core yoga

Sprinkled throughout my latest experiment with Insanity and running…I’ve also been keeping up my yoga practice. I finished a month-long yoga challenge at the end of April. May wasn’t quite as consistent as I had hoped it to be, but I was still getting it done a few times a week.

I’ve been sticking with Tara Stiles, since after her challenge I had built up a very nice comfort level with it. Plus, her DVD collection offered so many different options…anything from 15 minutes of easy-going yoga to a strength building hour-long practice.

However, today I decided that I was getting a little too ‘comfortable’ with it and decided to mix things up a bit. After my daughter went down for her nap, I took a break from packing (have I mentioned that we’re moving?!?) and took Shiva Rea’s Core Yoga DVD out of the case for the first time.

First up, I was a little confused by the menu. It offered a “Yoga Matrix” and apparently what this meant is that you can piece together your own yoga practice out of seven options (plus a 2 min shavasana). Thereby being able to customize your practice based on your primary focus for the day and also how much time you have available.

Cool.

So, for my first try I selected: 1) Water Core (no idea what that was, but it sounded far less scary than the “Fire Core” alternative!) 2) Creative Core Lower Body 3) Agni Namaskar (Again…no idea what that was, but since I already worked out today I figured it was best to avoid the “Upper Body” choice.)

I have to say, this was by far the most interesting yoga practice I’ve ever done. It was definitely more ‘traditional’ than Tara Stiles. Tara doesn’t play into the whole ‘make an offering’ thing, she doesn’t get all ‘earthy’ on you and none of the Sanskrit names are used for her poses. I’m not necessarily saying I like one more than the other, it’s just that they’re very different and there’s an adjustment period. Shiva Rea is more traditional in some of those aspects, but then in others she’s in a league all of her own!

Right, so, Water Core. I enjoyed it, but there was some weirdness going on. In fact, there were moments when I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Partly because she was flying through odd tai-chi-like-movements and partly because of the interesting/blurred out camera editing…

^^^What’s happening up there??!!^^^

Then we moved onto the Arni Namaskar. She opened up by letting us know we were about to embark on a practice centering around 109 push-ups.

Crap.

I just DID 109 push-ups this morning during Insanity!!!! *sigh*

I already felt invested in this, so there was no other choice than to hit the deck.

It was definitely a lot of push-ups, but it was broken-up into 12 rounds and as it turned out it wasn’t so terrible. I really enjoyed the rest of the video.  It’s so hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but there is something missing from the more modern-style of yoga that is present in traditional practices. There’s a flow in the traditional ones that makes it feel less like a workout and more like fluid movement. If that makes any sense.

I think from this point forward I’ll be sure to mix up both the traditional and non-traditional practices since I feel that they each have something great to offer!

it’s insane

Yesterday I decided that it was finally time for me to give Insanity a try. I’ve had it for a while, but I didn’t want to start anything new during marathon training. At this point, I’m feeling 100% after the New Jersey Marathon and I still have just about a month before Marine Corps Marathon training begins, so I figured now (while I’m easing back on running a bit) would be a good time to check it out!

So, before the girls woke-up yesterday, I headed down into the home gym and got started. I opted to skip the Fit Test. If there is ever a Fit Test, I always skip it. I’m all grown-up now and I frown upon tests. Instead, I jumped right into Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

As the name suggests…there was many, much jumping going on. It was reminiscent of my experience with P90X2′s Plyocide last year. Towards the end, it was challenging to keep up with, my heart was pumping, but it was so very repetitive. The same moves over and over again. At least on the treadmill I can turn up the music and zone out. With Insanity you have to be totally present, which left me staring at the clock counting down the seconds until we did something different.

Then, randomly, they started doing yoga right in the middle. I don’t particularly like cramming 10 minutes of yoga in the middle of a high-intensity cardio workout. I skipped it. I already have my own yoga practice going on, so I don’t want to rush through it and end up wasting valuable cardio time.

Towards the end I was still going, but I was definitely feeling fatigued. It was a short workout out (especially since more than 10 minutes was dedicated to stretching), but it definitely required a whole lotta’ energy!!

