Team Triumph Race Club | Triumph Wellness

Jenn Runs Vegas

January 15, 2012 by Emily Segal 5 Comments

This is a guest post from my friend, fellow vegetarian, and Team Triumph Member, Jenn R. Jenn is a veteran of many races of all different lengths. She recently completed the Las Vegas Half Marathon – a night run which was plagued with problems. Hordes of people reportedly got ill from the water that was handed out. There were many exposure-related injuries from runners not dressed warmly enough for the cold desert night. I read numerous reports from participants who were completely frustrated by course and crowding issues and just ending up quitting mid-race.

Jenn, however, persevered. Despite shuttle bus screw ups that caused them to miss the start, and a whole cascade of ensuing problems, she finished this race. (Oh, and not to mention creatively overcoming a medical diagnosis that probably would have put many people off of running permanently!)

Things don’t always go as we plan. But on race day, when tensions are running super high, any bump in the road can spell psychological disaster. I am really inspired by Jenn’s report and hope that if faced with similar problems, I won’t just throw my hands up and quit.

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Team Triumph Rock ‘n Roll Las Vegas Half-Marathon 2011

A little background on me: I started running about six years ago, after we received an invitation in the mail to “Train to End Stroke” with the American Heart Association. I had never run a day in my life, but always wanted to, and the same could be said for my husband. We signed up, and trained to run a half marathon (Rock ‘n Roll Phoenix). We went from 0 to 13.1 miles (21 km) in five months of training.

In the years since, we have done probably 12 or 13 half-marathons, many 5k’s and 10K’s, and some full marathons. I, myself, completed two marathons, the second in May 2009, before I finally admitted to having an issue with my hip, and sought out a doctor. I didn’t have a traditional injury to recover from, but I do have a structural issue in my right hip and I had some tendinitis (and the start of arthritis). So at that time, I was told that I could still run, but that I should stop for a while to heal the tendinitis and that when I was healed, I could run no more than a 10k consecutively. If I wished to do half-marathons, I could, but I had to either run half and walk the rest, or alternate running with walking. Considering that I pretty much did that anyway, I was okay with those orders. Or so I thought. I actually quite enjoyed my running-free life for quite a while.

In fact, I participated the the 2009 and 2010 Las Vegas Half Marathons, happily walking them both. We were going to sit out in 2011 until we heard that it was going to be a night race. Then we decided that we had to experience it.

The training:

At the time I signed up for the race, I was still walking. I hadn’t a desire to run. I remembered what had happened in 2010: During my training, I was only able to get up to 8 miles. That came back to haunt me for the race. I got ill during the race and felt crippled when it was over. I was determined that this year it would be better.

Somewhere in the Spring however, I started running some intervals and tried the C25K (Couch-to-5K) training program, which I actually found to be difficult and gave up on. Yeah, I did. It’s not easy to admit that, but it turns out that after 18 months of not running, and gaining 30 pounds, well, it is hard to run longer than 5 minutes and I am one of those people who gets easily discouraged. So I gave up on that. I decided that there was no shame in walking the half marathon – and besides it was still nine months away and I had lots of time!

And then, as sometimes happens, the Universe works to inspire us, and my sister-in-law and cousin-in-law decided that they want to train to run in a half-marathon in their town in February and want my husband and I to join them. Well, not wanting to be the only non-runner for that race, and be left out, I immediately started trying running again!

I start following John Bingham’s plan to walk three minutes and run one minute. I followed this plan for the next four or five weeks until the Las Vegas Half Marathon and everything went smoothly. I felt great, I ran fast, I had no pain afterwards. During this time, I even ran a 5K Turkey Trot which I managed to finish in approximately 41 minutes, which isn’t so far off my average “running only” time of 36 minutes, which means that I ran a lot more of that race than I walked.

We had beautiful weather in Pittsburgh during my training, which was totally unexpected for November. Usually it is cold and snowy, but it felt like spring. I can’t complain. In fact, the weather is probably the number one reason I was able to train so well and so easily.

