Running can be spiritual?

I start out by telling you, I am not fond of running. Ha ha ha right? I have to run to be in a triathlon. Well, the joke's on me cause I really don't like to run. My daughter is 12 and training for a marathon of her own valition. She loves to run and is running a half marathon in October. She says that it gets easier and more fun, the more you do it. Of this I am very doubtful.

The longest I have ever run in my life was about 3 miles and that was the day before yesterday because a 5K was the CrossFit workout of the day (WOD). Turns out due to some pedometer calibration problems we only ran about 3 miles. I ran the whole thing. Ugh.

Today we went to Jailbreak training (it is training to prepare for the Jailbreak Adventure Race in September www.runthejailbreak.com). I decided to join the bootcamp group mostly because I have been doing CrossFit for about 8 weeks now and it has affected my brain. Dear hubby and Daughter ran with the intermediate group. After 30 minutes of ridiculous (by that I mean super hard) calisthenics, we ran about 2 miles. Oh, and it wasn't just regular running. No that would be too easy. We did Indian Sprints. For those of you unfamiliar with exercise torture, Indian sprints work like this: the person at the back of the line (me) sprints to the front of the line. Then the next person at the back of the line sprints to the front of the line. Then you do that the whole way.

I was able to do it once, then I almost died. On the way back, a few of us were straggling behind barely alive and the instructor encouraged the rest of the group of in shape people to run back and help encourage us so we could finish together. I was plodding along and then a guy in his 20's in pretty good shape wearing a cut-off black t-shirt with a guitar on it fell in along side me. He didn't look at me or even say a word. He just matched my pace and then we were running in step. Our feet hit the pavement at exactly the same time, beating out a powerful rhythm. I felt energized and pushed it a little faster and he kept step with me for about 1/4 mile. He didn't ever say anything. He didn't need to. What happened was to amazing and completely spiritual event between two people. A stranger, came along side me and kept step with me during the hardest part of my run and with that honest simple support, I was renewed and encouraged. When we reached the end of the run, he dropped away and we never spoke. I wanted to thank him, but felt that somehow speaking would have ruined it. It was a simple thing he did, but it changed my whole day.

In that small silent action, the power of empathy and encouragement was transmitted in such an intense way. I am struggling to find the right words to explain the moment. But somehow, I felt connected not just to a stranger but to everyone and everything. You are probably thinking I am nuts. Maybe the running and CrossFit have finally caused permanent damage. But somehow there was perfection in that moment of human compassion and I saw God.

So I guess running can be more than physical torture. It can be spiritual too.

Small Victories- Shopping! No more plus sizes

The last time I shopped out of plus sizes was about 7 years ago. Today after 3 months of diet and exercise, I am out of the plus sizes. The last time I went shopping I was in a 3X. I am not sporting L and XLs depending on the brand and in a size 16!

I am so psyched. This will tell you a lot about my personality. My favorite store is Old Navy. I have often fantasized about having an entire wardrobe from Old Navy. So, today I went and bought a bunch of clothes there. I haven't been able to shop there in forever.

I had the best time today. I went out alone. By my self. A-L-O-N-E! I am going back to work ( I am a teacher) in a week or so and I am growing or shrinking rather out of all my old clothes. I gathered up a huge pile of 3x and 2x clothes to donate this evening.

One thing that I was excited about other than work clothes. (I am a little worried I won't be dressed up enough- Old Navy and all....but I don't care too much. I had so much fun) I bought work out clothes. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER bought outfits to work out in before this year. I just grabbed some old shorts and a t-shirt and went for it. I still think that is a fine way to go, but I am in a different place now. I am thinking differently about this lifestyle change. I am taking this seriously and the workout attire is a big step for me. For me, it means I am carving out a space for this lifestyle. I am taking it seriously and I am embracing it fully.

I am a minimalist at heart and everyone who has seen my wardrobe knows this about me. I don't need much and I don't dress to impress. I don't have a need for tons of stuff. We routinely go through and purge our house of junk and extras and things we don't need (more about that later). So making a purchase of workout attire is a very big thing.

