Infographic Friday – Living to be 100

Posted on August 31, 2012 by HHRunner

I used to tell my grandmother that she had to live to be 111, no negotiating allowed. Where I got such an arbitrary number is beyond me, but it was one of those things that I wholeheartedly believed when I was growing up, and later morphed into a little inside joke. I would constantly remind her that she still had a lot of living to do, and she would constantly tell me that she had to make it to 111. Unfortunately she didn’t live to see 111, or even 100, and I think some of that had to do with poor diet and exercise habits throughout her life. And some of it had to do with the fact that it was just her time. When I was sent over this infographic about living to be 100 I couldn’t help but think about my Oma [German for grandmother] and our little joke.

Now that I’ve gotten way off track reminiscing down memory lane, here’s a little infographic about living to be 100.

I think I’d like to make it to 100…

Frequently Asked Running Questions – Guest Post

Posted on August 30, 2012 by HHRunner

Please welcome Jina, who is one of my favorite bloggers!! She’s hilarious and refreshing and I always look forward to reading her posts!! Enjoy!

Hi, Happy Healthy Runner readers! I’m Jina, and I blog at Behold the Turtle. I’m a slow runner, as you might have guessed from the title of my blog. I’ve accepted my slowness … for now. Eventually, I want to be super fast like Rachael. (she’s very flattering as well )

Not super fast (or even remotely fast)… yet

I’ve been running for a little more than a year. In that time, I’ve ran six 5Ks, one 10K and two half marathons. And, I’m signed up for six more half marathons (the half marathon distance is my jam).

As soon as I mention that I run, it seems like everyone has a question or comment … some are idiotic or just plain mean. I respond nicely, but sometimes I really don’t want to. I really want to use the not-so-nice response I came up with in my head. But, maybe an educated, appropriate response could encourage someone else to run and love it as much as I do. That’s worth it, right?

So, I came up with a list of the frequently asked questions, what I want to say, and what I say. Maybe it can help you if you’re faced with the same questions … or maybe it will just make you think the not-so-nice responses in your head.

Question: Isn’t running bad for your bones?
What I want to say: I’m sure sitting on the couch does great things for your bones.
What I say: Actually, it’s not. You’re not alone in thinking that, but studies show running actually promotes higher bone density and can help prevent arthritis and other serious bone and joint problems, like osteoporosis.

Question: You pay someone to run a race?
What I want to say: Duh!
What I say: Yes, money goes to charities, as well as helping put on the race. It takes a lot of work and money to put on a race (think of the logistics, road closures, police presence, timing chips, bibs, start, finish, refreshments). There is a lot of volunteer work to put on a race, but some things cost money and some or the entire race fee goes to charity. Just as people playing team sports pay for facilities, officials and organization, runners do the same thing.

Question: You ran 13.1 miles?
What I want to say: Jerk! Yes, even someone like me can run that far.
What I say: I sure did! You see all shapes, sizes and ages running. With the right training, anyone can run a half marathon.

Shockingly, I ran 13.1 miles!

Question: You run … for fun?
What I want to say: Duh! Why else would I be doing it?
What I say: Yes! I enjoy it. It’s a great workout, and it’s a way to challenge myself. Just like other people enjoying playing sports, I enjoy running.

Question: Isn’t running bad for your knees?
What I want to say: Gah! Why must people turn a healthy activity into a negative one?
What I say: Not necessarily. If you’re healthy with no knee issues, running isn’t bad for your knees. It can actually help them … if you approach running in a smart way (gradually increasing your distance, wearing the correct shoes). Repetitive weight bearing and motion are good for the joints, and running essentially does that.

How Running has Jumpstarted My Freelance Writing Career – Guest Post

Posted on August 28, 2012 by HHRunner

Today I’d like you all to welcome Susan, an avid runner, freelance writer, and mom, who is going to share how running has helped her in her freelance writing career. Since I think we all can agree that exercise definitely impacts both your social and work life positively, I thought this article was a good fit for the blog

As a stay-at-home mother with three kids and a husband bringing in a teacher’s salary, I decided it was necessary for me to build potential income streams so that I could help my family financially. I’ve always enjoyed writing and I’m very passionate about several topics, including education, politics, feminism and healthcare. After conducting some research online, I discovered that I could work as a remote freelance writer through various online platforms, including oDesk and Elance. I figured this could work out very well for me! I could take care of my kids and create my own daily writing schedule. This would allow me to bring in some money without having to hire a babysitter or pay for child care services.

