Yesterday I got my first FitBit Weekly Report. It was a surprise; I didn’t know they sent these out.

Here’s what it looked like:

January 2-8, 2012

Thoughts:

- Given that I wore the FitBit while running, I realized that I lead a *really* sedentary life. Take away those running steps + miles and who knows what these numbers would be. I guess that’s to be expected when you sit in front of a computer all day. It’s a good thing I like to work out.

- Now that I see how many steps I take a day, I have started taking the stairs to my second floor cubicle. Yes, that means I’ve been taking the elevator every day for the past 4 years that I’ve been at my job.

- The weight change is misleading. I didn’t always weigh myself at the same time every day. Just goes to show you how much your weight fluctuates throughout the day.

- I have actually gotten at least 7 hours of sleep every night during this time period, but actual time slept was an average of 2 hrs and 41 min? Anyone know how much REM we actually need every night?

- Confession: I hit refresh on my browser several times during the day and get giddy every time I see the numbers increase. It’s influencing me to make more active choices. There have been several times in the past week that I have parked in the farthest spot away from the door just to see how many extra steps I take. I guess this means the FitBit is a good influence on me.

It’s about that time of year when everyone is setting goals for the New Year. Most people set fitness goals, so if you are someone who is just getting into fitness, I’m going to share a bit of advice that I wish someone gave me 8 years.

1. Take a Before Photo

Not only will it serve as motivation to stick with it, but also once you reach your goals, you will want to compare it to an After Photo to see how far you’ve come. This is something that I wish I did.

2. Take Your Measurements

When I first started training with Dave in January 2004, he took my measurements at the gym. I hated it, but he insisted on it, and once I started seeing progress, I would always ask him to send me a copy so I could visually see my progress. The things that we measured were: weight, % of body fat, fat mass, lean mass, neck, chest, biceps, waist, hips, upper thighs, and calves.

In the beginning we revisited these measurements every 3 months or so, then eventually every 6 months. We don’t take these measurements anymore, being that my fitness goals have changed, but I do like to do this at the start of every year.

3. Keep a Training Journal

I have periodically kept journals over the years, using different notebooks, spreadsheets, online tools, etc. As I just mentioned, when my goals started to change, so did the tools I used. The most recent ones that I’ve used are:

Daily Mile

This is an online social community primarily for those who run, bike and swim. It has a very strong community feel with people offering support, encouragement and motivation. I like to use it to read about the workouts that others, especially real-life-friends are doing.

I also use it to track the mileage on my running shoes, as well as to see charts like this:

Running Log

I started using this with a group of colleagues because we had a contest to see who could run 500 miles in a year. Since it started, almost everyone in the group has either quit the company or stopped running. There are only 2 of us left to use it and all we do is post mileage. There are no details about the run, no social aspect — it’s about seeing how many miles we are logging.

Daily Mile rounds off numbers, so if you are looking for exact mileage, this is a good one to use. I also like how it projects what your totals will be.

Buckeye Outdoors

My running coach uses this platform to post our training plans, so I upload my Garmin and other workout data for him to see.

To be honest, I haven’t used nor explored any of the reporting features here.

As for calorie tracking, I’ve used Calorie King, Daily Burn, and My Fitness Pal and now I just use the FitBit.

Calorie King and Daily Burn offers free vs. paid services. As you would expect, all the useful stuff is in the pay option. I found Calorie King to have a very, very good food database. At the time that I used Daily Burn, it was still relatively new and it’s food database wasn’t as complete. I had to keep entering the nutritional values of the foods I ate, which was too much work for me.

My Fitness Pal is free, offering the same functionality as the other two’s paid options. The interface was the user-friendliest of all 3 and the food database was more than sufficient. It also offers a free mobile app. And now, as of this week, I started using the FitBit, which interestingly enough, is about to introduce a partnership with My Fitness Pal. I’m intrigued to see how that is going to work.

All of the above tools are useful, but none covered everything that I want to track in the manner that I want to track it. So taking elements from each platform, as well as from the book, “The Competitive Edge” and the Believe I Am journal (a holiday gift), I created my own spreadsheet:

It has a row for each day of the month, as well as one last column on the end for “Comments” where I write anything else I want to notate about that day.

