Training Time!

September 9, 2012 by Emily Segal Leave a Comment

The other day a friend asked me “So, have you started training for the next race yet?” And I was like “No man! That’s like WAY off in the future!”

And then I realized it’s not and crapped in my pants.

But seriously, rather than panic, we need to PLAN. I am not going to be offering Team Triumph this year. It was a great program last year and got a lot of people running who weren’t already running. But now I feel like we need to move forward from that.

I am going to list here the major races I know about in Israel. Obviously there are more – every city runs a race of some sort – but these are the biggies. I urge you to pick one and join in! Remember, that every single race can be walked if running isn’t your thing. You still get a medal for walking!!

The Tel Aviv Night Run 10K October 30, 2012. People say this one is all about fun. It is very crowded and lots of people walk. Not for me personally, but go for it if you like the scene. Website HERE. It looks like they are offering free coaching in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. Cool beans.

The Tiberias Marathon is January 10, 2013. A great way to start off the new year! This is a very pretty course along the southern end of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and back. The weather is cool and often rainy. It looks like this is just the full marathon distance. Website HERE.

The Jerusalem Marathon is March 1st, 2013. They offer Full, Half, 10K and 4.2km races. Jerusalem is a hilly town. I imagine the course reflects that. It is also a stunningly beautiful and historic place to run through! Weather cool and possibly rainy. Website is HERE.

My Mac Daddy, the Tel Aviv Marathon, will be held on March 15, 2013. This is 2 weeks earlier than last year and 26 weeks from today!!! They offer Full, Half, 10K, 4.2km, Hand Cycle, Inline Skating and a Kids Mini Marathon. Something for everyone. Tel Aviv is relatively flat, beautiful, balmy, the courses go along the Mediterranean… it’s wonderful, run it. Website is HERE.

The Herzliya Women’s Triathalon is on June 1, 2013 and offers several different distances and relay options as well. Website is HERE.

All other races and sporting events in Israel can be found at Shvoong.co.il.

Race calendar for the US can be found HERE. Pick something!!!

As for me, I will be running in Tel Aviv on March 15th, but I can’t say at the moment if I will be doing a Half Marathon or a Full. I will be training for the Full (following Hal Higdon’s free online plans again – worked last year!) but will make my final decision before December 15th when the early registration prices go up.

Why am I not sure I want to run the Full when I said here that I would? Well, you remember that plan to drop some weight and heal my adrenals before I started training again? Best laid plans and all that. Around the time of the apartment move I had a medical issue arise and went on a very large and protracted course of steroids. Prior to starting the meds I had been doing well and had lost about 5 lbs. But on the meds I gained almost 10! Ouch! Let me just say once again, that if I did not have my own health coach, I cannot imagine how I would handle something like that? My coach helped me turn things around before it became a real disaster and over the past 6 weeks – even while on the tail end of the steroid tapering – I have dropped back down 6 lbs. Basically, back where I started!

I don’t want to run another 42km race at this weight. I don’t see the point of dragging my body through that again. So the revised plan is to keep working on my weight while in the early months of training. And for those of you who are thinking “But surely training for a marathon makes you lose weight!” Not really. Not in my experience anyway. You have to refuel when you are doing that much exercise so you build muscles and heal injuries. I think being in caloric deficit while training for an endurance event is a very bad idea. Not only that, it’s just super duper difficult!

But the good part is that I continued to work out through all of that, so I’m in good starting shape, my muscles are strong, and despite steroids which should have affected my adrenals, I actually feel much BETTER than I did before. I’ve been doing some of my short runs in my Vibrams which just makes it that much funner. I’ve been swimming, Spinning and weight training too. The Hal Higdon plan is an 18 week plan but I remember after the last race feeling that 18 weeks hadn’t been long enough. If I start now I have an additional 7 weeks minus what I will miss during the upcoming Jewish holidays.

Battle Cry Time!

WHO THE HELL IS WITH ME???!!!

Do Something! Do Anything! Just set a goal for something a little crazy and make it happen!! Here’s an oldie but goodie to get your blood pumping. Don’t you want to be a part of something like this?? In 6 months or so, this could be YOU:

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Goals, health coach, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Half Marathon, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vibrams, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Running, Self-Improvement, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vegan Athlete, weight loss

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

December 4, 2011 by Emily Segal

I just found out that we are having some visitors from the U.S. coming in February. As I jotted the date of their visit in my calendar the other morning, I saw penciled in on February 9th: “26K”, indicating a scheduled 26 kilometer run on that date. Fine, whatever. I mean, obviously I’m training for a marathon so that’s got to happen, right?

But then my heart stopped.

26K??

42.2K??

I can’t run that far! I can’t do this! What am I thinking? Who do I think I am? The race is 17 weeks away and I can run 16K max – OK, so probably 20K if someone scary was chasing me. I had to put my head between my knees for a minute there.