My journey into the world of freelance writing did not start off as I expected. I had a difficult time finding clients who had interesting writing assignments for me and were willing to provide adequate compensation for my work. I also had a tough time focusing on the writing assignments that I did receive from a few reputable clients. I did, however, receive praise for a piece I wrote that dealt with the amazing health benefits of engaging in vigorous, consistent cardiovascular exercise. I conducted research on my own to write this article, and I decided to put what I wrote into practice. The results have been nothing short of spectacular.

Adults require at least two hours and 30 minutes, or 150 minutes, of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I decided to start running every morning for 30 minutes before dropping my kids off at school. I discovered a fascinating book through my research that discusses how exercise boosts brain power. This book is Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, written by Dr. John J. Medina, a molecular biologist who has a deep fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information.

I learned that aerobic exercise improves cognition by increasing oxygen flow into the brain, which enhances mental sharpness. Medina discusses an important study featuring two elderly populations that had led markedly different lifestyles, one sedentary and one active. Exercise was found to positively impact executive function, spatial tasks, reaction times and quantitative skills.

Additionally, it is well-known that exercise can positively impact one’s mood. There are four primary neurochemicals that affect mood: Serotonin, Epinephrine, Dopamine and Endorphine. Exercise has a positive effect on all four of these neurochemicals, which means that regular exercise can serve as a natural source of stress relief and mood enhancement. was initially a challenge waking up early in the morning to go running, but the benefits have been phenomenal.

Running early in the morning for 30 minutes has absolutely jumpstarted my freelance writing career. I feel so much stronger both mentally and physically since I started running. This has allowed me to produce higher quality writing pieces for my clients. It’s amazing what I can dish out with a clear mind! I’m so much more focused all throughout the day by running first thing in the morning. My clientele has expanded significantly since I started this routine a few months ago, and I’m thrilled with where I am today!

Susan Hamilton is a proud wife and mother of three, freelance writer and web content coordinator for BabyChangingStation.com. Susan loves running early in the morning and working as a freelance writer during the day.

Monday Motivation

Posted on August 27, 2012 by HHRunner

I’m currently cruising through the Caribbean right now with the boy, and considering there’s a potential hurricane going on I found this quote quite apt. I mean, seriously, what are the odds that a hurricane would come the week that we decide to get on a ship?!

I’m actually not all that worried about the rain because, as Sean put it, “it’ll be like we get to stay in a really fancy hotel room for a week… just in the middle of the ocean”. This vacation couldn’t come at a better time, and I am so stoked to be spending a week away from everything – weather be damned! – with my best friend.

I do have some guest posts and pre-scheduled posts to go up throughout the week, so be sure to stop back by

Hope you all have an excellent week!

Infographic Friday – Serving Sizes Around the World

Posted on August 24, 2012 by HHRunner

I think serving sizes are a tricky thing these days because so many places blow them completely out of proportion. As a result, I think it conditions us to believe that we need more than we actually do. Several times during my journey with health and fitness I’ve had to take a step back and start measuring things out again to ensure that I was actually eating the correct portion sizes, etc. It’s always an eye-opening experience because it’s so easy to overeat without even realizing that it’s happening. Which is why I loved this little infographic on serving sizes

Have you ever portioned out serving sizes before? Surprised by what you found?

3 things Thursday

Posted on August 23, 2012 by HHRunner

1. We have no internet at home. This distresses me. It seems like it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right up until your husband demands that you watch the little league championships (do other people watch this?!) and is astounded to find out you have zero interest in watching them. Quite frankly I’m astounded that he has any interest in watching them, considering I’m pretty sure before two days ago he had no clue that they were even going on and last night he was yelling and cheering from the couch. Needless to say, when these type of things happen I usually just get online. Until last night. Instead I just scooped up the second Harry Potter book and went to bed.

