Books I Want To Read

Last night I spent a good chunk of time reading the entire amazon preview for The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess.

From the little I was able to read (actually a surprisingly large amount for a 'preview') I gather that the author believes the best way to lose weight/fat is to build muscle. He's not a big fan of cardio for weightloss's sake. Granted, I didn't read the entire book, so may be missing something. But the jist seems to be:

• People generally spend around an hour - some more, some less - working out. That leaves 23 other hours in a day. When we look at our bodies in this light it seems like the number of calories we burn during the 23 hours is more important than the number we burn in the 1 hour we're working out. This is why it becomes so important to have a high metabolic rate?
• Muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat. The more muscle on a body, the more calories that body requires to maintain itself - also, the more calories that body burns through at rest.
• Cardio is good for your heart. It's good for fat loss when done at a high intensity and is constantly being mixed up. But the body is always looking for the easy way out, and will make accommodations that prevent maximum calories from being used (I talked about this concept in this post). 
• When we talk about health and fitness, we should stop talking about weight loss and start focusing on fat loss.

I'd really love to read this whole book because the physiology of the body has become suddenly fascinating to me.

Dave and his traveling library.

I'm also desperately awaiting the arrival of Eat and Run by Scott Jurek, who spoke at the race expo at the Half Moon Bay Marathon. Unfortunately I'm too cheap to purchase books, so I put them on my library list and wait. I rely solely on bi-weekly visits from the Bookmobile for my reading material.  I am currently #5 for Eat and Run, which means I can realistically expect the book any month now.

Scott is a vegan ultra-marathoner with a slight build and an obviously ginormous calorie requirement. I'm hoping the book touches on how he manages to run the distances he does and stay filled and fueled. I'm mainly interested in this because E is a born-and-raised vegetarian who has blood sugar/fueling/energy problems. We eat a really healthy, well rounded, whole foods plant based diet that also includes cheese, milk, butter and eggs. Without these animal products to 'fill him up', E believes he would  freak out   waste away and die   suffer. I'm hoping Scott Jurek has a magic vegan spell I can perform, or a magic vegan potion I can concoct that will allow us to safely eliminate animal products from our diet entirely. 

Which brings us to the fact that I just finished watching Forks Over Knives, but this post is already too long. Just go watch it yourself. It's on Netflix (I guess it's a book too).

Half Way Heaven

Congratulations! My marathon training is 8 weeks down, 8 weeks to go. I have run 203 miles so far since starting on June 6. This is the half way mark, baby.

Last night's 17 mile run was good mental practice. I hurdled several "walls" in my quest to finish all 6 'out'n'back' treks around the Headlands. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as many of my other long runs have been.

• I had a general plan for my run, which included the out'n'backs, as well as a pit stop for water/food at my mom's house. I planned on keeping track of mileage on the GPS and just running till it added up.
  
• I fueled and hydrated well during the day - I ate granola w/ soy milk, a veggie frittata, several of the delicious protein cookies and oat bars I made on Thur., and a huge bowl of oatmeal with banana, blueberries, soy milk and walnuts about two hours prior.
• I started my period yesterday morning but wasn't feeling 100% shitty like I normally do. I determined to not let it get me down and to just wun/ralk until I finished. I ended up only walking two or three times, and taking a 4 minute walking break at the half way point to fuel and grab my waterbottle.
  
• This was my first long run following a step back week since I started my marathon training. I think it might have helped, and that step back weeks really serve a purpose during the last half of my training.
• I completed 6 total out'n'backs, but really didn't want to do that last one. I think I hit a wall when I looked up and saw that all my friends were at the high school track playing disc golf and soccer. I had wanted those last two miles on the track for peace of mind but didn't want to see them all after 15 miles. So I grudgingly headed back out to the headlands, which turned out to be fine. So I conquered a wall.
• I didn't ICE BATH! Gasp. I know, I should have. I have fallen off the ice bath wagon and need to get back on. My outdoor tub is so far away from our hot shower I'm not sure I could make it walking between the two with frozen legs!

That's all for now - I will post more than once this week.

Welcome back, chocolate gel

Razz ClifShot gel is sick. I almost puked over it, AND it's CLEAR! Even sicker.

I love the mocha gel. I feel like I'm licking chocolate icing out of the container while I'm running and am so guilty. It's like eating chocolate butter. I can't get enough. Hopefully it will go well with the lemonade flavored clif shot electrolyte powder stuff I just bought a pound of, because it doesn't go well with my camelback tabs.

