vrijdag 29 december 2017

2017 Year In Review

skeeze / Pixabay

Another year has come and gone.  2017 has been an interesting year in the world, that’s for sure.  Definitely one for the record books.  But personally, it’s been a pretty decent year.  I’m ending it nursing an injury, so sports-wise I’m a little frustrated, so it’s been good to look back at all that I accomplished over the year.

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals.

  1. Continue with Swim Bike Fuel Nutrition Plan
  2. Increase my FTP
  3. Volunteer More
  4. Spend an Hour a Week Crafting
  5. Try to Keep My House Clean

I’d say I hit about 50%.  Sometime mid-year, my diet fell off the rails, but I didn’t start gaining weight back til November.  It’s the holiday eating, I’m sure, and I’m hoping to get those few pounds back off by the end of January. Getting back to basics will surely help.

I did manage to increase my cycling FTP by leaps and bounds.  I’ve still got plenty of room for improvement, but this was an awesome year for biking.

I got in some race volunteering, though not as much as I would like.  Planning to continue to step that up this year.  Race day volunteering is so much fun.  It’s also exhausting.

Crafting… yeah, that didn’t last.  Maybe I should go for one hour a month.  And my house, well it’s a total disaster, especially since I was so busy through December.  I think that getting the house clean is probably a more important goal, but it’s way less exciting.

Race wise, it was an excellent year.  I broke my five year old half marathon PR and had some amazing triathlons.  I PRed a couple of races and I even jumped off of a ferry to start a race.  I got to hang out with friends and Coeur teammates all through the race season.  It was an incredibly fun year.  I definitely missed doing a big long race, but I had a blast with the shorter races (and when I’m out doing 60 mile rides, I’ll probably regret the decision to race long in 2018).

Still figuring out what 2018 has in store, but I’m sure it’s going to be a great year!

 

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woensdag 27 december 2017

Recipe – Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chili

So I don’t know about you, but I have been leaning in to this “fat and jolly” season just a bit too much. My pants are feeling tight, and as much as I would like to blame the dryer, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case. Right now, my big plan is to get back to meal planning and batch cooking. This is so much easier to do in the winter. Soups and stews are easy to make and they freeze well. I like being able to just pull a container out of the freezer and put it into the microwave for a quick meal.

One new recipe I have added to my list is Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chili, a recipe put out by Cigna. I love easy Chili recipes and I really appreciate that you can make this as spicy as you want. While I believe that spicy food should make you sweat and your lips burn, not everyone agrees with that.

Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili

Ingredients

  • 2-3 sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped). Turns out to be around 3 ½ – 4 cups
  • 3 cups broth (use less for more chili texture)
  • 1 lb ground lean pork, beef, chicken, or turkey (see notes for using precooked meat)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 14 oz diced canned tomatoes (drained). You can use garlic or onion flavor canned if you like.
  • 1 cup chopped white onion
  • 2-3 cup chopped cauliflower (add as much or little as you’d like).
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped, found on Spanish or Mexican foods aisle or, ½ cup to 2/3 cup hot chipotle salsa may be substituted.
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 1/2 shallot (diced) or 1/4 cup red onion (optional)
  • Herbs to garnish
  • optional cheese toppings

Preparation

1 First chop and peel your potatoes. Place in a microwave safe bowl and steam with 1 tbsp water in them for 90 seconds.

2 Next add your ground meat to the crock pot with broth and oil. (Other option is to brown meat beforehand so you do get as much grease in crock pot.)

3 Add your tomatoes, sweet potato, onion, cauliflower and mix all together.

4 Finally, add your seasonings and chipotle peppers with sauce.

5 Stir and cook on high for 3 to 4 hrs.

6 Add your shallots the last hour if you adding them.

7 Add more paprika and or black pepper and sea salt when finished cooking if desired.

8 Garnish with fresh herbs such as cilantro, or basil works well, too.

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donderdag 21 december 2017

Inside Tracker Update – December 2017 Test

I have been avoiding my latest Inside Tracker test because my diet has not been great lately.  As we joke in the office, we’re just leaning in to the “fat and jolly” part of the season.  And all that is great – in moderation. Moderation is not something I’m good at.  But I’m working on it.

So last week, I finally sucked it up and had my blood drawn for my Inside Tracker test.  I have written about these three times before, and while I did get a discount on this test as a member of the Coeur Sports team, I was an Inside Tracker user long before I got a discount, and I’m in no way being compensated for writing this.  I just really love the service.

It turns out I had no need to avoid the tests.  Because while I’ve been eating garbage, I’ve also been putting good things into my body, and all my work is showing!

