And She’s On The Wagon!
I’ve finally done it. I’ve found a routine that is working for me. Since the beginning of the second season of 2FNs, I have been struggling to make my good intentions in regards to health and fitness tangible, active plans. I have gone on short runs sporadically, but they are usually sandwiched between, well, sandwiches. Being incredibly busy at work and adjusting to a new life post-graduation has left me with running and making healthy choices at the bottom of my priority list.
Until now.
Last weekend I was home in Albany with both Jon and Dave, who were disappointed in me for all of the lies I’ve been telling since starting with 2FNs. Good intentioned lies, but lies nonetheless. They were even more upset when I refused to run with them, despite the sneakers I carried in my backpack from Boston. Their judgmental gaze was enough to get me to the gym down the street from work, to sign the contract, and to get going. I signed up on Wednesday and although it’s only been three days, I can see this really working for me.
Workouts = Guilt Free Queso!
Going to the gym has all of a sudden become what I look forward to in my day. Sitting at work I think about how great I’m going to feel when I leave the Boston Sports Club and walk home. I’m excited to see my times and distance increase on the elliptical and on the treadmill, and I’m excited to be training for my first ever 5k. This awesome feeling and anticipation for my upcoming race is so much better than watching everyone else lose weight and feel great.
Thanks everyone, for putting up with my slow start. Let’s get going!
Who Is a “Runner”?
This morning I read one of Amy’s posts about her struggle with identifying herself as a “Runner.” It got me thinking about what really is a Runner. Is it someone who loves it, gets lost in it, can’t get enough of it?
Working in the field of bioinformatics—and science in general—we put labels on everything. We categorize, annotate, and curate as much information as possible. We group things in different ways to glean meaning from the unknown. Recently I’ve been struggling with some
Confusing right?
miRNA analysis. I’ve been working on a project that does not want to be finished, and it has really taken a toll on me. One day, I sat down with a labmate and, out of frustration, decided to write down every single, possible type of RNA that we know of in order to clear up some of the confusion we were having. So far the list includes: snoRNA, miRNA, siRNA, scaRNA, mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, and a few others. Keeping all of them straight, the structures and the functions, is a nightmare. By breaking them down into groups and labels, it is slightly more manageable. The problem, though, is that not every subtype has an exact definition. Thus, back to the point of this post: labels and generalizations don’t always fit.
The term “Runner” has been a tough thing for me. I personally don’t think of myself as a Runner, though I go out for runs three to four times a week, host a fitness blog, and read running books. So I guess it seems silly now that I think I’m not a Runner. I think the mental block for me is that, like Amy, I don’t think at the end of the day running in and of itself is what motivates me. For me, seeing people get motivated to change their lives around and get healthy is what really motivates me.
I guess what I propose is that, like RNA, there are really subsets of people who fall into the general term “Runner.” There are those crazy-hippy-barefoot runners, minimalist runners, shod runners, sprinters, marathon runners, and ultramarathon runners. I guess I really am just a different kind of Runner, a semi-serious/casual one. Though I don’t eat, sleep, and breathe it like hcRunners (hard core!), at the end of the day, I still go out and run. That is what is important anyway, isn’t it?
Weign-In Wednesday: Season 2, Week 7!
Hey everyone! Another Wednesday, another weigh-in! Just some housekeeping notes to start. I want to thank everyone who has made the switch to the tracking website. It’s made it a lot easier to gather up the stats this week. Having information in the database has been a huge help. As always, I’m looking for suggestions for improvement, and even more so for bug reports. I have been constantly upgrading and making changes, so things slip through the cracks.
Another note, Season 2 will be ending after three more weigh-ins. I plan on keeping each season to a ten-week period, at which point I’ll post group statistics. Keep it up guys!
Now, for the main event!
Weights
Distances
After talking with a few people, I decided that instead of looking at many weeks at a time in distances, we are now only going to review four-week segments. I felt that with the growing number of people, it was becoming a little bit convoluted with the amount of data we have available. As always, I want to constantly refine and figure out better ways to track our success. So, here we go!
February Challenge
I am extremely impressed with our progress last week. Many people really came through hugely and completely elevated our game. With a bit of hard work this week we should be able to obliterate our goal for February. I am super stoked about this, because in all honesty it was a pretty ambitious goal!
Map : Hello DC! We quickly made it to DC this week after a monster turn out all around. I am super excited about how fast we are crossing around the East Coast. Today we have logged a total of 1692 kilometers! I am taking suggestions for where we should head to next; leave a comment!
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Do You Really Need Food on the Run?
My brother Mike linked me an interesting post in the New York Times that discussed the trend in refueling your body during exercise. This has always been in the back of my mind as something I needed to start thinking about, but I have put it off because of my relatively short durations and distances.
I often see people running around Buffalo with water bottles and gel foods strapped to their waists. Often the sight makes me giggle and make smart ass remarks to whomever I’m with about the fact that most likely they aren’t doing more than a couple of miles. I don’t quite know why, but I’ve always felt that it was a little overkill to bring all of those things on runs. It may be because typically I don’t start feeling super depleted after 5 kilometers, or even after 10 kilometers. I may have not hit that wall where refueling is something that I need to do. I look forward to it in a sick way, though, because I feel like it might be the next step in becoming a runner.
