Work within your level of fitness and you will start seeing results and eliminating your chances for disease.

My passion is seeing people live their lives happy and healthy. I want to help people become and stay pro-active about their well-being. The above quote is SO true…ignore eating healthy and exercise today and pay for the illness later. Or slowly start turning those positive risk factors in to negatives.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a health specialist. These are all facts obtained by my own research and studying. Consult with your Dr. if you have questions regarding positive risk factors for above diseases.

Clean Eating, Food, Organic

Clean Eating and Why?

In Food, Life, Weight loss on September 21, 2012 at 6:01 pm

I’ve been asked several times about clean eating and why I’ve chosen to do it. I don’t necessarily look at it as “clean eating” so much as just eating healthy. Not dieting, not starving myself, just eating the right foods. If “clean eating” is something that may interest you, here are a few tips I go by.

READ LABELS! This could be a whole different post on it’s own. But it’s as simple as that. Read the labels for your food. If it has 6-7 ingredients, chances are, you could consider it a “clean” food. Example:

5 ingredients.

Try and educate yourself on the chemicals put in to food. That way when you are looking over ingredients, you can recognize what each one is.

2. Sugar: This could also take up another post. My method with sugar is moderation. That’s all I’ve got for ya. I don’t believe in doing anything to one extreme or another. Obviously eating a cup of strawberries is going to be different than a poptart. 😉 And your body will utilize the sugar from strawberries vs. poptart differently. Sugar naturally is brown, so keep that in mind.

3. Consider the source: “Clean” eating could be summarized as eating food closest to it’s natural state. Some people believe this allows too much wiggle room. But I believe that is the just of it. Example: If you asked a clean eater “if they would rather eat the orange, drink orange juice, or <insert orange flavored processed food>” A clean eater would pick the orange. It comes directly off a tree, making it as close to nature as possible. Buying organic oranges will eliminate the chemicals.

4.Start With Small Changes: Clean eating shouldn’t be stressful. If the only way you can make the switch is throwing everything processed out, then by all means knock yourself out (not literally). Most of us can achieve clean eating by making small changes daily/weekly until it becomes habit.

Disclaimer: The above tips are just meant as a guideline. Always consult your physician/dietician before starting a new diet. You assume all risks for food you choose to eat.

So those are a few guidelines I try to consider when choosing foods. There are several different methods for clean eating. I try to eat this way 85% of the time. And yes, sometimes I like to enjoy that processed poptart, only after 50 miles on the bike. 😉 Moderation is key with anything we do.

Have a great weekend!!

Beach, Exercise, La Jolla, Working Out

Leg Day

In California, Fitness, Life on September 20, 2012 at 11:47 pm

Today was lower body day. I thought I’d post the moves I did, by no means am I telling you that you should do them. It’s inspired by another workout I found a few months back, but I’ve since modified it with moves I like better.

Disclaimer: Make sure you are physically fit enough to attempt these workouts. Always consult your physician when starting a new workout program. Workout at your own risk. If you feel pain, discontinue exercise.

I did 3 rounds of the following moves. You always want to make sure your core is engaged and spine/neck are in neutral. Remember to exhale on the concentric (work) phase and inhale on the eccentric (easy) phase. Example: you would exhale when you push out of the forward lunge, or when you are raising back up. Inhale as you lower down.

Forward Lunge with weight. X20 each leg.

For both the lunge and side lunge, your knees should never overshoot your toes. Keep your butt back and down. Heels in to ground.

Side Lunge. X20 each leg/side.

Plank toe taps. X20.

(excuse my messy garage)

Mtn. Climbers. Go straight in to these from toe taps. Your abs and shoulders will be on fire. X20

Skaters. X20 each leg. If you need to, you can tap your foot for balance.

Weighted Calf Raises (back-to-back) X20 each position = 60 total. Hitting your gastrocnemius from each position maximizes the calf raise. Adding 30lbs adds resistance.

(Again, sorry that last picture is blurry. That’s what happens when your poor mother is in charge of pictures…sorry mom!)

Wall climb handstand. Starting position is down. X10.

Ending position.

I can’t stress enough, to be careful doing the wall climb handstands. This move works everything, so if you start feeling fatigued, you need to stop. Or lightheaded. I only do 10 at a time. Keep hands a little wider than shoulder width and engage your abdominals on the raise and descent. DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH!!

CrossFit WOD was 10 weighted squats, 50 plank jacks. Back-t0-back, no rest. 3 rounds for time.

We also drove up to La Jolla (my favorite place in SD) for the afternoon.