Running in Humidity

July 25, 2013

Of corse the minute I start comparing dry heat to humidity I end up seeing a fabulous article about it in the August issue of Runner’s World. This article has some very interesting facts about running in humidity. Here’s some of the things I found most fascinating…

The higher amount of moisture there is in the air the hotter it feels.
When you run your body temperature rises it becomes hotter and creates sweat. Sweating is the process when your body carries excess heat to your skins surface. In dry heat this sweat evaporates cooling your over all body temperature. In humid conditions this sweat is unable to evaporate, instead it lingers there, and making you hotter.
While running your body temperature can spike in minutes. This causes dehydration. When dehydrated your body goes into survival mode maintaining blood flow to essential organs.
Breathing can change.
Heart rate will escalate.
You may loose control over body mechanics. (Hands may shake, running form may become sloppy.)
Mental abilities my start to break down causing dizziness and you may become disoriented.
Don’t worry about pace. Your speed is guaranteed to decrease.
A humid day does not indicate a lack of fitness or mental toughness.
There are different types of sweat. Some people are sweat more salt. For the people who sweat more salt, they are more common to have stomach cramps. It is very important for these types of people to consume more electrolytes.
It normally takes 10-14 days to get adjusted to running in humid conditions. Those that are use to humidity run better in it.

Tips:

Hydrate
Eat salty foods. Salt helps retain water.
Don’t wear a hat. The hat will prevent your body heat from escaping your head.

Running the Vegas Strip

July 22, 2013

Hello lovelies!

For the last week I was in Vegas! It was a really busy, fun, non stop, sleepless, crazy, weird, hard working, inspiring, motivating, sun-kissed… trip. I will have to admit it was hard to keep my clean eating plant based diet on point. It was also a struggle to find time to get my workouts in.

Let me explain…

The diet:

FAIL: One of the biggest points of eating clean, is to eat 5-7 small meals a day in 2-3 hour intervals. This did not happen.
FAIL: While eating clean it is best to prepare your own meals. This did not happen. I ate out every meal, sometimes pretty late at night.
FAIL: Although, I do not label myself as vegetarian, my regular diet consists of mostly plant based food. In Vegas, most of the food included some sort of meat, and all of my meals were loaded with salt.
FAIL: I definitely did not drink enough water. The heat is dry there, and I felt dehydrated most of the time.
FAIL: I drank way too many vodka pineapples.
FAIL: Although, most of the food I ate were not considered organic or clean, I am a foodie, and enjoyed trying different restaurants.
GOOD: I did find an amazing juice bar, and had a green juice, that consisted of kale.
GOOD: On the way back to the East Coast, I randomly found a 2 Mom’s in the Raw granola bar in blueberry.

The workouts:

My boyfriend came out to Vegas with me for the first four days. While I was with him I put it in my mind that these days would be my rest days. He was considering this a fun vacation with me and I was not about to be selfish by choosing the gym over him. It is okay, to skip a workout every now and then, when there are other plans scheduled, such as grabbing a morning coffee and bagel with your boyfriend while on vacation in Vegas. It is important to find a healthy balance.

Once my boyfriend left, I switched hotels, and started my work training, I was able to find a routine, of waking up early and hitting the gym, at the Hotel/Casino before work. The gym was small and surprisingly very busy. Two days in a row I was able to lift and do some running on the treadmill. I hate running on the treadmill, and most of the time I don’t even consider my workouts on the TMill runs. However, this time around I did some HIIT, which was a really intense workout. Because during HIIT you run for 30 seconds at a sprinting pace and then jump off standing still for 30 seconds, then repeat, it is NOT boring. This type of running gets your heart rate up and then down, which can help you become a faster runner. I was shocked that at one point I was sprinting between a 6:30 and 7 minute mile.

I also went out a couple times at night to go dancing. Dancing is a really good work out as well. I sweat my but off, and worked my legs so hard I should have called it leg day!

Running the Vegas strip: Finally, the last day, I woke up early so I could do a short run outside before I headed to the airport. The main reason I wanted to get an outdoor run in was because I wanted to compare the dry heat of Vegas to the humidity of DC. I have heard mixed opinions of which one is better to run in.

Dry heat: The dry heat felt like a sauna. The sun felt like it was burning me. My throat was dry. My nose was dry and congested. In Vegas, there are areas where they manually spray mist. This is a good way to get water into the dry air, but it wasn’t enough. While I was running, it felt effortless, but I noticed I wasn’t even sweating. It wasn’t until I actually stopped running when sweat began to pour from me.