Then this morning arrived. 24 hours later. Did I mention that I wasn’t sore AT ALL the day after my marathon??? 26.2 miles…no soreness. 30-ish minutes of Insanity and I can barely walk! I somehow managed to get a 4 mile run in this morning, but I have no idea how I got the food shopping done today as well. On my way home I actually let out a small whimper when I thought about all of the bags I would soon have to walk into the house.

Insanity definitely woke-up some of the lesser used muscles in my legs!! That right there earns it another shot. I’m not going to follow the calendar, I still run at least three days a week and I have no desire to double-up Insanity workouts on running days. As it is, a few times a week I double-up running with yoga…but I think that’s more of a complimentary pairing rather than an overboard fitness obsession!!

Tomorrow I’ll be giving Cardio Power & Resistance a try…which I’m not entirely sure is such a wise decision considering I have an eight mile run scheduled for Saturday morning?! Wish me luck!!

the marathon

On May 5th in Long Branch, New Jersey (with a gorgeous ocean view) I officially became a MARATHONER!!

Was there ever any doubt?!?! Alight, maybe a little…but in the end I was able to catch-up on my long runs, complete my training and achieve my goal of finishing the New Jersey Marathon!!

My #1 goal was to finish, #2 was revised after my foot injury to finish around the 5-hour mark. I finished at 5:20. I lost about 7-8 minutes on two port-a-john breaks (was very thirsty and drank a ton of water, TMI? super quick the first stop, but a line for the second), so I’d say that’s pretty close to the time I was expecting. Definitely not the fastest marathoner out there, but a finisher nonetheless!!

I woke-up early on the morning of the marathon…ate a big carb-y breakfast in my hotel room and then did 20 minutes of yoga before packing up and heading out. The traffic getting there was insane. It was only about a 10-minute drive from the hotel, but it took over an hour. I sat in my car watching the half-marathoners sprint down the highway trying to make it to the start line in time (their race started about an hour before the full). Fortunately, I left with plenty of time to spare. I parked, got my gear together, waited in the warm car for a bit, then headed over. It was absolutely FREEZING and WINDY. I was extremely thankful that I brought a ‘toss away’ hooded jacket. I absolutely would have been miserable without it.

In what seemed like no time we were off!! I would say that within an hour of starting the clouds cleared, the sun started shining and the wind died down. It turned out to be supreme running weather. It was total perfection.

Being a former Jersey Girl, maybe I’m biased, but Jersey spectators have to be some of the very best! They were literally tailgating in their front yards. Eating, drinking, holding up signs, playing lawn games and many of the homes had Springsteen blasting from their radios. They were loud, enthusiastic and very encouraging.

I saw a few signs that said “Welcome New Jersey Marathoners”…and it was really nice to see. These people were stuck at home pretty much all day long…they had crazy runners filling their streets, energy gel packets and sweatshirts being tossed everywhere, but yet they still cheered us on and made us feel welcome.

To be honest, it was a very uneventful race. Absolutely nothing went wrong. I felt great, I had everything I needed, the weather was perfect. It was like the planets aligned and I was handed this excellent first marathon experience!

However, I did start out a little too fast (as always). In fact, for a while it was looking like I was going to hit a 13.1 PR!! In the end I hit it right in around my usual time, but then things slowed down considerably around the 18-20 mile mark. From there I did a walk/run mix. Sometimes I’d end up next to someone taking a break too and we’d chat for a bit.

It’s so strange to say it, but marathon running (for me) is far more relaxing and enjoyable than the shorter distances?! I was able to take in so much more of the experience since I wasn’t being driven by a time goal. Of course, it was hard at times, but surprisingly enjoyable as well.

With about .3 miles to go I spotted the finish line.

Wow.

That was something.

For one split second I got a little choked-up. Most training plans are about 4-5 months long, but in actuality it took a year of my life to build up to that exact moment. All the doubt, all the worry, the early morning runs, the lost sleep, the sacrificed wine!! Well, it all kind of hit me at once. It felt like such a HUGE accomplishment just making it to the START line, so being that close to the finish was without a doubt one of the top five moments of my life.

As soon as I snapped out of it, I sprinted the rest of the way. As I passed another runner she yelled to me “you’re making it look so easy?!”. It was my last burst of energy, the sudden euphoria that made me feel like I had plenty of gas left in the tank!!

