Flagstaff to Sedona GAD (Girl Adventure Day)

In past years when I have asked Katie, "What are your running goals for the fall?", the answer has typically been "I would like to run a half marathon", or perhaps "I would like to run a 5k PR".  So when this year's response was, "I think I would like to run from Flagstaff to Sedona", I couldn't help but remember that this is the person who told me her body doesn't run, the person who asked me time and time again... for month after month... when she was EVER going to be able to run up the hill on Verde Valley School Road, the same person who once stopped and hugged the mailbox on the top of the hill because it was hot outside and the mailbox was cool, the same person who called me from Maui after her first half marathon in a state of panic because she was afraid she was going to lose a toenail and would NEVER be the same again.  So really, you want to run from Flagstaff to Sedona?  Yes, really.  The one thing I have learned from running with my best friend for the last 6 years is that she may rebel against most of what I tell her, she will give me looks that shoot nails through me, but when she says she is going to do something, do NOT stand in her way.  So I either had a choice to run with her or watch her from the comfort of my vehicle.  We know what most sane people would choose.  So it's not surprising what I chose to do. 

We pulled the maps out and googled and quickly discovered that unless you are a motorized vehicle there isn't a very direct and safe way to get from there to here.  After three trips to Flagstaff and a lot of driving on "roads" that don't seem suited for anything but a mountain goat we finally determined our route.  We picked our date and hired our support crew, Cabana Boy Dave (CBD), and began training. Finally, race day arrived, preceded by the typical sleepless night before.

Feeling a little green and anxious, we bypass our last opportunity to change our minds and just go back to bed, and begin the loooooong drive to Flag. Driving less than the distance that you are about to turn around and run on a cold, dark, windy morning does nothing to boost your confidence about the run.

Wearing everything possible to indicate that we are not bear bait and we are not elk, we move to our informal starting line.  We began our adventure on 89A at Fort Tuthill just inside the Flagstaff city limits.  Elevation 7032 feet.

 

 The early miles took us onto Old Munds Highway and Forest Service Road 700.   The first miles were the easiest in every sense... smooth dirt and gravel road... very gentle downhill... Katie was not sassy yet... Sherry was not grumpy yet.  But as we know, we had a lot of miles ahead of us and things can go downhill fast in every sort of way. 

 

 

 We had many miles of a long and sometimes winding, and sometimes not so winding, road. We had gray skies all day and what started out as a few snowflakes later turned to sleet. CBD was unable to capture our more adventurous part of the run on film because it was not drivable. We followed dirt roads to about a mile out of Munds Park and then had a stretch of about a mile where we had to hike through brush, trees, and rocks to eventually connect up to I17 for a few miles.  We encountered a highway patrolman right before the Munds Park bridge and held our breath that he wasn't going to stop us from running over it.  We got an odd look, not surprisingly not the first of the day, and he let us go.

 

It was in one sense a relief to get out of the brush and off Interstate 17 to continue our adventure down Schnebly Hill Road.   If you are not familiar with Schnebly Hill Road, the sign explains why I said it was in ONE sense a relief.  We knew that we had a rough road ahead of us for many more miles.  Through 24 miles of our run we would descend less than 600 feet.  In the next six and a half miles we would descend nearly 2000 feet.  We have a hard time smiling at the people who think that must be easy.  This is what long distance runners refer to as the wheels coming off.  If it doesn't hurt before 6.5 miles of screaming downhill, it is guaranteed to hurt at this point.   

 

 

And there were rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  Little rocks, big rocks, and tiny pebbles that liked to get into our shoes.  And wind that was blowing really little rocks, aka sand, into our eyes and noses and mouths. 

 

So stuff starts to happen when you are getting tired and getting sore and one person gets sassy and the other gets grumpy and at some point we decided that we should each stay on our own side of the road.  That was all in fun and only lasted about 2 minutes.  But seriously, if you think you know everything you could possibly know about a person, go run 34 miles with them and you will probably learn just a little bit more - all good stuff of course. 

 

 

So now the fun really begins.  We finally reach the most scenic part of the run but we can barely enjoy it because the next several miles are the most treacherous part of the run.  It is steep and it is hard to find anyplace to set your foot down without hitting a rock.  And we have on video proof of just how challenging this part of the road was when Katie decided to hit a rock and take a dive.  I wanted to know if she was OK.  She wanted to know how graceful her fall was on a scale of 1 to 10.  If 10 is a gymnast and 1 is Elaine dancing on Seinfeld, she scored about a 2.

