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Home gym

May 4, 2011 by 3 Comments

I read so much about people who exercise at home. They do DVDs, podcasts, have equipment in their garage or have a room dedicated to a yoga practice. This post is about why I cannot get myself to exercise at home.

First, I think it would be so convenient to exercise at home. You roll out of bed and to a TV or yoga mat where you get your exercise on without leaving the house. You spend no time at all commuting, don’t have to wait for a class to start, don’t have to worry about keeping up with the person next to you.

However, I just don’t like exercising at home. I have tried to spend some time stretching, but I get distracted or stop. I have tried a few times to do a yoga podcast in the mornings, but I tend to not hold poses long enough or get distracted by a little puppy who thinks a yoga mat is a good place to rest her body. I don’t want to buy hand weights because I probably wouldn’t use them either.

I’ll also tell you that I’m not at a shortage of gyms or studios nearby. I’ve just always been so turned off of home exercise and have no problem going to a gym or outside to run/walk many days each week.

I really enjoy being around people when I exercise, which is a funny contrast because I like doing many things by myself, including work. For exercise, I thrive on friendly competition (like in CrossFit classes), people watching at our other gym, and using the gym as my playground.  I have no problem holding yoga poses as long as I’m supposed to in a yoga class, and I wouldn’t even think about doing a spinning class alone.

What’s your opinion on a home gym? Do you have a space to dedicate? Do you have no interest like me?

Filed Under: Exercise ·

Revisiting morning exercise benefits

April 27, 2011 by 6 Comments

About a year ago, I wrote one of my favorite posts–how to become a morning exerciser.

After I graduated from college and almost daily for the next four years, I exercised after work. I didn’t really have other commitments, I didn’t have a reason to wake up early, and it was fine. In March 2010, I realized that it’s just too hot in Houston to exercise at 6 p.m., especially for CrossFit classes I was doing in a gym with no air. That was my motivation to change my style immediately!

I also got a dog last April and needed to come as soon as I could after work. With many good reasons to move to mornings, I started setting my alarm for 5:32 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays (for a 6 a.m. class), and about 6:15 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays (to go to the gym and do whatever). I take Fridays off of all exercise. On the weekends, I still exercise in the morning, but more like 9 a.m.

A year later, I’m still going with this plan.

Here are the things I like about exercising early:

  • You get it over and done. It’s so nice to accomplish something before 8 a.m.! And it’s a real accomplishment-you break a sweat, push yourself, and it wakes you up.
  • You eat well all day. When you wake up so early, you don’t want to do it for nothing. You eat a quality breakfast, you make smart choices, you drink a lot of water.
  • You have time for things at night. When I used to workout at 6 p.m., I would eat dinner after, then have to shower, make my dinner, wind down. Then I added a dog and a husband and there’s more that takes time to do. Now, I have all afternoon and early evening to do what I want. Did I mention I also used to shower twice most days? Morning before work and at night after a workout. That’s not necessary now! Also saves time.
  • You work for your breakfast. Sometimes when I wake up without exercising, I’m not so hungry but know I should eat. I think I should eat at 8ish rather than feeling hungry at 10 a.m. and then snacking until lunch. I don’t like doing that. I like to do something to work up an appetite. Food tastes better when you’ve earned it! Or worked hard for it.
  • I have also found that waking up early makes me more awake all day. I don’t get tired like I thought I would, and I don’t drag for a few hours. I do go to bed early, real early. I’ll embarrass myself–9:45 p.m.-10:10 p.m. most nights.

What do you like about the time of day you exercise?

Filed Under: Exercise, Thoughts · Tagged With:

Run for the Rose 5K

April 10, 2011 by 6 Comments

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I ran another race! And I did it speedily too!

Yesterday morning, a big team of our friends ran or walked the Run for the Rose 5K race to raise money for brain cancer and children’s cancer research. (A brief news story I wrote about the history of the race is here.) The race is named after a woman who died of brain cancer at age 27. In its 9th year, there were over 4,000 participants to raise millions for two hospital foundations.