Humidity: When I got off the plane and stepped outside into the Washington, DC air, I felt like I was walking into a steam room. I was so happy to be back in the humidity – it felt amazing. Never thought I would say that. But because I am born and raised here, I am so use to the humidity that I never even noticed how much moisture is in the air. After being in Vegas and coming back home I could really tell a difference.

The one thing that I like most about running in the humidity is that you immediately start to sweat. Sweating is important because it helps your body detox and cool down. The good thing about running in dry heat is that if it is 100 degrees out, it feels exactly like 100 degrees, unlike in humidity where it normally feels hotter. However, whether you are running in dry heat or humidity, you still need to drink a ton of water and stay hydrated.

The Strip:I began my run at around 7:00 am. At that time, there were people out, but it wasn’t busy. Finally, I found a time when the Strip was quiet, almost peaceful. There were tons of other runners out too, however they were all tourists like me, no local runner would be running the strip. Also the strip is full of elevated crosswalks which means I ended up running tons of stairs. If you haven’t had a chance to run the Vegas Strip, I highly recommend it.

Questions For You…

How do you stay on point with your diet while on vacation?
Have you ever run in Vegas? If so where?
Which do you prefer, dry heat or humidity?

Post Workout Drink

July 8, 2013

Everyone who lifts, knows protein is the best thing for your muscles to repair and grow. This is true, so I always try to have a protein shake with in 30 minutes after my workout. However, July is here, which means hot and steamy, air smothering days. And although, I have found a new passion for weight lifting, my love is for running, that is where my heart is and always will be.

Week 1 of Marathon training is over. I am officially in marathon training mode. And training in this hot July weather, has made me craving something a little more refreshing then my traditional protein shake. Protein shakes are great ways to refuel, but after a run outside in the heat, my body needs hydration.

Well after flipping through the pages of my favorite cook book, Super Natural Every Day, I found the perfect drink to hydrate me post run.

Cucumber Cooler

INGREDIENTS

1 cucumber
A couple cucumber peels
1/2 cup of water
3 cups of ice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 lime juiced
mint leaves or you can garnish with a cucumber slice or lime wedge.

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a blender until slushy like consistency.
Pour into class and Enjoy!
Garnish with mint, cucumber slice, or lime wedge. (Your choice)
Store in a pitcher in the refrigerator for up to a day or freeze as popsicles.

Cucumber is a Super food. It is a good source of silica, which helps promote joint health by strengthening the connective tissues. It is also rich in vitamin A, B1, B6, C & D, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium. Cucumbers are also 95% water, but always remember to chose ones that are organic because pesticides can be hard to remove from skins.

*This would also be a wonderful drink after Bikram Yoga!

Questions for You…

What is your favorite post workout drink?
How do you hydrate and prepare for the heat?
Do you like cucumber flavored drinks?

Day 2 of Marathon Training

July 3, 2013

“And yet ultra runners – even the fiercest competitors – grow to love each other because we all love the same exercise in self-sacrifice and pursuit of transcendence. Because that’s what we’re all chasing- that “zone” where we are performing at the peak of our abilities. That instant when we think we can’t go on but we do. We all know the way that moment feels, how rarely it occurs, and the pain we have to endure to grab it back again…
We all struggle to find meaning in a sometime painful world…
We’re all human, that there’s so much messed-up stuff going on, we need to hold on to what we love. “

-Scott Jurek

The above passage is from yet again, Eat and Run. And although, it mentions ultra runners- I believe all runners can relate. People don’t understand why I am so passionate about running, and they wouldn’t, unless they too run. But it is all about the “zone.”

Day 2 of marathon training was another short 3 mile run. Today the heat and humidity was a little suffocating, but it was tolerable.

Questions for You…

Have you reached the zone?
What mile are you at, when you reach it?
What sport are you doing when your reach the zone… yoga? running?

Day 1 of Marathon Training

July 2, 2013

“Run for 20 minutes and you’ll feel better. Run another 20 and you might feel tire. Add on 3 hours and you’ll hurt, but keep going and you’ll see and hear and smell and taste, the world with a vividness that will make your former life pale.”

– Scott Jurek

The above quote is by far one of my favorite quotes from the book, Eat and Run, by Scott Jurek. And it totally sums up the reason why I run marathons.

Today, was my first day of marathon training. I ran a short 3 mile run. I was relieved from the heat by a heavy rain.
So far it has rained a ton this summer. Hopefully it will stay mild.

Get your beauty sleep!

June 16, 2013

This week I really took things easy. I needed a good long week of rest. I ran on Monday. I slept in on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Rest is very important! I can’t stress that enough.

