Monicaonthego

Being sick blowssss & Missing runs

monica — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:50:50 +0000

Ugh I am having a tough time bloggy friends. I got hit with a violent stomach bug on Thursday. I was pretty much stuck in the bathroom from Thursday afternoon to Friday early morning. Not to be too graphic, but that pumpkin sums up how I felt. Then all day Friday I felt like you could have just blown me over I was so weak and my stomach still hurt. I stupidly didn’t cancel a job interview that I had and I went anyway. I managed to act like I was feeling okay and think it went fine. Now I wake up this morning with a sore throat and stuffed head. Ugh, I wish I could just sleep the weekend away. The one bad thing about having a baby is you can’t get any time to yourself.

Since I am sick I am missing my long run today and have missed 2 short runs. This is always really hard for me, but I try and tell myself that I will be stronger for taking the time off. What do you do when you are sick? Do you still work out? Do you push through it and just get it done anyway? I know they say that if you are sick above the head to go ahead and work out, but I just can never bring myself to do it. I take my sick time and I rest.

Running Indoors stinks

monica — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:27:21 +0000

Okay as I’ve said million times I have one sworn enemy and it’s this thing:

Ugh I dread the thought of getting on it, but its been so cold that I’ve had to a few times lately. A few years ago I made it through spring marathon training with only 1 treadmill run! Pretty impressive for Cleveland. LOL. I was reading over my trusty Runners World email this morning and I thought that this article about Treadmill running had some good ideas that I am going to employee next time I have to get on the sonofabyatch. What do you typically do on the treadmill? Do you get on it often? If you still want to get outside like me! You should check out Yak trax, I love mine. You can get a pair at my open sky shop!

TREADMILL TRAINING

Five great run-on-the-mill workouts

By Sarah Lorge Butler

From the February 2010 issue of Runner’s World

The treadmill can be more than a stopgap on days when the weather doesn’t cooperate or the baby is napping upstairs. Done right, treadmill training will help you maintain and improve your fitness throughout the winter so you’re ready to race—or just outpace your running buddies—come spring.

Even the hardy runners of Team USA Minnesota, a group of elites accustomed to subzero chills, make time for treadmill running. In fact, Dennis Barker, the team’s coach, once lined up some of his marathoners for a three hour run indoors. “If you have a winter or spring marathon like Houston or Disney World, the treadmill gives you some heat training without having to go down to Florida,” Barker says. “Besides, you can’t leave your fluid bottles outside for long runs in Minnesota. They’ll freeze.”

That certainly won’t happen indoors, where you also can monitor the thermostat, tackle made-to-order hills, and enjoy cushioning that protects your joints. Most important, you force yourself to stick to a pace. “You’ve got to keep up, or you’re flying off the back of the machine,” says Rick Morris, author of Treadmill Training for Runners.

It may take a little experimenting to build a routine you enjoy. That’s fine—just don’t get locked in. “Be playful with your workouts,” says Gregory Florez, a treadmill expert and CEO of Fit Advisor. com. “One day do a steady run, the next do intervals. Never get locked into the same routine, otherwise your body is going to adapt pretty quickly and you won’t get as much out of it.” With that kind of improvisation in mind, here are five workouts that make the best use of a treadmill’s programmable features.

RACE SIMULATIONS
Do it to train for the course
Some treadmills offer simulations of famous races, like the Boston Marathon and Bolder Boulder, to let you mirror the topography indoors and practice the hills in a condensed run.

The Workout: If your treadmill doesn’t have your race as a preset course, you can use a race’s elevation map to time your ups and downs on the treadmill to mimic the course. For instance, say you know there’s a killer hill two-thirds of the way into a 10-K you’ve entered. Hit that “up” incline button at the same point in your treadmill run, and get used to the feeling.

Inside Scoop: Don’t let yourself be surprised on race day. When you get to that hill, you can think that you’ve done it before—and it felt much worse when you were in your basement

RANDOM INTERVALS
Do it to mix it up
Unpredictable incline and speed changes provide a more complete workout than a steady pace on a flat surface, because they force you to work different muscles.

The Workout: Just a little variation in your run helps the time go by much faster. Try a 10-minute warmup, 20 minutes of random intervals, and a 10-minute cooldown.

