Exactly 200 days from now we will be eating breakfast on race day!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Countdown: Spartan Race
Exactly 200 days from now we will be eating breakfast on race day!
Sunday, January 29, 2017
The King Will Kill You!
So as part of this adventure I've been tracking my food intake. Am I eating enough protein or too many sugars? I'm using the MyFitnessPal app to do it, and although it's another time investment, the results are interesting.
Last night we were out and about and had a gift card that we needed to use, so we stopped at Burger King for dinner. This is (thankfully) a very rare event, but all fast food may become even more rare after what I learned.
I ordered a good-sized, but not unreasonable meal, and shared with Sarah. Here's what I had:
My average breakfast is between 250 and 400, average lunch about 300, which I usually cap off with a few snacks (200) and 700 calorie dinner to get pretty close. This doesn't leave me hungry or tired, and if that fat gets burned at all, it isn't much.
Yesterday I was on track for a normal day... until we had dinner! That bout of fast food weighed in at a whopping (pun intended) 1,781 calories! I could have easily had another burger, or finished one of the kid's meals, and gone well over 2,000. The crazy part is, this didn't feel like a particularly large meal, but the content of the meal really changes things a lot. MyFitnessPal estimated that if I eat regularly like I did yesterday (pretty healthy other than a fast-food dinner), I will gain over a pound (of fat) each week!
Am I going to give up burgers and fries now? Absolutely not! I love switching things up and going somewhere with a "play place" on occasion. But oddly enough, really good food not only tastes better, but tends to be better for you, and although it might be "different," not many people are going to try to tell you that Burger King is fine dining. This is the strongest reminder I've had yet to be mindful of what I'm eating, and to enjoy every bite. I want to be intentional when I choose my food, and not just eat something because it's convenient or because it's there.
Time to make breakfast...
Last night we were out and about and had a gift card that we needed to use, so we stopped at Burger King for dinner. This is (thankfully) a very rare event, but all fast food may become even more rare after what I learned.
I ordered a good-sized, but not unreasonable meal, and shared with Sarah. Here's what I had:
- BBQ Bacon King (that's a double-patty burger, so it's on the large end of the scale)
- Half a medium chocolate/Oreo shake (Sarah loves shakes, and it's a rare treat)
- Half of the medium fries, dipped in "fry sauce" or "buffalo sauce"
- Two chicken nuggets
- Five chicken "fries" (Abby decided her meal was too spicy, so I helped out)
- Water to drink (I'm taking all the credit I can get for this one!)
My average breakfast is between 250 and 400, average lunch about 300, which I usually cap off with a few snacks (200) and 700 calorie dinner to get pretty close. This doesn't leave me hungry or tired, and if that fat gets burned at all, it isn't much.
Yesterday I was on track for a normal day... until we had dinner! That bout of fast food weighed in at a whopping (pun intended) 1,781 calories! I could have easily had another burger, or finished one of the kid's meals, and gone well over 2,000. The crazy part is, this didn't feel like a particularly large meal, but the content of the meal really changes things a lot. MyFitnessPal estimated that if I eat regularly like I did yesterday (pretty healthy other than a fast-food dinner), I will gain over a pound (of fat) each week!
Am I going to give up burgers and fries now? Absolutely not! I love switching things up and going somewhere with a "play place" on occasion. But oddly enough, really good food not only tastes better, but tends to be better for you, and although it might be "different," not many people are going to try to tell you that Burger King is fine dining. This is the strongest reminder I've had yet to be mindful of what I'm eating, and to enjoy every bite. I want to be intentional when I choose my food, and not just eat something because it's convenient or because it's there.
Time to make breakfast...
Steep Curve - Gear
I don't think we are out of it just yet, but we are discovering that there is a fairly steep learning curve when it comes to buying shoes and clothes for fitness. A few months ago I never would have suspected the plethora of options and the range of prices that we are trying to navigate.
Shoes have been one of the biggest purchases so far, and yesterday we made another foray into the world of specialty running shoes. You can learn about running shoes from the Runner's World website, but our best learning has come from talking to people.
