Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The problem with Halloween...

You MUST read this -- Crabby says it better than I ever could.

(But if you don't have time to click the link, here's the excerpt that says it all: "The problem is: we're a culture of infants who think every f*cking day of the year is a holiday.")

Halloween candy update: I DID open the bag last night, intending to have one or two special favorite pieces. But then Tim was working on the iMac (installing Windows so I can run Exercise Explorer again), and I was tired, and guess what will help keep you awake? That's right -- mainlining chocolate! So I woke up feeling hung over and icky. Here's hoping that tonight and tomorrow morning will be better!

Monday, October 29, 2007

A Good Amount of Busy

  • Right now I'm planning workouts for the four clients I train tomorrow -- happy day! I think four is the perfect number of clients to see in a day.
  • I got a shoe pouch for my Nike+ and the mileage reading is much closer to that of my Garmin. Calorie burn is still quite different, but Nike+ doesn't know about Rocklin's hills. Today I did laps of the golf course hill (a few of you have experienced this oh-s0-steep hill). Managed 7 laps in 55 minutes, and covered a little over 5 miles. Nike thinks I burned 600 calories, whereas Garmin thinks it's closer to 900. Either way, I'll take it -- it was a HARD workout!
  • I'm having a hard time getting back on track with clean eating. Monthly hormone changes made last week a tough one for emphasizing fruits and veggies. And Halloween is just 2 days away!!! I bought candy today and it's still unopened, but for how long???
  • CrossFit in Santa Cruz is having a Kettlebell workshop in December and I think I'm going to attend! Tracy, my kettlebell hero, told me about the RKC workshop in San Jose in the springtime, and I have no doubt that it's a wonderful experience, but it's very expensive (and while I'm not opposed to spending money on education, I don't know that the cost would be worth the benefit in my case), and (the bigger concern) you have to pass a snatch test in order to be certified, and my shoulder stability doesn't allow me to do more than a few kettlebell snatches without feeling the joint slip inside.
  • This weekend my technically savvy husband moved me onto an iMac with Leopard. This computer will replace the PC that died, and will allow me to run Exercise Explorer (a PC-only program that can run layered on top of Leopard -- one of its cool new features). As I'm sure you know, any computer change is not without bumps in the road, but I think I'm closing in on smooth sailing -- hooray for Tim!

Friday, October 26, 2007

What I'm holding in my hand

Though I wish I could say that what I'm holding is a magical fitness device that makes EVERYONE love running, it's actually a glow necklace. Jamba Juice was handing them out and blowing bubbles at mile 2 (I think?). Because it was crowded I couldn't get over to get a necklace and I was sad, but didn't want to turn around and get one. But a few hundred steps later, I saw one on the ground and picked it up. Voila -- happy once again!

Running makes me happy


Running makes me happy
Originally uploaded by lpglives
I think more of the pictures would look like this if I could have gotten my iPod to work. (If you ALWAYS run with music, it's hard to run without it.) However, this picture is proof positive that I really do like to run.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Nike Half Marathon photos

I'm going to try to post the Nike photos in a Blogger post, but sometimes that can be a little tough to make happen. I did manage to get the pictures into Flickr, in case you want to check that out (it's on the right-hand side bar). And if THIS post disappears, you'll know that I got the photos here, where I want them to be!

Kettlebell fun

Now that the race is over, I can get back to more varied workouts. Today's workout was especially fun. I did two six-minute circuits, and two five-minute circuits, and each exercise was done for 1 minute.

8 kg swings
pushups
8 kg swings
TRX rows
8 kg swings
Arnold presses

Then I took a couple of minutes to rest. Next up, swing ladder.

8 kg swings
12 kg swings
16 kg swings (hard!)
12 kg swings
8 kg swings

Another couple of minutes of rest, then:

pushups
12 kg swings
Arnold presses
18" box step ups, fast
floor crunches
18" box step ups, 12.5 lb weights at shoulders

Then one final swing ladder.

16 kg swings
8 kg swings
12 kg swings
8 kg swings
12 kg swings

Whew! Fun! Done!!!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Wisdom

My girlfriend heard this at an Al-Anon meeting:

I will fill this day with only as many things as I can do well without haste or tension.

Maybe I've finally found something meaningful enough to have tattooed? Ok, that was a joke, but the saying is one I could benefit from reading, perhaps hourly or more frequently!

