FitFeat

where daily feats & eats can be adventures in themselves

Posts Tagged thrive diet

15 Weeks Till 26.2

Feb 1

Posted by Shari B. in Marathon Training | 12 Comments

Hey friends!  Hope you had a WONDERFUL weekend!

First thank you to everyone who has already voted for Dyson to help her win $10,000 for Freedom Service Dogs.  I really appreciate the support.  If you missed that post over the weekend, it’s not too late to check it out and cast your vote!

Weekend 2 of marathon training is behind me (maybe a new FitFeature:  Marathon Mondays?)  I was a little nervous about this one because the speed of progression from my 5.48 mi run 2 weeks ago, to 7.6 last weekend to 9.14 this past Saturday had me a little worried that my knees were really going to make me pay.  But I took a lot of care post-run and the day afterward ended up being completely pain free.  Here’s how the day went down:

We were meeting at 7:00 AM and I had a 30 minute drive.  I ate my pre-run food at 5:30 (you know me and my 90 minute rule!)  It was a morning in need of some EXTRA BOLD coffee:

And this time I only did ONE piece of Ezekial toast (last time I did two and it felt to ‘heavy’ in my system even 90 minutes later).  A light schmear of almond butter, a drizzle of raw honey and some coconut flakes:

At 6:30 I was out the door.  Check out the MOON!  (Horribly blurry I know, but my camera does NOT take dark pictures well at all…)

When we started the run at 7:00 it was 19 degrees and breezy.  I was sorry that I hadn’t brought along my scarf to wrap around my face.  And it turned out to be cold enough to freeze the water in the tube from my hydration pack completely SOLID – no water for the entire run!  I started feeling the lack of water around mile 7 -  a little sluggish and really thirsty from breathing the cold air.  That was the only downside.  The run itself was fantastic.  It was a clear morning, the company and conversations were great, and the time flew by, making it seem almost easier than the 7.6 the week before.

Taking Brendan Brazier’s advice, I did want to fuel during the run with coconut oil and dates.  But I didn’t take the time to make his Direct Fuel Bites recipe – instead I cut the pits out of two dates and where the pits had been I stuffed coconut oil.  They worked great during the run – I ate them at the halfway point when we turned around.  Easy to chew and digest.

Directly after the run I was meeting up with a friend at Starbucks so on the way, I drank a glutamine recovery drink and ate two dried PLUMS.

At Starbucks I had an unpictured grande decaf soy latte.

I was limping around pretty good by this point – both of my knees were getting incredibly tight and achy.  So when I did make it home I went straight to the floor for some stretching.  I spent about 20 minutes really focusing on calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, piriformis and hip flexors.

I took two Ginger Root caps to fight off some inevitable inflammation (many many thanks to Joan for the ginger tip back when my hip was stiff!)  Then I ran a hot bath and steeped myself in some TEA:

All of these little tricks worked because I felt great the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday.  MSP even commented on how well I was moving around compared to last week’s run.

Bring on the TEN next week – I’m ready!

Speaking of long runs, Berni will be running her first half-marathon next weekend, so let’s all put some FAST FitFeat vibes out there for her!  And Carrie starts her training next week for her next half-marathon as well!  And reader Beth will be deciding whether to take the plunge into full marathons or not by week’s end.  She’s been a half-marathon pro recently, traveling around the country to race in a lot of fun events!  Sammi signed up for a half in September!  Cindy wants to run her first 5K this year (which I KNOW she’s already completed on the treadmill, so I think she means in a race format…)  :)

Lots of running goals goin’ on!  I LOVE THAT!! What’s yours?  Share your running or fitness goal here! We love giving out good luck vibes!

Have a MARVELOUS Monday friends!  Make it a great day and a FIT week!

– Shari B. =)

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16 Weeks Till 26.2

Jan 24

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Hi friends!

Yes, it’s Sunday and I’m blogging!  :) I’ll use a weekday for ‘blog maintenance day’ sometime this week instead.  I think my list of maintenance/admin items is getting so long that I’m avoiding it somewhat.  Still want to design a custom banner, a logo, a BETTER tagline, a new profile picture, add a few more ‘pages’ and I really want to buy the Headway theme so I can drag and drop things to move them around on the blog.  Ah well.  When I get to it, I get to it!