So my total cholesterol is looking a lot better than it was.  This is something that I really struggle with, and a lot of it is due to genetics.  But that doesn’t mean that it’s not something I can’t work on.  The big thing here is going to be to lose weight.  Right now, my weight’s up a bit (see previously mentioned “fat and jolly”) but I’m not concerned, and will get that back off in the new year.

I know that weight loss is a polarizing thing for a lot of people, and I’m not here to tell you whether or not you can be fat and healthy.  But what I can say is that my numbers are not ideal, and therefore, for me, weight loss is a good idea.

Look at that HDL climb!  Come on little line, you can do it.  You can get into the green zone!  Unfortunately, HDL is a tough one to improve.  The big recommendations are:

  • Lose weight
  • Exercise (at least 60 minutes of moderate exercise a week)
  • Avoid trans fats
  • Medication

Clearly, I’m trying to avoid needing medication (though it may be inevitable due to genetics).  And I’m already working on the other three.  So I just need to keep going.

Boom!  This one makes me really happy.  Look at that drop out of borderline high LDL.  Okay, so it’s not a huge drop, and is just barely squeaking in, but I’m so pleased.  The big change here has really been just having oatmeal every day.  Yes, it’s not the most exciting food, but it’s easy, filling, and it’s helping.  I’m also trying to a dose of psyllium husk every day.  It’s not the most exciting, but it definitely seems to be helping.

Boom!  My triglycerides are back into the green!  The Lipid group is probably the part of the test that always gives me the most concern because there are some clear health issues, and I love that I have some key things to work on.

I was really expecting this to be worse, given the sugar in my diet as of late.  It’s still not great, but not as bad as I thought.  Guess what’s going to help here?  Cleaning up my diet and losing weight, which really go hand in hand.

B12 is one that’s definitely important for athletes, and I’ve seen a solid jump here.  I wish I could say that it was entirely due to diet, but it’s not.  I’ve added a supplement, and I’m pleased to see that it’s put me right into the optimized zone, but not too high.

This one was a surprise.  Two possibilities here.  Dehydration, which is something I struggle with in the winter months.  My office is freezing cold and so drinking enough water is tough.  But I’m going to keep at it (and also drink a ton of herbal tea).  I’m also going to add an electrolyte supplement to some of my water.  Finally, I need to pay attention to the sodium levels in my food.  It’s not something that I really think about save for right before and after a race – because I know that if I don’t have enough salt, I end up with a crazy headache post-race.  I’m going to see where my sodium intake falls and then make some changes based on that.

So there you have it, my latest test.  If you’re interested in Inside Tracker, I highly recommend you check them out.  It’s a great service and their team is incredibly responsive and helpful.

 

 

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Spicy Salsa Cardio Dance Workout: Dance off the Inches- Stella Sandoval

woensdag 20 december 2017

What’s In My Bag: Purse Edition

Various magazines often post lists of what celebrities carry in their purses.  It made me wonder how my purse stacks up.  Plus it was well past time to clean it out, so I thought I would document the process.  I pretty regularly switch between purses, and try to carry a smallish bag, but haven’t switched out from my big purse after my trip to Florida at the end of November.  That means it’s starting to fill up with ridiculous things.  

Starting out, it’s not looking too crazy.  From top to bottom:

  • Portable phone charger
  • iPhone earbuds
  • Giant keychain with way too many things for the small number of keys
  • Pen case (for the fancy fountain pens I carry) plus two “regular” pens.  Note that the fancy pens aren’t currently in the case and instead are strewn about my office and house
  • Two snacks.  Because everyone needs snacks.

Still pretty normal purse contents.

  • Sunglasses case (with sunglasses inside)
  • Reusable bag
  • Altoids and weird licorice candies
  • Cough drops, which are weird, only because I’m not sure when I last had a cough.
  • Business card case

This one’s a bit misleading because I didn’t open up the pouch, which contains all sorts of ridiculousness.

  • Pouch with lipstick, mirror, hair bands, spare contacts, medications, and other random tiny things
  • Wallet
  • Bottle of hotel lotion from a trip I took in May
  • Mickey Tsum Tsum lip balm that I bought on a whim (which is now stacked on my desk)
  • More chapstick

And now we get into the random stuff

  • Passion Planner – I LOVE this thing
  • Holiday CD from a coworker
  • Massage ball
  • Pile of garbage
  • Gum, plus loose gum that fell out of the container
  • An Action Wipe… in case I sweat and need to wipe down? I’m not sure why this is in my purse.  Usually these are in my gym bags.
  • You are Beautiful stickers

So that’s the full list of what was in my purse.  Most things went back in, save for the trash and the Mickey lip balm.  Anything random in your bag?  I think next up I’m going to dig through my tri bag, because that thing is a disaster.

