...and how does that make you feel?

Anyone out there use (or try) a mood tracking app or program of some sort?

What do you think of the practice?

The theory is that memory encoding tends to operate on a negative cognitive bias, basically we are way better at remembering singular bad events than good overall feelings. That time you kicked the coffee table really hard in front of a hot date sticks around way longer than that awesome steamy bath you took four months ago.

It is likely that the baseline reality of the average person's life is a lot happier then they would necessarily report, so mood tracking attempts to provide a more accurate look at a person's general experience than their own memories (sort of like a super fussy gratitude journal). 

Fun fact - Mood rings suck when your baseline body temp is two degrees lower than average
Img source http://whitepagesevanstonilqdpk.wordpress.com/

I've been vaguely thinking about doing this sort of thing for a while, so my interest was definitely piqued when I read this article on the Expereal app from Greatest.

Of course if your life genuinely sucks you may want to pass, though by the same token this could be a great way to identify any hidden patterns in what may be stressing you.

On a related note: I've also considered the Thryve app (also found via Greatest) which has more of a focus on how food may be affecting our well being. I've had a history with some weird recurring stress triggered food allergies and an app like this could have saved me months of discomfort.

What say you?

Bears, and headwinds, and pumpkins, oh my!

I'm not gonna lie, Sunday's run pretty much sucked.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I finished up happy and all, and my initial temptation was to use the smiling smiley on my Nike App, but it's easy to rate a run as good when the endorphins have already kicked in.

Nope, large swaths of it out and out sucked, and (now that it's over) I'm pretty darn glad for it.

It usually takes me a block or two to get into the rhythm of running but after that I can usually (thankfully) let my legs go on autopilot. When there is the usual lack of pain or fatigue in my legs I can focus on directing my energy toward pacing and getting more air into my lungs, so I can hopefully not puke or keel over into someone's prize azaleas. I did feel a touch less winded throughout than usual, for which I am HIGHLY thankful because otherwise I felt a bit like a confused drunken bear.

 

It took two and a half miles for me to forget my legs enough to just run, oh and also there was a headwind.

Since when do I care about headwinds? Since Sunday, apparently.

My ankle pain seems to have finally calmed down, but only to be replaced by a sort of dull pain in the opposite knee (probably after effects of compensating for that ankle)*, some sub-threshold shin splint action, and some good old general muscle fatigue. It's nothing I'd call deal-breaking, but it certainly wasn't fun and I had to sternly talk myself out of taking more than one walk break.

I had a lot of trouble with pacing at first and found myself edging up on 10:00 more than once very early on. I think my body was just trying to get it all over with, potential for exhaustion blackouts be damned! Still, with much cajoling, and more then a few "suck it up buttercup" type platitudes I got through an entire 5k without pause. I even beat Wednesday's overall pace by four seconds per mile.

Once I forgot about my legs I actually felt good enough to end with a bit of a kick, but getting there took far too long for my liking. I spent that half a mile swinging between 7:30 and 10:00 and still ended up with positive splits up around the 12:00s, which I think says a thing or two about how bad the beginning of mile three was.

Why am I so cool about this sucking so much? Because it actually kinda sorta counted for something. Sunday was when I chose to do RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race. Times aren't being entered, there are no official winners or losers (though the last time she did this sort of thing there were a whole lot of randomly picked schwag winners, so that's something to look forward to) and yet... and yet...

I feel like I solidly earned my very first medal (virtual though it be) and I'm going to be rudely shoving this run in my own face making "nyah nyah" noises for a while to come. I really struggled with myself, and I won out against my doubts, and you can bet I'll be dragging out those bragging rights out over the parts of me that want to walk it or go home early in the future.

Pumpkins are already a huge thing for me and I couldn't ask for more welcome addition to their symbolism.

On a more technical note: I find it's taking me longer to regain my equilibrium after running and despite it being an afternoon run I don't feel like I really got my brain back until after dinner. I think my cool down stretching is actually suffering a bit as I often find myself just sort of holding my toes and staring off into the distance for long swaths of time.

After something like the fourth "give me a rare steak now or forfeit your left arm" meal planning discussion with The Boyfriend this week I'm starting to think I am missing out on some essential cow vitamin and I have to wonder if that has something to do with my sore muscles and extended post-run space cadet time.

Once I had fortified myself with some shrimp fondue and a petite sirloin (it was medicinal fondue, I needed nourishment, don't you judge) we hit a dollar store for cheesy decorations and a Trader Joe's for pumpkins and then spent the rest of the evening watching cheesy 80s horror (House II and Night of the Creeps, in case you were wondering) and eviscerating gourds.

