Eat Clean. Train Mean.

I just finished my 12 week body transformation challenge with Generator Crossfit.  My personal goal was to transition 5 lbs of fat into 5 lbs of muscle.  I got my initial tests done on January 7.  I was a little shocked when I saw that I had 24.1% body fat and was in the "moderately lean" category.  I've never struggled with my weight and aside from losing post-pregnancy weight have always been "thin".  Today I measured at 18.6% body fat.  I lost 5.5% body fat and gained 5.4 lbs of muscle with a 2.6 lb overall loss. I couldn't be happier about my results.  I plan to keep doing what I'm doing and see where this takes me over the next 6 months.  I know I can build even more muscles and get stronger!!

Eating Clean:
After my initial test in January I met with my trainer and he told me to try to get 100-150g of protein a day and focus on my food coming from lean proteins, good fats and good carbs.  I tracked my food and ate totally clean for about 3 weeks then it became more of a lifestyle than actual diet.  I do my best to eat clean about 75% of the time - I'm most definitely not even close to perfect with my eating.  But I try to make good choices and use my food to fuel my body.  I drink a lot of protein shakes (after workouts and before bed every day) and try to get as much lean protein as possible with every meal and my snacks.  I  eat eggs, tuna, salmon, almonds, bacon and chicken a lot. I rarely eat dairy (except butter, cheese and an occasional Greek yogurt) and I avoid most grains now.  I still eat out and I still enjoy my favorite treats - but rather than let the whole day go down the drain I just try to eat as clean as possible every meal.

Train Mean:
I love working out.  Truly, if I could I would do 2 or 3 workouts every day because of how much I love it.  But since I can't just spend all day working out here's what I've been doing. I go to crossfit 5-6 days a week and do cardio 4 days a week.  I try to always separate the workouts by at least 3 hours to allow my body to fully recover.  When I don't have enough time between them my second workout is never as strong as it should be.  My trainer told us to do high intensity interval training for our cardio with only 1 long run a week. Talk about a big challenge for me.  I love running so much but since I was determined to build lean muscle I agreed to give it a go.  I've changed my spin classes to be very high intensity interval focused for 10-30 minutes max then the rest of the hour we work on leg strength or drills.  Running consists of 1 day of hill intervals, 1 day of sprint intervals and 1 long run a week.  On interval runs we usually walk between intervals instead of jogging.  It was a tough transition but I've grown to like it.  And Saturday on my long run I felt dang good for the first time since the St George marathon last year. 

My bro-in-law asked me which I liked more crossfit or running.  I can't say that I like either one more than the other anymore.  I love them both so much and for me with my goals they fit hand-in-hand.  They are both very social for me which is huge for me.  The fun factor has to be there for me. I don't intend to stop doing either one.  I feel like crossfit is making me a stronger runner and I know running helps my crossfit game too.  My cardio and endurance are great which helps me in the chipper wods.  I know there are a lot of haters out there - haters on running and haters on crossfit.  I hear it from people all the time.  But personally I love them both and think they might be the best combination ever!  At 41 years old I'm in the best shape I've ever been in my entire life. 

Not just chicken

Part of my job right now is to work with several people on weight loss.  It helped me lose those last several pounds and I love talking to people about health and fitness.  One of the questions I've gotten several times this week is "what else can I eat besides chicken?"  Chicken is a great option for protein a 3.5 serving (1 split chicken breast) is 30 grams.

But......I really don't love cooking chicken and I get bored too fast when it's what I eat for dinner every night.  I will eat it when someone else is cooking but I don't eat it too much.  Here are some of my go-to protein options.  


Protein Powder: 1 scoop 20 g
Cottage cheese: 1/2 cup 15 g
Greek Yogurt: 1 cup 24 g
1 egg: 6 g 
Cheddar cheese 1 oz slice: 8 g
Deli ham 1 oz: 7 g
Skim Milk: 8 oz:  8 g
Peanut Butter 2 T:  8 g
Nuts: 1/4 c: 8 g
Black beans: 1/2 c 7 g

So as I try to eat 30 g of protein per meal here are some of the meals I've been eating.

