Diet or Lifestyle Nutrition?

As we all know, there are many "diets" or "weight loss" programs on the market. From Paleo, Keto, Protein, Vegan, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Nutriystem and of course, the tried and true, Weight Watchers.  And the number of books, pills, potions, notions, tucks, tightens, and puckers that are sold as the "latest and greatest" to your best body ever, age be danged. (What is this "cool sculpting anyway?)

Do any of these work? Well, possibly or probably if a person sticks with the plan? Most to all are good at making your wallet leaner if not your fanny.  But does losing weight or becoming healthy or becoming fit have to be hard/complicated and expensive? Absolutely Not!

Let's look at this subject in it's simplest form: most of us  know that eating refined sugar and eating saturated fat is not the way to keep a slim waist. Most of us also know that eating lean protein is a good thing. Additionally, most of us know that eating carbs is good and bad. Lastly, we also know that even a good thing that is consumed in excess quantities is probably not good. So, in it's simplest form, how do we eat to stay lean, to stay fit, to stay healthy?

It comes down to eating FOOD....just FOOD....many of the nutrition/food consumption/diet intake in the US comes from packaged products and or fast food sources. Often times, even when eating a vege/fruit dish or even a lean chicken breast dish, those natural sources of food are seasoned with products that contain "non food items." Creams, sauces, toppings, certain forms of seasoning, cooking methods can all add excess calories, sugar and saturated fat to what was a healthy source of nutrition.

Now, what do we mean by FOOD. This is Easy....vegetables, fruits and natural sources of protein. It is as simple as that.  Veges of any type (even potatoes in moderation) and fruits (even avocados and bananas in limited form) are sources of good and healthy nutrition. As for clean protein, eggs, lean chicken/fish and even small amounts of beef/pork/lamb provide a source of energy that allows our bodies to maintain a healthy state. (We are not talking about grass fed, organic, gluten free or any of those subjects in this article. This is just talking about sources of FOOD.)

Personally, for several years now, I have eaten a clean diet of vegetables /fruits (cooked and raw/ seasoned with kosher salt, mustard, olive oil in small amounts or any other non sugar/fat laden spices) and clean protein of chicken breast/salmon about three times a month and eggs almost everyday ...(I buy eggs by the 60 count and sometimes two boxes; between myself and the dogs not a one goes to waste.)  No grains (no bran muffins needed), no flour products, no refined sugar, very few condiments (mustard and salsa), and no red meat.  My body and mind have grown used to the taste of natural foods without adding sugar, too much salt or other types of products that are not natural foods.
Now....that is not to say that I don't have a day where I eat sugary products or something with flour. About three times a month, the jelly beans or peppermints had better look out. Once a few has been munched, the  body and mind are ready to go back to what is now the "normal" way of eating.
And the result? At 53 years old, the scales have not moved more 5-8 pounds in the last 25 + years and body fat stays around 12-14%.  The little black dress worn to the college freshman dance (a long time ago in a land far, far away) still fits. The legs can still go run 10 miles in the early morning and then carry the rest of the body up a mountain in an afternoon hike. Doctor visits are few and far between. And sometimes at work, these funny looks come from passengers and they ask, "are you old enough to be doing this flying thing as a Captain?"
So, for this girl, the "diet" of FOOD is working and will continue to work for the foreseeable future. Does this work for everyone? Maybe not at the extreme that some of us remain, but overall, many to most people can move their consumption towards a more healthy state of veges/fruit and clean protein.

Disclaimer: Even though I am a huge proponent of eating only natural food and firmly believe many to most people can reduce or maintain their weight with more veges/fruits/clean proteins, the "diets,  weight loss programs, books, pills, potions, notions, and maybe even cool sculpting have their place in helping some people reduce their weight and gain a healthy state of being and fitness. Some folks need the structure and guidance; others need the accountability, and others just need the knowledge that these diets and programs provide. Many people gain momentum from weight loss/fitness groups while other folks enjoy a competitive spirit.

So, by whatever means works, take the needed change and put your mind to get the job done. It may take trial and error but persistence will provide the reward. Nutrition does not have to be complicated; it can be a simple lifestyle either through a program of diet/weight loss, etc or just by eating FOOD.

Teton Pass, WY 2017

gon4run goes google!


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A few days ago we talked about life changes., both the expected/planned and the unexpected/unplanned. Isn't it amazing how we can research, gather data, analyze, ponder, plan and then finally, after much time/effort/energy and sometimes much money, we make a plan for that life change. And then we go about implementing this change. We are excited to get started and fly out of the starting gate with all the enthusiasm we can muster. And at first, the well thought out change starts off as planned and blazes along smoothly. BuT THen!!! Some issue comes along; money runs out, the dog gets sick, work takes over, or you just get side tracked in some manner. What do we do? Often, many folks abandon the needed/wanted change and go to back the previous normal. So, after all the time/effort/energy/money, we have gained not much except lessons learned and sometimes a disappointing feeling that we have failed.