***

Last night for dinner I broke out my HUMONGOUS salad bowl again.  I used to eat out of this every day for lunch over the summer when I was home during ‘business hours’.  I miss my monster salads!  It takes a long time to chew through an 11″ diameter salad so I don’t eat them as often at the moment.

This one had half a box of spinach, some leftover tofu, spiralized carrots, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, dulse, pepitas and a drizzle of Goddess dressing.  Mmmmm.  Brendan would be proud.

And on the topic of veggies, I found something today that I have been looking for since summer and am SOOO excited to have found it:

Pre-cut organic kale! Now I can make kale chips even faster than before!  Wahooo!  So you know I immediately got busy baking all kinds of veggies.  Eggplant chips, kale chips and a batch of roasted red peppers, mushrooms and zucchini (for use maybe on a pita pizza later!)  My eggplant chips got a little more done than I meant them too, but they were still great and I ate them ALL!


Looks a little weird, but tastes great!  (Much like a green smoothie!)

***

So reader Beth has keen eyes, :) noticing immediately that yesterday’s post was categorized under “Marathon Training” and inquired as to whether I had decided to run another half-marathon.   Yes and no.  :)   A couple of my favorite people to hang out with (and run with) are aiming to run a full marathon in May.  So being the sucker I am for a new challenge here and there, I’ve decided to join them in the training and see where it takes me.

I’ve chosen not to register for the race until after I’ve surpassed about the 15 mile mark in our training.  I’ve done five half-marathons previously so I know I can tackle the 13.1 mile distance.  But I want to see how I feel physically after going beyond that.  If at any time it ceases being somewhat enjoyable  or determine that the rest of my exercise is suffering (or knees aching, etc.), then I’ll know now is not the time.  And since the registration fee isn’t cheap, I don’t want to spend that money and then have to drop out only to have wasted that money.

This will also give me an opportunity to put some of the Thrive Diet principles to good use.  My goal is to do this marathon injury-free and recover as quickly as possible from my long runs so that I can continue with my regular training during the work week.  I love my Physique 57 and Tabata training and yoga enough that I don’t want to miss out on those sessions.

So I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!  The countdown is on:  16 weeks till 26.2.  (eeek!)

– Shari B. =)

P.S. if any of you like to read Runner’s World magazine, I noticed on their website that they are offering their subscription for A DOLLAR an issue, which is 80% off the newsstand price (and a great deal), so thought I’d mention it.

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You Are My Sunshine (Burger), My Only Sunshine (Burger)…

Nov 10

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

“This blog is being brought to you live from …

under my heating blanket…!!!”

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I’m FUH-REE-ZING this morning.  It’s not even that cold outside.  I got chilled first thing during a client session and have not been able to warm up since.  So I undocked the laptop and now the puppies have turned it into a slumber party while I blog.  

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Riley’s head is blurry because as I was taking the picture she was trying to worm her head under MY blanket. 

What I’m craving right now is some Bikram’s Yoga.   Mostly just the 100 degree room… :)

What I’m NOT craving at the moment is a frozen sludge, like yesterday’s breakfast.  Unless I can figure out how to make it warm like cocoa.

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Yesterday’s green smoothie turned out a little on the ugly side.  It started out green with cucumber, celery, spinach, and cantaloupe. 

But then I added one of these:

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A single serve Acai Smoothie Pack from the freezer.  It was a fruity-licious brown smoothie!

Mid-morning snack attack was answered with a toasted piece of Ezekial with almond butter and raw honey drizzle.

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It looks like the AB is really thick, but in actuality it’s only about a tablespoon (in case any of you were wondering for portion sizes).

