Goals (and reaching them...)

This past weekend I did the Kalamazoo Klassic 10k, which marks my 8th race so far this season (since the end of April). One might say I am a little bit addicted. There is just something about a giant group of people all coming together for the love of running. It *has* to be love, because why else would any normal human being get up at 6am on a Saturday to prep for a 7:30am 6 mile race... right?

I didn't do as well as I had hoped. Admittedly, I still did well, placing 8th out of 57 in my age group. And double admittedly, I haven't actually been racing (or even running) for very long in the grand scheme of things; really only a couple of years. So why am I so hard on myself?

I presume it's because I strive for excellence in whatever it is that I'm doing. I've always been a theatre girl, a girl who sings but isn't especially athletic. When I was doing theatre basically full-time, I threw my everything into it. Three hours of rehearsal a night, plus whatever extra time I had to devote to memorizing music, lines and choreography. And once I started getting faster in races, and then started placing in races... well, I got a taste of what it is like to be really good at something else.

For me, the chance to prove that I have another talent I didn't know I had is exhilarating! It's not just the chance to prove to the people I know that I'm not just a theatre person; it's a chance to prove to myself that I *can* be athletic. I can actually be a competitor.

So, it's true, I didn't place as high as I would have liked last Saturday. But it's also true that I am my toughest critic, I am the person who has the highest expectations of myself. And sometimes, I'm not going to place top three, and that's fine. I started that race saying to myself, "Ok. This is a big race. Chances are good, I won't place top three in age. That's okay. But I *will* place top ten in age."

And you know what? I did that. I found a good and challenging (but not out outlandish) goal for myself, and I hit it. I find that one of the easiest ways to fail when training, is to expect SO much out of yourself that you end up missing the mark and feeling dejected.

I'm not saying not to set expectations for yourself. I'm saying, don't set expectations *so* high that you can't reach them. Because frankly, you will reach them in time. But it might not be tomorrow, or the day after, or even the month after. Sometimes that larger goal takes lots of smaller goals as a step-ladder.

My larger point is, a skill takes time, devotion, and patience to develop. Even if you have a natural talent for something, it *still* takes practice to get it where you'd like to see it. Set attainable goals, and don't be too hard on yourself. Each goal reached is like a prize, something you did for yourself that you didn't do yesterday. And that, in itself, is an amazing feat.

until later...

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill

More on the power of positive thinking....

I have found that to think positive, you have to surround yourself with positive reminders. Pictures that remind you of good times. Quotes that remind you to stay strong. Even stories about people who beat the odds. Reminding yourself that you are a good and deserving person isn't always easy, but it's necessary.

I have a huge mirror in my bathroom. Big enough that I couldn't possibly need the whole thing to get ready in the morning. So I like to put a few things up as daily reminders of the task ahead of me; to spend my day being the best me I can be. One thing I have up there is a list of "Mental Toughness Tips" that I got at a race this year. They hold true not just for athletics, but for jobs or nearly any other aspect of your life! And now, I'd like to share them with you.

* Play to your own standard of excellence, not up or down to the level of your opponent.

* Be committed, even when you are not motivated.

* Maintain positive focus and effort at all time, especially after mistakes. Being positive brings up your teammates, being negative brings up your opponents!

* Have a specific goal for every practice. Be sure to review why you are a better athlete after each practice.

* Practice how you want to play. Give full physical and mental effort at all times.

* When under pressure, define what your job is and focus on that.

* Know that competitive anxiety is normal and prepares you for battle.

* Prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Nothing is better to build confidence.

* Take a deep breath to regain focus on the here and now.

* Your mind is built to warn you of danger; it is often best not to believe your mind when it worries.

Special thanks to Grand Rapids Sport Psychologist Dr. Eddie O'Connor for the great tips. You can follow Dr. Eddie on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/dreddieoconnor or on Twitter @ SportsDrEddie.

until later...

"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Last night I realized something.

