Yoga for Runners (Revisited)

I made a post back in May with yoga for runners resources. I thought I'd revisit it for those new to this blog and to recommend a few more sites and DVDs.

DVDs
Rodney Yee is my favorite yoga instructor. All his DVDs are excellent. Here are some of my favorites that I've tried.

• A.M. and P.M. Yoga - 20 mins -- he leads the a.m practice; Patricia Walden leads the p.m one; they are each 20 minutes
• Power Yoga - Total Body Workout - this one 1 hour yoga practice is a really good workout. Don't do this one if you are looking to relax, though it does offer that benefit too, but you'll break a sweat.)
• Yoga Conditioning for Athletes - this DVD includes a 1 hour practice geared towards athletes plus several sport specific mini workouts (cycling, running, golf, swimming, and tennis) about 3-5 mins each that can be used as a pre/post run stretch
• A.M. Yoga for Your Week - this DVD has 5 different 20-25 minute yoga sessions to start the day: staning poses, back bends, forward bends, twists, and hip openners. They are great to start the day or as a cool down stretch after a long run.
  

Sites/Podcasts

• iYogaLife for Runners - a great site with free videos of yoga poses and sequences organized by needs (e.g. yoga for runners ...). A good place to start is their pre-run poses and post-run stretches.
• YogaDownload.com - Yoga for Runners Podcast (also on iTunes) - this site has tons more yoga podcasts (both audio and video) and most also include a printable pose guide.
• Yoga Basics - this site is a great resources to look up poses and sequences. I like to do their whole body warm up sequence before starting on pre-run poses.
• RunnerGirl.com - Yoga on the Run
• Runner's World - Yoga for Runners Page

100 push ups & crunches

I just stumbled upon this and thought I'd share, and try to persuade you to try it too ;)

Jason and I plan to start the the hundred push ups training program next week and thought some of you may want to join me. In 6 weeks, we should be able to do 100 push ups in a row! We are going to adapt the program for crunches as well, realizing that we'll probably start at a different level for crunches than push ups as those are easier to do.

Now, this is supposed to be 100 real push ups. However, when I tried the initial test (to see where in the program you should start), I found that my arms can barely hold my body weight and I can't seem to do a single one. However, I can do the girl push ups (with knees bent), so I might complete the program twice. I'd start with girl push ups, and once I can do 100 of those, I'd do the program again with full push ups.

When I tried the test again, I managed 2-3, but I can't come all the way to the ground or I can't lift myself back up. I come pretty close, so maybe I'll try full push ups on day 1 and see how it goes. If not, I'll go back to my original plan of doing girl push ups. I can do 8-10 of those. With crunches I think I'd start at column 3 because I can easily do 10+

So, who's with me!?

C25K Resources

The Couch to 5K Running program is amazing and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to be a runner but thinks they can't because of [insert reason here]. The clever design of this program gradually eases you into running, starting with 60sec/90sec run/walk intervals in week 1, until you can finally run for 30 minutes straight in week 9. It will change the way you think of yourself in terms of fitness and is a great confidence booster. Since I am constantly referring others to this program, I thought I would repost these links in their own post to make it easier for new visitors to find.

• C25K Running Plan - This sites describes the program and what to do each of the 9 weeks.
• C25K Checklist - This site is just the chart of the 9 week program with checkboxes to track your progress. It uses a browser cookie so it remembers what you checked from one visit to the next.
• C25K Podcasts by Ullrey - One of my biggest worries was how I was going to keep track of when to run, when to jog, and when I had done enough intervals. These podcasts make it super easy and include workout music to keep you motivated.
• Podrunner: Intervals - Another great C25K podcast with more upbeat music. Instead of telling you when to run or walk, this podcast uses a sound to alert you when to switch.
• Couch to 5k LJ Community - this wonderful community is full of people doing the program and offer an endless source of inspiration, motivation, support and advice. Even if you are not following the program exactly as prescribed, they are a great resource. The same goes for the lj runners community.
• c25k.com - even more great links about the program and running in general.

foodsel

http://www.foodsel.com/welcome/



This is a great site to get nutritional information about the foods you eat and what it will take to burn them off with some really nice visuals. Instead of just telling you how many calories and other nutrients a food contains, it also shows a nice graph of the breakdown of the nutrients. In addition, it uses pictures of batteries, sugar cubes, and sticks of butter to visually show you how many calories, sugar, and fat the food contains. Lastly, you can enter your weight and it will tell you how much of any given physical activity you need to do to burn it off. It also has a visual BMI calculator and you can search for foods by group, manufacturer or nutrient.