In my training, I had time to work up to running about 4 miles with intervals. So my plan for the race was to try to do 5 or maybe 6 (since I run better at night) miles with the intervals and then walk the rest of the race. I expected to finish in 3:00, 15 minutes faster than last year’s walking only time of 3:15!

Race Day:

I wish I could report that race day went as well as I had hoped and that this could be the victorious story. But unfortunately, it was not. I woke up that morning not feeling great due to women issues, but that was the least of my problems.

There were so many problems with this race. The organizers of this race are very experienced and we didn’t expect this at all.

It started with shuttles that couldn’t get us to the start line on time. Yes, we were late for the start. This has happened to us before and with the use of a timing chip, it shouldn’t even matter. It didn’t matter before. But it did this time!

When we got to the start, the race was 25 minutes in. My corral wasn’t even scheduled to start yet, however, so I should have been fine. But they had let everyone pass and they were already shutting down the start line. I know there were at least a few hundred more people behind us on shuttle buses.

I could not get to a porta-potty before the race, I had to carry our gear that we were planning on checking, the race was crowded and nobody had room to move, whether they wanted to run or walk.

It was freezing cold. There were people there not taking the race seriously. They were there for an evening stroll – a very long evening stroll – they had on pj’s and one couple were carrying a baby. A BABY for pete’s sake!

The fact that I had to carry gear on my back and had to use the potty made it pretty impossible for me to run. The lines for any potties I found were so long I wasn’t willing to wait. I just kept on walking and walking. Eventually, the need got too great and I found a shortish line and waited, and watched the hoards of people pass me by. That was pretty demoralizing to me. I didn’t like the idea of being in the back.

Eventually, I was out of that line and able to join back in to the runners and walkers. It was around mile 5.5 at this point and although my legs felt like icicles, I did do some running as I had some ground to make up. It certainly wasn’t five miles worth, but I think I did do okay.

At mile 12, it started to rain. That was the cherry on top of the pie. Yay. I finished in 3:36. Not quite the 3:00 I planned on! But, hey, at least I didn’t give up at the start when I got there late! And physically, I felt fine, which I can’t say for many of the participants.

At the finish, I am handed a medal. Guess what? It was a medal for the full marathon! Yes, they ran out of medals for the half-marathon. I just heard that they have mailed out the medals to those of us who didn’t get one. I guess it could be worse, I could have been given an unripe banana for recovery! Oh wait … that happened …. too.

For a complete and very detailed description of the catastrophe that was this race, please see my blog at http://www.jennriffle.com/

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Congrats Jenn! Jenn did not come in last – far from it – but I keep this slogan in my mind at all times:

Filed Under: Events, Exercise, Goals, Inspiration, Running, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Race Club, Running, Team Triumph Race Club, Vegan Athlete

Welcome 2012 or, I think I’m gonna puke

January 1, 2012 by Emily Segal 12 Comments

Happy New Year 2012!!!

So yeah, I did it. I registered for the Tel Aviv Marathon. All 42.2km of it.

That’s 26.2 miles just to be entirely clear. Every time I actually think about that distance, I feel like I’m going to be sick. Then I get excited too. Isn’t there a saying about something like “If your goals don’t make you a bit nauseous, then they are not big enough.” ? Well, if not I just created one. This goal is definitely big enough!

You can even go and see my name in the list of registered racers, right between Asi Segal and Micki Segal.

I have another post in the wings about where I am with my training (18km and chafing in all sorts of interesting places), but today I wanted to write about something different: PRESENTS!!!

Would you like to win one of Goddess Leonie’s Creating Your Goddess Year Workbook & Planner? If so, I have one to give away!

The 2012 Creating your Goddess Year workbook, planner & calendar is an incredibly popular & useful tool to help you plan out & make happen your most incredible year yet. Over the last three years, thousands of women have used this workbook with the most amazing results. It’s the best planning tool available to help you make your year more inspiring than ever.