I like using Excel because I can sort and filter the data to see correlations, which is the whole point of why you should keep a Training Journal to begin with. And tonight, I experienced exactly why this is important.

As I’ve mentioned, over the past week my R foot has started hurting again. I say again because it is the same foot that I injured back in June that sidelined me for a month. Though it doesn’t hurt as bad now as it did then, the type of pain is the same.

As I’ve also mentioned, I’ve been doing lots of strength training that includes running lots of stairs and doing hill repeats. I’ve noticed that my calves, especially the R one has gotten REALLY tight. I have tried to roll it out and use the stick, but I can barely make a dent in it and it’s almost sore to the touch.

{there is a point to this story, I promise…}

During this evening’s massage appointment, my therapist told me that my R calf had 2 knots the size of golf balls (one on each side). As he worked through the knots; i.e. tortured me, he asked if I was having any foot issues. I said, “YES” and asked him if the foot issue and tight calf could be related. He said they absolutely were and then pointed out where different tendons and muscles (stuff way more scientific than I know about) would affect each other.

As he went on about this, I had a flashback to this past May. I had gotten a post-marathon massage where the therapist told me I had “something going on” in my R calf that needed to pay attention to it. Well I didn’t and shortly thereafter I sustained the aforementioned foot injury.

Although I faithfully logged all my workouts, admittedly they were mostly for selfish reasons so that I could see numbers on pretty charts. I haphazardly notated the details that Garmin doesn’t track. Had I done so, I might have made the calf/foot correlation on my own.

This is one of my goals for the New Year, to be thorough with recording the details of my workouts. Not only is it useful to go back and review your progress, but it also becomes reference material on yourself.

A FitBit is a tiny, wearable device, sort of like a pedometer that tracks your everyday steps, activities, calories burned, sleep, etc to help you stay fit. You can log your food, workouts, track your weight, blood pressure, and heart rate, keep a health journal – it does almost everything.

A friend first introduced the FitBit over a year ago. It looked pretty cool so I ended up getting one, but my Mom wanted it so I ended up giving it to her. This holiday season I decided to gift one to myself, which turned out to be no easy task. FitBit’s are so popular, that they are hard to find! I finally got my hands on one earlier this week and have been wearing it for the past couple of days. I must say, for a Type A person who tracks *everything*, it’s love at first sight.

During the day, I clip the FitBit to my waist and it sync’s with my computer when I’m within 15 feet of it. There is also a base that you can hook it up to for faster syncing/charging. It gives you a dashboard view of:

Food Log

After using several different online food journaling programs over the past several years, I’ve found that the key for me to be consistent about doing this is if the program has a good food database. If it doesn’t, and I have to enter in all the foods that I eat, I’m unlikely to keep it up.

Thus far, I haven’t had any problems with entering what I ate into the FitBit food database. It’s pretty extensive and conveniently populates the fields with whatever it is I’m trying to enter.

During set-up, I entered in what my dietary goals are and it tracks my log against those goals.

Personally, I find the breakdown of nutrient percentages the most useful to helping me maintain a balanced diet. However, as you can see, I had a carb-heavy day; what can I say, I’ve been obsessed with orzo lately. The point is, it helps me put it into context.

Activities

Like the food log, you can also enter in your workouts. I’ve used the FitBit during my workouts over the past 2 days so I didn’t enter it since it already tracked my calories and steps while I was working out.

To give you some context, my activities today consisted of a 4-mile run, an easy 30-min workout on the bike trainer, and then carrying four 20-gallon containers between my house and my storage unit located across the street. I don’t know how accurately it tracked the bike trainer distance (I’m not tracking this mileage so it isn’t a concern to me), but it did pick up the calories burned.

Sleep

As I have mentioned in many previous posts, I am not a good sleeper, so the Sleep Tracking feature is easily the most intriguing to me.

At night, I wear the FitBit in a wristband that came with the product. I press a button on it right when I’m going to sleep and it starts it’s tracking.

