Sweating out the stress

Sometimes I get stressed out. Today has been one of those days, and I have the three (possibly four, too early to tell) stress zits to prove it. Instead of carrying the weight of my world on my shoulders, I decided to channel it into weight vest (like a 40lbs) and take it for a run.

We all handle stress differently, some hit the fridge, others hit the bottle, some use retail therapy, I run. I credit stress making for making me a better runner, nothing like doing speed work and hills when you are pissed off, the thought almost makes me giddy. So today, me and figurative ‘weight vest’ hit the road. It didn’t take long for me to start forgetting about minor procedures that sound more like heart surgery, lifestyle logbooks, mortgage size car servicing bills, reinventing the wheel, gong shows, final exams, editors, peanuts, two functions this weekend and nothing to wear…By the end of song two it was all gone, it was now just me, my running glasses, the long sleeve that I shouldn’t have worn and my tunes.

Although my mp3 player is on shuffle, and there are over 100 songs to shuffle, there is a certain hill on my route where it seems like every time I climb it “Wanna Make a Memory” plays. You know when you hear a song and it reminds you of something? When I hear that song it even reminds me of that hill, it’s weird. Anyway, climbing the hill and what a surprise “Wanna Make a Memory” is the next song. It’s ok, I do enjoy the song, as well as Jon Bon Jovi, I think out of all rock stars, even movie stars, he has aged the best (sorry, Tommy, you might not have aged as well, but you will always be #1 to me), and that boy has lived. So climbing the hill, Jon singing to me, oh I am listening (might even be singing the melody to him while he writes a couple lines), we are making mem-or-ies…our moment is rudely interrupted when some d-bag driving a large diesel truck turns the corner a little too wide and too fast while talking on his cell, it’s not good enough that he almost ran me over, but he stepped on the gas just at the precise moment he passed me, so I inhaled his disgusting diesel exhaust. What the hell? Here I am handling my stress in a healthy way, I may as well have taken up smoking instead for the next two years with all of that crap I just ingested. If this had happened at the beginning of my run I would have probably thrown my water bottle at his truck, but with my new found inner peace I let it go, calm blue waters, no hairy eyeball, no wag of the finger. The moment was interrupted but not ruined. Jon and I finished the song, I don’t even remember what came next, it didn’t matter, my world was back in balance.

I finished my run, calmly walked up my driveway, stretched and returned to my reality feeling a whole lot better than I did before I left.

Foods That Boost Energy

Runner’s World

Runners would no sooner skip pre-run carbs than dash out the door barefoot. But when the miles are done, those same athletes might not think much at all about what they eat, as long as they get something. Injured runners logging time on the bike might even skip a meal altogether, in fear of gaining weight. Big mistake.

Whether you’re recovering from a tough tempo run or tendinitis, food delivers the nutrients your body needs to repair itself, making smart eating crucial to a strong body and a speedy recovery.

“Recovery is just like fixing a house,” says Cynthia Sass, R.D., a sports dietetics specialist in Tampa, Florida. “A crack in the foundation requires raw materials to patch things back together. In the body, those raw materials come from what we eat.”

A combination of proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals helps your body heal microtears from exercise and overused tendons and sprained ligaments. “Every part of the body is dependent on food for repair,” says David Grotto, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. On a cellular level, those repairs are constant, sidelining injury or not.

Over time, if cells don’t get the nutrients they need, muscles and connective tissues can weaken, leaving them more susceptible to injury. “The decisions we make with our fork can set up roadblocks against future injuries,” Grotto says. So along with stretching, and icing if you need it, these healing foods will help you get back on the road as quickly as possible.

Red Bell Pepper

Just one red bell pepper provides 380 percent of the recommended Daily Value of vitamin C, a nutrient crucial for repairing connective tissues and cartilage. By contributing to the formation of collagen, an important protein used to build scar tissue, blood vessels, and even new bone cells, vitamin C facilitates the healing process. “Work in vitamin C throughout the day, every two or three hours or so,” says Sass, for five daily servings.
Runners-up: papaya, cantaloupe, oranges

Salmon

Salmon’s nutritional benefits have been much touted for good reason. Fresh or canned, salmon delivers two powerful healing nutrients: protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Protein does more than rebuild muscle after a grueling run; it also repairs bones, ligaments, and tendons.