It’s filled with over 100 pages of worksheets & a printable calendar to help you dream, manifest, set your intentions, plan & cultivate your amazing new year. The workbook has been lovingly handwritten & rainbow illustrated… perfect for you to print out, soak up the rainbow colours of & get thoroughly inspired by!

You’ll get clarity on what you need 2012 to be. What you want to create during it. And most importantly, how to make it happen.

What do I with my planner? From past posts, you all know that I am a planning freakazoid. You also know that last year’s motto was “Less Logic, More Magic”, remember that? Leonie’s gorgeous and playful planner was just the ticket to creating a luscious dream for 2011 and then walking right on into it.

Because I am a Huge Fan of Leonie’s work, own every single thing she has ever produced and am also a sales affiliate, Leonie has given me one copy of this gorgeous, divine, dream-incubating planner to give away for FREE!

For a chance to win your own PDF copy of Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner, simply leave a comment below or on Facebook if you prefer, telling me one thing you would like to see from me in 2012. It can be a subject you’d like to see me write about, or a class you’d take if I offered it, or a free pdf like the Meal Planning Chart or the Daily Nutrition Checklist I made. Do you prefer posts with recipes or the one’s where I talk about life in Israel, or perhaps motivation and mindset posts? You have until January 3rd to comment and I’ll choose the winner randomly.

If you’d like to skip the whole give-away and buy the Workbook for yourself, it’s only $9.95 USD and can be ordered through my link HERE.

Here is a video of Leonie talking about the workbook and showing some of the inside pages, and before you freak out like I did and wonder how she can drive without looking at the road, please know that she is in Australia and the steering wheel is on the other side. Duh!

Take it away Goddess Leonie (if you are receiving this via email, click on the post title to watch the video on my blog)…

Filed Under: Goals, Growth, health coach, Holidays, Inspiration, Product Reviews, Recommendations, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: Achievement, creativity, Goals, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon

What Do You Call Yourself?

December 26, 2011 by Emily Segal Leave a Comment

I learn a lot of Hebrew from the gym. In fact, my Hebrew vocabulary is overly represented by words for body parts. I know how to say “butt back!” ”elbows straight!” and “roll up vertebrae by vertebrae”, not to mention the ever useful “inhale” and “exhale”.

But sometimes I will hear a word and not know what it means. I catch it in my mind and repeat it over and over so that I can look it up when I get home. Case in point, last week after a Spinning class:

I burst in the door and confront the kids with the word I have been mentally repeating for an hour:

ME: What does “shiur smolet” mean?

KIDS: (snickering) There’s no such word.

ME: No, there is. I know it was “smolet” because I remembered that it was like “solet” (semolina) but with a “m”.

KIDS: No, Mom. You heard wrong AGAIN (rolling eyes). Context. How was it used?

ME: OK, so the teacher was describing the stages of the workout and said it wouldn’t be our usual interval workout, but rather a “shiur smolet”

KIDS: Ohhhhh. Not smolet, “sebolet!”

ME: OK, cool, what does that mean then?

KIDS: (shrugging) Can’t remember what it is in English.

ME: Nu, come on! We’re so close…

KIDS: It’s like when you have to work really hard without a break.

ME: Endurance. An endurance workout.

(pause)

ME: But that’s funny, because it wasn’t very hard at all.

KIDS: (more eye rolling) That’s because it’s YOU!

And that got me thinking. They think I’m a bad-ass athlete. My kids. They think that. They see me heading out for runs, lifting weights, challenging them to sit-up and push-up contests, going to and from the gym, leaving behind a trail of sweaty, stinky gym clothes, heart rate monitor straps, ipods and headbands.

But am I such a bad-ass? And am I even an athlete? When did I start thinking of myself as such? When did I include the word “athlete” in my twitter profile?

