Day 2 in Vibram FiveFingers

Yesterday Rhianna and I took our new Vibrams for a spin around our normal cemetery route. I was amazed by how different it felt to run with this barefooting feel. It seemed to "open up" my calves. My calves are notoriously tight and well, I don't have a problem with shape or muscle there. Running in these shoes made it feel like I was elongating everything. Also, it felt good the way the toes grip the ground.



I was anxious to see how this good feeling translated to cross-training so we wore them to Body Boot Camp. You get so used to the idea of shoes with shock absorption and cushioning that the thought of plyometrics without that is a little curious. Well, there is a lot to be said for no cushioning and shock absorption except the God-given kind. It was AWESOME. Rhianna was so impressed by how she felt - she said it made her feel like she could jump even higher (and that would be impressive, indeed, because she is like a Tigger). Plyometrics felt great; everything did. The balance benefits were noticeable immediately, but particularly with the single legged deadlifts. Also, they made all of the yoga stretching feel more natural.



It was as if someone had dropped off a black suitcase with a superhero suit (like in Greatest American Hero). We felt injected with energy. So torqued were we, that even after the 65 minute kick-butt class I had put together, we still felt like running. We head out for a 55 minute trail run, cell phone cams ready for the beautiful scenery. I got to experience stubbing my foot on a big root - almost wiped out - but it DID NOT hurt more than when I do it in standard running shoes. Rocks were no problem. Now there were some acorns on steroids that did feel uncomfortable, but I'm pretty sure they would have felt uncomfortable in any shoe. Running on the trails - which have experienced a bit of erosion since our last run there - gave our feet an amazing sensory buffet of different textures. Rocky ground, sandy ground, pine needles, grass, roots and clay, stubbly who-knows-what. Rhianna likened it to a massage. And hills - running up hills felt good. Actually good. Really! And I usually am not a fan of hills.



I can't imagine going back to regular Asics or Sauconys. The freedom to feel the ground beneath you like never before is just too wonderful. Then there is the way it seems makes all my muscles feel more fluid. The Vibram site talks about the biomechanical advantages of barefooting running...well, now I'm a believer.



And...I really don't mind if my feet look funny! Rhianna plans on getting a pair of hot pink ones for in the gym. I wouldn't mind going with grey or khaki.

Next Week's Playlist

Simply Irresistible – Robert Palmer
Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer
I Don’t Wanna Be in Love – Good Charlotte
I’m Not Okay – My Chemical Romance
Livin’ La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
The Boys of Summer – The Ataris
Fast Cars & Freedom – Rascal Flatts
Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
This Ain’t No Thinkin’ Thing – Trace Adkins
Naturally – Selena Gomez
Break Your Heart – Taio Cruz
Man, I Feel Like a Woman – Shania Twain
Chelsea Dagger – Fratellis
The Safety Dance – Men Without Hats
Vertigo – U2
With You – Chris Brown
Float On – Modest Mouse
We Will Become Silhouettes – The Postal Service
The Engine Driver – The Decemberists
The Back of Your Hand – Dwight Yoakam

There were a couple of songs I wanted to put on the playlist this week, but they'll just havce to wait for next. :)

Playlist for this past week

Beat It - Fall Out Boy
Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf
Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna
Please Don't Leave Me - Pink
Dear Maria, Count Me In - All Time Low
I Run to You - Lady Antebellum
You Really Got Me - Marty Casey
When Love Takes Over - David Guetta & Kelly Rowland
New Divide - Linkin Park
Alice - Avril Lavigne
Love Game - Lady Gaga
Why Don't We Just Dance - Josh TUrner
Life After You - Daughtry
Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
With You - Christ Brown
In Love With a Girl - Gavin DeGraw
1, 2, 3, 4 - Plain White T's
Nothing on You - B.o.GB.
Stop and Stare - One Republic
Say - John Mayer

Secret Diet of the World's Greatest Runners :)

“Follow the runner trash, Julie,” I panted, “ that should get us on the right path,” Tell-tale Gu Energy Gel packets littered the ground on the path which forked left, so left we went. Julie and I were running a trail marathon for our 40th birthdays. We had become separated from the main pack of runners due to Julie’s digestive distress which led to stopping at one too many Port-a-Johns. Periodically bits of what we called “runner trash” littered the trail - Gu packets, Powerbar wrappers - the stuff that runners felt they needed to get them through the 26.2 miles, between the aid stations with their cups of Gatorade and piles of bananas.

