Remember last month when you were up all night worrying how Nancy would do in the 5K race? Well, we just needed to let you know that tomorrow is the 10K race. I know, I know, we should have let you get a good night’s sleep, but it just didn’t feel right to keep you out of the loop. Step Two on the road to the half-marathon will take place in the morning.
Last weekend Nancy’s husband’s cousin (got all that?) ran a half marathon in 59 minutes and 44 seconds. Hold on - let’s check that on the calculator – yes, that’s approximately 4.56 minutes per mile. Take a moment to process that; we had to.
Now, Nancy could do that if she wanted to. Really! She just chooses not to! That’s right, it’s not because she can’t. He completed a half marathon in less time than it will take Nancy to complete the 10K. But that’s okay. She wouldn’t want to show anyone up.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Small Change #1
Seven and a half years ago, Nancy made the decision to lose 60 pounds. She knew that just losing the weight wouldn’t be enough. She had done that before and as soon as she was off “the diet” the weight came right back. She had to get into some new habits but she had to start slowly. You can’t realistically say you are going to change immediately all the habits you have spent your whole life developing. It took a year to lose the weight. She used that time to relearn her eating habits and now all this time later the weight is still off.
Let’s just start with one of the habits she learned or this blog will take you four hours to read. It would be fascinating reading, of course, but who’s got four hours?
Nancy completely and totally loves Diet Coke. It’s a bit of an addiction, and it cannot and will not ever be given up completely. If you expect her to give it up, you will be disappointed. And we do not want you to have disappointment in your life so don’t ask. However, even though Diet Cokes don’t have any calories, they aren’t exactly what you would call “good for you.” Nancy decided to replace them gradually with water, eventually getting down to just one in the morning. Occasionally she has one in the afternoon, but not every day.
If you drink regular sodas, this switch will really help you kick-start any weight loss goals. Think of all the calories you will save just switching out one soda a day for water.
Try having a bottle of water in the morning (in a reusable water bottle, for anyone out there who worries about landfills) and another in the afternoon, especially if exercising. You want to shoot eventually for six to eight 8-oz glasses of water per day. Yes, that sounds like a lot of water! But move to it gradually, stay within sight of a bathroom until you adjust, and soon you won’t feel right if you DON’T have it.
So today’s small change is: if you are drinking a bunch of sodas every day, think about cutting down. Don’t say you are going to give them all up tomorrow and never drink another one. That will last about a day and a half. Just start switching them out for water, one at a time.
Let’s just start with one of the habits she learned or this blog will take you four hours to read. It would be fascinating reading, of course, but who’s got four hours?
Nancy completely and totally loves Diet Coke. It’s a bit of an addiction, and it cannot and will not ever be given up completely. If you expect her to give it up, you will be disappointed. And we do not want you to have disappointment in your life so don’t ask. However, even though Diet Cokes don’t have any calories, they aren’t exactly what you would call “good for you.” Nancy decided to replace them gradually with water, eventually getting down to just one in the morning. Occasionally she has one in the afternoon, but not every day.
If you drink regular sodas, this switch will really help you kick-start any weight loss goals. Think of all the calories you will save just switching out one soda a day for water.
Try having a bottle of water in the morning (in a reusable water bottle, for anyone out there who worries about landfills) and another in the afternoon, especially if exercising. You want to shoot eventually for six to eight 8-oz glasses of water per day. Yes, that sounds like a lot of water! But move to it gradually, stay within sight of a bathroom until you adjust, and soon you won’t feel right if you DON’T have it.
So today’s small change is: if you are drinking a bunch of sodas every day, think about cutting down. Don’t say you are going to give them all up tomorrow and never drink another one. That will last about a day and a half. Just start switching them out for water, one at a time.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
No Excuses Today
Ordinarily, I might be inclined to cut you some slack if you weren't quite feeling like exercising. Take Nancy's Saturday--I truly don't think less of my friend because she chose staying in bed to getting in her workout. But that was three days ago when I was feeling more charitable. Today, my friends, is a no excuse day.