My other favorite place to shop is Academy and get this...I found dress shoes at Academy. I was in a ton of stores looking with fear and trepidation for dress shoes. I have big feet. Size 10.5 wide, which never happens, so 11 in real life. They don't make cute dress shoes for size 11 feet. So when I find a pair that work, I wear them until they fall apart. I also dread the breaking in of new shoes. Yuk.

Anyway, I had to stop at Academy for work out shoes. The soles are falling off my old ones. To my surprise they have dress shoes there. I found the most adorable pair of shoes. They are brown cowboy boot front and open back and since I don't wear socks much anymore, they are perfect and ADOREABLE. I will post a pic to prove it, because I know you fashion divas have imagined my frumpiness from my writing and don't believe I even know what cute is. I promise these are cute. Now that I am not in plus sizes anymore, maybe my fashion diva will develop! They just don't make cute fat clothes. The best part of all- they were only $16! And they are comfortable and soft inside. I love them. I also found a pair of not so cute but functional slip on boot looking things for $6. For tramping around in the woods. I miss the woods.

So now my two favorite stores are Old Navy and Academy. All of that to say this: I am not where I want to be, but I am not where I was. I am getting better and I am celebrating the small victories!

Go out and win! 

Paleo- Zone Diet

Diet
In addition to working out, I have changed my diet. I have been diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome) in the past. Now I tell you that, so that you understand that sugar and white starches do terrible things to my body- cause a great deal of inflammation, fatigue, muscle and joint pain- to name a few.

I also have some strong personal imperatives about diet and lifestyle:
1) No FAKE sweeteners.
2) No hormones.
3) Lots of fresh and organic food.
4) Avoid processed foods.
5) Avoid dairy.

A diet for me has to meet all of those criteria. You see, minus the wicked sugar cravings and subsequent indulgences, I eat pretty healthy. Eating out is also a weakness for me as well.

Dear hubby and I tried Atkins about 8 years ago with some great success. Since, Atkins didn't allow many good carbs, like veggies and fruits we sort of did an alternative like South Beach. But South Beach encourages lots of fake sweeteners. I was looking for something a little more balanced that fit all of my criteria. After a good deal of research, I fell upon the Zone Diet and the Paleo Diet. The Zone is very balanced 30% Fat & 30% Protein & 40% Carbs (good carbs). The Paleo diet encourages dieters to eat like a cave man- which means that you eat natural foods, no dairy, no processed food, no sugars or flours, no grains, no beans...lots of vegetables and lean meats some fruits...The Zone encourages the balance and portion control and Paleo encourages eating the foods I am inclined to eat anyway. So, I am going with the Zone Paleo combination diet!

Giving up sugar is hard and we incorporate a cheat day once a week. Although, I am now inclined to cheat less because of the way it makes me feel. Some days are really hard even after several weeks of clean eating. Hormones, stress and anxiety make it worse.

However, the improvements in my health since the diet have been great! I no longer suffer from middle of the night acid reflux induced vomiting. I can lay on my stomach without acid problems. My wedding ring fits again! My belly is not hard and distended anymore. Soft and mushy, while not ideal, is better than tender and distended. The acne is gone for the most part- minus the hormone induced bouts once a month and I am hoping that will improve as well over time. I have energy all day long and feel much better. The late night anxiety attacks only occur after a sugar binge on cheat day...

Read about it in the following books:

CrossFit

This journey started in April 18, 2010. After a month or so at the gym, I found CrossFit through my brother a Dallas SWAT trainer. CrossFit is basically High Intensity Interval Training on Steroids! I can burn about 1,000 calories an hour doing CrossFit, and rarely have to workout for that long. Some workouts are only a few minutes! One thing that is big is CF world is muscle memory. Our bodies are incredibly amazing efficient machines and some people believe that doing the same work out for more than a couple of days builds muscle memory and becomes too efficient to burn calories and build muscles. To maintain an effective workout, CrossFit changes up the workout everyday and it is FREE! New workouts are posted everyday, with video demonstrations of the exercises.