For about an hour afterwards I was sore. I felt fine during the 2-hour car ride home, but when I finally stood up I was stiff as a board! A hot shower, a big dinner and a few hours later I felt completely fine. By the next morning I was 100%. No soreness at all. Which is a good thing considering how much I had to get done that day!!

The only reason I can come up with for not being sore the day after a marathon is because I ran it, but didn’t RACE it. I pushed, but not outside of my capability. It gave me a slower finish time, but there is GREAT satisfaction in running a marathon and not feeling even the slightest bit of fatigue the next day!

By 48 hours afterwards I felt like running but gave myself an extra day or so of rest just in case. I eased back in with a three-miler on Thursday and yesterday I did a nice, slow 7.5 mile run.

I have about a month before I start training for the Marine Corps Marathon, so I plan to keep up my long runs, but not push too hard. I’m sure my legs will appreciate the break!!

And there you have it…my first marathon complete. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend you lace-up and run one yourself ; )

bring on the taper

Wow. I am officially less than a week away from my first marathon!!?!

I can’t say that my training went exactly as I had hoped. My foot injury back in January put a big kink into things. As a result, I lost a full month of training.  Eventually, there was a slow attempt at easing back into running and then a focus primarily on increasing my distance…but not wanting to push my pace out of concern for a ‘too much, too fast’ injury.  Oh, and just to liven things up a sudden change in the shape of my feet required me to ditch my running shoes about a month ago and invest in a new pair. For the first time in my life I’m officially wearing a wide-width shoe?!

Looking back over the last few months, I wish I could have gotten more than only three runs in per week. I also wish I was able to add in regular speedwork.  But you know what??? Even though those things didn’t happen I’ve got NO complaints! I am so very thankful to even be running at all right now!

Once I started back-up in February I decided that I would scrap a time-goal entirely. The course is open for 6 hours and 30 minutes…that’s my new goal, BUT…I would consider myself very lucky if I were to come in around the 5 hour mark. Not a very lofty goal, but my mindset has changed since my injury. It was either take it a little easy for this one, or back out…and there was no way I was going to back out just because I wouldn’t be able to rip-up the course with a (relatively) speedy finish time!!

Since things were going so well and physically I was feeling 100% I decided to go ahead and register for a local 8k. I was a little nervous at first, the idea of ‘racing’ two weeks before a marathon didn’t seem to align with my very conservative training plan! I ended up deciding to do it about an hour before the race! To be honest, I think it was Boston that influenced my final decision. It was the Saturday after and I just felt like I wanted to run…to be with a group, at a race and run without any concern for a PR.

I’m so glad I showed up that morning!! It was a very challenging course…two MASSIVE hills, one was virtually a wall that I walked up while leaning forward with my hands on my thighs!! The other was a long, steep incline right up to the finish line.  Oooofah!!

I finished at 47 minutes…a 9:27 average pace. Five minutes longer than the Philly 8k back in November, but considering that I haven’t done any speedwork since December AND Philly was a totally FLAT course…well, I was pleasantly surprised!!

So, now I’m tapering. I know this because I am a paranoid wreck that I’ll get sick. Like right now…I suddenly have a sore throat, but is it a real sore throat or a taper sore throat??? If it’s a taper sore throat then I’m probably just thirsty : |

diy health challenge

On April 1st I joined up with The Greatist for their month-long DIY Health Challenge.

The plan is to cook one healthy meal and make time for at least 20 minutes of bodyweight exercise per day for the entire month of April. Unfortunately, I can’t include all of my training runs, but as luck would have it I’m also on-board for the Tara Stiles This is Yoga Challenge…so I’m easily fulfilling my 20 minutes per day. (If anyone is interested I started up a check-in group for this one over on Social Workout, so if you’re following along feel free to join up!!!)

As for the daily healthy meal, I’ve also been meeting my goal for that one everyday!! I’ve posted a few of the meals here already. Some days it’s as simple as a green-smoothie and kale/veggie salad for lunch or maybe just a veggie omelet with gluten-free toast and a handful of berries. At other times motivation strikes and I get a little more elaborate…

Such as (corn) pasta served with zucchini, yellow squash, polenta and marinara sauce.

Or last night I experimented for the first time with butternut squash. It’s amazing how intimidating it can be when you’re handling new ingredients for a meal?!

I tend to wing-it a bit in the kitchen, so I don’t follow just one recipe, but end up picking and choosing between several that I’ll find online.