Chocolate/pb shake: 45 g protein
12 oz milk
ice
1 1/2 scoops chocolate protein powder
1 T peanut butter

or when I do have time to make my own I use this one
 

 
Meat/cheese roll-ups: 30 g protein
3 oz of deli meat
1 slice of colby jack cheese
1 apple

(I don't actually roll mine up...I just chop them and snack on them with my apple)
 

Taco Salad: 40 g protein
4 oz lean ground beef
1/2 c black beans
2 T cheddar cheese
Romaine lettuce
Sour Cream
Salsa
Avocado


Chef Salad: 50 g protein
Romaine Lettuce
1 c. cottage cheese
1 slice colby jack cheese
3 slices deli meat (ham & turkey) 

Greek Yogurt w/fruit and almonds: 32 g protein

High School Skinny

Today I hit my goal weight!  I decided after Christmas that I wanted to drop a few pounds. Now I just need to maintain.  

I am thinner right now that I was on the day I got married.

But thank goodness I'm not high school skinny.....

I'm focusing on high protein (30 grams - 3 times a day) and eating smarter and the double workouts aren't hurting either.  I also do a lot of supplements.

Review - Roctane Drink

I am a big fan of the Roctane GU's - I use them on almost every long run I do and can really feel a difference with them.  So when I saw this product at Runner's Corner I bought it without a second thought.  I've now used it several times and I LOVE it!  I used it last week on my 18 mile long run.  Then again throughout the week.  I did several back-to-back workouts this week (run-crossfit-run) and I like the constant energy this gave me.  When I take a GU I can feel the difference but then it wears off.  I like that I can sip on this the entire workout.  I don't think I'll ever use it when I run outside because I hate carrying a water bottle with me.  But for biking or indoor workouts this is a must have right now for me.  The biggest downfall is that it's a little pricey - $25 for 12 servings.

Staying fit during the holidays

I'm not good at making diet treats.  I'd rather make the real thing and eat a smaller portion or workout more to eat a full piece.  I know this doesn't work for everyone but I just can't really do diet deserts.  

When I saw this recipe for "Skinny Pumpkin Pie" on pinterest I was intrigued - but like half the stuff on there it went to a broken link.  Oh well I guess I'll just make real pumpkin pie next week.

I try to stay fit over the holidays and a few of the things I do are:

- don't let 1 meal or treat ruin the entire day
- keep working out
- drink extra water
- try to make my non-party meals extra healthy (protein shakes, low cal, etc)
- make people take home the leftovers (especially desserts)
- don't beat myself up and enjoy the holiday

What do you do to combat the holidays?

Today's workout:  spin (after I taught my 45 minute class I just rode the bike for another 40 minutes)

Death by Squats

The name alone should have made me walk away....but I decided to do go for it anyway.  I started the morning with 3.5 miles on the treadmill then did the 360 fit workout of the day - "death by squats".  For the workout we started with 5 squats during a one minute interval - you got to rest as soon as you finished.  Then we did 6, 7, 8, etc. until we couldn't finish in a minute.  I made it to 28.  Which means I did 396 squats in 28 minutes!!  Then I had to do max rep pushups - 25 for me.  After than I jumped back on the treadmill to finish my run.  I ran 1.5 more miles and thought I was going to die.  Truly.  My legs felt 100 lbs each.  It took almost 3/4 of a mile before they relaxed at all.  But I really wanted to get 5 miles in so I forced myself to keep going.  Now my legs are jello.  

And since I worked out so hard I thought I should make sure to eat really healthy today.  My goal right now is to eat lots of protein - 30 g. 3x's a day. 

Breakfast: recovery shake - winder dairy recovery with a banana and udo's oil
Lunch:  Fage greek yogurt (1 c.) with fresh blueberries and Traci's homemade granola
Snack:  apple, string cheese and nuts

Straight Up

I got tired of the way my Udo's made my shake taste in the mornings so I decided to just start taking it straight up.   I pour 1-2 T in my little cup and down it fast chased by water, water and more water.  Then I feel like I can enjoy my recovery shake more since it doesn't have the "nutty" taste of Udo's.  I love my Udo's and I really do think it is making a difference in my training but the taste is just nasty to me.  I bought the pills but you have to take 14 of them to equal a T so that wasn't worth it to me either.  I did find that if I have banana in my shake I can't taste it - but I don't always put them in my shake. 

