Ragnar Las Vegas Relay

On November 9th I will be running in the Ragnar Las Vegas Relay.  They have teamed up with  St. Baldrick's Foundation to raise money for researching Childhood Cancers.  If you would like to donate please go here to do so.  All the funds go to the research not to me or the team.  

Filling Lunch

You know you want to eat a healthy lunch but you do not want to spend a fortune at the local salad bar.  You do not want to spend your whole life making a salad during lunch.  What to do?  I have found there are some simple ingredients to make a quick and tasty salad.  I go to my local supermarket (Safeway or Costco).  I buy a weeks worth of tomatoes - usually 10 to 15.  I get some chicken sausage (10 to 15). A bag of broccoli florets.  A bag of broccoli slaw. (just raw slaw no dressing) 2 boxes of baby kale.  It takes me 3 or 4 minutes to make a huge salad.  The salad takes about 30 to 40 minutes to eat.  You will be full at the end.  You will also have plenty of protein and carbs. Here are pictures of me making the salad.

Above are my ingredients. 

Next I cut up the sausage.

I put it in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes 20 seconds.

While the sausage is cooking I put broccoli on my plate.  Usually I put more broccoli, but you put what you want.

Then I cut the tomatoes in 8ths. and arrange them on the plate

Like this:

I add kale on top or broccoli slaw on top or both.

Now the sausage is ready. I put the sausage on top.

You can add some salad dressing.

 

How to Lose Fat.

Think of Fat as Famine Anticipation Tissue.  Fat is for your body in times of famine.  Your body is geared to be efficient.  If you go on a starvation diet your body will fight to live.  It will lower your body temperature - burning fewer calories.  You will feel tired - less motivated to burn calories.  Your body may even start using protein or lean body mass for fuel.  That is terrible and counter productive.  So the question becomes how do you burn fat?  In your cells are mitochondria.  These organelles are the cell's powerhouse.  They burn sugar or fat so your muscles can do work.  

You need to do 2 things.  One, have your body produce more   mitochondria and two have them burn fat.  You can produce more mitochondria by doing exercise on a consistent basis. Your mitochondria will burn fat if you exercise.  If you eat a diet low in starch and simple sugars that will help also.  It is a slow process.  Your body wants to hold onto fat in anticipation of starvation.  So do NOT diet by starving yourself.  It will only make getting rid of the fat even harder.  Eat smaller meals but more of them.  Try to not eat after 7 at night.  Have a larger breakfast, a midmorning snack, a smaller lunch, an afternoon snack, and a small dinner.  Make sure the snacks have some protein.  It helps to smooth out the uptake of glucose and your blood sugar levels.  


In the past 4 months my pants got looser, my weight stayed about the same.  I went and got a hydrostatic test. I lost 3 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle.  This change will help me a lot.  The muscle burns more calories per day per pound than fat does. 

You Can Never Go Home Again

I remember July 20th 1969.  I was at the Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid New York.  At the other end of the room was a small, by today's standards miniature, black and white TV. The picture was black and white not the color of the TV set.  I was 10. (yeah I am that old or you are that young).  On that evening we heard those famous words uttered and a little science fiction became a science fact.  On that night Neil Armstrong reached the goal he had dreamed of for most of his life.  What was not widely reported was soon after that event was Neil Armstrong's mindset later.  You reach your goal, landing on the moon and returning safety to the Earth.  What do you do for an encore?  How do you top that?    You cannot.  Earth was forever changed for Neil Armstrong.  You can never go home again.

We have hosted foreign exchange students for about 15 years.  They become part of our family for a school year.  I know this experience, for good or bad, will change them forever.  It will forever color their life.  I hope it will be a positive experience.  If nothing else it will expand their world.  I do not tell them the news that They can never go home again.  Their home will always be changed.  It will not be as it once was.  It can never be that again.

This past weekend I ran in the Hell's Canyon Relay Race .  If you want to know about relay races here is a funny video on it.  The team's name is Sparkle Motion.  Our mascot is a unicorn.  The team is mainly a female team, but for this race they gave me the honor of joining them.  They had also done the Ragnar Northwest Passage and Cascade Lakes Relay last year.  Usually, for a relay race you have 12 runners.  Due to some unfortunate circumstances we were down to 10 runners. (The people who dropped out did NOT want to drop out and we did not want them to.  We hope they can race with us in the future.)  

I was excited and anxious about the race.  I had only met some of the group once time,  they seemed like a very dynamic fun group of people.  The name of the race is Hell's Canyon Relay not A Walk in the Park Relay.  If you look at the course map You will see that over the 210 mile course we gain just over 11,100 feet and an elevation loss of about 12,200 feet.  You could say the race is downhill, Ha, Ha, Ha.  Normally, each runner would run about 6 miles per leg.  These races are not evenly split that way.  Logistically, each race must have a variety of lengths and usually there are at least some hills.  So some of the legs are harder than others.  This relay has a lot of hills.  Running up hill is hard work.  With our team short 2 runners people were going to have to run more.  

