Friday, November 30, 2012

The 2012 A-Z Holiday Gift Guide...

Last year I published my Top 20 Holiday Gift Guide.  This year I decided to one-up that and give you my A-Z Holiday Gift Guide for the athlete in your or in your family.  Some of these are repeats from last year, but that must mean I really love them!  Here we go:  

A:  Adamo ISM road seat.  Treat your bum this Christmas to this salmon-shaped bike seat for your triathlon bike (or the Podium ISM seat for road bikes).  I've had this on my tri-bike for 2 years and although it took some getting used to, there's no turning back to regular seats once you do.  It effectively relieves perineal pressure for both men and women.  



B:  Bubba Brand insulated water bottle.  I'm extremely picky about my water bottles, so I was thrilled to find this.  I just bought the 24 oz Envy tumbler, which comes with a straw - perfect for driving so I don't have to tip the bottle.  The bottles are insulated for warm or cold beverages, BPA-free, and dishwasher safe.  

C:  Coffee maker (individual size) for traveling.  For those of us who don't typically make a full pot of coffee, the individual coffee pot makers are wonderful.  For travel, the mini individual coffee makers are ideal.  Hamilton Beach's the Scoop coffee maker is stainless steel, small for travel, and makes a 14-oz or 8-oz cup of coffee.  Best of all, you don't have to use the K-cups (which is better for the environment).  The Scoop comes with two scoop filters that lets you measure your own ground coffee perfectly.  

DDigital helmet camera from GoPro.  So this is on my ultimate wish list...The GoPro Hero3 helmet cam bike pack.  Don't ask me why...I just think it'd be fun! Take stunning video and pics of your bike rides with this camera mounted to your helmet.  Let the YouTube videos rip!  

E:  Exercise ball and bands.  Going to the gym can be expensive and difficult, so why not bring the gym to you?  Exercise balls and bands from Gaiam are a great way to work your core and get a good resistance workout from home for only the fraction of the price of a gym membership.  

F:  Fruit of the Earth Vitamin E Skincare Cream.  My grandpa started buying this cream for me years ago and I didn't learn until some years later that it's actually not tested on animals.  Good job, Papa!  This cream works wonders on dry, chapped winter skin and I use it all the time, especially on my hands.    

G:  Garmin 910xt.  Of course this makes the list.  I have the Garmin 310xt and although I love it, shiny new technology is always tempting.  The 910xt is less bulky and more streamlined.  Best of all, the 910xt is the first Garmin to provide swim stroke count and pool laps...no more counting in the pool!  (I just hope it doesn't require me to do flip turns!)...  

Garmin 910xt
H:  Handkerchiefs or bandanas.  Yes, you heard me.  These are one of the most practical things you can have, yet few people nowadays do.  I have a ton of handkerchiefs and bandanas that I use when I travel:  for napkins, to wipe off airline trays, clean up messes, tie my hair back, wipe off sweat or keep it out of your eyes, provide padding for breakable items...the list goes on and on.  Try some colorful handkerchiefs or bandanas for stocking stuffers this year. Bandanagram has customizable bandanas/handkerchiefs, including ones for triathlons and marathons.  Or you can go with the good ol' fashioned farmers handkerchief like I have.  

I:  iTunes gift card. May sound lame, but every athlete has their workout playlist(s) and if you're like me, your music is very mood-specific.  So new tunes are always a necessity to keep your workout mojo in the groove.  I could never have enough iTunes gift cards!   

J:  Jaybird Freedom Bluetooth Headphones.  I got these for my birthday this year and they're fantastic.  Great sound quality and they stay put when you're running.  Plus, the bluetooth feature lets you talk on the phone if you get a call while running.  The headphones also come with various pieces and hooks for the perfect fit.  

K:  Kettlebells.  These nifty little training devices have gained a lot of popularity lately and with good reason:  they offer an effective cardio workout with strength, balance, and flexibility.  The advantage over dumbbells or other weights is that the kettlebell contains a handle that allows you to control its center of gravity and gives you more variety of exercises.  Livestrong has a good article on selecting kettlebell weights and the top kettlebell exercises for athletes.  