Do I need shotbloks as well as electrolyte replacement, or is that overkill?
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My 15 miler was (get this!) my longest run ever. Man, did I feel great. I had a plan, which really helped my mental game, and took a ton of stress of me. I started at the parking lot of the Haul Road and was going to run 7.5 miles up. E was to ride down the mtn. bike trail from our house to mile 2.5 and ride up the road until he met me.

This was an awesome plan because it allowed me to run the first half alone, and then have something/one to look forward to. My nerves were calmed knowing he was coming - sometimes I get really tweaked out about mountain lions, freaky perverts, and unexpected marijuana farms.

A fork in the trail at 6.5 meant I made the turn early and had to add an extra mini out-&-back later on. No problem. At the start of mile 13 I knew it was time for the SLOG. I really did feel great up to that point, but the last three miles were "get 'er done" miles. I made a pact with myself to not walk. I could jog as slow as I needed, but no walking. It was fine, and I did it.

I did not take an ice bath, and didn't notice much of a difference in recovery. I know I had a hard time sleeping that night but I felt fine on Saturday. I'm so glad this is a step back week, and I vow really truly to do strength training.

12 down

Done and done. This was a great run. Great runs always surprise me (as do the horrible ones, like Thursday's 3 miler). And I ate my first Clif shot! Holy yumtastic. I ate mocha flavor which tasted exactly like chocolate icing. I believe I was trying to pry apart the packet so I could lick the inside before E rode by and took it away from me. Excellent stuff. No shot bloks on this run.
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I've joined in committing to a 30 day yoga challenge. This is a tough one for me because often I find myself pawning off stretching as yoga. So I'm setting stricter parameters for myself. (1) Yoga must consist of time on the yoga mat (impromptu sessions, or outdoor sessions must include dedicated visualization for my mat) (2) Stay in at least three poses for 5-breath sequences. So that's it. Simple, but enough to make sure that my personal stretching sessions don't turn into yoga challenge sessions.
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I took a lovely ice bath afterwards and ate my favorite post-long-run dinner -- Nachos & Beer. :-)

This week so far & less sugar

This week has been ON for me. Monday I ran a 5k at the track, busting my butt in a steady headwind for half of each lap. We're talking 20 mph headwind. I ran 1 mi. quick, .5 mi. at race pace, repeated. I'm not used to any tempo work of any kind, so it's good practice for my 'real' training which starts in a few weeks. Tuesday I ran an 8 miler which was long and hard. I think my legs were feeling the 5k. Today I woke up with fresh legs, surprisingly. I did P90x legs and back, and P90x+ Abs and Core Plus, which is a great workout. I like it much better than ab ripper.

I've been thinking a lot about the "sugar free" challenge that Run to the Finish has posted. I really don't eat that much sugar. No drinks with added sugar (I really only drink coffee with 1/2&1/2, sparkling water, beer & unsweetened iced tea), no candy (except when I get a severe craving or go to the movies every blue moon), no sugary packaged foods (like muffins, cookies, or pastries). But when I think about it, I do see a few places I could improve. I don't want to completely eliminate sugar from my diet because I don't think it's a real problem for me, but I could always eat less.

1. Tame my after-dinner beast with plain yogurt, fruit, tea or nuts.
2. Resist work day goodies by eating a big, early breakfast, drinking tea, and bringing healthy snacks.

So let's see how those two goals sit with me for two weeks. Cool. Run to the Finish is also doing a ridiculously large giveaway that includes at least 10 things, three of which I absolutely covet. It is seriously HUGE. I hope I can win some schwag. When I first started blogging I randomly won both of the first two giveaways I entered, which apparently, was a fluke. Too bad, I thought I was on to something there!

No coffee?!

Today is day 3. I had to ask myself, does coffee really make me feel better? I decided what I like about it is the ritual - the warm cup in my lap while I read and welcome the day. I like waking up and knowing what I'm going to do first, before anything else! Well, it seems as though that warm cup could be filled with just about anything (caffeine withdrawal headache aside...). Years ago while I was doing an intestinal cleanse, I discovered Celestial Seasonings makes a blend of mate and black tea. Wowzers! It's delicious, has caffeine, and doesn't make me feel like sh** after two cups. I think I'm on to something here...

However, I've tried this before. In the past, my non-coffee stints always lead me back to coffee. Which I'm ok with. I just need to occasionally not drink it, to remind myself that my world does not revolve around this highly acidic beverage. I think my body thanks me every time.

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So, the weather's got me down. Rainy, grey, cloudy, wet, grey. I also forgot my yoga yesterday for the first time this December. Shoot. I had hopes of a run this afternoon after work, and am secretly planning a jaunt from home as soon as I get there. 2 miles max. Then I can take a hot shower and rooollllllllllll my ITB till I cry.