Nike Miles?

Today I did a 5 mile test run, using both my Garmin Forerunner and the Nike+ system. I also entered the run info into My Food Diary. Here are the results from the same exact run:

Nike+
5.02 miles
9:28 per mile
509 calories

Garmin
5.33 miles
8:59 per mile
817 calories

My Food Diary
742 calories (at 3% incline)
558 calories (at 0% incline)

So are Nike miles longer than regular miles? I don't really know! To be fair, there are two things that could throw off the accuracy of the Nike system: 1) the way I have the sensor attached, there's a good amount of "play" which could throw the readings off, and 2) you can calibrate the system in some way that I haven't taken the time to do. And when it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter what the numbers say, as long as you're moving in the direction of your goals, right?

But I kinda want to figure the discrepancy out, ya know?

Sponsorship works

In the post-race glow, all I want to do is wear Nike garb, listen to my iPod, eat Bear Naked granola, and play with Neutrogena skin care stuff. Honestly, it was a great race, and now I'm just in love with all the companies that sponsored the event.

Monday I bought Nike+ and even though I was sore, I tried it with an easy 1-1/2 mile run. It's so fun! And you don't even need Nike shoes to make it work. I tried doing shoe surgery and when that didn't work, I turned to the Internet and found a nifty way to attach the sensor (cut down a plastic bag, wrap sensor in it, attach to shoelaces with duct tape).

So I love the voice that tells you how far you've gone and gives your pace, etc. And the whole Power Song idea -- genius! (My current Power Song is "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse, but I'll probably alternate that with "Love Addict" by Family Force Five, another perpetual favorite.)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Mystery solved

Remember how I said I got all sorts of great male attention in SF? (The waiter at lunch in Little Italy even bought me a drink [iced tea, but still!].) I know why. On Friday Sandy (my mother) and I did some girl shopping, and she introduced me to NARS makeup. I bought some foundation, mascara, and some wonderful blush. The color? ORGASM! No wonder I felt so popular!

Mission accomplished?

Yes, I'm back at the Apple store.  Thank you everyone for the super supportive comments -- I was blessed to read each and every one!

Race was awesome, but I'm not sure of my finish time.  My Garmin thinks I came in under 2 hours (1:58), but my Garmin also thinks that I ran more than 13.1 miles from start to finish.  I'll have to check the Nike website for race results to see if I was under 2 hours, but I know I'm really really close.  The finish line was awesome -- the minute I crossed, there was a man in a tuxedo handing me a Tiffany box.  Yes, the necklace IS fantastic!

The course was awesome.  It was just getting light when we started and we saw the sun rising over the ocean.  The views were breathtaking -- between the old architecture and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean it's hard to know what to look at.  The race is really well supported, and the gospel choir at mile 1, the rock music from Nike Plus at several spots, and the bagpipes at mile 10 were my favorite things to listen to.  (My Nano is in some sort of strange mode after being engraved -- after I write this, I'm gonna have an Apple person take a look at it.  So no music for me this race.)  The hills were tough, mainly because my pre-race nutrition needs some help.  After I wrote last night and everything was awesome, I fell into loneliness and self pity because I couldn't find anyone to hang out with, and my "medication" of choice was too many slices of bread with dinner (how many is too many, you may wonder.  The answer is SIX!) and a large pack of M&Ms as dessert.  Next time I'll have a better plan for fueling my run.

But would I run this again?  You bet!  The atmosphere is so fun -- one runner this morning described it like being in Times Square waiting for the ball to drop, without the drunk people!  Turns out there were 23,000 runners, composed of 900 men and the rest women.  And it was really interesting to be in a race where the shortest distance was the half marathon -- you've never seen so many fit, healthy, ALIVE women!!!

So it's time to get my Nano checked out, hop on BART, and head home.  Have an amazing Sunday everyone!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I heart SF, I heart men

Feeling very grown up now that I've driven to BART, taken the train into the city, and found where I was supposed to be.  And it feels VERY special to be here in San Francisco with 19,999 other runners getting ready for the race tomorrow.  Nearly all of Union Square is covered by a huge Nike tent.  I waited almost 2 hours to have my iPod engraved with the special race logo.  Didn't want to wait for massage or pedicure, but they're available!  And Niketown is crazy -- there's a line to get in, and in a huge two story window, they have the name of every single runner!  (I took a picture with my phone -- don't know how it will turn out, but fun.)  Had a GREAT visit with Irene at the Expo -- met her husband and brother too!