On the side of the package it talks about the "pleasant, nutty, buttery taste" and how you can put it on cereal and even "poured over dessert".  Are you kidding me?  Maybe over veggies or salad.  It makes me laugh when I read that line on the bottle.  You must have jacked up taste buds to pour this over dessert!

Today was a tempo run.  1 mile warm up then 5 miles at 7:53 pace then a mile cool down.  Somehow I did the whole thing without resorting to loud music blasting in my ears.  You know it's true friendship when you can run together non-stop and still not run out of things to talk about!!  

The gym was really packed this morning at 5:40 am so I ran on a different type of treadmill at the gym today and once I hit 60 minutes it automatically went to cool down.  I was in my last half mile and it just slowed all the way down.  SO ANNOYING!! I tried turning it back up but every minute it would go back down.  So I just walked the last tenth of a mile.  Next time I'm running on my usual one.

Recovering from a long run

After Saturday's 20 miler I knew I had a long full day ahead of me (my brother was moving, lots of laundry to be done and I had lots of shopping to do) and that I wasn't going to be able to just lay in bed reading like my body wanted to.  So I made sure to do my full recovery routine.  

1.  Protein drink (at least 30 g of protein)

2. Udo's Oil

3. Gatorade (this helps my tummy not cramp the rest of the day)

4. Ice bath - this time I did it different than I ever have before.  I filled 2 tubs one with hot water and one with ice water and did 5 min hot - 5 min cold - 5 min hot - 5 min cold.  I think it worked better than a straight 10 min ice bath.

5. Roller - focusing on my hips and hamstrings

6.  Compression socks

7. Flip flops - there is no way I could get my feet into closed toe shoes

I think it worked - because I was tired but not sore the rest of the day.  And yesterday I wasn't sore at all.  Today was a 9 mile run and even though I felt like I got hit by a truck since I slept horrible last night my legs felt good.  I didn't have "flat tire" legs.

I'm a GU girl

I am a total creature of habit and I hate change.  But sometimes I don't have a choice - like when I'm too lazy to go to Runner's Corner the day before a long run.  Last week on my long run (14 miles) I didn't do GU and just used what I had in the drawer.  I didn't feel great on the run so I'm going to blame it on the gels and go back to my "go-to" gels.  Personally, I love Roctane and regular GU's.  I usually alternate between them on runs. So I stocked up at the running store.  Bring on the training my drawer is full.

Today I ran 5 miles.  Don't worry no GU needed for a 5 miler.

5 days till the race & the dirty dash

I can't believe the race is 5 days away.  OH MY!  I am trying hard to keep myself calm but it's not working too well.  I keep telling myself "you've trained for this don't stress it".  But it's not working.  I'm an anxious person and I am a freak show at starting lines (just ask anyone who has done races with me).  I bounce back and forth from foot to foot and I chatter and I move constantly.  My advice - don't stand by me at the starting line if you're easily annoyed because I am annoying.  

I've been thinking a lot about my nutrition this week and just read this article on runnersworld.com and think it has great advice.  

My plan for the week:  

• drink water and gatorade a little more than normal but not crazy to hydrate myself
• eat foods I love in moderate amounts - mexican food & pasta are my faves
• no extra fiber
• get lots of sleep all week since I won't be sleeping the night before the race
• eat a small bowl of oatmeal 2 hours before the race

My workouts this week are:  3 miles today, spin tomorrow, 6 miles speed work Wed, 3 miles Thurs, rest Friday.

Last Saturday I went to the Dirty Dash for work and because Todd was running it.  There was no way I was going to run the race the week before the marathon but I thought support crew was ok.  For the most part I was fine but we were running across crazy terrain to get to the obstacles before our work team so we could film it and somehow I tweaked my knee.  It stressed me out Saturday - but with ice, aleve and my mom's help I feel as good as new.  PHEW!

My bro-in-law and hubby before the race

 Me and Deni Hill (from season 11 biggest loser)

icing my knee ..... boo!

Udo's Oil Review

It's been a month since I started on Udo's Oil and I am ready to buy another bottle.  I feel great these days.  The hard part for me is pin pointing what feels great and what it's coming from.  