I mean, let’s be truthful: I shy away from every group sport involving a ball. I couldn’t “catch” a ball to save my life. I literally flunked out of tennis camp (yes, it is possible). I throw a Frisbee like I’m flinging poo. I have a somewhat mushy body. I cannot do a single chin-up.

And yet, when I was looking today at a friend’s photos of the Tel Aviv Night Run which took place on November 11th, I thought “I should run that sometime. It looks fun. And it’s only a 10K. I can chew up and spit out a 10K for breakfast.”

When did THAT happen?

At some point along the way, I changed the story I think about myself. I changed “I am an unathletic loser who flunked out of tennis camp” to “I am an athlete.”

Well, hot diggity!

Guess what? You get to change your story too. What story do you currently tell about yourself that is no longer quite true? That you can’t lose weight or stick to a diet? That you don’t ever finish things you start? That you are not athletic, graceful, artistic, creative…? That you are ugly? Fat? Average? Nothing special?

For just a minute, try on a new story. I mean, can you know for sure that the old story is even still true? Maybe it’s not. Maybe you can write a new ending this time.

I didn’t even understand the word “endurance” in the above example. But because I think of myself as a bad-ass athlete, I listened to the Spinning teacher’s opening monologue with one thought in my head:

I don’t know what you’re saying but… Bring It.

Free your bad-ass athlete! Free your creative, beautiful, successful, see-it-through, winner self! See who you become when you change the story of who you think you are.

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Triumph Race Club, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Anti-Ick Techniques, creativity, Exercise, Overweight, Success, Team Triumph Race Club, weight loss

Tasty Now, But How About Tomorrow?

December 14, 2011 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

When strangers start asking you how the training is going and why there haven’t been any updates, you know it’s been too long since you’ve seen the inside of your website.

Training is going WELL dear readers! I officially have Thighs of Steel.

Yeah, just like those except bigger and steelier.

The big advancement this week has been the move from 3 running days a week to 4. That means one day is back-to-back running, which was scary, but seems to be just fine. Four shorter runs that focus on either speed, hills, or form, and one long run that just focuses on the distance.

Three days a week I’m also at the gym working upper body and abs so that the rest of my body doesn’t completely atrophy as I build up the legs of an Olympian. That would look weird, right?

As for my Nutrition Plan, well when you burn over 1000 calories in a workout, there is a VERY STRONG desire to eat lots and lots of food afterwards. I could easily throw back 2500 calories post-long run and end up actually gaining weight. Huge bummer but not uncommon and I wrote about this danger HERE.

So, I am being as careful as I can to log everything I eat over at sparkpeople.com and to stay in line with my actual calorie requirements, as well as macro and micro-nutrients. I keep telling myself ”Whatever you eat extra, you’ll have to carry with you for 42.2K.” That tends to dampen my desire for over-eating. But sometimes I still goof up and I’ve got the story to prove it:

One day, perhaps I was pms-y, but I really wanted to eat a lot of chocolate. I bought myself a 100g Vered HaGalil Dark Chocolate bar and portioned it out for myself over the course of a day. Sounds reasonable, right? I thought so at the time, even though I could read as plain as day on the label that my little treat contained 500 calories. I burned at least that much in my workout so I “deserved” this and could “absorb” it.

Well, next day I went out for a run and had a horrible time of it. Total Bonk-City. And for the Brits who think bonking means I had whoopie while running, in Yank English, a Bonk equals terrible joint pain, legs slow and lead-filled, racing heart, gasping for breath. I mean, seriously unpleasant. Not at all like British Bonking. Or maybe… nah, I’m not going there.

Anyway…

I reviewed my previous day: Sleep? great; Rest? plenty; Back-to-back workout? no; Mental state? fine; Nutrition? all fine except for that big old Bar o’ Bliss! I started thinking “I really enjoyed that chocolate bar, but seriously, I used 500 calories on pure junk, nothing at all that my body could use and probably quite a bit that caused it harm. I wonder how this run would have felt if I had eaten 500 calories of something healthy like protein, complex carbs, veggies, greens, sprouts…?”

