The Marathon of Life

Well, I’m about a month into marathon training and have yet to do a super long run other than my first 6 miler. The state of Colorado is on fire and our air quality is so bad due to the smoke that county health officials are advising against outdoor exercise and activity. We’ve also been having record heat with high temps around 100 degrees and it already hitting 70 degrees at 5:00am. I’m doing speed and hill work on the treadmill and bulking up on strength training. Hopefully this is going to let up, and I can get outdoors soon. Luckily I have time before I really need to get hard core into training, but I don’t want to lose my half marathon base.

This past month has been extremely rough. My boyfriend, who has something do with special ops/CIA/top secret stuff was deployed on his mission, and I’ve been missing him horribly. I never know when I’ll hear from him and it’s been extremely scary on a day to day basis. I’m a control freak and obsessive planner, so this entire experience has been way beyond my comfort zone or realm of knowing what to do. Yesterday, I got an email from him and for the first time, he alluded that he was afraid and feeling hopeless. I didn’t know what to do.

I am trying to use my experience with the marathon to get through this. Granted I’m training again, but I’m really using my experience of the first race I went through to try to deal. I keep thinking that this is mile 20 when I’m hitting the wall and ready to die. I felt so hopeless and out of control at that point and didn’t think I could finish. I’m trying to use the energy and determination I channeled during that time now. I’m sending emails of encouragement and love to my boyfriend, never alluding to the fact that I’m terrified too. I’m trying to tell myself that if I can run 26 miles on a bad foot, I can help him get the strength to get through this and get through this myself. I’m trying to look at it as the next 7 months before he gets home are the last 6 miles of the race where you have to give it everything you’ve got and push through the pain to the sweet moment of victory.

I’ve said on several occasions that the marathon experience changed my life. It gave me a confidence I never knew I had and the ability to overcome a lot of obstacles in personal and professional life. Once again I am drawing on it to get through one of the most difficult things I’ve had to endure. I am trying to focus on my training for the Disney World Marathon in January, though Mother Nature isn’t completely cooperating. However, I know if I didn’t have running in my life right now, I wouldn’t be getting through this at all. When I’m scared and upset, I use it to push through. I use it to send him good vibes of love and safety so far away. And I’m using it to keep myself sane. Without running, I’d be eating up a storm and shopping until my credit card was maxed out.

When this is all over in January and he’s back home safe, and I’ve gotten another full marathon under my belt, I will once again be grateful to those 26.2 miles for saving me.

I ask for prayers and good wishes for the safety of my boyfriend, and if you can help at all with the Colorado fires, please visit www.helpcoloradonow.org. The brave firefighters, rescue teams and Red Cross are in desperate need of financial assistance.

Ninja Niblets: September 23, 2011

Just a few links and niblets to get your weekend started. Have a great weekend and try to incorporate some physical exercise into your time off. Take a nice walk, go for a run, go for a bike ride to enjoy fall weather!

High Intensity is Best for Burning Calories
FitSugar.com posted an article about a study recently done that has shown high intensity workouts are the best for burning calories. Some have theorized that long, slow workouts will get a good fat burn going, but in reality it’s high intensity workouts. So hop on the treadmill or elliptical and do some speed intervals for 30 minutes. Try 30 seconds high speed, 1 minute medium speed and do this on and off for 30 minutes. According to the study, your caloric burn will last for another 14 hours!

FitSugar: High Intensity Workouts Best

7 Exercise Machines to Skip
Not all exercise machines are created equal. Some cause more harm than good and others don’t do anything. Check out this list from Shape Magazine.

Shape Magazine: 7 Exercise Machines to Skip

Last Chance Workout
Have a race coming up? Runner’s World has come up with last chance workout plans to implement the week before a 5K, 10K, half or full marathon to help improve your speed for the race itself.

Runner\'s World: Last Chance Race Workout

Have a great weekend!

