Monthly Archives: July 2011

The Importance of Stretching (something I could learn a thing or two about)

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Today’s guest post comes from the super speedy and fantastic Britt, who blogs over at Fit Chick Britt… Since I link to her often, you should all be very familiar with her… and if you’re not, then hop to it! 

 

Hello Happy Healthy Runner Readers! I’m Brittaney and I blog over at Fit Chick Britt. Although I am insanely jealous Rachael is off having a blast in Las Vegas I am more than happy to be writing a guest post for her. I love reading Rachael’s blog and I’m sure you’re all here for that same reason.

 

 

When Rachael asked me to write a guest post I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to write about, but then I remembered her telling me on our long run together and mentioning in her blog that she is the world’s worst at making sure to stretch.

I may not be the world’s best stretcher, but I did learn from training for my last marathon that stretching is a really important part of training and it can help keep us injury free and feeling good when we hit the pavement for those grueling training runs.

These, of course, are not the only stretches important for a happy and healthy runner, but here are my top 5 favorite poses/stretches specific for running:

1. Pigeon Pose:

Targets hips and the it band (very very important for runners to stretch).

2. Crescent Pose:

Stretches the hip flexors and the calves.

3. Piriformis Stretch:

The Piriformis muscles is a muscle of the glute that performs hip rotation. I know that as a runner I often have pain in my lower back and glute due to the piriformis and this stretch is perfect for working out the pain. The stretch is a great glute stretch over all.

4. Hamstring Stretch:

Many runners complain of knee pain from running. Knee pain is often associated with a tight hamstring. Stretch stretch stretch those hamstrings!

5. Runners Lunge:

They don’t call it a runners lunge for nothing. A runners lunge will stretch out the hip and the hip flexors. Drop your elbows to the ground and drop your knee to the side to really open up your hips. This one is my favorite!

I know, for me, that performing these stretches after running helps to prevent injury and soreness, and has increased my performance. I hope you will think about doing some of these stretches next time you’ve finished up a run or you have some extra time in front of the tube watching The Bachlorette. Wait, is that just me?

Happy stretching!

So, tell me, are you good at making sure to add stretching as a part of your run routine? What’s your favorite/ most important stretch?

 

How to Stay Healthy at Work

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Today’s post comes from one of my favorite bloggers (and real-life friend) Heidi, who blogs at The Sweet Life. Not everyone is lucky enough to blog for a living, so this post hits home for all us desk-workers (myself most definitely included!) out there!

Hello Happy Healthy Runner readers! My name is Heidi and I blog over at The Sweet Life where I blog about my attempts at running while I train for an upcoming 1/2 marathon, my sweet husband and my life in general. I am super excited to be guest posting while Rachael is off having a blast in the fabulous Las Vegas.

I know a lot of us bloggers are also 9-5ers. Since I can’t quit my day job, I spend 5 days a week at my desk from 8:30am until 5:30pm. If I’m not being careful, I know I could easily gain 10 or more pounds just from being inactive and staying put in front of a computer all day. Below are some tips that I try to follow and that I think have helped me not pack on those extra lbs.

1. Don’t skip breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s important to make sure we start the day off right and with a healthy breakfast and kick our metabolism into high gear.
I usually try to include some fruit, grains or oats, and protein into each breakfast. Along with my glorious cup of coffee that I just can’t live without.
2. Bring your lunch and healthy snacks
Eating out can easily sabotage all of your hard healthy eating work so instead of eating out every day, save your diet and your money and take your lunch and snacks. This will help keep you on the right track along with helping to keep you away from the vending machines and desserts that other office mates bring in. I try to eat a snack right before I go into meetings. We tend to always have some sort of dessert (cookies or cupcakes) at our monthly meetings and I find it easier to resist when I have just eaten. Also, my husband and I found that by taking our lunches every day, we throw out less food and save an average of $50 a week by not eating out for lunch! Sounds like new running gear to me!
3. Eat away from your desk and put your food on a plate
Eating at your desk can almost be like eating in front of the T.V. It can easily become a mindless habit and cause you to overeat. Putting your food on an actual plate rather than eating out of individual containers can also help with portion control. Once I started putting my food on my plate I realized just how much I was over eating and for the first few days actually took food back home! Eating at your desk is also not the cleanest way to eat and I tend to get bothered a lot when I am eating at my desk and end up not taking a break from work.
4. Drink plenty of water
It can be easy to sit at your desk and consume soda after soda but why waste the calories in drinks that provide you zero benefits? If you need something other than water, try sipping on a cup of green tea. I used to be a big Dr. Pepper drinker but gave it up for Lent last year and have never turned back. I will have a soda once in a blue moon but honestly once I got over the cravings for them, they almost don’t even taste good anymore and the longer I go without one the less I want it.
5. Keep an eye on your schedule
This is important so that you don’t let yourself get too hungry. If you know you have a 12pm meeting you can be ready for it by having one of your healthy snacks beforehand or sitting down for lunch sooner. Plus it’s no fun to have your stomach start growling in a meeting.
6. Lace up your shoes and walk when you can
Walk around the office when possible or find a co-work that is willing to walk with you. Lately, I have been walking almost daily with a co-worker of mine. We put on our shoes and walk laps around the first floor of our building. When it’s cooler, we plan to walk outside but for now this is what works. I find that I end up with more energy when I walk and have more focus to finish out my day.
I hope you enjoyed some of my tips for eating healthy around the office.
So let me know…What do you do to stay healthy while at the office day in and day out?