At that moment I promised myself that if I feel the need to eat 500 calories, then I will, but I’m not going to waste it on crap when it can mean the difference between a great run and awful pain and suffering.

I don’t know how many of you can see it, but that is a pretty huge mental leap forward. When you start looking at the long-term effects of your food BEFORE you put it in your mouth, you are well on the road to a healthier body and life.

Back when I first began my weight loss journey, I remember making that mental shift from “ooo, this is so good and so tasty and I just LOVE eating it!” to “Hm, so this is going to taste great for like 20 minutes, but then there is going to be too much sugar in my blood, which is going to start damaging my organs for Pete’s sake, not to mention giving me a tummy ache and heartburn and that sinking sense of disappointment in myself for throwing my plans and goals away yet again…” Whoa, Bummer Train!

I am not saying that food should not equal pleasure! Eating is delightfully pleasurable and I’ve got a recipe index on this website to prove it. But you must look beyond the immediate pleasure and evaluate what you put in your mouth for more than just it’s immediate return.

There’s definitely a time for chocolate. You just have to be prepared to carry it’s bags.

Filed Under: coaching exercises, dessert, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Dieting vs Lifestyle, Exercise, Goals, Overweight, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon, 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

Cookbook Review: The Happy Herbivore

November 18, 2011 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

Funny thing happened on the way to nirvana.

Today I was scheduled for a “long run”, which at this point is still only 10-11K. It was raining when I woke up and I faced either a depressing hour on the dreadmill at the gym, or a possibly exhilarating, definitely soaking, hour of running outside.

The last time I ran for an hour on the gym treadmill, it began to smoke. People gathered around trying to ascertain the source of the smoke that was filling the gym. It was slightly mortifying.

I decided to brave the rain.

Not wanting to ruin any of the electronic implements I usually have attached to my person, I unplugged. No heart rate monitor. No pace monitor. No pedometer. No ipod. I was going Off The Grid.

“Hmmm, this nature theme makes me want to run through the orange groves”, thought I. I remembered my long training runs last year where I ran from my town, Kfar Saba, to, and then through, the beautiful agricultural (and mansion dotted) village of Sde Warburg. Somewhere in my not so clever morning mind I reasoned that this distance was not quite 10K, therefore I did not bring my phone. Nor did I bring any snacks or even a water bottle.

One hour into the run I suddenly woke up to the fact that I should be home by now, warming my toes and drinking a smoothie. Holy Shit. Last year I trained in MILES. This is a TEN MILE RUN, NOT 10K.

No phone, no water, no food and 6K more to run.

Did I mention the orange groves? Thank you very much to the farmer whose oranges I may have nicked. It was an emergency. I love living in a country where food grows on the trees!

So fed and watered, there was only one way home: my feet! I did my best – had to walk a bit at the end. I imagine ice packs will play a major role in my weekend activities.

Training Log for T-minus 19 weeks:

Sunday: Ran 10K

Monday: Abs and Arms

Tuesday: Legs & Back

Wednesday: Ran 6K

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 10 miles, 16K, I ran about 14-15K of it.

Training Chow:

I got a new cookbook this week and had lots of fun playing with it: The Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Nixon. I am a happy, happy, VERY happy Herbivore, as a matter of fact! How could I not buy this book?

Lindsay’s recipes, not only vegan, are also low-fat, simple, easy to prepare, and use mostly whole, natural healthy ingredients. We have spoken before here about how just because something is vegan, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. (um, like that Vegan Cranberry Almond Cake I made)

So I got down and busy with Happy Herbivore recipes this week and got used to cooking without any fat. Know what? Things really do taste good even if you don’t use oil. Not AS good, mind you, but definitely still plenty good.