Check it out: www.crossfit.com

I can Swim!

I can now swim a couple of laps without drowning or swallowing the entire pool! A long way from 400meters I know, but it is progress. I was beginning to think I would never figure it out. Check out the videos below. These are some of the tips I used to get my swim on! I love youtube. I can have the greatest coaching around for free.

Counting Calories Eaten and Burned on a Budget

One of the products that is all the rage now is a device that counts calories burned, heart rate and even sleep efficiency. There are several brands that are dominating the market. Both major brands are actually made by the same company and come with a website membership that allows you to track your caloric intake. These sophisticated devices communicate with the website and when you enter your eating for the day, you can see if you have met your caloric intake goals for the day.

While these devices are absolutely great, they are pretty expensive. I didn't want to spend $200-$250 for one of these devices, but really wanted the benefits.

The Pros:
I discovered a really good alternative for less that $25! First of all, one of the most important components of these devices is the website where you can count calories, track meals, track exercise and calories burned. I tried several free webisites that provide these services, and my favorite by far is www.myfitnesspal.com. My Fitness Pal is super easy to use and has tons and tons of foods already loaded to its library. I have used other sites, including the super spendy ones mentioned above and had to enter the nutritional information of many of the foods and supplements that I regularly use. My Fitness Pal has my shakeology in the library as well as ProArgi9, common brands of food like Aldi and Wal-mart. I haven't had to enter any nutritional information yet. The ads are limited and do not interfere with the usage of the website.

Most exercises that I do are in the exercise library and I don't have to make up new entries. After exercising, I just enter the time I spent on the exercise and the calories burned are calculated automatically. Sometimes the exercise calories counts don't match the watch exactly and I just adjust the time I spent on the exercise to match my watch counts. For CrossFit exercises, I write the WOD in the notes section and piece together the exercise in the log and use the watch numbers to tweak the numbers.

Once the exercise and food log is complete for the day, there is a button that calculates the totals and the program will estimate the weight you are expected to be in 5 weeks time!

The second part of the program is the cardiac monitoring device. I found a "Sportline" brand watch/calorie counter at Walmart for less than $30. The watch has several cool features including being water-resistant. The watch is light weight and and pretty simple to operate. The watch is affordable and so far very reliable. I have worn it in water, during strenuous crossfit workouts and during the night from time to time.


The Cons:
The expensive top of the line models automatically monitor the heartrate and calculate calories. This watch requires more user interaction. Every time your heart rate increases, you have to set the rate by touching the sensor on the watch for a few seconds. Even though this may seem like a con, the watch displays the rate and the percentage of max heart rate. And since you are actively monitoring your heart rate, you become very aware of your activity level and relationship to the burning of calories. So, I guess I consider it a pro...

Instead of automatically entering the calorie burn on the website, you have to log into My Fitness Pal and update it. The good news is that many of my exercises are already in the library complete with calories burned per minute! So, log in to the website and enter the number of minutes you ran or did burpees or whatever and the total calories burned is added to your daily log. You can adjust the numbers to match your watch. Again, much more time consuming, but allows you to closely monitor your efforts and eating.

So, the high end expensive systems require little user intervention and involvement, but the less expensive units are a great way to actively monitor your progress and be very involved in your health progress. Often, overweight individuals are very out of tune with their bodies. Using an active monitoring system is a great way to learn about the body and its responses to food and exercise.

Pose Running

Do you ever have knee pain or other joint pain, shin splints, calf pain, etc while running? I do and that's why I hate running- because it hurts.

The Pose technique is supposed to help that problem. Dr. Nicholas Romanov a triathlon coach developed a technique of falling forward and lifting the knee to help reduce impact and help prevent injuries. It is also actually more efficient than regular running. Check out the videos and see what you think.