I do carve a sexy pumpkin.

How do you kick your own butt?

Do you have any personal symbols that work into your running?

Have you ever found yourself drifting a bit too far into LaLa Land after a workout?

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My Sunday run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks.
Official running of RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race
3.1 miles at an average of 11:50 per mile -  total time of 36:43 max pace of 6:49 (?!?)

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Next up is another virtual run - The Cupcake Classic. It is "open" now and runs until Sunday (click on the image below for more detail - registration is still open!). I have not yet decided which day I will be running this but signs point to, uh, not Wednesday or Thursday?

Reply Hazy. Ask Again Later

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*I had a physical today after writing most of the bits above and mentioned my knee pain, after a bit of manipulation he declared it tendonitis and basically said "rest it if you can, but as I'm realistic I'm going to say also hit it with anti-inflammatory meds as you must". 
I am quite curious to see what my iron levels look like.

Hey Good Lookin' what you got cookin?

Oh wait, never mind. I can smell it from here.

I have always had a ridiculous sense of smell but I feel like it goes through the roof when I run. After the last couple of months of running in the same neighborhood I now know who barbecues a lot, whose dog likes to pee on the fence near the road, who is messy when they top off their gas tank, and which cars belong to Jersey Shore wannabees.

Here's a hint, if I can taste you after you drive by for even longer than I can hear your "sweet kicking bass" it's time to back away from the axe body spray. You are going to suffocate an entire poor unsuspecting night club full of people.

Today I ran a new route and encountered the most ambrosial Indian food smell imaginable, it permeated something like a half a block radius so it had clearly been simmering for some time and my already normally ravenous post run appetite became like a small gnawing thing in my innards. Luckily my boyfriend likes to cook and can always be convinced to eat, so I "talked him into" throwing together a bit of prepackaged Trader Joe's Indian food with some chick peas for a late dinner. It wasn't the insane deliciousness that I craved, but it still quieted the belly monster.

Running past food smells usually gets me salivating (especially barbecue steak), but this was inspirationally delicious. I actually found myself fantasizing that I would get fast enough to run into the house and get away with some of that delicious food.

I'd feel terrible about abusing the talent of a cook such as that, but I'm sure it would be righteously delicious until my conscience kicked in.

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As you may have noticed I have not started any manner of "October Blogging Challenge". I enjoyed some aspects of doing the September one, but at this point in the game I already have enough to talk about without forcing topics and I go to bed late enough as it is: I really didn't need the extra time sink or word count. 

I would love to figure out some sort of consistent weekly topic post though. I'm picturing something like the ubiquitous Wordless Wednesday posts so if anyone has seen anything neat in that vein or has any ideas I'm all for it. 

I will say that given the relative popularity of the Jason Statham post and my appreciation of the majesty of the male form I would not be averse to something like Running Off The Reese's  beefcaketastic Magnificent Men of Monday posts.

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My run today: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks
3.10 miles at an average of 11:59 per mile -  total time of 37:07

I'm still having a lot of problems with mile two. I think it may be a mental limitation due to no longer feeling "fresh" but not yet being "almost there". I tend to find myself pushing to a faster pace than I'd like and then having to slow down. I'm not really sure how to get out of that head space though.

My ankle is stiff when I walk but was surprisingly fine when I ran. I did manage to get a good stretch before the run today and I do feel like I loosened it up quite a bit. I was aware of it but at no point was I in pain. 

I have a physical with a new doctor in a week and a half and I will mention it then if it is still bothering me. The missing referral issue I mentioned in my last post cascaded into a phone argument with my (former) Doctor's office manager so ridiculous I was literally shaking with anger when I finally hung up. 

So yeah, new doctor time. It will be nice to be able to tell them I am active though!

Stranger Danger!

Well today was officially scary. 

I was a little under a mile into my run on a nice long wide  neighborhood artery type road when I noticed a newish dark blue Suburban style SUV slowing as it passed me. People seem to have a vested interest in not hitting me (which I appreciate) so that didn't bother me overmuch at first.... except that the SUV never sped back up. 

I noticed that the driver pulled to about 50 yards past me and started pacing me, and after about a block or two of pacing me they pulled sloppily off to the right side of the road, stopping (but not parking) less than two blocks south of a forced left turn with a lot of foliage and no houses right at the corner (the outside corner seems to be some sort of municipal property).

I maintained speed but made a sudden left turn at the next block I passed after I saw that they had pulled over, and watched from around the corner as they immediately pulled back into the lane and drove away.

Clearly, the picture of subtlety.