This week I made:

Mini Vegan Pizzas, which had a cheese-y topping made of nutritional yeast, wheat flour, dash of cornstarch, miso, garlic and onion powder. Delish! And that’s a side of Split Pea Soup (not from the cookbook, that we splurped and supped all week):

Veggie-Filled Fritata (from tofu):

Red Lentil Dahl:

And Creamy Carrot Soup, in which oats are the secret ingredient to all that creamy. Sorry, no photo.

No training song this week either. I ran all week to PodRunner. 170 beats per minute to the place where 10K and 10 miles feel like the same thing!

Filed Under: beans, Exercise, Inspiration, Product Reviews, Recommendations, Running, Tel Aviv Half Marathon, Triumph Race Club, vegan Tagged With: cookbook recommendations, Exercise, Nutrition for Athletic Performance, Running, Team Triumph Race Club, Vegan Athlete

Do You Hear Your Heart’s Whispers?

November 11, 2011 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Happy 11/11/11!

Today I want to share with you a passage from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I have shared from this book on the blog before. This tiny, simple little book is such a guiding star for me. I have almost the entire thing underlined and highlighted!

This passage pretty much sums up what this week has been for me, both personally and professionally. Lots of wheel spinning going on around me. Many good souls being held back by shadowy fears. Not much bold stepping forward happening. I don’t like to see this in others and I certainly don’t like to see it in myself! Every day this week I opened my morning pages with the prompt “What is holding me back?” Then one day, I flipped through The Alchemist and found my answer. I hope it speaks to some of you as well:

‘Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,’ his heart said. ‘We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them – the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and because they do, the world turns out , indeed, to be a threatening place.

So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.’

‘Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?’ the boy asked the alchemist?

‘Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.’

From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him. He asked, that when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him and sound the alarm. The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed it’s message.

Training-wise however, I had a great week. Despite the ongoing backache, I feel strong and healthy. The weather now is simply glorious. Perfect temps, sunshine, flowers blooming, green filling my eyes, instead of summer’s dusty brown. I LOVE running in this weather! Here are the T-minus 20 weeks training details:

Sunday, Nov. 6 – Ran 5K, plus strength training abs + arms

Monday, Nov. 7 – Ran in Vibrams 4K (yay!), strength training back and lower body

Tuesday, Nov. 8 -1 hour strength training full body

Wednesday, Nov. 9 – Spinning

Thursday, Nov. 10 – Rest Day

Friday, Nov. 11 – Ran 11.5K (68 minutes)

Training Song of the Week: I’ve logged a countless number of miles to this song over the years. To all of The Who’s songs really. Quadrophenia was pretty much the soundtrack of my younger running years. This special video that I found looks like it may actually be Keith Moon’s final appearance on film. He died 3 weeks after this song was released. Gone, but never, never forgotten. And I love that his headphones are duct-taped to this head here.

Come on, tell me who are you?:

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: angels and fairies, creativity, Exercise, Running, Self-Improvement, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vibrams

Tel Aviv Marathon T-minus 21

November 4, 2011 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Oh my.

If you had asked me 2 weeks ago as I lay immobile on the sofa, if I was still on for running my first full marathon in March, I would have hit you with the Ben-Gay.

After a plantar fasciitis flare-up in early October and then a back attack 2 weeks later, I was feeling pretty dismal about the possibility of being able to train for and compete in a 42.2km running event. But I didn’t give up. I started back with a few easy runs last week. Then I super carefully pushed a bit harder this week and found that, despite the set-backs, I am still able to easily and joyfully run a one-hour 10K. I haven’t lost very much. I can still do this.

I printed out the training plan I’m going to follow, translated the miles into kilometers, and plugged the schedule into my appointment calendar. The training plan is for 18 weeks and presumes a starting base of the ability to run about 25K per week. I have 21 weeks until my race and am pretty much already at base level. SO, assuming no more calamity, pupupu, I should be good to go!