I'm not trying as hard as I could.

Now, I was watching that new Jillian Michaels show, "Losing It With Jillian". It's mostly Jillian yelling at people, breaking them down, pissing them off, making them cry... it's moderately fantastic, actually. But more than just yelling in people's faces, she makes them really look inside of themselves and figure out what is making them overweight, what is making them unhappy, what is breaking down their confidences, what is making them think they aren't good enough.

It kind of got me thinking.

After all, who doesn't occasionally blame their circumstances on outside forces? "I hate my job because my job sucks." "I'm overweight because exercise is boring and I have a bad joint." "I'm unhappy because he/she makes me unhappy."

Then I started to wonder what happens when you start facing the fact that your circumstances lie mostly with you and the work you're willing to put forth. Ok, I love my job, but let's pretend I didn't. What if we replace "I hate my job because my job sucks" with "I hate my job, but I love writing... so I'm going to write a book and get it published."

Replace "I'm overweight because exercise is boring and I have a bad joint" with "I hate death/heart disease more than I hate exercise, and exercise will only make me stronger."

Replace "I'm unhappy because he/she makes me unhappy" with "I love myself enough to admit when I'm letting myself wallow."

Looking around at the things I've accomplished, I realize I could do so much more if I stopped saying "I can't" so much and just do the work. It's like the mornings where I drag my ass out of bed at 5:15am and run 3 miles. I always feel so much better right out of the gate when I do that. And I think it's mostly because I've already accomplished something great before breakfast, while it's still dark even. It prepares me that much more for a successful day.

I have been saying for years, "Someday... someday I'm going to write a kid's book." I got sick of adding up the somedays a couple of weeks ago, and sat down one morning and just started writing. An hour and a half later, I had a little piece of poetic fiction that I was actually quite proud of. I wondered why I put it off for so long, why I constantly thought I wasn't ready to write it.

Challenge yourself daily. If you find yourself blaming a certain circumstance on someone/something other than your own psyche, stop. Think. I'm not telling you to blame yourself. I'm telling you to tell yourself you're better than that circumstance, and move ahead. Always forward, never back.

until later...

"We all have known good critics, who have stamped out poet's hopes; Good statesmen, who pulled ruin on the state; Good patriots, who, for a theory, risked a cause; Good kings, who disembowled for a tax; Good popes, who brought all good to jeopardy; Good Christians, who sat still in easy-chairs; And damned the general w...orld for not standing up. Now, may the good God pardon all good men!” ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Shopping for labels....

I think two of the worst phrases to hit the food industry are "made with whole grain" and "all-natural". You might think I'm crazy; whole grains and natural are good, right? Of course they are!!! But what you may not realize is, anyone can slap "made with whole grain" on a package (even if it's not the first, or second, or third ingredient), and "all-natural" just means the ingredients came from nature. Neither phrase makes something inherently "healthy". You have to be so careful and actually look at labels, because you can unwittingly pick something up, assume it's healthy, and toss it in the cart.

For example, here is a label from a chocolate brownie muffin from the folks at Aunt Millie. It is "made with whole grain". Sorry, it's a bit fuzzy.



Major concerns? Well, for one, the first ingredient isn't flour, it's sugar. That can't be good. Second, 220 calories for a snack? A snack with 8.5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams of fiber, and 24 grams of sugar? What a waste of a snack! It's cut off, but it's labeled as 5 Weight Watchers points. I don't track points, but my mom does. And I'm pretty sure 5 isn't good when snacking on a muffin. This is a dessert, not a "snack".

Moving on to another choice, not "made with whole grain":




Sure, these Hostess mini-cupcakes aren't whole grain. And the first ingredient is *still* sugar. But at least we've a) knocked it down to 100 calories, b) knocked it down to 3 grams of fat and 1.5 grams of saturated fat, c) gone down to 10 grams of sugar, and d) there are 5 grams of fiber in that package! If I were a sugar eating girl, I'd certainly take all this over all that.