Struggling to do our first 26.2, with our energy packets and power drinks, we were in stark contrast to the world’s great endurance athletes, the Tarahumara of Mexico’s Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara are legendary among runners for their ability to run hundreds of miles without becoming exhausted. The differences were obvious. While our feet were covered with Saucony trail shoes and our pockets filled with Gu, the Tarahumara run with little pouches of corn powder - pinole - to mix in their half-gourds of water and have bits of old tires tied to their feet.

In reading up on the Tarahumara, they sounded more like the local party club (“the drinking club with a running problem”) than what I had pictured as Great Endurance Athletes. While the serious runners I know worried about carb-loading, getting a good night’s sleep, avoiding partying before a race, the Tarahumara smoke tobacco mixed with dried bat’s blood and drink right up until race time. Tesguiono, an alcohol made with corn, is consumed in liberal quantities. Getting good and drunk is a matter of personal pride. It certainly isn’t what most of us think of when we think of preparing for an endurance event… and yet, the Tarahumara are the greatest endurance athletes in the world. It surely can’t be their drunken revelries that make them the best (although some alcohol and a good run seem to be cross-cultural!) - could it perhaps be their diets?

The diet of the Tarahumara is roughly 10% protein, 10% fat and 80% complex carbohydrates. Mainstays of their daily menu are the three sisters: corn, squash and beans as well as indigenous plant life. Some wild plants have also been cultivated. While they do consume livestock for meat, they mostly use it for fertilizer. Here and there goat, mice and fish are eaten but mainly pinole, that powdered, toasted corn is the staple in their diets.

Just how healthy is this diet? Dr. William Connor, professor of nutrition at the Oregon Health Sciences University has been studying the Tarahumara since the 1960s. What he has found is that while they die from poor medical care, infections, injuries and lung problems, the big three modern killers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, are almost unheard of amongst the adult population. Connor studied blood specimens from elderly Tarahumara, age 70 and up, finding that their LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels were like those of a 25 year old. Sounds great, right? Yet I find it interesting that according to the Tarahumara Children’s Hospital fund, most of the children die before age 5 with one of the leading causes of death declared as malnutrition.

In stark contrast to running on one-ingredient pinole, a slow burning carb, what is in the Gu packets whose little foil covers were the “runner trash“ we tried to follow and what do they have in common? The main ingredient is maltodextrin, a fast absorbing polysaccharide rapidly absorbed as glucose. In the US it is commonly derived from corn, in Europe from wheat. One packet of Gu supplies an athlete with 100 calories - 70-80% maltodextrin, 20-30% fructose. It is infused with an amino acid blend, as well as caffeine, calcium and antioxidants. Chamomile and ginger are thrown into the mix for anti-inflammatory and stomach soothing benefits. Gu has been engineered to appeal to the endurance athlete: quick energy, muscle-boosting calcium and amino acids, and a variety of flavors like Chocolate Outrage, Espresso Love and Lemon Sublime with a texture that goes down smooth and easy.

The flavors sound exciting - they are designed to appeal to the modern taste bud that has been over-sensitized with flavor and sugar. Can pinole serve such discriminating or jaded taste buds? Scanning through running forums, it seems that there are runners out there trying to adopt the idea of pinole (the mix is also sometimes called iskiate). Cocoa, cinnamon or almost any spice are added trying to give it some flavor; chia seeds are often called for to the up the protein content. The powdered corn does not dissolve so most of the blogging experimenters recommend adding a lot of water in order to get it down. Most recipes say to add sugar, some try to be more “authentic” and add agave nectar. Christopher McDougall, author of “Born to Run” found the native recipe surprisingly tasty. However, he was also miles away from Gu packets and other tasty conveniences of civilization.