Gift Giving & Receiving

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Today’s guest post comes from Emily who blogs over at A Journey to the Center of Manhattan. Emily is knee deep in marathon training (just like me!!), and gave me (and in turn YOU!) a very inspiring post, one that I think we all have thought about in one way or another… If you aren’t reading her blog, you should be – she’s a superb writer, and every time I read her posts I find myself turning inward and doing self-reflection…

What’s the greatest birthday gift you’ve gotten? What’s the greatest give you’ve given someone?

What if they were one in the same?
For my birthday this year, (the big 2-6) I gave myself a goal: try to go for 30 days without eating sugar, with the hope that it will catalyze into a healthier lifestyle.

Let’s rewind a little bit – at this point, I had just gotten engaged and was knee deep in my fourth semester of law school. My fiance had just started a new job, and part of it would take him to China on business trips for 2-3 weeks at a time. Several weeks into the job, he found out that his first trip would take him overseas during my birthday and couldn’t be rescheduled. It didn’t make much sense to get upset over the trip’s unfortunate timing since there was nothing either of us could do about it, but I didn’t really know what I was going to do with myself for those three weeks.

On the day he left, I came home to an empty apartment, pulled out the leftover birthday cake from our early celebration, and mulled over my options for all of this newly-found free time. After polishing off the rest of the cake and perusing a few wedding websites, my thoughts had taken a more introspective turn. I realized that I had put on more than a few pounds since going back to school, and more than wanting to look good for the wedding, I really longed to feel good about myself again. I had been a fairly successful swimmer in high school (and a less successful swimmer in college), and I missed feeling like I had control of my body – the way it looked, the way it moved, and the way it felt. I just didn’t know what to do.A change of that magnitude seemed too overwhelming to even consider with everything else on my plate, and I have a long, storied history of unsuccessful “dieting.”

I sighed. Then looked down at the now-empty plate of cake crumbs, sighed again, and wiped up a smudge of frosting off the plate. I tried to brainstorm, but my thoughts were lost in a foggy haze of sugar. It was then that it dawned on me how much if an insidious beast junk food had become in my life. Cake, cookies, pie, bagels, you name it and my sweet tooth would lead me to it. That was what I was going to do for my birthday, I realized. Stop eating junk food. I then set out to define the parameters of “junk food” for myself. I had come to the realization that moderation was just not my thing, so, at least for a while, I needed to eliminate a significant portion of junk from my diet. Cookies were out, muffins were out, donuts were out, pretty much everything that had white sugar or white flour needed to go.

I knew what I needed to do, now I had to put my plan in motion. Zero hour would be the strike of midnight, as the clock heralded my 26th birthday. I had an intense feeling of trepidation, but something in my gut (possibly the cake) told me that I needed to make this change and to challenge my doubts about myself. I woke up the next morning with a sense of resolve – I could do this. I got out of bed, fed the cats, and fielded calls from various family and friends wishing me a happy birthday. It was a happy birthday – it was the first step towards a new phase of my life. That night, I set my goal to writing in a journal beside my bed. It read: “No refined sugar for 30 days to develop better eating habits, feel better, have more energy, and take better care of my body, because I deserve to take the best care of myself possible.”

