Author: MsThorns

Skip The Gym – Ekhart Yoga

Even if you’ve been going to the gym for years (25 in my case) there are days when you want to get a workout in but don’t want to leave the house.  Back in the day you had to rely on your own ingenuity by making up a workout routine, or later on you could workout with VHS tapes, and later DVDs.  The 21st century has made it even easier for us not to leave the house but still maintain fitness thanks to the internet and this glorious invention called YouTube where you can find any type of workout you desire for the cost of your internet connection. I started using YouTube for home workouts earlier this year and have found some great and some not so great channels and videos.  One great channel that I go to again and again is Ekhart Yoga.

 Ekhart Yoga
Esther Ekhart’s appeal for me is demeanor. She instructs in the way that my mind says a Yoga instructor should, with clarity, calm and instruction for modifications.  Her style is not to make the student push as far as possible but to move as far as comfortable with proper form and continued emphasis on breathing (which one can forget when trying to get a pose right). Her channel features long and short classes, with the shorter ones being specialized for such things as the time of day, injuries, sports related needs and so on. I’ve done several different classes and have yet to repeat any which is good to keep things fresh.

Esther Ekhart/Ekhart Yoga is the best yoga instruction on YouTube I’ve tried thus far.  I will continue to check out more yoga videos and channels to see what else is offered, however if you want variety and excellent instruction Ekhart Yoga is great for all levels of practice.

Until next time, Namaste.

An Old Best Friend

IMG_7407 (2) (1280x999)I moved to Atlanta from New Orleans.  For my two years as a resident I had the joy of running through Audubon Park, a fast, beautiful shaded 1.8 mile trail near campus and my apartment.  Coming to Atlanta was a rude for me as a runner, having started running through the flatness of Indiana, then in NOLA, I was dismayed with the hills of this new locale.  Just the same I was determined to resume running somewhere and enlisted my BFF to find me a suitable park . That first park was Best Friend Park.  Located off Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross, Georgia, Best Friend at that time (21 years ago) was more about hoops than it was about running and walking.  Just the same, I gave the park a whirl found it less than desirable.  I don’t believe that the trail was even finished at that time.

Having run most of the parks in my area over the last few years,  I recently headed back to Best Friend.  Entering from Jimmy Carter and heading back toward the giant powerlines leads straight to the beginning of the trail. What I saw was a pleasant surprise, nothing at all like I remembered.

IMG_7377 (2) (960x1280)

The trail starts on top of a slight hill, winds down and back up near the tennis center.  There’s a pedestrian crossing at that point as there is an entrance on that side.  The trail continues past a field up another slight hill,  curves around and ends back at the trail start.  The trail is listed at .75 miles and it goes fairly quickly since it’s not hilly.  The shade is adequate on the back side, but I imagine it may be pretty hot during the summer as you’re making the loop around back to the start as there are no trees on that portion of the trail.

IMG_7384 (2) (1280x960)

IMG_7392 (2) (1280x960)

The Best Friend Park paved trail is a great, short trail that would be good for days when you don’t want to do anything long or difficult or if you want to do some speedwork amongst the trees in lieu of a track.  If you’re in the area, check it out hopefully you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as I.

Until next time, see you on the trail, where you will not EVER find ME doing speedwork. 🙂

photos: MsThorns

It’s Just Counting Right?

Screenshot_2013-11-29-17-01-15 (3)I count for a living. My fascination with numbers and statistics and such is lifelong and everything that I was able to learn and retain from my schooling many years ago I use in my daily life.  For those that count for a living, Lotus 123 and its successor that dwarfed it, Microsoft Excel, became the norm for the way we count things on the job.  Having mastered Excel at work, it became the tool for counting things at home, my budget, my collections and eventually my exercise.  I kept a fairly elaborate Excel spreadsheet with accompanying graphs for my exercise and weight data.  A couple of burglaries later I stopped recording in Excel and now just keep track of my exercise by calendar. Little did I know that this tracking I was doing had a name, the Quantified Self, there is even a movement with meet-ups and conferences.

According to the Wikipedia entry  the Quantified Self “… is a movement to incorporate technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person’s daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. mood, arousal, blood oxygen levels), and performance (mental and physical). Such self-monitoring and self-sensing, which combines wearable sensors (EEG, ECG, video, etc.) and wearable computing, is also known as lifelogging.” Guess I’ve been part of the movement as long as Excel has been around.  What’s different now is that a lot of the technology is wearable and  the data can be sent directly from the device on your body to the web where the analytics are done and reports generated by a click or touch. On the whole I think the movement is great.  Technology that will get folks moving and eating food that’s good for them is a win for everybody.  My results however of the technology-based quantified self have been mixed. 

