My favorite treats

I have a bunch of "treats" I want to post... I just need to get off of pinterest long enough to post them. One of my new FAVE's!!!... carrots and jalapeno cilantro hummus from Sunflower market. It's spicy yummy and the carrots make it just a little sweet. Next, almonds. Next, Keifer. Have you tried Keifer? I have tried for so long to get in to Greek yogurt and still just don't love it. I tolerate it mostly but don't love it. Keifer though I love. Next, Lara bars. Especially the coconut cream pie. Oh my goodness, I'm a major fan. And did you know Lara bars are incredibly easy to make? These are actually one of the recipes I want to share with you. Last, hot chocolate with good dark chocolate. Especially after an early morning run. It warms my whole body. What are your go to snacks? Easy and convenient are the best.

How is the running going???

Hey everyone--maybe just two--how is everyone doing thus far in 2012? For me, I am back to running because I love it. And that is a great feeling. I think (until know) I underestimated the stress that goes with training for a race. That stress is a killer! So, I'm currently trying to average 30 miles a week with two days of "weights in the gym." My week generally breaks down like this Monday 6 miles, Tuesday 3-4 miles, Wednesday 6 miles, Thursday 3-4 miles, Friday rest and Saturday long run of 12 miles plus. Last Saturday I got in 15 miles. Home to BYU campus. I loved it!! I was even singing (and dancing I am embarrassed to say) as I started on mile 12 up the hill to 9th east. I love it! I love to run! It just feels so dang good! Tami is good to remind me, "If you are not enjoying it, you are working too hard." If I was a tattoo girl, I might get this one on my body somewhere. Are you running yet? If so, what does your routine look like?

PS... I would like to get this blog out to more people. Especially beginning runners. If you are following this blog let me know who you are and please pass along the address if you know someone who might be interested.

Menu Planning

I have spent almost the last 2 hours planning menu's for the week. A lot of prompts this week--made me sit down and write it out this week, grocery list included.

Inspiration: 1) I read an article by Dr. Oz this week from "O Magazine" and he said that some of the reasons we make bad food decisions is because we get stressed out/tired from making too many decisions. So, generally we start the day out eating well but by the time we have picked our clothes, our shoes, where to go, what to do, answers to kids all day we get tired of making choices and so we just eat whatever is the quickest, easiest thing in front of us 2) Again, deciding to go more whole foods necessitates more meal planning and 3) I get so discouraged calling Bjorn around 4 pm every day asking him what he wants for dinner (always trying to please! I'm done... for a little bit).

Anyway, I've been searching everywhere for good whole food recipes that I can plan for the week. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying to plan breakfast and lunch too! Steel cut oats is probably my go to breakfast. This recipe from Bethenny Frankel is one of my fave's (except I use dried cranberries instead of the blueberries).

Anyway, in my quest for recipes I had a friend message me and ask if I am following Word of Wisdom Living. I was not... but I am now! Very cool. Even cooler, the guy (not gal) that writes the blog is a retired father of 6 grandfather of 15! Bonus: he offers a weekly health challenge. We don't have to change our lifestyle all at once. This week's challenge? Create a menu and grocery list. Check.

Food and Nutrition

I had a bunch of blog posts ideas for this weekend and here it is--5:30 on Sunday night and not one of them is up. That is because I spent most of yesterday laying around reading this, by Jillian Michaels. I picked it up on sale at Costco a few weeks ago and actually didn't know what to expect. But, low and behold, she is simply advocating a whole foods diet which I have been trying to convince myself to adopt for this last year. It really really is so worth the work. Here is the brief: the environment we live in is so increasingly toxic. The animal protein sources we eat are full of antibotics (and a whole host of other crap) and the processed food we buy at the store are full of chemicals that the body cannot even read. So what we eat is killing the good biotics (probiotics) we have so we are generally sicker. Then the chemicals aka high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils enter our body and our metabolism says, "what is this? is this food? I don't know what to do with this." So it converts the food directly to stored fat AND even worse, your body still thinks it is hungry because it still thinks it has not been fed!