As the days turned into weeks, I found it easier and easier to stick to my new habit. The first few hurdles of change had been challenging, but I kept going, eager to see if I could make it to the 30 day mark, and what that would mean. I was continually surprised by how beneficial this “birthday present” I had given myself had been. I slept better, had more energy, found healthy but equally satisfying meals, and learned to pay attention to my body’s needs on an entirely different level. I felt energized, and even worked out a few times. The fear and uneasiness I had felt seemed to fade away, replaced by a new-found confidence to push myself, challenge myself, and better myself.

These days, in the throes of marathon training, I think back with incredulity to my birthday. Over four months later, I am a different person. My health, and all of the resulting positive changes in my life, has been my gift to myself – the greatest present I have ever given, and ever received.


What positive changes have you made for yourself?

Weekly Workout Recap, Week #9

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::EDIT:: The lovely Melissa, who blogs over at Mouthwatering Morsel is doing her first giveaway and is giving away a WHOLE FOODS GIFT CARD. GET ON IT!!

Another week of workouts DONE. For whatever reason the spacing is a little weird right now and I can’t figure out how to fix it… Sorry bout that!

What I was supposed to be doing:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day
Tuesday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day
Thursday: 5 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Friday: Rest/Cross-training day
Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day
Sunday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
What really happened:

Monday: Jackie Warner 15 min total body circuit, 10 min Pilates total body circuit, 10 min Pilates long & limber
Tuesday: 6 miles @ 9:50 min/pace
Wednesday: Jackie Warner 15 min total body circuit, 10 min Pilates total body circuit, 10 min Pilates long & limber; 5 progressive miles
Thursday: 35 min elliptical
Saturday: rest day!
Sunday: 15 min level 5 speed intervals, stairmaster; 15 min level 5 crossramp 10, elliptical; 15 min level 4.0 varying incline 1-5, treamill

Overall planned miles: 17

Overall actual miles: 17

It was a nice, easy week. Just like I wanted :)

How was everyone’s weekend?

Do you love “easy” weeks as much as I do? Sometimes I need a mental refresher as much as a physical one. Rest weeks are a nice break!

Progressive Miles

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I did 6 progressive miles outside today.

It’s the first time in weeks that I’ve run outside for longer than 2-3 miles per the doctors orders… He told me to stick to the treadmill… but I just couldn’t do it today.

He was just too cute not to add in again

I tried, I really did.

But when I walked into my living room the thought of running another run on the treadmill made me a little bit sad inside. And I just couldn’t bring myself to walk into the back room and hop on the stupid thing.

So I grabbed my mace, knife, and Garmin and left the house. It’s hot and humid outside. But I ran pretty good considering.

These were my splits:

All I wanted to do this run was make it progressive. I wanted to finish strong and I did. So that’s a win. I can’t wait til it’s a little bit cooler and I don’t feel like I’m running through a sauna.

For whatever bizarre reason, I’m also breaking out a like a 15 year old boy right now. I think it’s from lack of sleep, but I can’t be certain.

Gross.

In other news, I think I have hooked LB on running! One down, one to go. Sean, you’re next.

If he’s reading this, I’m fairly positive he’s going “yeahhhh right” right now. But I am stubborn.

Do you try and get family members to run too?? I have been after Sean for a while but it hasn’t worked yet. Just recently LB has become interested, which makes me very happy.

3 Things Thursdayyy

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It’s that time again! And you know what that means – tomorrow is FRIDAY!

1. I guest posted over at Gourmet Runner today. Vanessa is fantastic and you should all be reading her if you aren’t already. Plus she loves peanut butter as much as I do, which is a definite win in my book! :)

Seriously, she is so cute!

2. Things are happenin’ around here (hopefully) and I (hopefully) will be able to share some good news soon. Secrets secrets are no funnn… I know, I know.

3. When I got home last night I wanted to run. This never happens (I am one of those weird morning workout people, Tara) so I popped in Mamma Mia and jumped on the treadmill to knock out a progressive 5 mile run. This movie makes me so stupidly happy. I was singing along while running. If you ever need a treadmill mood-booster, this is the way to go!

Your turn! Tell me something that’s going on with you!!


