Water water everywhere

As part of the four week detox, a lot of my favorite beverages are off limits:
- diet coke
- coffee
- alcohol

A lot of fruit juices also add sugar, so I'm just going to steer clear. This means I need to renew my love of water.

I'm on my second 22 ounce bottle of the day. I'll have at least one more while I'm at the office, probably closer to 2 more, then I'll have at least one before/during/after spin class tonight.

But what is the "right" amount of water? It took a little scrolling down the google return since the internet is getting clogged these days...but Mayo Clinic has this article:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

With this guidance:

• Replacement approach. The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter (about 4 cups) of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your total fluid intake, so if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups) along with your normal diet, you will typically replace your lost fluids.
• Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the "8 x 8 rule" — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," as all fluids count toward the daily total. Although the approach really isn't supported by scientific evidence, many people use this easy-to-remember rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.
• Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

So, let's just go with the 8x8 rule since we've all heard it a billion times. That's 64 ounces, or three of my water bottle.

Break the bank on a water bottle you love so you want to carry it around. I'm lucky enough that my two favs (one for the office, one for home) were both free. I like the camelbaks and the nathan hydration systems because of their straws. I can absentmindedly sip from it while I'm doing other things.

Make it a priority and I'll bet you have less headaches, healthier skin, and a smaller appetite.

The hardest part now is avoiding coffee...and alcohol.

The Four Week Detox

So. I bought a beautiful bathing suit at Victorias Secret yesterday with Aria. We rocked Sunday like it was our job:

1) I taught/she attended 20-20-20 AND my spin class (subbed for Tyler--subbing again next weekend!)

2) We did a quick change and headed out in search of deliciousness and found ourselves at Tacklebox. If you follow my personal twitter account, you saw what a pile of fried oysters and a lobster roll looks like

3) Shopped through Georgetown

4) Hugged it out

5) Rocked the car karaoke

Back to the bathing suit. This bathing suit is HOT. Hot hot hot stuff. Leopard print (with tiny black skulls!!! zomg!) bikini. This thing is a motivator. Could I walk out there in it now and rock it pretty well? Totally. Would I like to hop onto the beach OWNING it? You bet.

To that extent, one of my wonderful running friends and amazing entrepreneurs, Melanie Spring of Sisarina (http://melaniespring.com/ and http://sisarina.com) has started a 4 week detox that I'll be participating in. Before you all wig out about a detox, read the rules from Melanie (you can follow the adventure on her blog!)

RULES:Remove all of the following from diet:

• Fried food
• Wheat
• Refined Sugar
• Dairy
• Alcohol
• Caffeine

TIMING: June 5 - July 2, 2011 

KEEPING TRACK: Follow our eating/drinking habits on our handy-dandy spreadsheet at:melaniespring.com/4-week-detox 

On Twitter, you can see what we're up to with: Twitter handles: @MelanieSpring, @DSklarin, @MRommel and @LaureeeO Hashtag: #4weekdetox

I'm starting 2 days late, well, a day and a half late, but it's better late than never! Glad I have some bell pepper to stuff tonight :)

I promise before and after photos. ....maybe.

How to Ragnar, Pt. 1

If you know me at all, you've heard me talk about Ragnar like it's my only passion. If you don't know me, let me enlighten you to the amazing race that is the Ragnar Relay.

Ragnar Relays are a roughly 200 mile team relay race. A team of 12 or 6 (ultra) completes the race in under 36 hours. We run through the night with the support of our friends, teammates, and the kindness of the small towns that we visit.

Ragnar currently has 15 races across the country, ranging from Napa Valley to Washington, DC.

I've been lucky enough to complete three of them: DC (Cumberland, MD to the National Harbor), Florida Keys (Miami to Key West), and New England (Yale to Harvard). I'll be taking on PA (Lancaster to Mt. Pocono) and TN (Chattanooga to Nashville) this year too.