When you lift heavy you create little tears in your muscles. For muscle growth, these tears need to repair. Repairing happens when your body is at rest.

When you run far your body creates lactic acid, which makes muscles sore. Adequate rest and hydration helps flush the body of toxins, reducing soreness and inflammation, preventing injury.

Your body is capable of repairing itself, but it needs rest and hydration in order to do so. It is designed to repair. It wants to repair. So listen to it.

On Friday, I’m back to grind. I hit the gym hard. It was amazing how much energy I had after a couple days of rest. I worked my back and arms, by combining super sets and active rest periods into the mix.

I have come to the conclusion that I prefer circuit training, supersets, and active rest periods, oppose to heavy lifting with less reps. Simply because it gets me a lot more sweaty. However, I know there is a time and place to do each one. If your goal is to build muscle then lift heavy with less reps. If your goal is to burn fat and build endurance then circuit training, and active rest periods are necessary.

Always remember that when lifting heavy you should NEED to take at least a 1 minute rest period in between sets. You should feel so tired and out of breath that you need to take a rest before moving on. If you are able to move on to the next set then you are not lifting heavy enough.

MARATHON TRAINING

I have completed the Livefit trainer and because I love it so much and saw amazing results I am repeating phase 2 and 3 again. This time with a closer focus on clean eating, carb cycling, lowering my sugar intake, and upping the protein shake and water intake I am also going to customize the trainer according to what my body needs.

The plan for this coming week is to continue to take it easy with a couple of heavy lifting sessions mixed in. The reason why is because my Marathon training will be starting in a week, and I want to make sure I am physically refreshed and mentally ready.

Marathon training is going to be interesting this time around because I will be training with L. This will be her first full 26.2, so I am going to teach her everything I know about running this distance. I am also going to continue weight lifting and yoga during my training. I also want to cross train on my bike. It will be hard to juggle everything, but it will be important to do so.

I also wanted to mention that I was featured on Fit Blogger.
Please head over there and read my article.
I hope you enjoy it!

To all the Dad’s out there, including mine. I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day!

Getting Lost while Running!

June 6, 2013

Yesterday, I got lost running!

I started running on one trail, then I ended up in a neighborhood, then I realized I was lost. Being lost was not a scary thing, it was actually really fun. It gave me the opportunity to explore.

I ran hills I hadn’t run before. I discovered new neighborhoods I hadn’t been to. I saw some gorgeous houses, gardens, I even randomly ran passed my old pool club, I use to swim at when I was a kid.

I wished I had my pool pass. Jumping in the pool would have felt really good. I miss being a member of AFC.

Although, DC is a “Running City” full of runners, and running trails. Running the same paths everyday can get really boring, especially after 6 years of running here.

But running totally lost, was very refreshing. It mixed things up. Not knowing where you will be the next turn, made my running route unique. This is something I am going to try more often, I actually tried it again today.

Have you ever gotten lost while running? Do you ever just run, not knowing how far you are going or where the path might take you?

Keep Calm and Run on

June 4, 2013

“Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart. ” When reading these words, I have come to the conclusion that I rarely almost never let success get to my head. The problem that I have is letting failure get to my heart.

It happens more often with work stuff. Most of the time I let things go. However, because I work so closely with people, sometimes I find myself absorbing their energy, even when it is negative. I try to leave work stuff at work, but sometimes it is impossible. I began to dwell, which can be emotionally draining, and then I find myself at home exhausted. Call me sensitive, I am a pisces.

This is when a night run is necessary.

After a long hard day of work, the average person finds relaxation by curling up on the couch and watching their favorite TV show. For me, I prefer to go running and on really stressful days, I like to run fast.

Running in the morning is rejuvenating. Running at night is relaxing.

It is an amazing feeling to wake up early and hit the running trail first thing in the morning. On the weekdays, you may be totally alone, just you and the running trail. On weekends, the trail may be packed with other runners, but which ever it may be, running in the morning brings this amazing energy that lasts the whole day.

However, if you are looking for relaxation, and a stress reliever, nothing is better than running in the evening…

On Sunday night, I needed to find a way to relax. After a long hard work week, I was exhausted and stressed. They were calling for thunderstorms, which made my desire to run even more. When ever it is about to rain, I always feel like, “Gosh, I gotta get out there.” It is almost like I feel this rushed urge to get my run in before the rain starts.

So that is exactly what happened. I hit the MVT. I ran a short 5K, but I went all out in a speedy sprint. I know it will get hotter, so I am trying to cherish these cooler hours of the day, but it was a major sweat session, being around 80 degrees, and extremely humid. There was a slight breeze and then the sky turned dark. And the rain came.

