Running

Fitness Update

January 25, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running | Comments Off on Fitness Update

Ok, so I’m going to try something new this week and do TWO posts in one week. I may regret this idea, but we’ll see how it goes. Since readers are split down the middle — between running/fitness posts and recipe posts — I want to appeal to both equally. I’m going to try posting a recipe on Wednesday and a fitness update on Thursday. What do you think??

It’s been about two weeks since my initial fitness update, so I wanted to let you know how the past two weeks have been.

I didn’t follow my plan to a T… and that’s perfectly fine and normal in my book. I have a BASIC plan, so I have something on paper to help move me along. But life happens, and we need to listen to our bodies. For instance, a workout didn’t happen on Thursday the 19th due to a family emergency, and I decided not to run yesterday morning, because I could tell I needed a break. My right hamstring was extra tight and my morning heart rate was elevated (I’ve been taking it every morning since Jan 1st). So instead, I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes, at my normal workout time. This helps me to stay in my workout routine, still get some blood flowing, yet not overdue it. Keeping the pattern going really helps me to stay on track.

Sunday’s long run was my first 11 miler where I incorporated some planned speed work, which is why I think I’m feeling more tired than normal.

If you can decipher this mess below, you can see what I’ve completed so far of my 12 week workout plan. I cross off and add arrows and make changes where needed. This is not an exact science, I am not a professional athlete, I’m just trying to stay healthy and offset the amount of time I spend sitting in front of my computer, designing. 🙂 Not to mention I enjoy running and sweating out the everyday stresses.

I can’t forget to mention, I got a new Garmin! My Garmin 610 has been dropping satellite reception A LOT lately, so sad to see it go — it served me well for 3.5 years! My new one is the Garmin 235 and it does way more than the 610 ever did; GPS watches have come a loooong way in 3.5 years! In just one little watch, I can get text and phone call alerts, social media alerts (if I want), track my sleep patterns and sleep quality, track my ongoing heart rate, track my heart rate during workouts without a chest strap (which I’m still on the fence about the accuracy – more to come later), track daily steps, sync with My Fitness Pal to see calories in/calories out, syncs with my iPhone calendar so I can see my day at a glance from my wrist, syncs with local weather, and I can ping my iPhone if I lost or misplaced it… just to name the top level things. 🙂 I’ll keep you posted on how it holds up on additional runs and workouts.

Lastly, food tracking has been going well. I still haven’t tracked specific calories, I’ve just been focusing on eating as many plants as possible… and sometimes beer makes its way in there. Beer is a plant, right?

Seriously though. I’m just trying to keep it real. I know that sometimes people think I have this “perfect” (<– what IS that anyway) way of eating and are shocked when they see me eat a treat or drink a beer in person. I don’t post about those things on my blog, because that is not my focus here. Those times are the exception, not the rule. I want to set a good example as well, so posting about it never made sense to me. I’ve realized that sometimes it gives people the wrong impression that I NEVER eat “off track” so to speak. That was never my intention.

Food is not my religion, life is too damn short and our bodies are incredibly resilient if we treat them right the majority of the time.

If you eat healthy 80-90% of the time, you can have a beer here or a cupcake there IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT. As you can see below, I have dark chocolate covered almonds to curb sweet cravings and I had a beer when I was out for a night of bar trivia with my parents and Mr. ZR. Writing food down, without tracking numbers (which is exhausting and takes all the fun out of food for me), is a way for me to hold myself accountable. I can look back and see how often I’ve had a single beer or a few chocolate chips and realize, oh hey! Maybe that is too much. LOL Then I can adjust moving forward.

So as a whole, I’m REALLY enjoying this little Be Well Fitness Log I bought. It has definitely helped me to stay on track and not feel stressed about my fitness goals. By next week’s update, I will have completed 30 days on this plan so it will be interesting to see if any of my stats/measurements have changed.

Survey Results and Training Plan

January 11, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running | 2 Comments

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU from deep within my heart to everyone who completed the reader survey last week! I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of responses, and it has reassured me I am headed in the right direction with my posts. If you haven’t taken it yet, and want to participate, please feel free to hop on over and take it now. It will only take a few minutes.

Survey Results

One thing just about all readers had in common? You want more running related posts! So once I give a quick review of the survey, I will talk about my training plan for the next 11 weeks. And it also looks like many of you want me to continue with the plant-based recipes, so we are golden there!

 

The other thing everyone had in common? You ALL said YES or MAYBE to a “Travel” section on the blog; not a single NO! Mr. Zucchini Runner and I travel quite a bit; particularly locally in AZ, so I am very happy to share our upcoming adventures with everyone! We just got back from a quick trip to the Grand Canyon and a quick stop in Sedona!

It also seems people were less enthusiastic about a paid eBook, but for those who were, the topic of choice was, “How to Transition to Plant-Based Nutrition”, with a close second of “Running Basics” and “Pantry Reorganization” TIED. More people were interested in a FREE handout, with the same topics in winning order. So I will need to see what the best approach is for that one. Stay tuned for updates!

Now, on the weekly Facebook posts, it seems like “Meditation Monday” and “Shopping List Sunday” were close contenders. I have noted this in my weekly posting schedules and I will try both for a while and see how it goes!

There was also some great feedback and post ideas provided in the “share your other thoughts” section, which I hope to incorporate in upcoming posts! Thanks again and if you have anything else you’d like to share, or other suggestions please comment below or take the survey. 🙂

Training Plan

My training for 2017 is going to be very different from 2016. My approach for 2016 was to just keep it light and low and nothing too strenuous. Mr. Zucchini Runner and I were giving ourselves one last shot at starting a family, which meant taking it extra easy on the body. As a result, I ran about 500 miles in 2016 compared to 935 in 2015. In addition, we did a LOT of yoga, and many of those miles were very short runs, at a very easy pace.

In 2017 we are moving on, and letting go. We have tried all that we want to try and do, in regards to starting a family. So, if it happens it happens, but we are no longer going to put our life on hold for the “what ifs” or the “maybes”. 2017 is about getting into the best shape we have been in so far, with the main rule that we also do it in the healthiest way possible. How do we define that?

In a word, BALANCE.

We will not strictly or rigidly eliminate any single food group that we enjoy. We will practice moderation however, and be extremely mindful of the food we consume. If we eat something that doesn’t have high nutrition, it is a choice we are making and not an evil or bad food.

As I mentioned in my previous post, where I discussed my 2017 goals, I have a fitness log — the good ole fashioned paper kind — where I am tracking my workouts and nutrition for the next 3 months. Week one is already complete and it is working out very well so far!

Below is a rundown of the fitness plan I have mapped out.

This planner is called the “Be Well Fitness Log” by Inkwell Press. I purchased it at Office Max.

Essentially it looks like this:

  1. Monday – 20 minutes of weights + 3 mile run
  2. Tuesday – Strength workout (30-45 minutes; CVX, PiYo or The Challenge)
  3. Wednesday – 5 mile run (tempo and easy alternating weeks)
  4. Thursday – 3 mile run (with pick-ups/sprints alternating weeks)
  5. Friday – Upper body weights + bike/spin indoors
  6. Saturday – Long run day
  7. Sunday – Yoga

I will of course modify this as needed, but I always do better with a plan as my guide. You can already see where I adjusted week 1 in some spots, based on having company in town.

Below shows a detail of a single day, which also focuses on nutrition. I have chosen not to count calories, but instead give each meal a rating.

  • 0 – no nutritional value; cookie, fudge, etc.
  • 1 – minimal nutritional value; granola, almond milk, processed foods like GF crackers, bread, etc
  • 2 – some nutrition but no color; baked potato, wild rice, quinoa
  • 3 – some nutrition but high sugar/fat; fruits and nut butters
  • 4 – good nutrition; has lots of veggies but some protein (veggie burger, beans, eggs)
  • 5 – ideal nutrition; all greens, essentially if I ate a plate of nothing but broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach, bok choy and kale with onions and garlic

The above is the epitome of what I consider leading a life focused on plant-based nutrition. The best scenario would be to have green leafy plants first and everything else is secondary in a descending order. I’ve never done Weight Watchers, but I would imagine this is similar to their concept, except I don’t value processed foods. This method is not an exact science, it’s just a self-imposed one I have developed to help me to keep my food in check.

Below is the training I’ve completed so far for 2017, based on my Strava data. I have managed to run 48 miles, which I’m pretty stoked about! The key with all of my runs this year, is that I want to keep my heart rate under 160 beats per minute for 90% of my runs. (If it is a race, all bets are off and I won’t even pay attention to HR.) So far, easy runs have fallen in the 135-145 bpm range, average runs fall in the 145-155 bpm range and decent effort runs reach 160-163 bpm; which is typically my long run or a mid-week tempo run. I will keep that in mind as I move forward with training and keep you all posted with how it’s working.

So, how’d I do? Is this post helpful and informative?

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