I ran 20 miles in 3 legs.   My first leg was midmorning.  The weather was sunny and not too hot.  There was a slight breeze.  I started up hill.  I have a tendency to start running too hard and then dramatically slowing down.  I used my pace watch and regulated my speed using my target heart rate.  I had a tendency to get it up to 95%+ of my projected max heart rate (162 plus BPM).  I aimed for  85% of max heart rate (144-152 BPM) .  This worked for me.  I kept up a good pace and warmed up during the 7 mile run.  I actually sped up towards the end of the run.  I did slow down to a brisk walk halfway through to drink water.  I cannot drink water while I am breathing heavily.  The air is very dry in Hell's Canyon and it was well worth slowing down to drink water.  I got passed by a woman in black and purple tights.  She paused and gave me a high five.  She slowly pulled away, but I was able to keep her in sight for the rest of the run.  She was a runner on the Kicking ASSphault team.  Our team ran with their team for the rest of the race.  Sometimes we were ahead, and sometimes they were.

My second leg was also a little over 7 miles.  It happened at about 3 AM (or similar time)  There wasn't any moonlight.  This area is wilderness.  In the middle of the night it is dark.  The temperature was about 38 degrees.  I wore gloves, a hat, a pull over with a hood.  I get very warm when I run and I could take off my gloves, hat and remove the hood on the pull over if I got too hot.  About half way through the run I was really getting hot.  I slowed down and took off the gloves, hat, and hood.  The fresh, cold clean air was  refreshing.  In the process I dropped my hat.  Since it was black and the road was black and it was pitch black outside I did not try to find the hat.  My van took the gloves and drove to the end of the leg to pick me up.  I felt good.  I was running a good pace.  This leg was mainly slightly down hill.  I knew that but I could not tell.  I could only see a few feet in front of me.  I had a head lamp and a small flashlight, but it was very dark. The road was uneven and had pot holes.  I ran in the middle of the road and moved to the side when cars came.  This was a small race and there were not many cars.  My second leg ended on an incline (HILL).  I am not that good at hills yet.  I kept at it and was able to hold off a runner from  passing me.  

My third leg was a little shorter.  It was small rolling hills.  About half of the run was through farm fields.  The road was loose gravel. You have to work harder on gravel because the ground is loose and you have to be careful to not twist an ankel.  It was hot and there was a slight breeze.  My last stretch was on a long straight country road that got steeper towards the exchange point.  I kept repeating "bananas" to myself.  

I have to give a big Kudos to our team captain.   She did a fantastic job getting everyone, making hotel reservations, vans, and much much more.  She was not just a logistical person.  She was very supportive to the team.  Our last runner had a long hard run to the finish line.  We were all cheering for her, each in their own way.  We know she had run hard and for a long time.  We all had been up for about 30 odd hours at this time.  Everyone was exhausted.  Our team captain got out of the van about 2 miles from the finish.  Waited for our last runner and ran with her to the end.  I know they both were wiped, but that is real leadership.  

We had other people on the team who had never run on a relay race.  Without a doubt they did fantastic.  Everyone really is competing at the level they set for themselves.  Your job as a team mate is to encourage them, to give them water, to cheer for them, to give them a hug, break bread, enjoy the moment.

Why do relay races?  Yes, it is a big challenge.  Running is a solitary sport.  The relay races combine team camaraderie and individual running.  The running is an individual challenge.  You get to encourage your team mates with their own challenges.  My team mates were very encouraging.  It really does help at the end of a 7 mile run to have them cheering you on.  

After we drove back to Portland and emptied the van of garbage and our stuff we gave each other a high five, and hugs.  We all got in our cars and drove home.  As silence descended on the neighborhood I was alone.  It was a melancholy moment.  You can never go home again...

I am in the team uniform.  Skirt, cape, and sparkle head band.  Yes, I ran all my legs with them.

Team picture at the end.

Lessons Learned From Relay Races

This past weekend I ran in the Hood to Coast Relay Race .  The team I ran with are all older than me.  I   was impressed with their fitness and running.  I have run in 3 relay races so far and here is what I have learned:

1. Eat right.  These people are not eating junk food.  They are eating properly.  Carbs are not bad but here is a simple rule to follow.  Eat carbs that are not concentrated calories.  For example, sugar is very dense calorically.  Broccoli is not.  Do not starve yourself, eat little meals all the time.
2. Consistent exercise.  You do need rest and a day off from exercise, but you also have to keep at it every day.
3. Slow and steady wins the race.  You are going to have set backs, but just get up and try again.
4. Change it up. Do a variety of exercises, have fun.
5. Age does not matter.  I am no spring chicken and I was running with men who were older than me.  They were running significantly faster than I was.  I know I can improve.  (as a note they were very supportive not condescending or anything. It was great running with these guys)
6. Exercise with someone better than you.  It will push you to improve.  You can't fly with the eagles if you are training with the pigeons.