In the end I thought this one came out great!

I served it with brown rice, so it was very filling and again my six-year-old loved it! She ate two bowls and thanked me for a ‘great dinner’…

*happiness*

accidental marathoner

Running. Yes. Still doing that too. In addition to all of the cooking and yoga that’s been going on around here I’ve also been continuing on with my marathon training. I’d like to say it’s been uneventful, but I’m not so sure you can train to run 26.2 miles in your limited spare time and not hit a snafu or two along the way. Regardless, things are moving along. I completed my first ever 18 mile run last weekend! Yesterday was a scale back long run, so I dropped down to 13 miles and next weekend I’ll peak at 20 miles before I begin to taper. The end is near!!

Over the last few months I’ve noticed that the shape of my feet have changed. I suppose a year of consistent running can do that. I had to retire my current pair of running shoes almost 200 miles early (bah!!) and move on up to my first pair of ‘wide-width’ shoes. Another year or so of running and I fear that my clown feet will force me to quit and join the circus instead.

I took the new pair out for a half-marathon distance spin yesterday and they’re significantly more comfortable. Excellent.

Over the last month I’ve also been experimenting with fueling options. I’m big on GU. I’ve tried several energy gels over the last year and I find that GU is not only the better tasting of the bunch, but I also tolerate it the best. However, there’s only so many GU’s you can suck down during a run before you start wishing no such thing existed. It gets progressively harder to choke them down as the miles rack up. I absolutely cannot eat solid food while running, so I started looking into alternatives.

So far the only thing I’ve come up with is Carbo Gain.

You mix a half a cup of powder with about 16 ounces of whatever you normally drink…whether it be your favorite sports drink or plain water (like me). It has very little taste to it, so it’s not in the least bit overwhelming. Basically it’s equivalent to one energy gel spread out over the course of your run. I’m now into uncharted territory distance-wise, but when I first started using it for anything over 9-10 miles I noticed that I was able to comfortably finish my run even though I was taking one less GU than usual. It’s a little sticky if you spill it, but it’s gluten, dairy and soy free which makes it a huge score for me!!!

I figure the more options I have the better since apparently I enjoy putting myself through the grueling efforts required for marathon training. This became evident when I very randomly, very spur-of-the-moment decided to register for the Marine Corps Marathon in October!?!?!?!?

I have no idea how that happened?! Especially considering how horribly wrong the entire registration process went. SO many runners tried for the entire 2+ hours registration was open (before selling out) and never got through.

After I registered I told my husband “I think I just accidentally registered for another marathon?!” That’s exactly how unprepared I was for making this decision!!! But I have to say, now that I’m registered I’m totally psyched!! This was the other marathon I was considering when I signed up for the New Jersey Marathon…I never imagined I would be able to do both, so I’m really excited to not only run MCM, but also that I’ll be joining my best running ‘bud at the start line!!!

fried rice

This morning my husband and I were discussing what to make for dinner tonight. I happened to be checking out Pinterest at the time and saw this recipe for Chicken Fried Rice. It sounded extremely good. Probably because I haven’t had fried rice since going gluten-free almost four years ago!!!

We pretty much followed the original recipe, with a few minor differences. We used tamari (wheat-free!) instead of regular soy sauce. (In addition to having Celiac I also have dairy and soy intolerances, but as long as my husband uses the tamari sparingly I seem to do okay with it.) We also tossed some bamboo shoots and water chestnuts in the wok.

It was absolutely fantastic!!!

I ate three bowls! This is why I run…or maybe it’s because I run?? Either way, I blame the five miles I ran this morning!

tara stiles yoga program

As previously mentioned, about a month or so ago I finally started back up with practicing yoga again. Up until this point, all of the videos (as well as the studio that I went to) offered up ‘traditional’ yoga. And that’s exactly what I was looking for. However, over the course of this challenge it was impossible to not come across Tara Stiles.

Tara is described just about everywhere as being a ‘rebel’ yoga instructor. I saw several articles where the authors had a lot of negativity to share regarding her method of teaching. Yet there were plenty more singing her praises.

Finally all of the controversy got to be too much for me. It’s like banned books. Tell me I should avoid something because it’s not in line with how things ‘should be’ and I suddenly HAVE to check it out immediately!!