Kettlebells...
L:  Luggage accessories.  Most athletes travel to a lot of races.  Luggage accessories can make the chaos of travel more bearable.  Try a digital luggage scale to avoid extra airline fees for heavy baggage (if you're an over-packer like me!).  Or how about a bike chain luggage tag for the cyclist or triathlete, or some personalized luggage tags.    

M:  Massage therapy.  While it's nice to get a professional massage and, in fact, often necessary for athletes. sometimes it's nice to have some massage therapy in your own home.  To relieve muscle tightness and increase circulation, try a foam roller for massage before or after a workout.   You can also try a massage roller stick.  I'm a big believer in both of these and have been able to work out a lot of knots by using the foam roller.  

N:  Noise canceling headphones.  Again, ideal for any traveler (especially if you need to get some sleep on a noisy plane).  Cnet.com provides a good review and comparison of noise canceling headphones.  

O:  One More Mile t-shirt and hats.  These were a favorite of mine last year and they're a repeat this year.  It's nice to add a little giggle to your runs...

One of my favorite One More Mile shirts that my mom got for me last year...

P:  Protein powders.  This isn't a sexy Christmas gift, but it's a necessary one for athletes for any time of the year.  Here are some of my favorites (all vegan of course):  Garden of Life Raw Protein.  I think this is the best protein powder out there.  It's raw, contains sprouted protein, has probiotics and enzymes, is dairy and soy-free, has a neutral flavor, and has 17 grams of protein.  I mix this in my complex smoothies that contain a lot of ingredients.  Nutribiotic Plain Rice Protein (with 12 grams of protein) and Plant Fusion unflavored protein (22 grams of protein) are both great for shaking up in some vanilla soy, almond, or rice milk for a quick smoothie.  

Q:  Quilt made out of race t-shirts.  Quirky but cool.  If you have a closet full of race t-shirts that you don't wear, why not turn them into a t-shirt quilt to memorialize all those races? 

R:  Rescue Chocolate.  What's better than chocolate?  Saving a life while eating your chocolate!  100% of the proceeds from Rescue Chocolate go to animal rescue organizations across the country.  And this chocolate is delicious.  Makes a great stocking stuffer (just don't hang it above a roaring fireplace!).  

S:  Smoothie shaker by Blender Bottle. This is a must have for on-the-go or making a quick smoothie at home with milk/water and your favorite protein powder.  The patented wire wisk moves freely through the bottle as you shake it to blend your drink.  I have the Classic Mini and love it! 

T:  Transition towel.  Why use your ratty old beach towels in transition?  I found these fun transition towels (in small and large) with various designs and sayings. There's also one with a race day checklist...now that's multi-tasking!  
Triathlon towel with the race day checklist...

U:  Under Armour ColdGear Fitted Long Sleeve Mock running shirt.  I received one of these last year for Christmas and love it!  I like that it's fitted and not bulky.  Plus it keeps you really warm.  Also available in men's.  

V:  Vega Sport products.  Developed by vegan Ironman triathlete, Brendan Brazier, even the non-vegans among us will love these.  My favorite recommendations are:  Pre-Workout Energizer (light, delicious, and contains ingredients like green tea and yerba mate to get you amped up for a workout); Electrolyte Hydrator (free from sugar, artificial sweeteners, and calories.  It just contains awesome electrolytes and minerals); Endurance Bar (I ate these during Ironman and they were great on my stomach!); Endurance Gel (I'm not a gel fan, but these are great.  Free from high fructose corn syrup and maltodextrin, so it's not sugary); and Protein Bar (I live on these things. They are delicious and have 15 grams of protein).   

W:  Watch - the Timex Ironman 30-lap watch.  I've had this watch for years and I love it.  It's a great watch for the weekend, swimming, or if you just want to get away from your GPS technology for awhile.  It's comfortable and easy to read and use.  

X:  Xmas triathlon lights.  I found these at a race expo one year and thought they were adorable!  String lights with running shoes, swim goggles, and bike wheels.  Great for Christmas decorations or a party.  