We ran as part of a team to honor the memory of one of our friend’s father who died less than two years ago of brain cancer.

Race Recap:

To happier things, let me tell you about the race! First, I didn’t exercise much this week because I had some early morning things, so I had fresh legs (or un-trained ones, you choose). I have been running pretty slow for a while and had no expectations of anything great this morning. I started like all races with one piece of toast with a small amount of peanut butter and half a banana. It looked like this picture, but just one piece of toast.

Why this shouldn’t have been a good race: The course was kind of boring (around Reliant Stadium up and down parking lots), I don’t like running in t-shirts because I get hot, and I didn’t even wear shin sleeves or tape. It’s already summer here, no cool Springtime weather.

However, I realized when I hit the first mile marker that I was going pretty fast for me at 9:50. I had a great pace, felt good even though the t-shirt felt like running in pajamas, and kept on going. The second mile marker was 11:00 minutes later, and the 3rd was 10:19 later. I didn’t even know what I ran the last 5K race in (actually, when you have a blog, you do know these things), but I knew it wasn’t as fast as I was going. I finished 3.1 in 31:48, an average pace of 10:30! This is two minutes faster than a 5K I did last October.

Let me compare to the 4 mile race I ran one week before–47 minutes. That’s only .9 miles longer, and I ran this 5K at a pace to finish five minutes faster. That’s amazing for me!

I also took about a 20 second walk break in the 3rd mile up a ramp hill but then saw paparazzi so I had to start running again!

I am so thrilled with my time. I guess I need to sign up for more races before it gets too hot!

My right knee was bothering me slightly in the last mile, but I have come to accept it will never go away and I better get used to short distance races.

We didn’t take too many pictures, but here are a few:

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The Team Donny family.

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Three pregnant girls on our team bringing up the caboose! A finish is a finish!

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Also, I have a new story about Spring cleaning your kitchen for CultureMap. Check it out here.

Filed Under: Houston, Running · Tagged With: ,

Memorial Park’s Four for the Park Race Recap

April 3, 2011 by 3 Comments

Finally! A race recap on the blog! The last race I ran was on December 5, 2010 in Dallas for the White Rock Half Marathon. It’s been almost four months to the day since I ran 13.1 miles, time to get back to races! My right leg is still giving me problems, but I’m getting used it. On Wednesday, I signed up for the Memorial Park four-mile run called Four For the Park. With three days until the race, obviously I wasn’t really “training” to run four miles.

The training is a large chunk of what makes racing fun, but I am truly just happy to be running. I’ve spent a lot of the last four months either not running, running with pain, or at the physical therapist’s office to work on my legs. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been able to run further before the IT Band pain starts, and earlier this week I had a great run outside so I decided to sign up. You can always walk, I told myself.

The great part about this race is that it’s so close to our house. Memorial Park is in the center of town, easy to get to, easy to park at, and it started at 8:30. Pretty nice, we woke up at 7 and left at 7:45. No corrals, no long walk to get to the start, just 2,500 people lining up to run. The race also benefitted the park, and we go there often to run, so why not give back and get exercise?

Breakfast was the same as all races–toast, peanut butter, banana, coffee, water. I sometimes eat cereal or yogurt or milk before normal exercise, but I just don’t think dairy sounds like a good idea before a race, especially in the heat. I laid out my clothes the night before, and also wore Zensah calf sleeves. I wore these for the first time at the half marathon, and hadn’t even tried them out before. My leg problems are probably all related to my shins, and the calf sleeves are like compression socks that kind of hold everything in and help circulation. It doesn’t hurt, it might not help, but I wore them anyway. I did not tape my knee/IT Band area or ankle, I just stuck to the sleeves for this time.

The morning was very humid and hot, and there was a short light rain before the race started. Enough to make it extra steamy outside.

The course was really nice, flat, and scenic. Big homes for the beginning through a neighborhood, and then along a major street (Memorial Drive) for the middle part, and then into the park for the last mile.