The Rundown
Apps:
Nike+ Running – I used the app on an iPhone 3g back in’ 09 I think.  I tested it on a run in my favorite park where getting a GPS signal is dicey, as such the app mileage fell well short of the actual per the trail measurements.  After another attempt at a different, more open park with a measured trail, the mileage was still short. Anything that cheats me out of my hard-earned mileage is a no-go.
Daily Burn – Back in 2010 I’d put on some pounds, my eating was pretty much out of control so I used this app to count calories and found it really helpful. I returned to it this year and found that it was a pay program which is a definite no for me.
Sleepbot – I’m a notoriously bad sleeper and wanted to try this out of curiosity.  This happened to be my favorite as it was the easiest to use and didn’t require any sign up.  You pretty much set an alarm, turn the app on as you’re going to sleep and check out the results when you wake up.  Only downside is that you have to put the phone in the bed with you.  
MyFitnessPal – I used this year because I felt I was eating too much and wanted to quantify just how much.  The app and the site are free, easy to use and the database of foods is huge.  The exercise component is great as well and allows you to add exercises that aren’t in the database, you do have to provide a calories burned number for any additions however.  MyFitnessPal does incorporate Fitbit so that would eliminate some manual entry. 
 
Wearable Devices:
Fitbit I have some friends who love them.  Having failed using simple stuff like a pedometer I passed on the clip-on models.  The wrist models are a bit more compelling, I just haven’t pressed play on this as yet.
Sportline  I borrowed the heart monitor watch (below) and liked its simplicity/ease of use, but sometimes had difficulty with the bars picking up my pulse.  I’m not sure if I was moving too much, hands were too sweaty or what.
 

20131021_082030 (960x1280)

 
The Quantified Me, The Quantified You
Maybe I’m stubborn, cheap or both but for now I’m going to stick with the technology I trust to log what I’m doing, my Ironman Watch and the calendar on my phone.  As new stuff comes along I’ll give it a whirl and maybe do a test-drive on a Fitbit, but if it requires anymore effort to use than the two items above then that piece of tech, whatever it is won’t make the cut. 
 

2012-02-13 001 2012-02-13 003

How about you? Do you quantify yourself, what technology do you use?  Your suggestions and experiences using any of the technology to do so are welcomed in the comments. 
 
Until next time, see you on the trail or the gym with nothing but a watch and a phone, and clothes of course.

photos: msthorns

You Have Permission

ATTENTION: All fitness fanatics, nutritionistas and swolemen, take a day off on me!

There’s plenty of experts out there that will tell you, drink plenty of water, fill up on veggies before you head to the Thanksgiving table and enjoy the fixins’ in moderation.  Since I’m not an expert, you won’t hear that from me.  Ye old broad says:

Chill, enjoy your family and friends, eat what you want, drink what you want and watch allllllll the games.  When that turkeyphan (tryptophan) kicks in go ahead and take yourself a nap.  Lord willing AND if you aren’t trampled by the Black Friday stampedes, you can back to your program Friday.

Enjoy your holiday, Gobble Gobble and see you on the trail, gym or somewhere workin’ that turkey and dressing off.

20131127_070414 (1167x1280)
photo: msthorns; artwork Jorge, Planet Fitness in Lawrenceville GA

Compliance Fail

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERALet me tell you something, this year has been a beast on ye olde broad’s body.

It all started with the knee, which had been an ongoing problem for the last year and finally came to a head in August.  If it wasn’t the knee hurting then it was hip.  The sports medicine doctor called it bursitis.  I call it old folks hip.  The latest body fail? The back. I felt it coming on at the end of last week.  Made a wrong move and bam there it went.  I am almost completely upright now but a few days ago I was cross-eyed with pain.  What gives? My body for sure, but it’s mostly my mind, giving into temptation and this freaky competition that I have with myself.

How it all goes down
Whenever I have an injury, my healthcare provider/trainer  prescribes the following:
  1. Do not participate in X activity for # amount of time
  2. Follow X treatment plan for # amount of time
  3. After treatment is complete you may return to activity but do so gradually and build up.
  4. At the first sign of pain stop.
My compliance FAIL happens at step one. “Do not participate in X activity for # amount of time.” 
For example, the downtime for the knee issue was supposed to be a 1 month per the trainer (who had torn both of ACLs and knows pain).  My primary care physician said 2-3 weeks along with a treatment plan.  I did not follow the treatment, I laid off for 2 1/2 weeks and started running again, gradually and with this

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
but I went back.  Only for my body two months later to say NOPE.