For a die-hard who is trying to go as natural as possible, perhaps making your own Tarahumara energy drink would be worth a try. I venture to bet, however, that at most any marathon in America the majority will stick to Gu packets. I also am pretty sure that there will be a few of them carrying on the drinking and running tradition.

St Patrick's Day's Coming! Irish Rock Playlist

Jackie Wilson, Van Morrison
I'm Shipping Up to Boston, Drop Kick Murphy's
Vertigo, U2
Devil's Dance Floor, Flogging Molly
Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya, Dropkick Murphy's
Brown-eyed Girl, Van Morrison
Breathless, The Corrs
Sunday, Bloody Sunday, U2
The Sunny Side of the Street, The Pogues
Jailbreak, Thin Lizzy
Anxious and Worrying, Defiance Ohio
The Road to Dublin, Young Dubliners
Dreams, The Cranberries
Rosie, Young Dubliners
With or Without You, U2
Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol
I Don't Like Mondays, Boomtown Rats
Moondance, Van Morrison
Crazy Love, Van Morrison
May It Be, Enya

No Rest for the Weary

Lately I've been under an overload of stress and is interfering with my ability to get a good night's sleep. I've always said that I'm an eight hour a night sort of girl, but for the past two weeks six hours is about all I've been achieving. I definitely get deep into REM sleep - oh, the crazy dreams I have had! Somehow I am able to function...but is function enough?

Lack of sleep can have tragic consequences. Think of Michael Jackson. Many of us enjoyed at least some of his music, got all silly trying to do the "Thriller" dance... His death was shocking. Seeing someone who has led such a troubled life crash and burn like that - it is just very, very sad. I can't imagine living in the public eye as he did, being the subject of rumor, innuendo, and scorn, even after being proven innocent in a court of law. It's no surprise that Michael Jackson struggled with getting enough sleep

According to the reports, Diprivan was found in his home. Diprivan is a powerful sedative used to induce general anesthesia in operating rooms. His nurse claims he begged her for the drug and that she did not comply. "He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest." This is a drug approved by the FDA for use in a clinical setting, not in a home. Used in conjunction with other sedatives, it could cause seizures, respiratory depression and cardiac arrest.

If this is what killed him, I find it incredibly tragic that he was just looking to SLEEP. Insomnia is horrible and the man was desperate for some rest. The thought of someone being that desperate for sleep, for relief from stress and anxiety...it's sad on a level that I cannot even put into words.

Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, reportedly also trying to fight the demons of anxiety, depression and insomnia. In a New York Times interview published in 2007, Ledger said, "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

A restless mind is painful. Thoughts that keep turning, churning and boiling over without ever allowing rest, day after day, must be an unbearable torment. No wonder sleep deprivation is used a a form of torture. I know when I was suffering from Graves' Disease and suffered from the inability to sleep, I was in agony. Thankfully, I *did* find solace in God. But Michael Jackson... somehow he must have missed that. With all his money, with all his creative energy and amazing talent...he missed finding peace. He missed finding the peace that passes all understanding. That is tragic indeed.

One thing I say repeatedly is this: Success in fitness is like a three-legged stool. The legs on that stool are Nutrition, Exercise and Rest. Which of the three legs is most important? Any one that is missing! A stool isn't going to stand on only two out of three legs, at best it'll wobble a bit at first before crashing but it will fall over.

Lack of sleep wreaks havoc on two major hormones - ghrelin and leptin. Miss out on sleep and you produce too much ghrelin, a hormone that triggers your appetite. At the same time you are producing more ghrelin, you produce less leptin - the hormone that says, "I'm full!" Tired people eat more. (Although currently I have been forgetting to eat thanks to stress. I wonder what that is doing to my ghrelin/leptin levels?)