My right knee and ankle were ok during the race. My knee area, same spot as always, became tight around the three mile mark, which is typical. I kept running and never walked even though it hurt like normal. I’ve realized unless I stop for a long period of time, it probably isn’t going to get much better. Luckily, I can do everything else I enjoy, like CrossFit, walking, yoga, etc. I usually don’t run as much in the summertime anyway, except on the treadmill.

The good part is that my ankle is much better than it was about a month ago. Somehow while I was healing my knee, my right ankle started to hurt even worse than the knee, even when I would just walk. That was more frustrating than my knee because it seriously hurt to just walk.

I finished the race in about 47 minutes, and I was very happy with that. I was really just happy to be running, I was happy to finish without any walking, and I did the best I could. Home by 9:45 with a cool down walk around the neighborhood with the puppy, and the morning’s exercise and first race of the year was complete.

This is Michael. He ran twice as fast as me today and is making his second appearance on the blog. He came in 3rd in his age group and 17th overall! He also ran the Houston Marathon at a very speedy pace!

Coming in for the finish.

Another thing about the timing–I mentioned earlier this week that I calibrated my Garmin hoping it would read more accurately. During the race, it was still off by .1 per mile, which is very frustrating when you buy a watch for distance accuracy. When I finished the four miles, it said I ran 3.6. Don’t buy the Garmin FR 60. The heart rate feature is great and accurate (I think?) but the distance part is not.

My splits were probably equal at about 11:45 min/mile each. I used to be faster I think, but oh well!

What are you training for?

Filed Under: Houston, Running · Tagged With: ,

Spontaneity

March 29, 2011 by 2 Comments

On Tuesday morning, I decided to do something a little different. The weather has been pretty great in the mornings before it gets hot, so I’ve been taking advantage of exercising outdoors. I went to the 2.9 mile loop around Rice University instead of the gym or the Memorial Park loop which I do frequently.

The Rice loop is one of my favorites in Houston. It’s quieter than Memorial Park, easy to find a parking spot on a side street, and I really love being in a university setting. Makes me feel smarter? The path is lined with beautiful trees, you almost forget you’re in the largest city in Texas. I also love the backdrop of gigantic hospital buildings right above the trees.

Anyway, my legs were feeling great, the temperature was warm but not hot, and around the two mile mark, I realized there was a track right inside the campus. I have been looking for a track since about December when I realized my Garmin wasn’t calibrated after it told me I ran 14.4 miles during the half marathon I ran. Wrong! Many excuses of not being able to run at all, not wanting to find a track just to run two laps, and not being in running shape were reasons I never calibrated the watch. I knew it was about .1 mile off per mile, so it’s like reading a watch and telling yourself it’s 10 minutes fast and backtracking.

To stop my normal 2.9 mile loop and get to the track was a spontaneous decision for me (and tresspassing maybe?). I’m not a spontaneous person! I ended up running around the baseball field to get to the track, which was luckily unlocked. I ran one lap to calibrate and a second to check it. Worked perfectly. I actually liked running on the track. Now I get why people use it for speed.

Then I had to finish my loop and get back to my car. I thought walking/running through campus would be quicker than going back to the perimeter, but I didn’t really know where I was going. I think I ended up going an extra .5-.75 miles more than the perimeter would have taken me, but the campus was so pretty on the inside, I could see into classroom lectures, and the weather was great.

A nice spontaneous morning run!

As you can see, there are no pictures on this post (the top is an image I found). Maybe I’ll go back one day with my camera to take some pictures. But that would be spontaneous.

Tell me one spontaneous thing you’ve done lately.

I may be signing up for a four mile race on Saturday. Haven’t done it yet!

Filed Under: Houston, Running, Thoughts · Tagged With: , ,

Simple Cinnamon Raisin Granola

March 23, 2011 by 8 Comments

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I’ve been thinking that I should give you an update on fitness and things not food related. I realized that my posts have been very food heavy and not fitness related in a while.

But first, granola!


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On my quest for a simple and low calorie granola, I came up with this one. It is mostly oat based with less dried fruit than some of my other versions. It’s crispy and crunchy, and a great addition to yogurt as breakfast or a snack, or to munch on by itself. Stored in a container, it will last quite a while.

