Sponsored Education

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Coco

This week I noticed a new “feature” for sponsored tweets on TweetDeck–certain sponsored tweets “stick” at the top of certain columns. For example, there have been running-related sponsored tweets at the top of my #runchat column. Soon after I noticed this happening, I saw a few tweets complaining about it. Yes, it’s annoying, but TweetDeck is free and makes Twitter so much better, so I don’t mind “supporting” it by having to see sponsored tweets.  And, yes, if the tweet is from a reputable company promoting a product I’m interested it, I might even click on the link. Plus, the sponsored tweets are clearly marked with a pale yellow “sponsored tweet” label. This is probably a great way for TweetDeck to monetize its service, and I want it to make money so it will stick around.

But, there are areas of life where sponsored information is more insidious.

Would you ever think that your child’s education is sponsored by an industry? I know that some groups influence school text books (like groups who don’t want evolution taught in science books, or who want the Biblical creation story taught as well), but most of this occurs through elected school boards, so at least in theory the community as a whole has a say. But an article in this week’s Washington Post was eye-opening and infuriating–according to the article, the coal industry sponsors specific lessons in West Virginia public schools!

Eager to burnish its reputation, the energy industry is spending significant sums of money on education in communities with sensitive coal, natural gas and oil exploration projects. The industry aims to teach students about its contributions to local economies and counter criticism from environmental groups.

How does it do this?

Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, distributed fourth-grade curriculum materials funded by the American Coal Foundation. The “United States of Energy” lesson plan, which the foundation paid $300,000 to develop, went to 66,000 fourth-grade teachers in 2009. After critics raised questions about potential bias, Scholastic announced that it will no longer publish the material in question.

Ack! I don’t even know where to start. It’s hard enough to educate our children about health and nutrition against the onslaught of media promoting sugary drinks and snacks to kids, but to think that we may need to monitor their schoolwork for political/industry bias is overwhelming. I think I am particularly bothered by the West Virginia situation because the coal industry already welds so much power in that state, and the general population may not have the resources to resist its influence.

Then there’s the nutrition guidance from the USDA. I grew up with the “four food groups” and then learned the “food pyramid.” 

As I became more interested in nutrition, I realized that the USDA guidelines were heavily influenced by different industries–agriculture was happy to have the emphasis on grains, and dairy made sure it wasn’t squeezed out.

 

When I was researching this article, I came across this document from the National Dairy Council highlighting changes in the 2005 guidelines (the rainbow pyramid), including several that promoted dairy.

 

Now we have brand new guidelines:

my plate

 

Except for the “side of dairy,” I’ve read many diet/nutrition articles that advocated this breakdown as a way to fill your plate, and I generally design my meals this way. I don’t have a glass of milk with dinner anymore, but my kids still do. On the other hand, I am left wondering what the guidelines would look like if they were written for the sake of nutrition only, without any industry influence.

Are you bothered by sponsored tweets?

Have you ever read your child’s textbook to make sure you agree with the lessons?

What do you think about the new “food plate” dietary guidelines?

Posted in Food, Life, Venting | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Jesus On The Mainline

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Coco

I usually attend the 8:30 am service at our church. Many years ago it was a “quiet” service with no music, but a while back our priest decided to add an opening hymn and a closing hymn. To keep with the simple feel of the service, he usually selects simple hymns or gospel songs and accompanies us on his guitar.

As more and more children started attending this service, we’ve added a percussion section for the closing hymn–kids of all ages can select a “shaker,” maracas, or tambourine and add their own joyful noise to the chorus. It just about guarantees that we finish our worship with a smile.

Recently our priest chose “Jesus on the Mainline” by Ry Cooder (©EMI Music Publishing) as our closing hymn. I won’t reproduce all of the lyrics here, but this is the main verse:

I know Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Call Him up, and tell Him what you want.

The song grabbed me with nostalgia–both the folk/bluegrass music and the notion of someone calling “on the mainline” evoke a world gone by. Does anyone work where someone else answers the phones and then says,”Mr. X is calling for you on line 1″?

The song also grabbed me with the idea that Jesus would call me, and I could tell Him what I wanted, what I needed, what was weighing on my heart. Of course, knowing me, I’d miss the call and it would go to voicemail:

Hi, Coco. It’s Me, Jesus.  Just calling to see how you’re doing and wondering if there’s anything I can do to help.

Just imagining this gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes.

The thing is, it’s not a fantasy. It is reality. While Jesus won’t call me on my iPhone or even on my land line, He is always ready to listen to me, whenever I chose to tell Him what I want.

What would you tell Jesus if He called you? 

What is holding you back from talking to Him now?

Posted in My Faith | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Training Log: Lawyers Have Heart 10K!

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Coco

I am still not able to walk down the stairs basking in the glow of finishing the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon!

But, I need to recover quickly and get ready for the Lawyers Have Heart 10K on Saturday. For the first time, and in honor of my Dad, I am fundraising for the American Heart Association. I’ve almost reached my fundraising goal, so THANK YOU ALL for your support (you can still use my donation page if you want to help).