5 Steps to a Healthier Life

Starting a new diet or exercise plan can seem really overwhelming. Whether you’ve tried and failed on numerous occasions or have a lot of weight to lose, surmounting the weight demon can seem impossible. The way I achieved my weight loss success was through a series of small steps. I couldn’t imagine a drastic change in my life when I was going through recovery from surgery, so I made small changes. These are 5 simple steps that I feel will really help you make a change in your life for the better without being overwhelmed.

1. Keep a Food Journal
Start keeping a food journal. Use an online resource like My-Calorie-Counter.com or Livestrong.com and record everything you eat for a full week. Write down the good and the bad and see what you consume in a week. Let’s say you’re consuming 2700 calories a day, which is a pretty big number. Rather than doing something drastic like cutting it down to 1500, cut it by 500 calories a day. It’s a small amount you won’t probably notice, but this allows you to lose a pound a week at a healthy, safe rate. As you lose weight, adjust your caloric intake gradually.

2. Go the Distance
Start incorporating small forms of exercise into your daily life. Park your car in the furthest slot away from the door so you have to walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go for a 20 minute walk after dinner. Start small. If you try to take on a huge exercise program right off the bat, chances are you’re going to get sore and give up. Try to move for 30 minutes a day. If you can keep that up for a month or so, join a gym.

3. It’s All Greek to Me
There’s a reason the Mediterranean Diet is worshipped by doctors for its health and nutritional benefits. One of the big staples is Greek yogurt. Use plain non-fat Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream or heavy cream in recipes. You can’t taste the difference and you cut hundreds of calories with this simple substitution.

4. Breakfast of Champions
Eat a good breakfast. A good breakfast is not a donut in your company’s break room nor is it an Egg McMuffin. And don’t go thinking you can skip out on this important meal. Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast will jump start your metabolism working right away. If you don’t eat in the morning, your metabolism slows because your body thinks it’s in starvation mode. You feel sluggish and irritated because you have no nutrients to get you fired up in the morning.

Try 1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt, 1/4 Cup Non-Fat Milk, 8 Blueberries, 4 – 5 Strawberries, and 1/4 TSP of Honey for a great morning smoothie. Eat with a slice of bread with 1 TBS of Peanut Butter. This 350 calorie breakfast will keep you full and get the metabolism going.

5. Be Strong
Lift weights. Cardio is an extremely important part of exercising. It burns calories and builds a very strong and healthy heart. However, you can reap far more benefits from your cardio workout if you incorporate a good strength training program as well. Lifting weights builds muscle which burns fat. You will burn more fat if you both strength train and do cardio. Ladies, you will not bulk up and look like a guy with strength training. It is healthy and especially necessary for women to prevent osteoporosis.

Remember, start small and work your way up. Don’t get discouraged. Know that making small steps towards a healthy life will result in a big payoff.

Fitness Myths Debunked

Shape Magazine: Fitness Myths Debunked

This is a great little slideshow debunking some of the most common fitness myths out there. My favorite one addressed is the abs myth. Doing crunches will not give you six-pack abs unless you lose the fat on top. Unfortunately you cannot target where you lose weight and any product that says you can is lying. But if you get to a generally healthy weight, you will most likely see some results from your crunches. Hwever, even if you don’t see perfect abs, it’s still important to exercise that area to give you a strong core. A strong core helps to prevent injuries and gives you better posture.

Also, ladies, do not be afraid to strength train. You will not end up looking like a freakish man-like body builder. You will lose more weight by building muscle and look fabulously toned in strappy dresses though.

Check out the other myths that are debunked and be sure to change up your training routine if you have followed any of the myths.

Marathon Training: Days 23, 24 & 25

Day 23: Speed interval training. 5 sets of 0.25 mile intervals with the treadmill set at 6.6mph. Finished each interval in 2:29, walked 2:29 and repeated. Also did upper body weights

Day 24: Terrible run. So sore from previous day’s speed training, only managed to do in 1 mile in a lousy 15 minutes. Mental note: take a day off the day after interval training. Did box jumps, single leg bench squats, step downs and upper body weights

Day 25: Trail run at Cottonwood Creek Park Trail. Completed 5.06 miles in 1:08:40, but maintained a 13:30 pace which is enough to finish the marathon on time. Had elevation gains of 291 feet.