What have I learned?
Good habits can be difficult to form and bad habits difficult to end.  Starting an exercise program and staying consistent can be difficult. However once it becomes habit, stopping is not an option even though sometimes it should be, as in the case of injury.  Folks who worked hard to get where they are now, competitive folks and folks who just want to have a good quality of life within their own body can have difficulty with stopping, reducing or adjusting activity.  Swallowing the pill/complying with the doctor’s orders has been difficult for me, but the old broad is learning.  I’d much rather do what they tell me to do and go for the long-term, then do what I want to do in the short-term and pay for it by being laid up.

What about you? Does your mind over power your body and make you exercise when it’s probably best for you to refrain?  If so were you able to break out of that pattern of behavior? What did you do. Let me know in the comments and until next time,

See you on the trail or the gym or…

Another Guy At The Gym

Because the knee is doing funky things right now I’m spending more time on the gym floor with the weight equipment. My “soccer mom” gym Planet Fitness is great for my needs. The equipment is always operable, there’s never a wait for anything (at least not early in the morning) and the price is right. This past weekend I went in at early evening and lo and behold “that guy” was there.

I’m headed to the back where you do all your abs, stretching and such. The back also contains the adductor and abductor machines which I hit last before the ab work. There are two of each machine, only one is available when I roll up but I figure somebody will be done by the time I finish my set. Two machines opened when I finished. One didn’t, the one with “that guy” on it.  I always time my workouts and since the clock was ticking I wanted to know how long he would stay on. I got a bit more than time with this one.

That fool on the adductor next to me definitely was not doing thigh work. What he was doing was sweating all over the machine with his headphones on doing some weird swooping movement for his… abs?  I want to say DUDE YOU’RE ON A THIGH MACHINE WTF? Clearly he didn’t know that those machines are the exclusive territory of the big thigh mamas like me.  Now homie would throw a few reps in for good measure but go right back to the swoop and sweat. While all that was going on I completed, adduction, abduction, abs and stretching which took 18 minutes at which time he finally vacated.

So I’m submitting another entry to the “don’t be that guy at gym” series as follows: “don’t be that guy who is using the machine for purposes other than what it’s made for and stays there like he’s on his La Z Boy at home.”

If you’re that guy, please stop this foolishness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-91_iXATY8

Until next time, see you at the gym.

 

photos: mine

If it Ain’t One Thing

True to form after the debacle of dehydration weekend (which I also think was heat exhaustion) I jumped right back in on Monday with a kettlebell HIIT workout and a bit of ab work. Tuesday morning?  A treadmill run, which was tiring but good. Felt a little soreness from the prior workout but that was ok.
Then it happened.
 
After arriving at work and heading down the steps of the parking deck an old familiar nemesis made itself known.  The old left knee was sore and heavy and the stair descent exacerbated this problem.  Looks like the running was going to have to go on the back burner since I have what is commonly known as “runners knee”.

What is Runner’s Knee?
“Runner’s knee” is a term used to refer to a number of medical conditions that cause pain around the front of the knee (patellofemoral pain). These conditions include anterior knee pain syndrome, patellofemoral malalignment, and chondromalacia patella.”  Some causes of runner’s knee are:

  • Malalignment of the kneecap
  • Complete or partial dislocation
  • Injury
  • Tightness, imbalance, or weakness of thigh muscles
  • Flat feet
I can check off three of the above along with arthritis in the knee which was diagnosed a few years ago.  What really bites about going down with knee pain this week is that this weekend is going to be NOTHING like last weekend. It’s supposed to be cool with a high chance of rain all weekend, the best weather you can hope for, for August in Georgia.  Yet I know better,  there’s still a bit of pain present probably from those blasted squats this morning (too soon).    The recumbent bike didn’t seem to bother it, yoga seemed to help and strength training sans squats and extensions have been fine too, which means those exercises along with ice will be the regimen until the pain is gone.

image
Have you had runner’s knee or some other injury that sidelined you?  How did you handle it?  Let me know in the comments. If you happen to be suffering from runners knee right now, you can find treatment options here and here.

Until next time see you on the trail and hopefully that will be in about a week.

