I received an email this morning that my winning prize will be dropped off to Angie on Monday afternoon at a yoga class she is teaching at the studio.

Pretty sure I will never see it!

And I am smart enough not to ask questions! lol

Here is my gift ...

FIRST PLACE: A package of body products, candles and books from the Chopra Center for Wellbeing - Value $300 and a free copy of the Home Cooked Comforts ebook.

Thanks once again for all of you that voted here to help me win...

big hug!

LOL Saef, at the beginning of the workout she says, "I hope that name isn't offensive to anybody!" A little of both I think. As with most Pilates workouts, it's as hard as you make it. I did the "beginner" version of most of the moves.

Saturday, Oct. 22:

60 minutes stationary bike, Alpine climb, resistance at nine
60 minutes beginner Kripalu yoga


Then I was walking around an antique show for a couple hours.

Sunday, Oct. 23:

I ran in a 5K Race for the Cure, this one in honor of an area resident, Carol Baldwin, who's the mother of the Baldwin brothers, the actors. (I believe Alec Baldwin is the eldest son.). Carol Baldwin is a double mastectomy survivor & arrived at the race in a wheelchair to see us off. And there were a lot of us, rubbing our arms & shivering, with gray clouds overhead but sun breaking through at last.

Anyway, the good news is ... I now have a new personal best time. I broke through 32 minutes, running it in 31:37 net time and 31:39 gun time. (When I'm done posting here, I'm off somewhere to look up the definition and why the times differ.)

I wore headphones for the first time, which may have helped me maintain a better tempo. But also I was watching my form, specifically, thinking about a few tips I've read online: Looking straight ahead, trying to keep my arms from going up or crossing my midsection while pumping, and trying to land on the front part of my foot, rather than on the heel or midfoot. (I had been heel-striking, partly because of some idea that because this was the way to use an elliptical, it was also a good way to run.) Also I leaned just a fraction forward, rather than bolt upright, which seemed to be a good move, as I had no back soreness during the run or after the run.

This race was exciting because there was an altruistic hum in the air. It's the whole anti-breast cancer movement. (Which I have mixed feelings about -- for some of the same reasons Barbara Ehrenreich enumerates in her book "Blindsided.") What's interesting is how many runners dedicated the race to someone. They had a tag, like your number tag, which you could put on your back. Mine was dedicated to my mother, who has been a breast cancer survivor for nearly three years now. I was both heartened and saddened by how many people had these personal dedications on their shirts.

Note to self: Next time you run in this kind of event, wear a pink shirt.

This was the one event that I've run in where participants actually wore the event's official shirt that you got at registration. (Maybe to keep warm.)

BTW, every run I've participated in so far has served free bagels. Is the bagel official running food throughout the U.S. or is it a northeastern thing?

I'm doing double cat visits tomorrow and Tues. so no exercise in the a.m. I did double the sets of reps with the weights this morning to try to compensate for this coming Tues. I can feel things starting to stiffen up now, although I was fine at 6 a.m. when I did the reps. I will know my butt is there tonite.

I also did the last of our required work at the sailing/paddling club. It was a beautiful day and I was all alone at the club, except for a gaggle of Canada geese. They became accustomed to my walking past them within minutes and were following me at the end, hoping for a handout. Magnificent birds but quite jaded by urban living. I toted 10 garbage binful's of debris out to the road and our little strip of beach (the paddlers are kinda ignored by the rest of the club and off in a corner) looked good when I was done.

Good evening all!

Dagmar (lift that barge, tote that bale)

SAEF Bagels at races is very common at 5K and Marathon events...as well as bananas and oranges. Runners eat these for a "carb load" prior to running. A lot of the bigger races around here have get togethers for their 5K and marathon teams at the local pasta joints to load up the night before...a very fun tradition here with some of our high school cross-country teams too for carb loading and bonding.

So runners still carb-load, EZ? In this era of low-carb and paleo eating, the practice continues? Well good for them, for the sake of the bonding, anyway.