I keep my phone on my left arm in an armband so I immediately switched my phone to video camera mode and started recording. I described why I had the phone on record, what I had seen, and how I was changing my route to account for the scare and stuck to main roads for the rest of the run (which was pretty hard, and kind of owie). 

Of course I didn't realize until hours later that since the camera was on the *back* of the phone and the microphone was tucked in my bra along with the right earpiece, so I now have an excellent video of the inside of my armband with accompanying audio of my right boob.

At least the idea was there, and I will set up my phone better to account for that in the future. I've always been a bit iffy about that corner but now it's right out. I may also alter my route to avoid a couple of other less populated sections for a bit. Actually I can think of one route tweak which may also avoid a completely insane intersection I currently go through, so at least that's helpful.

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Day 27 Do you use any meal replacements or shakes?

Does cheese count? I replace dinner with cheese on the regular, but other than that no meal replacements. I use Clif bars as midday snacks quite a bit though. I've calorie counted in the past to reasonable effect, but right now I'm finding I'm doing really well with just eating better food.

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My run today: 5K run with warmup and cooldown walks
3.17 miles at an average of 11:53 per mile -  total time of 37:42 

My right ankle and knee were kind of... tweaked? for much of the run. Not enough to effect me much at the time but now I'm noticing it in my ankle and I'm deeply annoyed to be missing a nearly full tube of Arnica gel. The weird thing is my right wrist is also hurting, so maybe I slept stupid or something. 

I spent so much time distracted by the creeper car and trying to work my phone without killing myself that I'd call this one of my worst days out. I also didn't cool down and stretch after as well as I should have today or Tuesday.

I wasn't sure when I went out I was even going to do a full 5k today but by one mile I knew I was committed, so there's that. I don't think I'm going to be able to run again until Monday due to my weekend plans which has me kind of annoyed, but we'll see if I can fit something in.

Candy and coconuts

Woohoo, The Cheerleader started a blog!

Anyone who is reading me should immediately go check out Running on Candy......Fueled by Sugar, Rainbows and Glitter. I do not think it will take long to see why spending time around this woman has been such an inspiration to me (and so many other people we know).

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September Blog Challenge Day 24 Have you ever fallen for a fitness “gimmick”?

I was going to say "no" because I research the living daylights out of my hobbies and dont tend to have a lot of money to throw at completely random unproven crap. But then I was also going to post about my first experiment with coconut oil as a food instead of a beauty product, so... maybe? 

image via http://www.frugallivingnw.com

Coconut oil has gotten a really bad reputation based on the amount of saturated fat it contains, and to be sure the descriptions of the chemical laden processing methods for regular grades of the oil give me the screaming heebie-jeebies. But as we're starting to find out from more and more sources, the fat vs health story is not so cut and dry as we once thought, and source can play a big part in the relative healthfulness and safety of a food.

Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World
Is Coconut a Superfood? 
Abstracts from Peer Reviewed Literature on Coconut Oil (website's words, not mine)

No completely clear cut answers yet, but I have found that every time I go back to basics and ditch the over-processed products offered as the norm in our society I end up happier and healthier for it. I'm a butter over margarine, soap over sanitizer, yogurt over belly meds kinda gal, and I notice that in the long run the science always seems to prove me right.
 
Coconut oil has long been a staple of my external beauty routine, perhaps it has a place internally as well? I for one am up for giving it a shot. So that being said, on to the important part - dinner. 

I decided to have a pair of artichokes tonight (today being Meatless Monday and all) where typically I will have just one. My usual accompaniment is melted butter, but for the last few years I've been (admittedly lazily) experimenting to find a way to cut down on the amount of butter without cutting down on  nommability (that's a technical term) and usually I default to a bit of olive oil with some salt added. This NEVER does the trick though and I always feel subtly gypped. It tastes off, and bland, and somehow even greasier than plain butter.

Today I happened to catch sight of a jar of coconut oil in my pantry as I was looking for bay leaves and I thought perhaps I'd try that instead of the olive oil. The result was PURE DELICIOUSNESS.  The butter coconut combination reminded me of coconut shrimp (a favorite) and the hint of sweetness added a great counterpoint to the artichoke. 

I'm kicking myself for taking so long to crack open that jar. I don't know if I want to eat it by the spoon-full as suggested in some places, but I do plan to use it in a LOT more foods. 
I'm not about to stop getting my cholesterol tested though.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion...

September Blog Challenge Day 21 - Are you a coffee drinker?

Just reading the question makes me want coffee.

I like my coffee like I like my men... roasted and ground fresh daily in small batches???