“We tend to forget that healing really means building new cells,” says Sass. “And your body needs protein to make those new cells.” She recommends all runners eat protein at every meal; injured runners should aim for four to five servings a day, from low-fat sources like egg whites and lean turkey. Salmon, with two grams of essential fatty acids per four-ounce serving, is doubly valuable. “Omega-3s are significant anti-inflammatories,” says Grotto. “Eating fish high in omega-3s or taking supplements is like throwing a big bucket of ice water on inflammation.” Inflammation occurs when waste matter generated by the body’s repair efforts builds up around the injury, inhibiting healing. Omega-3s help disperse that buildup, making them useful in addressing everything from sore muscles to stress fractures.
Runners-up: mackerel, flaxseeds, walnuts

Carrots

Eat carrots for a potent dose of vitamin A: a half-cup serving provides 340 percent of your Daily Value. This nutrient helps make white blood cells for fighting infection, “which is always a risk with injury,” says Sass. You might not think infection is likely with tendinitis, but your body takes no chances and activates the immune system, which ups vitamin A demand. Vitamin A also helps repair postworkout microtears, so it’s a valuable ally every day.
Runners-up: sweet potatoes, dried apricots, spinach

Fortified Cereals

Zinc is an important healing agent, but foods highest in zinc, like red meats, often contain saturated fat, which aggravates inflammation. So when the body is taxed—from exertion or injury runners should reach for fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, which can deliver as much as 100 percent of the Daily Value for zinc. By itself, zinc doesn’t repair damaged tissue, but it assists the proteins and fats that do. “Just don’t overdo it,” cautions Sass. Too much of this potent mineral lowers HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and actually suppresses your immune system.
Runners-up: shellfish, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds

Almonds

Just 1 oz.of almonds (roughly 20) contains more than 40 percent of your Daily Value of vitamin E, an antioxidant that supports the immune system by neutralizing free radicals. Almonds, like hazelnuts and sunflower seeds, also supply beneficial mono- and polyunsaturated fats, which are key building blocks for healthy cells. “Fat is a structural part of your body, so don’t skimp on it, just eat the right kind,” says Sass. “Almonds supply heart-healthy fats that promote healing without clogging arteries.”
Runners-up: nut butters, avocados, vegetable oils

Fresh air at last

Most runners have a weather boundary that they will not cross, it may be temperature (too hot, too cold), rain, wind, snow, for the most part I say think “suck it up, puss”.  Today I did not.  After I finished my ‘Works’ class I made the mistake of coming back into the house to grab my mp3 and jacket (it was raining, which is not a deal breaker for me), which turned into checking emails and returning a phone call.  Now ready to head out the door, it started to hail. Not a big deal, there were a few other things that I could do while I waited for it to pass, it passes, I get ready to head out and it hails again…this went on for about 8-10 cycles with torrential downpours mixed.  The thought of going for a run and being pelted with small (some verging on small/medium) ice pellets is not an appealing one.  Perhaps if my lululemon running tights and jacket were bulletproof and I traded my running hat for a street bike helmet (add in some kind of point scoring system or time trails, this could be a new sport), ok I’m a puss.

By the time the hail had subsided, I already had a full belly from dinner, so instead of the excursion that I had planned, Ry and I took the spazzy dogs out for walk around the neighborhood…IN THE RAIN!

Speed clinic

One word to describe the weather at this morning’s first session of the speed clinic…monsoon! Rain or no rain, the group meant business. Paperwork a little soggy but out of the way, we were on the track by 8:31am and into a comprehensive (and it was) 15 minute warm-up. Once the group was warm we went into several cycles of strength and power drills, and then what they were all there for, the 1.5 mile test. Six splashy laps around the track, to establish their baseline for the session, no pressure right? Along with my trusty watch and whistle, I brought along the percentile ranks for the 1.5 mile run test set out by the American College of Sports Medicine so that the group could see how they ranked amongst the general population.  For those wishing to play along at home click here.

You will be happy to know that the group placed extremely high, everyone within the top 30% of their age groups! Wow!  So what is the goal?  Improvement of course, duh.  My goal is to see a 5% overall improvement, stay tuned.