I’m sure my ice bath helped yesterday, but my legs are still a bit tired and my quads remind me of my efforts when I walk down the stairs.  My goal for the Lawyers Have Heart is modest–finish well without getting injured or suffering heat stroke–so I’m mostly treating this as a recovery week.

I plan “easy” outside runs Tuesday and Thursday (to acclimate to the heat and humidity), my elliptical/weights combo on Wednesday, and a light day (yoga? walk?) on Friday.

June 6
20 min elliptical
20 min (mostly) upper body weights:
deadlifts/military presses/push-ups
plie squats/tricep dips
bent-over rows/bicep curls
ab tuck & pike/chest flies/crunches (on fitball)
25 min yoga: Rodney Yee “Forward Bends”

June 7 (recovery run)
4.2-ish miles, 43-ish minutes
Notes: OMG! My quads got worse as the day went on yesterday. I did some foam rolling last night, but they still were tight walking down the stairs this morning! They loosened up a bit during my run, but the tweak I felt on the outside of my left knee flared up big time and pretty much hurt during most of the run, and was really bad going up hills. I took extra time to stretch and use the foam roller and am icing my knee. 🙁

June 8
20 min elliptical
20 min (mostly) upper body weights:
deadlifts/military presses/push-ups
plie squats/tricep dips
front raises/lateral raises/step-ups
bent-over rows/bicep curls
ab tuck & pike/chest flies/crunches (on fitball)
25 min yoga: Rodney Yee “Twists”

June 9
~REST DAY~
Note: After not feeling anything all day, I felt a bit of a twinge at the spot outside my left knee last night. When my alarm went off this morning, I decided it was a good day for a full rest day. I’ll keep icing today.

June 10
Walk: 2.5 miles, 45 min
Note: I did not get much sleep last night, between storms and my husband and kids being up late, and I woke up exhausted. I hoped the storms would make for nice walking weather but, although it was cooler than it has been, it was still warm and humid at 5:30 a.m. Yuk! I’ve still been icing my knee and am pretty sure that it will be an issue tomorrow–bummer! I just hope it’s nothing that a longer rest from running won’t take care of. 

Have you done races on back-to-back weekends?

How do you handle the week in between?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Race Recap: Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Coco

The Good

  • Road-tripping to the race with a friend

(I’m in white)

I had reserved a hotel room, but canceled the reservation as other weekend family plans developed. We both agreed that we made the right decision. We’ve gotten up early for our sons’ lacrosse games–might as well set that o’dark-thirty alarm for ourselves!

  • Pre-Race Breakfast Cookies

 

I saw this recipe for Dark Chocolate Reese’s Cookies on Emily’ blog a while ago, and bookmarked it for future reference.  I made them yesterday and took a few in the car for our pre-race fueling.  They were delicious, but how can you go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter?  (Next time I will refrigerate the Reese’s first–they were a bit melty–and add 3 chunks per cookie.)

  • Cloudy skies

My Weather Channel App gave this reading

Right Now in Annapolis, MD (21401)

It’s 71°F, Fair

But it was fully overcast for the entire race–it even rained for a few minutes.

  • My Finish Time

I had made 2:00 a “whisper” goal, and was easily on track for that until a weird cramp hit after mile 6.  Once I figured out that I would still finish, I reset my goal to 2:05 and nailed it!

  • The Zooma Finisher Necklace

The inscription is the Zooma slogan: Run Laugh Celebrate. It also has “2011” on the back.

The Bad

  • Last-minute equipment change

Camelbak Fairfax Hydration

Nathan Triangle Hydration Pack HydrationI made a last-minute equipment change decision and opted for my Camelbak instead of my Nathan waistbelt so I could take my phone with me.  (Dear Nathan, why are all of the pockets on your gear just a smidge too small for an iPhone? Could you not spare a few more square centimeters of fabric??)

I’ve had the Camelbak for ages, but don’t use it much. I did use it on my 12 mile training run, and it was fine. Today it drove me crazy. I basically had to hold on to the straps the entire time to keep it from sliding off. Ugh! I’m pretty sure that affected my pace, since I couldn’t swing my arms freely.  It definitely impacted my perceived level of exertion, which was high for most of the course.

  • The hills

Remember how worried I was about this bridge?

I laughed at my worry when I saw the hill after the bridge. The entire route was hilly.  There were a few flat segments, but mostly it was a rolling course. I was really glad to have all my high-tech compression gear, but I definitely could have used some more hill training.

  • The cramp

Soon after mile 6, I got a painful cramp in between the lowest section of my ribcage. I tried to keep running, but knowing that I wasn’t even half way done yet, I decided that a walk break was in order.  It was hard to breathe, and I was afraid that my goal of finishing–let alone finish strong–was in jeopardy. I started running again before I felt completely better, and was able to maintain a 9:30-ish pace. I had missed the Ultima drink at mile 4, and think that had something to do with it. At the next water station, I took a cup of Ultima and walked to drink it. After that I felt much better, but I was afraid to push my pace because I didn’t want to end up with another cramp.

