WIAW – attempts at self-management

I stepped away from posting for about 10 days because I was overwhlemed and needed to scale back on self-imposed obligations for bit. I am happy to say it worked, I feel like Annabelle again, and after 9 terrible training runs in a row, I ran a fantastic 10-miler last night. Phew. Hopefully tonight’s Yasso-800′s are kind as well.

WIAW seems a great way to ease back in. Again, I really hate tracking food or calories, keeping a food log, or taking pictures of everything I eat. It just creates anxiety. I do really enjoy, however, operating on a theme (like Coffee WIAW, or esthetic WIAW).

Welcome to What-I-Ate-Wednesday: The Self-Management Edition: Here are a few things I did/made/prepared to help myself stay healthy this past week.

I was out of town for work last week and tried to avoid eating fast -food. I was in a town that is made up of mostly farm land, so there were a lot of options besides the typical McDonalds-KFC-Pizza Hut Triad. I did hit a Panera Bread for lunch, twice, and found (after 90 minutes of wandering around and getting lost) Sushi for dinner one night.

I packed my staples for the hotel, and managed to not feel off-track :

Yes, there is babyfood in there.

The other night (back home and in my normal routine) I was really exhausted and feeling a little bit sour-stomached. I made a bowl of cream-of-wheat with a large helping of blueberries, and some honey and cinnamon. It’s was very soothing and sent me right to sleep. This is one of my favorite snacks/meals and I can’t believe I hadn’t had it for months! I am going to pack some in April to make at the hotel in Boston (yes, I am already making my food list for that trip).

Would you like some cereal with those Blueberries?

We are still working in a sort of professional refugee camp, makeshift offices, shared spaces, and controlled chaos from the office break-in a few weeks ago. A natural side effect of this is that there seems to be more frequent trips to Starbucks and snacky offereings. To keep myself from over doing it, I made a giant “gorp” bin to last all week.

Yum...random assortment of options that leave me better off than donuts.

Speaking of donuts, in celebration of Fat Tuesday (I guess…) someone brought donuts from a local Polish bakery into work. I knew if I watched everyone else eat them and didn’t have one, I would just eat a lot of crap later on. We only have so much self-control to exercise in a day. So I had one, and it went down just fine!

Incidentally, I hit the donut lottery: chocolate cream!

*Annabelle

30 Reason’s People Should Stop Hating On the Treadmill

Treadmills, if you ask me, are an amazing piece of technology. They have made possible research on not just runners, but all sorts of interesting and important things like the use of prosthetic limbs, functions and adaptations of the cardio-vascular system, studies on learning, memory, and psychology. And let’s not forget that the first experience of enjoying running, or of successfully running a full mile occur, for many adults is on a treadmill! And yet, starting around the holiday season, and enduring through the spring, every single year, are article after article, blog entries, status updates, training logs, and email blasts about how much the “dreadmill” sucks. These libelous proclamations often take a tone of offering advice on how to “make the treadmill work for you”, or how to pass the time, and on and on. I appreciate the effort, but:

If you hate it, don’t use it.

You don’t have to run or walk, there are many other wonderful forms of exercise, and many other neato machines you can spend your time on.

But please, leave the treadmill alone.

The most common complaints are that it’s too boring to run on a treadmill. In my spin classes, when we are working through a sustained effort, I often tell people if they are getting bored, distracted, or frustrated to work harder. Sometimes just a short burst of hard effort will snap you back into focus and things won’t be so bad.

Same thing applies here I think.

But if you’re not convinced yet to give up your hater ways, here’s another 30 reasons (in no particular order):

