CHAI DO!

I think everyone has a vice and next to exercise this is mine. Now don't get me wrong, I would pick a workout over my bevy any day but lately Starbuck's trumps gym time as a matter of convenience. This week I am enduring two family surgeries, immunizations, doctors appointments & a physiology final. I just can't seem to squeeze in a run but I can afford two minutes to pick up my grande soy tazo chai, and with only 3.5g of fat & 7g or protein I can do so with knowing it's not undoing all of my hard work from the gym (when I get to do it).

Mom's need less guilt in their lives so this is a very good thing!

The carbohydrate debate

Lately it seems that there is a ton of information floating around in our culture about what we should eat. In particular carbohydrates have received a lot of bad press. As an exercise science student and an avid runner I have decided to offer my opinion on the subject. Specifically, I will attempt to address the myth that eating carbs is bad for you and that cutting carbs out of your diet is the best way to loose weight.

For those of you who are wondering here is what you need to know about carbohydrates before cutting them out of your diet:

1. All of your major body systems require carbohydrates to function. Your muscles, your cardiovascular system, you name it they all use energy from carbohydrates to keep ticking. Most importantly glucose is the primary fuel for brain tissue. The quickest easiest way to access this glucose is to break down carbohydrates. Long term deprivation of sufficient glucose results in impaired memory and concentration.

2. Nutrition experts maintain that at least half of your daily caloric intake come from carbohydrates. This is validated by #1.

3. If you're remotely active you need to have carbohydrates daily to fuel your workouts and to help your body recover after work. If you are exercising as part of your weight loss program loosing carbohydrates is not an option.

Now if you're sitting there thinking "but all the stuff about carbs can't be wrong" just keep reading. I'm going to now give you the formula for doing carbs the right way.

1.The golden rule of carb consumption (or any food) is to make healthy choices. This is really easy. Choose complex carbohydrates. What are those? Start by choosing breads, cereals etc. that are whole grain & whole wheat. Foods that are made with whole grain flours are healthier because they are less refined and high in fibre. You can substitute whole wheat flour in almost all of your baking.

2. Up your fruit & veggie consumption. These are an excellent source of easily digestible & tastey carbohydrates. Additionally you get all of the fibre and nutrients you need. Fun anti -carcinogens such as lycopene & carotonoids are part of the package.

3.Have more fun with fibre. Choosing food with a high fiber content is a really good way to aid in weight loss. Fibre packed foods make you feel full for longer and fill you up faster. Ultimately you will eat less. Another bonus of fibre? It helps clean and detoxify your digestive system which can help prevent colon cancer and other digestive problems.

4. Mix your carbohydrates with low fat protein choices for the ultimate impact. These make the best meals. Why? You feel full for longer and you get tons of great nutrients. Eating foods that are"nutrient dense" will ultimately give you more energy and what you need to get through your day. Again this means you will eat less.

5. One last tip..... water it down! Drinking lots of water with your healthy carb choices will aid in absorption & filtration of everything you do & don't need.

So that's it, my take on eating carbohydrates. Don't pass on that plate of pasta if you want to stay healthy. In my opinion a whole grain slice of bread is a lot less harmful than a piece of bacon (can we say Atkins?)!!

Cheers!

Wherever & Whenever

This week has not been a good time to get to the gym. With baby Scarlett not feeling well and a million other things on the go I always seemed to not have the time. Then when I did have the opportunity to go my husband would declare that he had something to do and couldn't stay home with the girls. By this morning I was feeling really depressed and a little guilty but I wasn't going to loose another day of exercise.

I started on the right foot with my first yoga class. Because it is a beginner class we moved slowly and got as far as breathing and one fascia release posture so I didn't get as much activity as I would have liked.

Tonight I decided to take charge of my destiny and do something about the lack of activity in my day. I tossed on some dance music and had my girls join me in the living room for some impromptu aerobics. I did 40 minutes of aerobic dance (enough to get my HR up and break a sweat) and then abdominal exercises and stretching. I finished feeling fantastic and I really had tons of fun working out with my kids. I feel that I not only accomplished something for myself and my body but I accomplished something for my children. Tonight I taught them a direct lesson in fun and fitness and that makes me feel great!

The 5 female athletes I admire most.....

1. Chloe, my daughter. She has a natural talent for swimming. She has just started on a path to competitive swimming and she is loving it. Being in the water makes her joyful. I know she's going to be famous.

2. Heidi, my running protege. When Heidi and I started running together she didn't think she'd be able to run a mile. Now she's talking about running her first half marathon and is loving her new sport. I'm so proud of her.

3. Kristin Armstrong. Lance's ex has made it cool for the average girl to be a jock. She's a mom, a career woman and totally down to earth when she writes. I'd love to meet her so I could tell her that she's an inspiration.

4. Bobbi Gibb. For being a woman's running pioneer. Everyday I'm thankful that she opened so man doors for us.

5. Deena Kastor. Amazing athlete hands down. I wish I could

have one tenth of her talent.

MMMMMMMotivation!

Homer would do anything for a beer. In fact he'd step over his own mother to get one!! (he'd do this for a woman too)

I almost had myself talked out of working out tonight. After all I'm tired and there's so much to do at home. I really don't know what the driving force behind my leaving was today but THANK GOD I made it out the door. I feel so good now that I've put in some hard time on the treadmill. Everytime I workout I always feel so happy (even after my hill workout)

Desperately seeking sleep!