   

 

So the road went on for miles and miles.  CBD sometimes stayed back and other times leap-frogged ahead of us.  He made the mistake of going ahead of us on the worst part of the road and managed to get stuck.  We come upon him after having run close to 30 miles and we have to push him!   

 

 

 

The number one goal was to just complete the run so we did take a few moments here and there to take in the views and enjoy the experience.   Things you do to pass the time when you are running for hours on end...  count the number of cattle guards you cross...  16. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Don't really have an explanation for the next picture.  We swear the only thing we were drinking during the run was water and Powerade, but it appears that there was a little bit of metabolic fatigue happening at this point.  Or perhaps we are just missing the drunken lunge. 

 

 

Finally, the road is smoothing out a bit and we are counting down the last miles.  At this point we decided we just wanted to be done so we abandoned our run/walk method and just ran the last few miles.    

 

 

So it would seem that coming off all those dirt roads and rocks would be a relief.  Wrong!  At this point nearly everything from head to toe was aching and hitting the hard asphalt felt like shock waves going through our bodies.  THEN, on top of that, Katie (who just 6 years ago told me her body doesn't run) looks at her Garmin and determines we are going to come up short of an even number on mileage so we need to round it off.  So there we go running by our last turn to the finish line where CBD stands ready to snap a finish picture.  Of course he already knows that we are not in our right minds so he is not surprised when he hears the explanation.   

 

 

SUCCESS!  34 miles total ending in Sedona at an elevation of  4283 feet. 

 

 The problem with sitting down after running 34 miles?  Standing up.   

 

We learned some new things about ourselves and about each other over the course of 7 hours and 34 miles, but it seems that some things never change.  Katie is still sassy...  Sherry is still grumpy... but they are still best friends and are already talking about the next adventure.

Great Thoughts

So you may be wondering what great life inspiring thoughts go through a persons mind when they are about to embark on the longest run of their life...get your pen and paper, it's a big one! No matter the distance it is always the same. Should I use the bathroom one more time? Sorry to disappoint if we did but that is pretty much it. Next thought, what in the world was I thinking?! :)

The Early Birds get to wait

Got to the run start 30 mins early so we headed to the airport to wait for daylight. 7 a.m. Is planned start time. Brrrr... The wind is overly frigid!

Running Flagstaff to Sedona

Early dark of morning....couldn't help but check the weather at 3 different sites for Flag and Sedona. Now forecasting 40's for Flag which better than the 30's we saw yesterday! Could still be wet and wind is a certainty.
Butterflies of excitement for this adventure to start! Overpacked on running clothes in preparation of variety of conditions...extra shoes, socks...food....plenty of fluids....tp:) didn't think of that one did you.
The goal, to run dirt roads and trails from Fort Tuthill into Broken Arrow Trailhead.
Thank you to all for your support and stay tuned for pics and news! Here we go!

Motivational Quote

Counting Calories?

Not so long ago, health professionals generally agreed that weight gain or loss was all about calories in versus calories out.  Have you ever heard the saying, "The more we learn the less we know"?  As researchers have learned more and more about how our bodies function, we realize that the weight loss puzzle is much more complicated than just the number of calories we consume. That doesn't mean that we can consume excess calories without gaining weight, but as we have stated before, all calories are not created equally and there are a number of factors that influence weight loss or gain.

It is true that Americans are consuming more calories than ever before.  Over a 30 year period, the average daily number of calories which women consumed in the United States increased by 335 calories per day (1877 calories in 2000 compared to 1542 calories in 1971).  For men, the average increase was 168 calories per day (2618 calories in 2000 compared to 2450 calories in 1971).  Most of these extra calories came from an increase in carbohydrate consumption, primarily sweetened beverages. 

In addition to an increase in sweetened beverage consumption, we can identify some other trends that have contributed to an average increase in caloric intake.  Americans eat a third of their calories at restaurants and other food-service establishments, twice as much as 20 years ago. Restaurant portion sizes are huge—about 2 to 3 times larger than food labels list as a serving. Studies link eating out with obesity and higher caloric intakes and show that when people eat out, they consume more saturated fat and fewer nutrients than when they eat at home. Children eat almost twice as many calories when they eat a meal at a restaurant compared to a meal at home.

