Your Vote Counts

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Coco

It’s election day here in Virginia, and judging from the results of my Google search of “voting november 8 2011,” local elections are being held across the country today.

Local elections are notorious for low voter turnout, but that’s no excuse to stay away from the polls. Really, if fewer people vote, doesn’t that mean that your vote will count more? That your vote really could make a difference?

I hate the robo-calls that politicians make year-round, but I actually enjoy the live phone calls I’ve gotten from campaign volunteers this week. Even if I don’t support their candidates, I appreciate their efforts to make our democratic process work. Last night, one caller even asked if I needed a ride to my polling place! (I didn’t tell her that I ran there last year!)

I will admit that, even as an attorney, it’s hard to get excited about chosing who will be the Clerk of the local court for the next eight years, but when there are people around the world literally risking their lives for the right to vote, I am reminded of what a privilege it really is.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also realized the impact that my local government has on my day-to-day life. As much as I care about who our President is and what direction Congress is taking us, I’m more likely to be directly affected by the people chosing which telecom company to service my neighborhood, what recycling program to implement, and, yes, whether I can pay that parking ticket on-line.

Do you vote in local elections?

Do you pay attention to local politics?

Posted in Life | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Coco

One reason I write a “healthy living” blog is to counterbalance my generally unhealthy life. My job as an attorney is very stressful and very sedentary and demands long hours of sitting inside at my computer. (I was very distressed to learn that my regular exercise routine may not be enough to make up for the hours I spend on my a$$ every day!)

Lately I’ve been travelling more than usual, and that means that I need to catch up on work on the weekend–spending even more hours inside at my computer, although at least I can enjoy the view out my kitchen window.

After working non-stop on Saturday, I’d had enough. Even though my work “to do” list was not fully checked off, I decided to take Sunday “off” to go to my son’s lacrosse team tournament.

Now, if my son were going to be playing, I wouldn’t have thought twice about spending the day in the bleachers , but he is recovering from an injury and completely sidelined. Still, as a senior, he has been “coaching” the team during off-season practice, and planned to go to the tournament, even though the first game was at 8:00 am and an hour away. (I really do admire his dedication!)

I knew that if I didn’t go, I would spend the day inside staring at my computer screen, so I set my alarm for 5:00 to go to a lacrosse tournament my son wasn’t even playing in.

Between the time in the car with my son, the time in the bleachers with my other lacrosse-Mom friends, and the glorious fall weather, it was totally worth whatever repercussions I will face at work tomorrow!

How do you balance your own “screen” time and “fresh air” time?

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Moment Of Truth

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Coco

One of the most powerful concepts that I encountered on my weight-loss/maintenance/fitness journey was the “moment of truth.” My friend (and certified personal trainer) Raphael may not have come up with it himself, but he’s the person that I always credit when I think of it.

If you’ve ever decided to go on a diet, exercise, cut back on caffeine, quit smoking, or make any other change in your routine, you’ve been faced with a moment of truth.

It’s pretty easy to commit to starting a diet “on Monday,” especially on Sunday night when you’re stuffed from a weekend of indulgences and feeling like you will never be hungry again. When Monday morning comes, it will feel good to start your day with a protein shake, whole wheat toast and berries, or egg white omelette. Lean Cuisine has some pretty tasty entrees, so you won’t feel deprived when you enjoy Butternut Squash Ravioli or Lemon Chicken for lunch. But what will happen when you encounter a platter of cupcakes in the office kitchen? When you are sitting in a meeting with a basket of potato chips on the table? When you go to Starbucks for a coffee and see your favorite pastry in the display case? When your friends want to go out for margaritas?  When you are trying to eat more carefully, you will face these moments of truth throughout the day.

You decide to get up for a morning workout, but what will you do when your alarm goes off an hour earlier?

You are going to hit the gym after work, but what will you do when you get invited to happy hour?

You plan to do a workout program at home after dinner, but then your child wants help with homework or your friend calls with the latest gossip, will you ask them to wait?

At least with exercise, I usually only face a moment of truth once a day, but I have to make the right decision so I don’t miss out on my window of opportunity.