A friend from work is a shoe tester, has run several Spartans, and plans to do the Spartan Trifecta this year. His advice was to get trail running shoes, even though we have found that this is a much smaller subset of the shoes that are available. He looked at my broken-down ten year old cross trainers and said, "you're going to kill yourself in those." His advice was to have lots of traction. It might pick up mud, but it's very useful on the uphill gravel parts of the race and for getting a grip on obstacles. To keep a waterlogged shoe from weighing you down, the upper needs to be light and drain well. Padding is just going to soak up water. He also reiterated what the Internet will tell you: get synthetic socks. It's pretty easy to understand this when you think about squelching a few miles in your favorite padded cotton socks!
The most knowledgeable salespeople we encountered were at Road Runner Sports. They let us run on a treadmill, then analyzed a slow motion video of how our feet were striking. Sarah's normal arches and gait gave her a wider selection to choose from (although her narrow foot again limited her options). My very flat right foot causes fairly heavy "pronation," which means my ankle rolls in very significantly every time my foot hits the ground. This points toward "support" shoes, which have features to reduce this. The most standard feature seems to be a "medial post," which simply means there is a fairly hard and tall piece of foam below my inner heels. Trail support shoes are rare indeed, with the stores we visited only carrying two or three models.
The next eye opener is length. We both have running shoes a whole size larger than all of our other shoes. I read that you toes should be able to play the piano in the toe box, and that you need a thumb-width of space between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. Also (not news to me, since mom and dad owned a shoe store back in the day), most individuals have a larger and smaller foot. The right is usually larger. Be sure you are fitting to your larger foot. A good salesperson will measure both length and width of both of your feet and give you a size that will probably sound way too big. This was the mistake I made when ordering online. The shoes I got were simply a size too small.
Another hurdle is price. Running shoes average price, either online or in the store, seems to be over $100. Buying last year's models, clearance, returns, and display models can reduce the price, but it is still high. Although the end price for the shoes at Road Runner seemed to be pretty good, it was difficult to navigate the many different upsell ($75 custom insoles?) and VIP programs to understand what was happening. Apparently we were shopping during a fairly good sale, so your mileage may vary.
We paid for our learning. If you know what you are shopping for you can get some great deals online or at outlets. Nordstrom Rack had some deeply discounted trail running shoes as well. Campmor was recommended for online discounts, and in the Portland area there are at least Nike and Pearl Izumi outlets.
Back to shopping... Although the shoes are the biggest single investment, clothing is adding up as well. Running any distance in jeans just doesn't cut it, and my high school athletic shorts are so long gone that I don't even need to question their style or fabric technology. It's going to be hot and cold and it is certainly going to rain. Spartan racers recommend close-fitting synthetics that won't hold on to moisture for everything from shirts to bras and boxers. The good news is that every clothing store seems to carry fitness apparel these days, so deals are certainly available for the savvy shopper. However, understanding the difference between proprietary fabric A and super fabric B, and whether compression this or elite-fit that is worth the price is still far beyond my abilities. Regardless, the price for fitness clothing is higher than for your daily cotton, so we will certainly pay the price (in both time and money) while we continue to learn.
Overall, it's a bit painful for a frugal guy like me to make this transition, but when I realize that this is an investment in not only gear, but in a healthier lifestyle, I think the price is worth it. We are spending time around places and people that are going to encourage us to be better and fitter, and the monetary cost gives us more "skin in the game," making it even more likely that we will carry this through. Lastly, when I think of the difference that this might make in our kid's perspective on exercise, I think we are really doing the right thing. "No pain, no gain," right?
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Shoes have been one of the biggest purchases so far, and yesterday we made another foray into the world of specialty running shoes. You can learn about running shoes from the Runner's World website, but our best learning has come from talking to people.
A friend from work is a shoe tester, has run several Spartans, and plans to do the Spartan Trifecta this year. His advice was to get trail running shoes, even though we have found that this is a much smaller subset of the shoes that are available. He looked at my broken-down ten year old cross trainers and said, "you're going to kill yourself in those." His advice was to have lots of traction. It might pick up mud, but it's very useful on the uphill gravel parts of the race and for getting a grip on obstacles. To keep a waterlogged shoe from weighing you down, the upper needs to be light and drain well. Padding is just going to soak up water. He also reiterated what the Internet will tell you: get synthetic socks. It's pretty easy to understand this when you think about squelching a few miles in your favorite padded cotton socks!