So while I got a lot of hours of sleep, less than half of it was “quality sleep”. I “woke up” 17 times during the night! Fascinating!

Overall I’m finding that the device and web site is very easy to use, has resourceful online community, and also offers mobile apps! I think the FitBit is really going to help me stay on track with some of the things I want to accomplish next year. I like what I see so far!

It’s been a week since I last ran and my foot is still not feeling the greatest. Actually, both feet are not happy right now.

The metatarsal area in my right foot that was bothering has improved and I do have a greater range of motion. But now the heel has started hurting. In addition, the bone inside of my left ankle is also acting up. I basically have a double limp going on.

I’ve been icing the areas and doing lots of calf stretches. In fact, I even put this post-it up to remind me to stretch.

This evening I had an ART appointment with my chiropractor, Dr. Eva.

She first worked out some massive adhesions on my right hamstring. Despite all the yoga, stretches and foam rolling that I do, it was still really tight and I actually heard “clicking” sounds of every adhesion she worked through.

{Adhesions, as explained to me, are knots and scar tissue that develop in muscles. When the muscle heats up, the fascia rubs against each other and gets sticky. If not properly stretched, the fibers can stick together, creating adhesions.}

Next she worked on to my ankles. ART done on fleshy regions of the body is painful enough, but when done on an area that’s not so meaty is borderline torture. I found myself clenching my fists, gritting my teeth and taking deep breaths as she worked the area. She kept asking me how I was doing and I lied and kept saying, “Oh I’m okay” when in fact I wanted to yell, “Stop! Stop!”

Finally she worked on both feet. I’d never had ART done on my feet before and I was a surprised to find out that the treatment is a little different. Instead of using her hands and movement to treat the area, she used a wooden roller to treat the fascia in both feet. While it wasn’t super painful, it all wasn’t comfortable.

As the session ended, I asked her if she thought I had Plantar Fasciitis. To my surprise she said she doesn’t think it’s developed to that yet, but I do have some tendinitis going on and I am prone to PF because my feet are on the flatter side. I swear I have the worst genes…

It’s been 4 hours since my appointment and I’m already feeling some improvement. That’s the thing about ART, it’s so painful, but it provides some pretty fast relief. Fingers crossed that the progress continues.

I log my workouts in various places for a number of different reasons.

- Garmin Connect: This is where I sync my Garmin to so it automatically tracks all my running stats.

- RunningLog.com: Last year we had a challenge at work to see who could run 500 miles. So we used this site to log our miles so we could see everyone’s progress. Sadly, there are only 2 of us who kept up with it…and we still do. Why not, right?

- Buckeye Outdoors: This is what my coach uses to upload my weekly workouts, and what I sync my Garmin to, as well as log the other non-running workouts so he can see my results.

- MyFitnessPal: I just log my calories, so I can see how many “extra” calories I’m allotted for the day.

- Daily Mile: This is my most favorite one. Why? Because it’s a social media site for like-minded people. I’ve met a lot of really interesting people via this site who are incredible athletes that I learn from and mutually support.

But selfishly, I’ve also kept up with logging miles at this site just so I could see my end of year report with stats like this:

{this is swimming, spinning and running miles}

and this…

{who knew how many donuts I burned?!?}

and this…

Seems like a lot of maintenance to keep up all these sites, but it honestly doesn’t take more than 10 minutes. As soon as I’m home after a workout, I log everything while its still fresh in my mind. Seeing all this data at the end of the year makes me glad that I kept up with it.

Here’s a summary of the entire Daily Mile Community:

{what happened to the Bay Area?!?}

Amazing!

It occurred to me last night, as I have chatting with a friend at Yoga class, that I never wrote a post about my experience with at the RunSafe Clinic at UCSF. I feel like I’ve told so many people about it already, but probably best to document it for posterity, and anyone else who may be interested in it.

Over the past year, I’ve shared all of the ailments that I’ve had, which to me, sounded like more than a normal runner should have. I’ve been through physical therapists, sports medicine doctors and chiropractors, all of which have helped me tremendously, but none of them could tell me why I was getting hurt and how to fix it.