Inside Scoop: If you don’t have much time for a run, you’ll get an extra burst of intensity in a short duration. Plus, a mystery workout is a healthy change for obsessive runners who like to plot out and then log every split.

SPEED INTERVALS
Do it to get faster
When doing intervals at the track, almost everyone slows down the last few repeats, because they’re fatigued. Morris says, “On the treadmill, you can only slow down when the belt does.”

The Workout: Try 3 x 3 minutes at about 10 seconds faster per mile than 5-K pace. (It takes the treadmill a few seconds to reach your interval speed, so start timing the three minutes after you’ve reached that pace.) Give yourself two minutes of easy jogging in between. Add another set every two weeks.

Inside Scoop: This workout is a killer. But the results will show at your next race.

SITCOM TEMPO RUN
Do it to lock in your pace
Tempo runs are hard to get right. Inexperienced runners tend to go too fast or too slow. Once you’ve entered your target pace, the treadmill makes sure you stay at the right speed.

The Workout: Start with a 10-minute warmup, and move up to your tempo pace when a Seinfeld rerun begins. Jog during the commercials, and resume the faster pace when the show comes back on. Cool down for five minutes.

Inside Scoop: The tube can be a welcome distraction from the tedium of a long, fast effort. As you improve,
try maintaining your tempo pace through the commercials.

HILL REPEATS
Do it to design your own terrain
You can control the grade of the hill, and you don’t have the stress on your quads of running down it. Instead, you can flatten the belt for a few minutes of recovery, then go right back at it.

The Workout: Try one-minute runs up a 4% incline with two minutes of slow, flat jogging in between. Build up to 10 repeats at a 6% incline.

Inside Scoop: This workout gives your cardiovascular system a challenge but is easier on your legs because your overall speed isn’t fast. “I’ve found over the years that I can stay injury-free while running slower up a steep hill,” says Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy Boulet. “It’s the same intensity as on a track, but on a track your legs have to move much faster.”

Kashi Mayan Bake & Archer Farms Cilantro Lime Rice…yesyesyes

monica — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:46:13 +0000

Ahhhh as you know at MonicaOnTheGo I am a big fan of convenience. I try to eat real food as often as I can, but I am known to eat a lot of microwave food too. Shoot me. Last night I made this Archer Farms Cilantro Lime Rice. You just microwave it for 90 seconds. Ohhh MMMM Geeee. This stuff is so flippin awesome. It tastes like the rice you get a chipotle. I am in love with you Archer Farms. The rice is a little more stiff and chewy than if you were to make some boiled rice, but this is wonderful in a pinch.

And then today for lunch I popped this sucker into the microwave. I came back from the gym after a kickass spin class and ab workout. I needed food QUICK. This is seriously yummy and the list of ingredients isn’t too long. The plantains come out the perfect texture, not too mushy or chewy, the combination of flavors is to die for. Get it! You won’t be sorry.

PS – Don’t forget to scroll down and enter the Recipe card contest and sorry for the issues with my new blog showing up in your feeds/subscription. We are working on getting it fixed.

New OpenSky Shop

monica — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:27:43 +0000

Exciting news Bloggy friends! I am now an Open Sky Shopkeeper. Are you familiar with The Open Sky Project? It is a ”community of Shoppers, Suppliers, & Shopkeepers working together to change how the world shops.” Basically as a shopkeeper, I recommend and sell products that I use and enjoy. You can visit my shop and see what items I love and purchase them through my shop just like you would through any other online retailer. I am just starting my shop, so I only have a few items in there right now. You can visit it my shop at:

http://monicaonthego.theopenskyproject.com/

Check it out! In the market for wheatberries, chia seeds, a Garmin 305 or some BeamFit items! Then you could totally buy them from me. I plan to get many more items added to the shop over the coming weeks and make a weekly update as I add the goods. And I’ll add a page soon linking to my shop and items. Please let me know if you have any questions. Are there any items you’d like to see in my shop?

Art Museum Date & Flying Crane Cafe

monica — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:08:03 +0000

*Don’t forget to enter the recipe card contest below!*

Yesterday our neighbors, who are parents to a 5 month old, watched Harper for the afternoon so the hubby and I could get some alone time. We have been doing a babysitting swap for a few weekends now and it’s really great. It’s nice for our kids to play together, nice for our kids to get used to others watching them and nice for the parents to do something without a monkey attached to their hip. A very cute monkey!