With head down, starting at shoes, I remembered one day back before I had kids. We were visiting someone with a 2 year old child. The kid was cute but a total holy terror and I said to myself ”I am not having kids EVER! There is no way I could ever handle anything like this!” The mother, catching my horrified expression said “You know, you don’t start with a 2 year old. You start with this little passive lump of baby and you have 2 full years of training until you work up to this.”

Those words came back to me years later as I stood on the scale looking down at 220 and thinking of the impossibly long distance of 70lbs I knew I had to make. Start with the baby, I told myself. The beginning is easy. Then, with practice, the harder stuff comes, but if you’ve trained well, you’ll be able to handle it.

When I begin a run, I don’t think “OK, 15 kilometers in front of me!” I think, one foot in front of the other. One K down, one to come, step by step by step. Start with the baby. Before you know it, you get to the end.

**Make a long-range plan, but take each day as it comes.**

**Just do TODAY’S work.**

**Don’t worry about tomorrow, until it’s tomorrow.**

**Trust that if you put in the daily work, you’ll be able to handle the 2 year old (or the 42.2 kilometers) when it’s time.**

Training Log for weeks T-18 and 17 were the same:

Sundays – 6K

Mondays – 5K in Vibrams

Tuesday – strength

Wednesday – Spinning

Thursday – strength

Friday – 13K first week and 15K second week

Training Chow:

Still working my way through some Happy Herbivore recipes, plus that Nut Cheese and the Peanut Soup.

This is Hippie Loaf with Gravy from the Happy Hebrivore Cookbook and it is a seriously delicious loaf of black beans, quinoa and veggies with a luscious fat-free vegan gravy. Sounds impossible I know, but it’s yumsville!

Training Song: Mock me all you want, but I loved Breaking Dawn and I adore all the Twilight movie soundtracks. The way I see it, Twilight is cheaper than HRT and has fewer bad side effects. I put these songs on my ipod, listen, remembering the books/films, and I am FLUSH with estrogen. Awesome!

(And the observant among you who are on my newsletter list, will notice the opening image of this gorgeous video which inspired this month’s header design!)

Chrtisina Perri, who reminds us that A Thousand Years passes in those day-by-day moments. Told ya so!:

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, health coach, Product Reviews, Recommendations, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club, vegan, Vibrams Tagged With: Achievement, cookbook recommendations, Exercise, Goals, Running, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vegan Athlete

Samosa Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes

October 21, 2011 by Emily Segal 4 Comments

Don’t even ask. One of my dear friends so kindly noticed and remarked the other day “Emily, you are falling apart, girl!” What is up with my body, people? Truthfully, I spent a few days feeling discouraged and sorry for myself. But that didn’t make anything better happen, so I decided to give it up. If I’m going to keep being kicked back to Square One, then at least I can spiffy the place up while I’m here!

Back at Square One Gratitude List: (Rainbow Writing Yay!)

1. Gilad Shalit’s homecoming was the single best moment of my aliyah (immigration) to Israel. The fact that I got to be here to witness that was worth all the other struggles. It’s not just that he came back, but the way we as a country reacted. I came here because I wanted to be part of something and on Tuesday I got to actually LIVE that expression “our hearts beat as one”. It was electrifying!

2. Now that I can barely run around the block, I can start re-training with my Vibrams. Hello Silver Lining.

3. The Jewish holidays are over. I should be sad, but enough is enough! I kissed my machzor (holiday prayerbook) when I put it back on the shelf and thought “see ya next year Avinu Malkeinu.” Back to school and work on Sunday, yippee!

4. The lovely day my husband and I spent with just our youngest son in Yafo (Jaffa) this week. Little brothers shine like stars when not trying to compete with their Bigs.

5. Picked up the latest Percy Jackson book. In case you don’t know, Percy Jackson is Greek Mythology’s Harry Potter and we are crazy about him in this house!

6. Since I decided to move in and explore this Square One place, I have already re-examined something I initially scorned and found it to be fascinatingly useful. I have a feeling I will be writing more about that in the days to come.

7. The cone will come off on Sunday. I hope.

8. Daytime temps no longer go into the 90′s and one evening I actually wore a sweater! I am so grateful for this you can’t even imagine!

9. It’s Pomegranate Season. oolala oo ooo

10. Twice-Baked Potatoes that taste like samosas:

Samosa Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes

This recipe is from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I am re-printing my version of her recipe which appears many places online (including the preview in google book reader).