You gotta have guts, good ones that is

The metro (Atlanta) has had a very mild summer.  90 degree days have been few and far between and no 100s.  As such running has been a fairly joyful experience, then August happened.  It’s still not really “Georgia hot” as we’ve been right at 90 but the humidity has been absolutely out of this world.  Creature of habit that I am I still run outside only on the weekends and only in the morning, which happens to be when the humidity is at its highest.

So what had happened was…
Last Saturday, I really didn’t feel like going as I was tired from the week, tired from my other workouts and just plain old tired.  I checked my Accuweather app and in spite of the the reported 100% humidity I took my tired tail to a park that I’d not been to in a long while, thinking different energy, different people would motivate me and I would enjoy the run.   The park was fine, this particular trail is a shorter one which was fine as it turns out. After my usual quarter mile walking warm up I started plodding along, slower than usual, knowing that this climate was not conducive for pushing pace.  I checked my mile time and though I’m a slow runner, my time was way slower than usual.  My legs were feeling like lead, I was sweating bullets but could not cool off at all.  I got to 5 miles (was scheduled for 6.5) stretched briefly and jumped in the car and went home.

The routine is usually, shower, food, nap and then the rest of my daily activities.  However that plan was delayed a bit by my bad guts, it didn’t stop me from my routine however, I ate, and napped as usual, but was really busy up until Monday, so busy that I didn’t drink much and didn’t eat well.  By Monday, which is a scheduled treadmill running day I was screwed, never made it to the gym my stomach was giving me fits until about noon that day.  This weekend was a repeat performance, humidity was near 100% yesterday morning. I sweated like crazy, put in 6.25 miles and followed routine except for the nap.  In fact I was busy all day yesterday and worked early this morning.  After work and breakfast this morning, I’d planned to go to church, my guts had other ideas. I figured dehydration was a problem and food choices were a problem as well.  I let Google do the research for me and here’s what I found out.

Running in humidity
Type in “running in heat and humidity” and you’ll get over 11 million results.  What I found most helpful was an article from Runner’s World, which explains in layman’s terms the impact humidity has on the body.  Basically, the higher the humidity, the harder the body works to stay cool.  Humidity makes sweating inefficient at cooling the body because the sweat doesn’t evaporate.  As the body heats up, the adverse effects pile up, dehydration, increased body temperature, increased heart rate, changes in mechanics and judgment and possible heat illness.  Age and weight can exacerbate these issues.
 
About Dehydration
From the Mayo Clinic: “Dehydration occurs when you lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you may get dehydrated.”  Reading through the symptoms, causes and risk factors, I knew that more than food, dehydration was the cause of my GI problems. My risk factors are pretty high and include:
  • Diabetes
  • Medications (all the ones I take adversely impact hydration)
  • Inadequate fluid intake
  • Age
  • Climate
  • Cumulative effect – “Dehydration is also cumulative over a period of days, which means you can become dehydrated with even a moderate exercise routine if you don’t drink enough to replace what you lose on a daily basis.” I exercise 5 days a week 3 of those days are running days in which I sweat plenty.  I’m also peri-menopausal meaning I might bust out a hot flash every now and again or a night sweat and I can say with certainty, I am ALWAYS dehydrated. 
 
But what about those bad guts?
This isn’t a simple answer but a number of factors that can contribute to GI issues for runners include the simple jostling of the gut during running, food choices before, during and after run and dehydration.  Knowing my risk factors and habits, I’m re-thinking this whole running in the humidity thing.  If I want to continue to run in humidity (heat isn’t as much of a problem for me), I’ll need to make some adjustments like these, these and these or, I may just have to let it go until the climate moderates here during the fall and winter.  I’ll let you know how it goes.
 
What about you.  Have you had GI problems during or post run/exercise? Have you narrowed down the culprit? Have your issues been resolved and what did you do? I’d like to know, so please share in the comments.
 
Until next time see you on the trail.
 
image

15 of 44 – 2013 Peachtree Road Race

This year’s Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia had the potential to be different from recent years. In light of the Boston Marathon bombing there would be a greater police presence for this race (the largest 10K in the United States). Mother Nature was also expected to change the race as the forecast called for a 100% chance of rain. How did it all turn out?
Just fine.
There was rain for the wheelchair race and for the 7:30 elite starters, but by the time the rest of us queued up, the rain had stopped and we were treated with overcast skies for the entirety of the race and temperatures in the low 70s.  As for the police presence? I wouldn’t have known they were there had it not been for the news coverage I saw afterwards.
The Sights

Pre-race was the same as it’s ever been, people lining up at the Marta stations, folks in costumes and beer.  I’ve never understood how these folks can do it but the beer drinkers will not be stopped.  Holy water was also sprinkled by a catholic priest right before he ascent to cardiac hill (I get it every year), the street apostles warned us that the end was near and there were some folks politicking against using tax money for a new stadium. All par for the course.