I've done a lot of things different the past 6 months with my running.  I'm doing a totally different training program (Smart Coach from Runner's World) which has taken my mileage up to 35-45 a week consistently.  I wear compression socks every few runs and love them.  And I take my 2T of Udo's Oil every morning (seriously I haven't missed a day yet) with my high protein recovery shake. 

Today on our 12 miler the girls and I were talking about being achy and I realized that's where I'm feeling the most difference since I started on Udo's.  Most nights I'm achy and sore so rather than be lazy I take a hot bath to relax my lower back and do my roller.  I haven't take a bath or rolled in the last 3 weeks because I don't hurt at night.  Is it from Udo's?  I don't know.  But I do know that things seem to be working for me so I'm not going to change anything right now.  I'm sticking with the oil, socks and training program I'm not.  Why mess with a good thing?

A text from a friend

I just got this image sent to me. I love that my friends tell me when there are good deals on running stuff. I'm a GU girl. I love the peanut butter ones and Roctane are my go-to gels when I need even more.

Yesterday a 7 mile hill run and I was planning on doing a double to get ready for Ragnar....but I got lazy and didn't do my second run. Oh well.

Tomorrow is a 17 miler up the canyon.

What I do before long runs

I had to do a presentation at work today - which meant I wanted to look good - which meant wearing heels.  I hate wearing heels the day before a long run they make my feet and hips hurt! (I'm soooo old) 

So when I got back to my office after my presentation was over slipped off my shoes and started rolling my feet on my tennis ball.  I do this a lot - I keep a tennis ball under my desk.  (Note to people who work with me - NEVER touch the tennis ball under my desk it's all sorts of foot nasty!!) 

Other things I plan on doing today to prepare for my long run tomorrow:  

• drink lots of water
• eat a good dinner (mexican food and pasta are my favorites)
• roll out my legs
• go to sleep early
• not walk around in these heels all day :)

 Anything special you do before a big run to get ready?

Recovery Drinks - I love them!

Today's run was 10 miles.  I ran 2.5 to meet G then we did 5 miles of serious hills.  I was dying.  My legs felt like they weighed 100 pounds each.  Then after our hills I ran the 2.5 miles home.  

Today's recovery drink:

Winder Farms recovery chocolate milk

1 T. almond butter

1 frozen banana

1/4 c. oats

2 T Udo's oil

Delicious!  I like the texture the oats add to the drink - it feels like more of a meal.  I drink a protein shake pretty much every day for breakfast.  They are easy and I can get in lots of protein.  I try to drink them within 20 minutes of finishing my workout when I can. 

Tomorrow:  rest

Saturday:  10 miles


Do you have any good recipes you use for your protein shakes?  

16 miles on the marathon course

Today was a 16 mile run.  We drove up the canyon so we could run on the marathon course.  13 of our 16 miles today were on the marathon course.  There are a couple of uphills on the course and the more I run them the more mentally strong I will be on race day.  


The run felt good. I took a GU at mile 7 and then again at mile 12.  I drank about 16 oz of water during the run and then a Gatorade when I got home.  And I haven't had any cramping at all today.  Hooray!!  Also, I wore my new pink compression socks today and honestly my legs feel pretty darn good right now.  Maybe they really do work.


For recovery I took a 10 minute ice bath and drank my usual chocolate milk recovery drink.  


I am way excited that my average pace (even with walking while I took my GU) was 8:30.  Most of the run was a gradual downhill which helps but it is very exciting to be running that pace.  (ignore the current pace - I was standing in my bathroom after the run).  


P.S. This month I ran 170 miles!!  And I'm already at 456 miles for the year.  


P.S.S. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my Garmin 305.  I hope it never breaks because I don't want to change.  

Free Gu

Last weekend my sister and parents went to a nutrition expo in California. So today when they got home they hooked me up with all the goodies they picked up just for me. Yippee! I love it.

I can't wait to try out a few of these new options. When I go to Runners Corner I always buy the same stuff - orange vanilla roctane. It's by far my favorite for the way It makes me feel. I also like vanilla and chocolate accel gel. But I don't stray much beyond those.

What do you use on long runs?

How do I measure up?

I like these fitness tips so when I saw them I thought I'd share them.  

Let's see how well I do these?