I’ve had a couple of gait analysis done, some of which I’ve blogged about, some of which I haven’t, all of which I walked away from not really understanding what just happened.

A couple of months ago I read an article in Runners World magazine about a clinic called “RunSafe” that takes a proactive group approach to evaluating a person’s running form. What that means is that a group of specialists evaluates a runner, preferably before an injury occurs. I was intrigued, and when I read that this clinic was in my own backyard at UCSF, I decided I must do it.

The very next day I googled it and found their web site. Unfortunately, when I clicked on “View Upcoming Clinics” I learned that there were no available openings. So I sent them an email and asked to be put on a Wait List.

Just a few short days later I received a response notifying me that a new schedule of clinics had just been posted. I quickly scheduled myself for a slot.

When I got arrived (at the brand new UCSF Campus by AT&T Park), I was unsure what to expect (their web site didn’t have as much details as it does now). What I found was 3 other runners who would be in the clinic with me.

Similarly, there were 4 stations set up that we would each rotate through:

1. Biomechanical Video Analysis

We were told to wear dark, close-fitting running clothes and as I found out, it was for this station. They first marked my body was marked with fluorescent tape, then had me run at a comfortable pace on the treadmill for about 15 minutes while they videotaped me from various angles. After the taping was done, they had me stay on the treadmill to do a few stretches and exercises, like one-legged squats, etc.

2. Strength & Flexibility

This station was conducted by a very knowledgeable physical therapist (i.e., I wouldn’t mess with her) that put me through more stretches and exercises to measure my strength and flexibility. It was a pretty thorough examination that was observed by a few up and coming interns. (I would go more into detail here, but I honestly can’t remember a lot of the specifics.

3. Nutrition

The third station was with a sports nutritionist. To be honest, I didn’t think I had much to discuss with the nutritionist, as I have one that I meet with on a monthly basis. But it was still an informative discussion ranging from what I eat before a run, how many nutrients do I consume, what do I eat during a run, when to eat, etc.

4. Foot/Footwear Assessment

The final station was with a foot specialist who analyzes feet and shoes. He looked at arches, calluses, wear and tread on shoes, etc. One of the other runners in my clinic brought in about 5-6 pairs of shoes and took full analysis of the therapist’s expertise (not kidding).

In all, the evaluation time took about 90 minutes, including a body screening of height, weight, etc to measure BMI, body fat, etc.

When everyone’s analysis was completed, the runners were asked to leave the room while the group of experts consulted together to relay their findings. When we were brought back into the room there were 4 chairs set up in front of a huge projection screen – kinda like a theatre.

They proceeded to run through each of our evaluations, station-by-station, including playing our each of our gait analysis videos.

It was then that I realized what the fluorescent tape on our bodies were for. They were reference points to show us the movement and/or abnormalities of our form. Other gait analysis that I’d had done never did that so when I watched video, I never knew what to actually look for. This process made it very clear. They also drew lines across different areas of the body, for example, across the hips, so you could see if one side dropped lower than the other while running – an indication of a muscle imbalance. Seeing the others’ videos gave me a point of reference – if I was doing something wrong, I could look at someone else’s video to see how it should be done correctly. These 2 things, to me, were the most valuable part of the experience.

The next day I was emailed a complete 15-page PDF report of my analysis from each station, along with the exercises and stretches (photos included) that I need to improve my form. A few days later a DVD was mailed to me with the video of my gait analysis.

The therapists made a point of telling us that no one really knows what the “norms” are for a runner, so they are using the clinic as a study to evaluate all the different runners that go through the process to see what the commonalities area. And while the program is so new, a follow-up program has yet to be developed, but they are looking to maybe have something like a 6-month follow-up to see how runners have progressed. I guess that means I need to be doing my exercises more consistently! ☺

But in all seriousness, if you have the opportunity to go through this program, or one similar to it, I would highly recommend it. As I mentioned before, I’d had a couple of gait analysis done before, so while not all of the findings were new to me (some were), it reinforced what I had been previously told, and/or suspected; but the experience and analysis was a lot more thorough than anything else I’ve received.

{thumbnail photo is an instagram of various places that i’ve run at}

So one thing I didn’t mention in my SFM recap is that I ran the last 7 miles with a numb foot.