How do we stop this trend of blowing off those well thought out changes in life? It can just come down to determination, focus, and the persistence that you will not give up on what you have started in the change. Even if your progress slows to slower than a snails pace, don't give up and return to the old normal that wasn't working for you. Sometimes you may have take a step back from the process and then refocus and move forward again. If the life change you are trying to make is well worth it in terms of making your life better in some dimension, don't let the concept fail. Deal with whatever became a road block in the change you are trying to make, and then refocus on your plan and keep going. Is this easy? Probably not but if you can keep the ultimate goal in mind and know why you are wanting to make this change, then you can certainly keep moving forward with the life change process.

A personal life change that came about  three years ago was to readjust my running. As has been posted, I have been fortunate enough to run some amazing races and accomplish some wonderful feats in the 30+ year running career. There have been training runs with friends or solo that have left indelible marks in life and I am grateful. And I have accomplished successes with running that I never thought were possible.
With the Captain upgrade in 2015, it was time to make some running changes. These changes were also needed due some aging/overuse issues. The work promotion meant unknown schedules, (mostly weekends/holidays/crazy hours) and of course, much more responsibility where I could not afford to be overly tired and worn out from the long runs. As for the aging issues, the back and neck are in a continual state of almost "ouch;" the legs just don't move that fast anymore (they never really went too fast anyway). And the body started falling head over teakettle on the easiest of technical trails; too many falls that resulted in a cracked sternum, a cracked wrist, banged up knees/elbows/hands, and bruising on the chin, nose, and a few other body parts.
So those are the reasons for the life change in running. With much thought, analyzing, pondering, and self convincing, I retired from racing and trail running. And the miles were greatly reduced. Gone were the long 30 mile runs on trail on a Sunday; gone is the focus towards an upcoming race. The 100 mile weeks are a thing of the past.

So, what replaced all those miles and those races? What else? Running! The differences are in the type of running; the miles are on pavement (yes, yuck, but the body is happy not to be pounding technical trails and the falls that happen). The mileage stayed around 3000 miles for 2016, but for 2017 and 2018, the miles are limited to 2500 for each year. Long runs are now around 15 miles. What has kept the sanity from retiring from so much focus in running: each of these last three years I have set 3 goals: One 100 mile week, One 30 mile run, and no more than 2500 miles each year.  And those are adequate goals that are satisfying and rewarding in themselves.

This particular life change was fairly simple but yet still required much thought and plenty of analyzing. The whole process went mostly as planned and the outcome is perfect. I still enjoying walking out the door in the morning and logging some miles. And being able to find some things to train for (100 mile week; 30 mile run; 2500 miles per year) keeps the spirit alive and provides a source for determination.

Tackle your needed life changes with a vengeance and don't look back.

Alpine Loop/ Summit Trailhead

2018

Writing Renewed while Running Continues

It has certainly been a long time since a post on the blog has happened. January 2013 was a long time ago to say the least. And to say that life has evolved with some changes is an understatement; however, the core values of my life continue the same.

Running is still central to the days while dogs, flying for Delta Airlines, and taking care of my Mom round out the remainder of the time.  In 2015, the career reached it's pinnacle when I upgraded to Captain for Delta and with that, there was a move from the home town of Fayetteville, GA to Salt Lake City, UT. It was a good move all around. With the upgrade to Captain, running also took a turn.

Gone are the days of massive miles (although there are still many miles), gone are the days of trail running (more on this in time), and gone are the days of ultra racing. Why all the changes? Well,  it boils down to several reasons and many of those reasons intertwine.

Between 2012 and May 2015, there were many, many wonderful miles in Peachtree City, GA and in the north Georgia mountains. Training runs solo and with friends dominated the time and energy. The ultra racing included 100 kilometers , 50 kilometers, 8 hours, 12 hours, and the ultimate goal of completing a last 100 miler in 2014 was accomplished. The last race was run in May of 2015, a 50 miler to celebrate the 50th birthday and the beginning of the Captain position.

So why all the life changes in the last 6 years? Many people plan their lives in great detail, from what the career will be and where it take him or her to how many children and where will we live. Others, on the other hand, take life as it comes, capitalizing on opportunities as they are presented.  While either approach may work for each of us, the bottom line is that life can often take you in directions you never thought possible. Sometimes the direction is well planned and researched and other times the direction comes at us with a vengeance and completely unexpected. Over the last 6 years my own life has had several defined, well thought out changes of life directions and a few challenging, "out of nowhere" changes.