I talked with Mark a little bit about it in the past, and he mentioned that he typically does take things for anything over about an hour. It makes sense to me because I do feel pretty thirsty while running, and I could see how that would be a huge help. I don’t know if I am really interested in all of the gel products and sugar pills, as I’d
EXTREME!!!
like to think I would rather have something a little more basic and natural. Though, that may be naive to think I would sacrifice convenience for natural products. After all, I am American!
The NYT article talks about specific races where they offer their takes on power foods. One race has pumpkin pie, which I assure you would make me throw up five paces away from the food stop, and another has potatoes and chicken broth. It also goes on to talk about how eating something irregular during a long distance run can really wreak havoc on you, causing serious cases of Runner’s Trots. Consistency is for sure the most important aspect of exercise, and any changes can throw you out of whack.
I am very interested to hear from some of you longer distance runners, and even anyone who takes food and beverages along on your exercises. I am curious to hear how you feel before and after and why you decided to start doing it.
Presidents’ Day!
Hello!
Just dropping in to wish everyone well on the best holiday of the year, Presidents’ Day! Although not everyone gets this wonderful holiday off, I do. . . . So yipee! With that, I will leave you with a presidential quote as I have many errands to run . . . literally! I am going to try to accomplish as much as possible running to the places I have to go to!
This dude just looks physically fit!
“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” —Thomas Jefferson
I found some fun documents from the government on motivating kids in fitness! Have fun, see ya tomorrow!
An Image for the Weekend!
Hey, everyone! Just a quick post today as work is nuts; three meetings! I wanted to share with you the benefits of exercise via an image.
If you exercise or, more importantly, get your dog to exercise, you’ll all feel great and your dog will be a happy, sleepy puppy! After all, a sleepy puppy is a happy puppy, as the saying goes. Have a good Friday and enjoy the weekend, everyone!
Getting Cold Feet . . .
Don’t worry! I am not headed to the altar and having second thoughts. What I am talking about is really, really cold feet.
Ellie and I have been taking our dog, Audrey, out a few times a week for what is usually a nice two-mile run. Buffalo during the winter has a bad reputation for being so cold and so snowy that anyone who calls it home must be crazy. Honestly, this year hasn’t been bad at all.
Ellie all bundled up on our most recent run with Audrey!
We’ve barely had any snow (much to Ellie and Audrey’s dismay), and it has been about 40 degrees all winter long. Very abnormal but pretty nice . . . unless you are an outdoor runner. The real problem that I’ve found isn’t the snow. I’ve been able to run pretty easily through the snow. No, the real issue is the 40 degree ice slush.
Ice slush is pretty much my arch nemesis this year. Using the Vibram Five Fingers means even less protection from the elements than regular, thick sneakers would provide. Once your foot hits the slushy cold, it is instantly frozen. One thing I did notice, though, is that if you can tolerate the brutal, frostbite feelings for a few minutes of running on a dry surface, your feet are able to warm up and can be good to go again. Let me tell you, though, it takes a whole lot of guts and a bit of recklessness to run through that feeling.
I never thought I’d ever want a slightly more snowy, colder winter. It seems particularly ridiculous coming from someone who exercises outside 100 percent of the time. Having been through this cold-ish, damp winter, I can honestly say that I miss the really cold and dry weather we typically get. And by dry, I mean not ice slush. Stupid ice slush.
Weigh-In Wednesday Season 2: Week 6 . . . and a 100th-Post Retrospective
Today is a special weigh-in as 2FNs has just hit the 100th post. Along with the typical Wednesday statistics, I also wanted to provide some additional information in regards to the growth of the blog.
When Brian and I started this project twenty weeks ago, we jokingly said we were writing to most likely just a few family members. Since then we have been steadily gaining readership. Back in October, the first full month of the blog, we averaged about sixteen views a day. Now we are currently averaging fifty. We’ve gone from 500 views in October, to 1250 in January. This has meant a lot to us and has really proven to me that the concept behind this blog has motivated or at least sparked some interest in people to get moving.
The number of weekly submitters has also seen a steady increase each and every week, which is the most exciting thing to see growing. With the new tracking system being used more and more, and with the kinks being worked out, more and more statistics are being generated, which has really shown the explosion in activity. I am super excited to see the trends develop, especially as we turn the corner out of winter and into warmer weather.
I also want to take the time to give a shout out to Amy at Lavender Parking, as she and her husband just finished up another 5k run in which they came in 3rd place! Very awesome!
Now for the main event!
Weights:
Distances:
February Challenge:
We are catching up to the goal! With two weeks left in the month, we have 54 percent to go!
Map:
This week we made it to NYC! We hit Central Park, saw Mark running around in circles, and kept on going. Next stop: Philly! Keep it up, guys!