Lunch was a Shari SUPER-Sized Salad in my one-foot bowl:

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In this bowl:

  • layer of spinach
  • nutritional yeast
  • dulse
  • pepitas
  • layer of torn romaine leaves
  • leftover marinated mushrooms
  • kalamata olives
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tsp Annie’s Goddess dressing
  • 1 tsp hemp oil
  • zucchini ribbons
  • sea salt
  • pepper
  • sun dried tomatoes
  • red pepper slices
  • HB egg

It was HUGE and DEE-LISH.  Not to mention super filling.  I think it almost took longer to build than it did to eat!

In the afternoon I was in a GREEN mood so I had a cup of green tea with a Pistachio Larabar.

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Dinner was fun.  It was Monday Night Football time, since the Broncos were playing.  I made MSP some “Beer Mustard Chicken” on the George Foreman grill and some roasted potatoes:

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And I had half of an Original-flavored Sunshine burger in a pita with hummus, avocado, leftover roasted mushrooms/tomatoes, cucumber with carrot sticks and a few roasted taters on the side. 

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Here is why I prefer the Sunshine brand of vegetarian burgers (well besides the fact that they are named for my favorite thing ever, sunshine!):

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Look at the lack of garbage in that ingredient list.  It is simply brown rice, sunflower seeds, carrots, herbs and sea salt.  That’s IT!!

Compared to another brand of veggie burger, whose ingredient list reads:

Ingredients:

ORGANIC TEXTURED SOY PROTEIN WITH WATER, ORGANIC WHEAT GLUTEN WITH WATER, EGG WHITES, EXPELLER PRESSED SUNFLOWER OIL, CORNSTARCH, NATURAL FLAVORS FROM VEGETABLE SOURCES, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF ONION POWDER, MINCED ONION (DRIED), MALT POWDER, SEA SALT, KONJAC FLOUR, SPICES, NATIVE TAPIOCA STARCH, GARLIC POWDER, GUM ARABIC, YEAST, EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, TORULA YEAST, YEAST EXTRACT, EXPELLER PRESSED CANOLA OIL, LACTIC ACID, NONFAT DRY MILK.

 
For the sake of being nice, I’ll keep the name of the other brand anonymous.  I will eat them if I am in a pinch. 
 
But Sunshine burgers rock!
 
My nighttime snack after halftime was just one little medjool date.  It tasted like a caramel chew. 
 
My Monday exercise consisted of  a Tabata upper body workout:
  • TM Warmup 5 minutes
  • DB Press/Fly Combo 4 minutes
  • Seated Row 4 minutes
  • Side Lateral Raises 4 minutes
  • DB Bicep Curls 4 minutes
  • Tricep Kickbacks 4 minutes
Followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill doing incline intervals while watching the best show on TV (“Brothers & Sisters”). 
 
***
So I’m going with a completely unrelated note today for our discussion topic.  I won a $10 bet with MSP the other day which means I get to buy a new book for my Kindle!  (oh yeah!!)  I’ve been on a streak of not-so-great books lately.  I’m looking for a GREAT fiction book that will just grab me at the beginning and keep me turning those pages non-stop.  Here are my two questions for you:
1.) Do you have a recent favorite fiction that you highly recommend?
and to keep it somewhat related to fitness…
2.) What fitness and/or nutrition book is your all-time favorite?
 
One of my favorite fiction books of all time is “The Tea Rose” by Jennifer Donnelly.  And the sequel, “The Winter Rose”.  I wish they would make the books into a TV series.  Great epic story of a woman making her own way in life and business in the 1800s.  
 
Picking just one favorite for fitness and nutrition is much harder.  I really like “Naturally Thin” by Bethenny Frankel for her real-world approach to staying slim in everyday life, but recently I’ve been a bit obsessed with “The Thrive Diet” by Brendan Brazier, so I think I might have to consider them a tie. 
 
I’ve linked all of the books to my Favorite Things in Amazon if you want to check them out!
 
Drop me a comment!  I’d love your suggestions for a new book to cozy up with this coming weekend when our weather will dip back down into the 40’s with a chance of snow. 
 
Alrighty friends, it’s time for me to scoot!  Have a TERRIFIC Tuesday!
 
–Shari B. =)

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Flex-It Friday: Show Me the Gunney

Nov 6

Posted by Shari B. in Flex-It Friday, Keeping Fit | 11 Comments

Hey everyone!  Welcome to the second-best day of the week!