Triathlon lights...so cute!
Y:  Yoga for Athletes DVD. I've owned this DVD for several years (and don't use it as much as I should).  It's  not your typical yoga video.  It provides yoga exercises for 16 different sports and different muscle groups within those sports.  You can choose workouts from 20-60 minutes or combine different muscle group workouts.  Great for beginners and experienced yogis alike.  

Z:  Zensah High Compression Shorts.  I've already recommended Zensah compression leg and arm sleeves.  Well I love all things Zensah, and the high compression shorts are no exception.  I wore these for the run portion of Ironman last year and loved them.  They don't ride up and provide all the benefits of compression to your upper legs.  

There you have it!  I hope Santa brings you everything on your list; but, regardless, the best gifts of all this season are those of health, happiness, friends, and family.  


Sunday, November 25, 2012

What's in Your Backyard?? Discovering A New Running Trail After 15 Years...

I've lived in the D.C. area for 15 years now...and sadly, I haven't taken advantage of nearly half of all the amazing things there are to do here.  There are so many historical sites, museums, plays, shops, etc. that I've never been to.  And, as I discovered today, some amazing trails only 15 minutes from my house....

Sign for Potomac Heritage trail and other trails..
A friend of mine recently told me about the Potomac Heritage Trail ("PHT"), which runs from Roosevelt Island and goes 10 miles north along the Potomac River...

View of Potomac River from PHT...
I invited a friend along for an inaugural trail run on the PHT on a cold Sunday afternoon.  It took about 15 minutes from my house to Roosevelt Island, where the trail head sign (which I've never noticed in all my times to Roosevelt Island) is right by the parking lot.  We started out along the trail, going under the bike path bridge and the Key Bridge into Arlington.  A little bit of the trail runs alongside Spout Run Parkway, but then soon, you're away from the traffic and alongside the river, with beautiful views of rock walls and waterfalls...

Normally I'd have to drive out to Shenandoah for views like this...
Beautiful little waterfall along the trail...

It was instant euphoria.  In fact, at one point, I actually had to yell out how amazing this was...I was so excited to find this hidden gem so close to my house...It only took me 15 years!!

The trail is a mix of easy portions, more technical areas with some roots and rocks, and then some straight up bouldering which slows you down a bit.  But that's the beauty of trail running:  It's not really about the speed.  In my newby trailrunner view, it's about: (a) getting a change of scenery; (b) having a lower-impact run; (c) enjoying the views; (d) meditating (yes, it's a meditative act because you have to focus so much on every single step lest you want to biff it); and (e) staying vertical!

I'm hooked...I'm in love...

The trail continues up to Potomac Overlook Park, which as it turns out, we'd actually run on a couple of weeks ago when we went to the Overlook Park.  But I had no idea that if you cross the rocks in the water, you pick up the PHT and continue north along the river to the Chain Bridge...We decided for today to turn around, which was about 2.8 miles from the starting point....

Me at the turn-around point for today's run...if we'd gone across the rocks on the right, we could continue north on the PHT...
The run back was even more spectacular because you eventually get to enjoy gorgeous views of D.C. and the monuments.  Now maybe some avid trail folks would find that almost blasphemous - mixing the city with nature.  But I think it's pretty amazing that I can be secluded in these beautiful, spiritual woods, and yet see the architecture of our Nation's capital for part of the run.

View of Key Bridge and Washington Monument from the PHT...
We finished the run at about 5.8 miles and I felt great.  This is one of the beauties of trail running...We went at a nice pace, Goldie Locks style - not too fast, not too slow, but just right - and had the low-impact benefits of the trail mixed with some bouldering/hiking.  This was my longest run in quite awhile - 1:10 - and I felt better than I've felt after some of my street runs of less than half the time.

Although I've found a new love and a new place to enjoy, I'm kicking myself a bit for not finding it sooner.  I think one of the reasons I've delayed getting into trail running is that it's a bit more effort to drive somewhere to a trail.  I'm normally pressed for time and just like to go out my front door and run the neighborhood.  But knowing that this is so close has awakened a new curiosity in me....What else is in my backyard that I've been missing out on?  I don't know, but I'm going to start finding out....