1. You can get your mileage in when the weather is not conducive to a safe run.
2. You can test out a new pace.
3. You can start running even if your starting point is only 1/10^th of a mile. The treadmill doesn’t mind how far you go, and it will be there for you every day.
4. You can figure out what the hell a tempo-run is.
5. You can run perfect intervals (which might really build your confidence).
6. Wonderful training partners can be made of people with wildly different paces!
7. Your neurotic-endlessly-energetic-and-eating-everything-in-sight dog can get walked, Jetson’s style, while you foam roll to your heart’s (and IT band’s) content.
8. You can ease in post-injury.
9. You can use a mirror to work on form.
10. There are reliable bathrooms nearby!
11. You can wear shorts and a tank in March, in the Great White North.
12. You can still run when the air quality outside doesn’t support human life (euw, smog).
13. You can run after 7am, in the summer, in the southern-furnace states.
14. You can stop and change your shorts if they are riding up (What? You’ve never wanted to do this 6 miles in?)
15. You don’t need to remember to bring cab fare if you have to bail far from home.
16. You don’t have to hand the unsuspecting cabbie sweat-soaked money if the above happens.
17. A treadmill at home might save a new mom, who is also a runner. (Put on some Barney and fire up the ‘mill!)
18. They are an excellent mechanism for hang-drying your running gear that goes through the washer (but never the drier!) 3 times a week.
19. You can refill your water bottle.
20. You can have a series of water bottles, not sloshing around on your belt, and still not need to stop.
21. You can experiment with your mid-run nutrition, and (possibly) make it to the bathroom before you hurl.
22. You can blow your nose, in a tissue.
23. You (maybe) can finish a winter-time run without getting snot on you.
24. You can watch television, or movies while your clocking your miles.
25. If you have a ‘mill at home you can catch up your DVR queue and still get the laundry done this weekend.
26. You can do mile (or 800’s, or 200’s, or timed) repeats with resistance training in between.
27. Ladies: You can race super-cocky gym dudes and watch them crash and burn and slink away as if they weren’t watching your pace.
28. Fellas: You can puff your feathers (and sticks) for the pretty ladies on the elliptical trainers.
29. You can live in Chicago, and still practice running hills.
30. You can run while travelling/visiting a place where you don’t know your way around.

*AB

I am a group exercise instructor, and I have a secret.

My name is Annabelle, I am a group exercise instructor, and I have a secret.

I have been working in the fitness industry for nearly a decade now. If you count making instructional exercise videos with my brother when we were kids, then I’ve been a fitness professional for closer to 25 years.

Most consistently, and currently, my role has been as a group exercise instructor. As far as instructors go, I have very few pet peeves about group classes. I really don’t mind if people come to class late, or leave early, or generally follow their own routine (unless you are pulling out a mat to do sit-ups when the 20 other people are doing squats and jumping rope. I’ve seen it, and it was just plain unsafe). I love answering questions even if I already explained it in class. If you seem responsive at all, I will happily correct your form a thousand times. I promise you, I am not being even remotely sarcastic. I prefer for people to call me out if I say something that is wrong or misleading, ask me to repeat myself, to turn down or up the music, to bring new music, rather than have them leave a complaint at the front desk after class is over.

Here’s a tip to share with any gym-goers you know. Complaining will likely not change the instructor’s behavior because only about one in twenty complaints even make it back to them. However, if you point out what is making the class a less than pleasant experience for you, the instructor can adjust, right then. It’s magical really.

It’s not MY class, it’s YOURS. Trust me; although I like to fully participate in the workout, it’s my JOB not my LEISURE time. My attention is on YOU, and it’s on what we’re going to do next, and I am also probably counting, and watching a timer and the clock, and trying to subtly correct form without making someone feel self-conscious, and I am trying to be motivating and encouraging without being annoying or chirpie, or talking so much people start to tune me out. I am also always trying to figure out how I can make the class and the workout better, for you, not for me. I know what I am doing, and I love it, and I want you to as well.

Some fitness professionals refer to the people who take their classes as participants, others, as students. I like both, but neither is what most people embody when they show up to take a class. Whether it’s a Spinning® class, muscle definition, step, kick boxing, body blast, hard core, water aerobics or any other group format, the typical expectation is that if your body shows up, hangs in there, and leaves covered in sweat, then you have had a successful workout. A bonus is that you might also feel validated for the poor food choices you make, or that you haven’t met a fitness or health goal in a while.

So here it is, my secret, my homunculus who chants at me through every class to share information and teach skills to everyone in the room (who are mostly ignoring me and thinking about their dinner, or work, or their kids, or the skinny jeans they think mindless Spinning ® will get them into), my single, unrelenting group exercise pet-peeve:

 When people come to class, but are not present. When people expect to be taken out of their bodies, into a twilight zone, where their minds can be distracted, while their bodies go through the motions.

I don’t want you to forget what happening, I don’t want you to be tricked into burning calories, and I don’t want to be your excuse for a crap diet. And it is really frustrating to know, that this is what many people want from their instructor.

I want you to learn the movements, I want you to memorize how they feel, I want you to appreciate and notice your body. I want you to focus on every minute of the class, I want you to enjoy how it feels, and I want that mindfulness to spill over into your life. I want you to be present, be aware and accepting of all the sensations you are experiencing in your body. I want you to be a student AND a participant, not a mindless puppet.

If you hate to workout, even if you are feeling like you hate your body, still be present. Give yourself a chance. To expect full distraction is to surrender to the frustration and solidify that hate. Learning how to perform new skills with your body will begin to repair your mind/body relationship. Additionally, as your become better at the skills of exercise, you’ll crave more, learning is a thing of momentum, and before you know it, you might catch yourself fully engaged in a challenging group exercise class, reveling in what your body can do, and feeling happy.

And finally, I don’t want you to think that if I help you to sweat a lot it will make your worries and stress go away. It might help you cope, and if you learn to be present during class you might escape for an hour, but when you walk out of class, your worries and stressors will still be there. Hopefully now you know that you have the control, the tenacity, and the skills to stay calm, meet them head on, and conquer them.

*AB

WIAW: my daily drinks (other than water, of course)

I drink a lot of coffee, and I love smoothies. Here’s a heart-shaped collage of the last weeks supply of both.

(there were more coffees but I forgot to take pictures of them)

As for the love your veggies month, all my smoothies have a scoop and a half of Amazing Grass Superfood in them.

What are your favorite dietary staples? (By staples I mean: not necessary for survival, but you eat them most day anyway)

*AB

- to see more WIAW posts from other bloggers head over to Peas and Crayons.

Problem with impulse control…BAA 5k

Turns out my impulse control really suffers when my routine is interrupted. Things are sort of in a state of upheaval at my job right now. Our offices were broken into overnight on Sunday and many of us had our computers stolen, myself included. The building was also flooded. Insult to injury I guess.

A few co-workers and I are working out of a conference room at a different building that houses our larger day program for adults with disabilities. It’s a fun environment to be in, but working out of my briefcase is not fun.

Also, I am heading out to visit my family in California this Thursday afternoon for a long weekend (my nephew is turing 5!), then, next week I am going to a training for work for 3 days…so this week was meant to be exhausting anyway, without the thieving jackasses.

Anyway, at one point today I locked myself out of the “office” whilst everyone else was at a meeting in another part of town. First, I killed time visiting some clients, then answering emails and reading blogs on my phone…then, I saw that this blogger just registered for the BAA 5k, which is held the morning before the Boston Marathon, and immediately precedes the invitational mile race.

So I, admittedly without thinking for even a minute, registered as well.

I want to say: whoops?

But actually I am pleased I did it. I don’t know if I will run Boston again, but even if I run it 10 more times after this April, I want to soak up each and every possible part of the experience that I can.

I plan to run is slowly, just as a shake-out, I’d likely have run 3 – 5 miles that morning anyway, right?

I guess I should probably think about booking a flight and hotel room now.

Other signs of poor impulse control today, I stayed at work late obsessing over some verbiage in a document I am presenting to staff tomorrow. I skipped my workout(s). And I bought 3 (!!!) boxes of cereal, already ate a bowl (I am not allowed to buy it, because I always binge eat it). Also, I bought an Amy’s frozen pizza for dinner (Jorgie already ate, a healthy dinner of course), and I will probably eat all of it.

Sigh.

I can’t wait to go on a California run with my little soon-to-be-5-years-old-coach.

*AB

Stats comparison of men’s and women’s marathon times

Reblogged from Camille Herron:

Introduction Every four years (and usually when the new Olympic Marathon Trials standards are set), there’s a flux of men bashing women on message boards about how their standards are easier and it’s not fair. This is usually followed by the men trying to equate men’s and women’s times…of which they wrongly try to linearly compare men’s and women’s times based on XX minutes (or percent) difference between the World Records. Anyone who closely follows women’s marathoning and performances knows that the …

Yes !

