Long runs! Missed mine last weekend. Excited for this Saturday.
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Author Archives: walkruninspired
Weeknight Workout Epic Fail
I wasn’t able to do my routine run on Monday because of a terrible rain storm that didn’t seem to let up for hours. Eventually, I threw the whole notion of running out the window and decided to eat dinner and relax with a glass of wine. I knew that on Wednesday I’d have to stay at the school until 8pm because of “open house night” and that on Friday evening I’d be rushing to the airport for our weekend get-away. On Tuesday I came home exhausted and unmotivated but, I decided that I didn’t have any choice in the matter but to put on my running clothes and head out if I was going to get any mileage in this week at all.
I felt achy, heavy and sluggish the minute I started running but convinced myself that once I had finished a mile, I’d be warmed up and less irritated by the whole thing. Unfortunately, it had just finished raining and the pavement was sending up waves of scorching humidity towards my face. Now I was achy, heavy, sluggish AND uncomfortably hot. I thought this was supposed to be fun? But, again, I decided to press on and just keep going, hoping I’d eventually get in a groove and “auto-pilot” would kick in.
For me, “auto-pilot” is that point in any run when I am no longer making a conscious effort to move my limbs. In fact, I’m not even thinking about the fact that I’m running anymore. I’m meditating solely on the sound of my feet hitting the pavement and my mind is blank or focused on observing my surroundings. Unfortunately, this wasn’t happening for me.
As I miserably pressed on, I saw an older, heavy-set woman wearing a cotton t-shirt and pair of heavy sneakers trotting along. I tried to make myself feel better by feigning a sense of superiority because she was obviously “not a true runner” and I huffed and puffed as I passed her on the sidewalk. One mile down and not only was I STILL not having any fun, I had now developed an uncomfortable stitch on the right side of my rib cage… But I continued forward.
My pace became irregular and I began to exhale more aggressively to get the carbon dioxide out of my lungs. That gave me no results so I started to do all the tricks in the book like the “lift your arms” thing, then I tried the “slow your pace” thing and eventually the “stop completely and walk for a bit” thing but nothing got rid of the stitch which had now turned into a full-on cramp… And that’s when it happened.
That’s when the cotton t-shirt lady passed me. (gasp)
Immediately thereafter, the cramp got so bad that I couldn’t breathe right so I called my boyfriend and got picked up alongside of the road, panting pathetically. I was only a mile and a half away from finishing the only run I was probably going to do this week and I had totally chickened out because of a stupid cramp and a fast old lady in non-dry-wick fabric.
I had defeated myself, really. I had let my exhaustion, my stress, my pride and my neuroses get the best of me. That’s my problem… I limit myself by not getting out of my own head.
In what ways have you defeated yourself on a run? How have you worked to over come this? How do you feel when you hit YOUR “auto-pilot”? Please share.
Healthy Fast Food?!… Weeknight Necessities
So, in my house we eat pretty healthily. That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t eat really delicious, crave-able food. Most people associate eating “healthily” with eating very small portions of non-fat and tasteless food. We don’t believe in eating stuff we don’t like just ‘cause its healthy and we CERTAINLY don’t believe in starving ourselves ‘cause we LOVE to eat. We just like to eat food that makes our mouths water AND leaves us feeling good afterwards.
This often calls for a little creativity on our parts to alter recipes to fit our lifestyle. Some people may find substituting certain things a sacrifice but, once you make a commitment to eating healthy and delicious, you’ll find that the substitutions will be less of a sacrifice and just your taste buds’ preference. In an egg salad sandwich I made over the weekend, for instance, we substituted the mayo with olive oil and it turned out even more amazing than the Starbuck’s version we were trying to imitate! (mayo makes me want to yack)
Time is also of the essence in this household. Ain’t nobody got time to be making dinners from scratch every night. After coming home from work, going for a quick run and showering, the four of us are usually ravenous and ready to turn to cannibalism…. So, if we don’t put something on the table quick, its gonna to get ugly.
We’ve come up with a few go-to quick-fix meals that we like to make throughout the week. I’ll be sharing these with you, of course, and would love your feedback on other quick, delicious and healthy meals you fix for your families throughout the week.
Being that I’m half Cuban, the first recipe of our weeknight repertoire that I must share with you is my Black Beans and Rice. This very easy recipe is requested of me ALL THE TIME by my boyfriend’s youngest daughter. (She says she likes “Cristy’s Cuban Spices” which totally cracks me up.) Having eaten black beans a million times growing up, I was pretty amazed at how authentic tasting these are. I have discovered that I have a serious talent for doctoring-up canned vegetables. Who knew?!
Ingredients:
2 cans of low sodium, canned black beans
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 small white onion (any kind of onion will do)
4-6 small sweet peppers
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground cumin (this is key)
1 envelope of Sazon Goya powder with saffron
Directions:
Pour contents of both cans in a sauce pan or small pot and add the chicken broth. While you wait for that to come to a simmer, finely mince the onions and peppers and add along with the bay leaves and about a teaspoon each of the spices and the envelope of Sazon Goya. Simmer covered on low until the vegetables are soft.
Serve with white rice, of course! I’ll have a tutorial on cooking the perfect white rice soon (its an art)!
Success!!
There are three things that I dislike when doing a race, and Boston’s race had all three of them. 1. I hate when it starts so late in the morning that the sun is in your eyes while you’re running. (but at least I brought my cap) 2. I HATE u-turns on the course (but at least I got to see Scott as he passed me) 3. And I can’t stand hills (but at least I was fast enough to get over them quickly and still beat my personal record!!!!)
2:12:30!! I kicked all kinds of butt and hurt all kinds of feelings!!!! I beat my time by over three minutes!! 2:12:31 baby!! Oh, yeah!!
Ok, so I am admittedly the laziest blogger ever. Since the school year started I haven’t been very dedicated to this site and I apologize. That being said, just because I haven’t been blogging doesn’t mean I haven’t been running and running HARD. I have been super dedicated to my goal of improving my personal time by one minute each race this season and…. I DID IT!
Our next race is in November and the pressure is on! Can I keep beating my time or have I plateaued? I don’t know but I’m training hard and am staying focussed.
Healthy and Fast Weeknight Meal #1: Gazpacho
Yummy and fresh
I used to make the excuse that I was too tired to cook dinner after work waaaayyyyy too frequently. Unless I snuck over to my mom’s house and mooched a home-cooked meal from her, my excuses usually led to either too many calories (half a box of mac and cheese one night, the other half the next) or too few calories (a bag of low-fat microwave popcorn and a can of Coke Zero). Either way, the choices were horrible and the food tasted like crap… which, coincidentally, was how they made me feel.
The truth is, I was always the one that helped my mom prepare meals growing up and am usually her designated sous chef for holidays and family gatherings so, there was really no excuse for me not to have known how to feed myself a little better. Despite whatever culinary skills I may delude myself into believing I possess, however, you actually need very little (if any) skills in the kitchen to prepare some basic and healthy meals during the week. Trust me, your body will thank you and I bet you’ll save a lot of money as well. Take-out and prepared foods at the supermarkets are REALLY expensive and often not that healthy.
Monday afternoon, I received an email from my boyfriend with this link, along with the following message: “I’ve been craving gazpacho for a while. Would you make this for me, please?”
Spanish vegetable soup for dinner on the first day back to school and after a SERIOUSLY SWEATY hot yoga class?… I was up for the challenge!
Now, I may not be a lot of things, but one thing I am certain that I AM is practical. Practicality comes in handy when you need to get a task done quickly and efficiently. Weeknight Cooking Tip #1: The first thing you should always do when making a new recipe for the first time is analyze how you could simplify it without taking away its nutritional value or flavor.