Do you like guest posting? I love it. And if you love it, I may need you next week…. :)

La Parmigiana Italian Oven – YES PLEASE. Oh and Weekly Workout #9

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Bet you thought I was going to start with La Parmigiana Italian Oven huh? Too bad :)

This week is an ‘easy’ week for me. My body is tired, my motivation is lacking, and I just want to take a break.

If you keep up with my training, you know I normally take Monday’s off from working out. But since I’m going on a girl’s trip this weekend, I decided I’d take two rest days this week instead of one and make them Saturday and Sunday instead of Monday. 
I almost took Monday off too, but I forced myself to get it done Monday evening. It’s a rough life, I tell ya. 
THIS WEEK:
Monday: Rest/Cross-training day
Tuesday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day
Thursday: 5 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Friday: Rest/Cross-training day
Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day
Sunday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Easy enough, right? We’ll see.
Onto bigger, better things now…
Because I am going out of town this weekend and we are going to Vegas next week, I have been trying to get rid of all the fresh food in the house. This is not as easy as it seems… I’m tired of leftovers!
Last night when I got home I told Sean we could either have leftovers or go somewhere. He opted to go somewhere (and I secretly rejoiced). Since we had Mexican food on Saturday he was brainstorming other types of food we could have (we really get stuck on Mexican or sushi 99% of the time). We’ve been trying to branch out past our “safe” go-to restaurants, so we drove around for a bit before stumbling on La Parmigiana.
It is conveniently in the same strip center as Orange Leaf. Frozen yogurt afterward? Done and done.
Now, usually I’m pretty good at avoiding bread at restaurants. And by avoiding bread, I mean that I’m pretty good at limiting myself to one piece. And by one I usually mean two.

But they had the cutest little pizza slice shaped pieces of bread that were fresh-baked and came with a pesto-olive oil-parmesan mix to dip in… It was little bites of heave and rainbows I tell you!

But I was good. I only had 1 1/3 pieces… (yes, I stole part of a piece that Sean ate…)

And then we ordered an appetizer that is one of my all-time favorites – steamed mussels in white wine garlic sauce. This one came with shrimp too.



Let me tell you – white wine garlic sauce is the best thing that has ever been invented and the white wine garlic sauce at La Parmigiana was made by fairies and unicorns. I’m not even lying when I say that I could have drank the stuff off the plate. Because I have a *little* more class than that, I really just inhaled two more pieces of bread soaked in the stuff.

Our waitress came over as I was stuffing my face (Sean had stopped at this point, rude) and said she was going to ask if we wanted her to remove the plate but by the looks of it I did not… oops. I let her take it to save myself from eating anymore bread.



Then our pizza came. This is what pizzas should always be made like. The same bread that we had been tearing through seconds before was the crust of our pizza. I die. Everything was so fresh and flavorful and delicious.



We each ate one slice before we both agreed we couldn’t eat anymore (yayyyy leftovers!!).

If you are around my part of the world, go here. Seriously. So good. We will be returning very soon.

Then we had Orange Leaf where I drowned myself in cookies ‘n’ cream and coffee frozen yogurt topped with butterfingers and waffle cone pieces. I’m not sure I think it’s as good as my beloved Yogurt Cup, but I also signed up to be part of their preferred members so I get a discount every time I spend $30… which will be every third time I go. I didn’t take a picture because someone is embarrassed when I take pictures of my food in public places. Something about not being discreet. Maybe because the flash went off when we were in the dimly lit Italian restaurant. My bad.

Needless to say I skipped the scale this morning.


Oh and sorry for the crappy picture quality but all I had was my phone and like I mentioned – someone gets all in a tiff when I take pictures of food ;)

Weekly Workout Recap, Week 8

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I have no pictures right now because my camera is being weird… so, sorry about that. But we’ll make this recap short and sweet and I’ll try to find interesting pictures to throw in from my phone :)

I bought this shirt for $2.88 at Academy. $2.88!!