Of course, your best bet is probably to make your own damn cupcakes and know exactly what is going into them. Because I can safely say, 9/10 of what you find on any grocery shelf is going to be full of icky preservatives and weird things you can't pronounce. But I know not everyone has time for that, and if you're going to do convenience, I'd like you to be informed!

Another good example is yogurt. Let's look at Greek yogurt. Oikos makes a "chocolate on the bottom" Greek yogurt. Sounds tasty. 110 calories, 16 grams of sugar. And call it what you want, "organic sugar" is still just SUGAR. I buy Stonyfield Oikos nonfat plain Greek yogurt. Yeah, I know, plain, yuck yuck yuck. But 90 calories and 7 grams of just plain dairy sugar. And it has 20% of your daily calcium, vs 10% in the Oikos chocolate one. And I'm sorry, you can do whatever to plain yogurt. It's a blank canvas! Add fruit. Put it in a smoothie. Add protein powder. Swirl in some natural fruit preserves. Or honey. You can pretty much do anything you want with it.

My point is, you have to be careful in the supermarket. Unless you are holding an organic apple or some such thing, chances are good that whatever "all-natural" thing you are holding has been processed in some weird way. Don't be tricked by the marketing departments that are getting trashed by the health nuts. Once word got out that people wanted their food stripped down, they had to re-strategize how best to get consumers to continue to buy their products. Hence the words "all-natural", "made with whole-grain", and "25% less sugar" were born. I'm done ranting, just... read your labels, people.

until later....

"Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special." ~Chris Rock

Hungry Girl's (Gluten-Free!) Practically Fat-Free Fettucine Alfredo

So, I'm trying out a new recipe today, courtesy of "Hungry Girl" (see side bar for a link to all the Hungry Girl website has to offer.) In all of my tofu escapades, I've never tried tofu noodles!! So, I thought I'd give it a shot. When I first opened the bag, I was a little grossed out; the bag had said something about an "authentic smell", but what they really meant was "these noodles smell like f***ing fish". I will assure you though, that if you follow the directions and all, they will not *taste* like fish. So, that's good news.

As usual, I embellished this recipe a bit. Gotta get some veggies in!! The original was just noodles and sauce, with parmesan and salt/pepper.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
* 1 package Tofu Shirataki Fettucine-shaped noodle substitute (or regular pasta if you're freaked out by tofu/gluten-free)
* 2-4 tsp of fat free cream cheese
* 2-4 tsp of fat free sour cream
* 2-4 tsp parmesan topping
* 4-5 white organic mushrooms, sliced into fours
* 1/3 cup spinach (I used the frozen stuff)
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* salt and pepper to taste

WHAT TO DO:

Drain and rinse the tofu noodles. Microwave them for a minute, it helps dial down the fishy smell. Dry them off. While microwaving the noodles, start sauteeing the mushrooms, spinach, and salt/pepper. When that looks good and cooked, add the noodles, sour cream, cream cheese, and garlic (I softened the cream cheese/sour cream in the microwave for about 30 seconds first). I told you 2-4 tsps because the original recipe called for 2, but I used more given the addition of spinach and mushrooms. Continue to sautee it until everything looks done? =)

I'll say this- this tastes pretty damn good, actually. The noodles are a little weird textured, rubbery a bit? But not bad at all! I would definitely buy them again.

until later...

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it." ~W.C. Fields

Getting back on the horse...

Hello, faithful followers. It's been a while.

I don't have much of an excuse for not blogging, except I've been feeling a little... unmotivated. Yes, even I have fits of non-motivation. Last week I found myself eating more nachos than usual. Drinking pop. Drinking beer. Getting lax on my sleep pattern. And somehow, I managed to run 31 miles last week?!

It's really hard to preach about healthy living when you ate like shit, got no sleep, and probably ran more than any normal person should.