So men are cool too.  At the BART station in Pleasant Hill, the information guy told me I was beautiful.  And the waiter at Rose Pistola told me if I didn't have the huge rock on my finger, he'd be saying things that would make me blush.  Two really nice day brighteners, for sure!

Next time I travel alone, I need to remember that I am good with spending time on my own.  And it would also make life easier on everyone around me if I could remember that nearly every single bad thing that I anticipate does NOT come to pass!!!  (I'll make sure I read this before whatever big scary thing I decide to do next!)  Maybe then I won't be quite a prickly to be around (sorry for being so tough last night, Tim!).

Plan for tonight is to revisit the wonderful vegetarian restaurant Tim and I loved when we were here in July.  Then I'll read my new book (How Starbucks Saved My Life) or re-read my old book (Eat, Pray, Love), get to bed early, and by mid-morning tomorrow I'll be wearing that Tiffany-designed finishers medallion!

Be good, friends!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Feel the Fear, and Do it Anyway

I'm scared.

Reasons:

  • Traveling by myself.
  • Strange city.
  • Staying with people I don't know WHO ALL KNOW EACH OTHER (really scary!).

Reasons to be happy:

  • Support of wonderful family.
  • Support of wonderful internet friends.
  • New Nike running shirt (pink) and skirt.
  • Tiffany-designed finishers medallion at the end of the race.
Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize.

Something else that's great about pre-race preparation is eating all kinds of shit, whatever I want ... I mean, carb loading. Yeah, carb loading is a lot of fun, and pretty important if you want to do well in a race!

I should run a half marathon every single week!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tapering sucks!

The week before a race, you're supposed to cut back on running so when race day comes, your muscles will be fresh. The irony of this is that just when you're really feeling good and strong as a running -- poof -- you're supposed to stop running.

I did the six miles yesterday and even with my slow trot of a start, and lots of hills in my route, my average pace was 9:10. My goal for the race is a finish with a "1" at the beginning. There. I've said it. Two years ago I ran a half marathon in Folsom and finished in 1:47, which is an 8:15 pace. (I trained way better for that race with my Real Marathon Running friend Jenny.) In order to finish in under two hours, I'll need to average 9:00 per mile. What is in my favor is my hill training and my pigheadedness. What works against me is not knowing if I will be able to move in a race this crowded, and not knowing how intense the hills will be.

Enough about running. Let's talk about my husband. He tells everyone I'm his trainer, but that's not really the truth. I try very hard to just let him do what he wants to do, and to only offer advice when asked. So he manages his own workouts, and he does a great job of it. Yesterday he did one of his favorite Crossfit workouts: 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 bodyweight squats. You just repeat that progression for 20 minutes and try to do as many rounds as you can. He managed to do TWENTY TWO rounds (that's 110 pullups [!] 220 pushups [!] and 330 squats [!]). So what did he do today, when any normal person would take a day off? Oh, just did a little 4 mile run! I think he may take a day off tomorrow, and it's certainly well deserved.

What else? Well, my birth mother is coming for a visit tomorrow and we're all very excited. Sandy is so much fun -- for example, at age 65, she just competed in her first ballroom dancing competition (and took first place in the novice division!), she achieved a DTM rank in Toastmasters (tough to get, for sure!), and she's just a fantastic person. She'll be here through Friday night, and early Saturday I'm heading to San Francisco for all things Nike and running!

One final note: I haven't been brave enough to try on the new pants since bringing them home from the store. What if there's special magic in the Ann Taylor store that makes things fit better? Maybe after the race I'll be brave enough to try! (I'm not kidding -- the pants are still wrapped in tissue paper and sitting on the loveseat in our bedroom!)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pre-run Procrastination