Percentile Ranks for 1.5 Miles (2.41km) Run Time (min:s)

AGE (Y)
Percentile	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
MEN	n=1675	n=7095	n= 6837	n=3808	n=1005
90	9:09	9:30	10:16	11:18	12:20
80	10:16	10:47	11:44	12:51	13:53
70	10:47	11:34	12:34	13:45	14:53
60	11:41	12:20	13:14	14:24	15:29
50	12:18	12:51	13:53	14:55	16:07
40	12:51	13:36	14:29	15:26	16:43
30	13:22	14:08	14:56	15:57	17:14
20	14:13	14:52	15:41	16:43	18:00
10	15:10	15:52	16:28	17:29	19:15
AGE (Y)
Percentile	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
WOMEN	n=764	n=2049	n=1630	n=878	n=202
90	11:43	12:51	13:22	14:55	14:55
80	12:51	13:43	14:31	15:57	16:20
70	13:53	14:24	15:16	16:27	16:58
60	14:24	15:08	15:57	16:58	17:46
50	14:55	15:26	16:27	17:24	18:16
40	15:26	15:57	16:58	17:55	18:44
30	15:57	16:35	17:24	18:23	18:59
20	16:33	17:14	18:00	18:49	19:21
10	17:21	18:00	18:31	19:30	20:04

From the American College of Sports Medicine, 1995, Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (Philadelphia, PA; Lippincott, Williams & Walkins), 113-115.

Early run

I really did have good intentions of running this morning, but I knew that when my alarm went off at 5:50am and then again at 6:00 I would hit snooze. By the time 6:10 rolled around I would have lost my window of opportunity to be out the door by 6:30am and back by 7:00am, so there really wouldn’t be any point to setting it early in the first place, and I should just enjoy sleeping until 7:00am when the mayhem of getting to the ball field would start. That was until the text from my running husband came through at 9:07 last night that read “running tomorrow?”

As CEO of the ‘after 8 club’, I wasn’t even sure if it is light at 6:30am… it’s not really. At 6:28am  I made my way to the end of my dark driveway in my fabulous new runners where I met my running husband Chris. The goal was a quick 5km, and quick it was.

Chris dominated the conversation this morning because I was far too focused on gasping for what little air I could wheeze into my lungs.  We hit our halfway point MUCH earlier than I usually do when I am out by myself. We paused briefly for a quick slug of water and turned around for the return trip  home. I usually try to run back quicker than I run out but this morning I wasn’t sure that I would even be able to maintain the pace at which I ran out at.

Thank goodness for the downhill start of the run back, it gave me just enough reprieve to catch my breath for the last hill. I hit the crest of the hill and thought that I might vomit, minty thoughts…it passed.

We rounded the second to last corner and was now unable to talk.  I knew I was less than 5 minutes from home, I could do it, I know I could.  Chris was telling me a story about breaking his ribs in a hockey game and waking up hours later  in a strange room maybe his coach’s house ( that sounds bad, but it really wasn’t), seeing pictures of people that he didn’t know, I think, I may have been slightly delusional.

We came around the last corner,  I told Chris that I could make it home from here if he wanted to pick up the pace, he said that he would run me home.  I think he thought that I may collapse in the ditch if I was left alone. For last the 100, who am I kidding, for the last 50 metres I managed to pick it up slightly (I hate leaving anything on the table) and when I passed my mailbox I came to an abrupt stop. I said goodbye to Chris, it came out as “buuuuuuu” and he said “thanks for kicking my ass”…his ass?

“Lucky to be so fit.” I says, “Pardon?”

The other day one of my Facebook friends (a real life friend too) posted that she was told that she was “lucky to be so fit”, her response “Yup, because sweating it up at the gym 2 hours a day is pure luck?” Can sense the rant brewing?

Before the hate mail starts, this comment came from an employee at the gym where my friend works out, this person is not diseased, disabled, ill or injured, just wanted to be clear on that. Here it comes…

Let me start out by saying that I HATE (and I don’t hate many words, there are a few I dislike and I chose not to use, but this one I hate) the word ‘lucky’. I think that in 99% of situations the word lucky is preceded with a lot of hard work, and prefer to use the word ‘fortunate’. If you catch a lucky break, you have likely tried many times before succeeding, if lady luck is on your side, you have probably already spent thousands of dollars for a lesser windfall, it’s got nothing to do with luck, the odds were finally with you and you won, and if you get lucky, as with the previous examples you have either invested time, and/or dollars, and you finally got it.

Being fit does not mean being thin, there are many thin people out there that have skinny genes who are far from fit, I call them skinny fat people. We all know a few skinny/fat types, they consume copious amounts of empty, garbage calories, never exercise and probably have a less than positive outlook, I certainly wouldn’t call them fortunate. On the other hand there are a great many out there that are not thin but are fit. Whatever body type you are accept it, love it (we all have days that we don’t) and work with what you have. I am thin, but will never be a size 2 and I am ok with that, I work hard for my curves, truth be told I wish a few of my curves were a bit bigger (like a full ‘B’, ok maybe a ‘C’).