Since Friday’s are made for “Happy Hour” I’m having a little fun with my chocolate Vega shake this morning:

The Swamptini

The Swamptini

deet deet dit  diddit dit deeet (that’s my newswire sound, for breaking news…!)

We interrupt this usually semi-serious blog for some breaking comedy.  This just in… FitFeat’s first Flex-it Friday…


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OK, if you’re just joining us, you may think I’m crazy.  (It’s OK, you’re not the first.  Definitely won’t be the last.  :) )

Tray challenged me to a little “flex-off” so to speak :)   and since my readers are all fun-loving peeps, I thought I’d open it up to whomever would like to join in for a little Friday fun (not to mention motivation for a few pushups, as Cindy noted!)

Now if I was doing an ARMPIT FLEX OFF this may be the money shot (or maybe a sterno-cleido-mastoid flex-off, that crazy thing you see on my neck!!):

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I have a long way to go before I can “Kiss my Guns” with the big boys…  I would need a Stretch Armstrong neck or much longer lips:

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Cindy from A Sparkle A Day sent in some fun ones.  She keeps fit on her Mas (short for Maserati, aka treadmill) and bendy yoga moves!  Not to mention super healthy eating.   She is an amazing knitter too!  Where she finds the time to work, knit, run, do yoga, keep up with her kids, AND blog is beyond me.  Makes me tired just reading about all she does in a day.  Here is my favorite of the pics she sent me – hey, is she cheating??? I see a helping hand back there… ;)

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This is what she does to cheaters so play fair, yo or she’ll give you the smackdown:

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***

Tray from Trayn Harder has a superhuman forearm in addition to her bodacious bicep!  I’ve seen the workouts she does and would NOT want to meet her in a dark alley.  She likes hard stuff, like Crossfit!  (Ouchie mama!)  Tray is the inspiration for today’s Flex-It Friday – thanks Tray for keeping me smiling!

tray flex

***

Alison from Mama’s Weeds is a Brendan Brazier (Thrive Diet) fan(atic) like me.   She’s so dedicated that you will often find her riding her bike in the DARK!  She’s an avid runner as well.  I’m not sure which is quicker:  her feet or her wit!  Her posts always keep me laughing.  She’s also a co-blogger at Health Blog Helper, where they are kind enough to share their lessons in blogging with the rest of us.  She’s got guns AND obliques:

bicep_for_shari

Better put in a pic of Brendan’s biceps for Alison’s sake (Brendan is her boyfriend – he just doesn’t know it yet!!  ;) )  He also doesn’t know that he’s a competitor in our little flex-off.  :)   This is proof that you can build muscle AND be a vegan.  You do not need animal protein to build a banging bod:

brendan bicep

***

And last but not least, yours truly, with the best bicep flex I could muster.  My right bicep got quite the workout yesterday!!  I better go do some curls today with the left side, or I might be typing in circles later.

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I’d just like to give a HUGE thanks to my “Flex-It Friday” Contestants for being good sports, supportive blog buds, and just all around FUN PEOPLE!  I appreciate you guys having a little Friday fun with me.  Readers, show them some luv by checking out their blogs!  It’s Friday, and your boss will think you’re hard at work from the intense stare pointed at your computer monitor.  ;)

***

Speaking of blog luv, did you guys notice the cool new plug-in “CommentLuv” I added?  If you are a blogger, it shows your most recent post with your comment when you leave one (hmmm good incentive to comment often!)   Pretty cool huh?  (Thanks to Health Blog Helper where I first saw the plug-in.)

And because this blog is supposed to be about FITNESS :)   I should note for the sake of accurate journaling that yesterday I had an AMAZING 5K run with my client in the gorgeous weather.  (Colorado broke a weather record now in the HEAT direction, rather than freezing direction.  What a kooky weather year it has been.  79 is on tap for today – you know where I’ll be!)

Today’s question:  what muscle group would you like to show off in a future Flex-it Friday??   Let’s celebrate the effort we put into keeping our bodies fit!

Friends have a FABULOUS Friday!

See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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