I am even more lucky to be a part of the Ragnar Brigade, a volunteer staff of Ragnar runners in the DC area who attend race expos, running clubs, and other events to tell people about the Ragnar experience. I got pretty cool swag out of the deal (Chadd will tell you I almost never take off my Ragnar brigade jacket). Part of that position also includes the amazing opportunity to work as SWAT (our safety/volunteer coordinators on the race) for the DC race this year.

Now that you have my background with Ragnar, I'm going to tell you about how to run a Ragnar. I'm in the middle of working on a Captain's Bible to share with other captains, especially first time Captains.

The first time I was introduced to Ragnar was a little over a year ago. Some guy at an expo asked me to hear him out about Ragnar, I said no thanks and he said as I walked away "Hey, hear me out. Or are you too chicken to do it?" ...if you know me, you know those were the magic words. I turned around on a dime and in about a month, I had about a half team and signed us up. I am ever grateful to whoever it was who shouted me down at the Cherry Blossom expo.

Of the three Ragnars I've done, I've captained two of them. Of the remainder, my co-captain and I have agreed to co-captain all of them. That's another blog post for another day, but, lesson one:

How to Form a Team
The scariest part of being a captain is plunking down your credit card to pay for a team before you have 11 other people to run with you. In reality, it's actually the easiest part.

Ragnar 1 (DC):
I sent out an email to about 20 people, praying that half of them would say yes. Instead, I had 3. I almost called it off. I waited for a week or two, emailed out a few more times, twittered, begged, but no one wanted to take the challenge. I am forever grateful to FJ, Pete, and Katie for taking the chance and saying yes up front.

But don't worry. That happens to everyone. The next step was using the Ragnar Facebook Page. Since my DC race, they've added discussion boards per race where you can search for runners. I found my co-captain, Brannon, and Kevan, Sandeep, Rachel, and her friends there. A friend I had originally emailed also sent my email on to a friend of his who joined our team. Jason is an accomplished cyclist and runner and we were so fortunate to add him to our team. Just keep asking people to ask their friends.

There's another resource for teams--when you form your team, you can check a box on the Ragnar team page that says you are looking for runners. That actually may have been how we found Rachel. Anyone looking to join a team is given a link to contact the captain about a place on the team.

Keys:
By the time Brannon and I had finished DC, we'd heard from a number of our friends that they were really interested in joining our team. Most people are worried about that first time (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID...sorry) but when you do it once, people suddenly realize that what seems impossible is actually quite possible. Our little PSA Ragnar video (made by Bran) didn't hurt either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSJvzoOD50A

Brannon captained our Keys team and filled it pretty quickly with her friends. People had heard the good word and were 100% in.

New England:
We sent out emails again and within 2 weeks, we'd filled a team. This time, we both took over a van. Filling my van was pretty easy. A mutual friend of Katie and mine (Sarah) had seen us run two and wanted in. One of her friends from Boston (where she grew up) joined us (Kristen), then one of the other Brigade members (and one of my newest dear friends) Justin opted in when I posted on the Brigade facebook page and brought one of his DC teammates (Ayla) into our race. Our Iron Man/Gazelle/Bambino, FJ, has promised to be with me for every race (and for this we are all so grateful). My van was full within days, Brannon's van was full almost as fast.

Pennsylvania:
My New England van immediately re-signed (you guys are my Seal Team Six) and over the past two weeks, people I've reached out to over the past few races have started asking. Seems like 4th time is a charm. We'll likely be experimenting with the feasibility of a dual team--signing two teams with four vans and doing a _____ vs ______ theme (my current favorite is pirates v. ninjas)

Logistics:
- Build 1 email you can forward again and again and again with the following information:

• What is a Ragnar
• When and where is the Ragnar
• How a Ragnar works
• How much the registration fee is and a rough estimate of other costs (between 130-250 pending on if you travel to the race and how much stuff you have lying around...if you have a 12 passenger van, you are waaaay ahead of the game)
• When you need to know if they are in or out (ask for a definite "no", too)
• Ask them to invite friends

