Tag: fitness

SweatyArmpit

Running To Commute

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I really want to run more a week, but between work and family I don’t see it happening soon.
My work lies about 3-3.5km (~2miles) away from my house, so I take the bike to reach it.
Some time ago we were informed that showers are now available to encourage biking to work.
I do not need them, but it gave me the idea to run to work.

It’s not that I’m soaking wet after a So starting this Tuesday (Monday is a day off, hooray) I’ll run to work.
Starting with the most direct route and maybe after some time I’ll add a loop to my route.

But this means a daily workout to my body from now on, which worries me a bit.
It will be low intensity (I’ll jog, not sprint), but a workout none the less.
Which makes me quite curious what effect this will have. I surely hope it won’t get me injured, so wish me luck 😀

Does anyone else run/bike to commute?
Does it strain your body or is it just enough to be a healthy start to the day?

myfitnesspal

MyFitnessPal Retrospect

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Somewhere in December I wrote a post about constantly monitoring my weight and I found an app/site helping me with this.

Seeing this as a ‘game’ it really helped me monitor everything I put in my mouth in an enjoyable way.
The only downside is that my urge to win the game got too strong.
I wanted to have as much calories left as possible at the end of the day.

Although this had a good impact on my weight, it had a negative impact on my running and daily life. I felt tired and weak.
So after a good 2 months, I decided to park it for a while. I have a greater knowledge concerning everything I eat on a daily basis so I should be able to keep my weight at a desired point just like that.

I would recommend it to people who have no idea how much calories certain food contain and want to gain weight without a real diet. Just watch out if you’re a number freak like me 😉

weight_after_holidays

Weight graph – All the way through the holidays

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Short follow-up after this post from halfway through the holidays.

I managed to be back on my pre-holidays on January 3 with the help from MyFitnessPal and common sense 🙂

My running regime will be stricter again now and I plan to up my monthly mileage, so the fixation on my weight will be a little less from now on.

Just wanted to give an update and ensure everyone it is possible to maintain your weight through the holidays with some perseverance.

Happy running all!

Weight graph 29122014

Weight graph – halfway through the holidays

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It’s  a hot topic for everyone during the holidays: your weight.
Halfway through the holidays I’m already looking back and will try to give you some pointers if you have gained just a bit too much.

My graph looks rather good, I peaked during ‘The Days’ but as you can see it went straight down again afterwards.
This is how I did it, maybe it can help you.

  • You can go all the way during the holidays. It’s no fun holding back when you’re together with family and tons of delicious food. I don’t know for you, but I say ‘no’ to a lot during the year, so I see this as a reward. Come here chocolates 😉
  • I know this is too late for Christmas, but it might help for New Year: be extra careful the days/weeks before.
    My “pre-holidays-diet” gave me some reserve, which meant that even the highest number on the scale during these days did not give me guilt.
  • I did not drink alcohol.
    This is not easy, but it’s a choice I made and once I committed to it, it wasn’t all that bad. No alcohol, nor did I replace it with sugary drinks, but drank mostly water.
    Kept me hydrated, gave me a fuller feeling (less eating without having to say NO) and a lot less sugar consumption.
  • Went running after the holidays.
    I got one run after the holidays, combined with a ‘light eating day’ and that one stands for my biggest drop in weight after Christmas.
  • Be extra careful the first days after.
    I already told I’m working with myfitnesspal and even though I’m not always as meticulous as I should, it gives me a very decent idea if I can eat a snack or not.

Once again: happy holidays and enjoy the time together with family and food! 🙂

ScaleComic

Fighting The Scale … Forever

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Although this is a topic that has been discussed a gazillion times before I thought I couldn’t let it pass on my blog.

The scale… That dreadful scale!

ScaleNotToScale

I’m not heavy, nor do I want to claim it, but none the less is the struggle with the pounds just as real.
On my about page you can see my ‘before running’ pics and more recent.
I lost roughly 5kg (10 pounds) with running.
5kg that I gained once moving out of ‘Hotel Mama’.

Even now, after 2 weeks of being only semi-active I have gained 1kg (2lb).
I eat healthy, I don’t snack an awful lot, but still…

So I’ve decided to try out MyFitnessPal to see where my flaws are.
Plan is to just enter everything now and after a week or two look for food to cut 🙂

 

 

Do you struggle with your weight too although eating healthy?
Do you hate it as much as I do (duh ;-))?
Ever used MyFitnessPal and have pro’s or cons?
Hit me up below!

IthoughtItWasrum

Road To Marathon Brabant 2013 – The Decision

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Marathon.
42.195 kilometers.
26 miles and 385 yards.

As you can read in short in my About page I have gone from zero to marathon in less than a year. Which means the journey towards it has been full of anticipation.

At first I just liked being active and getting in shape, but soon I found out I actually liked running.
Running gave me a certain calm and gave me time after a busy day to clear my head.

So after training for a couple of months I found out running goes well for me. I see improvement, but start to stagnate.
Time to find some theory that can support me.

I started reading up on Long Slow Distance, watching your heart rate, make sure you don’t produce lactic acid in slow runs, minding your posture, stride, foot landing, … and started putting it in practice.
This wasn’t always easy (I’m sure some post will once go about my cursing on midfoot landings), but I did see I was getting better all the time. Sometimes barely noticeable, some weeks I amazed myself.

After my 5k race that started all my trainings (read the recap here) I wanted a new challenge and decided I wanted to go for the big leagues: marathon!

After some talk with the Mrs. I decided to undergo a medical screening, lactate test, vo2Max test etc. so I could decide if I was built for it, wouldn’t crash during race day and if our joined schedule could find the time for all the trainings.

The calendar got filled out, the appointment at Mensana set for the medical part and just like that the decision got made for sure.
I was going to run a marathon.

How my training went? I’ll write about it in a not so distant future.

 

Have you ever run a marathon? How did you decide about it?
Have you taken a medical exam as well? Why (not)?
If you haven’t run one, do you want to?