Friday, December 30, 2011

344/365 New Year's Goals

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I was talking with my client and friend Anthony today about New Year's Resolutions. We've decided to scrap "resolutions" and replace it with "goals". Behavior changes can happen anytime. Although the new year is a nice round reason to make a new change, I and my fellow gym staff members can tell you that these behavior changes die out by February. Instead, we shall make goals of things we'd like to accomplish over the year.

Since I have this neat blog, I can look back to what my goals were last year. Out of my four fitness related goals, this is how I did:
- Beat my 10K personal record (PR)
    - I injured myself before my 10K race in June and didn't run one for time afterwards
- Participate in at least 3 races of any distance
    - I signed up for one race but got injured before it
- Take kickboxing or some martial arts class
    - I taught a kickboxing class when I worked for Verizon, not sure if that really counts
- Become or work on becoming a yogi starting with 1 session/week
    - I do yoga 2-3 sessions/week, success!


My scorecard does not look very good at the moment... However, I am determined to do better this year! I'm so excited about it that I wrote it down yesterday. 


- Continue to be a yogi
- Participate in 3 or more races (I'm already signed up for 2!)
- PR for 10K
- Go hiking in at least 5 places I've never been

Who wants to share? Happy goal making and have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration!

In health,
Lauren

PS: As my mother still says, "Don't drink too much tonight."

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

343/365 What's GU, Pussycat?

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

My cousin and I are training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in DC next year, who's in? "But, Lauren," you think to yourself, "how could I ever run a half marathon?" Well, I am still asking that question to myself even as my cousin and I are doing our long runs on the weekend. How does one train for a half marathon?

I am certainly no expert on the subject of long distance running, I just do whatever my cousin tells me otherwise I probably would stop training altogether. Our game plan though is to run just 3 times a week. On off days, I do yoga to stretch out my calves, hip flexors, hamstrings, and core to help recover and prevent injury. Day One of running is 2 miles run and Day Two is a slightly longer run. These runs are meant to keep the wheels greased, to train our minds to easily conquer that first leg, and to work on speed. Our long run on the weekends started at 4 miles and have gotten longer by 1-1.25 miles each week. Once we got over the 10K marker (6.2 mi), it was time to whip out the energy gel.

Energy gels, GU Energy, Sport Beans etc. are products that give you a boost of energy. They are mostly made with sugar to deliver energy quickly to your body; they also usually have electrolytes and protein. On a long distance run, you're burning a mixture of fats and carbs, carbs being glycogen floating around in your blood or stored in your liver. Conditioned endurance runners will be able to burn more fat since their bodies are more efficient and can take the time to use fat. At some point though, all of us will burn more carbs than fat since it takes a shorter time to burn carbs and we need the energy immediately. To top off those sugar levels, energy gels come in to save the day! By taking in a bolus of sugar that is easy to digest, we refill the bank of sugar our body can withdraw from to create more ATP, energy.

The thing to keep in mind with energy gels is timing. Though you may not feel tired 30-45 min into the race, a few more minutes longer at that intensity without fuel could be your end. It's recommended that you take a "shot" 15 min before running to top off your fuel levels and then every 30-45 min. GU Energy says to take the whole packet at once but for me, it's a little too much and I feel really weird and shaky. I take about a third each time interval and it has worked out well for me. I have yet to hit my wall, just my lactate threshold on some hills.

Before trying it, I joked about goo packs and how weird or gross they were. After two weeks of goosage (goo usage ha ha) I can truly say that they're not so bad. My gel has been hard and cold since it's been frigid outside which is fine by me. I can't imagine soft, warm gel; maybe that's just me. I've only tried GU Energy's Tri-Berry. I've also taken a few punch flavored Sport Beans before running because I actually have time to chew it. These are also pretty good, I'd just be slightly afraid of choking if I took it while running. The best thing I can recommend is giving it a try and seeing which kind/brand you like. And as always, drink water! These companies don't really say why you should drink 24-30 ounces with it but my guess is to help wash it down. Of course, you should absolutely stay hydrated whether you're running or hanging out anyway because Mama Lauren said so.

If you are a gooser (goo user ha ha), let me know what you think, what flavors you like, and which brand you enjoy the most.

In health,

Lauren

Labels

abdominals (19) alcohol (2) almonds (3) antiperspirants (1) apparel (6) apples (6) avocado (3) back (13) baking (13) balance (6) banana (2) barley (1) blood pressure (2) book (1) bosu (4) bread (5) breakfast (9) brownies (1) calf stretch (1) calories (4) candy (2) carbohydrates (5) cardio (23) chest (5) chicken breast (2) chocolate (16) cholesterol (2) circuit training (3) cold (1) computer (1) control (19) cookie (3) core (6) cycling (5) dancing (3) delicious (7) desk (1) diabetes (1) diet (32) donating blood (1) downward facing dog (2) endurance training (3) energy (7) energy drinks (1) exercise (92) fat (6) feeling good (6) fiber (5) fitness (10) flaxseeds (2) food (62) form (2) fruit (13) gait (6) gardening (1) goal (10) granola (5) grape seed oil (2) hamstrings (3) headstand (1) healthy (24) heart disease (1) heart rate (5) hearty (2) hiking (2) hips (2) holiday (5) hydration (10) ice (1) injury (2) intervals (6) jiu jitsu (1) journal (2) jump rope (2) junk food (25) kale (1) kickboxing (2) laughter (3) low glycemic (1) low impact (1) massage (3) medicine ball (3) meditation (2) muffins (1) muscle cramps (2) muscles (2) mushrooms (2) music (3) nap (1) nutrition (6) nuts (3) oatmeal (4) omega-3 (1) overeating (2) overload (1) overtraining (1) paleo diet (4) parkour (1) pasta (2) peace (1) pickles (1) pilates (2) plate (2) plyos (6) podcast (1) pomegranate (1) portions (2) pose (2) posture (2) prevention (4) protein (11) pull muscles (2) pumpkin (1) push muscles (2) push ups (5) pyramid (1) quinoa (1) ratio (1) recipe (49) recovery (8) relaxing (4) resistance bands (1) rest (6) rock climbing (1) running (20) safety (2) seeds (1) shoes (2) shooting (1) shoulders (4) sick (2) sitting (1) ski (1) sleep (10) smoothie (3) snack (17) snow (2) snowboard (1) sparkling juice (1) sparkling natural soda (1) spinach (4) sprain (1) squash (3) squat (2) stairs (3) standing (1) strain (1) strength (16) stress (4) stretching (5) superset (1) sweat (4) sweet potatoes (3) swimming (2) vegetables (6) versaclimber (1) video games (1) walking (4) water (11) water aerobics (1) weight (1) weight lifting (5) Wii (1) winter (9) yoga (10) yogurt (7) zucchini (4)