I’ve been having lower left leg problems. At first I didn’t know what it was. Shin splits? Calf strain? Achilles tendonitis? You get the idea of the general area that I’m talking about. And now, in the past week, my foot has started going numb. The numbness usually starts 5-6 miles into a run. And while it doesn’t hurt, there isn’t any feeling. Thinking there may be a damaged nerve, my coach told me to see a chiropractor.

Having never seen a chiropractor before I went to where any typical Bay Area resident would go to find one — Yelp! But these days I’m skeptical about Yelp (you know, the whole “mafia” theory), but I did find a couple of possibilities. I even called one to make an appointment and they were closed. Then I remembered my friend Brandon! He’s a chiropractor at home in Hawai’i but did his schooling here. I emailed him to ask for a referral and within the hour a little Yahoo instant messenger window popped up from him with a referral!

By that afternoon I found myself sitting in Dr. Eva’s office, going over my entire medical history from the past year. I told her that I had just run part of SFM the day before, and was planning to run a full in October — to which she asked, “Did you get into Nike?” She is a runner too! After the assessment, she took x-rays and scheduled me to come back the next day for my diagnosis and plan of action…

You know its never a good thing when the doctor goes, “I have good news, and bad news”…

The diagnosis:
- R leg is anatomically longer than my left leg. That’s how I was born.
- R hip is higher an L
- L hip is misaligned
- Scar tissue from last year’s hamstring strain is causing muscle and nerve problems.

And that was the good news. The bad news? Unrelated to the above, my neck is worse off than my lower body! My neck doesn’t have a natural curve making me hold way too much weight and tension in my shoulders.

This explains a lot; it really does. Like, why the only pillow I can sleep comfortably on is a buckwheat (or as some like to call it, “granola”) pillow. Or why I always have sore shoulders. Or why I could never do some of those Pilates inversion moves. And as for the right leg being longer than the left? My aunt says that’s why I’m 5 “and a half” feet tall . And my Dad said they knew about it and that’s why I used to wear braces on my legs when I was little (I’d totally forgotten about that).

So for the next 4 weeks, I’ll be seeing Dr. Eva three times a week for treatment. In all honesty, I could not be more excited about this. For the past year I’ve gone to see my PCP a number of times about these issues, that I *knew* were all related. All she would tell me was, “Here’s a prescription for ibuprofen. Rest for 2 weeks and come back and see me if the symptoms persist.” So I’d go back and then she’d send me to physical therapy. I went through 2 rounds of physical therapy that were great. They put a band aid on the symptoms and made me feel better. But deep down, I never felt that the root of the problems were addressed.

Dr. Eva will be using Active Release Techniques (ART) to treat me. In my first session, she worked on my hamstring, glutes and psoas. How did it go you ask? Well, have you ever had *your* psoas worked on? It was so painful, I thought I was going to die. But by that evening, my muscles already felt better…looser. She also adjusted my neck and almost immediately I felt so much tension released. And for the first time in over 2 months, I had a good night’s sleep.

This evening Brandon called me to get the scoop. After discussing everything I’d been feeling, he started to tell me what the possibilities could be, to which I kept saying, “Yeah, that’s what Dr. Eva said.” He laughed and said, “See Naoms, that’s why I sent you to her! We’re right on the same page!”

Between Dr. Eva and Dr. Brandon (still getting used to hearing that!) I feel like I’m in good hands and finally on the road to getting fixed. Relief.

(Photo credit: Thumbnail photo from http://www.12thpress.com)

When I went in for my RMR test, I scheduled a complete Fitness Assessment, which I completed last week. I was surprised the number of things that I was evaluated on. Here’s the list of tests and my results:

Resting Heart Rate
The Resting Heart Rate establishes a baseline measure of cardiovascular fitness. This number is also key when calculating your Heart Rate Zones for training.

My RHR is 65.

According to the chart, for my age group, its “Good.” I would have preferred “Excellent”, but when I look at the categories, “Poor”, “Below Average”, “Average”, Above Average”, “Good”, “Excellent”, “Athlete”, I guess its above a C average.

