Things I Learned From My First Half Marathon

October 13, 2011 by · 3 Comments

Last March Jim and I ran our first half marathon here in Raleigh – the Tobacco Road Half Marathon. Although we have both worked out consistently for many years, neither one of us are big runners. At first when Jim pressed me to do it with him, I thought I could never run that far because I get really bored doing one exercise for more than 20 minutes.  I thought “how the heck am I going to run 13.1 miles without wanting to poke my eyes out halfway through?”  However, I have never been one to shy away from a challenge so I pretty quickly agreed. We signed up for the race in early November and the big day was in late March.  So we had a little over 3 months to prepare and that was plenty of time.

Since we are in “racing season” down south I thought I would share some of the things that we did to get ready for ours.  Now granted, I am still not what I would consider a big runner so please don’t read this thinking that I am an expert. However, I did learn a bit from the process and I thought I would share this info for anyone else thinking about running a race, whether it is a 5K, a 10K or a half.

1. Find a good training plan. Like anything in life, its good to have a plan when you are getting ready to run a race. A good training plan will slowly but surely build you up to the distance you will be running for your race. You can tailor the plan to fit your schedule and you can decide when you want to do your long runs. We did ours on the weekends, but if you wanted to do your long run in the mornings on a weekday that is fine as well. I used this plan which incorporates certain days to do cross-training. Your body will need a break from running so this is your day to ride the spin bike, swim or take a yoga class. I did some of my shorter runs at the gym on the treadmill and some outside near my house. All of my long runs were outside.

2. Get fitted for some good running shoes. You will find that when you are running this often, having good shoes will make a huge difference. This doesn’t mean that you will end up spending too much more for your shoes, but it does mean that you will end up buying the right shoes. Having well fitted sneakers can help prevent injuries to your foot or knees (or other parts of your body.) I can tell you that I was having some issues with my knees, but once I got fitted for the right sneakers those issues went away pretty quickly.

3. Run at a comfortable pace. My goal for this race was to purely finish it and I wanted to run the entire way. I knew that I needed to run at a pace that would allow me to run the entire way and if that meant it was slower than somebody else I wasn’t concerned at all. I figured that I could worry about times in any future races. I wanted to run the entire race for my goal, but there are plenty of good walk/run plans out there and if that is more your style go for it.

4. Don’t get discouraged about a bad run. I found that when you are running this often and this far you are bound to have runs that are not as strong as others. Some days your body just doesn’t feel like running, let’s be honest. However, just put those days behind you and know that your next run will be different. What I did do on bad run days was to think about what might have made it a bad run. Was it the time of day? Was my body tired or did I not eat enough? Did I eat too close to my run? I  learned by doing this that I am definitely a morning runner and I run best in the cold.

5. Fuel your body for your run.. One thing I always struggle with whether it is running 8 miles or lifting weights at the gym is determining how and when to fuel my body for peak performance. If I go too soon after a meal I get sick to my stomach and that negatively affects my workout. If I go right before a meal I am hungry and less energized. Well, that doesn’t really leave a lot of  opportunities in the day for a good workout. My best run is in the morning after a very light breakfast and a cup of coffee. The key is to make sure that you have just enough food in your system that you have energy but not so much that your body doesn’t feel like moving. Also, this sounds obvious, but make sure you are hydrated. For long runs I took along some gel packs and a bottle of coconut water that I would hide along my route.  I would also pop a date right before runs and I really think that gave me a lot of energy – the natural way:-)

6. Tell people about your race. The day that we signed up to run our half I told everyone at work. The reason that I did this was because I knew that once I told people, I was locked in. It’s one thing to promise yourself that you are going to run in this race, but it’s a whole other thing when you start telling friends, co-workers or extended family about your goals. I didn’t want to have to go back and tell anyone that I backed out of it so this really sealed the deal for me. Plus, it was kind of nice because people would ask me how my training was going and it kept me excited and engaged in the process.

7. Don’t EVER think that you can’t do it. I think sometimes we underestimate how strong our bodies are and how much we are capable of. I will admit, in hindsight, the half marathon was not nearly as hard as I originally thought it would be. Now don’t get me wrong, it was not a piece of cake and it was A LOT of work, however once I started running I never once thought I couldn’t do it. I knew deep down that the only person that I would let down if I had doubts was myself so I never once thought that this half marathon was not going to happen. I think its important to visualize yourself finishing the race or running the race with ease. I kept reminding myself that I knew I could walk thirteen miles so there was no reason I couldn’t do a moderate paced run for the race. I kept thinking of myself crossing the finish line and that definitely got me through some of the tough runs.

8. The race itself is lots of fun. If nothing else gets you through race day the adrenaline and the atmosphere of the race will get you through to the finish line. I had no idea that it would be as much fun as it was and I honestly finished wanting to sign up for another race. The signs along the road will make you feel like a million bucks and the people cheering on the sidelines will keep you going during those last few tough miles. Have fun – you deserve it.

9.  Take the reflective blankets that they are handing out at the end of the race.  I didn’t actually take one because I was so hot after running that I thought I wouldn’t want one.  Jim had taken one and he actually ended up giving me his because after about 15 minutes my body cooled down significantly and since I was a bit sweaty I was freezing.  This is a really bad combo after your body has just run 13.1 miles and I was really happy that he let me wrap up in the blanket.  What a nice husband, right??

I could probably go on and on about more lessons learned from my first race. We are going to sign up to run the same one this year and I will probably use the same training plan again. I am definitely not a running expert and I probably never will be, however, I highly recommend running at least one race just for the experience and the sense of accomplishment you will feel. If you like to mix it up a bit you can look at doing some sprint triathalons or obstacle course type races. There are lots of options out there now and you will be glad and proud of yourself for trying them out!

Photo Credit – http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/agree-terms.php – Sayan Samana

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Asian Tuna Patties

September 2, 2011 by · 5 Comments

This is a great weeknight meal for a couple of reasons.  First of all, you use canned tuna, so there is a good chance you have most of the ingredients in your pantry/fridge already.  Secondly, you can put the patties together in the AM and let them sit in the fridge all day and then just fry them up before dinner.  It’s pretty healthy too.  I used low sodium water packed albacore tuna from Trader Joe’s.  The end result has a ton of flavor and you can definitely taste the Asian flavors.  I drizzle some Gyoza Sauce (Trader Joe’s) over top to finish them off and they are SOOOOOO good!

I just wanted to take a moment to point out the components of this plate.  This is my new philosophy in easy/healthy for weeknight meals.  On any given night only one component of my meal requires any sort of a recipe.  So with this meal, the Tuna Patties were my recipe component and required some “putting together” and then I cut up some veggies and I used Trader Joe’s Potstickers which takes virtually no effort (by the way if you have a TJ’s near you, then you MUST try their potstickers and gyoza sauce – they rock!!)  If I were doing a potato recipe for an evening and it required some extra effort, I might serve it with some grilled chicken with a super simple marinade and some grilled veggies.  If the veggies were the star I might just slice up some whole wheat bread and pour some olive oil for dipping.  I  found that I was often trying to put together three different recipes some evenings and it got crazy and then mean mommy came out.  So now my rule is one recipe and two simple sides…you get the picture.  That is how I get through a weeknight meal. I have been doing raw veggies as the side a lot lately and my kids actually love them (with a little ranch dip of course.)

So definitely try these tuna patties. You will NOT be dissappointed…actually, you will be very pleasantly surprised.  You may find that they crumble a little bit when you are forming them into patties.  I have contemplated adding another egg or more breadcrumbs, but I always find that in the end once you get them fried up they hold together quite nicely – just be gentle.  You can probably also play around with the ingredients a bit.  If you don’t have everything you could probably just add a little bit more Teriyaki sauce.  If you don’t have the green onions you could probably add some chopped whole onions or chives (although I do think that the green onions are key in this recipe.)  Definitely try to have cornmeal when you make this, too, as it gives the patties a nice texture and crispy crust when you fry them.

**Do you have any tips for making weeknight meals easier??**

Asian Tuna Patties

Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 6oz cans of tuna, drained and flaked (try to get the best tuna you can and low-sodium if you can find it)
1 egg beaten
3/4 c panko bread crumbs
3 green onions, minced
1 clove garlic peeled and minced
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

Combine the tuna, egg, panko, green onions and garlic.  In another bowl mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ketchup, sesame oil and pepper.  Blend into the tuna mixture.  You can form about 6 patties with this mixture.  Sprinkle each patty with the cornmeal making sure to coat all over.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Fry each patty about 5 minutes on each side until you get a nice golden crust.

Enjoy!

Hey! Fun Fridays will be back tomorrow and we have an AWESOME drink recipe lined up!

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Healthy things my kids love – homemade applesauce and Camelbaks

August 5, 2011 by · 5 Comments

When there are healthy things that my girls really love, I tend to love them too.  Applesauce is something that my mother always made us growing up and now she makes it for the grandkids.  If you have never had homemade applesauce you are really missing out.  It’s nothing like the stuff you buy in a jar at the store.  Nothing.   It’s also easy peasy to make – which is why I love it even more.  The most tedious part of making it is running it through the food mill (or a strainer if you don’t have a food mill.)  Still, that’s not even very hard.

Here is another great secret about making applesauce.  Does your grocery store have marked down produce sitting off by it’s lonesome in shame in a dark corner?  Do you ever look at it?  Sometimes I’m like – Huh?  It usually looks perfectly good to me – and it usually is still fine.  It might not be at it’s peak, but if you slow cook it, roast it or grill it, very often you will never know the difference – cross my heart. Plus, it’s usually at least half the price of the regular priced fruit and veggies… So, when I want to make applesauce I head straight for this rack and grab several of the packs of fruit.  I will usually get more than just apples, too.  I am pretty sure you can  throw in any fruit that you can get your hands on.   The sauce in the picture actually has bananas (that were a bit overripe), pears and a peach.  The pear might give it a hint of grittiness, but the banana makes it a bit creamy. You could also add strawberries or even some mango – yum.

Another thing that my kids love are their Camelbak Mini M.U.L.E.’s  We like to go on hikes and ride bikes and we find that if we  keep the kids hydrated and fed throughout the trip they can pretty much keep up.  Jim always carries his own Camelbak and they love drinking out of it.  So, as they got a bit older we decided we would get them each their own.   It was actually a great present for Grammy and Grandpa to get them for the holidays.

Now when we go on hikes or bike rides they can get a drink when they would like and it’s easy for them to grab their own little snack.  They feel like explorers with them strapped to their backs and they each have their own cool colors (pink for Taylor and blue for Ella.)  They are a lot smaller than a regular backpack so you can’t store tons of stuff in it, but things like a snack, sunglasses and maybe a hat can all fit in there perfectly fine.  Plus, as most Camelbak products, they are made really well.  Now our hikes and rides last a lot longer and are much happier:-)

This is my oldest daughter, Ella with her Camelback.  We are at Duke Gardens and this is my birthday weekend.  I always choose to go here for my birthday:-)  It’s one of my favorite places.  Oh, by the way, don’t you love Ella’s color blocking??

So, back to this applesauce.  I should also tell you there is no need to add any sugar to it.  I might add some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, but other than that, its pure fruit.  If you have never made it at home – I urge you to try it.  Honestly, it just couldn’t be  easier to make and your kids will eat it like ice cream – I promise!

Crock-pot Applesauce

6-8 Apples – any variety you have

Cut and core the apples, leaving the skin on and throw into the Crock-pot

Add any additional fruits you want to try (pears, banana, peaches), but I usually have at least 50 percent apples

Cook on low for 6 hours

Let cool and run through a food mill or a mesh strainer to get rid of the skins.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice to taste.

Enjoy!

Note- the opinions on the Camelbak’s are my own.  This is not a sponsored or paid post by the maker’s of Camelbak.

 

 

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Yogurt Breakfast Bowls – My favorite healthy breakfast

July 28, 2011 by · 2 Comments

 

I was going to call this my favorite breakfast, but truth be told, that would probably be 3 cinnamon rolls, bacon and coffee (preferably some S’Bucks.)

However, since  Becki’s Whole Life is about moderation I only have that type of a breakfast once or twice a month – max.  Plus, after I eat like that I feel pretty yucky. I am really much happier eating something like you see in the picture above.

Jim and I took a nutrition class at our gym a few months back and one of the big take-away’s was how to combine your food.  For instance, a great breakfast consists of a complex carbohydrate (think whole grains), a lean protein and a fruit or a veggie.  It’s extremely important to combine the complex carbs with a lean protein (google it for the reason why:-)) and we all know that we need our fruits and veggies.  Just eating healthy food is not enough – you need to eat with the right things.

Here are some good options for this type of a healthy breakfast…..

1)Whole Wheat Tortilla with an egg and some leftover roasted veggies

2)  Bowl of cereal (watch the sugar), skim milk and a sliced fruit on top

3)  WW Toast with 1-2 Tbsp of natural nut butter (there are some great new options out there) with some sliced banana on top

4) WW English Muffin, Egg Whites, Canadian Bacon and a glass of orange juice

These are all great easy breakfasts.  Just remember to really watch your sugar content and portion size.  If you are doing that you don’t really even need to count calories in my non-professional opinion.  I know personally I don’t have the time, patience or attention span to count calories!

So this little combo is idea number five.

Yogurt Breakfast Bowl

1 Whole Wheat Biscuit OR a 1/2 cup of granola

1 cup of low fat/low sugar yogurt – ideally Greek because it has lots more protein

1/2 cup of fresh fruit (blueberries, peaches or strawberries are all great in this)

A sprinkle of cinnamon and honey to taste

Combine and enjoy!

You can mix and match this bowl however you like.   This morning I actually put some granola on top of peaches and yogurt and it was sooooo good.  I will post a good whole wheat biscuit recipe shortly.  The taste of the biscuit in this yogurt is exceptionally good.

I hope you enjoy this healthy breakfast as much as I do!

For some great blogs that will inspire some healthy breakfasts, check out Kath Eats Real Food and Carrots & Cake.  They inspired me!

****What is your favorite healthy breakfast combo??****

Disclaimer – I am in no way a nutrition expert.  I am just sharing what works for me.

 

 

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Oatmeal – Carrot Cookies

July 18, 2011 by · 4 Comments

I know that I said that I would be posting some healthy and vegetarian recipes this week, but I have a few cookie recipes that I wanted to get up and posted.  I will post one today and then the rest of the week will be some healthier posts – I promise:-).

Jim and I did a little experiment last week and went meatless for all of our meals.  We did it mainly for the health benefits, but there are other reasons as well (of which I won’t get into during this post.)  I would love to buy only local and organic meat, but unfortunately that is not always possible.  So, I will do it when I can and we have decided to eat a few meatless meals every week going forward.  If you are wondering what some of the benefits are read this article from the Mayo Clinic..  While the article gives some great reasons to go meatless every now and then we had our own – here are a few that I thought I would share with you.

1)  Weight Loss – Jim and I both have a few pounds that we would like to lose and we needed to change-up our diet to do that.  We have both been stuck at the same weight for about 6 months or so.  We thought it would be fun to see if we could lose some weight by eating meatless.  There are studies that show that people that eat a plant based diet weigh less.  I lost a pound last week so I think there is something to this meatless thing.  Now don’t get me wrong you still need to watch what you eat.  Covering something with cheese or eating a bowl of white pasta isn’t going to help you lose weight.  We focused on incorporating lots of veggies, whole grains and proteins (like beans.)

2)  Packing more fruit and veggies in our diet.  We are always stumped when we read the recommended daily intake on fruits and veggies.  I forget exactly what it is now, but we were trying to figure out a way to get more of each in our diet.  We thought that if we took the focus off the meat at each meal and put that into eating fruits and veggies  we could slowly shift the balance from meat centric meals to veggie centric meals.

3)  Cost savings.  It’s no big surprise that eating meat can get expensive.  I shop the sales for chicken and pork and I stock up when it goes on sale.  However, when we get red meat its often from Whole Foods or Fresh Market and that can get kind of pricey.  By eating meatless a few nights a week we don’t feel as bad about splurging a bit on really good beef or seafood.

So later this week, you will see a few of the recipes that we tried during our meatless week.  We really enjoyed it and it honestly wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be.  We even tried tofu one night!    I will tell you though, on Friday Jim IM’ed me and said “I really want a hamburger now!!!”  I will probably plan our week with 2 or 3 meatless meals built in going forward.

So technically, this is still a meatless post and hey – there are some grains and veggies involved in these cookies so they are a choice for a plant-based diet.  We really enjoyed these – I love sweets with carrots or zucchini so when I saw this recipe from Southern Living I knew they were in my wheelhouse.  I added some white chocolate chips but I think they made them a bit crumbly.  So if you add them, do it at your own risk.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal-Carrot Cookies

Adapted from Southern Living All Time Favorite Cookie Recipes

1 1/4 cups butter – softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1  1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cups regular oats – uncooked

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup chopped pecans

Beat butter at medium speed until creamy.  Gradually add sugars, beating well.  Add egg and vanilla, mixing well.  Combine flour and next three ingredients.  Add to the creamed mixture, mixing well.  Stir in oats, carrot and pecans.  Drop dough by level tablespoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Remove cookies to wire racks to cool.

**Do you plan meatless meals into your weekly menu?  If so, what are your reasons?*****

 

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