One Step at a Time

How does one cut down a large Oak tree?
How does one begin a journey (on foot) of 1,000 miles?
How does one crawl out of a cravasse with a broken leg and get back to camp through a glacer field?
How does one get healthier?
How does one recover from chemical dependency?
How do you eat an elephant?
How does one row across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans?

One Step at a time.  One bite at a time. One day at a time.

No really,  if you think of the whole of a problem it usually daunting.  Roz Savage has rowed a boat across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  She did it one stroke at a time.  If you go to AA one of the techniques is to shorten your time span, take each day at a time.  If that is too big, too daunting, take an hour at a time, if that is too daunting take a minute at a time.  Take smaller manageable bites.  if you want some great insight into this read "Touching the Void"

Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was forced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death.

The next three days were an impossibly grueling ordeal for both men. Yates, certain that Simpson was dead, returned to base camp consumed with grief and guilt over abandoning him. Miraculously, Simpson had survived the fall, but crippled, starving, and severely frostbitten was trapped in a deep crevasse. Summoning vast reserves of physical and spiritual strength, Simpson crawled over the cliffs and canyons of the Andes, reaching base camp hours before Yates had planned to leave.

How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival, and a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship.

Joe, traveled the distance by just focusing on going another 5 feet.  Setting a goal of getting 100 yards by noon, going 5 feet in 30 minutes.  Just keep moving forward. He literally crawled inch by inch back to the base camp.  If he had not returned in time his climbing buddy would have left.  His climbing buddy thought he was dead.  So he was not waiting for him.  They were in an area of South America were few people ever went.


I just finished the Ragnar Northwest Passage Relay Race.  It is a race from Blaine Washington to Whidby Island.  The distance is just over 200  miles.  The scenery is beautiful.  Each runner on the standard team of 12 runs 3 legs for a total of about 17 - 18 miles.  How do you run that far? One step at a time.  When you are out running it can seem daunting.  You have to not think about the distance.  Just concentrate on setting a smaller goal and getting there and then setting another one.  There were even teams as small as 2 people!


Can you run 10 feet?  Can you run 10 feet and then walk 10 feet?  Try doing it again and again. You will be surprised how far you can go.  Can you run for 30 seconds?  Can you run for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute?  Can you do that 10 times?  If so then you have just run for 5 minutes.  Not bad. Just keep doing that.  Try running for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds.  I think you get the idea.

Got 20 Minutes?

Perspective.  Keep moving forward.  Learn fromt he past do not dwell on it. (I can use improvement on this one.)  This post is for those who cannot ever imagine themselves running a marathon. (for example)    Do not make that your first fitness goal.  I have run half marathons in a reasonable time and it is not easy.  I think someday I will be able to run a full marathon. However, you do not wake up one day after lounging on the couch for the whole year and run a marathon.  It is like trying to eat the whole elephant.

You must tackle the problem in small bites.  The first thing is to NOT aim for running a marathon.  It is a nobel goal, but unless you have trained for it it will be overwhelming.  In all likelihood you will be inundated and give up.  Shoot for a smaller goal.  Like running a mile in 15 minutes on a track.  if that seems outrageous then go for 1/4 of a mile in 4 minutes.  If you cannot do that, and do NOT get discouraged.  Set a goal you think you can do.  Try it.  If you make it great, now raise the goal a little.  Keep moving and at a later date try the bigger goal.

People, there are individuals out there who can barely get up a flight of stairs without breathing hard.  They are NOT failures.  They need encouragement and help to get better.  As always consult your Dr. before starting an exercise program.  We want you to get healthier not keel over!

Assuming the Dr. gives you the thumbs up. The next thing is "But I do not want to live in a gym. I do not want to be a gym rat."  Here is something you can do in 20 minutes.  First warm up and stretch.  If that means take a small walk at a moderate pace that is fine.  The goal is to get the blood moving.

Once you are warmed up and stretched do the following.  They have smart phone timer apps for this.
    1. Do an exercise as hard as you can for 20 seconds.
    2. Rest for 10 seconds.
repeat steps 1 and 2 8 times.  You may have some fade.  That is okay.  By fade I mean your hard times may not be as vigorous.    These are called tabatas.  They help burn fat.
Rest for 2 minutes.

If you can do it again.  each tabata takes 4 minutes so with a 2 minute rest between you can do 3 sets in under 20 minutes.  If you cannot do 3 sets do as much as you can do.  You will be very tired at the end.  Afterwards cool down, take a slow walk or jog, and let your heart rate go back to normal.  Stretch.

You can do this in under 30 minutes.