Happy Trails

Happy Spring everyone! I mentioned last week about how one of the things I love is trail running and what better time to do it than in the springtime? It is different than road running though. Instead of trying to go fast, you slow down a bit, take in the fresh air and look at the trees. It's out in nature and the surface is more giving and you can hear birds and see four legged creatures (and no legged creatures). There are three things that I like to remember when I am trail running that keep me going and remind me what it's all about. 

Home sweet home

Eat: This has a few different meanings. First of all, it's important to eat more during a trail run than a regular one. I am still working on this one myself, but it's important to get in more calories than you normally would. For a typical trail run, I tend to eat about twice as often as I do when I am on a road run. Second, when I am racing, I stop all of the aid stations and take the time to eat a few handfuls of food, instead of trying to do all my fueling while on the run. However, if you are running a race, check to see what the race will have in the way of food, because what you have trained with may not be available. And we all know that you don't want to try something for the first time during a race, especially if it's an Ultra!

Some suggested foods that work for me: potatoes and salt, gummy bears, any and all fruit, baby food / applesauce, honey stinger chews / waffles, chocolate raspberry roctane.

Fern run

Drink: Every time I get to an uphill, I slow down (or walk) and drink. Even when I am only running a few miles, I always carry water with me. Of course, in the woods, there is the added bonus of being able to use the bushes whenever you want, without having to worry about needing a port-a-potty (PS, when I did my last 50k, I did not use the bathroom once!), so drink up! I also finally broke down and got a hydration vest a few weeks ago and I am loving it!

Suggested drinks: I usually only use water, but sometimes I also use Nuun when I feel I need a bit of an extra boost.

Coastal Run

Be Merry: Talk to other people. When you stop at the aid stations during a race, talk to the volunteers. Look at the trees. Stop to take pictures. Trail running is fun! It's hiking at a bit of a quicker pace. You are not really in a hurry, so slow down and enjoy the scenery. 

Through the eucalyptus.

Do you hike or trail run? What is your favorite thing about being on the trails? What is your favorite trial snack? 

One Step at a Time: Part II

After a year hiatus, I recently started running again and it was a great change for the better! You can see my post about that HERE. These changes made me feel much better and as an added bonus, I did lose about 15 pounds. Change in eating habits were also a huge part of my increase in energy. People have asked me what changes I made. I am here to tell you.  

Note that a 150 pound woman burns approximately 100 calories a mile when running. All calorie information is derived from LoseIt.

Eat a Good Breakfast: I know you have heard this one a million times. But how many times have you rushed out the door with barely time for a cup of coffee? Or you may say that when you eat breakfast you are hungrier during the day. Yes, this may be true, but that is because eating breakfast kick starts your metabolism (which is good). You don’t have to spend a lot of time or energy making something every day. Just have one of these quick and easy choices or something equally filling: an egg and toast and fruit; peanut butter, toast and fruit; oatmeal with fruit and nuts. It’s important to have a good mix of protein and carbs to keep you feeling fuller throughout the day. If you need a snack later, have one. But make it a healthy snack (see below)!

2 Lg Eggs (180), 1 slice Multi Grain Toast (69), Banana (105): 354 cal

2 Tbsp PB* (188), 1 slice Multi Grain Toast (69), Grapefruit (78): 335 cal

½ cup Oatmeal (150), ½ cup Strawberries (23), 2 Tbsp Walnuts (96), 2 oz Almond Milk (15): 284 cal

*2 Tbsp Almond Butter = 203

Limit alcohol intake: I am not saying you need to be a complete teetotaler, but cutting out some alcohol makes a huge impact on your calorie intake, AND your budget. Not having a bottle of wine at dinner makes it seem like the restaurant has just given you a huge discount! As far as calories go, booze is empty calories. It really has no beneficial effect on your body (excepting maybe that red wine/heart thing they keep going back and forth on).

6 oz glass of red wine: 150 cal

6 oz glass of white wine: 145 cal

1 oz whiskey: 64 cal

1 oz vodka: 64 cal (8 oz soda: 97 cal = 161 cal mixed drink)

12 oz Bud Light: 110 cal

12 oz Michelob Ultra: 96 calories

So, for almost each drink you have, you have to run 1 – 1.5 miles. Also consider that for every 100 calories, you could instead have 3 oz of chicken breast, ½ cup of brown rice or as a treat, a cookie! If you feel like having a whole bottle of wine, go ahead. Just make sure you run approximately 6 miles to make up for it!

Limit snack intake: Like I mentioned above, a cookie is nearly 100 calories (or if you get the molasses ginger snap at Starbucks, it will cost you 350 calories!) There are many snacks which we just eat to feed a craving, because we are bored or because we are sitting in front of the TV or computer (side note: bad idea!) and not even because we are hungry. However, if you are hungry, you may want to consider eating a more filling meal at mealtime. Or if you do feel the need to snack, eat something that will sustain you. Those chips will not make you feel full until you have had way too many of them. Have a banana first. If you are still hungry afterwards (or you NEED salt), have a few chips. I am not suggesting you totally cut out the things you love, just be aware of portion sizes!