This past week has been a rough one for both baby & mom. Scarlett has picked up the virus her sisters had for Christmas. She is stuffed up and uncomfortable. Little airways and congestion don't mix so eating has been a big challenge. Who wants to eat when you can't breathe at the same time? What's even worse is sleeping. Because she is so little Scarlett can't clear her throat or as her sister Chloe says "just snort up" her boogers. In fact Chloe at the age of 6 just finally figured out how to blow her nose (this is something I never thought I would have to teach someone to do) so imagine how impossible it is for a 6 week old baby. Suffice it to say that we have been living with one unhappy camper.

The only way Scarlett can seem to get comfortable with the sniffles is to be held up against someones body, namely, MINE! Every night this week she has started screaming around 9 or 10 in the evening. The fussiness along with lots of snorting, snuffling and quasi choking continues until around midnight when the sheer exhaustion overtakes and she passes out. However I've learned not to dare laying her down as this starts the whole process over again. Approximately 3 hours later she is ready for her 3am feeding. Following this the cycle of discomfort repeats itself and she passes out around 7am, just in time for me to have to get her sisters up and ready for school etc. So I have been averaging 3 hours of sleep a night for 5 days now. If you consider sleeping in a sitting position to be restful. (I do not.) Now I don't mean to sound like a whiner but trying to mother 3 young children, keep a house, be a wife, do school work and exercise reqularly is starting to seem a little difficult. I've only been to the gym twice this week. I feel pretty guilty about it but what's a girl to do? Feeding myself is exhausting right now and lately unloading the dishwasher is a physical challenge (did I mention that my husband doesn't do ANY housework?) If I could only sleep just one night for 8 hours straight I would feel like a new woman. Hell I'd settle for 6 hours. I'm pretty sure I haven't had a REM cycle since November and that can't be good for the old gray matter.

Goal # 3.......... Strength

No return to fitness would be complete without proper strength training. I had the good luck to take a course last year titled "theories in strength training" and I came out with a new respect for the versatility of weight training. On some level I knew that it helped all aspects of well rounded fitness (muscle tone, strength, power etc.) but I finished the semester with all sorts of information on how to manipulate this type of training to maximize its potential and my results.

Anyway my hope is that strength training right now will help me tone my body, build muscle, increase my strength and inevitably my speed while running. Here's the plan

1) 25 minutes of upper body weight training following a warm up 1 day a week.

2) 25 minutes of lower body weight training following a warm up 1 day a week.

3) 25 minutes of abdominal and core training following a warm up 2 days a week.

I have chosen to up the frequency of core strengthening as opposed to my upper and lower body because I am a firm believer that a strong core is key to being successful in all realms of physical activity. There is an abs and core class offered at the YMCA and I am hoping that I will be able to attend it as often as possible. This would allow me to have 50 minutes of core training once a week. However because my time seems to be spread a little thin these days I will be satisfied with my shorter but more frequent efforts.

I will continue with this training program until the end of February. At this time I look forward to changing up my weight training and adding more compound exercises and olympic lifts!

Climbing Hills & Other Trials

I actually meant to post this last week but things got busy so tonight is a combination post.

Last Thursday I did my first hill training work out. Hills have never been my favorite part of running. In fact aside from racing I tend to avoid them all together. Naturally you can see why this would cause problems for me in competitive events. The hills here in Lethbridge are especially intimidating. Esentially I run for fun and trudging up a 1000m hill is not my idea of a good time.

I have been reading a book on the mental aspects of training by J. Dahlkoetter. Ironically the day before I ran my hills I read a chapter on positive affirmations. Ordinarily I might think that this sort of self talk would be useless. However desperate to improve my times and better my love of running, I came up with some affirmations of my own. Specifically I focused on affirmations for my hill workouts. Well color me surprised because it worked. For the first time that I can remember I was able to run 4 hill repeats at a speed very close to my tempo. I didn't want to puke and it didn't feel like it was taking forever to end. Maybe Dahlkoetter is on to something because I am actually looking forward to my next hill training day!!

Tonight was my first long run. Originally slated for Sunday but my confounder and company this weekend got in the way. I'm pleased to report that 60 minutes was not tiring and I felt great the entire time. I covered over 8km and finished strong. I am now confident that I will be able to handle the 10km this March in the moonlight!

Goal # 2 To Run a Strong Race in March

This goal involves my running and overall cardiovascular training.

In order to prepare for this year's "moonlight run" (my first race) I need to restablish my base mileage and rebuild my endurance. I am still undecided as to the distance I should tackle (6 or 10km) but know for sure that I must continue running on a regular basis in order to make gains.

Here is my plan:

1)To run two tempo runs each week (30 - 35 minutes in length with a pace between 5.5 - 6.0 mph)

2) To have one long run each week (60 minutes minimum with a pace between 5.0 - 5.4 mph)

3)To do one set of hill training each week (1 mile easy warm up 4 100m repeats on a hill)

I plan to do this running work out until the end of February 2006. At this time I will reassess my CV fitness and adjust accordingly. If my mind and body feel ready at this time I will aslo add interval training to build my speed.

My countdown to the moonlight run is on!