I'm about to do 6 miles and it's windy and cold, and my house is not windy and warm. So I thought I'd take a moment to check in (but just a moment!).
  • My PC died yesterday. I use a MacBook for everything BUT the big exciting thing that I just started -- training clients without me being there (online training). The program I chose isn't actually online -- you generate workouts that are printed, along with exercise cards, and given to the client to use in the gym or at home or wherever they workout. About six weeks ago I tried an online option that I didn't like all that much. So I bought this software, customized some exercises, and gave them to my guinea pig person (thanks Amy!), and then ... the PC died! Tim says I can install the software on his PC, but I don't quite believe him -- he's pretty protective of his PC and likes being able to use it when he wants to use it. So I'm re-looking at other options and bummed that the work I've done thus far is lost.
  • Don't know when my brain will not feel fat. Was out running errands yesterday wearing workout clothes. Felt like people were looking at me. Felt defensive and mad (quit looking at me -- I know I don't look great, but so what?!). Asked Tim if I look lumpy and icky. He says no. So maybe my brain needs to lose weight!
  • Kettlebells are the bomb! Every one of my clients is now swinging kettlebells, and I am so happy about that. I think clients are happy too, for the most part, except when they're really tired and they see me pulling out the 12K (26 pound) bell! If you read this and you're not using kettlebells, you've gotta start! (More on this another time -- I still need to do that run.)
  • Still loving My Food Diary. At only $9 a month, it's really worth checking out, if only for a month. The part where it tells you what you'd weigh in a month or in 3 months if you ate every day like you did today -- it's really helpful!
Ok, gotta run (literally!).

Monday, October 15, 2007

Elastic Waist

I don't know how I had a life before Bloglines. Bloglines lets me know when a weblog I read has a new post, so I no longer have to load (and reload and reload) weblogs to see if there's anything new to read.

One weblog that's really growing on me is Elastic Waist. I probably only completely read 1 out of every 4 posts, but the ones I do read are highly entertaining. Here's today's video post, the first of a new "show" titled "The Daily Special." Enjoy!

Brain Dump

  • I have an 8:30 client today and I can't seem to wake up!
  • Running burns a butt-load of calories, which is part of why I love it so much. Yesterday's run burned 900 of 'em, and boy did I enjoy eating back those activity calories, as per My Food Diary!
  • Don't tell anyone, but we watched "Little Miss Sunshine" with the kids last night. Besides the 30+ f-word instances (yes, Tucker counted) and a few inappropriate scenes, it's actually a wonderful movie about family loyalty. Lots of good "pause the movie and we'll talk about this" moments, to be sure.
  • Another great new running song is "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse. Great beat!

Friday, October 12, 2007

My iMix

Thanks, Irene, for discovering that there's a secret step to finding my iMix, if you want to see it. You have to select Nike Sport Music, and from there you can scroll down to Sport iMixes, do "See all" and THEN you can search for "lift personal fitness training." Whew!

And speaking of music, I was at a running store last night and heard a song that had me tapping my toes and moving. I asked an employee who the song is by and he told me. So today's run (5.27 miles, 8:59 pace) has me listening quite a bit to Jill Scott singing "Hate on Me."

100 Beginning Running Tips

Found this link on the Elastic Waist site: 100 Beginning Running tips. Hope you find a tip of two that improves your running or your fitness in general.

A new size

All my clothes are loose these days. And yet I still find that I have my fingers crossed and say a little prayer before attempting to pull my jeans over my hips (don't know when, if ever, that anxiety goes away). But when shopping at Ann Taylor last night I made an amazing discovery. I am a new size. A size called 2.

Yes, there's size inflation. Yes, there's more of it at nicer (pricier) stores. But when I was trying to shed my unwanted 25 extra pounds (I gained them in my early 40s through a combination of no exercise due to injury and Starbuck's white mochas) there was a time as I got closer to my goal that I would go into Ann Taylor about once a week and try on something, anything, in a size 4. I did that for like 6 months, which is how I got to know all the salespeople there. Didn't buy anything. Just tried my goal size on. At first it would go past my hips. Then it went past, but was WAY too tight. Then I could zip, but it wasn't a good idea. And then it (finally) fit.

Size does not matter in the scheme of things, and I believe with all my heart that what matters is on the inside and not on the outside. But today my running will be a little faster because I'm happy with my new size.

My Food Diary

I've been playing with a new way of tracking food and fitness -- it's called My Food Diary and I really really like it. Probably the best part is that at any point during the day, it tells you how many more calories you can eat to maintain, lose slowly, or lose quickly. And it tell you stuff like this at the end of each day:

If every day were like today ...

* You would lose 0.6 lbs per week.
* You would meet your goal weight of 127 lbs on 1/16/2008.
* In one month, you would weigh 132.5 lbs.
* In three months, you would weigh 127.6 lbs.