7” banana: 105 cal

Lg Apple: 116 cal

Mandarin: 40 cal

15 baby carrots (52) & 2 Tbsp Hummus (46): 98 cal

Vs.

27 Cheez-its:  150 cal

2”macaroon: 97 cal

¼ cup peanut M&Ms: 220 cal

½ cup of ice cream: 150 calories

Limit Eating Out: You have heard this one before as well, I am sure. The portions are huge, if it is there in front of me, I have to eat it, and who knows what they put in that food. If it tastes good, they probably loaded it with butter, salt or some kind of fat or oil. Why not go make your own broccoli soup so you can control how much of the good stuff goes into it? Why not buy your own hamburger fixings so you can do-it-yourself at home? You don’t have to give up treats altogether, but it is better if you can not only make your dishes with less of what ails you, but serve yourself less as well. If you are going to eat out, be aware of what you are eating. Restaurant food is loaded with hidden calories.

Eat Your Leftovers: I read a study where they tested two sets of people to see how full they felt after a meal. One set had one bowl of soup. The other set had a bowl with a hidden stream of soup, refilling from the bottom. Both groups said they felt equally as full, even though the second group had eaten 70% more soup! Oftentimes I make a big pot of chili or a bunch of chicken breasts on the weekend and eat them throughout the week to save time. Be careful though, or you may find yourself eating the entire pot in one go! Experts suggest serving yourself one serving size to and putting the rest away, right away. If it is in front of you, either on the table or even on the stove, you will be more tempted to have more, even if you don’t need it.

Keep Track of What You Eat: Like I said above, keeping track is a great way to help you make good decisions. You don’t have to be on Weight Watchers to realize that keeping track and keeping yourself accountable of what you are eating is a smart move! I have heard some people say that it doesn’t work for them for a couple of reasons. 

1.) If they go a little bit over budget in one day, they figure what the heck, you may as well go way over. NOT TRUE. You can make up for it tomorrow, but why not just go a little bit over today if you have to, instead of binging! Keeping track helps you realize when you are getting close to enough calories per day for YOUR body. The other thing is that if you go a little bit over, go out for a half an hour walk to balance things out instead of giving up on yourself all together! 

2.) They don’t enter the food until later in the day or tomorrow, when it is already too late. THAT’S OKAY. It still gives you an idea of where you did well, where you went wrong and what you need to change in the future. This is only a tool to help you plan the future, not one that restricts you! It just makes you more aware! 

Free trackers: LoseIt, My Fitness Pal

I hope that this post will help you to learn from my mistakes! Don’t forget that exercise is also a very important part of staying healthy and feeling good! 

Have you ever tried tracking your food and exercise? What do you normally have for breakfast?

One Step at a Time

I have run on and off for a long time. From May 2010 to May 2011, I did not run at all. I traveled; I did some hiking; I did some lifting of the 40 pound backpack from time to time, but otherwise was not that active. I did not want to worry about when I would run or the safety of running (very often a concern in some of the places we went). I wanted to have fun and see the sights. So that is what I did. I also gained about 10 pounds. When I got home from my travels, I felt blah. I knew I had been eating badly and not exercising. I decided to put an end to it.

I did not start running again to lose weight. I did it for many reasons. I had just moved to a new place and started a new job. I needed to have a goal. I needed a way to keep myself busy in an otherwise unknown place. I needed to get rid of that heavy feeling.  I also changed my eating habits. Before, I had been eating out a lot. I ate everything on my plate because I did not know when we would eat again. Even when I did not eat out, food often consisted of whatever I could get my hands on and even better, what was easy to travel with or get while traveling. There were a lot of sandwiches, cup of noodles, tuna, crackers, jerky and other non-perishable items.

Six months later, I feel 100% better. I have lost weight, but more importantly, I lost that heavy feeling that I had. Running has played a big part in this feeling. I have something to look forward to and it is not only good for my health but it is good for my mental stability. My suggestion to you, if you are trying to achieve the same is:

Make a Schedule: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Even if your plan consists of “run 1 mile, 1x per week”, make it and try your best to stick to it. Achieving goals, no matter how small, makes you feel productive, which in turn makes you feel good about yourself, which in turn keeps you going strong and making new goals (next month maybe you will run TWO miles, 2x per week!)

Sign Up For a Race: If you feel brave, signing up for a race, a 5k maybe, is the best thing to do. It gives you something to look forward to/strive for. Also for me, it seems harder to back out once I am signed up. And I am not going to go at it half-way. Once I sign up and pay, I have made that commitment to myself to do as well as I can. It makes you more accountable. Besides, the most fun part about running is the races. If you don’t experience a race, you may never know the true joy of the sport. If you are not ready to run, join one and walk! It's fun to be surrounded by such energy!

Baby Steps: Everyone starts somewhere. I ran a lot in the past, but having time off brought me right back to the beginning. When I first tried to run 2 miles, I had trouble. Don’t worry about it. A good strategy is to run until you can’t run anymore (100 feet? That’s okay!), then walk for a little while, then run again until you can’t, then walk. Alternate this pattern for a certain amount of time. You can also use time as your guide. A run one minute, walk two (or three or four) minutes schedule is a good idea. Then you gradually increase your running segment and decrease your walking segment little by little and eventually you will get rid of your walking segment altogether.