The Sounds
Live music along the course was more sparse than usual, I’m assuming because wet conditions were expected, however the radio stations were in full force.  All runners and walkers were treated to cheering spectators along the course, though fewer in number this year.
The Finish
Anybody who participates in races, knows what the finish looks like.  A full on SPRINT.  Folks who may have walked the entire course turn into Usain Bolt at the end.  I never stop chuckling at this.  Once in Piedmont Park, we all trudged through the mud to get our t-shirts, drinks and snacks.  On my way out I stopped at the medical tent, for good measure this year as I experienced no problems (except for a hip thing which is a nagging injury), there was only one person in the tent while I was there and my blood sugar and pressure were A-OK.  New reports indicated that one person suffered cardiac arrest I hope they’re ok.

As is custom I usually stop some random person to take my picture, to show the aftermath.  This year that random person was Loren, who was really nice.  She had run multiple Peachtrees and shared with me that she’d lost over 70 pounds running.  GO LOREN! Thanks for humoring me but mostly for sharing your victory with me.
Overall this year’s Peachtree was enjoyable, relaxing almost.  Not having to worry about the effects of heat and humidity were a relief for this runner and I would imagine the same for many more.  As I’ve said the last few years, this is my LAST one.  Let’s see if I stick to that when registration begins in March 2014 and sign up for #15.
Until next time see you on the trail (or the road).

Grounded

I’ve written previously about my issue with spring and how it affects my routine here. My trip to the doctor this year was a little bit later in the spring but with the same diagnosis – – sinusitis, resulting from allergies. The prescription following the diagnosis, was something I’d never heard before and it went something like this:

Dr.:  I’m prescribing <antibiotic>.  You should take it twice a day for 10 days. Continue taking them even if you start to feel better before then.

Me: okay (I know all this already, boring…)
Dr.: as for that exercise, I advise you to stop while you’re taking the medication.
Me: no exercise?
Dr.: yes.
Me: for 10 days?
Dr.: How can your body heal if you’re exercising? Doing so forces your body to concentrate on something else in lieu of healing the infection.
Me: okay
I was skeptical about his advice as every single year, I plod through, only taking two or three days at the most jump right back in. After Googling a bit I found that as long as illness was from the neck, exercise can be done but intensity should be scaled back.  I knew that as well, however I was just beginning to get some asthma symptoms, which also unless really bad, I work through as well, with the help of inhalers. Mulling over research and what the doctor said for  few hours, I decided to comply with his prescription and here’s why.

  1. Every year there is always a setback – as I thought about these annual trips to the doctor I realized that within a month there was always a relapse, resulting the extension of antibiotics and the addition of an oral steroid. Every single year. Maybe if I had halted the exercise, I could have avoided the additional trip and additional meds.

  2. I’ve had a lot injuries during the last year, achilles strain, shin splints, ongoing knee and shoulder pain with the latest injury being a literal pain in the ass. The pain was getting worse as I continued to push.

  3. It was time to end my paranoia. As a person who’s had weight issues for 30 years, stopping training for more than a few days always lead to my mind playing tricks on me in the form of “you know if you miss these days (not years) you are going to be that unhealthy person again.” Which is ridiculous. All my critical numbers have been good for about five years now. The blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol were on point but the muscles, tendons and joints had taken a beatdown. Resting sounded like the best prescription to keep going for the long haul.
 
What does it all mean?
Though I’m not a competitive runner I do compete with myself. I continue to test the limits of my body.  Funny thing is this self competition is in conflict with the reason I run and do other exercise.  Moving the body, especially running (for me) is a spiritual practice.  It’s a space and time in which I honor my body for the magnificent piece of work that it is. Running time is that time that my brain gets a rest.  The tipping point had been reached at which the spiritual became the competitive, bordering on the obsessive.  So I yielded to spirit instead of mind this time, in order to heal the body.

What about you? Are you chasing PR’s,  pushing the heavy weights to exhaustion, always looking for the competitive edge? If so and you have lost the joy of whatever sport/fitness activity you engage in, take a little down time before you’re forced to.

I’d like to hear about your downtime. Was it a force out or purposeful? Tell me about it in the comments and until next time see you on the road, I’ll be back outside in another week 🙂

image