Anyway, I took a few whole foods cooking classes last year from my friend Des at Unconventional Kitchen. But, my family is not a fan so I went back to cooking easy, unhealthy food that made my family happy. But, I have been chronically feeling crappy. So, I cleaned out my fridge and cupboard yesterday just getting rid of the HFCS and the hydrogenated oils. Here is the proof! Such a bummer because a lot of the food was not even opened yet! Such a waste of money. But, I want to feel good and healthy again.

Another interesting thing I learned from JM, did you know that your hormones are your metabolism??? So when we are feeling hormonal crazy our metabolism will slow down and we will have a harder time losing weight! Anyway, more info to come on this as I finish the book.

What do you think?? Yea or nay?? My always cynically hubby says he doesn't buy it. But again, he loves to be the cynic. And I believe almost anything. Anyone else willing to clean out their cabinents? What I was most surprised by: the All-Bran cereal! The first three ingredients are as follows: Bran, sugar, high fructose corn syrup. Can you believe that!?! WHY do they have to follow sugar with HFCS as ingredients 2 and 3??

@Tami

First--I'm definitely no expert but I will give my thoughts anyway. With feeling winded, I really think that is mostly just to do with the crappy air quality we have here during the winter and the fact that we are running at 4500 feet. Especially since you are just getting back in to running after a 6 month hiatus, I think it is just one of those things. Stick with it and it will get better and/or go away. Especially during a speed work out. Remember that one of the main purposes of doing a speed work out is to increase your max oxygen capacity. There is a term for this... I can't think of it right now. In a few weeks after a few more hills and a few more speed workouts you will be better. I honestly think this "winded" feeling is what stops a lot of people from sticking with running. It's a pretty crappy feeling for a while. Stick with it and it will get better. Did I say that enough times? Stick with it! :)

Then, feeling like you are going to throw up. My guess is this has to do a little bit with eating habits while you train. I run early morning for a lot of reasons but one being that I know after a long night sleep all my dinner has digested. I will eat a small meal and then run. It is one of those things that is a very fine balance. You do have to have something in your stomach to have energy to burn but you don't want to have so much in your stomach that you still have food actively being digested. I actually learned something really cool this month about running and digestion. So the body is a pretty amazing little machine right? Well, when you run hard or run long your body signals distress and your body will stop sending blood through your gut and will instead pump it to your vital organs. You can probably run a nice easy run without this change but my guess is if you are only feeling sick during a speed work out then your body is trying to protect itself and (assuming you have food in your stomach) your stomach is saying, "hey, how am I supposed to function here?!?" Anyway, what to do: 1) Try to eat small (100-200 calorie) meal about an hour or two before you want to start running. Then nothing. 2) Try a high glycemic food for a quick energy source that is easily digestable. 3) Run on a schedule. The body will adapt and move food through the system like clock work if we will get it on a schedule. So eat at the same time every day. Run at the same time. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time.

Does this help? Or, do you do all this and still have problems? Let me know!!!

Plus, have you seen this??

This is by far my most favorite YouTube video ever. I've shared this with a lot of people so maybe you have already seen it... Ben Davis. Also at http://bendoeslife.com. Talk about therapy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbXgQqbOoU

Ben was interviewed in the December issue of Runner's world and I found out that when he was growing up his dad was addicted to drugs. Ben turned to food to avoid the hurt from having his dad basically absent from his life and in turn became addicted. In the video you see Ben plus his brother and his dad, who has now over come his own addiction, cross the finish line of the Iron Man together. Talk about healing!

Theraputic Run

I told you this one deserved its own post. I honestly started running at a time when I was having a really hard time personally. I needed time alone to think! Somewhere I could take out all my anger but not let it affect my family. And the more running circles I joined the more I found most people get hooked for the same reason. It's kind of like that saying going around pinterest, "be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." It's so true! Everyone has there thing to deal with so we all need therapy at some time!! So here is what you do... put on your shoes and start out the door. Before the sun comes up is best because then you get to watch the sky change colors as the sun makes its way up over the mountains and if you start in the pitch black you will sometimes get some shooting stars. Run. Run faster or slower than you normally do. Run longer or shorter than you normally do. Run harder. Pound the ground. Give it a nice good punch in the face, because you know you want to punch someone in the face. :) Then run a new route--see something you haven't seen before. CLIMB that mountain you thought you couldn't do. Make the run about accomplishing what you thought you couldn't possibly do. It will make the problem you have seem accomplishable. Don't make the workout work. Breath in deep, exhale all the way. Several times. SING to your iPod. Play the drums with your fingers (I honestly do this... don't laugh... a few songs on my play list always get the air drums). You can do this! I know you can!