Point being, everyone is prone to a crappy week. Whether it's vacation, illness, or just plain over-doing it and slipping up as a result, shit happens. Nobody's perfect, and to an extent, a crap-tastic week can be a great reminder of what your real goals are. It puts things into perspective.

Today I woke up, an average Monday morning in front of me. Well, not *totally* average, I'm on vacation from Nannydom for the week. But it looked a little dreary and cold out. I felt the familiar pangs of "I don't waaaaaaanna run, it's cold, it's boring, I'm by myself." By the time I ate my Ezekial raisin bread with peanut butter and bananas, and had a little cup of coffee... the sun had come out. The clouds had disappeared. The caffeine was coursing. I was feeling a bit better. I thought, "Ok, Self. 6 miles. That's not so bad. It's sunny, the iTouch is juiced up. Take it steady and easy." I set out on my journey, 6 miles around my neighborhood; Gull to G, G to Nazareth, around the block somewhere around Parchmount, rest of the way up Nazareth, then up Gull. I took a comfortable pace the first few miles, somewhere around a 9:20-30. I didn't feel like I was speeding up, but I noticed my times clipping along for a couple of miles, so I pulled back a bit. Picked it up again for the last couple of miles.

Now, I have to interject something. Part of the reason I keep running this particular route (aside from the fact it's a nice even 6 with only a few light hills) is that I HATE NAZARETH ROAD. It's the very, very end of our half marathon in two and a half weeks. It sucks. It's tiny, gentle rolling hills, and I think most runners would agree, anything resembling rolling hills is not entirely desirable at the tail end of 13.1 miles. It's rude. Especially after three miles in Spring Valley Park- full of very unkind, Voldemort-evil hills. So, I am running Nazareth at least once a week to try and hurdle over this mental block that it's awful. It'll suck, but it needs to suck less.

Today, Nazareth felt almost... good. I don't know if it's because I took it pretty easy leading up to it, or because "Hey Soul Sister" by Train came on my Touch (and that little ukulele intro puts a zip in my step every time), or because the sun was shining, or what- but I kind of kicked its ass today. Or at the very least, didn't let it get the best of me.

If you're having a bad day, or bad week, or bad month- don't be too hard on yourself. Take a day or two off. Recollect your thoughts. Write down how you're feeling. Go for a walk, instead of a run. Spring is here, a time of rebirth and new beginnings! Enjoy the sunshine, the flowers, friends and family. And if you want to enjoy a plate of nachos, oh well. The world will not spin off its axis as a result of nachos and taking a day off.

until later...

"So get the hell up and make the best of this little sequence of feeling upset. It's natural to find the worst in something, but it doesn't make it right. There are things that we are all afraid of, hopes and dreams we've worked so hard for. Cheer up, cheer up! And listen closely- the bad times make the good ones come alive..." ~Lights Out Dancing

This just in, HFCS is.... icky....

I have long been thumping my Healthy Bible (ok, I don't really have one of those, but if I did...) about High Fructose Corn Syrup. It's in about a bazillion things you buy that you might think are "healthy alternatives". Just a few examples...

* Campbell's Tomato Soup (both the regular and "Healthy Request" versions)
* Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars
* Keebler Toast and Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers
* Yoplait Light (fat free) yogurt
* Lender's plain bagels

Go ahead, take a look in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. I'm sure you'll find stuff. Then, read this article a friend passed on to me about a study done on HFCS....

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/food-science/princeton-proves-high-fructose-corn-syrup-woes-once-for-all-112003?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+apartmenttherapy%2Fthekitchn+%28The+Kitchn%29

until later...

Today can be a healthy unusual day for you -- and for others -- if you take time to give someone a smile . . . to express a word of kindness . . . to lend a helping hand to someone in need . . . to write a note of gratitude . . . to give a word of encouragement to someone who is temporarily overcome with problems . . . to share a portion of your material possessions with others.” ~William Arthur Ward