View heading south down the PHT...
What's in your backyard that you may be missing out on? 


Saturday, November 17, 2012

A Great Program for Switching to a Plant-Based Diet

I know a couple of you out there have been trying or wanting to switch over to a plant-based diet.  Well here's your chance to get a jump on your fitness for the new year with a plant-based diet.  If you can do one thing for yourself and for me (because I want to see you healthier), pay attention to this and sign up for what I'm recommending...

As I mentioned in Part 2 of my series on why I became a vegan, Brenda Brazier (vegan Ironman) and his Thrive series of books played a big role in my decision to go from vegetarian to vegan.  I've read his Thrive nutrition and fitness books and been meaning to check out his Zon fitness videos (which I hope to do and write about later).  Although some of his Thrive recipes can be a bit involved, a lot of them are easy and delicious.  He doesn't rely on soy-based protein (which I'm not a fan of either) and he focuses on combinations of plant-based foods that optimize the foods' nutritional value and your physical performance.

As much as I love the Thrive books, I love even more Brazier's Vega Sport line...and I'm not just saying that because I'm a vegan.  Even happy omnivores that I know love this line.  The protein bars are addictive.  The endurance bars I ate during Ironman Arizona.  The pre-workout energizer is delicious.  I even like the endurance gel and I'm not usually a gel fan, but this one isn't sugary and doesn't make me want to gag.  And his Vega Sport protein powders are good as well.  (Some of Brazier's other plant-based protein powders in his other lines are too "planty" for me).

So as I've followed Brazier and his work, I was thrilled this morning to see that he's launching a new program in January 2013:  Thrive Forward.  If you have been wanting to switch to a plant-based diet, this will be the program you want to try.

The Thrive Forward program is designed to provide you a free personalized on-line guide to help you transform your health through a plant-based diet.  The program will customize wellness topics just for you according to what you're interested in:  energy, body composition (I like how he doesn't say "weight loss"), stress, libido (oh yeah!), mood, or how to eat more sustainably.

Although the program doesn't start until January 2013, you can get a free preview right now!  Go to the Thrive Forward link, watch the video, and sign up for your free e-book preview.  Even this free e-book preview is packed with great information like:  

  • smoothie recipes; 
  • what foods to buy in organic form; 
  • staple foods you need and where they fall on the nutritional pyramid (and not the lobbyist-back nutritional pyramid from USDA!); 
  • where you can get good carbs; 
  • awesome suggestions for protein sources (like what legumes, seeds, nuts, and pseudograins to eat); 
  • 5 ways to boost your energy; and
  • 5-day nutritional and wellness self-assessment journal so you have a baseline and know the areas where you need to improve.  
This is all contained in the free e-book.  Imagine what's going to come with the full program in 2013!  

I have to say that I don't get any benefit from recommending this.  Brenda Brazier doesn't even know who the hell I am.  I'm recommending this because I've followed him for years, I love what he's done, I've read his other books, and I use his products.  So I believe that this Thrive Forward program will be a good starting block for beginning plant-based folks, for old-timers like me, and even for folks who just want to step-up their nutritional fitness...

Please, please check this out and let me know what you think....



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Conquer Yourself...

I came across this great quote today by Buddha:

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.  Then the victory is yours.  It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."



Man that dude was onto something....

Your biggest battle will always be with yourself...

If you're trying to accomplish a goal - be it a 5k, marathon, or Ironman - you have to quell the doubting Thomas in you that will crop up from time to time...  

If you're battling cancer, you have to draw on the strength that lies in areas of your soul deeper than you know existed...

If you're trying to get over the loss of a loved one, you have open your heart and your mind to the possibility that the person will live on forever - somewhere, somehow - be it in you, around you, or above you.... 

You are your biggest fan, your biggest critic, your biggest supporter, and your biggest doubter.  The times that you have succeeded are because you have conquered the part of you that wanted to surrender.  