A moment of truth is when your committment is put to the test. It’s a decision point when you have to choose between one course of action that may seem easier and more attractive at the time and another course of action that may take more resolve but is true to your intentions. Will you take the downhill route and risk a slippery slope into a downward spiral, or will you dig deep to climb the peak and reach your goal?

I faced a different sort of moment of truth this week. As you can see (hopefully you noticed!) I have a beautiful new blog header. When I was working with Rita at Blog Genie on the design, I mentioned the “faith” aspect of my blog, but made clear that I wanted to emphasize running in the header. When I was contemplating the near-final draft, I realized that there was no design element that reflected my faith, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. 

My blog is mostly a “healthy living” blog, so I didn’t want it to look like a “Christian” blog. More importantly, I don’t want to scare away readers who are not Christian, including my Jewish, Sikh, atheist and agnostic friends–I hope everyone can enjoy my musings. On the other hand, I do write about my beliefs, and my faith is an essential part of who I am.

I thought about adding a cross or two around the “Running With Perseverance” script.

I wondered if making the “t” in “with” into a cross would even be noticeable.

I laughed at the idea of having a cross carved into that first tree on the left.

It finally came to me while I was sitting in church (!). We were fine-tuning the “running girl” last weekend, and she looked like this:

After some back-and-forth to find the right look, we gave her a simple cross necklace:

It is subtle but clearly visible, and resembles something I might wear.

I still had to give it some thought, but finally decided that it was the right image for my blog. After all, my tagline is “balancing life with fitness and faith” and at the end of the day I know it is my faith that gets me through the hardest times–although endorphins do help!

Have you faced a moment of truth lately?

Do you have a custom header on your blog?

Posted in Fitness, My Faith | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Countdown To The Hot Chocolate 15K (Week 1)

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Coco

It’s odd starting a training log for a race that’s almost on the same calendar page, but
the Hot Chocolate 15K sort of snuck up on me after the Army Ten Miler.

I know I am in shape for a 15K (~10 mile) race, so my main goal for the next few weeks is to get ready for the hilly course without aggravating my ITB, piriformis, or any other body parts that might try to make their presence known.

(I’m pretty sure those first two miles are a steady climb.)

Monday
Elliptical: 10 min
Full Body Weights Routine (including lunges, squats, and leg lifts)

Tuesday (Incline Intervals On TM)
0-5 min: walking warm-up @ 3.7 mph
5-10 min: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
10-40 min: 5 min incline cycles of 0.5/1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0 (1 min each) @ 6.0 mph
40-45 min: 6.3 mph (0.5 incline)
45-50 min: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph

Wednesday
Elliptical: 20 min
Full Body Weights Routine (including lunges, squats)

Thursday (Steady Incline On TM)
0-5 min: walking warm-up @ 3.7 mph
5-10 min: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
10-15 min: running warm-up @ 6.0 mph
15-25 min: running @ 6.3 mph (incline=1.0)
25-43 min: running @ 6.5 mph (incline=1.0)
43-45 min: running @ 6.7 mph (incline=1.0)
45-50 min: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph

Friday
Treadmill: 25 min in Sauconys (0.5 incline)
Yoga: Rodney Yee “Twists”

Saturday (Neighborhood Hilly Run)
Total Distance: 6.3 miles
Total Time: 57:20
Average Pace: 9:00 min/mile
Split Times: 9:13, 8:48, 9:03, 8:50, 9:09, 8:59

It was sunny and in the 30s when I headed out at 8:30 (yes, I slept in again!). I have forgotten what I like to wear for different fall/winter weather conditions. The 30s is cold, but I figured that the sun would make it feel warmer than it sounded. I opted for a mid-weight long-sleeve technical shirt, capris, light-weight gloves, a head band to keep my ears warm, and a cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. It ended up being just he right amount of coverage and insulation. It was a lovely fall run, and it was nice to see the sun shining through the colorful trees! 

Have you had to dig out your winter gear already?

Do you have set outfits for specific weather conditions?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

My Midwest Adventures

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Coco

This week brought a three-city tour of the midwest for four different business meetings in three days:

Monday: D.C. to Madison
I had an 8:30 pm flight to Madison. After a 30 minute flight delay and a “discussion” with the rental car GPS, it was after 10:00 pm when I checked into my hotel. Still, I didn’t mind setting my alarm for o’dark-thirty so I could meet Steena (@ahappypace) for coffee!