Feeling a little sleepy this morning? Too bad. Another stressful day at work? Tough. Got laundry to fold and dinner to fix? That can wait. I don't mean to sound harsh, but today there ARE no excuses! Simple as that. Why the tough tone you ask?
I'll tell you why. My sister, Jenny. Reader's Digest condensed version: My healthy, active younger sister went into the hospital with pneumonia and nine days later had to have both her legs amputated because an aggressive, often fatal bacteria had invaded her body. At the time doctors feared she would lose her hands as well. Fortunately, they were able to save her hands, but Jenny has limited use of them. That was over five years ago. Jenny's journey to this moment has been long and hard, and I share with you just the briefest of glimpses of a typical day in an attempt to motivate you to remain faithful to your workout plan. (Obviously, I am not adversed to using guilt as a motivator.)
Here is Jenny's day yesterday: She gets up at 6, put on her legs, gets dressed, fixes breakfast, packs up her laptop, makes sure her daughter's permission slip is signed, feeds the dogs, loads up her wheelchair and heads off to work. Jenny is a special education teacher at a Wisconsin elementary school. To get to her classroom she must unload her wheelchair, push through heavy non-handicap accessible doors, maneuver through crowded hallways, and go up the elevator that thankfully is back in working order. Jenny spends her day working with special needs kids, teaching, disciplining, nurturing, even having a special group "The Lunch Bunch" during her break time.
When her work day is done she once again packs up, pushes through crowded halls and heavy doors to load up her wheelchair and head back home. By this point Jenny is indeed feeling tired, hungry and stressed, and she is very much aware of the laundry waiting to be folded and the fact that someone (She drew the short straw) will need to fix supper for her and her daughter. She really should get home, but instead she heads to the pool for her workout.
Once she arrives she must again unload her wheelchair. She then checks in, secures a locker and begins the process of taking off her legs and putting on her swim suit. Jenny carefully locks her legs up and then realizes her concern for their safe-keeping is rather funny because she couldn't really picture anyone coveting those artificial legs for their own. But you never know I guess.
Next step is wheeling out to the pool where she make a series of transfers--from the wheelchair to the stack of towels to the edge of the pool and finally into the water. Jenny then spends 30 wonderful minutes swimming laps and doing other strengthening exercises. Then it is back out of the water repeating in reverse the series of transfers.
Once back in the locker room she begins the arduous process of putting her legs back on. This involves putting on special socks and liners and making sure each leg is lined up properly. One of her legs is titanium and attaches above the knee and the other leg is synthetic and attaches below the knee. It is not nearly as easy as slipping on a pair of dry sweats and heading out the door to go home. A-hem.
NOW Jenny will head back home, where there are still chores to be done and life continues moving forward. When I was on the phone with her at 8 she was hoping she'd stay awake long enough to see her daughter return from her tennis match.
Excuses? Yeah, Jenny has plenty. Pretty darn legitimate ones. But she chooses not to give in to them because she has learned that exercise helps her meet her daily challenges with more energy, less pain and a sense of true accomplishment. Jenny would be the first to tell you it's not easy, but it is so worth it.
Our dear friend Scarlet may proclaim that tomorrow is another day, but I am talking about today and today I want NO EXCUSES!
Feeling a little sleepy this morning? Too bad. Another stressful day at work? Tough. Got laundry to fold and dinner to fix? That can wait. I don't mean to sound harsh, but today there ARE no excuses! Simple as that. Why the tough tone you ask?
I'll tell you why. My sister, Jenny. Reader's Digest condensed version: My healthy, active younger sister went into the hospital with pneumonia and nine days later had to have both her legs amputated because an aggressive, often fatal bacteria had invaded her body. At the time doctors feared she would lose her hands as well. Fortunately, they were able to save her hands, but Jenny has limited use of them. That was over five years ago. Jenny's journey to this moment has been long and hard, and I share with you just the briefest of glimpses of a typical day in an attempt to motivate you to remain faithful to your workout plan. (Obviously, I am not adversed to using guilt as a motivator.)