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Cinnamon Raisin Granola

Ingredients:

  • 2 C old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 C almonds (mixed whole and slivered)
  • 1 T flax meal
  • 2 T applesauce
  • 2 T apple juice
  • 1/4 C brown rice syrup (can sub honey)
  • 1 C raisins
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

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Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350*.
  • Mix dry ingredients and spices in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.
  • In a separate bowl, combine applesauce, apple juice and brown rice syrup. Stir with a spoon to incorporate.
  • Pour over oat mixture and stir well.
  • Spray cooking spray on baking sheet and pour granola on top. Spread evenly to cover baking sheet.
  • Bake for 45 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes.
  • Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

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One thing I might change is to not bake the raisins with the granola and add them in when it’s done. They expanded in the oven and then came back down to size, but tasted a little more crispy than soft. I would also add more cinnamon for a more vibrant flavor, maybe 1 T cinnamon.

I really liked the crisp-ness of the oats without the brown rice cereal which I use sometimes in granola. The coconut toasted nicely in the oven, and the flavor came from nutmeg and cinnamon.

A fitness update:

Well, if you’ve been following along, you might remember that I’ve been having pains along my right leg for quite a while. No one likes a complainer, so I just stopped writing about it. I’ve been doing some physical therapy, got a cortisone shot, had an x-ray, have stopped running for a few weeks, and continue to stretch and not do too much on my foot. My right ankle area is strained, which should get better with time, and my right IT Band continues to be a booger only when I run.

To make up for not running, I have been walking more, doing the elliptical, stair master, jumping rope, etc. I still do CrossFit two days per week which is still the most intense workouts I do. I would like to start swimming again, but for now I enjoy being outside since the weather is nice. When it gets really hot, I’ll want to get in the pool again. It could be tomorrow when it’s mid-80s, who knows.

I am glad that 2010 was the year of racing for me, because my right leg will not have it right now. Even though the half marathon in December was what really triggered some major lingering pains, I am very glad I accomplished it! And I’ll deal with my leg over time.

Until then, I don’t have many fitness related goals, except to keep exercising and sweating and challenging myself. I have some CrossFit related goals, like to get faster and hustle and to continually lift heavier, so those are good to work toward.

It has been quite a bummer to not be able to run the distances I want, but it could be worse.

 

Filed Under: Breakfast, Exercise, Injuries, Snacks · Tagged With: , , , ,

Oh my aching leg

March 2, 2011 by 5 Comments

First, welcome to March! I know it’s March 2 by now, but I wanted to post the pizza yesterday, so my “welcome to March” post is one day late.

Blog stats:

I want you to know that every month on the first day, I look at my blog stats for the month prior and tell myself that I’ll never top it, and every month since I started the blog, I have topped it. March makes my 11th month of blogging! I especially said to myself that February couldn’t be as good as January because there are three fewer days! And January had all those January joiners that disappear.

But I did it, mostly thanks to links on Food Gawker, Taste Spotting, and Oh She Glows.

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Regardless, thank you for visiting. I always appreciate your visit whether you comment to say hello or not.

March 2 Superstition:

Moving along to a random fact about today, March 2! Did you know that on March 2, 1992 I broke my left elbow. It was a bad break and I had surgery that night to put two metal pins in my arm. I had a pink cast for a month and even went to Disney World with my cast, and the characters signed it. That was pretty cool! I was 8 years old. I still have the scars, but the pins were removed.

The continuing joke was that every year on March 2 my mom would make the same dinner she made that year because she worked all afternoon on a great dinner and then we couldn’t have it and it went to waste. However, 19 years later it’s actually not healthy to eat noodle kugel, salmon croquettes, and more I forget for a weeknight meal. So I just acknowledge the memory! And this is why Jeffrey calls me a major weirdo sometimes.

Oh my aching leg:

And next up, I wanted to update you on my right leg and some therapy I’ve been doing.

