Work(s) in Progress

New Challenge/New Year

About once a month I check my email account that I use for registering on various message boards. Today there was a surprise in my in-box that is definitely worth sharing. I have previously completed several official Body for Life Challenges.  I did not win any of the big prizes, but I did get and stay healthy. You can view pictures my personal transformation here. Because I have been slacking off post-marathon, I have been pondering another rigorous cycle of Body for Life by the book; the email I received is just the nudge I needed.

Dear Friend,

It's that time of the year again! As we did last year, we have booked two tickets for the Champions-for-Life cruise to the Caribbean which we will be giving away to YOU as the grand prize in our forum transformation challenge!

This is your chance to enter our challenge and reward yourself for all the hard work you have put into transforming your body and your life. Over 200 champions and participants went in last year's cruise! Do not miss this great opportunity! Motivate yourself by entering our challenge and change your body and your life forever.

This year, we have more prizes and for all top 5 members who make a great transformation!! To check out the full details, please visit:

http://www.bodyforlifers.com/cruise_challenge2.htm

Oh what fun. This challenge for the cruise starts January 1 and continues to March 11. New plan and before photos (sigh) coming soon.

The leaner you are, the richer you'll get

I am sure that this article by Thomas Kostigen of Market Watch, analyzing a recent study looking at the impact of fitness on productivity and wealth, will upset some people. However, it is any surprise that tall and fit men earn more than short and fat women? Taken directly from the study:

"All other things considered, taller people earn more than average, whereas obese people tend to earn less, although the adverse consequences of obesity are greater for women than for men. However, these findings could reflect biases linked to the social acceptability of body images rather than a direct link to productivity."

Thomas Kostigen of Market Watch also wrote:

Many studies show that better health increases both the number of hours worked and the probability an individual will be employed. ... healthy people can put their money to work in other ways, namely to increase the quality of their lives. The healthy are, for instance, more apt to invest in their own education, thereby boosting their productivity. They are also more apt to save more in expectation of a longer life, thereby increasing the funds available for investment in the economy. This helps not only their prosperity, but also society.

So don't be stupid: Get in shape to get rich.

I woke up this morning with the feeling that it was time to recommit to a structured fitness plan. Finding this article certainly reinforced that decision. I find maintenance to be hard, like walking a tightrope. It's so very easy to fall off and slide into a path of weight gain. An extra 100 calories here and there coupled with a skipped workout or three will inevitably lead to weight gain rather than maintenance. Mel, who lost 1/3 of her prior body mass, writes beautifully of her struggle with maintenance. While many of her posts focus on adding good habits or new recipes, there are many true gems, like this one.

I have been avoiding the scale. We've had chocolate Halloween candy in the house. It's been calling me. Yes, I'm allergic to dairy. Yes, it was foolish to succumb to the call. Yes, my skin rash is back from eating foods that I'm allergic to. Yes, I still ate 4 Hershey Nuggets yesterday. Today, however, I feel motivated and ready to get back on plan. Some of this is externally motivated. The in-laws are coming next month for my husband's graduation from Law School. I know it's shallow but I'd really rather fit well in my "skinny" pants when they are here. So this morning I braved the scale. It could be worse. 133.6 lbs; 22.4% body fat. I suspect some of the gain is hormonal water weight. I'll have a better idea of where I really am next weekend.

Here's what I'm thinking for the next month:

• Fasted Cardio in AM: 30 to 60 minutes; 5 to 7 days a week; 2 or 3 of these will be HIIT
• Weights in PM: 30 min max; one body part per day, might do abs 3x per week; 5 days a week
• Nutrition: essentially Paleo with carbs (oats or yam) in post-workout meals. This will give me 4 protein + green veggie meals and 2 protein + fruit/veggie + starchy carb meals. For me, this will definitely be a caloric deficit situation. I haven't plugged my nutrition into excel recently but I estimate that I'm eating about 2300 calories a day and essentially maintaining.
• 1 free meal per week. I already know what I want. PF Chang's has spun out a take-out/dine in restaurant Pei Wei. I will be splurging on brown rice & Pei Wei Spicy Shrimp.