It's funny; though I think of myself as a heavy coffee drinker - I only drink one small cup a day. I just can't tolerate the caffeine anymore. Apparently there's only so much caffeine buzz one body can take in one lifetime and I pretty much blew my limit before twenty five. I am no longer able to handle the epic coffee drinking I did in high school and college when I drank POTS of coffee every day (if it was too hot for coffee I opted for Mountain Dew).
 

Coffee Buzz by Terry Border

There was a point in time around my mid 20s that I sort of accidentally quit caffeine; I was depressed and unemployed and I wasn't TRYING to quit caffeine, but, well...

Admittedly not terribly funny when it's ACTUALLY your life

Between minimal caffeine intake for a few months and some heavy anxiety problems I became extremely sensitive to it and unless I had a way to burn it off quickly I could pretty much guarantee a panic attack from anything over 6 oz of coffee. Once I got a job again I could not bear the idea of a working life without coffee. I've weaned myself back on to it slowly over several years, but I still have to be extremely careful not to overdo it.

I was actually up to two cups a day for a while but often didn't finish the second and certainly didn't need the caffeine, so I've recently cut back down to one.

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Oh, small note: happy over 500 page views! Woohoo!

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What active/fitness related things did I do today?

Nothing yet, but the plan for this evening is to bring the Boyfriend and the Former Housemate to Super Runner's Shop in Huntington to get their gaits looked at and to start looking into a bad weather/trail shoe for me. Then onward to dinner at a Mexican place, maybe some Fro-Yo, and probably ending the night with some live music.

Wherein I am thinking about Jason Statham the whole time

Per this page as a 33 year old woman my *max* heart rate should be 177
or 206 minus 29 (which is 88% of 33)

According to my Garmin my *average HR while running today* was 188 (my max was 194). I appear to be knocking it out of the park!!! ...but alas, overclocking is NOT the aim here.

If I am going for 80% of my max HR since the article later posits that "between 70 percent and 90 percent of its maximum is generally accepted as being optimal for improving and maintaining cardiovascular fitness" I should be aiming for a HR of about 140. I suddenly get why SUAR complains about how slow she has to go to stay in target HR. I assumed that because I'm such a beginner I couldn't possibly be going "too fast" for anything but apparently I was wrong!

Sitting at my computer about 20 min after working out my phone had my HR listed at 97. Apparently I'm still in warm up range EVEN AS I BLOG. How efficient of me!

What was that about target heart rate zones again?
Jason Statham - Crank

September Blog Challenge Day 20 List your 5 new-to-you healthy food options

1. Water - hey don't laugh, I've always hated water but I now drink it almost exclusively (my only other regular drink is one daily cup of coffee). I still drink it more like taking medicine then quenching thirst, but whatever, it's working.


2.  Quinoa - I grew up eating a lot of pasta, so having something healthy I can just dump something on top of and call a meal is a REALLY big help for me. Also it's tasty, fun to pick out of my teeth, and reminds me of bug eggs, which is all AOK by me


3. Homemade Greek yogurt - I've been lazy about this the last few weeks but I try to make regular batches and have a few oz with a bit of jam and/or some trail mix stirred in every day. I'm not a big cook so the fact that I take the time to make and strain this is a testament to how good it is. It is a completely different creature than store bought (soooo much better, but be careful because you wont be able to go back) and it really helps me with the lactose intolerance, which is one of the banes of my existence.


4. I feel like I'm starting to reach here, but Clif bars have been a helpful recent addition to my diet. They're still a bit sweeter than I'd like but it's a useful enough way to get something reasonable into your system quickly.


5. Blueberries - My boyfriend (who is, not incidentally, shaven headed, Anglo, muscley, and square jawed... I might have a bit of a type) is SUPER into blueberries and I was never big into them before but they are growing on me (not literally, that'd be awfully Willy Wonka-esque). He does a simple blueberry and soymilk shake every morning and I have to admit it's not a half bad way to start the day

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My run today: C25K week 9 day 2 (only one more day!!!!)
3.51 miles at 11:24 per mile.

Per Nike today was my fastest 5k so far at 36:20 and my fastest mile so far at 10:47

Pushed myself a bit more today, I was really feeling it in my glutes in a good way and my head was buzzing for a while after I got back. I kept finding myself saying "you don't feel any worse then you did 10 minutes ago, you're fine, keep going" and for whatever reason that worked.

I messed up with the GPS so I only got 1.5 miles recorded but for that portion my average pace was listed as 11:03. Initially I messed up getting it started and later trees were interfering and making it beep constantly. I have to remember that just because it's showing data doesn't mean it's recording it. The signal loss beeping was pretty annoying so I will be turning off the auto pause and just manually starting the run on the watch when I actually start to run.