Tuesday: Madison to Chicago
We opened up the Starbucks at 5:00 am, and I enjoyed Thanksgiving Blend, pumpkin bread, and conversation that went well beyond 140 characters! It was a nice way to kick off November, and easily was the highlight of my week.

My meeting didn’t start until 9:00 am, so I still had plenty of time for the hotel gym. It was small and crowded, but there was an open treadmill. I decided to do an incline workout:

0-5 min: walking warm-up @ 3.7 mph
5-10 min: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
10-40 min: 5 min incline cycles of 0.5/1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0 (1 min each) @ 6.0 mph
40-45 min: 6.3 mph (0.5 incline)
45-50 min: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph

This was tough and left me dripping with sweat. I skimped on stretching because there just wasn’t any room!

After my meeting in Madison, I drove 2+ hours towards Chicago for another meeting, and then drove another 1/2 hour hour-and-a-half to my hotel. Between rush hour and construction, it took much longer than it should have–the last mile literally took one hour. Luckily there was a nice restaurant that I could walk to that had a nice red zinfandel on their wine-by-the-glass list.

Wednesday: Chicago to Cincinnati
After a good night’s sleep,  I was ready to hit the gym @ 5:00.

I started on the elliptical and it nearly killed me–it seemed to gather momentum with every stride and get faster and faster. Even when I increased the resistance, I had a hard time keeping up with myself! Needless to say, I was out of breath after my 20 minute “warm up.”

After wiping down the elliptical, I moved on to the free weights. I was glad to see 10 lb, 15 lb and 20 lb weights, so I could do a full routine:

dead lifts, military presses, push-ups, plie squats, tricep dips, lunges, bicep curls, squats, lateral raises, crunches, skull crushers

I was meeting some colleagues at Starbucks, but needed coffee right away. I fixed myself some Via and enjoyed that while I got ready to pack up and hit the road again.

(I guess I can’t blame Siri for getting the weather forecast wrong–it was a gorgeous day!)

My morning meeting went well, and I had plenty of time to get to the airport–and get some Starbucks to make it through the rest of my day. My flight to Cincinnati was smooth–and an hour shorter than I expected.  I didn’t realize that I was crossing back into the eastern time zone!

Thursday: Cincinnati to D.C.
I woke up at 5:00 and got up before I remembered that I had decided that I could sleep until 6:00. D’oh! Once I’m up, I’m up, so I got dressed and headed for the hotel gym. I generally only do one “hard” treadmill workout a week, so my plan was to do a moderate, steady-state program.

0-5 min: walking warm-up @ 3.7 mph
5-10 min: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
10-15 min: running warm-up @ 6.0 mph
15-25 min: running @ 6.3 mph (incline=1.0)
25-43 min: running @ 6.5 mph (incline=1.0)
43-45 min: running @ 6.7 mph (incline=1.0)
45-50 min: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph

Unless I’m doing a hill/incline program, I usually keep the treadmill at 0.5 incline, but when I started running at 6.3 mph it felt easy, so I upped the incline to 1.0.  Since the Hot Chocolate 15K course will be hilly, I probably should keep this as my base incline (after my warm-up).

After 10 minutes at 6.3 mph, I upped the incline to 6.5 to combat treadmill boredom. I planned to hold that for 10 minutes , but felt fine after that, so I kept going. I did the last 2 minutes at 6.7 mph just for fun.

I took a cup of hot water from the lobby coffee station to start my day with Via again–I’m just so much happier when I start my day with strong, flavorful coffee. 🙂 

(Yes, it did rain in Cincinnati on Thursday)

My meeting in Cincinnati went well, and it was finally time to head home. Unfortunately, my meeting schedule and the flight schedules didn’t quite line up, so I had four five hours to kill at the airport. (Of course my late flight was delayed again.) My first stop after getting through security was the big Starbucks I’d seen when I landed. They had lots of tables but only two electrical outlets. Since those were occupied, I headed to my gate–I love that they have electrical outlets by the chairs in the gate areas now. I shelled out $7.00 for a T-Mobile hotspot, and was able to finish a big project before it was (finally) time to board.

What’s the longest time you’ve had to spend at an airport?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments