Fitness Tips: Marathon Training Tips

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Sometimes the best thing I can do is point you to some super info that someone else has posted.
Here’s a great article run by Shape magazine last week. 25 Marathon tips to get you across the finish line.
http://www.shape.com/fitness/training-plans/top-25-marathon-training-tips
Preparing for a Marathon

Setting an Example

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Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?

If you are a mom, then you know exactly what I mean. Children have an amazing capacity to soak up behaviors like little sponges. So what are you giving them to learn?
It is an established fact that overweight and obese parents are more likely to have overweight and obese children. Why do you think that is? Genetics. Maybe a little. But more importantly, we share eating habits as a family. If mom has dessert after every meal, the kids will grow up and expect that dessert is an essential part of dinner rather just a treat. 
What about exercise? My family growing up did a lot of wonderful things together. Not one of them was active. Lots of learning, reading, playing an instrument, etc. No sports, no hiking or biking. So as an adult, I didn’t have any of these things in my repertoire. 
free image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
You don’t have to shove your kid on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day (That was done to me. Don’t do it!) Lead by example and family fun. Show your kids now how to lead a healthy HAPPY active lifestyle. If I complain constantly about working out and being on a diet, I guarantee my little girls will grow up having issues too.

School’s Out for Summer

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Finals are finished! I survived my first semester back at school after an 11 year absence.
It wasn’t easy, and not just because of the shortened summer block, or the 6 hour Anthropology final.

College is a whole different world from when I was there the first time in 1997. We didn’t have cell phones. No Facebook either. Heck, one of my first classes was on how to use the internet.

These days, every co-ed has their phone out – during class – texting or updating their status.  I feel like an old mother hen with my consternation glare and clucking my tongue at all the young’uns.

It’s easy to forget that I was once one of those kids that might skip class to meet up with my boyfriend. Now I’m a mom trying to fit a few classes in here and there, and I want every ounce worth of tuition I paid.

Oh why is youth wasted on the young? I wish I could go back and give myself academic advice. Which classes to take. To stay in school and finish a degree before the kids and the mortgage. Not to blow off that one psych class. Ouch.

Instead I will settle on giving everyone else on campus academic advice. So while school’s out for summer (all of two weeks) and before fall starts, feel safe young co-eds. But in two weeks looks out, because I will be back in full force with wagging finger equipped and the patented mother guilt trip.

Full Body: Get Over It

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This last week I went to REI for a new pair of pants to hike in. I tried on a pair. It fit perfectly around the waist.  Not so much around the thighs. Yikes.
I’m long waisted, so my sides dart in a good bit. That part’s nice. But I have tree trunk legs. They drive me nuts when I try stuff on.

I complained to my husband who promptly said, “Get over it.” He then told me that I looked great and so what if THOSE pants wouldn’t fit right.

Upon further reflection, I think we often take a very micro look at our flaws or instances where one article of clothing or one photo doesn’t look right. So what? Is that the whole of our image? That one photo? That one body part?

So I will keep trying to “Get over it” and focus on the whole presentation. I suggest you do the same.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Snack Smart: Add Some Caliente

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A little heat can go a long way. It also serves as stopper from eating to much. This week I made Huancaina sauce (Peruvian cheese sauce) for a class presentation. It has a lot of cheese, but it also has aji amarillo, yellow chile paste. It really keeps you from using way to much, but it’s so flavorful. Traditionally it’s served on potatoes, but you can use it as a dip for veggies too.

I don’t use a recipe per se, its largely to taste. But this is how I made it

Mix together equal parts cream cheese, cottage cheese, and queso fresco.
Add evaportated milk to make the mixture sauce like.
Add seasoning: Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste.
Add the aji amarillo paste a spoonful at a time until you reach your desired spiciness.

Blend together until a thick and creamy. If it’s too thick, add more milk. Too liquidy, add more cream cheese.
Tada! So easy, even I can do it.

Bien Proveche

Fitness Tip: Don’t Overlook Yoga

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In an effort to burn the most calories in our workouts, yoga and other stretching often gets overlooked. It’s true, that unless you do hot yoga, or power yoga, you won’t burn a lot of calories in an hour. But physical fitness needs to go beyond the calorie count. Yoga is great for body and mind. It improves flexibility and aids in injury prevention.

One thing I hear a lot of is, “I can’t do yoga. I’m just not very flexible.” Well, duh. That’s why you go to yoga. It’s not about putting your feet behind your ears. It’s about being in tune with your muscles and making progress. Egos get left at the door. I teach yoga and I can’t reach my toes in forward fold with a flat back. It’s all about the process.

So keep in mind that while yoga is low calorie burn, it creates those long and lean beautiful muscles we all want.

A Case of the Eeyores

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I just realized that I have a serious case of the Eeyores. I’ve got this little black cloud following me. It’s not actually raining on me yet, but I am flinching, waiting for that first drop to fall. If someone says they want to talk to me, it’s like being called to the principal’s office. I’m sure they are going to tell me they’re mad, or that I’ve done something wrong.

Do you do that? Wait for the proverbial shoe to drop? Sure that you will end up the bug squished under said shoe.

I’m not sure why I think the universe has a nasty surprise in store for me. But I’m pretty sure if I keep expecting it, the world won’t disappoint.

If I’ve gotta be Eeyore, maybe I should focus on one of my favorite sayings by the morose donkey, “Some days look better upside down.”

The Plight of the Scale

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The weight was dropping off. I had just dipped below the 148 mark. Then the scale read 160 the next day. Then 5 minutes later 135. then 170 on the third try. Finally it gave up the ghost and read Err.

I was freaking out. Which number was right? I was hoping it was closer to the second try, but I knew that couldn’t be right. The scale was busted, I mean how you feel if someone stood on you day in and day out, asking if they were fat.  The poor scale. It has deserved its rest.

In the meantime, I have an opportunity to gain perspective. How easy is it to depend, even obsess on those little blinking numbers? It is a decent way to track your weight, but it can’t tell us how we feel. Have you ever woken, feeling great in you skinny jeans, ready to conquer the world. Then you hop on the scale and find out that you have an extra pound or two of water weight today. Suddenly, you feel like a schlump.

The scale is a tool to be used sparingly. Not five times a day, or even once every day. Today, say thank you for your scale’s service and give it a vacation. Focus on getting more in tune with how your body is feeling so you can let that be your barometer.