Five nutrition and public health experts at Harvard University, performed a long-term analysis of the factors that influence weight gain.  They tracked the dietary habits of 120,877 well-educated men and women who were healthy and not obese at the start of the study. In addition to diet, they were able to draw some conclusions about the influence of exercise, sleep, television watching, smoking, and alcohol intake on weight gain.  The study participants, nurses, doctors, dentists and veterinarians, were followed for 12 to 20 years. Every two years, they completed very detailed questionnaires about their eating and other habits and current weight.  On average, study participants gained a pound a year, which added up to 20 pounds in 20 years. Some gained much more, about four pounds a year, while a few managed to stay the same or even lose weight.       

Not surprising, french fries, potato chips, sugar-sweetened drinks, red meats and processed meats, other forms of potatoes, sweets and desserts, refined grains, other fried foods, 100-percent fruit juice and butter were the foods that were associated with the most weight gain. Also not surprising were the foods that resulted in weight loss or no gain when consumed in greater amounts during the study: fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Compared with those who gained the most weight, participants in the study who lost weight consumed 3.1 more servings of vegetables each day.       

Another finding from the study backs up other research that shows getting inadequate, or too much, sleep each night negatively impacts our hormones in a way that can lead to weight gain.  In this study, people who slept less than six hours or more than eight hours a night tended to gain the most weight.  The study also concluded that the more television people watched, the more weight they gained, most likely because they are influenced by a barrage of food ads and snack in front of the TV.  Alcohol intake had an interesting relationship to weight changes. No significant effect was found among those who increased their intake to one glass of wine a day, but increases in other forms of alcohol were likely to bring added pounds.

So what can we take away from this study besides another bunch of statistics?  Perhaps an awareness that over the past 30 years our lifestyles have changed in ways that seem to conspire against our ability to make healthful choices.  But remember, they are our choices and we can still be in control of how often we eat out, the quantity and type of foods we consume when we do eat out, and our beverage choices.  And finally, while it may be a little bit more challenging, getting the right amount of sleep is a matter of prioritizing and making it happen.  While calories do still count, the types of foods we consume and other lifestyle choices play a significant role in our weight loss or gain.

Diet Trumps Exercise for Weight Loss

Didn't we just tell you in our last blog posting that diets don't work?  So have we changed our minds already?  No.  Most people refer to a diet as a very calorie-restricted eating plan.  Our definition of diet is the foods that comprise your daily eating, and we stand by our assertion that the only diet we endorse is one that encompasses healthy eating habits that you can maintain for a lifetime.  So while we do not agree with low calorie or fad diets, we do concede that a diet defined by healthful eating habits is more likely to lead to weight loss than exercise.

So are we saying you should just push away from the table and forget about push ups?  Never!  Exercise has so many benefits that far outweigh (couldn't resist) weight loss that if you do experience weight loss as an added benefit of exercise it is just the icing on that chocolate cake you had for breakfast.  Remember that study?

Does it really mean anything if you achieve your weight loss goal but you are winded trying to keep up with your child or grandchild?  Can you maintain your independence as you age if you develop osteoporosis and you fall and break your hip?  Exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of so many diseases that they are too numerous to list.  In addition, functional exercise will improve your ability to perform everyday tasks and to remain active at the things you love.  And finally, the mental benefits of exercise cannot be ignored.  Doctors have long been advising their patients to keep their minds sharp by doing crosswords or Sudoku puzzles.  More recently, though, physical exercise has been shown to have an even greater impact on preventing dementia or Alzheimer's than performing mental challenges like crosswords. 

Most people who begin an exercise program to lose weight "fail".  They fail to lose weight right away so they give up on their exercise program.  Metabolic training all by itself is not a weight loss program.  It is a fat loss program that leads to body transformation, and as we have witnessed with many of our Warriors, a life-transforming program. 

The first changes that we see in our Warriors are increased strength and a younger looking face and some "shifting".  This shifting is actually a reduction in body fat and an increase in lean muscle.  So while you may not be seeing the number on the scale going down, your body is undergoing a very healthy change.  Your heart is getting stronger, your balance and flexibility are improving, and you are gaining lean muscle that will improve your ability to do everyday tasks and improve your performance in your athletic endeavors. 

When our Warriors start seeing and feeling these changes, they become more motivated to make other lifestyle changes to improve their health and to achieve weight loss if that is their goal.  Those "other changes" include moving toward clean eating habits and adding more cardiovascular activity.  So if you are just beginning on your journey as a Metabolic Warrior, be patient, it is one step at a time.  If your goal is to lose 10 or 20 pounds, you didn't gain that weight in 2 weeks and you are not going to lose it in 2 weeks.  But as our veteran Warriors know, it is a journey toward good health and fitness that is worth taking. 