October Slips By

This month slipped by. Trick-or-Treaters are ringing my doorbell. I have a plastic pumpkin full of candy. It's interesting. Some of the children are so polite and grateful that I let them pick their own candy. They carefully select a single choice piece of candy. Other kids jam their hands deep into the mass of candy and pull out as many pieces as their small hands can hold. Thick or thin, tall or short, there does not appear to be any correlation. Although it's the boys that seem to take the biggest handfuls.

This has been a tumultuous month. October is the time of year that my employer conducts performance evaluations. As the acting head of my administrative unit, this means I have the pleasure of writing or at least reviewing many evaluations. In theory this process does not tie directly to merit raises (we don't do cost of living increases) and yet merit occurs about 2 weeks after the review process. Hmm. I did this last year having been in the position about 2 weeks. This time I've had a full year. While I was more comfortable doing it this year, it was still not easy. One person I review wanted the position I obtained. This person does not speak to me except to remind me how sub-optimal they find me. One person held the position for 20+ years and was my direct supervisor for more than a decade.  Some people I enjoy working with tremendously and others are so unhappy I wish they would move on to someplace, anyplace, else. This process requires my best fledgling diplomacy skills. In many ways I try to treat the process as SWOT analysis: Where is the person strong? Where can they grow? What opportunities might they take in the future? What have they missed that jeopardizes their position? Most of all I try to be fair and remove my personal biases as much as possible. I'm not sure it is possible. For example, in my own lab, I like and respect my head technician both personally and professionally. She literally reads my mind on many work related issues. I trust her fully to ensure that she will keep the lab going strong, even if I am not giving her and the rest of the staff enough of my time. At the same time, I simply like her. I cannot separate these when it comes time to review her performance. I am not sure that I should. But is it unfair if I do not when I review someone I simply like less? The reviews are done but these things I ponder.

I spent a few days in DC reviewing scientific grants for the government. First of all, the Watergate hotel is lovely. At check-in, I was upgraded to a suite. Be sure to request a non-smoking room. All I can say is wow. My accommodations were incredible, not that I had much time in the room to enjoy them. I was able to see my brother and his family one evening. I generally get to see my brother every few trips but have not seen the rest for a few years. They say that you can't pick your family but I am lucky to be related to my brother. He is a funny, smart and interesting person. I always enjoy seeing him. The grant review process was depressing. Given the current federal funding situation, most grants (likely more than 90%) will be denied. I reviewed 9 of the 109 in our group. Given the odds, it is unlikely that any of the grants I reviewed will be funded, even though some were quite interesting and certainly meritorious.

This was also a month of PhD defenses. I am on the thesis committee (these generally have 5 people) for two students. Both were given extensions beyond their normal 7 year deadline. Both defended this month. One was awarded the PhD yesterday.  The fate of the other remains uncertain. Today was the deadline. It was extended again for the thesis to be rewritten. The oral defense has been postponed. This is heart breaking. The overall body of work is solid. The writing was simply incomplete.  The student has two weeks to complete the thesis to the satisfaction of the committee to determine whether the oral defense will occur. I hope the student pulls through. There is no joy in crushing someone's hopes and dreams, especially after 7 years of work.

On the fitness front, running at sea-level is a thing of joy. How swift I am where there is ample oxygen. I am running more than I am lifting. Most runs have been under 5 miles but they have been fun. Holding steady at about 131 lbs. I still need to add more weight lifting to my workout schedule, but for now I am focusing on finding the joy of it. The joy was lost during the marathon training schedule. I do better on a schedule and will be ready to lock into one soon, or at least after the holidays. For now, maintenance and fun are my primary goals. So much of my life is work or work-like, I need the joy of health and fitness more than goal oriented fat loss at the moment.

Beacon Biotechnology was formed last month. I am one of many co-founders. In the hours between those scheduled for my day job, I work on business plans and corporate strategy. There are so many opportunities to seize with deadlines always looming. While my efforts here are not likely to have any immediate personal financial impact, they do create so much hope in me. Our technology and our team has so much potential. There are so many ways for us to succeed. Yes, I know that most start-ups fail, and yet...there is so much potential here. It shines so brightly.