(Those were my results from yesterday which was a day off from exercise.)

MFD has a VERY active user forum -- actually a little too active for me to keep up on. But it's there if you want to use it. And it costs $9 a month -- a bargain for what you get.

Here's the big downside: because I am a numbers girl, I have to fight the temptation to eat only packaged foods (because they have nutrition labels and I love the precision of the information). Actually, that's a bit of a lie. Here's the real truth -- I'm lazy and it takes more effort to log the ingredients in, say, a salad, than it does to log a processed burrito. (But because you can save foods in the system, once you've saved a meal, it's there forever for you to use.)

I may require/strongly suggest that clients use the software. I'm finding it certainly gets me to think before I eat!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Lift iTunes iMix

If anyone wants to check out the music I use when training clients and when I workout myself, go to iTunes in the iMix section, and search for "lift personal fitness training". I created an iMix of the songs I love, but darn it -- I can't get it to post here all pretty with pictures and neat graphics. So check it out -- I hope you'll find something you like!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Random Goodness (or Goodness, I'm Random!)

  • I have a million 2 ounce portion cups from Costco. Turns out they hold exactly one ounce of raw almonds. I think that's neat.
  • One of the benefits of not following anyone else's eating program is that I get to decide what works for me. And in my perfect eating plan, Diet Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi Max are both completely acceptable choices (in moderation, of course).
  • My Garmin thinks I burn crazy amounts of calories on my runs. Today I ran almost 5 miles total with some tough hill repeats. G thinks I burned like 850 calories. I don't think it was quite that much, but I did feel like barfing on the last repeat. In a Biggest Loser-ish way, I kept going to the top, but I walked after that because I do NOT want to associate hills with barfing when I'm 11 days away from a half marathon in San Francisco!
  • As I type, I'm snacking on a Diet Pepsi Max and some raw almonds -- YUM!
  • If you read Katie's weblog, you may have seen her "rest of the story" post about the Bull-mastiff she was trying to save, and my friend who gave the dog a home. Well that friend, Tanya, is coming over tomorrow. She's an amazing young woman, finishing her degree in Kinesiology in December, training clients out of her home, and saving dogs in her spare time. So Tanya and I have been meeting once a month to bounce ideas off one another, so we can both be the best trainers we can be. I can't wait to see her tomorrow and find out how her new dog is doing!

Friday, October 05, 2007

Walking and Running

Oooooh, I wish I'd written this. It's some perfect advice about adding running into your cardio workouts, and it has a playlist (this is where I found my new addictive song!) where you run if the song has "run" in the title, and you walk if it has "walk". Isn't that fun???

All Fours Fitness

I find myself with a few unexpected free minutes, so I thought I'd share something I find really intriguing -- it's a website called All Fours Fitness and the movements are based on animal movements. Check this exercise out -- I've been playing around with it, and Tim incorporated the advanced version into his workout last night. If you're a client and you're reading this, yes, you can expect to do some new fun things like this in the near future!

Running on Sunshine!

Distance: 13.1 miles (yep, the whole distance of the half marathon!)
Time: 2:04
Pace: 9:30
Calories burned: 1891

Let the snacking begin!!!

Seriously, the run was hard. The process was ok but not fun, especially not the last 5 miles. But how I feel now? FABULOUS!!!

Watch for many posts this weekend, cuz I have lots to share. First item is a new song: Running on Sunshine, by Jesus Jackson. It's wonderful -- sexy beat, fun words, and I've already listened to it like 10 times today. Just trust me on this one -- you NEED this song on your workout playlist!

Ok, gotta get back to listening to my new favorite song and dancing!

Mood: nervous

Why? Because I'm doing my 12 mile run today and I always get scared before a big run. Eyes on the prize (Tiffany finisher's medallion!). Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize...

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

A Fast Run!

Went out Monday and did a 4 mile run and felt like going fast. Hamstring stayed in place, and my Forerunner tells me I did an average of 8:13 per mile. It felt GREAT! I know I won't be breaking any land speed records in the Nike Half, but I was encouraged that my time was more like times from a year ago.

Life is BUSY and I wouldn't have it any other way. Tonight's my work night -- client at 4:45, client at 6:00. Time to work on the laundry mountain until then...