And even when you haven't succeeded as you wanted, you may actually have won a bigger battle with yourself that you thought.  Cancer patients on their deathbeds often are more at peace than those of us who have a million breaths left in us.  Although they may have lost the battle for their lives, they won the war of finding themselves.  

Athletes who crawl across a finish line or who don't finish at all because their body has given out, may have lost the race...but they won the war in terms of tapping into a part of themselves they never knew existed.  

Sometimes the biggest victories in the war for finding yourself come at the expense of what you see as a lost battle...

Can you think of a time when you've been able to conquer yourself? 


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Are You a Good Sport?

"Sportsmanship for me is when a guy walks off the court and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way." - Jim Courier (tennis player)

I'm historically NOT a good sportsman...In fact, when I played tennis in high school, I was like a female John McEnroe:  throwing my tennis racket, cussing, pitching a fit.  I'd like to say that I've mellowed, but...not so much!  I am so frustrated when things don't go my way, especially when it comes to sports or academics. 

My mom used to tell the story that when I was very young - maybe first grade - she came home from work to find me sitting at the dining room table writing furiously.  She asked what I was doing.  I looked up at her, pushed my glasses up on my nose, and said that I missed a word on the spelling test. So I was writing that word 500 times.  My mom asked if the teacher made me do that.  I said "no...I missed this word on my spelling test and so I'm never going to spell it wrong again."  I'd self-imposed my own punishment for misspelling one word.  

Where did I learn that?  Who knows.  My parents certainly didn't do anything to reinforce that behavior in me because they could not have been more supportive of me.  As long as I tried my best, that's all they wanted. 

In case you're saying to yourself "oh surely she's not that bad now" - here's a true story:  My manager at work is a big baseball fan, as am I (a die-hard Cubs fan for some sadistic reason).  I was talking to her one day after a Nats/Cubs game and she was telling me how she was listening to the radio broadcast.  She said that she was laughing at "some woman" who she could hear "yelling" at the Cubs (and specifically at Carlos Zambrano, the pitcher) and cussin' them out.  As she rehashed some of the things this woman was saying, my jaw dropped...Um, that would have been me.  I was the woman yelling at the top of her lungs under the radio broadcast booth at the incompetent Cubs pitcher...I'm so proud... 

So I have no idea - nor do I have enough money to spend in psychiatric bills - to figure out why I'm a bad sport.  One thing I do know is that it's not genetic.  As my mom used to explain, although my brother (who is almost 11 years younger than me) and I are very close, we are completely different.  She used to say that while I'd obsess about the one word I got wrong, my brother would throw a party for the one word he got right...Who knows why...

I'd like to say that over the years I've mellowed and am a better sport.  Well, not so much.  I think some of those behaviors or mentalities may be more engrained in us than we think. Truth be told, although I may have mellowed, it's all relative.  Maybe I've mellowed compared to how I used be, but not compared to how most people are.  I hate losing, I hate when I don't do as well as I should, I hate screwing up...and there's no explicable reason for it. 

So Jim Courier - I commend you and I wish I could embody your definition of sportsmanship.  But alas, I'm more like John McEnroe and probably will always be that way.  Call me passionate, call me fiery, call me unbalanced...go ahead and call me a bad sport.  I've been called worse...

Are you a good sportsman? Why do you think you're the way you are? 




Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Eating My Words...

"Signing off"...that was my last blog post.  I'd decided a few days ago that I didn't think the blog was "working" (for various reasons) and that I was going to stop.  So I posted that I was signing off and told my Facebook followers that I was going to take the page down.  I thought, at the time, that it was the right thing to do...

Well, thanks to many of you who emailed or posted on Facebook, I pulled my head out of my ass...

I'm still going to take a break from posting blogs for awhile because I need undergo a massive re-organization of my life...But I will be back and with a vengeance that'll put the Terminator to shame...

So in the meantime and to keep the blog "hot," I'm going to post motivational quotes each day...

In honor of election day, here's a good one from Winston Churchill:

"Healthy citizens are the greatest assets any country can have."

So today, get out and exercise your body and your right to vote!

Thanks again for your continued support and love...YOU are the reason I do this and commit not to quit!!