What else? I am addicted to this blog. Start at the beginning. It's like watching a slow motion train wreck. I am simply mesmerized. I read a few housing market related blogs: one local, one DC related and one pertaining generally to lending practices. Both the local housing blog and the lending practice blog had articles on Casey Serin, who has now been featured everywhere from NPR to USA today. I started reading about Casey Serin about 2 days after his blog went live. I watched it go off line for a few days and resurrect like a phoenix.  Perhaps he will be rescued; perhaps he will go to jail for loan fraud. I simply cannot look away. The comments are about as entertaining as the posts.

In my blog travels, I stumbled across a few interesting things. First, did you know that angry/negative people were bad for your brain? This post is simply fascinating. I have noticed that while I used to be a fairly pessimistic person, I have been drawn lately to those people who are full of joy and hope. I find that I am so very tired when surrounded by the pessimistic and angry. Uncomfortable. Yes, I am a realist and yet I would rather surround myself with those that share my joy and hope for the future. Apparently there is a scientific basis for this. Who knew?

In my international entrepreneurship class, we talked extensively about micro-finance opportunities around the world. I stumbled across this new business, Kiva, which connects every day people (who would perhaps normally donate to non-profits) with global entrepreneurs in need of small loans to back their businesses. It's the middle men making money, not the lenders of the money. The business model fascinates me. I liked the concept so much I emailed my professor from last year about it. The actual donors, in theory, break even or at least feel good about helping someone try to start or grow a business. This model is somewhat like Prosper except with prosper the donors can earn a profit. Anyone can be a bank. I realize that some of these ideas may be obvious to those of you reading this but it never occurred to me that I could be a "bank." Sure, I support the non-profits I believe in as I can, but what Kiva and Prosper are doing would never have occurred to me.

In search of joy

Last week I designed a new training plan to lose the extra 6 or 7 pounds of fat I am carrying. I tend to do better with a schedule, so I made a spreadsheet and posted it on my wall to ensure that I stayed on plan. Compared to the recent marathon training schedule, the workout plan is quite reasonable. Combined with the paleo diet, I am certain that this plan will work. After 7 days, I can only say, that now is not the correct time to implement this plan. The first 4 days were great. The weight was dropping; my workouts were strong. And then the glycogen ran out. Even though I did not feel physically hungry, all of my behaviors suggested that I was in fact very hungry: I felt weak; I was crabby, oh so crabby; I was unmotivated; I did not feel joy. 

I splurged this weekend. I ate rice. I ate chick peas. I ate a lite mini bag of low fat (no trans fat) popcorn. I drank wine. None of these things are appropriate for the paleo diet (actually the wine is OK). I did not feel guilty. I did not get on the scale. Today I got on the treadmill with a new movie, Take the Lead (I love Antonio Banderas movies). I did not watch the timer on my treadmill, watching the minutes tick by, worrying about whether I would make my target distance at my target pace. I did not check my HR monitor every few minutes worrying whether I was in the correct zone. I did not calculate the optimal timing for my gels. I felt strong. When the movie ended I realized that I had run 10 miles. Bliss.

So I am thinking again about SMART goals and whether they are what I need at this moment. What would happen if I instead focused on the joy of being able to run, of feeling strong, of feeling healthy, of eating wholesome meals? What would happen if I did the workout I felt like doing rather than the one on the schedule?

Day 4 Quasi Paleo Diet

My run this morning was a bit weak. I started craving brown rice today.  Where oh where did the glycogen go?  In theory, I am eating plenty of carbohydrates (apple, carrots, mango, berries, loads of leafy greens)  plus a 1/2 cup oatmeal in the morning. I think I am eating more from a caloric perspective than before given my large consumption of chicken, turkey, salmon and nuts. I am still eating 6 or 7 times a day. If anything my portion sizes are the largest they have been in 2 years. Aside from craving rice today, I have not been hungry.  In the past, I have counted the minutes between meals. Has enough time passed to justify the next meal? So far, I have not had this happen. I have not been tracking food in Excel or counting calories or using my food scale. I have simply stuck to the list of approved foods and eaten them when hungry. I have eaten fruit without protein. This scares me but seems to be OK. In the past this has triggered a difficult to control urge to eat more carbohydrates.

I have dropped 1.8 pounds in 4 days. I'm guessing it is mostly water at this point due to muscle glycogen depletion and less belly bloating from eating the wrong foods. My husband is doing Paleo eating at most (not all) meals. He is down 5 pounds. So far, I'm enjoying this experiment. I feel alert during the day. I'm sleeping well. I have not had any abdominal pain. The only major downside I see to eating this way is that it is very dependent on fresh foods (veggies, fruit, meats) which require much more preparation that downing a meal replacement bar or shake.