View Larger Map
5K Training: My Goofus and Gallant Weekend
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Now that I’ve been in the swing of exercising for past six weeks or so, I have started to look at each individual workout as just a few quick frames in one of those movie training montages. Slowly but surely, I’m feeling better and more confident from week to week, and my numbers are inching up to prove it!
But as with any process like this, there are always going to be hiccups along the way. Over the weekend, I added a couple of pretty ugly frames to my personal training montage.
Up until now, I haven’t paid too much attention to my eating habits prior to my workouts. Most of my gym time happens in the evening, after I’ve been at work all day. When I’m at work, I tend to snack a little bit in the afternoon, and generally drink a lot of water. As a result, my energy level on the elliptical or while running has been relatively consistent… so consistent, in fact, that I have apparently been taking it for granted!
After having such a good outing around the reservoir last Saturday, I was really looking forward to this weekend’s run. I had everything planned out: take Brooks to work in the morning, come home, lace up my fancy new shoes with the Nike+ tracking chip, and work really hard to do better than last week’s pace.
What I didn’t plan for was taking care of myself the night before. Dinner on Friday night consisted of wine and cheese at the Grand Opening party of Brooks’ coffee shop, chased down later by oysters, a couple forkfuls of mac and cheese, and a Carthusian Gimlet (Hendrick’s, Chartreuse Green, honey-lime juice — better than it sounds!).
The next morning, unwilling to compromise or listen to body, I pushed myself out through my gin hangover and onto the running trail. Dehydrated and on an empty stomach, I was barely able to complete the first 2.5 km before slowing down to walk. I just plain didn’t have the energy to keep a jogging pace. After walking for several minutes, I did make it around the loop a second time, but I did it knowing that I had fallen short of my goal for the week.
What went wrong? Basically, I failed to observe a couple simple rules that I’ve been following since I started doing this:
Eat a little something before you exercise. It doesn’t have to be a lot — in fact, depending on how much time you have, it shouldn’t be a lot. On days when I know I’m going to be working out, I try to eat something small before I leave work: a granola bar, or a piece of fruit, or a cup of yogurt.
Leave some time to digest the little something. By eating before I leave work, I give myself my commute time (about an hour) for my body to process it. The rule of thumb that I’ve heard and read is to wait 30 minutes to an hour after a snack, and two or as many as three hours for a full meal.
Don’t forget to drink water. Obviously not too much right before a run, but I try to keep myself hydrated with small amounts of water — actual water, not anything sugary or chemical-y — at reasonable intervals throughout the day. The fact that I didn’t drink at least a little water on Saturday morning was completely fail.
On Saturday, I gave myself a pretty firm reminder that I’m not invincible. So, on Sunday, before heading to the gym, I decided to do it right. I went a little later in the day (around noon — maybe early morning exercise isn’t for me), and about an hour before I left the house, I ate maybe four handfuls of baby carrots and a cup of yogurt. I was able to hit a full hour on the elliptical (only my third time doing that so far), with energy to spare.
The difference between my two experiences on Saturday and Sunday reminded me a lot of Goofus and Gallant, a feature from the “Highlights for Children” magazine that we used to get when we were kids. Goofus and Gallant are basically mirror images of each other. Gallant would be good at teaching kids how to be respectful and well-adjusted if he weren’t such a sucker.
And, to drive this post home, here are a couple of PSAs from Mr. Skullhead, circa 1994.
How about you all, 2FNS people? Do you have a good strategy for keeping the right energy level before and during a workout? A favorite pre-workout snack to share?
The B.A.A 5k train!
The secret is out. I’ve been registered (I’d like to say against my will) for the B.A.A. 5k on April 15th. I’m really excited to run my first official race with a team of 2FNS family by my side.
Reading through Dave’s post and Jon’s post where they talked about the calculations they do while they run made me think about what I think about when I run. I don’t think about how far I’ve gone, I typically think about how miserable I am at that exact moment, how each step is one more that I’d rather just be walking. It’s really difficult to keep going when every thought I have is discouraging! I don’t know if this problem is just in my head, or if it plagues other beginner runners.
There are a few tactics I’ve found to help cope with the incessant negativity coming from my own mind. They all come back to distraction. So while Dave and Jon are solving equations, I am forcing myself to think about anything other than the run that I am on. I listen to music that I know so well the lyrics feel a part of me. I think about my to-do list, drafting grocery lists in my mind, and pondering when I’ll have the time to clean my bathroom. I think of the blog posts I need to write and the job applications I need to fill out. Sometimes thinking about all of these unfinished tasks makes me anxious and forces me to run a little bit faster, but usually I just feel better having the half and hour or hour to get everything in order.
I’ve heard that at some point in a running career you will actually start to like running, and I’m looking forward to this phenomenon. I’d like to be one of those people that goes for a run to clear my head and think of nothing, instead of this distraction method I’ve concocted that tends to make me uneasy. It is a romantic thought: to go for a run and to be in the zone. If anyone has any tips or short-cuts to finding this “zone,” I’d love to know.
What really keeps me going is knowing that my family is doing it too, that the 2FNS community is working with same trepidation and through the same troubles that I am. We’re all working towards the same goal: to have awesome t-shirts at the B.A.A. 5k.