Tweet What You Eat

Tweet What You Eat (TWYE) is a very simply food diary that you can update from twitter, which means you can log what you eat from IM or your cell phone. I use it because I just want something simple without the bells and whistles and I can update it in a snap from Quicksilver on my Mac. It doesn't have food look up or anything like that, but I use the USDA website to get that data (or read it from the package). Lately I just keep track of what I eat without the calories; I just find all that calorie counting exhausting and never use the data for anything. But if you do, then there is a place for that here. The site can record what you eat, the date, calories, and time you post it. It has a nice print version and you can also download a spreadsheet of the data.

You can see my food diary at http://tweetwhatyoueat.com/diary/user/kitzzy and my twitter account at http://twitter.com/kitzzy

Anyone else use twitter?

Yoga for Runners

I really want to incorporate more yoga into my fitness routine, so I looked into yoga for running and found some links that may interest some of you. I am thinking of doing yoga as my pre and post run stretch. I think it would be more beneficial for my whole body instead of just simple static stretches. If anyone has any other resources, post them in the comments.

• RunnerGirl.com - Yoga on the Run
• Runner's World - 3 Pre-Run Yoga Poses (with Video)
• Runner's World - Yoga for Runners Page
• YogaDownload.com - Yoga for Runners Podcast (also on iTunes)
  This site has tons more yoga podcasts (both audio and video) and most also include a printable pose guide.
• Yoga Basics
  This site is a great resources to look up poses and sequences.

Bike-to-Work Week & Bike Month

May is National Bike Month. The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 16. There are events going on all over the country. Orlando & Starbucks are celebrating Bike-to-Work day by offering free coffee if you ride your bike and bring your own mug on Friday, May 16 (see flyer).

50 ways (large PDF) to celebrate Bike Month

Reasons to bike to work:

• Save time: biking the same distance is often shorter because you do not have to sit in traffic or find a parking spot. Taking back roads can often make the distance shorter than driving.
• Save money: you won't be using your car as much, so you won't need to fill up the gas tank as often.
• Help the environment: less driving means less pollution.
• Get fit: Biking to work is a great way to make working out a part of your daily routine and get at least the recommended 30 minutes a day.
• Enjoy the weather: you see more of the world when you are not stuck in traffic and can explore the scenic routes.
  

Garmin Forerunner 305

This is my new running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 305 (which I got on sale at REI). It is a bigger than I thought, but not really too heavy (until you've ran for over a mile and a half and are ready to collapse). I love having all this data on my wrist while I run. It can track real time distance, time, pace, speed, and so much more. It can even map your routes and stores all this data for 1000 laps in the watch itself.

Using the Garmin Training Center, you can download the data for archiving purposes and to see graphs of your performance. You can also create custom workouts and the watch will alert you at each step. It comes preloaded with a ton of workouts already to get you started. The watch also has alerts you can turn on to tell you when you've reached a certain distance or time, as well as when you go above/below a specified pace or heart rate zone.

Here is a screenshot from today's run. Click on the image to see the details in the bigger version.

Meatless Monday lunch

I love how colorful this plate of food is. I read about Meatless Monday in GreenWise magazine and thought I'd give it a try this week since I want to reduce my red meat intake.

***

From their site, www.meatlessmonday.com/, where you can read more details, tips and recipes.

Meatless Monday is a national public health campaign to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer -- four of the leading causes of death in America. A simple way to prevent these diseases is to eat [...] [food] lower in saturated fat, found mainly in meat and high-fat dairy products. If Americans cut out meat and high-fat dairy just one day a week, they would meet the government's dietary guidelines.

Based on their nutritional guidelines, "meatless" means no red meat, pork or poultry. Seafood -- which is high in nutritional value and "good fats" our bodies need -- is encouraged [...]

So, why Mondays? [...] Monday is a great time to start the week on a lighter note, especially for those of us who tend to overindulge over the weekend.

***

My meatless meals today:

- Breakfast: scrambled egg beaters and veggie sausage (which I accidentally purchased, but are quite tasty).
- Morning Snacks: banana; Quaker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Lunch: Smart Taste Pasta (with 3x the fiber and calcium equal to an 8oz glass of milk) with, shrimp saute in extra virgin olive oil and the leftover veggies from last night.
- Afternoon Snacks: homemade popcorn
- Dinner: Tilapia with stuffed mushrooms and zucchini or some other veggie

Marinated Zucchini & Mushrooms

This recipes is from Publix GreenWise Market Magazine, which you can subscribe to and receive for free in the mail every month, pick it up at the store, or view it online.

This is another favorite from a different issue that requires no cooking, just lots of chopping. You can use any veggies you like really, not just the ones mentioned. I usually just throw in every leftover veggies I have before they go bad, some minced garlic and onions, and season to taste with salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Jason didn't like how marinating it overnight made the veggies soggy, so I usually chop everything, put it in a bowl, refrigerate it, then mix in the olive oil and vinegar before serving and add salt/pepper to taste if still needed.