Week 17 – 10 to go

I hate to admit it, but this is by far the most consistent I have ever been with training for anything, ever (college swim season notwithstanding).

The great side effect is that I am beginning to see actual quantifiable progress.

Although I would argue that they aren’t “Yasso 800′s” unless you complete 10 of them, and thus are not a reliable predictor of a marathon distance performance. I am pleased to have done 5, 800′s all under 3 minutes on Wednesday.

Training Re-Cap 10 weeks left.

Monday: 7hrs sleep, 5mi. Run
Tuesday: 7hrs sleep, 7mi. Run
Wednesday: 6hrs sleep, 6.75 mi. W/ 5×800
Thursday: 8hrs sleep, rest day needed…zombie
Friday: 9hrs sleep, 4mi. Run (had to force it, did not feel like running at all)
Saturday: 7hrs sleep, 16mi. Run in Barrington, IL w/ hills. Boston Bound group.
Sunday: 6hrs sleep, 2x Spin class (new, very challenging profiles!), body blast class

Total: 38.75 miles

I am getting more sleep than before the new year, which is great!

During the hilly group run on Saturday I ran a half marathon PR, which seems a little ridiculous, but I was pleased enough that I am trying to find a half to run soon so I can officially bring that time down.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:59:35.5	16.00	7:28
1	7:56.2	1.00	7:56
2	7:34.8	1.00	7:35
3	7:22.0	1.00	7:22
4	7:18.7	1.00	7:19
5	7:39.4	1.00	7:39
6	7:27.9	1.00	7:28
7	7:15.0	1.00	7:15
8	7:31.8	1.00	7:32
9	7:25.4	1.00	7:25
10	7:42.8	1.00	7:43
11	7:32.8	1.00	7:33
12	7:11.7	1.00	7:12
13	7:27.6	1.00	7:28
14	7:17.7	1.00	7:18
15	7:24.6	1.00	7:25
16	7:24.2	1.00	7:24
17	:03.0	0.00	11:16

(you can probably figure out where the bigger climbs were)

I was shocked to wake up and not feel sore today after running hills for what was probably the first time since moving to Chicago (2006). My calves/achilles are a bit tender, but nothing I can’t ignore.

Come this afternoon, my mood and energy plummeted! The run, then 2.5hrs of hard work at the gym today caught up to me and I napped for nearly 3hrs then remained groggy through the Super Bowl viewing and still feel worn out.

Moving on.

My next long run will be out in California and in memory of Sherry Arnold.

To join the virtual run, click on "Sherry Arnold" above and print out a bib.

 

*AB

Monday’s Nemisis (thy name is Super Bowl food)

As you’ve probably heard, it’s Super Bowl Sunday!

 

This afternoon’s is a sports contest that feels, and is treated like, a holiday. Even to those who know nothing about football, or perhaps aren’t sports fans at all very likely have game-time plans and menu’s in place.

 

I am comfortable placing a bet that many of the people who declare, “I am only here for the commercials”, really mean, “I am only here because it is a great, socially accepted excuse to over-eat lots of junk food”.

 

This idea that Super Bowl Sunday is a valid excuse (nay – reason) to over eat lots of nutritionally void, high caloric, fatty, sugary, and greasy foods is so pervasive that contrary to what you might expect, my 3 group exercise classes this morning will be full. It happens every year. I expect classes to be a ghost town on Super Bowl Sunday, thinking everyone is getting ready for the game and parties and so on. But no, they are at the gym trying to burn off some extra calories because they already have resigned to the fact that they are going to eat like it’s a contest.

 

I am not trying to be rude, and I love to lead a full house through a workout, but the 350 calories you burn off in a Spin class isn’t going to put much of a dent in the thousands (yes, thousands) of additional empty calories the average American will eat leading up to, and during today’s game.

 

And so, for just this Sunday, your time might be better spent planning lower calorie, nutritionally meaningful options for snacking during the game.