A brief summary so far: In December, I ran my first half marathon. I had lingering IT Band pains on my right leg leading up to the race, then I ran through it, and then I took the month of December off of running because it hurt. In January I got it x-rayed and there wasn’t anything major wrong, and in February I was starting to run consistently at around 2-3 miles. I also did some rapid recovery therapy at a place called Airrosti that I wrote about here that aimed to massage and stretch the muscle in a way that just stretching or resting could not do.

That’s where I left off. I have now gone to three sessions of Airrosti and I really believe it has helped. I have also been doing more stretches that focus on my hip, groin and IT Band to strengthen surrounding muscles. I will probably continue to go back one or two more times. The doctor uses her thumbs to bruise pretty bad the fascia around the muscle. The bruising isn’t on purpose, it’s kind of a side effect of massaging the muscle. Then it’s covered with KT Tape, which I’m very familiar with, to aid in recovery.

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However, two Sundays ago I decided to run at Memorial Park, a popular 3-mile loop. I had been so happy that I could actually run outside and had successfully run over 3 miles around our neighborhood. I have really missed out on running in great weather since it will soon be in the 80s, 90s and 100s until November! I ran one lap at the park and walked a second. I totaled about 6.5 miles on that day of running and walking.

The next day, the inside of my right ankle start to hurt a lot. The pain wasn’t unfamiliar, but it usually goes away. It was probably from overuse and basically too much too fast, even though I only ran 3.5ish and walked 3. I just hadn’t been on my feet for 6.5 miles in over two months. The pain didn’t go away and really hurt whenever I would walk the dog, go up and down stairs, and pretty much put weight on it. I continued to exercise that week but not run or walk. I did three days of yoga (that is a lot for me!), two days of Crossfit, and one day of elliptical/cross training. I also iced the spot often and continued my leg stretches.

On Monday (two days ago and 8 days after I ran/walked), I went to my podiatrist and got a cortisone shot in the spot. Ummm hello pain and numbness! I have never done that before, but my right foot was numb for 12 hours! It finally went away in the middle of the night, and now I’m waiting to see if the pain goes away too. So far so good, but it’s a little too soon to tell. Cortisone is not a steroid but can speed up recovery.

(I think this is the right term but I’m not positive. That’s the spot where the pain was.)

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That’s the story so far. Luckily it was not anything too serious, and pretty much just a strained muscle.

Back to recipes tomorrow!

Filed Under: Injuries, Running · Tagged With: ,

This Weekend…

February 27, 2011 by 10 Comments

This weekend was busy with fun stuff.

I attended part of the Texas Yoga Conference to write a story. I did a yoga class called “Asanas and Yogi Moves” led by MC Yogi, an instructor and hip hop singer from California.

Story here.

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I got a sample pack of 12 Chobani flavors including a few new ones.

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Our fridge is packed with yogurts! Jeffrey even tried one. Stay tuned for a giveaway soon. Not of these yogurts, new ones for you.
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I made this. It’s not guacamole. It’s Jeffrey approved, but I didn’t tell him one of the ingredients in it. It’s not tofu. Recipe to come soon.

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And I made this as a snack for all the yogurt. Granola bites recipe to come this week.

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We also went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Chili Cookoff.
And ate Mexican food and Hibachi Japanese food.
Well-rounded eaters we are!
Filed Under: Yoga ·

Three Things Thursday

February 17, 2011 by 2 Comments

First things first, some blog announcements…

  • If you’d like to get my blog posts to your email box daily, my RSS feed wasn’t working but it is now. Just look over to the right where it says “subscribe” and enter your email address.
  • You can also add me to your Google Reader if you use that tool. (And if not, why? It’s the best for keeping up with blogs.)
  • I updated my About Me page a few weeks ago, but just noticed it somehow defaulted back to the old version. It has been re-updated to answer more questions and give you some more info about how I became interested in cooking, blogging, etc. If you have questions, let me know. Would love to add them.