This week’s training went down as follows:

Sunday, October 30, 2011: Walked 1 hour + light strength training full body

Monday, October 31, 2011: Ran 9.5K in 70 minutes

Tuesday, October 1, 2011: Rest

Wednesday, October 2, 2011: Spinning 60 minutes + abs only

Thursday, October 3, 2011: Rest

Friday, October 4, 2011: 10.5K in 59 minutes

Training Chow: Lots and lots of Red Lentil Hummus, Oatmeal, Green Smoothies, Roasted Veggies and Polenta

Training Song of the week: I prefer the Glee version, but would rather not be sued, so here’s Beyonce. Can you imagine what it must be like to be a girl growing up during a time when songs like “Girls Run the World” are played on the radio? Even though Beyonce’s version of running the world involves skimpy outfits, gyrations, and high heels, still, we’ve come a long way baby! (Email subscribers need to click the post title to watch videos on the blog itself)

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Race Club, Running, Self-Improvement, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vegan Athlete

Orange-Roasted Carrots and Scallion Pancakes

October 31, 2011 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Wow, the last day of Vegan MoFo! Aside from lots and lots of cooking this month, I “met” so many other awesome bloggers through this event. That said, I am not sorry that it’s over and I won’t feel the pressure to get my cooking done before sunset each night in order to photograph it!

In honor of our last day, I am giving you, not one, but TWO new recipes!

But first things first: Tomorrow, 11/1/11, several of our Team Triumph Members will be running in the Tel Aviv Night Run 10-K! I just want to wish you all luck and tell you to just run and have FUN! Then come back, and tell us all about it.

Lisa, Mia, Michal, Sharon, and anyone else who’s running, Wooo Hoo RUN LIKE THE WIND!

Orange-Roasted Carrots with Mellow Miso Sauce

This wonderful Fall recipe was inspired by the Ginger-Roasted Carrots at www.mynewroots.blogspot.com. Wow, the carrots come out sweet like candy! The smooth, salty miso sauce is the perfect foil to the sweetness of the carrots.

Ingredients

For the Carrots:

7 large carrots
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
pinch sea salt
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

For the Sauce:

¼ cup light miso
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp. brown rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. water
½ tsp. tamari or soy sauce

Instructions

The Carrots:

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
Lightly oil a baking pan.
Peel the carrots and cut them in half lengthwise. (If you carrots are organic, just wash don't peel)
Mix together all of the ingredients and toss in the carrots until coated.
Place in roasted pan and roast for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and baste with sauce.
Roast for another 5-10 minutes until starting to brown and carmelize.

The Sauce:

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Spoon over carrots before serving.

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Scallion Pancakes

A little bit more of an effort than my usual recipes, these scallion pancakes are still not difficult to make. Plus, the result is absolutely worth the effort! The recipe comes from www.olivesfordinner.blogspot.com.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup boiling water
toasted sesame seed oil as needed
2 cups thinly sliced scallion greens
vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

Blend together the flour and water until smooth.
Form into a ball and place in a greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl and knead a few times on a floured surface.
Separate the dough into four round spheres.
Using a rolling pin, flatten out the first sphere into the thinnest, roundest shape possible.
Place about a tablespoon of the toasted sesame oil in the center.
Using a pastry brush, distribute the oil so it covers the top of the pancake.
Now, roll up the pancake tightly, so it forms one long, thin cylinder.
Coil the cylinder into a round shape, like a snail shell.
Taking your rolling pin, flatten it out again and shape into a thin round pancake.
Take a handful of the chopped scallions and scatter them evenly across the surface of the pancake.
Roll up the pancake tightly, so it forms one long, thin cylinder again.
Coil the cylinder into a round shape again, like a snail shell.
Taking your rolling pin, flatten it out again and shape into a thin, round pancake.
Set aside and make the other three pancakes.
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a flat-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat.
Place one of the prepared pancakes in the skillet and fry until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes) on each side.
Repeat with the other 3 pancakes, regreasing the skillet as needed.
Using a pizza slicer, cut into wedges and serve with soy sauce for dipping.