Pondering Paleo

Julie Berg had great success using a largely Paleo Diet to lean out while training for ultra-marathons. Based on her recommendations I recently ordered The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Athletes. Given how many problems I have been having with many foods recently, I am considering giving this style of eating a try. The upside is that many people have heard of it and I find that most people are more accepting/supportive to a diet change if it has a name. To say "I stopped eating wheat because it made me feel bad" generates a perplexed look (and the perpetual offer of danish, bagel or pizza) while saying "I'm pondering Paleo" generally creates a dialogue about the pros and cons of that type of eating in a more supportive environment. Frankly, I don't mind the odd looks but it is easier when people can put the oddity in a box with a name. I found the same thing with my fitness pursuits. In general, the people I know seem to get the idea of training for an event such as a marathon. However, pursuing fitness for its own sake when you are training for nothing in particular (hmm life, a healthy body, etc) creates the confused looked.

Yesterday most of the non-Paleo foods were tucked into a cabinet (rice, grains, legumes). My husband is considering doing this with me. He's done Atkins in the past so the idea of a meat heavy diet with leaner meats and ample fruits, veggies, and nuts is appealing to him.

I'm planning to use the month of October to gradually ease into Paleo and to revamp my exercise schedule now that the marathon is done. I have a few trips for work this month so it likely will not be possible to be perfectly on plan.

Overall goals: no belly pain, build upper body strength, find my abs again, and lose the extra fat I am carrying.

Current stats: 131.8 lbs and 22.7% body fat (Omron)

Goal stats: 18% body fat. Scale weight less relevant. If I retain my current lean mass this is a loss of 7.55 lbs of fat creating a target weight of 124.25. I'm 5 feet and 6.5 inches tall so this would put my BMI right about 20. This would be a terrific place to be.

Work Out Schedule for October

• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Tempo Run (4-6 miles)
• Wednesday: Upper Body Work Out (likely BFL format)
• Thursday: Interval Run (3-5 miles)
• Friday: Lower Body Work Out & Abs
• Saturday: Yoga (Baron Baptiste Videos: 30-60 minutes)
• Sunday: Longer Run (8-12 miles)

Diet Changes

I've been generally following a mix of Zone and BFL for food ratios with 6 or 7 smaller meals a day. Many foods are "triggers" for me and create a craving for more of the same, far beyond what my body needs: rice, oats, wheat (when I used to eat it), some fruits, potato, yam, pumpkin, clif bars, anything bread like, basically anything that is either mostly carb or a carb/fat combo. So one advantage to me of going Paleo is that frankly, of these triggers, only fruit is allowed. I'm going into this knowing that I plan to not follow it 100%. For example, every morning I eat oats (1/2 cup dry), whey (1/3 cup) and berries for breakfast. This meal for me is perfect before a long run. Aside from the berries, these foods are utterly not permitted by the strict Paleo diet. There is some advocacy for whey in the Paleo for Athletes book. With respect to nutrient ratios, Paleo looks just about perfect for me. It looks like protein = fat = carb (so 33P:33C:33F) depending on food choices. I know that I feel best if my meals are balanced in this way although I do drop fat a bit more easily with BFL (40P:40C:20F) ratios.

There are many items on the Body for Life food list that are not on the Paleo Food list. The biggest changes for me will be cutting out or down on: brown rice, oats (OK we already know these are staying for meal one), legumes (peanuts, chickpeas, beans), potatos, yams, salty foods, crystal lite (OK this is staying until I run out), soy based foods, and coffee (hmm, I may try to cut back but it will be staying in some amount).

Exercise Impact

Yesterday I ate largely Paleo (ignoring oats for breakfast & a post workout Clif Builder Bar). I was not hungry at all (this never happens). I did a 10 mile run this AM. This was my fastest 10 miles yet (1 hour 36 minutes, so a 9:40 pace). This was a post-marathon recovery run. My knees, hips and legs felt terrific. I love 10 miles. I was just getting a bit tired at mile 9.5 and then the run was over. Well it was over at least for me. I ran just the first half of a 20 mile marathon training race that I'd signed up for back in July.

Short vs. Long

The last two races I did were photographed. I ran a 9 mile race on September 10th and a marathon on September 24th. The marathon had dozens of professional photographers scattered along the course. The 9 mile race had some folks at mile two and seven snapping pictures.

For me, the short 9 mile run, elicited joy, as evidenced the photos taken at mile 2 and mile 7.

The marathon, on the other hand, elicited only a grimace, the entire way. There is not a smile to be found in any of these photos. 

I'll take the joy!

First Marathon

Today I ran the Boulder Backroads Marathon. It started off very chilly (about 35 degrees) and warmed up to the mid 60's.  It was sunny and cloudless. Simply beautiful. Compared to the few other races I have run, the support provided to runners at this event was simply incredible. They had multiple CLEAN port-o-lets every 2 miles. This allowed me to drink a normal volume of water for me and I availed myself of these conveniences five times. Many of the support stations had bananas in addition to the usual gels and drinks. The course meandered through a variety of farms: horses, sheep, cows and what looked like buffalo. The course was also very hilly.

It took me about 5 hours and 30 minutes to traverse the 26.2 miles. Twenty six point two miles is a very long way. Running 20 miles is not preparation for running 26.2; it's preparation for running 20. There is nothing similar about these distances except that they start with the number two. In spite of my frequent rest stops, I hit mile 10 at about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I hit mile 20 by 3 hours and 50 minutes (exactly what my 20 mile race time was). And then, I crashed. It took me the remaining 1 hour and 40 minutes to cover those last 6 miles. My left leg felt pretty good but my right hip started to ache, so my stride became step left, slide/drag right leg forward. My right foot brushed along the ground frequently during this bit. I ran as much of those last 6 miles as I could but there was a lot of walking. I did completely run the last mile but that mile was sheer pride.

On a light note, I had bib # 69. Every time I ran past of group of people who were cheering for the runners they would call out "way to go 69" or something similar and start laughing. I suppose we all stay teens at heart. It made me laugh as well.

So all in all, I was not quite ready for this but did it anyway. Could I train to be ready for one? Perhaps. It's just not that important to me. The first 13 miles were fun. I like the half-marathon distance. The rest was hard. My husband, who drove me to the race site early this morning (he dropped me off at 6:15AM for a 7AM start),  started waiting at the finish around noon (I was hoping for a 5 hour finish) so he was able to see me hobble across the finish line. Thank you L. When I mentioned that I think I'm more of a half-marathon type of girl, he said he'd run those with me. Sounds like a plan.

Edit: I just go the 0fficial resuls email from the race directors. It read as follows:

Thanks for participating in the GoLite Boulder Backroads Marathon Results for Catherine xxxxx:

You placed 442nd out of 505 finishers in a time of 5:30:00 for a pace of 12:36 per mile.

Out of 211 women you finished 170th. The winning time for women was 2:43:10.

For 35 to 39 year old women you were 25th out of 31 finishers. The winning time for your age and sex was 2:43:10.

50 in 50

Well this is cool.

You may have heard about ultra-endurance athlete Dean Karnazes who is currently running 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days. Well, I was rooting through my goodie bag for tomorrow's marathon and behold was an flyer about Dean's Endurance 50 challenge. It turns out tomorrow's race will be #8 for him. He's in Nebraska today. Perhaps I will see him zoom out at the start of the race tomorrow.

Marathon Plan Week 24 of 24

There are 6 days until the Boulder Backroads Marathon. I'm enoying the taper but my nutritional intake is exceeding my needs given my decrease in activity. The plan for the week leading up to Sunday's marathon looks ridiculously light but I have trusted the plan this far. I will likely add extra stretching and some yoga this week but nothing strenuous.

• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Tempo Run 40 minutes total with 20 minutes at threshold pace
• Wednesday: Alternate Cardio 30 minutes
• Thursday: Lactate Intervals 38 minutes total with 3 x 3 minutes @ VO2 max pace with 3 minute active recoveries
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Recovery Run 10 minutes + 4 x 30 second strides
• Sunday: Marathon

My husband has offered to drop me off and pick me up post run. This is terrific as I sometimes have difficulty working the clutch in my car if my legs cramp too much.