Eating your cake and having it too...

I never truly understood the meaning of that phrase... Yes, you can't eat all of your cake and still have a piece left over for tomorrow... But couldn't you just cut the piece in half or bake a new cake?

I love finding recipes that seem like they are guilty pleasures but are actually healthy for you. In other words I like being fit and eating dessert too.

This is for others like me:

Enjoy! <3 Running Girl

7 Habits of Highly Effective Triathletes

Training for June 9th Olympic Tri has begun! Today is my third official day of training and will be a brick workout consisting of a three mile run and a 500m swim - not a shabby way of starting a training program eh? As I look ahead to more challenging work outs I notice that every fourth week is a recovery week and I finding myself wondering if I should fall back on mileage as the week suggests or keep the mileage consistent for a second week. So... I did what I do best, researched!

I came across an article, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Triathletes (sounds familiar to any Steve Covey fans?) written by Jason Karp that looked to many succesful triathletes and their training regiments to compile a list of, well,  seven effective habits!

1. Adequate Training - pick a plan
2. Consistent Training - follow the plan
3. Adequate Recovery - highlights the importance of recovery weeks in building muscle and supporting endurance including how after a hard work out your body isn't stronger, in fact it is weaker until your body is given adequate recovery time. My question answered - if I find myself completing strenuous workouts, pushing my muscles to a higher peak, than I need to give my body those recovery weeks in the form of less mileage.
4. Setting Goals - obtainable and motivating
5. Coach - find a partner or coach that you can reflect on training with
6. Nutrition - take care of your body from the inside out
7. Positive attitude - training is just as much for the mind as it is the body. Learning to recognize  your negative voice in your head telling you to slow down and then conquering it with the positive voice that reminds you that you can go faster!



This is for recovery time (just not yet),
<3 Running Girl

New Goal

Well, readers... After quite a few weeks if contemplation and seeking of another crazed health nut I have started training for an Olympic Tri on June 9 in the heartland of Grand Rapids! Wooo hooo.

This is for the next adventure,
<3 Running Girl

We Rocked CF!!

Almost exactly one week ago.. Melissa and I did it! We ran 13.1 miles despite the obstacles of injury and forgotten shoes to Rock CF! Thanks to you I was one of the top five fundraisers and part of the effort to raise over 72,000 dollars for the CF Foundation. Even more rad was the five runners that ran with CF themselves.

What an incredible journey that was supported by so many so that we could find not only our physical strength but our mental and spiritual strength as well. I am so grateful for this body (even if my knees wanted to stand a protest at mile 11 :D).

Wow.

So cool. This is for us!
<3 Running Girl

Road Bump

Hrm. Seems I've hit a road bump... Thursday's short run of 4.5 felt good but not for long. Shortly after my run my left big toe felt out of place, like it needed to be cracked. Thursday morning, the connection point from the toe to the ball of my foot was pretty sore. Then after teaching all day, my foot wasn't feeling so hot. Turns out my left foot has turned into a sausage roll.

Any suggestions? I can't remember running into anything that could've jammed the joints. It is bothersome to walk and frankly bothersome even staying still. Currently icing and praying for a full recovery for tomorrow's 8 miler.

Here's to a speedy recovery,
<3 Running Girl

Seven Miler

Last weekend Brandon & I traveled up to the Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore for a winter wonderland get away together. While there we stayed at the Foothills Motel, and of course Deacon joined us :) So Saturday's cross training consisted of 2 hours of snowshoeing in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. And get this... it was for free! Every Saturday during the winter a Park Ranger will escort a group of snowshoers off trails and help you look for signs of animal/plant survival in the winter such as this porcupine eaten tree:

Did you know only four Michigan animals truly hibernate in the winter? And by truly hibernate I mean their heart beat drops from 100 bpm to 1 bpm and their breathing also declines to once every five minutes. Crazy huh!?

So that brings me to my seven miler early Sunday morning:

1 miler stretch out spot around Glen Lake

A beautiful babbling brook, that Brandon pointed out later was a runaway river from Tucker Lake

3.5 turn around point at the Lake Michigan lakeshore - where I'd normally high-five Melissa

The run back went well despite the hills and cold weather. In fact the time flew by! Upon return to the Motel the back of my legs were covered in swollen mounds of cold, cold sign. With a warm shower and time bundled up in a breakfast nook (coffee in hand of course!) they went away. Now, I know that it was an early sign of frostbite. Perhaps, running in 0 degree weather wasn't the best of ideas with only one pair of running tights on.

Here's to solo - running adventures and being properly dressed for the weather :/

<3 Running Girl

One foot in front of the other

Success sometimes just means showing up ready to succeed. This video is inspiring; Ida, a 97 year old American beats the 100 m  dash record for her age group.

Another Running Girl

Here's to showing up for my 7 miler Sunday,
<3 Running Girl

To a heart healthy Valentine's Day

Today is a four point five running day! I put an exclamation because if excitement is there (even faked until it's made) your run will be more successful than with a dreading mentality...

For Valentine's Day - let's explore what exactly happens to your body during a run:

In the first two minutes your body begins burning glucose to produce ATP that allows muscles energy and to release lactic acid. Fascinated yet!?

Your body begins to torch calories with all major muscle groups engage ( about 100 calories/mile)  and your muscles require even more oxygen - hence why I should like a panting dog on a hot summer's day.

Within ten minutes your body is running (literally) like a well oiled machine with a cycle of ATP, glucose, lactic acid, oxygen + C02 exchange AKA you are STRONG.

Keep going and to recover at the end of your run dopamine is release; which also happens to be the same hormone that encourages you to say, "No thank you" to sweets.

Here is to Mrs. Smith, my high school biology teacher that apparently taught me something that stuck!
<3 Running Girl

Nathan Sawaya's Candy Heart

This is what I know...

A dear friend may have pointed out my lack of posts lately....so here I am to tell you what I know.

I know that Cystic Fibrosis stinks - big time. It's a hereditary disease that threatens to rob children of their outdoor adventures due to decreased lung function.

I know that less than half of patients with CF are over the age of 18 due to survival rate (45 percent).

I know that the predicted median age for people with CF today is thirty. 

I know that I will be thirty by the end of the decade and that I have many adventures still to be taken.

I know that any cold, bronchitis, coughing fit or physical condition that I face will always dim incomparison to living with CF.

I know that our children may also have CF if we are both carriers.

I know that what I share may sound dramatic - this isn't drama. This is truth.

I also know that with our combined support and continued research that the median age of children with CF living past their thirties can grow; and that I'm willing to run a stupid amount of miles to help. How will you help?

Here is to Rocking CF!

<3, Running Girl