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Filed Under: Recipes, Running, Triumph Race Club, Uncategorized, vegan, Vegan MoFo, What Was For Dinner Tonight Tagged With: Race Club, Running, Team Triumph Race Club, vegan mofo, Vegan Recipes

10K Race Report by Daphne!

October 23, 2011 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

Readers will surely recall that very inspirational post by Team Triumph member Daphne, about training for her first 10K. Well, Daphne completed her race and lives to tell. I’m sure you will join me in congratulating her on a race well run! Take it away Daphne…

I completed my first 10k today. I really enjoyed it and I’m pleased with my finish time which was a bit faster than my best training runs even with the fact that the second half of the course was much hillier than anything I had ever run before. (It helps to have a coach to put your training program together!).

But as I shared in my other guest post, although it is important to me to do the best I can, the races for me are not about my finish time. They’re about an opportunity to access raw positive emotions that are not always available in the routine of my daily life. Joy, pride, exhilaration, gratitude. You know, the good stuff.

Here’s one of the memories from this race I’ll carry forward with me:

I had anticipated that I would feel emotional at the point of the race where the 5K runners turn to the finish line and the 10K runners continue on. It was one of the things that motivated me during the training. And indeed it did feel great to recall at that moment that just three years ago I was struggling to finish my first 5k without walking (really struggling!) and now I was cruising confidently past that mark.

Just as I was drinking that in, I noticed a little boy, about five years old, standing with his parents cheering on the runners, his arm outstretched, shyly holding out his hand for a “high five.” So cute!

I gave him a high five and he broke out into a huge grin. Remember what I shared about the thrill of being a participant and not a spectator? I’m sure that little boy has forgotten me, but I’ll remember him for a while.

Here’s my ode to Emily:

Without her blog, I don’t think I would have run this race today. This is why: Note in the accompanying race photo that the temperature is 45 degrees Fahrenheit, I’m wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a running skirt, and no leggings. From the outset, one of my biggest barriers with exercise, particularly running, has been dealing with feeling hot. It makes me extremely anxious and managing that anxiety has been an ongoing challenge.

In the past, I’ve managed it during the winter months on my home treadmill by arranging multiple fans to blow on me at once and by pouring water over my head (yes, really).

In the spring and fall months, I would run outdoors and stash water bottles along my route so I could pour water over my head (yes, really).

I live in the Northeast of the U.S. where it gets humid… not Israeli coastal plain humid, but still plenty humid. The late spring and summer months have naturally been my most difficult challenge. One I have not been particularly successful at meeting. Last summer, for instance, I abandoned my running routine completely and tried Zumba. I thought I could keep my same fitness level with Zumba and pick up where I left off with running in the fall. Wrong.

This year, around mid-May, on cue, my anxiety started to return. How to get through the summer? How not to repeat my past negative pattern?

Then I read Emily’s blog post, Non-Negotiable. I’m inspired by most of Emily’s blog, but her message in this post was one that really spoke to me. And I started doing something I never, ever (ever!) considered as a viable option.

I started getting up at dawn to go running. Dawn as in… 5am.

At that time of day it was just cool enough that I could tolerate it. And here’s the kicker about running at sunrise. Turns out I loved it!

I stayed realistic. I didn’t overdo or try to improve. And of course there were mornings where I would wake up feeling anxious and not want to get up and run. But my non-negotiable was to get through the summer months running three miles every other day. And that’s what I did.

In late July Emily formed Team Triumph and invited others to choose a race. Hmmm. I tucked that in my brain but wasn’t ready yet.

It was late August when the weather started to turn. I had gotten through the summer and I was still running. By now I had momentum on my side and I committed to train for and run the 10K.

And that’s what I did.

Thank you, Emily. Shine on!

And thank YOU Daphne for being so inspirational! When I read about someone else’s experience like this, it really motivates me in my own training as well! 5am huh? Sounds like a great idea!