However you look at it, you don’t have to be lucky or fortunate to be fit, it is a choice and it is work, (that’s what the ‘work’ is in ‘workout’) and why wouldn’t you want to be fit? Everyday tasks are done more easily, you look, feel and sleep better, you dramatically reduce the risk of dying of chronic disease not to mention your clothes fit better. That being said, close to 60% of Canadians are not physically active enough.

Being fit isn’t about running marathons, but if you were running marathons, I would assume that you were fit. Being fit is also about living a healthy lifestyle, eating a well balanced diet, not smoking or taking drugs, limiting alcohol consumption (notice I didn’t say avoiding) and managing stress. It all sounds good but let’s put this healthy lifestyle into perspective for a moment, by exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet you are able to effectively manage your weight, reduce your stress, feel good about yourself and lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and some cancers, add to that avoiding smoking/drugs and limiting your happy hour indulgence, you are now reducing your risk even further of dying of a chronic disease. Ok, being fit makes you look good and feel good, are you lucky? HELL NO, it’s just smart.

Stu is on the front page of The News!

New shoes

A new season of trail running upon us can only mean one thing…time to go shopping for new trail runners! When I say shopping I don’t really mean going from store to store browsing, trying on different brands, putting one brand on my right foot, another on my left, walk testing around the store, run testing on the sidewalk outside the store..been there done that. Saying that I was going shopping was just an excuse to go to Kintec Footlabs and visit Conny and pick up my brand new Salomon XT Wings. I don’t even know why I tried them on, I guess it is just a part of the whole shoe store ritual.

I couldn’t let the beautiful west coast afternoon end without taking my new shoes for a spin, when I got home I cinched them up and took my doggies for a walk.

Good curling

Today marked the end of our 3rd curling season. Although the end of curling signifies long runs around Hayward Lake, Grouse Grind, the occasional golf game, it also ends Bad Girl Tuesday. We became known as the Bad Girls not because we are bad (well, ok sometimes we curl rather badly) but because of our team hoodies that we wore to our first tournament. We were looking for something a little different, Liz (skip) found some tealish/green/blue hoodies with bedazzled skulls and the words bad girl written across the chest…they were cute, available in our sizes and the price was right, the rest is history. We bring out our team hoodies for special occasions, along with the many matching wigs, hats, earplugs, scarves, mittens and tanks that we have acquired over the years.

Bad Girl Tuesday is an all day affair, we usually start around 8:30am and finish somewhere around 1:00pm. After we drop the kids off at school we meet for a quick coffee (strategy talk…whatever) and then head to the curling rink for our weekly match. We play in the beginner ladies league and in addition to being known as the BG’s we are also know as the young team (some of these ladies have been playing for 40, 50, maybe even 60 years) and even though this league is billed as non-competitive, they LOVE to kick our asses!

Many rituals take place in the locker room, but since my swearing off sambuca late last year, I am unable to take part in the team shot (yes, we know it is only 9:30am) but do take part in the team cheer. From the locker room to the ice and then the coin toss, this is my big job as third or vice skip as I have taken to calling myself. Conny (second) teases me, because I always lose, which means that they get last rock (the hammer) but we do pick the colour, which is equally important to us, (we go with red, although Conny threw a blue one today, thank goodness that I didn’t stop it mid ice like I did the last time someone threw the wrong colour).

For a group of athletic “young” women, our record isn’t fabulous, if our one tie was a win, we would have won as many games as we lost (we did win today, but it didn’t count because it was a fun game). We generally opt for plan b plays (which are fluky shots that work to our advantage or at least work), and when Liz steps into the hack, we expect her to clean up all of our mistakes with a tipy-tap or rumpy-pumpy, she is a great curler and total rockstar on the ice, she also proved today that she can sweep. The games do seem to go on a little long, especially for Shannon (lead, and called the short one by one of the lovely ladies from season 1) who openly admits that she is done after 4 ends. By the time that buzzer goes for our final end, we all famished and have decided were lunch will take place and we tear out of the parking lot to get our usual table before it gets too busy.

Curling gained huge popularity during the Olympics, but we knew that it was something special before Cheryl Bernard and Kevin Martin (and our personal favourite, the very handsome John Morris) were household names. It does require perfect throwing weight, huge strategy, athleticism, and it is the only sport where you can scream “Hurry…harrrrrrrd…yes…yes…yes…yes” oh, and we do!

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