PREP: 30 MINUTES MARINATE: 8 TO 24 HOURS

This tempting meld of Mediterranean flavors also boasts valuable antioxidants that promote eye health.

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon organic extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or ¼ teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small organic zucchini
1 small organic yellow summer squash
1½ cups fresh whole small Publix GreenWise Market Organic Mushrooms (4 ounces)
½ of a small red organic sweet pepper, cut into square pieces (½ cup)

ONE For marinade, in a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, shallot, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper; set aside.

TWO Using a vegetable peeler, shave off long, thin strips of zucchini and yellow summer squash. Set a resealable plastic bag in a large bowl and place zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms and sweet pepper in the bag. Pour marinade over vegetables; seal bag. Marinate vegetables in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight, turning bag occasionally.

THREE To serve, drain vegetables, reserving marinade. Arrange vegetables on serving plates or a serving platter; drizzle with reserved marinade. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 38 cal., 3 g total fat (0 g sat. fat), 0 mg chol., 85 mg sodium, 3 g carbo., 1 g dietary fiber, 1 g protein.

Two-Potato Skillet

This recipes is from Publix GreenWise Market Magazine, which you can subscribe to and receive for free in the mail every month, pick it up at the store, or view it online.

This is my current favorite side dish to make. I've had it twice for dinner, and once for lunch this week. I have leftovers for this weekend also. It is super easy to make and very tasty. I tend to mix it up a bit and throw some squash or zucchini into the mix towards the end of the cooking time to get even more veggies in my meal. I imagine you can throw any other veggies you want in there too, such as carrots. The potatoes take the longest to cook, and I like to use red onions for flavor while they cook, so I just throw sliced squash in the last few minutes to warm it up and take the flavors since I don't like them to get soggy.

PREP: 20 MINUTES COOK: 20 MINUTES

Sweet potatoes add more than an unexpected taste twist to the mix. Just one serving also provides 150% of the Daily Value for vitamin A.

1 tablespoon organic olive oil
12 ounces organic sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 2 small)
8 ounces organic red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 5 small)
4 ¼-inch-thick slices onion
1 teaspoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

ONE Heat oil in a very large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion slices, rosemary (if using), salt and pepper. Cover and cook 10 minutes, gently turning potatoes 2 or 3 times during cooking.

TWO Uncover and cook 10 to 15 minutes more or until potatoes and onion are tender and lightly browned, gently turning once. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and basil (if using). Remove from heat. Makes 4 to 6 side-dish servings.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 149 cal., 4 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 2 mg chol., 149 mg sodium, 25 g carbo., 4 g dietary fiber, 3 g protein.

Couch to 5K: W1D1

A couple of years ago, Jason found this Couch-to-5K (C25K) Running Plan. We tried it for a few days and quickly gave up. I never considered myself a runner but that race really motivated me to become one, so I am trying this again now that I am serious about being fit. The key is a slow and steady start.

It is a 9 week program where you do intervals of jogging and walking for 20-30 minutes 3 days a week (including a 5-minute warm up brisk walk and cool down). Each week you increase the amount of jogging vs walking and eventually decrease the total amount of walking until you are just jogging. By the end of week 5, I should be jogging 2 miles in 20 minutes without walking (except for the warmup). From week 7-9, I'll just be jogging (plus the 5-minute warmup) each day starting at 2.5 miles and being able to jog 3 miles / 30 minutes by week 9. So in a little over 2 months I should be able to complete a 5K without walking in under 35 minutes.

I completed the first workout today and I am so excited that I actually managed to jog for the whole time that it indicates--a combined total of 8 minutes out of 30 or so-- for a total of 2 miles. This may not seem like a lot of jogging, but I don't think I even was able to do this much last time I tried this. I am definitely starting to see and feel the muscle in my upper thighs and calves from the walks and jogging I've been doing lately. Now I just need to work on toning the inner thighs. I also need to remember to do yoga because my muscles are a bit soar.

If you are interested in trying this out (it's a great way to start even if you do not think you are a runner), here are some excellent resources to get you started:

• C25K Running Plan - This sites describes the program and what to do each of the 9 weeks.
• C25K Checklist - This site is just the chart of the 9 week program with checkboxes to track your progress. It uses a browser cookie so it remembers what you checked from one visit to the next.
• C25K Podcasts by Ullrey - One of my biggest worries was how I was going to keep track of when to run, when to jog, and when I had done enough intervals. These podcasts make it super easy and include workout music to keep you motivated.
• Podrunner: Intervals - Another great C25K podcast with more upbeat music. Instead of telling you when to run or walk, this podcast uses a sound to alert you when to switch.
• Couch to 5k LJ Community - very active and supportive community of beginner runners. Great place to find motivation and inspiration.
• c25k.com - even more great links about the program and running in general.
  

So who's with me? I know we can all do this!