1. Oatmeal Parfait

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This was a fun way to eat hot oatmeal. I made it pretty in a tall glass with a surprise toppings layer in between.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 C Steel cut oats
  • 1/5 T flax meal
  • 1/2 C water
  • 1/3 C almond milk
  • 1 T raisins
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • few shakes chia seeds
  • dash salt
  • 1/2 banana mashed
  • topped with coconut and pumpkin butter

Instructions:

  • Bring water to a simmering boil, add oats and flax and whisk. Add milk and whisk. Add rest of ingredients and let heat and bubble until thick.
  • Pour half in a glass, then add toppings of choice, then the other half of the oats, and more toppings.
  • A fun way to not run out of toppings! I also really like pumpkin butter because it is a sweet and savory jam like consistency but fewer calories and fat than peanut butter and adds a great taste for the morning. And the coconut looks like confetti.

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2. Leftovers and new placemats

We have had some great leftovers around our house this week, and leftovers for lunch or dinner are delish. This plate has hummus from Sunday (so good), cranberry sauce, potatoes, green beans, and 6 bites of steak from Monday night (really good too but not a lot of meat leftover!), steamed spinach, tomato and carrots.

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Notice my new placemats? I went to World Market, a store I used to think was boring, but it was so fun. I contained myself and only bought two placemats (they’re reversible to it’s like two designs for one), and some yellow cloth napkins. We have two sets of placemats, but one is dry clean only, so that’s no fun to get dirty. And since we are only two people usually, I didn’t want to buy a whole set. They had great dinnerware and serving pieces there!

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3. Airrosti

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I want to spend a whole post about this new therapy I’m trying, but for now, check out my taped leg. I am doing a few sessions at a place called Airrosti that is kind of a hybrid of physical therapy with chiropractor to promote rapid recovery of muscles and injuries. We are working specifically on my right IT Band (also blogged here) and my leg will pretty much be bruised until I complete treatment. Like real bruised.

I have been two times so far, and my running is improving. The hope is that the doctor can heal my pain by manually stretching the muscle with her thumbs in a way that stretching and resting cannot do.
This is just a preview, and I will spend more time sharing this story when I run more and see results. I am like my own science experiment.
If you see me walking around with gigantic bruises running down my leg, Jeffrey didn’t beat me.
See you tomorrow!
Filed Under: Breakfast, Injuries · Tagged With: , ,

See Marci Run

February 8, 2011 by 3 Comments

As you probably know, I have a difficult relationship with running. It’s true that I completed my first half marathon two months ago, but it’s also true that it took a very, very long time for my legs to want to trot again. Leading up to the race, my IT Bands were giving me some problems, and I always have some sort of lingering leg pains.

I went to a doctor, got both legs x-ray’d at the knee, and started some at-home physical therapy stretches. I didn’t run at all the whole month of December after the race (Dec. 5). And in January I started to jog on the treadmill but would stop when it hurt, usually around 1-1.5 miles. Slowly, I have increased my mileage to 2.5 miles straight. I am so happy with positive progression, even though 2.5 used to be something I would not get excited about. I continue to stretch and foam roll, and hope that the miles will continue to increase.

Since I’m doing my running on the treadmill only (because I don’t want to get stuck outside somewhere in pain), I’ve been playing with speed and incline. When I ran 2.5 miles straight, I also ran it faster than I do outside. I’m using this short-distance opportunity to try to get faster too. I vary my speeds between 5.2 to start and up to 6.0 for short periods. I try to average 5.5-5.6, which is plenty fast for me.

I also did a walk/run workout on the treadmill which made the time really go by. Here’s what I did:

  • 0-5 minutes: flat, 3.5 speed warm-up
  • 5-10 minutes: 4.0 incline, 4.0 speed
  • 10-15 minutes: flat incline, 5.2-5.6 speed

Repeat two more times totally 45 minutes. That’s a great cardio workout for me with plenty of time spent on flat surfaces, an incline, and with speed. It really goes by fast, and it’s easy to remember. No need to carry around a crinkly piece of paper, which I’ve done before.

I am not getting my hopes up that I’ll be running any long distance soon, but I am glad to see improvement, and I’ll continue stretching, icing, and hopefully running!

What’s your current ailment?

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Filed Under: Injuries, Running · Tagged With: ,
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