I ran my first half marathon!! With a time of 2:02:25 at a 9:20 minute mile average pace, I placed 38th in my age group and 143rd overall. Here are my results!
I went to the registration/packet pick up Saturday in Jack London Square after my bike race in Pleasanton. The See Jane Run staff made an exception to their non-transferable rule to give me Catherine's bib (an OTC friend who had to leave town unexpectedly). #1819 Woohoo. This is going to hurt tomorrow...
Showing posts with label hydrate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hydrate. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Monday, September 23, 2013
Nutrition: Everyday Eating
Back in the States, working for SweetWARE, I started getting a lot questions from people about what to eat and why. I'm no expert, but (because of my natural curiosity and the tools I had at my fingertips) I had the privilege of learning a lot about what food is made of and what works for me. Here are a few rules of thumb that I like to think can be applied to any diet for added energy and vitality!
1. Eat rainbows. Not Lucky Charms, people! I'm talking red tomatoes, orange carrots, yellow peppers, leafy greens... You get the picture! If you eat a bunch of grays and browns, that's how you're going to feel. PS - Condiments don't count... Sorry!
2. Fast food = once a year! For maybe five years now, Billy and I have been getting Taco Bell for Valentine's Day. This radical tradition started when we found ourselves wandering around Alameda on V-Day with no reservations and the realization that a nice dinner would require an hour wait and about a hundred bucks... Going to Taco Bell was the most counter-cultural thing we could think of at the time and it stuck! Now we look forward to it every year and fast food just feels wrong on any other day. Haha... Bottom line? 364 days a year, swap fast food for fresh food to feel (yep - pretty much instantly) better! PS - In-and-Out does not count as fast food after a long day of tournaments and that's just the way it is...
3. Whole Foods. Not the store. The food. Unless you have a deadly allergy, foods that do not require packaging are generally better for you. If it absolutely has to have a package, it also requires an ingredient list - so, read that shit! Ingredient lists are required to list ingredients in order of predominance by weight. If I'm debating between two products? Compare the first three words and then run the last three words through my difficult-to-sound-out filter. Red flags that get a product put immediately back on the shelf: hydrogenated, artificial, monosodium glutamate, high fructose corn syrup, flavor, and color. I rarely look at nutrition labels, but when I do it's normally to ensure that foods high in saturated fat, transfat, and sodium don't make it to my grocery cart.
4. Anti-oxidants: our bestest friends in the whole wide world. All we need to know is that, as a species, our favorite foods (in no particular order) are: any apple, any dark fruit, all berries, pecans, dark beans and pinto beans. Period. Okay, fine, fine! Go ahead and throw in artichokes and russet potatoes if you insist... Do it! :)
Last thing before I get off this soap box (which I'm totally unqualified for if you forgot or missed that part).
5. HYDRATE! Replace the liquids you currently drink (soda, iced tea, coffee, alcohol, etc.) with the liquid of life: water... or fruit and vegetable juices... or just fruits and vegetables! And this is where everything starts circling back to reinforce itself: The USDA recommends 8-9 servings of fruits and vegetables day. These foods (raw) are 75-90% water, so eat (or drink!) that ridiculously hydrating, nourishing, colorful stuff!
So, if you find yourself asking yourself "Do I dare eat a peach?" The answer is just yes.
Writing this has made me very hungry, so I'm going downstairs to get a snack... That's all for now. More later!
1. Eat rainbows. Not Lucky Charms, people! I'm talking red tomatoes, orange carrots, yellow peppers, leafy greens... You get the picture! If you eat a bunch of grays and browns, that's how you're going to feel. PS - Condiments don't count... Sorry!
2. Fast food = once a year! For maybe five years now, Billy and I have been getting Taco Bell for Valentine's Day. This radical tradition started when we found ourselves wandering around Alameda on V-Day with no reservations and the realization that a nice dinner would require an hour wait and about a hundred bucks... Going to Taco Bell was the most counter-cultural thing we could think of at the time and it stuck! Now we look forward to it every year and fast food just feels wrong on any other day. Haha... Bottom line? 364 days a year, swap fast food for fresh food to feel (yep - pretty much instantly) better! PS - In-and-Out does not count as fast food after a long day of tournaments and that's just the way it is...
3. Whole Foods. Not the store. The food. Unless you have a deadly allergy, foods that do not require packaging are generally better for you. If it absolutely has to have a package, it also requires an ingredient list - so, read that shit! Ingredient lists are required to list ingredients in order of predominance by weight. If I'm debating between two products? Compare the first three words and then run the last three words through my difficult-to-sound-out filter. Red flags that get a product put immediately back on the shelf: hydrogenated, artificial, monosodium glutamate, high fructose corn syrup, flavor, and color. I rarely look at nutrition labels, but when I do it's normally to ensure that foods high in saturated fat, transfat, and sodium don't make it to my grocery cart.
4. Anti-oxidants: our bestest friends in the whole wide world. All we need to know is that, as a species, our favorite foods (in no particular order) are: any apple, any dark fruit, all berries, pecans, dark beans and pinto beans. Period. Okay, fine, fine! Go ahead and throw in artichokes and russet potatoes if you insist... Do it! :)
Last thing before I get off this soap box (which I'm totally unqualified for if you forgot or missed that part).
5. HYDRATE! Replace the liquids you currently drink (soda, iced tea, coffee, alcohol, etc.) with the liquid of life: water... or fruit and vegetable juices... or just fruits and vegetables! And this is where everything starts circling back to reinforce itself: The USDA recommends 8-9 servings of fruits and vegetables day. These foods (raw) are 75-90% water, so eat (or drink!) that ridiculously hydrating, nourishing, colorful stuff!
So, if you find yourself asking yourself "Do I dare eat a peach?" The answer is just yes.
Writing this has made me very hungry, so I'm going downstairs to get a snack... That's all for now. More later!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Nutrition: Eat Like the Athlete You Want to Be
Sunday was the 10k & 20k de Tours! A beautiful day... So, I wandered down to Tours Center to check out all the athletes and the cool booths and stuff. I stood in line (forever) to get Paella and got to the front of the line only to realize that not only is there meat in Paella, there is *every kind of meat* in Paella (sausage, chicken, and seafood) - and I became a vegetarian (kind of) on Mother's Day this year... Doy! Ahahah! I ate it anyway... Ooops! :)
Since I stopped eating meat (okay, fine, not entirely, but for the most part - haters...), I've been told more times than I can count that I'm probably not getting enough protein. This inspired me to analyze my diet and, believe it or not, it turns out I'm getting more than enough protein, but could stand to DOUBLE my carbohydrate intake. Insane!
Here's what a day looks like for me right now (a double day is when I workout for more than 4 hours total):
Breakfast - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon, muesli (double days add eggs and toast)
Snack - fruit
Lunch - spinach salad (double days I get to eat whatever I want for lunch)
Dessert - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon
Snack - fruit
Snack - peanut butter rice cakes with honey and cinnamon
Snack - bread with olive oil and vinegar
Dinner - vegetables + grains + beans or tofu (double days add pasta)
Dessert - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon
This gets me to exactly 100g protein, 360g carbohydrates, and 100g fat (around 2600 kCal) on single days... and on double days I get to eat carbs like it's my job (like just throw in a whole baguette there somewhere, double the grains for dinner, and maybe even a pastry and coffee) to bring me to 800g of glorious, golden, crusty, delicious carbohydrates.
When I'm training, I also like to follow a few general rules:
1. Low alcohol and low caffeine. That's right. Except for occasions, if I'm training right, alcohol becomes a distant memory and caffeine stays out of the picture as much as possible.
2. High-protein post-workout snack: nuts, hard boiled eggs, or apple with peanut butter... My go-to post workout snack right now? Rice cake with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon and banana - YUM!
3. Hydrate! I drink about 2 liters a day of water (at least). When I'm back in the States, I'm drinking electrolytes like a coconut water, or gatorade diluted by 50% to keep that post-bikram head ache away. Here, I've been drinking lemon water and diluted apple/pear juice with a little pinch of salt after workouts.
This link is an amazing article written by US Anti-Doping Agency about the best diet for athletes:
http://www.usantidoping.org/files/active/what/dietary_intake.pdf
My targets are based off of this and this fitness calculator from active.com.
On that note, if you have anything to add - please leave a comment for me! I love hearing about new recipes and things that work for others!! Thanks!
Since I stopped eating meat (okay, fine, not entirely, but for the most part - haters...), I've been told more times than I can count that I'm probably not getting enough protein. This inspired me to analyze my diet and, believe it or not, it turns out I'm getting more than enough protein, but could stand to DOUBLE my carbohydrate intake. Insane!
Here's what a day looks like for me right now (a double day is when I workout for more than 4 hours total):
Breakfast - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon, muesli (double days add eggs and toast)
Snack - fruit
Lunch - spinach salad (double days I get to eat whatever I want for lunch)
Dessert - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon
Snack - fruit
Snack - peanut butter rice cakes with honey and cinnamon
Snack - bread with olive oil and vinegar
Dinner - vegetables + grains + beans or tofu (double days add pasta)
Dessert - plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon
This gets me to exactly 100g protein, 360g carbohydrates, and 100g fat (around 2600 kCal) on single days... and on double days I get to eat carbs like it's my job (like just throw in a whole baguette there somewhere, double the grains for dinner, and maybe even a pastry and coffee) to bring me to 800g of glorious, golden, crusty, delicious carbohydrates.
When I'm training, I also like to follow a few general rules:
1. Low alcohol and low caffeine. That's right. Except for occasions, if I'm training right, alcohol becomes a distant memory and caffeine stays out of the picture as much as possible.
2. High-protein post-workout snack: nuts, hard boiled eggs, or apple with peanut butter... My go-to post workout snack right now? Rice cake with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon and banana - YUM!
3. Hydrate! I drink about 2 liters a day of water (at least). When I'm back in the States, I'm drinking electrolytes like a coconut water, or gatorade diluted by 50% to keep that post-bikram head ache away. Here, I've been drinking lemon water and diluted apple/pear juice with a little pinch of salt after workouts.
This link is an amazing article written by US Anti-Doping Agency about the best diet for athletes:
http://www.usantidoping.org/files/active/what/dietary_intake.pdf
My targets are based off of this and this fitness calculator from active.com.
On that note, if you have anything to add - please leave a comment for me! I love hearing about new recipes and things that work for others!! Thanks!
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