Until next time, (and I will post more than once every 5 years), enjoy each day as it comes, whether it involves those well planned changes in life or something comes along when you least expect it.

Lake Blanche; Cottonwood Canyon; Salt Lake City, UT

2017

Jan. 7 to Jan 13

Where do the days go? One day it is Sunday and then it's Friday again already!!! At the moment I am off from work all week, so the running should be done with a well rested body and mind! Yeah right!!!! The week starts off on Monday with a simple to do list and then all of the sudden, it is packed with chores, running, gym, errands, dogs, and hanging with many running gals from MomsRUNThisTown.....it's all  good!!

Monday; Jan. 7: Opps....day off from running and the gym. Sometimes you just need it.

 Tuesday; Jan. 8: To the gym early for abs, back, and triceps. Then, Traysen and I were out the door for an easy 7 miler. We found a new trail! Peachtree City is loaded with spurs that branch off of the paved paths. The particular trail we found was loaded with rocks, tree roots, a hill or two and popped out at the track where we do speed work! Who Knew? One great find on this trail was a very steep hill (short but very steep) that will be great for practicing some of the climbs in the Georgia Death Race.

Wednesday; Jan 9: Well, I have finally join the 21st century! Not only have I  slowly moved away from running in cotton t shirts (to the moisture wicking techy types), I now have a Garmin. Yep, a forerunner 110 that will do just enough to know the mileage, the time, and the pace. After loading the require data to Garmin Connect, it was kinda neat to see the elevation gain/loss and the actual course on a map. Today, the first outing with the Garmin,  was a good 12 miler. Traysen the doberman skewed the stats a bit with a few tree waterings, one lengthy pit stop, a few "wanna chase the squirrel" slowings, and then several "Hey MOM,, let's see how fast we can make the Garmin go!!!!"

Thursday; Jan 10:  Hill repeats were the order of the day! Traysen and I took off with some barely daylight to wind our way along Hip Pocket, aka: Hill Pocket. After ducking under Hwy 74 and wandering through Planterra, we ended up on our favorite hill in the Line Creek Nature Area for 6 grueling hill repeats. The hill of moment was a 100 foot climb in a quarter of a mile. (These details are easy to see once the run is loaded into Garmin Connect!) Although sluggish on my part, it was a good overall effort for 10 miles total and Traysen once again thought his Mom had lost her marbles with all the repeats on the same piece of ground!

Friday; Jan. 11:  Lazy girl here finally got out the door at 8am! Some days we just need to sleep in and take our time in getting out there and in the run itself. It's outings like these where confidence your overall running plan/commitment are key, knowing you will continue in the big picture of running.
Since the race in March will most definitely have some walking sections (given the vertical profile), I decided to practice that technique. Many folks call it "power" walking. Traysen and I call it an easy day that is a test in walking fast ability and a test in patience since it takes quite a bit longer to cover the distance. Today was a good 5.6 miles (we can now be that accurate with the Garmin!!!) and then boredom took over and we called it a day!

Saturday; Jan 12:  A busy day ahead, Traysen and I were out the door for a nice 12.4 miles in Peachtree City. He has gotten used to Mom venturing through the woods, off the path and hopping over tree roots...which is good because now that the leaves are off the trees, I am finding new trails all over the place! Some are rather short lived, but I can usually link these to other sections of trail and spend quite a bit of time off pavement.

Sunday; Jan. 13: Driving 2 hours to Vogel State Park at 330am provides some serious quiet time. No traffic, no radio, no dogs....just ole Sarah and her thoughts to ponder. Once at Vogel, I met up with good running pals Katie and Angela for an awesome 22 miler along the Coosa  and Duncan Ridge Trail. This was a run on one of the hardest sections of the GA Death Race course. As an out n back, we had over 10,000 feet of elevation change during the 22 miles! Some of those climbs rival anything Colorado can dish out! A great outing to say the least and the weather was perfect! Cloudy, misty, and cool the entire day! This area reminds me of a warmer Mt. Washington! It is always raining!



Coosa Backcountry Trail: running in this mist is perfect! Running in the GA mountains is always a muddy adventure!!!

Summary: A great week of running. The training for the 60 mile race in March is going well and it is full steam ahead. No aches or pains, the head is in the right place and the miles are of good quality.

As a side note: I had intentions of going to run in the mountains both Sat and Sun. With some "life" Saturday did not happen; it was a local run in Peachtree City. Luckily, the schedule was easily adjusted and more miles were actually run over the weekend than originally planned. And that is how it goes for the those of us with real lives. We can't always get the exercise/running completed as we plan or as we desire. But most of the time with a few adjustments, we can still "git 'er done." So, even when "life" gets in the way of running/exercising, make some adjustments and do what you can. Something is always better than nothing.