Change in eating habits were also a huge part of my increase in energy. But this post is long enough. Stay tuned for information on how I changed my food intake in order to feel more energetic, healthier, faster and slimmer. 

Dont' forget to go check out Jill's Fitness Friday link up! 

Have you ever taken a long break from running? What advice would you have for someone just starting out (or getting back into it after a break?)

Waste Not, Want Not

Last year I ended up with a bunch of Christmas cards that I did not want to throw stuff away, so I decided that I was going to attempt to make something out of them. I saw something similar on my friend Tammy’s site, but hers were way cooler since she has the tag punch that makes cool shapes. All I had was a pair of pinking shears and a hole-punch. I am not very crafty, but it was fun anyway and they work, even if they are not beautiful.

In an effort to get rid of stuff and keep my suitcase storage unit life organized, I am trying to use things I already have to aid me in wrapping and boxing and ribboning. It is hard, because you don’t want to save too much stuff, thinking “I will use this later” (just like the similar, “I will fix this later” and “I will make this later” where stuff starts to easily pile up), but I hate to have to go out and buy something that I know I could have easily already had.

Even worse is when you do save something to use and then you can’t find it so you have to buy it again anyway. This happens to me when I am traveling. For example, I went to Missouri in June. It was HOT. As autumn started to arrive, I had to buy a couple of sweaters even though I already had plenty at home. Since I was not going home any time soon, it was the only solution, other than having some sent. However, I solved it by buying them at the thrift store for two dollars each.

Oops, I got sidetracked. What I was trying to say is that this year I not only saved the cards from last year, but I made something out of them AND found them so I could use them again this year (that last part is key). Score, score and triple score. I even talked my Dad into using some of them! He’s weird though. He doesn’t care if they match the wrapping paper or not. Doesn't he know they are supposed to match? (yes, I know, I am the weird one)

What you’ll need:

Pinking Shears

Hole-Punch (or you can buy one of those punches at Michaels that make your card into a certain shape. They are really fun. There are round, flower shaped and many more.)

Colored Pens

Last Year’s Christmas Cards

Cut the cards into different sized squares (or whatever shape you want really.)

Punch holes into them. I couldn’t decide whether to do it in the middle of the top or the corner of the top. I ended up choosing the middle, but after using a few, I may use the corner for some of them next time. 

If you want, you can write “to” and “from” on them now. I did some for now and then wrote on others once I wrapped the gift. It’s up to you. 

Now you have fun Christmas tags! 

Attach the tags to presents using ribbon. Voila! (matchy, matchy)

Do you re-use anything from last year’s Christmas? Do you make anything crafty out of your old Christmas items?  What do you do with your old Christmas cards?

12:12 Camera Accessories

This is the last week of 12 Weeks to Better Photos! Thanks Kate for hosting! It was fun to play along and have a "classmate" to study with!  In case you missed it,here are the links to the first 11 weeks:

Week 1: Aperture
Week 2: Shutter Speed and ISO
Week 3: White Balance
Week 4: Flash
Week 5: Composition
Week 6: Shooting Indoors

Week 7: Shooting Outdoors and Macro

Week 8: On The Go
Week 9: Portraits
Week 10: Landscapes
Week 11: Your Daily Environment

Week 12 is really just a rundown of what types of accessories you can get for your camera. So, instead of going into detail about this (you can read the pdf HERE), I am going to talk a little about a couple of accessories I have found to be useful and a couple that I would like to have. If you are a camera person, please tell me what else YOU think I should get next.

My newest lens is this one. It's a 35mm. So far, so good, except I have to keep remembering to take a step back, since my kit lens is an 18-105 and so it gets a little more into the frame.

Source: google.com via Kyria on Pinterest

One of the best pieces of advice I received was to buy a UV Filter. It helps protect the lens from getting scratched and filters the light as well. It screws right on the lens and does not affect the lens cap from going back on.

Source: google.com via Kyria on Pinterest

I also have a tripod, which does wonders when you are shooting landscapes etc, but I have to admit, is a pain in the butt to cart around most of the time.

What I would like to have is:

Because I hate that red-eyed look:

Source: target.com via Kyria on Pinterest

Because sometimes you want a good group shot:

Source: google.com via Kyria on Pinterest

Because I like to throw my camera in my purse:

Source: amazon.com via Kyria on Pinterest

Check out my Photography Pinboard HERE. 

Also folks if you are looking for a new camera, here are a few good deals I have seen lately!

At Target: Canon Powershot. $129.99 for regular priced $179.99 -- 12MP 4x optical zoom

Source: target.com via Kyria on Pinterest

At Costco -- Fujifilm 500EXR -- comes with camera case and memory card -- 16MP / 15x optical zoom *I can't find the price online, but I think when I was in the store, it was about $129.00.

Source: shop.costco.com via Kyria on Pinterest

Do you have a favorite accessory? Is there something that you use all the time and love?