The most knowledgeable salespeople we encountered were at Road Runner Sports. They let us run on a treadmill, then analyzed a slow motion video of how our feet were striking. Sarah's normal arches and gait gave her a wider selection to choose from (although her narrow foot again limited her options). My very flat right foot causes fairly heavy "pronation," which means my ankle rolls in very significantly every time my foot hits the ground. This points toward "support" shoes, which have features to reduce this. The most standard feature seems to be a "medial post," which simply means there is a fairly hard and tall piece of foam below my inner heels. Trail support shoes are rare indeed, with the stores we visited only carrying two or three models.
The next eye opener is length. We both have running shoes a whole size larger than all of our other shoes. I read that you toes should be able to play the piano in the toe box, and that you need a thumb-width of space between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. Also (not news to me, since mom and dad owned a shoe store back in the day), most individuals have a larger and smaller foot. The right is usually larger. Be sure you are fitting to your larger foot. A good salesperson will measure both length and width of both of your feet and give you a size that will probably sound way too big. This was the mistake I made when ordering online. The shoes I got were simply a size too small.
Another hurdle is price. Running shoes average price, either online or in the store, seems to be over $100. Buying last year's models, clearance, returns, and display models can reduce the price, but it is still high. Although the end price for the shoes at Road Runner seemed to be pretty good, it was difficult to navigate the many different upsell ($75 custom insoles?) and VIP programs to understand what was happening. Apparently we were shopping during a fairly good sale, so your mileage may vary.
We paid for our learning. If you know what you are shopping for you can get some great deals online or at outlets. Nordstrom Rack had some deeply discounted trail running shoes as well. Campmor was recommended for online discounts, and in the Portland area there are at least Nike and Pearl Izumi outlets.
Back to shopping... Although the shoes are the biggest single investment, clothing is adding up as well. Running any distance in jeans just doesn't cut it, and my high school athletic shorts are so long gone that I don't even need to question their style or fabric technology. It's going to be hot and cold and it is certainly going to rain. Spartan racers recommend close-fitting synthetics that won't hold on to moisture for everything from shirts to bras and boxers. The good news is that every clothing store seems to carry fitness apparel these days, so deals are certainly available for the savvy shopper. However, understanding the difference between proprietary fabric A and super fabric B, and whether compression this or elite-fit that is worth the price is still far beyond my abilities. Regardless, the price for fitness clothing is higher than for your daily cotton, so we will certainly pay the price (in both time and money) while we continue to learn.
Overall, it's a bit painful for a frugal guy like me to make this transition, but when I realize that this is an investment in not only gear, but in a healthier lifestyle, I think the price is worth it. We are spending time around places and people that are going to encourage us to be better and fitter, and the monetary cost gives us more "skin in the game," making it even more likely that we will carry this through. Lastly, when I think of the difference that this might make in our kid's perspective on exercise, I think we are really doing the right thing. "No pain, no gain," right?
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Friday, January 27, 2017
Your Cardiio snapshot
My shoulder went out very unexpectedly yesterday. It's a huge reminder that I need to do my therapy exercises for it.
Not a lot of exercise yesterday, but a sprint from the pet store to the bus actually felt good, and I am hoping for a lot of benefit after listening to the first half of this podcast:
http://tim.blog/2017/01/23/the-one-minute-workout-designed-by-scientists-dr-martin-gibala/
It's a very in-depth discussion about the benefits of high intensity intervals.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
First Spartan Team Event
Saturday, February 18th, 5PM
Bouldering at The Circuit and dinner afterward.
Also, save the date for Spartan Team Event #2, March 11.
Your Cardiio snapshot
Monday, January 23, 2017
Stride analysis
Mild pronation on the left, where I do have a bit of an arch, and heavy pronation on my flat right foot. The verdict: stability shoes highly recommended.
I also learned how to use the last lace holes on the shoe to lock my heel in place a bit better.
Overall, a great learning experience. Cons: The upsell on the expensive custom insoles (probably going back) and the standard sock liner insoles being left out of the box (probably an accident, since they were closing the store and ready to get going.) Its also a long trip to Tualatin.