Where do I start?

I'm not sure who is reading these posts and where you are at personally. So forgive me if this seems really basic. If you have not run on a regular basis in a very long time then this one is probably for you! Start training for a 5K. Training for something is so great to help you to stick with a training program. It is the end goal. It will give you a focus, a time frame etc. So, find one that looks fun and get going! Beginner 5K plans generally pair walking and running to build up endurance so that by the time you get to race day you are ready to comfortably jog the 3.1 miles the entire way. Here is a look at what a beginner 5K plan looks like: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Here are some other good beginner tips:
1. To start, run every other day for a few days (up to 2 weeks), to see how you feel. This will let you asses if you have some old injuries that still need to heal. If you feel good after a couple work outs you can add additional days. Do keep at least 1 day of solid rest (Sunday for most of us) to let your body heal. I generally rest on Sunday and will do a very light work out on Thursday or Friday to gear up for a big Saturday.
2. Be consistent! Pick the days you will run and pick the times you know you will go.
3. Listen to your body and your aches and pains. Don't run through the pain unless you know why you have the pain.
4. To increase distance a few rules of thumb: add up to 20% distance to your long run for 2-3 weeks in a row then step back and recover for one week. So for example, when I am training for a marathon I will have long runs that look like this--10 miles, 12 miles, 12 miles, 14 miles, 5 miles, 16 miles, 18 miles, 20 miles, 10 miles. Build, build, build, recover.
5. Another rule of thumb (probably only applies to a 10K and beyond): your mid week miles should be half your total miles for the week. So maybe my 30 mile week will look like this: Day 1- 6 miles, Day 2- 3 miles, Day 3-6 miles, Day 4-Rest, Day 5-Rest or light cardio, Day 6- 15 miles.
6. Fueling for the workout deserves its own post but here are some basics: eat 100-200 calories an hour or two before you go (general rule is 100 calories per hour before the run). Eat simple carbs. Toast with peanut butter. Half a banana. That is my go to meal. Don't drink a lot right before starting out. Instead, make an effort to be well hydrated throughout the day and hold of drinking an hour before the run. Remember to replenish right after you are done. Hydrate! Protein and carb. Hot chocolate or chocolate milk is the BEST post run recovery drink. Drink it up!
5. Last, run because you love it. Run because you need it. Run because it is cheaper than therapy. This is such a cliche saying but oh my so true. This deserves its own post too!

Advice adapted from here: http://www.active.com/running/Articles/10_Steps_to_Start_Running.htm

Post Answers @Lynne

Yes, I have used the flax as an egg replacement. To be honest I need to do it so much more than I do because I am egg intolerant. I actually made the Bran Muffins this weekend and made the following replacements and they turned out awesome! I also sat down and figured out the nutritional content for the Bran Muffins and submitted it to My Fitness Pal. You can check them out there. The "Brand" would be "KTrejo." I used Oat flour exclusively. I used flax instead of eggs and replaced half the sugar with sugar in the raw. Eggs do contribute to how much things rise so using flax can make the baked item a little flat but taste will not be affected.

Bran Muffin Recipe

This recipe is for my sis! And believe it or not, these Bran Muffins are to die for good. I will post the recipe as it was given to me from my mother-in-law and then give a few suggestions on how to make them healthier (it will however change the taste a little). This recipe comes from The Lion House.