According to Forbes magazine, sleep is the new sex. We all need it, we all want it, and quite a large number of us are having a hard time getting it! The average American is getting about 6.8 hours of sleep each night and having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Since lack of sleep is linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease this should be alarming. Americans are buying approximately 2 billion dollars worth of sleeping pills a year - what a wake up call (pun intended)!

So what can we do to get more sleep? These are methods I've used in the past but somehow got myself so tangled up in the moment that I slacked off. This information is not to replace medical advice: if you are struggling with insomnia or extreme fatigue, please see your healthcare professional.

1. Take 500 mg calcium and 250 mg magnesium before bedtime. (A tip from my doctor).

2. Turn off the TV, get away from the computer, start setting the stage for bed one hour before bedtime.

3. Escape in a good book before bedtime, a book that will distract your mind from the stressors and distractions of the day. Positive mental imagery will relax the mind.

4. Progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing techniques. I have an old series of CDs called "Ten Minutes to Relax." Each CD has 5 or 6 10-minute long relaxation exercises that work wonderfully. I'll be back in the saddle doing these today.

5. Pray and meditate. The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God," and "Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you." Studies have shown that regular prayer and meditation is good for the heart and is a helpful sleep aid.

6. Take a nap. If I haven't gotten a good night's sleep, I find that an afternoon nap does wonders to revive me. In fact, that's part of my plan for today!

On a closing note, laughter is always good medicine. Please enjoy this hillarious video called "Case Studies from the Groat Center for Sleep Disorders."

Obsessed or Dedicated?

Obsessed or Committed?

“Probably millions of Americans got up this morning with a cup of coffee, a cigarette and a donut. No wonder they are sick and fouled up.” Jack LaLanne

I saw a great quote a few weeks back: “Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.” As a fitness enthusiast I have been called obsessed to my face a few times and I’m sure behind my back many more. Other fitness fanatics that I know have received the same scorn from those firmly planted on the couch. The above quote explains in a nutshell just how I feel about the label.

The dictionary definition of obsessed reads:

–verb (used with object)
1.
to dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of (a person); beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally: Suspicion obsessed him.


–verb (used without object)
2.
to think about something unceasingly or persistently; dwell obsessively upon something.


The connotation is negative. However, the definition for “dedicated” is quite positive.

–adjective
1.
wholly committed to something, as to an ideal, political cause, or personal goal: a dedicated artist.


2.
set apart or reserved for a specific use or purpose: We don't need a computer but a dedicated word processor.


Michelangelo said it well when he stated, “The great danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

Ever since I can remember I loved the feeling of movement. The wind in my face, the spring in my step, the stretch of a limb. As a young girl I was always flipping around on gymnastic mats, running around the block, swirling around on a frozen pond. One of my earliest memories is of watching Jack LaLanne and his exercise show, I had pulled up a chair and was following along doing chair squats along with Jack. I think I was age 3 at the time. My friend, Michele, and I spent hours creating gymnastic routines so we could do what Nadia and Olga before her had done. On the pond, we were Dorothy Hamil and Peggy Fleming. My parents never supported me doing any school athletics; although in elementary school I was in rec league softball. However, I read all the fitness tips in Glamour and Mademoiselle and after the high school day was done, Michele and I walked and we ran together. As a teenager I discovered yoga and then at age 17, aerobics. Around that time I also purchased my first copy of Runner’s World and quietly dreamed of running a marathon someday. By age 18 and 19, I had discovered Rachel McLish and “Flex Appeal,” Gladys Portugues’ “Hard Bodies.” I was hooked.

At that time I was working at a Department of Defense facility outside my hometown. There I had my first experience pumping iron. I loved the gym facility and happily got up extra early to start my day lifting and running. I would hit the gym for some weight training and then run around the back roads that were encased in the Army facility. A quick shower, a long time blow drying and off to my office. It was wonderful and I *felt* wonderful.