Body Composition
Body Composition is the amount of fat compared to lean body mass. This has a direct impact on health, activity level and life expectancy.

My body composition was 25.1%, which falls on the borderline of “Underfat” and “Healthy” for my gender age group. I almost made the trainer do this test again because I was skeptical of the results; I thought it would be higher.

BMI
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a tool that indicates weight status in adults.

The formula to calculate this is:

Weight in LBS x 703 / Height in inches x Height in inches

My BMI test results was 24.9 which falls into the “Normal” category. Had it been 25, it would have been in the “Overweight” category.

I’ve always been skeptical of the BMI because I’ve known other people who fell into the “Overweight” category when it was so obvious that they were anything but.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio
I had never heard of this metric before. When I asked about this, I was told that where you store your fat on your body is an indication of diseases you may be prone to have.

For example, if you carry more fat in your waist (aka “apple-shaped”), you could be prone to have such diseases as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Its better to carry fat in your hips (aka “pear-shaped).

This has everything to do with genetics. While you can’t change your DNA, you can take care to maintain a healthy weight by nutritious eating, exercise and healthy habits.

My Waist–to-Hip Ratio is .78.

According to the chart, this falls into the “Low” risk category. Most everyone in my family has high blood pressure and eventually get diabetes. Knowing that, at least for right now, I’m in the “Low” risk category was a relief to me.

Posture Assessment
For this test, I had to stand in front of a wall-sized chart and do a few squats with my arms raised above my head. I had to do this facing forward, on each side and facing backwards.

What the trainer was looking for in this assessment was any type of “kyphosis” or abnormal curves in the spine. Any imbalances can cause pain and soreness when the corresponding side has to compensate for the imbalance.

My results were a slight raise in my left shoulder and hip. This was not surprising to me at all being that last Fall I dealt with a pelvic misalignment on my left side. This is definitely something I need to take note of and pay closer attention to.

Aerobic Capacity
Now for the fun part, assessing my cardiovascular fitness. I was particularly interested in this test because the results will help me with my running.

“An Aerobic Fitness determines a body’s ability to perform an activity for a prolonged time and determines the body’s ability to transport and utilize oxygen for the release of energy in active muscles.”

To administer this test, I had to wear a heart monitor and walk on a treadmill, using the Fit Test setting. The goal was to have my heart rate reach a certain level. The test seemed to go on forever, with the treadmill constantly adjusting the incline and speed.

My “Run Race VO2 Value” aka “VO2 Max” is 40 ml/min/kg. According to the chart, this is “Good” (3rd in a 7 category scale). This is definitely an area that I want to improve on. When I am able to improve on this, I know I’ll see improved performance in my running.

As for my Training Zones, if you go by the standard calculation of 220-Age = Max HR, then my 65-85% HR zone is 143-167 bpm.

For me, I’m not quite sure how accurate that is because just a couple miles into a run and my Garmin is already (annoyingly) beeping that I’m passed this range. Britney, the trainer who conducted this Fitness Assessment, recommended that I go to a track and do some sprints/recovery intervals (taking myself to the point of puking) to see what my Max HR really is.

Flexibility
For this test, I had to use stretching machines, something I never even knew existed. We tested the flexibility of my quads and hamstrings. Surprisingly enough my left side was more flexible than my right side. I say surprisingly because the left side was where I was injured for most of last year.

Strength Test
To test my strength, she used a “submax” testing procedure. Essentially the goal was to see what the maximum weight was that I could do 1 rep of. This would calculate what my overall max strength is.

- Leg Press: 213 lbs
- Chest Press: 70.8 lbs
- Lat Pull Down: 90 lbs

I’m not going to lie; this was hard, really hard! Especially since the weight machines are programmed not to count a rep unless you went full range. No cheating was allowed!

Measurements
The last assessment is my measurements. I hadn’t had my measurements taken in about 4 years so I was anxious to see how the results compared:

-2006
Abdomen: Not measured
Hips: 38
Biceps: 10.5
Calves: 14
Thighs: 18.85
Waist: 29.5

-2010
Abdomen: 30.5
Hips: 37
Biceps: 11
Calves: 13.75
Thighs: 20
Waist: 28.9

I was surprised, and relieved. I thought my measurements would be a lot bigger than they were 4 years ago.