 

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maandag 18 december 2017

A Reluctant Yoga Practitioner

I can’t do this post at all. Nope. Pretty sure my arms don’t work like that. StockSnap / Pixabay

Guys.  I have never liked yoga.  I just can’t get into the whole “center yourself and feel the strength of the earth move through your body” thing.  When that happens, all I can think is “Hurry up, I’ve got things to do, let’s get this show on the road!”

But I may have been too quick to judge.  Turns out there are all sorts of types of yoga.  Which means that there’s probably one that’s right for me.  And one where I don’t have to envision the powers of the ancestors flowing in and out of my finger tips.  Or whatever.  Like I said, I stop listening when things get weird.

I’ve been dealing with some nagging issues in my hips and glutes.  It’s probably all tied to my piriformis and general tight muscles.  I have never been flexible.  I’ve been seeing a PT and doing a lot of strength work, and I’m definitely noticing improvement, but it’s been slow.

Since my calf muscle is still healing after tweaking it at Space Coast, my coach told me that I needed to be doing yoga every day to get my body stretched out and healed.  She recommended Yoga with Adriene as the best option, so I’ve been doing some of her videos daily, mostly the ones for runners, and I have to say, my piriformis feels almost perfect.  Now, the not-running as I heal is probably helping, and of course my PT exercises, but it wasn’t til I added in yoga that I really noticed an uptick.  I might just be ready to try a 30-day yoga challenge.  It’s on YouTube, so I can really do it anywhere.

Also, my shoulders are perpetually tight.  I try to stretch them out, but I don’t have anything structured that I do.  You know what might help with that?  Yoga.

So I guess I’m going to be sticking with this yoga thing.  You still aren’t going to find me in yoga class every week, but I can certainly do a 15-20 minute video after my workouts.  Maybe someday I will be able to touch my toes.

 

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Carb Killer Cardio Workout: 10 Min Solution- Michelle Dozois

donderdag 14 december 2017

Yoga for Weight Loss: Section 1 | Element- Ashley Turner

December Link Roundup

jill111 / Pixabay

It has been way too long since I’ve done a link roundup and man, do I have a lot of things saved, and a lot of things I’ve missed.  I’m going to try to start getting these posts out more often, maybe every month or every other month.  It would definitely help if I kept up on my blog reading.  I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I write a blog, but tend to go for a chunk of time without reading any blogs, then read everything all at once.  Which always makes for a fun afternoon, but maybe I should try to be more up to date on things!

Racing and Fitness Things

Physical and Mental Health

Delicious Recipes

Just Cool Things

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maandag 11 december 2017

How Not to Give the Gift of Fitness

monicore / Pixabay

This morning on the radio, I heard a story about the best way to gift fitness to a friend who just isn’t into it.  The basic gist of it was “Don’t buy them a treadmill with the hopes that they will use it, but buy them some cute “Athleisure” clothes or get them a yoga mat that matches yours, or buy them a gift card for some workout classes.”

Don’t do this.  Don’t do any of this.

If you have a friend who knows you take yoga classes but has never shown any interest in your classes, don’t give them the “gift” of a class for Christmas.  There is a solid chance they have zero interest in yoga, and you forcing them with a “gift” sort of takes away the meaning of the gift.  That’s like giving someone broccoli for Christmas.  “I know you say you don’t like this, but I really like it, and I think you should try it so now you have to.”

Can you imagine how insulting that might be to someone?  Hi, I’m in shape and you’re not, so I’m going to give you these classes so you can tone up, and it’s a gift, so you have to thank me.  Oh, you never workout because you don’t have the gear?  Well, here you go, now you have no excuse!

I love triathlon.  I love riding my bike.  I have a love/hate relationship with running and swimming.  And trust me, everyone I come in contact with knows these things about me eventually.  I have some friends who have shown interest, and I’m immediately encouraging.  I have other friends who have zero interest, but think what I do is cool anyway, and I so appreciate that support.  Doesn’t mean that I’m going to give my non-swimming friend a cute bathing suit for Christmas.

If you are into a certain activity and have a friend you think would enjoy it, invite them to join you sometime, not as a Christmas gift, but just as a nice thing to do.  See if you can borrow a bike for them to use, get them a guest pass to your gym, ask them if they want to join you for a beginner yoga class.  Don’t force it.  Don’t demand they join you.  If they say no, they say no.  Your friends don’t have to love everything you love.