2 miles - the maintenance run

Yup, just that. A quick 2(.22) miles up and back on the road. Barely broke a sweat. Should have been 11:05, but ran a 10:something and a 8:something. GPS isn't always accurate in that dept though.

Feels good, although I'm not really slimming down like I feel I should be from all these calories burned. I think I've been eating pretty poorly - gluten, beer, excessive dairy (cheese). The excess fat isn't shedding off like it usually does.

Also, Erin talked me out of a new pair of running shoes. I've logged 100 miles since I started keeping track on Daily Mile, and the shoes are from July 2008. I wonder....

New Plan

The horrible weather has given me the opportunity to relax and think about my running.

Someone on my blogroll recently posted a quote (DOTR?): "Run to Eat, Eat to Run." I love it! This seems like the healthiest, best recipe for success in maintaining a body that I'm proud of. I run because I love it, and also because every single time I've ever gone on a run, I'm happy that I did - I am always proud of myself. Since going gluten-free 8-ish months ago, I've lost between 5 to 10 pounds, depending on the day. I've also been much more active with hot yoga and running. I feel good, and fit, and am actually motivated and excited to workout - not every day though, which is fine!

I originally started running back in late February/early March because I decided I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon. Sticking to Hal Higdon's training plan was a disaster for me. I could never run long enough on long run days, and I could never keep myself to just 3 miles on short run days. I was always pushing myself in random ways. I also put a 10k on my plate right in the middle of it all, and had to really strain to make it happen. I loved it, but I felt like I'd accomplished my goal and stopped "training" and continued to just "run".

Now that I know a little bit more about my running self, I think I could stick to a training plan. I know how to appreciate short run days, I have good ideas for strengthening days, and I know that little-by-little, I can up my mileage each week on a long run. It takes serious dedication and concentration to make something like this happen, (and I know I'll get sick of my stand-by trails!), and I know I'll have to fuel my body right.

There are several 1/2 marathons in October, which gives me all summer long to prepare and still not freak out if I go astray. If I can keep to my schedule over the summer I will be ready in 12 weeks, or 3 months.

Six Miles

I often surprise myself. Yesterday afternoon I ran 6 miles up Big River. The first 3 were plagued by ridiculous side ache pain, which magically subsided at the turnaround. The 3 miles back felt amazing and great - at mile 6 I felt like I could have run another 6. I should have. My playlist was awesome and the weather was spectacular. The GPS didn't work - too many trees - but the mile markers along the road are accurate by my google earth calculations.

This morning we did P90X Legs & Back workout, followed by Ab Ripper. Again, I'm surprised how strong my legs feel; perhaps even stronger than when we were doing P90X every day! The abs video is still really hard for me, but it felt great to do some back work using two bands in the door jamb. Funny, the door blew open on my last set and the band anchor shot back at me - first time that's happened - but I wasn't hurt.

Diet's been pretty good and consistent, with moderate amounts of gluten and dairy. Last night I made a delicious lentil soup with spelt grilled cheese. Had another almond protein shake post-workout today, and an Amy's tamale meal for lunch. Tonight and tomorrow, I'm "off", as dinner tonight will surely be a splurge, as will tomorrow's field trip to the ball game.

Ridiculously Sore

Today has been another crazy stormy day. Windy and raining all night and all day. E and I had resolved to do P90X's YogaX video, and we got started around 11:30. As we made our way through the vinyasas I realized how similar the P90 routine is to the hot yoga class routines we do. We completed the first 40 minutes of power flow, and decided to skip forward to the stretching part, skipping the yoga abs and a bunch of the balance poses. It felt good to stretch my sore muscles and I definitely felt looser by the end of the hour. It was supposed to be a cross training day - 50 minutes - and yoga is a pretty weak cross training activity. But for a rainy day, and for how sore I am, I felt lucky to be doing anything at all.

A gigantic easter brunch was next - I had already anticipated consuming far too much gluten and dairy (my two nemeses), and I went over the top with one too many mimosas and two extra cups of coffee. I felt fine at the time, but the toxin-induced headache hit me at about 7 pm. I'm still really sore, especially my inner thighs (from lunges), my period is around the corner, and the combo of these things made for a pretty painful sunday disc golf round.

Dinner was great - E made polenta with veggie sauce from our CSA box. I drank two glasses of OJ and am attempting to take it easy now. The Eight Miler is on the schedg for tomorrow and I'd like to feel well enough for it.