15 March 2008

Eating

I came across this post today and it just bothered me a little. He asks, what is clean eating. First of all I realize it's a rhetorical question and he's just trying to make a point, but it bugs me. With the amount of overweight people in the US today and the prevalence of highly processed food, someone in the nutrition/health business needs to ask what is clean eating?? I've read his book and I know for a fact he promotes a good, healthy diet. So why write a post like this??

I really believe that the readily available processed food is a part of the obesity problem here in the US. I know when I was growing up I didn't know anyone who had a weight problem and there was no convenience food (or at least my Mom never bought any). We ate homemade, clean, breakfast, lunch and dinner. No one I knew ever went out to eat. I didn't eat in a restaurant until I was like 8. I thought it was amazing :)

I'm not naive enough to think that the obesity crisis can be stopped if everyone started eating clean, but it's a step. Over the past year or so I've removed almost all processed food from my diet and eat only 'clean'. I feel better. I sleep better. I don't get those irresistible cravings I used to get. I'm not eating as much because whole, natural, healthy food has a lot of volume and fills me up. For me it works way better than just about any diet I've ever tried.

It just ticks me off when so-called professionals have to knock something by trying to be cute. If this guy has a legitimate complaint about clean eating state it, don't try to be cute with the 'what is clean eating? Is other eating dirty?' State your problems with it. I've always found that when people just want to knock something but have no real argument they resort to name calling. That's what this appears to be.

14 March 2008

Some Friday randomness

This morning was weights and running again. WooHoo. I love spring. Now here in Hawaii we don't really have 4 seasons but there is a short time when we move from the colder, wetter into the drier, hotter. That transition time, which can last a couple of days or stutter for a couple of weeks, is one of my favorite times. There is a warmth in the air that's been missing. The flowers are starting to bloom again and the smell is incredibly. In the morning when I run there is a freshness and newness to everything. I absolutely love it.

I did all my workouts this week and really feel amazing. They were all good and that kept me going. I've gotten serious with the swimming, now is time to add in the bike and up the running some. I'm starting marathon training on Sunday so that will help with my running. I will be doing the Honolulu Marathon this year and that leads to my next topic......

I've put in for the lottery for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. I did it when the lottery opened last week or so and didn't really give it much thought. The other night I was talking to Hubby about it and what we would do if I got in, go for a long weekend and stay at Union Square, and I started to get really excited about it. The drawing is on April 1st and I'm really excited now. I really hope I get in.....

That's it for today. I've been posting on my other blogs so I'm kind of out of stuff to say. Hope everyone had a good week and has a great weekend.

13 March 2008

Or maybe the swim is the thing.

This morning was swimming again and again I rocked!!! I feel so good in the water, what a huge difference from a couple of months ago. I was doing my workout this morning and it called for easy, moderate, and fast pace. I found I actually had those speeds. Easy was easy, like a stroll around the mall. Moderate was faster, like a brisk hike up a mountain. While fast was fast, like a sprint. It was cool, I did great and I'm having a great time swimming. I have not used my stopwatch, only the clock at the side of the pool. I don't know my T-pace, 100, or 50 pace. I don't know any of the numbers, all I do is use the clock to time my rest intervals. It's working because I'm not getting caught up in the numbers and getting bummed. An awful lot of success is not knowing you're not doing great. If you're doing the absolute best you can beating yourself up over the numbers is not going to help at all. I did 1600 m in about 35-40 minutes this morning. That can not be right. I got to the pool at 6:10. By the time I got my stuff put away and my gear on, I probably got into the pool by 6:15. I looked at my watch again just before my cool down to get a time check and it was 6:50. That's 35 minutes. I then did my last 100 m which I know took me 5 minutes because I was going really slow and exaggerating my roll. At the latest I jumped out of the pool at 7. So at most I did 1600 in 45 minutes. Okay, that's not right. I shortened the work out, I only did 1200 m in 40ish minutes. That makes more sense. Still, it felt great and I'm happy with them.

Now that I've carried on for days about my swimming :) Moving on. There is so much other stuff going on in my life I don't even know where to start. My mind is distracted and I'm not sure what to write about here. I've even taken to playing a computer game at night just to shut my mind off. It's actually fun playing on a big
lcd monitor. Anyway, I probably should get to work now.

12 March 2008

There are some who are saying, of course.....






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Your Serial Killer Name would be...
THE DEVIL INCARNATE


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at QuizGalaxy.com

Running is the thing

I do a lot of different exercises. I love to do aerobics. I really enjoy riding my bike. I like strength training. I like swimming. I adore hiking. But running is the thing. It's the thing that makes me feel like I can do anything. It's the thing that makes me proudest. It's the thing where I can push myself every single time. It's definitely the thing. I swam for 45 minutes yesterday and felt really good about the progress I've made. I ran for 20 minutes this morning and felt like an absolute rock star.