Eventually, I moved away and to another state – New Mexico. There I hiked and walked, did body weight exercises at home. The money wasn’t flowing freely and there was no affording a health club. When I moved to FL just after the birth of my first child I availed myself of the sunny weather to walk and run some more…and it was there that I discovered step aerobics. I especially loved the dance step videos created by Victoria Johnson. She was an inspiration!

Three children came along and I still worked out in whatever way I could. Walking – a lot, step aerobics, light weights. Fitness was a part of my life and never left. It was as much a part of me as were my hazel eyes.

Sometime around 1999 I discovered Oxygen fitness magazine and Muscle & Fitness Hers. Gone were the magazines I considered “fluffy.” This was *real* meat and potatoes fitness advice. Bill Philips published “Body for Life” and it seemed the world was learning how to pump iron. I wanted badly to get back to the lifting days and around that time we bought a Weider home gym and some free weights.

Time passed and I joined a gym, I began to run in 5K races with my friend, Julie. I was never Speedy Gonzales, but if the turnout for my age group was low I sometimes ended up with an age group award. I didn’t matter – I did for the T-shirt and for the sheer joy of movement and fellowship with others who enjoyed it the way I did. I ran a 10K, then a 15K and eventually I ran that marathon I always dreamed about.

There were definitely trials and tribulations along the way. I suffered from Graves’ disease in 1996 and that slammed me back a bit. When training for the marathon, I *gained* weight and found that my thyroid had gone the other way – hypo. I had to go through the whole slow, arduous process of getting my thyroid back in order (and that is another story entirely)…but I kept at it. Even when my legs felt like they were made of wood, I ran. I lifted. I moved....and it helped me.

I’ve explained how fitness was such a part of my life – and at first glance you might say, “Okay, so maybe she IS obsessed with it.” BUT hold your horses! During that time my life was full of so many other things – fitness was just a part, a dearly loved part, but not the whole. During those years, I worked, I had babies, I taught Sunday school, children’s church, AWANA club – I wrote poems, published a few articles, homeschooled my children, taught Shakespeare appreciation from a Christian perspective, became an outreach childbirth educator, volunteered for a presidential campaign…I had a very rich life, a life of many facets.

And here’s where I make my stand take issue with “obsessed” and say a resounding “NO!” to that misnomer and “YES!” to the adjective of choice, DEDICATED.

Through thick and thin, ups and downs, busy seasons, dry seasons, regardless of what was going on in my life – I made fitness and movement a PRIORITY. As necessary to my life as the air I breathe, I made a commitment to serving my body well, with doing my utmost best to take care of my physical health. I’d been to the scary side of disease and had been forced to lay low after surgeries and thyrotoxicosis. I knew my body wanted to be well and to function at its best, so I fought back for fitness and health.

My hero, Jack LaLanne said this, “By exercise. I'll tell you one thing, you don't always have to be on the go. I sit around a lot, I read a lot, and I do watch television. But I also work out for two hours every day of my life, even when I'm on the road.” It’s not an obsession – it’s a dedicated part of each day. It’s about DISCIPLINE. Accountability to the only body you have, to take care of it and help it to function at it’s best.

Another quote from Jack, “I do it as a therapy. I do it as something to keep me alive. We all need a little discipline. Exercise is my discipline.”

Isn’t that the truth? Discipline is not a popular concept nowadays, but I believe we need it just as much as ever – if not more. I’m glad I have it – that discipline that allows me to keep a regular exercise program also serves me in other areas. It helps me to do what needs to be done, it helps me to be organized and productive. It just plain helps (and that is another blog, as well).

To the folks that have called those like me obsessed, I grieve that you haven’t discovered the joy of purpose and of a healthy habit. I’m sorry that you are blind to the difference between obsession and commitment – oh, that you would receive your sight! It’s my wish for you that you find the exuberance of movement and that you work to make it a regular part of your life. I hope that you are never satisfied with just the status quo, but that you find the exhilaration that comes from pushing harder, going further, doing more. May you find peace, love and fitness.