If you open the link to the recipe, you’ll see that it calls for 2 lbs of fresh tomatoes. Can you imagine having to slice and dice 2 lbs of fresh tomatoes and adding water to get them to the right consistency?!… not to mention having to worry if they were sweet, unripe or mealy when you got them from the produce isle? In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Instead, I used whole, canned San Marzano plum tomatoes in their own juice. These can be bought in 1 lb cans and have a sweet flavor and the perfect texture.
Everything else was easy. I just dumped it into the same bowl and blended it! Notice I said “bowl” and not “blender.” Weeknight Cooking Tip #2: Invest in an emersion blender (hand-held stick blender). It will be the best $45 investment you ever make for your kitchen and you will be eternally grateful to me for having given you the brilliant idea. It will save you so much time and mess that you’ll be more willing to make recipes that used to make your kitchen sink look like a war-zone. I use mine to blend my pumpkin soup right in the soup pot, sauces on the stove, smoothies in plastic cups and even salsas in their serving dishes.
From prep to finish, I think the whole meal took me about 15 minutes to make. And voila! We had a pretty healthy and delicious dinner on the table.
The recipe suggests adding either basil or cilantro as a topping to the soup. Cilantro is DEFINITELY the way to go here because it pairs better with the chipotle, if you ask me. Some people have a bizarre aversion to cilantro, however, so do what tastes best to you…
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- Blended Soup
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- Diced avocado, cilantro and cucumber
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- Garnish as you like (and don’t forget the wine)
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- Yummy and fresh
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- Eggs for protein
How about the protein, you ask? Well, some gazpacho varieties are traditionally garnished with chopped hard boiled eggs. We always have a carton of eggs at home so I boiled a few of these up and served them along side the soup. If you are vegetarian/ vegan, however, it would be just as tasty with some sauteed extra-firm tofu cubes floating on top (maybe dust them with a little onion powder, garlic powder and cumin)!
Weeknight Cooking Tip #3: Make enough for left-overs! Guess what the best thing about this meal is?!… We had it for dinner today too, which meant NEITHER of us had to cook 😉
Do you have any go-to weeknight meals?
Is there a web site you love to go to for to search for recipes?
Any great cooking short-cuts you’d like to share?
Any great gadgets YOU think are must-haves for they kitchen?
Please share! As always, I love hearing from you.
The Small Stuff: The beauty of my Saturday morning route
I am admittedly spoiled. I live in South Florida where people from other parts of the country come to vacation and aspire to retire. What could be better motivation to wake up at 5:30am every Saturday than a view of the ocean as the sun is rising? Believe me, it makes it worth every minute out of bed. Actually, early morning runs have not only privileged me to gorgeous sunrises but to some wildlife spottings that could rival a National Geographic film reel.
At one point, I was having so many cool sightings that my updates became an eagerly awaited topic of morning conversation between myself, my boyfriend and his daughters. Between red foxes and giant snapping turtles crossing the street, hawks chasing squirrels and dinosaur-sized iguanas sunbathing, it was getting pretty kooky! But, even the things that aren’t so kooky get me excited to be on my ocean-side Saturday morning route or even my weeknight route. A bright red cardinal sitting on a telephone wire, circular Sea Grape leaves rolling like wheels on short golf grass, boats tied up in their docks bobbing in the water and a handsome (and very fast) man waiting for me by the car with a cold bottle of water… that’s the good stuff.
I wonder, however, how many people actually take the time to notice these small things or even get pleasure from witnessing them.
I once had a co-worker at the hospital I previously worked at who would teach his patients about “mindfulness.” “Mindfulness” is the ability to be truly present and to find pleasure in the HERE AND NOW. It was a difficult concept for many of his patients to master, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t able to be truly mindful at that time in my life either. I mean, it’s not easy to get out of the madness in your own head! With some time, growth and self-reflection, however, I’ve come to realize that although getting giddy about seeing a red cardinal on a telephone wire is pretty nuts, it’s just me being mindful of the awesomeness in the details of life. And those details bring me joy.
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- Intracoastal
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- Sea grape leaves (my favorite)
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- Intracoastal
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- Gorgeous morning
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- Beach Sunrise
* Where are your favorite routes?
* When is your favorite time to run?
* What amazing things have you been witness to on your runs?
* Are you mastering being “mindful”?
* What small details in life give you joy?
Please share your stories and pictures!
To Run or Not to Run: Fitting Workouts into Work Schedules
It’s my first week back to school, which means I‘ve had to fit in my workout schedule back into my work schedule. And to be honest, it hasn’t been easy. How often do we skip out on our runs because we’re just “too tired” after work? I’ll admit I’ve done it plenty of times in the past. I’ve come to realize, however, that this only makes me feel worse. I get antsy and frustrated ON TOP of being tired and stressed out.
On my “About Me” page I share about my fascination with the mind-body connection. The mind can truly decide what the body can and cannot, will and will not do… which can either be a great thing or a horrible thing. In turn, the mind responds positively to chemicals naturally produced in the body when it is in motion. Ever hear of the “runner’s high”? It’s a real thing, and it’s pretty amazing. What’s more, that “high” sustains itself far longer than the short term gratification you get from sitting on the couch an extra half hour in your sweat pants eating chips before dinner. (Not that any of us have ever done that before or anything.)
To be honest, all unhealthy decisions are based on impulsivity and the desire for short term gratification. In fact, understanding this IS THE KEY to creating a paradigm-shift in your health and appearance. Think about it, those individuals who are least healthy are those who can’t seem to get past their need for “short term” gratification. That desire to gratify oneself by eating that crunchy fried food or sleep-in outweighs the desire to build the endurance to run faster or have your body look better in that bathing suite. Why? Because it’s easier… and because they just haven’t found the needed inspiration to do what their bodies and minds deserve instead of what their bodies and minds “want right now.”
As I’ve attended conferences and meetings this past week, I have been bombarded by inspirational quotes and ideas from motivational speakers, principals and co-workers. Their intention was to light a fire in us so that we begin the new school year positively as educators. As I reflect on some of the things that have been said, I realize that I don’t want this positivity to wear-off as though it were two weeks into January and I fell of the “New Year’s Resolution wagon”. I want my positivity for the new school year and my positivity about my personal, health and fitness goals to sustain like a runner’s high that keeps me wanting more. I’m not going into this for the short term gratification of it. I know better and I’m going to make the choices I need to find long- term spiritual happiness. My future is my inspiration.
Here are my tips for getting out there for your runs even if you are exhausted after working a full day:
1. If your schedule permits, wake up early and do your workouts BEFORE you even go to work: Once you leave the office and realize that you still have kids to pick up, dinner to cook, laundry to fold and phone calls to make, you wont have the energy or desire to do anything but shower and get comfy.
2. Prepare the night before: I pack my lunch, prepare my vitamins, get my clothes ready and pack my gym bag (if I’m going to yoga) before I go to bed the night before. You won’t make as many excuses if you’re already prepared and ready to go…
3. Buddy up: If you have someone waiting for you to exercise, it makes it that much harder to skip out. Avoiding humiliation has helped me follow through with a many workouts I would have preferred to skip out on.
4. Do what feels right: So, your training schedule calls for 5 miles at race pace today but you feel beat up from that zumba class you tried out yesterday. Don’t skip out completely! Do what feels right. Run the 5 miles slower (walk if you have to) but do SOMETHING. Being kind yourself will make it easier to get out there and make the effort.
5. Have fun: Don’t commit to a goal or exercise routine you don’t like (or flat-out makes you miserable.) Do what makes you happy and feels fun to you!
Are you ready to make that paradigm shift in your life? Are you willing to let go of short-term gratification and be willing to EARN the rewards of long-term happiness and satisfaction? How will you do it? What will be your inspiration?
I need to fuel my fire within! Please give me your feedback!!
Adventures in Yoga and at-home Cross Training
OK, so every time I go into the health food store to re-stock my kitchen cabinet for my admittedly ridiculous and extensive morning vitamin regimen, I feel compelled to roll my eyes at the other people shopping there. Now before you decide that I have no insight into my own behavior and that I am too critical of others, I am slowly embracing the fact that I might also be morphing into a granola-eating, patchouli-stinking, yoga lover like my health food shopping counter-parts… and I LIKE IT.
This summer I registered myself for 6 months of unlimited classes at a local yoga studio. My knees and hips take a serious beating every running season and I thought that this would be a great way to strengthen my muscles. This will hopefully keep my joints and ligaments happily cushioned from the repetitive pounding of my feet hitting the pavement. I also have the tendency to become a neurotic mess when triggered by stressors and internalize a lot of my anxiety (resulting in my blood pressure rising up to 170/ 102 in 2009!) I need to work on my mental well being as well and yoga is the perfect way to do both.
Today was a bit brutal… I was sweating up a storm and was not channelling very positive energy towards my instructor during a few poses, but I got through it and I feel amazing now. The instructor was new to me and I wasn’t used to her pose sequence. I came back home from class a little confused and asked my boyfriend, to clarify what I had been doing wrong.
He insisted that what I hadn’t been able to do was a one legged downward dog pose but it didn’t look exactly like what had stumped me during class. His 7 year old daughter strolled in to investigate what we were talking about and decided that what I was having difficulty with was, in fact, one of the stages of sun salutations. She then demonstrated how its done, along with some other complicated crazy poses, and then walked away after getting distracted by Max our yorkie-poo… this kid is just too hilarious, I love her.
Now, I realize that gyms and yoga studios cost A LOT of money and not all of us have access to them. Before I caved in this summer and signed up at the studio, I was doing some exercises at home to strengthen my calves, quads and hips and they were pretty effective. All you need is a pilates band, yoga mat and some free weights and you’ve got all you need!
My at-home gym
I anchor my pilates band with my coffee table to do some resistance exercises
Here are some awesome articles/videos that have helped me a great deal.
Hips:
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/all-hips
Glutes and Quads:
http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/body-shop-know-squat
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/safe-keepers-half-squats
Abs:
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/abs/exercises/top-10-abs-exercises/
As always, consult a doctor before beginning any exercise routine. These are just some ideas for you to think about.
Our Goals
Its back to school time… which also means that I’ll be going back to work now after having had a wonderfully relaxing summer vacation. Luckily, it also means that South Florida’s running season will soon begin! Whereas the rest of the country is trying to enjoy the last days of warm weather before fall and winter bring on unbearable cold, us Floridians are in hibernation during the opposite time of the year. May through August (and even September) can have some pretty unbearably hot days. Summer time’s temperatures can go high up into the 90’s. Its really a time of year best reserved for short, early-morning runs and cross training.
November through March are really the best months to get out there and get some mileage in. This is also when most of our local races are scheduled!
Last year’s running season was epic for me. I improved my 1/2 marathon PR (Personal Record) from 2:31 to 2:16 (I told you that I wasn’t very fast but I’m proud of it). Improving a full 15 minutes in one year’s time is pretty amazing, if I don’t say so myself. This season, I’m up for the challenge of pushing myself even harder. My mind is changing, my running style is changing and my body is changing. I am inspired to set another goal. One that will truly make me push my mind and body a little further than before. I will try to PR by 1 minute: each race I run this season.
My first challenge wont even be in my home state: Allstate 13.1 Half Marathon in Boston on September 15th! Can I clock in at 2:15? I’m sure as hell gonna try! http://www.131marathon.com/boston/
I will, of course, be posting my progress as the running season progress. I have 5 Half Marathons scheduled for this season so far and I’m excited.
Here is my race schedule:
13.1 Boston 15-Sep-13
Disney Wine & Dine Half 9-Nov-13
Palm Beach Half 8-Dec-13
ING Half/Full 2-Feb-14
13.1 Miami Beach 2-Mar-14
What are your goals this season? What do you hope to achieve? How do you plan on achieving this? Who will be supporting you/ accompanying you? Please share with me! either as a comment to this page or via email. I’d love to hear your stories and feature them on the blog!