TRX and Tutus?

In spite of cooling temperatures we had our largest TRX training ever!

When Jerry jokingly said he should have a tutu on he didn't know what he had just gotten himself into.

As it gets colder maybe he will decide to keep the extra layer?

Judy crowned him our "Princess Warrior"

Rock n Glo 5k

Say it one more time... Diets don't work

Can you lose weight on a diet?  Yes.
Is it the kind of weight you want to lose?  No.
Will you keep the weight off long term?  Probably not.
Why?  DIETS DON'T WORK unless it is a part of a lifestyle change that you can maintain... FOREVER!

Many people lose significant amounts of weight on the _________ diet.  You can fill in the blank with any diet that comes to mind because you probably can lose weight on just about any diet you choose.  Unfortunately, almost as many people who lost weight on the _______ diet, regained everything they lost, and usually more.

Food is fuel for our bodies, and just as a car cannot run without fuel, our bodies cannot perform well without proper nutrition.  Even individuals who do not exercise and are relatively inactive need a minimum number of calories to function.  Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of energy expended daily by humans and other animals at rest.  The release, and using, of energy in this state is sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs. 

Ever wonder why you have difficulty problem solving or staying on task when you are hungry?  Your brain needs food too.  Although the average adult human brain weighs about 1.4 kilograms, only 2 percent of total body weight, it demands 20 percent of our resting metabolic rate.  Most studies indicate that our brains need 300 to 500 calories per day to function.  There are numerous diets that restrict calorie intake to as few as 500 calories per day, barely enough calories to support brain function. 

The only diet we endorse is healthful eating.  We strongly believe that through lifestyle change that includes cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and healthful food choices you will achieve fat loss and eventually weight loss that you can maintain permanently. 

Sedona Personal Trainers will take on any challenge

We pride ourselves on being willing to take on any reasonable challenge.  And we have invited you to bring your friends, family, paper delivery person, grocer, hair dresser, or anyone you meet on the street to our trainings. But even we were a little surprised at the latest visitor to our metabolic training.

Okay, we admit we don't have a lot of experience working with clients who have eight legs but we LOVE A CHALLENGE!  So we encouraged our Warriors to make him feel welcome by getting down on his level and he warmed up to us pretty quickly. 

He seemed a natural with 8 "arm-legs" for all those push ups, but the bicep curls were a struggle.

Not sure if he will be back for the next training so we left him with the recommendation to add strength training to his routine to improve bone density and some plyometrics and interval training to improve leg speed. 

Island Red Beans (Habichuelas Coloradas Grandes)

Pair with Garlic Roasted Pork

From: Eating Well
Makes: 8 servings, about 3/4 cup each
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
• 2 Anaheim or poblano chile peppers, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup packed finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 4 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed (see Dried Bean Variation)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1-3 cups water

 Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add garlic, chile peppers, onion and cilantro and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add beans, tomato sauce, oregano, pepper and salt; stir to combine. Add 1 to 3 cups water. (Usually the beans are covered by at least 1 inch of water. The more “wet” you like your beans, the more water you should add.) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cilantro, if desired. Dried Bean Variation: To use dried beans instead of canned beans, sort 1 pound red kidney beans, discarding any debris. overnight soak: Rinse beans and place in a large bowl. Cover with cold water and let soak for at least 8 hours or overnight; drain. quick soak: Rinse beans and place in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Nutrition

Per serving: 221 calories; 3 g fat ( 0 g sat , 1 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 38 g carbohydrates; 12 g protein; 15 g fiber; 616 mg sodium; 691 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (50% daily value), Folate (30% dv), Potassium (20% dv), Iron (17% dv).

Garlic-Roasted Pork



Serve with Island Red Beans

From: Eating Well
Makes: 8 servings
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 2-pound boneless pork loin, trimmed

Preparation

1. Combine garlic, oil, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and puree. Rub pork all over with the seasoning mix and wrap tightly with plastic wrap or place in a large sealable plastic bag. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 day.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Remove the pork from the plastic and place in a shallow roasting pan. Roast, uncovered, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let rest for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Prepare through Step 1 up to 1 day ahead.

Nutrition
Per serving: 203 calories; 11 g fat ( 3 g sat , 6 g mono ); 64 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 23 g protein; 0 g fiber; 337 mg sodium; 361 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Selenium (40% daily value).