Start Running:  Yes. I run 4 days a week.  

Drink more water: Yes. I drink a good amount of water (and diet coke...oops). 

Log what you eat: Sometimes. Only when I'm trying to lose weight - I should do this more so I can be sure I'm fueling my body right

Never skip breakfast: Yes.  I have a protein shake every morning.

Exercise with a friend:  YES!  This is the only way to exercise.  I have a great group of girls that I exercise with.  Love them!

Eat more veggies:  Sometimes.  I love veggies when they are fresh out of the garden so if summer and fall would get here I could for sure say yes to this one.

Set goals & rewards:  Yes.  I am pretty much always signed up for a race and I LOVE to reward myself.

Weigh yourself weekly:  Yes.  Friday is my weigh in day.  

Enjoy cheat days:  Yes, Yes, Yes.  However, maybe I should have a few less of these.

Have fun & stay positive: Yes.  This isn't usually an issue with me.  I love working out!

P.S.  Today's workout was an 8.5 mile run and tomorrow is our long run of 12 miles.

The more I run...

The better I feel.  Our mileage has been steadily increasing for months now.  Before doing this training program (even the last time I trained for a marathon) I found that 7 miles was my break point.  That was when I needed water and gu and anything more than that just felt sooooo long.  Now that I rarely run less than 9 miles at a time my body has been adjusting and I can easily go 10 miles without taking any GU.  I still carry water or Gatorade with me just to be sure I don't dehydrate but I don't feel like I'm going to die without it.  

Today I took a little bottle of Gatorade with me - the kid size ones.  I have some extra from when I had to take drinks and treats to a basketball game for one of the kids.  Anyway,  it was the perfect amount of hydration as well as a nice little pick me up with the carbs and electrolytes.  I'm hoping that with this training and my body adjusting to the miles by the marathon I can still feel great with fewer gu's and less water so I don't have to stop to use the porta potty.  I guess training does pay off :)

Today:  10 miles

Tomorrow:  spin and lift

All for a free GU

Today when I was getting my hair done I was chatting with my hair dresser (Patrick) and we were talking about blogging.  I told him that I have a running blog and he asked me why he hasn't been featured on it.  Well this isn't really that type of a blog but I have a great way to feature him on here.  

Last year we were talking about running (as I always do) and we talked about training for half-marathons and which races we were doing.  He signed up for his first half and I was way excited (I get excited about people training and running).  We talked about nutrition and when and how I hydrate and gu, etc.  So on my next visit I brought him one of my favorites (rocktane) to try out on a training run.  However, when race day came he didn't do the race and he didn't want to tell me.  I went into the salon to pick up Todd and saw Patrick there and he hung his head in shame and told me he didn't run.  Since I gave him a gu he owed me a race.  I still remind him of that fact every few months.  

I might be a bit crazy but hopefully I'm not too annoying :)

Today's workout:  spin (lots of endurance hills) and weights.

Annual Work Checkup

This morning at work I had my annual health review for lower insurance rates.  They do blood work, weight, BMI, body fat %, etc.  It's great to have cheaper insurance but I wasn't very happy during my personal assessment meeting today.  

In 2005 my body fat was 1% lower that it is now.  That was 2 kids and 6 years ago.  I'd think only varying by 1% would be a good thing.  But this sweet young girl who was doing my analysis challenged me to do better.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Obviously I'm a bit wound up about this.  She should have been telling me great job on maintaining myself in my old age.  She also told me that snacking every 2-3 hours is the best way to eat.  Agreed.  However, I simply don't have time to prepare healthy snacks everyday for myself so I choose not to snack.  It's not like I'm eating candy bars between meals.  But still she told me that everyday when I get home from work before doing anything else I should pack up my lunch bag with healthy snacks for the next day.  Great idea - maybe she'd like to get my kids settled, dinner on the table, homework done and signed for me so I can pack myself some snacks.  

I'm done.  There were other things that I felt she shouldn't have said to me and maybe if I would have just agreed with her instead of telling her why I do the things I do it would have gone better.  But I pride myself in being a pretty healthy person and my results were all in the "good" category so she should have just backed off. 

Now I'm going to go get today's 7 mile run in and maybe eat a healthy snack :)