And “athleisure” clothes aren’t going to make anyone more likely to workout.  Yoga pants are comfy and awesome for wearing when sitting on the couch.

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Lean Body Sculpt Workout: 10 Min Solutions- Amy Bento

donderdag 7 december 2017

Trying Something New – Yoga Class

RyanMcGuire / Pixabay

On Sunday, I did yoga and brunch with some of my Coeur Sports teammates.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about it.  I’m very good at brunch, but I’m not so good at yoga.  In fact, I’m not sure that I had ever taken an actual yoga class before.  I’ve done videos, have a book that I try to use, and been in classes that included some yoga poses, but I had never taken a full yoga class.

The studio’s website had a “for newbies” section, so I read all about it.  Bring a towel.  Check.  Studio will be around 90 degrees.  Yuck, but check.  Be ready to sweat.  Check.

The class was definitely a full one.  So many people there, but what was immediately awesome is that there were people of all shapes and sizes.  Some people looked like yoga pros, others were there in their shorts and t-shirts ready to challenge their bodies.

What I absolutely loved about the class was that it was so challenging and fast moving that I didn’t have time to worry about what I looked like or what anyone else looked like because I was just trying to keep up and work.  I didn’t worry about if this bend made my belly flub hang out.  (I did worry that it might be possible to drown in my own sweat, but that’s a different kind of worry.)

I’m still not sure if I absolutely loved this class or absolutely hated it.  It was challenging for sure, but that makes for a good workout.  I liked that I wasn’t the only one in there having to modify poses or pausing to chug water or wipe the sweat off of everything.  I was sore for days, which tells me that I need to get back to my strength workouts and actually do the workouts in the yoga book I bought.

This class definitely isn’t something I plan to do every week, but I think it may show up in my plans again sometime, possibly for a great workout on a step back weekend.  It was perfectly timed, since I was still in recovery from my race and healing up some pulled muscles.

But most importantly, this was a reminder to just show up.  To not worry what I look like or how good I am at something.  Just show up.  No one cares how good you are, everyone’s just there trying to better themselves.

 

 

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Belly Blaster Cardio Dance Workout: 10 Min Solutions

maandag 4 december 2017

November Mileage Update

ImageParty / Pixabay

Who else is struggling with the fact that it’s December?  Just me?

November was a better workout month for me, even with a not-so-great race.  I even made it back to the pool.  Once.  That means I’ve been to the pool once in the last two months.  Good job, self.

November Totals
Swim: 1 mile
Bike: 129 miles
Run: 48 miles

Not too bad.  I’m right on track with my running prediction.  I guesstimated that I would hit 500 miles this year, given what I had on my schedule, and I was pretty spot on with that.  Clearly, I need to get to 2000 miles on my bike, and I should be able to do it, though December’s a bit of a crazy month. I can’t believe we’re already near the end of the year!

2017 Totals
Swim: 43.6 miles
Bike: 1868 miles
Run: 475 miles

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Lower Body Pilates Workout: Booty & Thighs- 10 Min Solutions

vrijdag 1 december 2017

On Sexual Harassment

Sexual assault.  Sexual harassment.  It’s all over the news right now, and I’ve been debating whether or not to speak up.  After all, this blog is typically about running and triathlon.  But it’s also about mental health and self-confidence, and those are two things very damaged by the way women are often treated by horrible men in positions of power.

It seems like every day, another famous person is accused of sexual assault, and the one thing all of these men have in common is power.  They all hold some sort of power over these women.  Maybe they are supervising the women, maybe they are high up in the company, maybe they are in a position to make or break the woman’s career.  Whatever the source of the power, they use that power to take advantage of these women.

I keep hearing people (men and women alike) say things like “Well, they didn’t say no or try to get away,” or “They didn’t say anything before, they’re just doing it to get attention.”

First off, when a man who has power over a woman (let’s say he has the ability to get her fired) pressures her into a situation, she is caught between saying no and losing her job.  And yes, when faced with that situation, some women absolutely would be able to say no.  But plenty of others wouldn’t – especially when it’s not just losing your job but also potentially being blacklisted in your industry.  And once it’s over, these women walk away, try to brush it off.  Many of them ultimately find other jobs, some end up leaving the industry all together.

Saying yes out of fear does not equal consent.

And a lot of these women didn’t say yes.  A lot of them were forced, and then threatened if they spoke up.

The thing is, this isn’t unique to the entertainment industry.  It is prevalent in many industries, possibly all of them.  Many, many women have stories of sexual harassment in the workplace.  And many of us brush them off because we are told to be nice.

Here’s one personal example.  I had a coworker who made me very uncomfortable.  His advances were likely innocent, but he liked to come up behind me, touch my hair, put his hands on my shoulders, and stand much too close when we talked.  Sure, these things may sound innocent, but put together, with his words and demeanor, and it made me uncomfortable.  I did my best to ignore him, to ask him to not do what he was doing, but it continued.  Finally, my resolve broke when he showed me a photo of a woman in a revealing red dress and told me that it would look great on me, so I should buy it and he would take me to Vegas.

It was just too weird to leave alone, so I finally went to my boss about it.  But the thing was, I was still trying to be nice.  “I don’t want him to get into trouble,” I said.  I was still relatively new at my job and didn’t want to rock the boat.  “I just want it to stop.”  So my boss at the time talked to his boss, and it stopped.

Of course, I found out he just moved on to do this to someone else.  Maybe if I had worried less about being nice, maybe if I had gotten mad and said “No, this is inappropriate, it is against company policy, and something needs to be done,” then it would have stopped for everyone.

But we’re taught to be nice, to not cause a scene.

At an old job, many years ago, I was at a work outing.  I had consumed a few alcoholic beverages, and was talking and laughing with some coworkers.  One of the higher-ups in the company pulled me over and started hitting on me.  He was married, I wasn’t interested, I tried to pull away.  He then started making some very sexually suggestive comments, while keeping hold of my wrist.  Another woman, also higher up in the company, saw this and helped pull me away from him.

I was embarrassed and upset.  My coworkers knew what had happened, but no one wanted to say anything, so I brushed it off.  At work the next day, the guy called me to apologize, and kept saying “But nothing happened, so it’s not a big deal.”  I was so embarrassed by what had happened, and I was also leaving the job in a few weeks, so I agreed and said it was no big deal.  Essentially, I just wanted it to go away.  And it did.

I’m not sure I ever saw that guy again in the few weeks I had left at that job.  And I can’t say that the incident has weighed heavily on me or caused any lasting harm.  The hurt has gone away and now it’s just a sense of embarrassment.  And I shouldn’t feel embarrassed for being a victim.  But that’s not the point.  The point is that it shouldn’t have happened.  I do feel some guilt for not standing up and making it a bigger deal.  Why?  Because it’s likely this wasn’t a one-time thing for him.  It’s likely that he did this to other young women.  And maybe it was worse for some of them than it was for me.

I understand why some women wait to speak up.  When this happened, I was embarrassed.  I was young.  I was on my way out anyway, which I think is really the key to my story.  Who knows what would have happened if I would have had to continue working with this guy.  I just wanted it to go away.  But if suddenly I heard that other women were saying “Hey, this guy did these things to me,” maybe I would add my voice to the choir.  I don’t know.

Neither of these two incidents are as heinous as some of the many stories coming out in the press.  But I share them to show just how pervasive sexual harassment is for women.  These are not the only two incidents that have happened to me.  I have worked with men who believed it was fine to place their hands on my shoulders, thumbs rubbing bare skin due to a wide neckline.  I have had my ass grabbed more times than I can count.  I have given and received advice from others of people to avoid.  At one point, there was someone who I not-so-jokingly referred to as “The Inappropriate Toucher” and did my best to stay more than an arms-length away.

Thankfully, the men who have done these things are a very small percentage of the men I have encountered over the years.  I am lucky to have so many wonderful men in my life, men who have never once made me feel uncomfortable around them.  I have watched some of them stand up against harassment, which is amazing.  I work in a male dominated industry, and 99.9% of the time, my interactions are professional and friendly.  I spend my summers training and racing in relatively revealing clothing (let’s be honest – tri kits don’t hide much), and have never once felt uncomfortable due to the actions of another person.  (And yes, this includes during gross, sweaty victory hugs after a race, because the intent there is very different.)

(I do want to add that men can also be the victims of sexual harassment and women can be the perpetrators.  I don’t have any personal experience, so don’t feel comfortable writing about it, but it does happen, and we need to be aware of it, support the men who are dealing with this, and speak up against the women perpetrating it.)

As these stories have come out, I have noticed that a lot of men are surprised and a lot of women are not.  And that’s because we don’t speak out.  These men can’t imagine doing something like this to another person, so it seems shocking.  And women often don’t say anything, so how are they supposed to know?  So if you want to, if you feel comfortable doing so, tell your stories.  And if you find yourself in a situation to speak up when someone is behaving inappropriately, absolutely speak up if you can do so safely.

I don’t think this behavior is going to go away quickly, or anytime soon.  But it’s time to be honest about it, to get it out there, and to realize that we all have the right to feel safe.

 

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