Total for the week: 70.0 miles
Total for 2013: 130.0. ..which is 37.0 miles more than this time in 2012. Oh well...so much for cutting back on the running!!!

Dec. 31 to Jan. 6

Starting a new year is always a fresh beginning with the running. Many folks set new goals, make resolutions, and vow to keep striving towards a healthy lifestyle. And while we all know that those resolutions often get tossed aside rather quickly, the fact that people recognize they need to make lifestyle changes is a step in the right direction.
So what is the difference between a new goal and a resolution? A goal keeps you focused and is specific. An example would be: "I want to run the St. Patricks Day 5k race in my hometown." An example of a resolution would be: "I want to run more." One more example we are all familiar with: "I want to lose 15 pounds by May." verses "I want to lose weight." See the difference? Setting specific goals allows us to keep the focus and determination going over the long haul.

Instead of analyzing each day this week, here is a summary. Work was in full swing this week so getting the miles in was a challenge but yet it happened. A mixture of runs with a good effort of hills repeats on Wednesday, a long run on Sunday, and two days in the gym. Energy levels were good and the perfect, cool GA weather made the running easy.

So, a good start to the new year!!!

Total miles for the week: 60.0
Total miles for 2013: 60.0

Dec. 24 to Dec. 30

It's Christmas week!!! Where did the year go? Luckily, our family keeps this holiday very simple so there is no madness, no all night wrapping sessions, no stress, and no hustle and bustle. Some folks enjoy the mayhem and I say: "more power to ya!!!" So, without all the holiday distractions, it is running as usual, although work is likely to curtail the miles this week.

Monday; Dec. 24th:  An early morning departure for San Salvador yielded a day off from running. It was needed after a solid previous week. As we pulled into the gate, this guy was guiding us in!!!

He's a bit skinny!! Maybe some of those Biscoff cookies from the airplane would help him out!?

Tuesday; Dec. 25th:  No idea what happened but it was a second day off!!! Merry Christmas to all!!! Sometimes we just need to pull the efforts back and since the 3000 miles will easily happen with only 25 miles total for the week,  an easy week is in order.

Wednesday; Dec. 26th: With the early report to work, running took place in the afternoon. The schedule had me overnighting in Savannah, GA and the hope was to find some good trails/paths, etc to see the sights. Well, with limited time, the run was actually along the short riverfront walk and loops around a deserted subdivision development along the water. At least 6 miles were logged and that is better than nothing. With more research and time there are some good areas to run in this town.



Thursday; Dec. 27th: After flying all day (very early out of Savannah), running did not happen. What? Three days off this week??!! Yep, happens a couple of times a year!

Friday; Dec 28th:  Finally to the gym. Seems that area is still slacking. For those with "real" lives...jobs, dogs, family, house to clean, etc....we have to keep trying to do what we can and then keep trying to improve where we can. With abs, back, and shoulders done, it was off for a nice 7 miler with Traysen.
One thing that is truly being enjoyed here in the southeast is the wet winter. Most folks are complaining of cold (27 degrees at 6am is not cold as compared to Colorado!), the wet (lots of rain lately), and the constant damp. At this point I am enjoying this weather as a nice change to the Colorado dry and it is really beautiful.

Saturday; Dec. 29th:   With work looming, out the door early for a basic, quick 7 miler. Then off to San Salvador.

Sunday; Dec. 30th: WooooHoooo....what an awesome day of running with Angela. We started at Amicalola State Park visitor center, climbed up East/West Ridge Trail, ran the Approach Trail to the Appalachian Trail and past Nimblewill Gap. The highlight of this run...: SNOW!!!! Yes, about 2 inches of good snow to coat the trails! It was perfect temps, perfect terrain, and perfect snow!!!! We logged 19 miles of pure bliss!!!

The Approach Trail with a light coating of snow. One of the many differences between running in the snow in Colorado verses the snow in Georgia is the ice that coats the trees. Hard to see in these pics, but most of the trees/shrubs have a light coating of ice over the branches. 

Total for the week: 39.0 
Total for 2012: 3015.0...

Summary: This week ended the year 2012. I ran more miles than I have ever run in any one year! Not bad for a 47 year old! When the year started, it was to be a reduced mileage year; well, that did not work out....even with the move, the new job, and a few other life changes, the ole girl managed to crank out one of the best years of running! About 10 pounds of extra "padding" was dropped, the quality of the runs were better (track intervals, hill repeats, tempo and long runs), and the enjoyment of the running could not have been better. Over the year and with the move, I met some new running friends. This has been the most rewarding year in terms of watching others start running, see some challenges, set some goals and then exceed their own expectations. So many gals have turned their lives around with running and healthy living and it has truly been inspiring.