Monday, Oct. 24:

45 minute spin class with the teacher who pushes us into putting on maximum resistance
60 minute beginner Kripalu yoga class, with the teacher going into the idea of one pose flowing into the other

Oh my goodness! ABSOLUTELY! At least the well trained ones I know and a well known guy around our parts...now friend and past coach in college of my son...a guy by the name of Steve Scott...you may have heard of him

Looking at the shape of these runners I am pretty sure they don't worry about their carbs

Now, as for me, I carb load with pizza and beer AFTER the race

October 20: none-- traveling to see dd

October 21: 30 minutes elliptical on dd's elliptical (much harder than those at the gym! Sweating and gasping for breath!)

Oct. 22: 30 min. on dd's elliptical again

Oct. 23: none-- traveling back home

Oct. 24: 30 minutes body pump class and 30 min. core/bands class

Totals:
18 days
1122 minutes

EZ, I hear so much about low-carbing and paleo eating on the Internet ... maybe I need to get out more & spend time around actual runners to see how they live and train.

As for me:

Tuesday, Oct. 25:

20 minutes warmup on the Stairmaster stepper, aerobic setting, resistance at six
60 minutes triceps, shoulders and chest routine -- the one with the pushups. Also, since the free weight area was relatively unpopulated, I laid myself back on a weight bench and tried an unloaded bar for bench presses. I'd been using a 50-lb barbell and before the flood, had gone up to 60-lb barbell, so I was able to handle it. It's a bit more awkward to hold but I was able to do it comfortably.
40 minutes on the Stairmaster stepper, resistance at six, and this felt doable, as if I'd figured out the balance and foot placement

Saef, eating enough carbs is critical for endurance athletes! You will often find if you look that the people on the internet who focus on the low-carb/paleo type diets are people who focus on weight lifting, body building, etc. You need a lot of protein to build muscles and not a lot of carbs. However, you need those carbs to run a marathon (maybe not so much for a 5k).

The goal of carbo-loading is to store up glycogen in the muscles. The glycogen is then used during the endurance activity to provide energy to the muscles. Carbo-loading, though, is really a complex issue and not as simple as "eat spaghetti the night before." Also, it is key for endurance athletes to consume high glycemic index carbohydrate *while* exercising (the gu, gels, shot blocks, etc. -- basically salted sugar) to provide a continuous stream of glucose to the body to use as fuel.

In any case, I'm obviously not an expert on the issue, but carbs are important for endurance athletics. That said, the post-race food is usually just junky stuff for people to feel like they earned a right to eat. I often see cookies and muffins at races. Personally, after running a race, I have never been able to eat anything because my stomach gets upset -- all I could ever handle was gatorade. DH on the other hand chows down on the bagels and muffins and then feels guilty later. Post-workout recovery meals should include both carbs and protein, which is why they've been pushing chocolate milk so much lately and you'll find it at a lot of races.

JESSICA I am living proof that you can run a 5K w/o carbs...on coffee alone....maybe why my times are not that good! ha!

SAEF a lot of the food provided at 5K's is just what businesses are willing to donate. Back when times were real good some of our 5K's had full on pizza making trucks from Freschetta.

It's been 10 years now but Angie and I trained with an excellent program here to do our marathon. We were broke into our areas of ability but I have to say it sure was inspiring watching and learning from those elites and just damn good runners!

Thanks, EZ and Jessica, for helping me figure out the running culture.

I'm an interloper and a rank amateur, since for many weeks, I don't run at all, not till the race. But I can't shake my admiration of runners.


Wednesday, Oct. 26:

45 minute spin class, tough as usual, as the marathon-training instructor was doing tabatas with us
60 minute beginner Kripalu yoga, with the instructor who's into breathing and being gentle.
What a contrast between them.

Oct. 25: 30 minutes running on treadmill

Oct. 26: 30 minutes Boot camp plus 30 minutes CX core/bands class

Totals:
20 days
1212 minutes

Thursday, Oct. 27:

20 minutes Stairmaster stepper, warmup, resistance at six
60 minutes biceps and back routine with weights
40 minutes Stairmaster stepper, trying a lighter resistance at four, putting weight in my heels, trying to see if I could work hamstrings and glutes

I tried the Gravitron machine at my local crummy gym. On this one, you kneel while using the bars to lift yourself. I found myself arching backward rather than keeping my body straight, which can't be good, so I stuck to the lat pulldown machine instead.