Have some more gratuitous Jason Statham. Sexypants AND a former world class diver!

Just another Meatless Monday

I am a part time vegetarian - one seventh of the time.

Mondays to be precise.

I'm not morally opposed to eating meat, but I am opposed to wasteful killing and the conditions in which the animals are kept in the process, and am also trying to get a better handle on exactly what it is I am eating.

When I was in grad school I became very sensitive to nightshade plants and soy due to my high stress levels and after a confusing several months I finally figured out that I could expect to either read labels, or treat hives.

There are so many additives and so much processing between raw materials and plate that being an educated eater can be pretty eye opening. If you've never paid specific attention you would not believe how much soy there is in pre-packaged food, but there was a point in my early 20s that I could tell you within 10-20 minutes of eating it whether a food contained soy or soy byproducts (soy lecithin was the worst) so I got a very personal sort of education on the subject.

At the time I was just way too stressed to deal with much beyond "will this make me itchy". Those sensitivities went away as I got older (they only show up on occasions when I am immensely stressed), but watching for problematic ingredients is still second nature.

In February 2010 I saw the video below, a TED talk entitled "Why I'm a Weekday Vegetarian" (title links to the original site posting, but I could not get that to embed directly).

From the TED site:

We all know the arguments that being vegetarian is better for the environment and for the animals -- but in a carnivorous culture, it can be hard to make the change. Graham Hill has a powerful, pragmatic suggestion: Be a weekday veg.

Weekdays is a bit of a stretch for me, but the general idea of "every little bit helps" is still sound and so I decided on Mondays. I don't think I would ever transition to full vegetarian (especially now that I'm dating a weight lifting protein-avore), shrimp, pork, steak, and my mom's turkey are just too awesome, but I do think this has given me a much better appreciation for what it is I'm eating. It's hard to balance things financially but I would like to start moving toward more ethically sourced foods.

In truth I probably don't eat meat more than three or four days a week on average anyway (hooray for cheese!) and many people just seem to assume I am a full time vegetarian.  I did have had the occasional botch in the beginning (mostly long weekends where I just plain forgot what day it was until halfway through breakfast, also Rice Krispy Treats), however other than one family birthday dinner where I wasn't about to make extra work for my Mom I haven't willfully cheated once. Sure I could swap out for another weekday in a pinch, but if it were easy all the time I think I'd be missing the point.

If things are giving up their lives so that I can get nourishment it's worth it for me to be mindful of that.

I am a lot more aware of just how many things I eat which I just took for granted actually have animal protein in them. Soups are a big one for me. Restaurants, parties, and the like can be a bit challenging, but it's forced me to try things I never would have bothered with otherwise. I will say it is much easier getting a straight answer as to whether something contains animal than whether something contains soy. It helped that one of my dearest friends (and housemate for most of the last two and a half years) is a vegetarian who happens to be an amazing cook. I don't have her mad kitchen skills (or much of any kitchen skill, truth be told) but it helps to know what can be done outside of salads and soy protein.

I will however say I might well have starved to death if I was still sensitive to peanuts.

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September Blogging Challenge Day 17 - Your most embarrassing fitness story

Thankfully I don't have anything too terrible lurking in my fitness past. The only thing I can really think of was a yoga class in college where I ripped a finger nail off spectacularly in mid forward fold.

We were doing a very active fold which involved swinging forward from the waist and sweeping our finger tips along the floor. I kept my nails very long at the time so when I swept my hands I managed to hit the pinky nail JUST right to rip it off about halfway down the nail bed. My entire body spasmed from the pain and as I was mid-forward sweep my hamstrings took the brunt of it.

I think I might have actually fallen over from the pain but the details are thankfully hazy now.

The copious dripping blood took most of the mystery out of the incident for the rest of the class but it was still a bit mortifying. Not to mention that this was the Friday of a weekend long Sci Fi convention on campus and I had volunteered to do a job which involved walking a constant circuit of the convention activities for the entire weekend.  Totally an awesome time when you can barely walk for days!

Fun note: I ended up working my way up through the ranks of that convention eventually to run it years later, and that job was one of the first things I axed of when I got senior enough.

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What active/fitness related things did I do today?

Nothing active as of yet, but I DID buy a used Garmin Forerunner 305 with heart rate strap from The Cheerleader so I suspect most of the rest of my evening is going to be taken up poking at that.

That's TOTALLY fitness related!

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Do you have any self imposed dietary limit? Why did you choose to do this?

Have a good fitness botch story to share?

Do you have any devices you use to monitor your fitness?