- Build a second email for people who have said yes. When you're ready to pull the trigger, you can do one of two things:

• Pre-collect money (we suggest paypal!) from all your participants so you can immediately wipe the transaction off of your credit card

OR

• Pay then collect monies via PayPal (this works best when you register without a full team)

To determine who gets on the team and what spot, we've done the "first paid, first pick" method. Brannon and I believe in taking the legs that no one else wants. We typically split up one of us in each van, usually with people who have said "I'm scared, but I love you, I need to be in your van." And then we take the 6th spot. This has lead to some intense pain and many miles, but if you're not willing to take the worst leg of the bunch, then I don't suggest you captain a Ragnar team.

The second email you send to people who have paid should give them an outline of info you'll need:
- What position they'd like to have or if they're more concerned about who they're with (van selection)
- What their t-shirt size is
- Cell phone number
- Travel arrangements (if necessary)
- If they have any sweet hook-ups (AAA, costco, status with a car rental company, etc.)
- Their pace (if you care)

Your email should also tell them how to log-on, accept the invitation, and SIGN THE WAIVER. It'll make your life much easier if you're not running around trying to track down people who have paid, but haven't accepted their invitation.

I recommend starting a shared google document for this (excel) and keeping track.

Next post on dock:

Logistics, Part II: Travel, major expenses, major responsibility.

The Beauty of Muscle Control

In other news, how beautiful is the human body?

http://thechive.com/2011/06/01/dont-adjust-your-volume-insane-dubstep-dancing-trio-video/

I would love muscular control like that. I want to learn how to do that.

How It All Fits

Originally, I was going to write a Ragnar post, and I probably will this weekend, but a conversation I've been having with Chadd got the better of me and I need to spill.

This post is all about body image. I'm going to go ahead and throw a disclaimer out there. I'm going to use a lot of inclusive terms like "every woman" and "all women." If you are one of those women who does not feel this way, awesome! I wish to bottle your essence and sell it.

I know a few women who have dated men who have suggested to them that they lose weight. I can count at least 5 without really thinking too hard. And almost always in a terrible way. I have had many a glass of wine with friends who have gushed about a boy for weeks, gone on a few dates, become official, then, the dude goes and "hey, you know, I was thinking *grab* what if we hit the gym together?"

Gentlemen. I don't know how to tell you how stupid this is. Any woman who stays with you after that is very tolerant or you're Bradley Cooper. If I could wake up with Bradley Cooper every morning and the first words out of his mouth were "hit the gym, fatty." I'd giggle, put on my gym shorts, and off I'd go. But that isn't happening in this life time.

There is no way to say "hit the gym" to the woman you love without inflicting some pain. I won't even offer you advice, but I want to show you the conversation I had with Chadd. This conversation was spawned from me watching Say Yes to the Dress Big Bliss. I told Chadd I was copy pasting our conversation to save me the time.

Chadd: girls are so sensitive about that stuff

me: well, because it says "you're not beautiful, change and I'll think you're more beautiful."

Chadd: but it becomes this incredible taboo; is that not true about everything else in life though or is this category somehow more sacred because it's a core category to a woman

me: it's because it's something that is SO important to the image of women; it's an ISSUE because what we're told is beautiful is basically unobtainable. For example. I wear a size 4 or 6 depending on the cut and a small and in the back of my mind, I constantly hear "You are so fat. How can you call yourself a runner? You're huge." I don't know one woman who doesn't hear that voice and the thing is, we know we're crazy, so we try to ignore it, but when someone we try so hard to impress someone and want to be beautiful for and hear "you need to workout," our worst fears are realized--that voice is right.

Me: you know what it would be like for men? If the first time you slept with someone, she said "we need to do something about…you know. I hear there are some great supplements."

Chadd: I think that's slightly overstating it, although the point is taken

me: no, I think it's pretty similar; we're that sensitive about our weight

Chadd: no it really isn't it's similar in that it's sensitive, and that is true. It's not similar in that one can to a degree be more easily rectified than the other

Me: and I didn't say easily rectified; I'm talking about how the comment feels

Chadd: ah well...

Me: men don't contract mental illnesses over their YA KNOW. women starve themselves to death. literally.

Chadd: true

But here's the secret.

Ladies. The reality is that we're lovely, no matter how we "look" because we possess the charm of a woman. If a woman walks into a bar and reeks of being down on herself, she'll look like it--even if she's stunning. 

You can leave the gym, sweaty, leftover make up running all over your face, and if you tell yourself "damn I look good" and believe it, men see that more than they see anything else.

And now, back to Big Bliss.

National Running Day

Happy National Running Day!


Runner's World weighs in: http://tinyurl.com/3v822ww

I kicked off running day by jumping out of bed bright and early and going for a 5k!

Before you throw running shoes in my direction, here's what really happened:
- my alarm went off at 5:45am
- I reset until 6:15
- I hit snooze until 6:20
- I responded to a gym buddy's text somewhere in this timeframe with "woot"
- I dragged my butt out of bed at 6:47
- Arrived at gym at 7:11 and threw down a painful fartlek-esque workout.

I must not be a serious runner, because I still cannot say "fartlek" without cracking up.

In case you didn't know:

Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of interval training which puts stress on the whole aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. It differs from traditional interval training in that it is unstructured; intensity and/or speed can be varied whenever the athlete wishes. Most fartlek sessions last a minimum of 45 minutes and can vary from aerobic walking to anaerobic sprinting. Fartlek training is generally associated with running, but can include almost any kind of exercise.

You can read more on wikipedia, any serious running blog, Runners World, etc.

My fartlek (hehee) went like this:
- 1 minute walking warm up
- 2 minute easy jog (6.5)
- 5 minute tempo run (7.0)
- 2 minute above tempo (7.5-8.0)
- 2 minute walk
- 5 minute tempo (7.0)
- 3 minute above tempo (7.5-8.0)
- 3 minute walk
- 1 to 1 minute tempo to above tempo (7.0 to 8.0) for 10 minutes)
- 5 minute walk

I'm telling myself I'll go lift tonight, but what's more than likely to happen is that I'll work late, go home, maybe go see Hangover II with Chadd, then pass out before my early workout with Sarah and Klo.

Go for a run and celebrate Running Day!

Gym Schedule

Before the week gets too hectic (too late!) I'm posting a gym schedule so that I don't cop out.

Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Morning weights, evening run
Thursday - Morning Run, Evening Spin
Friday - Morning weights
Saturday - Off
Sunday - 20-20-20 AND Spin (double gym day! holla!)

The hardest part is going to be getting my butt out of bed for the rest of the week. Telling myself that I'm going home after the ball game and going straight to sleep.

3 weeks til the beach...

Secrets to Health

I don't have a lot of health secrets--I think the majority of what I have to say and what works is what everyone just chooses to avoid: it's a lot of honestly, discipline, and work. Calories in, calories out.

But everyone has tips and tricks for how to deal with poofy under eye circles or how to cure the common cold. Here are mine that I just drummed up (none of them did I learn on my own, various people over the years passed on this amazing knowledge)...

1) How to stop a cold from becoming a sinus infection:
- Sleep.
- Drink water--lots of water.
- Sleep.
- When you must be awake, drop an Emergencee in OJ.
- Use a netti pot at least twice a day, Afrin 1x a day (careful you don't get addicted).
- Sudafed every 4 hours.
- Sleep.

2) How to brush your teeth. I actually have an amazing dentist who retaught me all I know.
- Start with flossing and don't jam the floss up your gums--C shape around each tooth and scrape.
- Brush with the softest brush in existence (or use an electric brush), work gums to teeth. Go in circles. Pull out each cheek and brush the insides of your cheeks. Same with lips. Don't mash the brush down--bristles should always be straight.
- Brush your tongue (if you breath out of your nose, you won't gag).
- Pop a bit of toothpaste on the back half of your tongue and rub it against the back roof of your mouth. (This and your tongue are what cause bad breath).
- Gargle with scope or some such.

3) How to avoid sun damage: sunscreen 20 minutes before you're outside (give it time to sink in), and always use at least an spf 30. Reapply every hour.

4) Poofy under eye circles: everyone has something different that works for them, but my trick is R+F eye cream, twice a day. Also, tons of water.

5) Back pain
- Immediate relief: hang your heels off of a step, curb, anything. It's more than likely if you stretch out your hams and glutes, you'll have some relief.
- Long term strategy: at least once a day, do 3 minutes+ (it can be in sets if you life) of glute lifts. Lay on the ground, feet on the ground, squeeze your butt and raise your hips towards the ceiling. Hold. You'll strengthen your back, improve your posture, and reduce back pain.
- Oh. Stop slouching.

6) Tame Grandmother guilt:
- Have her address readily handy.
- Buy stationary you love, a funny post card, anything.
- Once a week, jot down a note in 5 minutes. Know that monday morning status meeting that sucks so badly? There's your writing time.
- Topic? 2 events from the week, 2 events upcoming, ask about her plans, one friend, and mention a memory you have of you two when you were growing up.
- Always have stamps handy (wallet), or pre-stamp and address a bunch of note cards for quick sending.

7) Drink enough water. This one is easy. Buy a water bottle you love. I don't care if you spend 40 dollars on it. Find the perfect one (my boss has taken almost a year to find one, no joke). Double points if you get one that has a clip (mine can ride along with me on my purse, gym bag, etc.).

What are your tips and tricks?

Ps. Just took nyquil and it's kicking in. Excuse all typos.

Sick!

Well. I finally did it.

I'm sick.

This happens about once a year where I over dedicate, under sleep, and boom, I get that weird scratchy thing at the back of my throat, try to blame allergies, and then have to give up and admit that I've got a cold.

I'll talk more about Ragnar New England later (but I'll just let you know now that it was AWESOME), but now, I'm posting a promise to myself so you guys can hold me accountable.

I will rest. I will relax. I will take care of myself.

This means:
- I will eat 3 meals a day (at least)
- I will drink my 3 bottles of water a day (at least)
- I will get 8 hours of sleep a day (at least)

Those demands aren't really all that hard, are they. And I bet if I'd done those for the past couple of months instead of running on fumes, snack food, and coffee, I'd not be sick right now.

Time for another round of emergencee and another bottle of water...

As a result, I won't be able to teach my running group tonight. But since I have to go, I figured I'll just make them do hill repeats while I sit at the bottom of 16th street and giggle. Have fun!

80's Spin for the Win

I promise I'll be short, but this is the most awesome playlist I've ever made for spin. I was really fortunate that I had the boys club come to my class (a bunch of random dudes in town for business in their 40's) and they took my karaoke request VERY seriously. Guys...I made an 80's spin class. I wore a side pony tail and it was awesome enough for Aria to join me (come take her class before mine at 6pm on Tuesdays!)

Awesome 80's Spin:
Warm Up: Still Alive (Theme from Mirror's Edge)
Warm Up/Transition to working flat: Open Your Eyes/United States of Electronica
Running: Love is a Battlefield/Pat Benatar
Jumps: Sweet Dreams/Eurythmics
Seated Incline: Rock You Like a Hurricane/Scorpions
Standing Incline: You Give Love a Bad Name/Bon Jovi
Working Flat: Stay Up Late/Talking Heads
Seated Incline: Photograph/Def Leppard
Running with resistance: Sweet Child O'Mine/Guns N' Roses
Increasing Incline: I Hate Myself for Loving You/Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Jumps on an Incline: Down Under/Men at Work
Seated Incline: Hit Me With Your Best Shot/Pat Benatar
Standing Incline to Burnout: The Final Countdown/Europe
Cool Down: Your Love (cover)/Midtown
Cool Down/Stretch: Your Long Journey/Robert Plant & Alison Krauss