Then this morning I had the genius idea to get out my Nook and see if I could get online there. You know, because it connects to the internet. Um, the Nook connects to your local internet connection, it is no iPad or smartphone. I am an idiot.

2. I seem to have bruised my foot/ankle. I’m not sure when it happened, I just noticed a few days ago that it was tender and then yesterday, after berating my dr. with text messages and believing whole heartedly that I was dying, I examined it a little further and realized there’s an actual bruise on my foot. Ok there’s multiple bruises. I guess my body is displeased that I am somewhat running again and decided to throw a wrench in things to switch it up a bit. It can’t possibly be that I tripped, fell, or twisted my ankle after floating this past weekend. Not at all.

3. Yesterday before I left work I thought to myself, “you know, you really need to get in a second day of strength training this week.” and then I bargained with myself and agreed it could be something easy. So I started going through blogs looking for quick workouts I could do. I ended up taking this workout from Julie and adding a few extra moves to the ones she already had to get it up to 20 minutes.

total body workout

courtesy of PBFingers.com… obviously Smile

So much for being “easy”, I was sweating buckets by the end of this and I’m a little sore today.

And now it’s time for me to get a pedicure. It’ll be the first one since before I ran the marathon, how crazy is that?!

swim, swim, swim

Posted on August 21, 2012 by HHRunner

I’m having an exceptionally long week at work this week (yes, I realize it’s only Tuesday), and I’m doing a lot of extra work right now on top of my usual work load. This pretty much means that my workouts are the absolute last thing I want to do, because all I want to do is face plant into my couch when I get off work. However instead of curling up and going to sleep at 5pm this afternoon like I wanted to do, I went to the gym and swam instead. And as much as I really didn’t want to do this, I ended up having a great swim. Guess that whole “you never regret a workout” thing still rings true, eh?!

Pyramid Swim Set

4 x 50 with 15 sec rest between sets

30 sec rest

3 x 100 with 15 sec rest between sets

30 sec rest

2 x 150 with 15 sec rest between sets

30 sec rest

1 x 200

30 sec rest

2 x 150 with 15 sec rest between sets

30 sec rest

3 x 100 with 15 sec rest between sets

30 sec rest

4 x 50 with 15 sec rest between sets

Happyhealthyrunner.com

All in all, the whole thing took me right at 40 minutes. This swim, like the majority of swims that I have, kicked my butt. I’m not sure if it’s the chlorine in the water or just the physical act of swimming, but it always makes me so tired. My body is crying for some sleep right now, which is where I’m headed now…

Monday Motivation

Posted on August 20, 2012 by HHRunner

via

This can be applied to just about anything and everything in life, and today it definitely applies to my desire to work out. Read: I don’t want to. At all. But I will because I know that I’ll feel much better when it’s done.

I don’t even have a good reason for not wanting to work out. I got plenty of sleep last night and I slept in this morning (ok, I actually just hit the snooze button for a solid hour before I finally pulled myself out of bed). I think the only reason that I have is that it’s Monday and I’m hungover on sadness that I don’t get to see my best friends more often. Which is a nice little segue into…

I spent all day Saturday with the majority of my best friends from college and I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day. At the very last minute (Friday at lunch to be exact) Sean and I decided that we were going to make a one night trip up to San Marcos to float the river with some of our close friends. (If you’re keeping track, that’s the 3rd time I’ve floated this month… pretty good for not living near a river!) By a random series of events, three of my other best friends from college ended up coming into town to float with us as well. These are all people that I don’t see very often and I don’t talk to very often, but after four solid years of knowing each other inside and out we still can pick up right where we left off.

If I ever doubted if I was making the right decision or not spending Saturday in San Marcos, that float trip completely erased any indecision over the matter. There is absolutely nothing comparable to spending time with people that I never get to see. And to realizing that I’ll always be able to pick right back up with them, no matter how different we all are now.