Ingredients

4 large potatoes
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
sea salt to taste
1/2 cup frozen green peas
juice of 1/2 lemon
extra oil for brushing or spraying potatoes

Instructions

Bake the potatoes until crispy on the outside and soft in the center. Set aside to cool.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the mustard and coriander seeds briefly to toast them
Add the carrots and onions and saute for 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, ground cumin and turmeric and saute for 3 more minutes.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half length-wise and scoop out the flesh, leaving a 1/4 inch shell.
Mash the potato flesh (adding a bit of broth or soymilk if it seems too dry) then add the sauteed veggies and lemon juice and mix well.
Brush or spray the inside of the potato skins with oil and then re-fill with the spiced mashed potato mixture.
Bake at 200 C for about 20 minutes until heated through and golden.

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http://triumphwellness.com/samosa-stuffed-twice-baked-potatoes/

This post was submitted to Wellness Weekend over at DietDessertnDogs.

Filed Under: Recipes, Vibrams, What Was For Dinner Tonight Tagged With: Anti-Ick Techniques, Gilad Shalit, vegan mofo, Vegan Recipes, Vibrams

Vibrams Virgin No More

August 27, 2011 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

I want to spend a little moment talking about my new shoes:

Vibram 5 Fingers, Bikila

I mentioned in a previous post, that I first heard of Vibrams about a year ago, when some odd-ball, way-out-there, extreme runner types, began donning these funny-looking slipper things and proclaiming their glory. I read all the reports: these 5-fingered shoe gloves brought about the cessation of aches and pains, the elimination of chronic injuries, faster running times, a renewed passion for running, and even the motivation to live a life more connected to nature. ”These must be some sort of wonder shoes!” thought I.

But running in flimsy, unprotected slippers seemed scary to me. My tender tooties! My on-again-off-again plantar fasciitis (which is totally debilitating when it’s ON)! My ache-y knees! What if I step on a big rock? What if I look like a freak?

(see my naked toes peeking out below!!)

Then, last year I read Born to Run and was introduced to the concept, that it is likely our Running SHOES that are causing our injuries not the actual running itself! The human foot and leg are perfectly designed to walk and run without any shoes at all. Well of course they are! Our ansectors didn’t have shoes for a long time and they ran and hunted and survived just fine. Then when they learned to make things, they made flat sandals that probably protected them from that hot, hot sand. They walked MILES in just flat sandals or barefoot!

When we pad our modern-day feet into stabilizing, cushioned pods of bouncy “comfort”, our own foot structure cannot do what it was made to do. For me, 20 years of running in increasingly specialized running shoes had not stemmed my aches and pains or strengthened my ever-falling arches. Lightbulb moment.

Suddenly it made sense. Just as I believe my body knows exactly what I need to eat to stay healthy and that man-made, factory produced frankenfoods and pharmaceuticals only complicate and confuse my “animal” body, so with these factory-made, heavily engineered running shoes and my smart old paws.

I did my homework and for a full year before I got my Vibrams and I worked on strengthening my feet… by just allowing them to be feet, au naturale! I walked barefoot at home. I took my running shoes off when I reached the part of my run that goes through the park, and I jogged softly barefoot through the grass. I gripped things with my toes and did lots of calf raises. I did lots of yoga and focused on spreading my toes out nice and wide and straight.

Then came the day when I felt ready to get my first Vibrams. I had read that one must start slowly as the legs and feet need to learn an entire new gait and foot strike. Running shoes make you lean back, stride wide, and strike with the heel. Injury City. Barefooting makes you lean forward, take smaller steps and land mid-to-forefoot.

I have now taken 2 short runs in my Vibrams, just 2 -1/2 miles each, and I have to tell you it was hard to stop each run. I wake up in the morning wanting to put them on and run! The experience is far better than I could have imagined! I feel like a panther! I feel like all these years, my feet have just been along for the ride in their shoe pods, not participating at all in the sport of my legs. Now my feet feel the earth, my toes grip it and push off, I feel light and freeeeeeee!

I was thinking that I would just use the Vibrams to strengthen my feet, but still run long runs and the marathon in my regular shoes, because I am still a bit afraid. Lurking fear and doubt. But on one run last week, I switched shoes mid run and I couldn’t even run in my regular running shoes! I felt off balance and disoriented. WOW.

So it’s a bit too early to say how I will use my Vibrams in training, but I can tell you that I am in love, love, love.

And if you’re wondering about the paradox of Barefoot Running SHOES, yes, it is a bit strange. But the Vibrams really just give you a rubber base that protects you from things like glass, and nails that could seriously harm or even end a running career. And from bees and too hot sand or asphalt!

If you decide you might want to give them a try, do some reading online. Visit the Vibrams website to learn about the different models. If you are in Israel, there is a list of stores HERE. I know they have them at Wertheimer Triathalon in Herzilya, and I’m pretty sure you can find them at Al Derech Burma in Beit Shemesh and at various branches of Maslool, but check that full list and call ahead.

(Of course they are cheaper if you are going to the US or have someone bringing them back for you. I got mine from RoadRunnerSports, which is where I buy all my shoes and gear).

Happy Barefootin’ Me!