I prefer the online experience of getting to wear the shoe around the house all day. I plan to do the same with these. They do have a similar return policy. It was a great learning experience though.
My Sleep Cycle statistics
Almost 8! It might take some time to catch up.
Analysis by Sleep Cycle for iPhone. http://sleepcycle.com/get
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Friday, January 20, 2017
A few miles
Sarah and I started the C25K program today, GPS tracked with Runkeeper. I also found a new route to and from the bus stop that is exactly half a mile. All told, I walked and ran over 3 miles today total, and Sarah got in almost 2. My ankle is a bit grumpy about it, but the rest of me is happy!
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Your Cardiio snapshot
I got in a good 1/2 mile run to the bus stop. I noticed mild pain again in my right hamstring, and am wondering what I need to do to help it heal. My feet were weak of course, but overall the run felt good.
Unfortunately I ate pretty poorly, but still managed to keep my portions controlled.
7:40 sleeping, aiming for 8:00.
Thursday, January 19, 2017
My Sleep Cycle statistics
With my alarm not going off, a few extra chores thrown in, and back to AWANAs, there wasn't time for exercise, but I'll call 7.5 hours enough sleep at least (if less than ideal). It's a good foundation. I did spend a few minutes on my break to sweep out the empty room at work that I hope to use for quick workouts.
The snow and ice has all but disappeared and the kids are finally back to school. I'm ready for a little routine that includes exercise!
Analysis by Sleep Cycle for iPhone. http://sleepcycle.com/get
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Running again!
I jogged up and down the hill to the bus stop yesterday, and am just a tiny bit sore today. I ran through the rain a bit today (but not the hill), and didn't hurt at all. It's so nice to be able to run again!
Now if I could just get some shoes! I sent the three pairs back to Runners Warehouse today. I will probably order again when they get returned, but am thinking of taking Izak's recommendation and getting my stride checked in the meantime.
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Now if I could just get some shoes! I sent the three pairs back to Runners Warehouse today. I will probably order again when they get returned, but am thinking of taking Izak's recommendation and getting my stride checked in the meantime.
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Sunday, January 15, 2017
A few links...
Interesting ideas about "natural" exercise - https://www.movnat.com/
Parkour? http://www.rvpkbeaverton.com/
Bouldering? http://thecircuitgym.com/
To do is to dare, to fear is to fail.
Running Shoes
A few changes to the blog...
The blog address has been changed to EFBCSpartans.blogspot.com and the entire team has been invited to post on it! Hear ye, hear ye!
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Your Cardiio snapshot
It doesn't look like my heart rate is up too much, so I will take that as a good sign.
I did my therapy exercises yesterday, both ankle and shoulders. Also a few other things: jump rope, kettle bell swings, pull ups, etc. I couldn't stand another day of inactivity.
We had plenty of rain and some sleet, but it looks like most of the ice and snow are melted off, so I'm looking forward to running when Sarah is up to it.
Also logged my food. I read something mentioning that with the food logger you don't have to give up things you like as long as you keep them in the calorie budget. Works for me! I do feel a bit hungry now though.
Anyway, I worked from home yesterday, and we skipped going out anywhere. I tried to get enough rest (we will see how that works out.)
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
My Sleep Cycle statistics
Sore biceps, shoulders, delta, upper abs, upper back... Whew! Pull ups did quite a job on us.
The ankle is getting better. I was able to jog a little and walk without a limp. I need to do some rehab exercises for it.
The ice and snow are still everywhere, so I'm thinking a core workout today.
It's hard to be disciplined after the laxness of the holidays. We watched a show and are some garbage last night that we were given over the holidays. Before bed I threw away a whole bag full of candy and other unhealthy snacks. I would never buy them, but it's hard on my psyche to throw away perfectly "good" anything.
Analysis by Sleep Cycle for iPhone. http://sleepcycle.com/get
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Pull-ups
The snow prevented walking or running on the track today, so we made it an arms day. We did a few push-ups and triceps dips, then pull-ups. Sarah wanted to do one more than me, so we kept see sawing back and forth until we had each done 55! She decided that was enough. The arms will hurt tomorrow!
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
To do is to dare; to fear is to fail.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
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