Since it was so cold we decided not to go hiking, which was our original plan. But I still wanted to do something active so we headed to the Cleveland Art Museum. I’ll admit it, I want to like art, but I am not a huge fan of art museums, but its nice and big and you can walk a few miles in it and I do enjoy looking at the paintings. I just don’t stand around and contemplate them. I do like the brickabrack you can find at art museums, you know little knick knacks from times long ago. Like this enamel snail box. It’s from 1790, how stinking cute.

There is one artist that I truly do enjoy though and that is Van Gogh. When I was in high school I had the chance to live in Amsterdam for a month and we went to a whole museum of Van Gogh. It was breathtaking. It was the only time that I have slowed down and read everything and really looked at all the works of art. I don’t slow down often, its both a character flaw and plus if you ask me! This painting is from 1889 and is called The Large Plane Trees.

After our art museum stroll, we decided to try a new resteraunt. We don’t do this often b/c we don’t eat out often. So, when we do we want to make sure it is good! But we took a chance and tried The Flying Crane cafe on Larchmere in Shaker Heights. It’s quite the interesting little dive. It’s just a counter and a few tables. There is a large chalkboard menu as well as several smaller specials menus scattered about. Visually this place needs a lot of work. They need to organize and streamline, it is chaotic behind the counter and you have to look way too many places to see what there is to order. They do have smaller hand held menus but not everything is on there. Plus the menu has japanese food, high tea, brunch and a million kinds of drinks. Anyway, we decided to go with their brunch special. For $10 you got coffee or tea, soup, a brunch special and dessert. Both Gary and I both picked a quiche. I ordered the tomato parmesean cheese and he got the black bean and sausage soup. Both of the soups were very good, they didn’t just taste like they poured a can of soup in a bowl. I can’t say that soup and breakfast items really flow well together, but next up was the quiche. I got goat cheese and broccoli and Gary got a veggie one. Both were perfect. Just the right amount of cheese and very fluffy. The side salad and fruit that came with it could use a little work. A little pile of lettuce and a few orange slices isn’t very exciting. Last up were the desserts, you can get a cookie or lime bar, all of which are made there. We both went with the lime bar. They were just okay, not tart enough for my liking, but the crust was very buttery and nice. All in all I would give the food an 7 out of 10, the overall atmosphere gets a 6. I would probably go there again for brunch, just b/c you get a lot of food. I hope they succeed, its a mom and pop shop and so few do, so check them out if you are in the area.

Happy Girl Greetings Contest!

monica — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:52:40 +0000

As anyone out there who is trying to monetize their blog knows, branding yourself is really important. I decided to have some business cards made up and I hand them out to people at the gym and stick them on bulletin boards around my neighborhood. As with most things in my life, when I wanted cards, I turned to Etsy. Enter Happy Girl Greetings! Not only did Laura Beth print me up these adorable, high quality cards, she designed the logo for me! Isn’t it lovely? At Happy Girl Greetings you can find business cards, stationary and much more, check it out.

Laura Beth was kind enough to send me some cute recipe cards to giveaway to 2 of my lucky readers! To enter, go visit Happy Girl Greetings and leave me a comment telling me which logo on a calling card you like best. Want an extra entry or two? Just facebook, tweet or blog about this contest and leave me a seperate comment telling me you did so. I will pick 2 winners using random.org on Friday afternoon.

Shoulder Stand ShakeDown

monica — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:58:22 +0000

Today’s yoga class was just what the doctor ordered. I was feeling very tight and creaky after my sub zero windchill run from yesterday. My favorite pose today was the Shoulder Stand. Ahhhh sweet relief.