Oh AND on Saturday morning before we left I got up early and ran six miles. I feel like it’s the first legit distance I’ve ran since the stupid injury. It wasn’t particularly fast and it was all on the treadmill, but it happened and I am thrilled. Then yesterday I biked 12 miles to loosen up my legs and get them moving after doing way too much drinking on the river on Saturday. The verdict? I still feel pretty darn good. My knee has random little pains, but overall I feel much better than I was last week before I got amped up on supplements. So we’ll call that a win.

Aaaand once again I’ve managed to make a short post into a rambling one.

Tell me about your weekends! Were they spectacular? My only regret about my weekend was that my decision to go to San Marcos Saturday prevented me from going to one of my best friend’s bridal showers on Sunday.

Infographic Friday

Posted on August 17, 2012 by HHRunner

This infographic is one that I am well versed in, staying HYDRATED! I am pretty sure that I drink way more water than any one person should, but I doubt there’s anything wrong with being overly hydrated. Minus the fact that I spend more time walking to and from the bathroom than anything else while I’m at work. That is neither here nor there though.

Provided By: InsuranceQuotes.org

Are you obsessive about getting enough water?

3 Things Thursday

Posted on August 16, 2012 by HHRunner

Here are three completely random and unimportant things from my week this week. You are welcome.

1. Last week Sean went to Old Navy and bought an entire new closet of collared shirts on clearance. With his purchase they gave him a coupon for $20 off a $50 purchase and $10 off a $25 purchase. I demanded that he surrender the coupon to me and then in his absence this weekend went to Old Navy to scope out what I wanted to get. I have been on a long hunt for the perfect chambray shirt and I spotted it immediately when I entered the store. There it was, in all its glory, complementing a pair of mustard yellow skinny jeans (which I may or may not need at some point and am 100% positive Sean will hate), and I was immediately sold and buying the shirt became a necessity. I wandered around the store for a good 30 minutes looking for it on the racks and then decided that I should probably “think” about it since I couldn’t find it and come back on Sunday if I still needed it. After all, the coupon was good the 7-12, which gave me until Sunday to think about it.

originally via
This is not the shirt or the pants, but it’s similar. Kind of. So you get the idea.

After dreaming about the shirt I hurried back on Sunday to purchase it, spent another 30 minutes wandering around the store looking for it on the rack, and finally demanded that the sales associate take it off the mannequin and give it to me because it was the only one in the entire store and it was my size. I then proceeded to wait in the longest line known to man to purchase the shirt (which had no price tag) only for the girl to ring it up and tell me it was $20, not $25 like I incorrectly guessed. Fail number one. I made some unintelligible noise and exclamation in frustration while holding my coupon and then she laughed and said, “that coupon isn’t good until September anyway”. Fail number two. 9/7 – 9/12 does not mean August, it means September. Lesson learned. I bought the shirt anyway and am wearing it right now. I still love it, even if I did have to shank someone for it and pay full price.

2. I bought a carton of raspberries on Sunday and they have already started to go bad. They were slightly acidic tasting in my yogurt today, which disgusts me. I ate them anyway because I can’t stand to throw food away, but I am less than pleased. WHY, raspberries, WHY!! You are not cheap!

originally via
Those are not my raspberries. But they should be.

3. I really thought I had a third point, but now that I’m typing this I don’t remember what it is. I could have sworn that I went on and on about how hard my life is to my mom on the phone this morning, but I guess I just stretched that ridiculously long Old Navy story out even farther to her, so you should feel glad that you don’t actually have to talk to me on the phone while I drive to work and lament the tragedies of my life every morning.

In other news: I took two days off of working out this week because I literally was so exhausted I wanted to sleep all day long on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was kind of like being a walking zombie. I was a lot like this guy, except without the crazed running around, the blood, and the tie around my head. So really we are nothing alike. I went to see my doctor last night and am now pumped full of supplements and feel like I’m winning at life. I ran 3.5 unremarkable miles this morning – which is better than 3.5 painful ones – and I currently want to just die from sitting at a desk all day. I’m fairly positive that it’s cruel and unusual punishment to force people to sit for 8 hours a day. And just in case you’re wondering, the supplements that I’m currently taking make me extremely chatty, which is probably why this post is so wordy.

I hope you all are having a fantastic Thursday! Please, tell me something good that’s happened to you this week. Or bad. Whichever.