Here is Jenny's day yesterday: She gets up at 6, put on her legs, gets dressed, fixes breakfast, packs up her laptop, makes sure her daughter's permission slip is signed, feeds the dogs, loads up her wheelchair and heads off to work. Jenny is a special education teacher at a Wisconsin elementary school. To get to her classroom she must unload her wheelchair, push through heavy non-handicap accessible doors, maneuver through crowded hallways, and go up the elevator that thankfully is back in working order. Jenny spends her day working with special needs kids, teaching, disciplining, nurturing, even having a special group "The Lunch Bunch" during her break time.
When her work day is done she once again packs up, pushes through crowded halls and heavy doors to load up her wheelchair and head back home. By this point Jenny is indeed feeling tired, hungry and stressed, and she is very much aware of the laundry waiting to be folded and the fact that someone (She drew the short straw) will need to fix supper for her and her daughter. She really should get home, but instead she heads to the pool for her workout.
Once she arrives she must again unload her wheelchair. She then checks in, secures a locker and begins the process of taking off her legs and putting on her swim suit. Jenny carefully locks her legs up and then realizes her concern for their safe-keeping is rather funny because she couldn't really picture anyone coveting those artificial legs for their own. But you never know I guess.
Next step is wheeling out to the pool where she make a series of transfers--from the wheelchair to the stack of towels to the edge of the pool and finally into the water. Jenny then spends 30 wonderful minutes swimming laps and doing other strengthening exercises. Then it is back out of the water repeating in reverse the series of transfers.
Once back in the locker room she begins the arduous process of putting her legs back on. This involves putting on special socks and liners and making sure each leg is lined up properly. One of her legs is titanium and attaches above the knee and the other leg is synthetic and attaches below the knee. It is not nearly as easy as slipping on a pair of dry sweats and heading out the door to go home. A-hem.
NOW Jenny will head back home, where there are still chores to be done and life continues moving forward. When I was on the phone with her at 8 she was hoping she'd stay awake long enough to see her daughter return from her tennis match.
Excuses? Yeah, Jenny has plenty. Pretty darn legitimate ones. But she chooses not to give in to them because she has learned that exercise helps her meet her daily challenges with more energy, less pain and a sense of true accomplishment. Jenny would be the first to tell you it's not easy, but it is so worth it.
Our dear friend Scarlet may proclaim that tomorrow is another day, but I am talking about today and today I want NO EXCUSES!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Bad Bad Nancy
Just as a matter of principle, just so you know the Two Buff Chicks sometimes make choices that don't go along with a healthy lifestyle, you need to know that after all her big talk about prepping for Saturday morning's 9-mile training run, Nancy simply could not convince herself to get out of bed when the time came.
The attitude started Friday evening. She went to dinner with her husband and she just really wanted to have a beer. Or two. It was Labor Day weekend, for Pete's sake. Then Saturday morning it felt so good to lie in bed with the windows open to the cool air...well, it really was almost impossible to get up. So she didn't.
Payback came on Sunday, when, feeling extremely guilty about blowing off her responsibility to herself on Saturday, she went out after church to run 9 miles. It was hotter on Sunday than it was on Saturday and it was later in the day when she went. Not knowing the route the training group used on Saturday, she ran from home, telling herself that surely the route from home was much hillier than the training route. Because she wants you to know, that run was tough. In fact she only was able to run the first half of it and had to walk the rest. So she did complete 9 miles, which is good, but she did not do as well as she had hoped.
The good part of the whole story is that today is another day! With renewed determination, she will be back at it again. Keep your fingers crossed.
The attitude started Friday evening. She went to dinner with her husband and she just really wanted to have a beer. Or two. It was Labor Day weekend, for Pete's sake. Then Saturday morning it felt so good to lie in bed with the windows open to the cool air...well, it really was almost impossible to get up. So she didn't.