2 C Boiling Water
4 C All-Bran Cereal
1 C Canola Oil
2 C Sugar
4 Eggs, beaten
5 C Flour (she uses 3 C White Flour and 2 C Wheat)
1 t. Salt
5 t. Baking Soda
1 Quart Buttermilk
2 C Wheaties Cereal

Directions: Pour boiling water over 4 C of Bran. Sift together dry ingredietns. Cream together oil and sugar. Add eggs, hot bran mixture, dry ingredients and buttermilk. Last of all add the 2 C of Wheaties. Mix just enough to combine. Bake in greased muffin tins for 15-20 minutes. Recipe makes 6 dozen muffins, but the best part is the batter may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks! That means you can have hot muffins daily!

My mother in law is a personal trainer and knows nutrition well. She loves these for her clients. But just for kicks, a few ideas on how to make them more nutritious (ps... these ideas translate to almost any baked good).

1. WonderFlour... What is that??? Chef Brad has a Whole Grain cooking show on the BYU channel. It's awesome. TiVo it! Anyway, he uses a whole grain flour that is 1 part brown rice flour, 1 part spelt flour and 1 part barley flour in replace of white flour in his baking. Check it out here... http://www.chefbrad.com/grain/articles.php?article=Wonder%20Flour&qid=5. I have tried this replacement in this recipe and totally loved it. It did change the texture a little but the taste was still awesome. Added bonus, brown rice and spelt are two of the BEST grains for fueling for exercise. Want some more details on this? Let me know.
2. Replace sugar with Sugar in the raw. I have not tried this one and in this recipe and I might try it with only half the recipe first since it would be a big replacement. As far as sweeteners go, I think this is the order of most nutrious to least... Succanat over Brown Sugar. Sugar in the Raw over white Sugar. Brown Sugar over White Sugar. If you follow health food trends lately you have probably tossed out your white sugar in the garbage all together already. I can't go that far yet. But, replacing it with a healthier choice on some recipes is a good idea.
3. Limit eggs. Or use two egg whites in replace of one egg (yolk+white). Other ideas for replacing eggs: Ground flax or chia seeds. 1 Tablespoon flax or chia plus 3 Tablespoons water will replace one egg. Did I go over board???

Do you have some good healthy recipes???? Please share!!!
3.

Links

On the side bar I have a few links to check out. One, Daily Mile. Daily Mile is a social networking site for runners. You can login with any facebook or twitter account that you already have. I love it!!! I started last February logging all my running miles and so far I've burned 688 donuts in just one year! Join today and add me as a friend!

Next, My Fitness Pal. I talked about these guys down below. Awesome.

Refuse 2 Quit: You want to see amazing??? This guy is a friend of ours and he is an Elite Ultra Marathoner. What is that you ask? Oh this guy goes out and runs 50 milers for kicks and giggles. Last year he took 3rd place in the Pony Express 100.

Last, a link to Runner's World Blog for beginning runners. So much good information. No one will need me any more!

A Few of My Running Favorites

1. Runner's World Magazine... I'm a magazine girl anyway and I really love this one.
2. Garmin 305 Watch... I got this for Christmas when I was pregnant with Maddy, before I really stared running. It has seen some serious miles. I know the newer ones (I think 405) are quite a bit updated and sleeker. I know a lot of smart phones have Apps to track miles but I like to run sans phone.
3. Shoes I have worn and loved: Asics Gel Nimbus 130 (lots of cushion, meant for a slightly heavier runner, it is a heavier shoe so I don't recommend it for marathoning); Brooks Ghost. I ran in this one for a long time. Wore it out and got a new shoe. And now, I'm back in my worn out shoe because I loved this shoe so much. It is light weight, no frills but it just breaks in amazingly well. Puma FAAS 500. This shoe is awesome. Very similar to the Brooks Ghost but is made for a more narrow foot. Next on my list... I want to try one from the Nike Lunar series. We will see.
4. Clothes... from Athleta http://www.athleta.net/chi/. I know they can be expensive so it's what I ask for on my birthday and at Christmas. Other favorites would be my Under Armour t-shirts. I got these on the clearance rack at Sports Authority probably for $10 each. They are made of that dri fit material (these feel more like cotton but they are definitely not). I can't run in a cotton t-shirt. I just can't any more.