So, on Day 21 (the last day of my Yoga Challenge) I opted for Tara Stiles Yoga Weight Loss and Balance. I was really curious about what I would end up doing with a yoga ‘rebel’ leading the way. During that hour we did some: plank position, upward dog, downward dog, forward bend, warrior pose, chair pose…wait.

WAIT.

What’s so rebel-ish about this??! Apparently, the only thing that makes her a rebel is that she chooses to use the English posture names as opposed to Sanskrit. Which being that English is my first (and only) language, it’s actually quite helpful.

Oh, and she also doesn’t randomly stop to tell me about how lotus flowers like ‘murky waters’ and to ‘root your sitting bones to the ground and give back the flow of energy to the Earth’.

Yeah, we’ve got a wild one here.

So, I didn’t find Tara all that rebel-ish. She offered up a nice 50-min long yoga practice. Pretty much the only thing that I didn’t like about her teaching style…

“Awesome, you guys.”

“Nice, you guys.”

Over. And OVER again, you guys.

Since that first video I’ve tried a few others by her and I’ve gotten past the “you guys” and I hardly even notice it anymore. Overall, I enjoy her straight forward style and really don’t see what all of the controversy is about.

Long story, even longer…I’ve decided to join up with her April Yoga Program!!

I’m actually really excited about it. I’ve already received her This Is Yoga collection, so I’m all set and ready to go!!

brownie bird nests

I had a post in mind that was all about running, but my daughter started spring break yesterday and I got a bit sidetracked.  So, the foodie posts continue, but this time there was absolutely nothing healthy going on in this kitchen!!!

She was supposed to help with frosting the brownies for our Springtime Bird Nests, but she spent most of the time eating frosting straight from the container and sneaking candy eggs when (she thought) I wasn’t looking. ‘Ya know, exactly what kids are supposed to do when they’re helping out with the baking.

 

vegan macs and cheese

The cooking streak continues!

Yesterday I decided to make Vegan Macs and “Cheese”. The idea of macs and cheese, without the cheese, isn’t really an appealing one to me. However, not only do I need to avoid gluten at all costs, but I’m also dairy and soy intolerant. So, macs and faux-cheese is really my only option.

I stumbled across a recipe for it by Tara Stiles. Normally, I wouldn’t post someone else’s recipe on my blog…I’d just link over to their post. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an actual typed-up recipe for it. Just a YouTube video. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely cannot cook with only a video to guide me. I can only imagine the look on my husband’s face when he arrived home to find the iPad coated in extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard…from all of the ‘rewinding’ while mid-prep!!!

It’s actually a pretty simple receipe…I started out by very lightly coating some chopped broccoli with extra virgin olive oil. I roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

While that was going, I pulled together the rest of the ingredients…

gluten-free corn pasta (any variety)

1 and 1/2 cups of cashews

1 cup of water

2 cloves of garlic (I used one MEGA clove)

red pepper flakes

1 (heaping) tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

sliced baby bella mushrooms

gluten-free Italian breadcrumbs (optional)

Into the blender went the cashews, water, garlic, Dijon mustard and a pinch of red peppers flakes. Once the pasta was cooked I drained it, tossed it back into the pot, added the broccoli, mushrooms and then poured in the blended cashew sauce. Once everything was mixed together I spread it all out into a 13×9 baking dish. Over the top, I sprinkled some g-free breadcrumbs then popped it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

That’s it!!

So, it would be a total lie if I said it tasted anything like macs and cheese. It doesn’t. At all. In fact, the name is misleading. Instead it should be called Vegan Cashew Pasta or Garlicky Pasta Casserole. Definitely not Macs and Cheese.

Regardless, it was actually really good. I was a little short on the cashews, so I think that’s why I felt as though it could have used more of the sauce. I also didn’t have any nutritional yeast. I looked for it at the store, but they didn’t carry it, so I skipped it entirely. I’m not a huge fan of garlic, so I probably could have used a little less. I think because there are minimal ingredients a little will go a long way.

I would definitely make this one again. Both my husband and I enjoyed it. Our daughter said it was ‘really good’ when she tried it, but the second she hit one of those red pepper flakes she refused to eat any more!! So maybe next time I’ll leave those on the side to add in afterwards.