Payback came on Sunday, when, feeling extremely guilty about blowing off her responsibility to herself on Saturday, she went out after church to run 9 miles. It was hotter on Sunday than it was on Saturday and it was later in the day when she went. Not knowing the route the training group used on Saturday, she ran from home, telling herself that surely the route from home was much hillier than the training route. Because she wants you to know, that run was tough. In fact she only was able to run the first half of it and had to walk the rest. So she did complete 9 miles, which is good, but she did not do as well as she had hoped.
The good part of the whole story is that today is another day! With renewed determination, she will be back at it again. Keep your fingers crossed.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Prep for Saturday
Last Saturday, as part of the training for the Half Marathon coming up in October, Nancy ran 8 miles! A lot of runners out there might say - pish posh– I could run 8 miles backwards with both hands tied behind my back. And blindfolded! But for Nancy, who did not do anything remotely athletic until the 5th decade of her life, this was pretty big. Now Saturday looms again. Here is Nancy’s checklist for tomorrow’s 9 mile training run:
Hat? Check.
Towel? Check.
Try to forget they said “hills are your friend” on the training update this week? Not check.
Water bottle? Check.
Alarm clock set? Check.
Handkerchief? Double Check.
Now what did Laura say to do today for a really good run tomorrow? Oh, yeah, hydrate all day. 8 ounces, 16 ounces, think Nancy can get to 64 ounces if she remains within sight of a bathroom all day? Wait a minute, alcohol dehydrates you! That means no Smithwick’s at the Irish pub tonight! Not even one? Doesn’t she need to replace her electrolytes? Well, sacrifices must be made. What else did Laura say? Load up on protein and don’t forget the healthy carbs. Remember that the nuts in a chocolate chip cookie don’t really count as protein. That all sounds doable. Except for the cookie part.
Last week at the 8-mile run they gave out a very helpful tip, which Nancy used and believes enabled her to go the entire distance without a side stitch. Yes, she is willing to share it with you! They said a side stitch is actually a cramp in your diaphragm. If you start to feel one coming on, slow down a little bit and then breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose. It really works!
Tomorrow if you want to look for Nancy on the training route, she is the one with the hanky in her hand.
Hat? Check.
Towel? Check.
Try to forget they said “hills are your friend” on the training update this week? Not check.
Water bottle? Check.
Alarm clock set? Check.
Handkerchief? Double Check.
Now what did Laura say to do today for a really good run tomorrow? Oh, yeah, hydrate all day. 8 ounces, 16 ounces, think Nancy can get to 64 ounces if she remains within sight of a bathroom all day? Wait a minute, alcohol dehydrates you! That means no Smithwick’s at the Irish pub tonight! Not even one? Doesn’t she need to replace her electrolytes? Well, sacrifices must be made. What else did Laura say? Load up on protein and don’t forget the healthy carbs. Remember that the nuts in a chocolate chip cookie don’t really count as protein. That all sounds doable. Except for the cookie part.
Last week at the 8-mile run they gave out a very helpful tip, which Nancy used and believes enabled her to go the entire distance without a side stitch. Yes, she is willing to share it with you! They said a side stitch is actually a cramp in your diaphragm. If you start to feel one coming on, slow down a little bit and then breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose. It really works!
Tomorrow if you want to look for Nancy on the training route, she is the one with the hanky in her hand.
The Bosu Ball Has Landed
Three springs ago Nancy and Becky traveled to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where they spent the week enjoying the surf, sand and key lime pie. For Becky, the highlights of the week were her early morning runs and watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" during Happy Hour. The high point of Nancy's vacation is a bit more baffling to this baffled observer. It goes without saying that Nancy thought the beach was nice and the breakfasts at Simply Delicious were obviously simply delicious, and the seafood was quite satisfying. Oh, yes, her traveling companion was beyond compare. But for Nancy the most thrilling moment of all came when the two vacationers heard a deafening BOOM one evening. At first the two thought perhaps the upstairs neighbor had fallen down the stairs, but then the TV announced the re-entry of some space shuttle or whatever up the beach a ways. It's at that moment Nancy insisted they drop everything and run outside to see if anything could be seen. Nothing but dark. Do you not agree that this is a most baffling high point of a vacation?
