Archives for heart rate training

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?

Training Update + Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

October 14, 2016 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running, Side Dish, Snacks | 8 Comments

Happy Friday! Ok, so I know back in June I originally said I would post EVERY Wednesday… well today is clearly Friday. 🙂 I’ve been pretty consistent however up to this point. So this week I want to focus on my current fitness, talk a bit more about heart rate training and then toss in a quick recipe. I think my heart rate training update a few weeks ago, may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle, since I mentioned our infertility struggles. (What has become a normal, every day part of my life… and didn’t seem like a huge deal to mention. However, I absolutely appreciated the outpouring of love.)

So as I mentioned previously, I didn’t really feel like running, after our boy Rocco went to the rainbow bridge in March. That, combined with the horrible all body skin rash I got a year ago, left me wanting to sideline running for a bit. Throughout this summer, I jogged a few miles here and there with the Mr. and made sure to stay in some level of fitness through other workouts. It wasn’t until the beginning of September that I felt the pull on my heart and legs to go pound the pavement again. Around that time I remembered I had registered for the 2017 Mesa-Phx Half Marathon (formerly Phoenix Marathon/Half Marathon), so slowly getting back into running-shape seemed like a good idea.

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As you can see above, my mileage has been sloooooowly creeping it’s way back up. I do not want to get an injury, so I am taking an extremely conservative approach to my running. I think a common mistake runners make is doing too much, too soon. Running — after all — is so “easy” anyone with the desire to run, can… which commonly creates a recipe for injury very quickly. Anyway, I’ll hop off that soapbox.

When I trained for my very first half marathon in 2010, I used Hal Higdon’s training plan. Judging by where my running fitness currently is/was, I thought it would be a good idea to head back to the drawing board. So this time I modified the Novice 2 half marathon training plan and stretched it out over the course of 6 months, versus 3 months. So I just doubled each week.

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Above you can see the calendar I created for my scheduled runs. This isn’t the bible, it’s just a guideline to keep me on track. If I’m not feeling good or need to change something up, I will. But I always work better with a written/visual plan. You can see week 2 and 3 of November are identical, giving me an additional week to adapt to that mileage before increasing or doing a race.

Now, how does heart rate training fit into all of this? (This is for you Shane… I know you are wondering!) Well, heart rate training in and of itself WAS a very good thing for me to do for my heart. I realize that now; after MUCH thought and analyzing. It took getting back into running; and really getting OUT of running, to recognize this. I think the key turning point was when I would do light work around the house, and notice I would get out of BREATH from something super basic. It took about a week of that happening for me to appreciate how much running WAS helping me previously. I also noticed my asthma was starting to pick up again. I would wake up in the morning a bit wheezy and feel mild chest tightness here and there. Running strengthened my heart and my lungs, and I took that for granted when it was a normal part of my routine. It’s that old saying, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone’.

I also started thinking of the child we don’t yet have… and thinking of MY personal fears I struggled with as a child of two older parents. I was fearful my time with them was numbered, because they were “so old”. My mom had me when she was 40, which at the time was “quite old”. I don’t want our child to have that same fear, I want him/her to see strength and youth in us despite our age. I want to have enough energy to chase them around and not get winded. Previously, I was thinking I needed to STOP running to be able to have a child. Now I believe I need to maintain running to HAVE our child – to set an example of health and wellness and strength. I want my body to be strong and to handle pregnancy without being winded when I bend over to pick up a sock.

I still stand by my original assessment that heart rate training is NOT going to make you a faster runner, definitely not at first, but it WILL make you a smarter runner. I make sure 80-85% of my runs are under 160 bpm average, ensuring I don’t overdue it. I don’t care about pace anymore. Now it’s just about logging some miles, feeling the air fill my lungs and getting the blood flowing; running to stay healthy. PR’s are a thing of the past and don’t interest me. It is an incredible feeling of release.

Currently, I am feeling stronger and stronger each day in my running, and learning to manage my stress induced heart palpitations through yoga, daily meditation, emotional healing and acupuncture. Running definitely helps with stress management, especially when I keep my runs slow. It’s funny, because the fast, hard runs seem to make it worse, because I get so amped up! I have a high energy personality by nature, so slower runs benefit me more.

You do you; do what is best for YOU! <3

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Easy Toasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe

After you scoop all your seeds out of the pumpkin, separate them out from the pumpkin goo and rinse them well. I laid mine out on a paper towel to dry (quite honestly, for days until I could get back to them). So once you are ready to bake them, follow the instructions below.

Ingredients

Pumpkin seeds, dried out
Coconut oil
Real salt

  1. Dump seeds onto a baking sheet.
  2. Coat with a little coconut oil and stir around to combine. I did this on the pan, to get a little oil ON the pan as well.
  3. Sprinkle with as much salt as you like, feel free to get creative with other seasonings. Cinnamon and sugar might be sort of fun!
  4. Bake at 350°F for 3 minutes. Remove, shake around a bit and place back in the oven for an additional 3 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven and give them a taste test. It’s important to remember they will continue to bake a little after they are out, so you don’t want to overdue it.
  6. Leave out on the counter in a little bowl for snacking. 🙂img_9784

Have you tried heart rate training? What are your thoughts?

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