Answers to posts

First--to answer Kristal's question--what to do while being pregnant? Other than maintaining your Pilate's class obviously, you don't want to start running now. If you are up for it start walking a few days a week and do so slowly. But really, your biggest focus now would be on nutrition and eating healthy. One question, are you getting enough protein in your diet? Protein is a tough one for a lot of women and so if you don't I would recommend protein shakes/powder. I remember my doctor telling me to make my hubby take me to Outback for a steak dinner once a week. I didn't; but, I do think it will aid in your delivery and recovery. If you want a recommendation on brand/type of protein let me know.

Second--Sara, no worries if you have no desire to get into running for the races. I will say that I have never "dropped the baby weight" like I did when I started running after Maddy was born. So there is some definite reasons to "run just to lose the weight." There is a book put out by "Runner's World" called Run Your Butt Off. I have not read it but I would like to. You can check out a short synopsis here http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-576--13864-0,00.html. It is basic. Eat less. Run more.

A few things I have learned while Running. Running will not make you lose weight. In fact, I put on about 5-8 lbs training for the last marathon (dang it!! I hate that) because for the most part my running was done so in the "cardio zone" which is heart rate above 160 ish. The problem, working out that hard made me starving! Seriously, I was hungry all day every day. So, to compensate I would eat. Also, before a work out or a run I would take an energy gel that breaks down to about 100 calories of sugary delicious goodness. I love those things! They make me feel like I can run forever! But I was taking them early in the morning before an 8+ mile run 3 days a week and so by the late afternoon I would get the sugar crash and go looking for cookies in the pantry. Anyway, now that I am not training for anything I am running slower which means I'm not as hungry during the day.

Also, I have been meticulous in tracking what I eat so I know what my calorie in take and out take is daily. I use http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ to track my daily eating habits. The iPhone App for these guys is AWESOME because it has a bar code scanner you can use to add the foods you eat each day. So easy to make sure you are tracking the right products. Plus, there is the added benefit that sometimes I will actually NOT eat something that I don't want to record it. Does anyone else track what they eat? If so, how do you do it? Any other ideas to lose those last 10 lbs of baby weight??? Why is it so hard to get rid of those last 5-10 lbs!?!

Where to start?

Ok, first thing is to set your goal. Setting goals is HUGE in what you can accomplish in running. When we get to discussing "race day strategy" I will talk about setting 3 goals. First, your ultimate goal. Second, one that you think you can reasonably accomplish based on how you hard you have trained. Third, one that you will be happy to meet--bummed if you don't. Setting goals for the year (and for life) are pretty much the same. Set your top goal based on something that would be a serious stretch personally but something you would LOVE to accomplish in this lifetime. You will be absolutely amazed at what you will accomplish when you push yourself to that goal. Pick your medium goal based on what you want to accomplish by the end of the running season. Set your short term goals based on what it will take to get you started.

My first year (2010) of real running I set my top goal, "to finish a half marathon." That was THE top for me. No way I was ever going to go past that. I set my middle goal on a 10K. Running that 10K may have been harder for me to accomplish than any other race I have ever done. It was the first time that I had ever "trained" to run anything. First time I had to follow a running schedule. When I finished that I was ready to push my limits towards that top goal. Ever since then I keep pushing that top goal farther out. So what goals are you working on? What is your peak?

So here we go!

I will throw this out there at the beginning... I'm not a great writer or an interesting writer. I have a few friends that are stalk-worthy bloggers. In any case, I want this blog to be a collection of everyone's ideas and a place to share success and accomplishments. So, I will post training ideas that have worked for me; but, please please share with the group if you have other ideas (especially better ideas). And, don't forget to share your race/running accomplishments. When I trained for my first full marathon--I couldn't even THINK about crossing the finish line without getting emotional... and I'm not an emotional person normally. My personal accomplishment meant that much to me. When I trained for my second marathon I was shooting for some pretty high goals so the feelings I had when I envisioned crossing the finish line for the second time... the only way to describe them is fierce. Competitive. This year, I am dying with excitiment thinking that some of you will run your first half this summer. So here we go!