Perhaps if when Nancy and Becky had ventured out of their condo they had encountered the Bosu ball, the impress-o-meter might've registered.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bosu ball has landed. There was no loud boom, just a gasp of surprise and delight when Becky discovered it on the gym floor. Now that is something to get excited about!
Almost as quickly as Nancy raced out the door that fateful Florida evening, Becky went to work practicing her Bosu ball push-ups. The fun had begun, and everyone knows that fun is meant to be shared. Becky then introduced Nancy to the Bosu ball in their next workout. Nancy thanked Becky profusely (at least that's what Becky assumed Nancy was muttering). Now a quick lesson on Bosu ball push-ups.
Step 1: Put down your hanky.
Step 2: Locate Bosu ball.
Step 3: Flip located Bosu ball over.
Step 4: Begin push-up in the standard push-up position.
Step 5: Complete the push-up.
Becky dares you to compare the thrill of Bosu ball push-ups to not seeing some booming shuttle. (Now you can retrieve your hanky, Nancy).
Perhaps if when Nancy and Becky had ventured out of their condo they had encountered the Bosu ball, the impress-o-meter might've registered.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bosu ball has landed. There was no loud boom, just a gasp of surprise and delight when Becky discovered it on the gym floor. Now that is something to get excited about!
Almost as quickly as Nancy raced out the door that fateful Florida evening, Becky went to work practicing her Bosu ball push-ups. The fun had begun, and everyone knows that fun is meant to be shared. Becky then introduced Nancy to the Bosu ball in their next workout. Nancy thanked Becky profusely (at least that's what Becky assumed Nancy was muttering). Now a quick lesson on Bosu ball push-ups.
Step 1: Put down your hanky.
Step 2: Locate Bosu ball.
Step 3: Flip located Bosu ball over.
Step 4: Begin push-up in the standard push-up position.
Step 5: Complete the push-up.
Becky dares you to compare the thrill of Bosu ball push-ups to not seeing some booming shuttle. (Now you can retrieve your hanky, Nancy).
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Faith
Yesterday when Nancy got home from her run, both hummingbird feeders were bone dry. She had filled them at 7 a.m. before leaving for work and they hold a total of 4 cups of sugar water. This is why her husband, at this time of the year, calls them hummingpigs, since it usually takes several days for them to go through that much.
The rest of the season Nancy changes out the feeders long before they are empty, just to keep the food fresh, but now they are trying to stock up for their big trip south. Especially in a dry year like this, when many of their nectar sources have already dried up and withered away, they need all the help they can get.
One little guy refused to accept the fact that the feeder was empty. He sat on the perch determinedly, as if saying to himself, “There was food in here before; there will be food in here again.” That is faith, my friends! His patience was rewarded, as Nancy immediately prepared new sugar water, cleaned, filled, and rehung the feeders.
It’s important to remember to have faith in yourself when you are trying to incorporate fitness into your life. You will not be rewarded immediately for your patience. It will take time for your muscles to tone up and to turn fat into muscle. But if you refuse to accept defeat, if you determinedly say to yourself, “I can do this!” slowly but surely you will be rewarded. Think of that little hummingpig and remember, don’t give up! It will happen!
The rest of the season Nancy changes out the feeders long before they are empty, just to keep the food fresh, but now they are trying to stock up for their big trip south. Especially in a dry year like this, when many of their nectar sources have already dried up and withered away, they need all the help they can get.
One little guy refused to accept the fact that the feeder was empty. He sat on the perch determinedly, as if saying to himself, “There was food in here before; there will be food in here again.” That is faith, my friends! His patience was rewarded, as Nancy immediately prepared new sugar water, cleaned, filled, and rehung the feeders.
It’s important to remember to have faith in yourself when you are trying to incorporate fitness into your life. You will not be rewarded immediately for your patience. It will take time for your muscles to tone up and to turn fat into muscle. But if you refuse to accept defeat, if you determinedly say to yourself, “I can do this!” slowly but surely you will be rewarded. Think of that little hummingpig and remember, don’t give up! It will happen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)