What I was supposed to be doing:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day
Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day
Thursday: 6 mile tempo run; 4 miles @ 8:26 min/pace
Friday: Rest/Cross-training day
Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day
Sunday: 18 miles @ 9:54 min/pace
What really happened:

Monday: rest rest and more rest
Tuesday: 2 miles @ about 9:00 min/pace with the brother; 30 min Pilates
Wednesday: Jackie Warner’s arms & abs circuits; 30 minutes on the bike at the gym
Thursday: 6 mile tempo run; 3 miles @ 8:27 min/pace, 1 mile @ 8:20 min/pace with 1 mile warm up & 1 mile cool down
Friday: Jackie Warner’s arms & abs circuits; I don’t remember if I did anything else, but I think I might have walked and I don’t have my workout log with me so I’ll update this later ;)
Saturday: 5k race
Sunday: 18 miles; the first 9 were at a solid 9:50 min/pace, the last 9 varied between speeding up and slowing down; 10 min total body Pilates, 10 min long & limber Pilates


Overall planned miles: 26

Overall actual miles: 29.1



Louie decided to get in a quick run before I went out to conquer 18 miles.


Despite the fact that I really had a hard time getting motivated to work out for most of the week, I feel like my week went pretty well. My 18 mile run went much better than last week’s 16 miler, and it left me pretty satisfied with my whole week of workouts.



I’m taking this week really easy because I’m tired and my body just needs a break. That being said, hitting 18 miles was a really big deal for me because it showed me that my body is capable of carrying me through a full marathon. I don’t know what it was about making it to 18 but it made it very real and exciting :)


Tell me something exciting about your weekend! We went out for Mexican food on Saturday night and I had the most ginormous margarita of my life! Because I am a lightweight these days, I was also tipsy after that 1 margarita. We also went to see Horrible Bosses. Eh…

Lunar Rendezvous 5k Race Recap

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This past Saturday I ran the 33rd Annual Lunar Rendezvous 5k race out at Space Center Houston.

Let me just preface this by saying this was not a good race for me. 

Let me also get all of my complaints out of the way and blame this on Sean. It was hot. It was humid. It was about to rain (seriously, it started raining about 10 minutes after I finished running). I got no sleep because Sean was out with the guys and I waited up to make sure he got home in one piece which means I went to sleep at 2am and got up at 5:30am. (Ok, it isn’t Sean’s fault, but I was really tired.)
See how gross that weather looks?!
Complaining over, this just was not a good race for me.
For one, I started out way too fast. 
I ran the first mile in 7:13 (who am I?!).
The first 1.5 miles were OK. I felt ok, but not great. By about mile 1.75 my head left the race. I wasn’t into it, I didn’t feel great, and I was running way too fast for me. I couldn’t slow down. And I mentally gave up. And I walked for about 30 seconds. My pride died right then, I’ve never walked during a race before. How I can run 18 miles and be OK but walk during a 5k race is beyond me. 
Needless to say, even with my 30 second walk, I ran the second mile in 7:15 (yeahhhh…. I was running wayyyy too fast)
And then I mentally shut down. I’ve never even come remotely close to walking in a race before. Everyone talks about how running is a mental sport – it is.
I walked twice more after that. I didn’t want to be there anymore. I didn’t want to run. I just wanted to go home and cry. Was I being overly dramatic? Yes. Did I care? No.

When I slowed down for the third time (I was less than 4/10′s of a mile away from the finish) a guy ran up to me and said “NO”. And he paced me in the rest of the way. What a miracle worker. I could have hugged him I was so happy that he showed up when he did. Here’s a tragic picture of me finishing:
The irony?
I PR’d.
Go figure.
I also came in fourth in my age group, which I don’t want to talk about because if I hadn’t stopped three separate times I would have placed somewhere in the top 3. 
All I wanted out of the race was to beat my PR. My PR was currently held at 23:18 BUT the course was only 3 miles, not a full 5k. I finished this 5k (and it was the full 5k) in 23:14. 
And then I ran 18 glorious miles on Sunday. GO FIGURE.

3 Things Thursdayyy

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I’m still running on a high from a great run this morning so I’m in a superb mood.

Which brings me to 3 things thursdayyyyyyyy!
1. I guest posted for Britt, so you should go check it out! You can read my post here :) I adore her, so I was thrilled to post for her!
2. I did end up signing up (gah, I’m so last minute about these things sometimes!) for a 5k this weekend. I just couldn’t pass up paying only $18 to race out in the heat and humidity this weekend. Hopefully I’ll come back with a nice PR.

3. My best friend’s hubby is coming home tomorrow! He has been gone since January (he’s in the Navy) and I could not be more excited for her!

Tell me something (or 3 things!) about you! 


Anyone else running any races this weekend?!