I'm guessing it goes back to my super heavy days when running was a distant dream. Once I was able to run I felt like I had achieved something spectacular. I still feel that way every time I run. It's a good feeling. So along those lines, I've decided to do the Honolulu Marathon this year. Actually, I'm in the lottery for the Nike Marathon in San Francisco, we'll see how that goes.

The Honolulu Marathon Training clinic started this past Sunday. I didn't remember it in time so I didn't go, but I'm going this Sunday. I tried to train with them last year but my plantar sidelined me. Well, that is not an issue anymore so it's time to try again. I've done the marathon 2 times and both times did not go so well. I'm really going to train consistently and I have a goal time of 4:30. That's about 10:30 per mile. That is so doable for me. Okay, I've said it now it's out there. Time to get to work.

11 March 2008

5 weeks out

till the Lanikai Triathlon. I'm starting to get a little nervous, only because I haven't been training as much as I should. I've been focusing on some other things and not necessarily running or biking. I have been swimming every week so that's good. But it's definitely time to take it up a notch.

This morning was swimming and for the first time in a long time, I was the shark. I've dug out my swimming workouts and today was my first one. Swim,kick,pull, fingertip, catch-up, right, left, it was fun. I have found that for me the mp3 player while swimming is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I am able to focus more completely on what I'm doing with the music in the background. I keep the volume kind of low as I don't want to blast my eardrums out.

There are the pool regulars every morning. There is the lady who swims almost every day and is unbelievable slow. It boggles the mind that someone can swim that often and not get any faster. Then there's the naked tattooed lady, but she swims with fins. There is also the swim instructor. She's good. Fast but not too fast. Then there's the new lady (new in that she's only been coming for about 6 months :). When I first started back in January I was just about even in speed with her. Keeping absolutely steady with her was a little challenging. So for a while she was my pacer (which I don't think she knew). I didn't pace with her often since for January and February I was really working on TI and getting really, really comfortable in the pool. But every once in a while I would find myself at the wall at the same time as her and I would push to keep up with her. I haven't done this in a couple of weeks because we hadn't been in adjoining lanes for a while.

This morning I got to the pool early because I wanted to get a good workout in. I did my warm up and towards the end the new lady got in the lane next to me. I did my first drill which was right/left and I noticed that I was keeping up with her. I thought that's because my right hand is my strongest pulling hand. On the way back I was using my left hand and she gained a little on me, but not much. I did this for 4 times then it was time to do 300 straight. I was taking my rest before starting the 300 and about 20 seconds before I left the new lady left the wall. Ohhh, game on!! In 20 seconds she got about halfway down the lane maybe and I took off. I did not go all out because theoretically I was supposed to negative split the 300. So I took off at a good clip but not all out. She hit the far wall and I was still behind her, but gaining steadily. About 1/2 back to the front wall I caught up to her. I pulled ahead and had to hold myself back. I kept steadily gaining ground leaving her further and further behind. By the time I hit the far wall for the last time I was a pool length ahead of her. I was so excited and happy!! I have really improved my speed. I did not time myself on any of my laps because I was doing so good I didn't want to drag myself down by seeing the time.

I felt so good swimming. I was rolling. I was pulling strong. I was reaching forward. It was awesome. I haven't felt that good in the water in a long time. Yea!!!

10 March 2008

It's another Monday

I just came across this quote on another blog that is really good. It's by a U.S. National Team cyclist that Chris Carmichael worked with:

I decided early on to shoot for the stars, figuring that if I fell short, I would at least reach the moon. But had I been more conservative with my goals, and only tried to reach the moon, falling short would have left me in the middle of nowhere.


How awesome is that quote?? I really love it and I'm guilty of ending up in the middle of nowhere more often then I care to admit to.

It was a rough and wild weekend and I'm kind of glad it's over. Picked up a couple of orphaned cockatiels, one of whom has an eye injury and is going to the vet today. Had a bird club meeting and the bitch who makes me crazy wasn't there - yeah!! Went out to an awesome place for dinner last night. It's one of those restaurants we forget about but every time we go love it. Consumed more Girl Scout crack than I should have. Those are the highlights.

Got up this morning and really felt like running. I didn't know why, but I really felt like running. So then I started looking back and yikes!! I have not run since Feb 27th, almost 2 weeks. Yikes!! No wonder I felt like running. While waiting for the sky to start getting light, I did my weight workout. As I was I caught my reflection in the turned off TV and I was WOW!! I'm starting to get some definition in my shoulders, upper back, and neck area. WOW!! It's finally starting to pay off.

Well, I have to get some work done. I'm taking Pirate (the one-eyed cockatiel) to the vet's at 1:30. I'd like to be done with work before that but I don't think that will happen. But I'm off to give it a try. Maybe if I took some energy pills I could move faster. Now, if only I had some......

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...