Marathon Training Day 7: I Run For Life

Yesterday was day 7 of my marathon training. I was almost not going to run at all yesterday and take it as one of my XT days—all upper and lower body strength training. I did upper body weights and then I decided to run after all. I saw someone else on the treadmill, and it was calling me.

I was having a hard time yesterday with getting into the groove. It usually takes me about 10 minutes to get out of the slump and into a rhythm, but I was struggling yesterday. My other favorite running song (besides Jump For Your Love) came on my iPod: “I Run For Life” by Melissa Etheridge.

She wrote the song for breast cancer races since she herself battled the disease, but a lot of the lyrics I can identify with. Not that I’m comparing my injury to something as horrific as cancer, but there are a lot of things she says in the song that make me think of it and urge me to keep going.

Anyhow, I was running when the song came on and about a minute into it, I got the most profoundly intense runner’s high I’ve ever had. A huge smile spread across my face, and I felt absolute pure joy and happiness for several minutes. I felt like I was on air, and I suddenly had the strength of “ten Grinches plus two.” I kept running and running, chasing the high. It was the best feeling in the world.

At that moment, I felt like nothing was impossible anymore, including the marathon. I was thinking I’m going to rock that race and have the time of my life. All of the stress of the work day floated away, and I was off in my happy world. I must have looked ridiculous to be smiling so hard on the treadmill, but thankfully no one said anything.

It ended up only being a 25:39 minute run for 2.0 miles, but it was one of my better times (last week I did 2 miles in 31 min), but it was truly the best run of my life. I’m going to go out there and kick the 26.2 mile monster in the behind!

“I Run For Life” by Melissa Etheridge

It’s been years since they told her about it
The darkness her body possessed
And the scars are still there in the mirror
Everyday that she gets herself dressed
Though the pain is miles and miles behind her
And the fear is now a docile beast
If you ask her why she is still running
She’ll tell you it makes her complete

[Chorus:]
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me, my friend
I run for life

It’s a blur since they told me about it
How the darkness had taken its toll
And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul
And now I’m still learning the lesson
To awake when I hear the call
And if you ask me why I am still running
I’ll tell you I run for us all

[Chorus:]
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for life

And someday if they tell you about it
If the darkness knocks on your door
Remember her remember me
We will be running as we have before
Running for answers
Running for more

I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister, your daughter, your wife
For you and me my friend
I run for life
Ohohohoh

I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for life

Marathon Training, Day 4

Today was a cross-train day, so no running at all. I thought it’d be an easier day because of that. My coach, unfortunately, proved me wrong. He wrote me a truly brutal lower body strength training program. One day a week, I’ll do this program and another day a week I’ll do a light run (20 – 30 min) with 30 minutes of upper body strength training. So, I’ll be training 5 days a week, but running only 4. Don’t want to have an overuse injury!

So today I did the following workout:

3 x 5 sets each of: box jumps, single leg squats with bench (squat with one leg out in front of you to where you sit on the weight bench and then get back up—no hands!!!), dumbbell jumps, scissor squats, dumbbell split squats, plate arcs (start squatting down by your feet with a weight plate, stand up, moving the weight plate across your body and squatting down on the other side), Romanian Deadlifts, and Bodyweight single leg Romanian deadlifts.

I cannot feel my legs! Tomorrow is another rest day followed by a longer run on Saturday and my first big, long run on Sunday (6 – 7 miles).

 

Marathon Training, Day 3

Not much to say, but wanted to report my efforts for today.
It helps me to be accountable to someone. On the training schedule:
20 – 30 minute run / cross train What I did: 1.53 miles / 20
minutes • serious strength training: 3 sets each of barbell squats,
pull-ups, push-ups, box jumps, bicep curls, tricep dips, seated
row, chest press, and shoulder press.

Learn the Upright Row

This is another great exercise for toning your shoulders and arms. It can be done with barbells or dumbbells.

Learn the Inverted Row

This is a great exercise. It really works your arms and your core muscles. The higher you set the bar, the easier it is. Start with it high and try to work your way down the weight platform.