  • The last two miles

Mile 11 was a short way after the second pass across the bridge (at the end of another, smaller bridge), and it was so discouraging to see more steep hills ahead. The 2:00 pace runner passed me on the bridge, and was getting further ahead, but I didn’t have enough energy left to care. By this time, I was telling myself that “I just have to keep running.”

Mile 11-12 was an out-and-back segment, so any enjoyment of a downhill stretch was tempered by the knowledge that I would be running back up soon. I felt no relief or excitement at mile 12. I hadn’t been able to figure out the course finish, so I couldn’t judge how much further I had to go.  I just focused on keeping my legs going. 

I finally recognized the stadium parking lot, and was bummed when we had to run over a stretch of rutted grass and then keep going, up one last short incline to the finish line.

It’s hard to capture how steep this is, but when I went back to cheer on finishers, a few runners dropped the F-bomb when they saw it!

I had no energy whatsoever for any kind of sprint to the finish, and even (uncharacteristically!) let a few women pass me. I was just glad to be crossing the finish line running. When I saw my finish time on my Garmin (there was no race clock there or anywhere else on the course) I was happy that I was only a few minutes off my ambitious goal.

The Ugly

OK, the post-race breakfast wasn’t ugly, just disappointing.  

It was a bagged meal, so I took it sight unseen. I really prefer a banana after a race, and if I’m going to eat a bagel it’s got to be more enticing than this!

Once I got home, I was grateful that I didn’t eat anything after the race. My stomach totally rebelled from my efforts. After my ice bath (bless my husband for having 2 bags of ice at the ready for me!) and hot shower, I crawled in bed for a few hours–napping between several emergency trips to the bathroom.

Now that my stomach has settled and accepted some soup, a few PopChips and a cookie, I’m feeling human again. For now, I’m glad my next big race is the Army 10 Miler (October 9) and not the Wilson Bridge Half Marathon (October 2), although registration is still open for that Half . . . .

Garmin Data
8:32, 8:25, 8:39, 8:51, 9:18, 9:07, 10:33 (walk break), 9:23, 9:08, 9:37, 9:26, 9:41, 9:54
Notes: Yes, in retrospect, I see I started out too fast. The pace felt good at the time, and I didn’t know about the hills!

Do you have any tips for avoiding or curing post-race tummy troubles?

Have you seen a water bottle holder that fits an iPhone?

What has been your best/worst post-race food? 

Posted in Fitness, Race Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Training Log – Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon (Taper)

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Coco

Today is the eve of the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon, so this is my last training log post! (You can read my training log for week one here, week two here, week three here, week four here, week five here, and week six here.)

This time next weekend I will be running the Lawyer’s Have Heart 10K. For the first time, and in honor of my Dad, I am fundraising for the American Heart Association. I’ve almost reached my fundraising goal, so please visit my donation page if you can help.

I got a bit psyched out when Zooma posted full details on the race course, including a picture of this bridge that we run across twice (it’s an out-and-back course).

But, I’ve trained well, and am sure the perspective of the photograph makes it look much worse than it is. (Right?)

After a heat wave earlier in the week, we’ve had great weather over the past few todays. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be 10°F warmer tomorrow morning than it is now. On the other hand, I like the clouds in this forecast:

70°F
Mostly Cloudy

 

You all gave me lots of good suggestions for my last-minute preparations. I’m still debating my Camelbak. 70°F  is really warm for me and the Camelbak has a bigger pocket (for my iPod, keys, ID, etc.) than my waist belt.  On the other hand, I probably should have Gatorade, which I wouldn’t put in the Camelbak . . . .

So here’s a look at my taper week:

May 30 (Memorial Day) (Watchless Monday Run)
Almost 8 miles in about 1:10 minutes
Notes: I moved my Saturday long run to Monday so I could pick strawberries with my Mom. This run ended up being harder than I intended (too fast for this hilly route) but I think I’ve recovered.

May 31
30 min elliptical
Yoga: Rodney Yee “Twists” program
Notes: I was so stiff after Monday’s run.  The elliptical helped get my legs limber again, and the Twists program always feels gooood.

June 1
About 4.5 mile run, about 45 minutes
Notes: I felt good as I headed out and was conscientious about making this an easy run. I used RunKeeper and it’s GPS tracking is not as accurate as my Garmin. It said this route was 4.3 miles, but I know it’s 4.5 miles.  I can tell from the RunKeeper map that it cut a few of my corners!

June 2
Yoga: Rodney Yee “Standing Poses” program
Notes: Time to start resting my legs, so no elliptical. It was nice to hit the snooze button!

June 3
Neighborhood walk: About 2.5 miles, about 45 minutes
Notes: I had to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather!

June 4
Yoga: Rodney Yee “Forward Bends”
Notes: I am always amazed at how tight my hamstrings are. This program really targets that issue. Plus, I love “happy baby” pose. 🙂

Can you believe how much yoga I did this week? 

 I honestly love my Rodney Yee DVD!

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments