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Cross training: Yard Raking

Posted on by Denise — No Comments ↓

I went for a lovely run this morning in the sunshine with a friend. That alone is enough to cheer me up! As I ran I noticed that lots of folks had neat little piles of leaf and branch litter in their yards. Spring clean up in anticipation of bigger things to come had started! Of course this inspired me when I entered my own yard after my run and I thought, what better way to cool down and to work different body parts.

Garden raking

Garden raking


I grabbed the rake and started cleaning up the branches that had come down over the winter, plus some leaves that were left from the Fall. As I did this I bent down and noticed lots of new growth in the garden that was coming up under all this debris. What a treat. This made me very happy.
Fawn lily poking up through the moss

Fawn lily poking up through the moss


I did this exercise for about half an hour – just enough to cool down and not too much to strain those gardening muscles that had somewhat atrophied over the winter – you know what I mean. In other words, work your way into gardening, without causing yourself any injury. Actually this makes me think that yoga studios should offer spring classes aimed specifically at gardeners to loosen up those upper body muscles. Look for it, no, ask for it: Spring Yoga for Gardeners!
Mossy pathway

Mossy pathway


I know this blog is about running, but here’s the thing… If you are a runner and a gardener like I am – and that includes yards and balconies! – use your run to look at the botanical beauty that surrounds you and think about how you can incorporate that into your own garden. In my garden, I try to replicate a forest with ferns, salal, Oregon grape and moss growing amongst the cedar, fir, arbutus and maple trees. All my trail runs are a huge inspiration to me. Isn’t it nice when running can be more than just a physical exercise! And that the raking cool down can be doubly beneficial too.

[My sympathies to you Easterners who received yet another dump of snow today… Your turn will come. In the meantime, head into a yoga class so you will be ready when it does.]

Posted in Cross training, Running, Trails, Yoga

Pre-running: the 3 Cs

Posted on by Denise — 1 Comment ↓

Loving coffeeEveryone has their pre-run or race rituals and I’m no different. It has however taken me years to finely tune these down to just 3 key elements. Sure, I get my gear on, splash water on my face, feed the cats and tie up my shoes in a certain way, but there are three items that are even more essential than those.

I used to roll out of bed for a morning run about 20 minutes before the scheduled meeting time, just in time to dress and greet my running buddy at the door. Occasionally I’d have a coffee or a slice of toast, if for instance I was up and the run was delayed for some reason, but generally eating was less important to me than the extra few minutes of sleep.

I’m not sure when the turning point occurred, but once it came and I realized what I needed pre-run, it became essential. Well, actually, there was a run when I, um, how do I put this delicately… I had to have a bowel movement, like NOW. Go ahead admit it, it has happened to you! With some concentration, the moment(s) passed and I made it home in time for relief. After that I vowed to not have that happen again. In other words, it was important to get up early enough to deal with that particular bodily function before leaving home. And it was then that I discovered the three Cs that made this all come together nicely.

Caffeine
I love coffee! It is my caffeine source of choice (other than chocolate of course, but that is another post, I’m sure). I love coffee first thing in the morning. I love the ritual of grinding the beans and the waiting for the drip, drip, drip of the wonderful brown elixir to flow into the carafe. I also like a nice French press coffee and on occasion a great latte. I’ve read and I’m sure you too have heard over the years that caffeine, and indeed coffee, is bad for you and then the next year it is discovered that it is good for you. Whatever…, I like it and it seems to not do me any harm. Mind you, I do stop at 2 cups and always before noon, so I do have a bit of restraint in my habit. I’m also not one to have the jitters if I don’t get my coffee fix in the morning, so I think I’m pretty grounded.

I was just reading the latest issue of Runner’s World (March 2014) and voila, there was just the latest vindicating article on page 34: “Coffee Perks: A cup of joe jolts your mood, reduces disease risk, and adds a kick to workouts”. Well, well, doesn’t that say it all! Of course you can get your caffeine fix from tea, but that just doesn’t do the same thing for me as coffee, but if it works for you, go for it.

Carbohydrates
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I love bread. I mean what better way to get that pre-run or race boost of carbs than a delicious slice or two of toast with honey or peanut butter or occasionally, when it is available, nummy cashew-macadamia nut butter? Or if you are feeling a little bit French, go for a buttery melt in your mouth croissant (sorry, I digress…). For those of you with gluten intolerances, carbohydrates can be had by numerous other means, including gluten-free breads and cereals.

I also like to have a bit of fruit with my toast and this could be half a grapefruit, a banana or some grapes. Or if you are in the tropics, papaya is a wonderful morning starter fruit. All good for their carbohydrates as well as their body building vitamins and minerals.

Carbohydrates are the fuels our bodies need to run and exercise so don’t skimp on them and especially not before a run or exercise session. I do not intake any more protein than the bread or its accompanying spread provides as this can require too much energy to digest and is best taken after a run to help restore the muscle fibers.

Crap
As I alluded to earlier, it is always a good idea to have a bowel movement before a run, I mean why carry the extra weight? And it will be much more pleasant for you and perhaps your running buddies too, if you do this pre-run. Oh and please excuse me for the crude terminology for my third C. It did take me a while to come up with that one, but once I put all these bits together, it just made sense to me to group them as the three Cs.

In the aforementioned Runner’s World article about coffee, the author also mentioned this delicate topic, but connected the two, “[Coffee] wakes you up, energizes your work out, and – how can we say this nicely? – gets your systems moving, too.” So there, there is a connection between my first and third C and how poetic that it all can come together for a wonderful morning pre-run ritual.

For me to implement my 3Cs routine, I have to get out of bed at least an hour, or sometimes an hour and a half, before my run, but this also gives me plenty of time to relax, check emails, plus feed, pet, and talk to my cats, get dressed, etc. I highly recommend this and I’d love to hear from my dear readers if you do this too or have other rituals that are equally important.

Posted in Food, Running

Winter running

Posted on by Denise — 1 Comment ↓
Seriously icy road running

Seriously icy road running

A friend and I went for a run today on a gravel road and both of us nearly fell several times. It was seriously icy in many spots, but all clear in others. And to make you appreciate how totally bad ass we were… It was pouring rain, thus making the ice even slicker as it washed away the top layer of snow.

Oh the joys of west coast winter running! But, hey we were out there! Not just sitting on the couch watching all the Olympic awesomeness over in Sochi. Perhaps the International Olympic Committee might consider a new winter sport: ice running!

There are lots of blogs posts with winter running tips, so rather than make yet another list, I’m just going to refer you to a few of them:

And here’s a great quote/image to remember for winter running:

image

Thankfully in a few days, I’m heading to Hawaii for a wee bit of sunshine and heat. Oh course, those conditions too have their own set of issues, but, I’ll worry about that when I get there. Aloha.

Posted in Running

Treadmill Running

Posted on by Denise — 2 Comments ↓

image

My expected long run with friends did not happen yesterday, but I managed to score a ride with one of them to the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre for my swimming cross-training. I’m fairly new to the Centre and not familiar with all of its services, so I asked at the reception area about the weight room facility. I figured that I might as well get acquainted with some of the equipment therein, since I had some extra time on my hands. I was informed that my 10 pass card included both the swimming pool and the weight room (or gym as I prefer to call it) with the single check-in. Alright… Look out gym here I come.

I should check my enthusiasm and confess right now that I’m not a fitness gym fan. I find all those machines rather intimidating, not to mention rather unnatural. I would much rather be outside or work out without equipment. I mean why run on a treadmill when one could run on a trail? Why ride a spin machine when one could ride a bike outside? Why use the weight machines when would could do a yoga class with lots of body strengthening poses, such as planks, chatarungas, side planks, boat poses, and handstands. And don’t get me started on all the other benefits of yoga that seem to be noticeably absent in gyms, e.g. meditation, peacefulness, and balancing.

Despite all that I decided to check out the gym and chose to use the treadmill as I really did want to get in a run before my swim. I have used treadmills in the past in hotels where I did not know the city well and only had a short time to exercise, but I have never had a good experience with them. For example, the first time I used one, I fell off the back twice. Embarrassing and slightly painful. I also find watching TV, which most hotel gyms provide, while running so antithetical. It was probably during the TV watching, that I became momentarily distracted and slowed down my pace enough to fall off the back.

So it was with some apprehension that I approached the only person with a “staff” vest in the gym to ask about the treadmills. Perhaps because she was also wielding a broom I might have suspected that she was not the best person to ask. However, she cheerfully took me over to the treadmills and gave me a brief rundown on their usage, which was to show me the start button, the speed buttons, the incline buttons and perhaps most importantly the large stop button. Humm, all things that I could have figured out myself. I asked her if the machine indicated the total distance run and she said that she thought so. Ummm, I thanked her, climbed on and pushed start. Now you are probably thinking, why did I bother asking anyone about such an obvious machine. Well, I was seriously hoping for some tips that would possibly help me like these machines. Nope, did not get that.

As the treadmill slowly kicked into gear, I pushed the speed increase button to start my 3-5 minutes of warm-up. Within 2 minutes I was warm enough to take my long sleeve layer off. Did I mention that I’d dressed in multiple layers expecting to run outside in snowy -6 degree weather? I slowed the machine down and did a jumping jack leap to the runner boards on the side of the treadmill, removed said shirt and leapt back on to the moving tread. (Note to self, bring shorts for inside workout, rather than long running tights.) Up went the speed again and I was doing just fine running at 8:00 minutes per something. There was no indication that the pace was in kilometres or miles. There was a distance recorded, but again no indication of which system it was measuring. I decided that the pace was good and carried on, really only caring about the duration.

At about the 10 minute mark, I increased the pace and watched as a car pulled into the parking space right in front of the window where I looked out. Oh, I should mention that the treadmills all face outside perhaps giving some perverse illusion that you are actually running outside. However, they all overlook a parking lot, which offers no level of beauty. Meanwhile back to the fellow parking his car right in the handicapped parking space while I watched. I noted that there was no handicapped parking pass hanging off his mirror, so I awaited with some indignation to see what he would do about that. He stayed in the car for quite some time, perhaps listening as I often do to the end of a good story on the radio. Just prior to disembarking his car, he swung down the sun visor above the driver side and there it was, the handicapped parking pass. What a relief… And as I watched him open his door, shuttle to the back of his car and pull out a sports bag, I was cheering him on for coming to the Centre for exercise. I was also very pleased that he gave me something to watch and to think about for about 5 minutes while I mindlessly ran on the treadmill.

Nothing else was happening in the parking lot so my gaze wandered to the treadmill walkers to either side of me. At that moment of inattention I apparently sped up faster than the treadmill pace and managed to inadvertently push the stop button in my effort to rebalance. While relieved that I did not fall off the back of the treadmill, I was annoyed that I had to start again at the beginning of my “run.” I pushed the go button again and it was at that point that I decided to pay attention to the machine itself. There were all sorts of numbers and images on the console and the touch screen offered a few more choices. For example, I learned that I could have selected some pre-programmed 30 minute runs, with up hills and down hills. That would have been more fun than pushing the speed and incline buttons myself. Given that a large font message on the machine indicated that there was a 30 minute time limit, I didn’t chose one of these runs for the second half of my run. Perhaps next time.

I became very bored with the treadmill after about another 10 minutes and decided it was time to hit the pool for a few laps. In looking back at this event, I might try it again, if…

  • the weather was much colder, e.g. sub -10 degrees and not so sunny
  • it was snowing hard and/or there was lots of snow on the paths
  • I had my ear buds so I could listen to my upbeat running music (apparently this is one of the best motivating factors for keeping people going the distance on the treadmill).
  • I knew more about how the machines work and knew some treadmill running techniques
  • I had a workout program to follow
  • there were something interesting to look at (i.e. not a TV, nor a parking lot; perhaps a swimming pool)
  • I was more motivated to use these machines

Despite my abject failure with the treadmill, my swim was great and I managed to get in a 1k run from the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre to downtown Nanaimo. The path beside a fairly busy city street was a bit icy in places, which makes me want to encourage everyone to clear their sidewalks and be considerate of walkers, runners, wheelchairers, and stroller pushers ; it is after all the law in Nanaimo as it is in most cities.

Posted in Cross training, Running, Swimming, Yoga

Runner’s Lunch

Posted on by Denise — No Comments ↓

Lunch suggestion - Savoury French toast

Lunch suggestion – Savoury French toast

I unabashedly love bread! After visiting France last April and eating baguettes almost everyday, I continued the tradition as often as I could upon my return. During the week if I’m in downtown Nanaimo and especially after a yoga class at OmTown Yoga, I often zip across the street to Mon Petit Choux to enjoy the French ambiance, sip a latte, and munch on a croissant with homemade preserves. And what else does one do at a French bakery? Why, of course one should buy a baguette! And what better carrying case is there for these lovely long loaves? Why a yoga mat bag!
Baguette carrying case

Baguette carrying case

I have recently discovered a lovely grainy baguette from Boulart called Ciabatta multigrain, available at my local Thrifty Foods. It does not come from the in-house bakery, but is shipped from Quebec. That kind of makes it closer to France, but unfortunately does not make it local or fresh daily! However, it is quite marvellous toasted and served with butter and honey for breakfast. It is also perfect for one of my favourite lunches, especially after a run – see photo at the top of this post.

To make this Savoury French Toast, slice a few pieces of the baguette, dip them in a mixture of egg, flavoured with salt and pepper and some oh so wonderful Herbes de Provence. Fry them in a pan with either butter or olive oil, depending on your decadence level, flipping once. They should be soft from the egg dipping and golden brown. Serve with tomatoes tossed with a dressing of seasoned rice vinegar, olive oil and basil and some fresh cucumber slices, also drizzled with vinegar. Ummm, ummm, good and I think this lunch just about covers most of the major food groups.

Greek honey yogurt with pomegranate seeds

Greek honey yogurt with pomegranate seeds

Today I followed this savoury lunch with a bowl of Greek honey yogurt covered in pomegranate seeds (oh so Mediterranean), to add even more nutritional value. If it is summer, eat this lunch on your deck in the sunshine with a crisp glass of rosé.

As a footnote, I apologize to those gluten, lactose, and alcohol intolerant and vegan readers. I do know that there are gluten-free breads, non-dairy soy-based yogurt and butter, egg-replacements, and non-alcoholic fruit juice substitutes are out there. So a similar tasty experience can be had.

Posted in Food