 

If you go online and search for food consumption statistics, you’ll get hundreds, probably thousands of articles, sites, and blogs dedicated to this astounding event (the eating, that is). What’s so striking is that the numbers are so big, as to lose there meaning.

 

To illustrate:  as much as I love avocados and guacamole, 13.2 million pounds worth of avocado sales seems mind numbing (California Avocado Commission). It’s a statistic so big, that it doesn’t resonate. Now, if you say to me Annabelle, if you are the average American you’ll eat more this afternoon, in both calories and weight, than you usually do on a typical Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday combined, well, that might get my attention and motivate my behavior.

 

An eating extravaganza like this is the antithesis to the spirit of Saddle-Up Sunday. Eating cheesy chili, nachos, chips, hot dogs, beer, pizza and all the other typical Super Bowl foods are going to set you up for a grumpy, groggy, sluggish Monday.

 

I guarantee that the Patriots and Giants player didn’t prepare for today by eating these foods! In fact, some of them probably swear off this crap for the whole season!

 

So  please, set yourself up for a Monday without indigestion, bloating, and fatigue.

 

Yes, you deserve to feel free to enjoy some treats.

 

But you also deserve to be selective in what you eat. And you deserve to wake up tomorrow feeling like you had a fun evening with delicious food! 

 

Eat only those foods that you will really enjoy! Typically after the first slice, the pizza isn’t very mouth-watering or satisfying any way. So enjoy that slice, then cleanse your palate with some crunchy veggies and hummus. Enjoy the guacamole with veggies rather than potato chips, and eat a couple servings not a couple cups (or bowls) of it!

 

Enjoy the game, Saddle-Up, GO PATS!

 

*Annabelle

List making is not always self-managing: A tip.

I have been at my new job just long enough now that each day, the more I get done, the more items I have to add to my To-Do List. It’s as if each accomplished task generates two additional tasks. To be frank, if I am doing my job right, this is the way things should go.

The problems with this phenomena are as follows:

Sometimes things arise that take neccessary priority and so the list isn’t touched for hours, or the whole day.

Sometimes, the list is so long, that many things get completed and crossed off, while other, equally important things are obscured, and forgotten.

Sometimes, just having the list gives the impression that things have been completed, and distractibility rises as production drops off.

And often, even though things are being crossed off the To-Do list, it keeps growing and so the list goes from one sheet, to two, to three, to four…and then just the sight of it becomes so aversive that it’s overwhelming and it gets hard to know where to begin!

I was at this point on Thursday when a co-worker came into my office, and caught site of my 4 sheets long To-Do list. She gave me a tip that has already proved very useful, and effective.

At the end of the day take the items you did not finish and move them to the end of the list with a star next to them. That way things that are done are out of sight, the list is shorter, and you know which items have been carried over (or put off).

Each time an item gets moved it gets an additional star next to it.

If an item has three stars, then it’s likely you have been avoiding it. So just get it done!

I immediately tested out this technique and it colsolidated my list that day from four sheets to two! I snapped out of my overwhelmed stupor and got a few more things ticked off by the end of the day.

It’s true that by the end of Friday my list had grown up to 3 sheets, but now I felt a much higher level of control over it, and I will continue to use this method.

I am not sure who coined this strategy (said co-worked learned it at a seminar or workshop of which I don’t know the name), but I have to say, paired with a count-down timer and some salient reinforcers, it’s a behavior analyst’s dream!

Go do more!

*AB

WIAW #3 – Highlights from the last week

I realize that scrolling down pictures of what I ate over the course of a day is A) dull and B) weird. So here’s the highlight reel (it took me hours to figure out how to make a mediocre collage, so you better like it!):

This week was heavy on popcorn and fruit...which might explain the round grumbly tummy I am now dealing with.

I did more cooking than usual! But still can’t focus long enough to follow a recipe.  I made Shepherds Pie (with sweat potato and turkey), Chili, and Lentil soup, as well as the usual fare or various chicken and rice meals…there were also many serving of raw-vegan ice-cream (a.k.a. frozen fruit blended into submission).

Happy What I Ate Wednesday Party…even if I arrived fashionably late!

*AB