According to A-B-C of Yoga.com, “The Shoulder Stand stimulates and rejuvenates your entire body. In this exercise, you build up both power and a new structure in your back and you relax tension in well-known stress areas like the neck and the lower back. The muscles of your lower back get stronger, the chest and shoulders can move more freely and the back gets straighter. The Shoulder Stand also stimulates the thyroid gland and is good for blood circulation in the chest, shoulders, upper back and the neck. “

I have also been told that if you shake your legs about that it loosens up the lymphatic fluid and releases it which is especially good for runners. I like to keep my legs straight and shake them all about and twist my ankles around. But you can also go all the way over:

STEP 1: Lie down with your back on a Yoga Mat.
	STEP 2: Your shoulders should lie on the edge and your head rests on the mat. Your legs are drawn in and still stand on the mat.
	STEP 3: Lift your hips off the floor and bring your legs up, over and beyond your head.
	STEP 4: At this point, lift your back and move your legs further beyond your head.
	STEP 5: Straighten your spine and keep your back straight. Move your hands toward your back.

I personally cannot do headstands. I like these half inversion poses though. I am a total chicken and psyche myself out of it everytime I try to do a head stand. Can you do headstands? What is your favorite inversion?

Green Trunk Designs Contest Winner!

monica — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:33:34 +0000

I am so in love with the yoga mat bags from Green Trunk Designs. The contest winner is below, congrats Angela, send me your mailing address at mnowac@gmail.com. She picked the retro rose bag. For all of you that entered the contest Jaya has extended a special offer! She is going to give you 10% off the purchase of any of her mat bags! How awesome is that! To get the discount, you need to go to her shop, and then send her a message (through the contact Green Trunk Designs link on the right hand side) and let her know you came over from my blog and which bag you want and then she will put the special price up for you. First come first serve. If you get one, please send me a picture of you with it when you get it and I will put it up on my site! Seriously, if you do yoga, you need to be sporting one of these bags. I get so many compliments on mine! I feel a lot more zen when everyone is jealous of my cute yoga bag, lol.

1/27/2010 9:19 AM Angela wrote:
#2 entry…I would love to win the retro rose mat!

Smell like Da Bomb Contest Winner!

monica — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:25:53 +0000

The winner of the lip gloss/perfume kit from Tropical Bomb is below. Congrats Nicole and please email me your address at mnowac@gmail.com. Big thanks to Tropical Bomb, keep them in mind the next time you need some top of the line body care items!

1/25/2010 9:13 PM Nicole wrote:
What a fun Etsy shop! Circus Peanut lip balm??? Oh, be still my beating heart. I think I’ve just found some great gift ideas!

Saturday Frozen Run and Roasted Veggies

monica — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:10:48 +0000

* I apologize for the delay in the contest winners, I will get them up before tomorrow morning*

Ooh baby I roasted up some cauliflower for dinner and it was really good. I just chopped it into big pieces, sprayed with olive oil, sprinkled with lemon garlic salt and Crazy Mixed pepper and roasted at 450 for 25 mins. During the last 2 mins I sprinkled on some cheese. Everything tastes better with cheese! As I had said before I have been having issues eating broccoli and cauliflower, I lost the taste for it during my pregnancy. This was the first time I had eat cauliflower in a long time and enjoyed it. What is your favorite way to cook it?

This morning I got up bright and early with plans to run 10 miles. I was going to do 30 mins solo and then meet my friends at 9. I knew it was cold out, much colder than it had been in awhile. So I threw on my thickest running pants, 2 shirts (one with a built in hood and half gloves) and a zip up vest. Topped it off with a hat and thin gloves.

It was about 10 degrees when I started and 10 mins in I was literally in pain. My face was burning, my eyes were running and my knees were creaking. I was really wishing I had worn my full face mask. It was dreadful. .8 miles into my run I ran into one of my friends and he is a much better runner than me. So, thank goodness for him. I picked up my pace and stuck with him the rest of the morning. It was a seriously hilly run at a local park. We ran on a paved path. You basically run 3 miles down a hill and then 3 miles back up. For those of you from around here, we were running from Harper Ridge Picnic Area down to Richmond Rd at S.Chagrin Rez. It was so tough. I have run 10 miles plenty of times, but I was woozy when we were done. I think it was b/c it was so damn cold, my body had to work extra hard to warm up and it was all just a bit too much. I am so glad I got through it though. Afterwards we spent the day at my father in law’s house. We ate cupcakes and played pictionary. Crazy exciting life we lead Just the way I like it. Tonight I think we are going to watch Public Enemies staring my boyfriend Johnny Depp. If I can stay awake. Looking forward to yoga in the morning, my legs are stiffff.