Do you find running relaxing or rejuvenating?

Oh and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out kindrunner.com!

Kindrunner has officially Launched!

June 3, 2013

Today is a special day!

I am so excited!

Kindrunner.com has officially launched.

Kindrunner has been super busy over the past few weeks. Why? Because they are runners, who care so deeply about their mission. Busy trying to bring something NEW, something DIFFERENT, that the running community has yet to see.

But finally after all the hard work, kindrunner.com is ready. Products are uploaded. Videos reviewing these products, and giving expert advice has been shot. Even the warehouse has been stocked with tens of thousands of shoes.

What you will find at kindrunner.com...

Confident Runner Pricing – An option presented upon checkout. This option waives the Free Return Shipping but offers the shoe at a below retail price. Free shipping of product to customer and free return shipping of donated shoes for Kindness Cash Rewards Program.
Free 3 Way Shipping – Free shipping of your order to you, free shipping of any returns for any reason, free shipping of your donated shoes back to us for re-purposing with Soles 4 Souls or The More Foundation Group.
Kindness Cash Rewards Program – Turns your old shoes into credit towards new ones or any product on our website. KCR are available to the customer after any footwear purchase (the idea behind this is to replace your old shoes with new ones, and keep the old ones out of the garbage, landfills, or ones closet.)
Expert Product Reviews – Check out videos on youtube www.youtube.com/kindrunner. Every product kindrunner has will come with an expert product review video. These videos are done by individuals who have worked in the running industry for years. Some either as shoe reps, store owners, or expert shoe fitters. Kindrunner brings the knowledge to the comforts of your own home!
Easy 365 returns – A customer has 365 days to return any product, so long as it is in its original packaging and in its original condition.

Kindrunner will give you a unique experience with features which NO ONE else in the running community offers. A place where you can find expert advice, product reviews, shoe fitting. A place where you can donate your old shoes to someone who desperately needs them, while keeping them out of a landfill.

I have more exciting news!

Kindrunner is also offering, “Free Socks for Life,” to the first 500 customers! Each time one of the first 500 customers returns and purchases a new shoe their order will ship with a free pair of socks of their choice.

So head over to kindrunner.com!

To the Running Community: I have a secret to share…

May 30, 2013

This blog has a lot of purposes… but one of the ultimate reasons why it exists is so I can share information with you.

So I have a secret to share with you…

Something NEW is happening in the running community starting June 1st.

Something HUGE… and guess what? YOU can be apart of it.

We are runners. We change our shoes on average every 400 miles, some sooner if they are natural barefoot running shoes. What do you do with your old running shoes? Most end up in the trash and then a landfill, where it could take up to 100 years for those shoes to biodegrade.

Well this no longer has to be the case. Instead you have a better option then throwing out your old running shoes. You now have the amazing opportunity to donate them to Kindrunner.

So let me introduce you…

Kindrunner.com is scheduled to launch in the US marketplace June 1st. (Yep, that is right, you are the first to know!) It is the only place on the web where you can donate your retired running shoes, along with all the shoe packaging materials – this helps lower the running community’s impact on the environment.

Kindrunner makes it easy, by covering all shipping costs, recycling all shipping materials, repurposing footwear, and donating them to Soles 4 Souls and/or the More Foundation Group. You receive Kindness Cash Rewards for every pair of shoes donated, and your shoes find a new home with someone who desperately needs them.

Kindrunner.com also is your new online informative platform. Along with bettering the environment they want to better you, as a runner. With the focus on expert shoe fitting and product guidance online, they are offering the best performing and highest rated running products, including Newton, Saucony, Brooks, Mizuno, Asics, Innov-8, and Pearl Izumi. Yes, thats right, they have Newtons!!

A little note from Kindrunner…

“We stretch a single carbon foot print to its maximum potential. We believe that thoughtful and educated runners all over the country will relate to our movement and want to be a Kindrunner.”

If this is you, and you want to be a Kindrunner…

Start by visiting their initial homage, www.kindrunner.com , and enter the”Win Free Running Shoes for a Year!” contest. If you and a running partner both register (just enter your email address and confirm it’s yours) you both are signed up to win. If either one of you is selected to win the contest both of you will win free running shoes for a whole year (three pairs each!).”

Find more information about kindrunner on their facebook page.

Also check them out on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Questions for You?

What do you do with your old running shoes?
Do you want to be a Kindrunner?

*Most pictures are by Kindrunner.

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