“This is for me”… Finding Inspiration from Within
Driving on the expressway on my way to Miami Beach almost 6 years ago, I saw a billboard advertising the Tropical 5K. It was the kick off event traditionally held the day before Miami’s enormously popular ING Marathon and Half Marathon race. It occurred to me that, although I’ve never been very athletic and until that point I had never run more than the mandatory 10 minute mile in middle school gym class, this might be something I’d like to try. Maybe it was the fact that I subconsciously felt stifled in an unhealthy relationship or maybe it was just that I was entering my mid twenties and had never really stretched myself to do anything outside of my obligations to school and work but, regardless the motivator behind what I believed to be a crazy decision, I signed myself (and a few girlfriends) up for the race.
Running a race, for those of you who have never done so before, is both exhilarating and addictive, even if you are the last to finish. The crowds, the cheering, the seemingly imperative task of finishing strong, it all goes to your head… and believe me, it went to mine. I needed to race again and I needed to be better! My sister and I entered and ran in a race about every 2 weeks that season. After that, I found a local running store that was hosting a training group and joined.
Who knew that a billboard could have led me to run dozens of 5 and 10Ks, 9 half marathons and one full?
My sister, Georgette, and I after having run our first half marathon together in 2009. (ING Miami)
My friends Cara, Kris and I along with another running group member after having finished our first full marathon in 2010! (ING Miami)
I quickly came to realize, however, that although the feeling you get when achieving a new goal or crossing that finish line is priceless, not every part of the race is fun and almost no part of the race or the training season is easy. I began to repeat mantras to myself to keep focused and motivated. They’ve changed with every stage of my life since I started running… sometimes a phrase, sometimes a prayer. My first mantra, “I may not want to but, I can, and I will,” was something that my sister and I would giggle about but repeated loudly together as we would really start feeling that lactic acid build up towards the end of our races that first year. My mantra last year, however, has been “This is for me.”
On a personal level, last year was one of the most difficult yet formative of my life. I had suffered a miscarriage and, soon thereafter, ended the 8 year relationship I had with my now-ex-husband. Suffice it to say, however, that the sequence of events that transpired had hit a SERIOUS restart button on my life.
I was no longer someone’s wife and I was no longer going to be someone’s mother. I had moved to Boca Raton to be close to my parents for their support but, this meant that I was no longer near my friends. I was overweight from the pregnancy, so I no longer felt attractive. I felt confused, betrayed and deceived. Everything I had attempted to create had been taken from me.
I still believed on a very fundamental level, however, that the life that I wanted for myself was a possibility for me. It just wasn’t going to happen the way I had planned. I guess that’s what faith is, though. It’s belief beyond reason and peace beyond understanding. And from MY understanding, the only one that rebuild and recreate my life was ME.
The first step would be to redefine, or maybe just more correctly define, who I was. I needed to feel liberated and open myself up to the possibilities of whatever this new life had in store for me. I needed to realize that, although recent life events had left me feeling betrayed by them, my mind and body WERE capable of achieving great things, things that most could not achieve. I needed to run, and I needed to run for me.
I joined a local running group near my new home in hopes that I would make friendships and get a jump start back into being healthy and happy. Every bit of endurance I rebuilt to run one mile further was for ME. Every friendly conversation or kind connection I encountered while on a run was for ME. Every step closer I got to the new definition of who I wanted to become was for ME.
That’s why running is beyond sport. Just like any life altering event, it is the opportunity to prove to yourself that you can achieve or overcome anything. No matter how slow a pace or short of a distance, it’s all about that inner monologue that either strengthens or weakens your mind-body connection. I found inspiration in my faith that life has something better for me than I can imagine. I believe that I have to be the best possible version of myself in order to own my own happiness. That is why “This is for me.” What inspires you?
Little Miss Sunshine State 