Conclusions
This was a lot of data to digest, and a week later I’m still trying to make sense of what it all means. While I’ve had components of this assessment done over the years, I have never had such a complete fitness evaluation performed on me before.

With running, I’m always looking at numbers; i.e., pace, distances, elevation, calories, heart rates, etc; so naturally, I am thrilled to have these metrics to give me a base of knowing where I am today. Its recommended to do this on an annual basis, and a year from now, I will go through this again and see how I’ve improved, or digressed.

Its important to note that there are so many individual factors that go into these tests – genetics, the type of training (if any) that you are doing, diet, your stress level, and existing medical conditions. But knowing the state of your health can be a guiding factor in helping you make decisions about your personal health moving forward. What you don’t know “can” hurt you!

For being a Monday, yesterday was a pretty great day for me! Good things just kept happening all day long!

I started the day having to skip my morning run. Normally I’d be pretty grumpy about it, but this time, I had good reason. I had an 8 am appointment with the nutritionist that my health coach recommended.

Nutritionist Appointment
My appointment was at the health center that’s located on my company’s campus in the South Bay. Its a full service medical facility, complete with a fitness center. It was my first visit to the facility and I was very impressed with it. Everything was state of the art – but more on that in a minute.

We began my appointment by discussing what my goals are. I shared with her that right now I’m about 10 lbs heavier than I was a year ago and I don’t understand why. I workout more times in a week than there are days and I stick to a fairly healthy diet. For the most part, I avoid processed foods. The only indulgence I’d allowed myself was dark chocolate granola. But since the scale keeps creeping up, I stopped eating it last week, replacing it with steel-cut oats.

Before I could even finish my story, she was already shaking her head. She said, “When you are training for a major event, like a marathon, you cannot – CANNOT – lose weight. Get that idea out your head right now.” Tough love – I was already loving it. I told her that I wasn’t aiming to get sickly thin, I just wanted to be back at my happy weight.

I reviewed all the things that I usually eat, when I eat them, and what my training schedule was. What she had to say next shocked me. She said, “This may not be what you want to hear, but…I don’t think you’re eating enough food.” Wha? She went on to explain my training schedule was pretty intense for my body and that I was likely burning calories and nutrients at faster rate than I was replacing them. She said that my body was probably trying to hang on for whatever nutrients were left. So while I was eating the right kinds of food, it just wasn’t enough of it. She recommended that I:

1. Increase my calorie intake. Not by much, but by a couple hundred a day.
2. Start taking a multi-vitamin
3. Start taking a calcium supplement, one with vitamin D

Then she set me up for an appointment at the Fitness Center to get a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test so that we can truly analyze what was going on with my metabolism and determine how many calories I actually need. My test is scheduled for Friday and I cannot be more excited for it. For the past few weeks I’ve had a growing fascination for the biochemistry of food and the physiology of exercise. It will be great to figure out some of what exactly is going on with my body.

Before I left, she gave me one nutritional tip for running: Immediately after, i.e., the minute you are done running, eat carbs. No fat, no protein, just carbs. It can be a banana, or even GU. She said that the human body needs that replenishment as soon as the run is over. I think the GU would be the easiest for this, especially if you’ve driven to your running location. I’m going to try this on my 11-miler this weekend and see if it makes a difference. Stay tuned.

After my appointment, I walked downstairs and decided to checkout the Fitness Center. One of the trainers took me on a tour of this state of the art facility. He explained that when you sign-up for membership, you receive an account where you (or your trainer, if you sign-up for sessions) can enter your workout plan. Then, each piece of equipment in the center is equipped with a computer where you can punch in your account number and voila – your plan pops up! No need to carry around a piece of paper with your workout notes. When you’re done with that piece of equipment, you can enter what you did so that you (or your trainer) can track your progress online. Genius, eh?! Every gym should have this!

He also showed me that each piece of cardio equipment has a flat-screen tv and a docking station for your iPod, iTouch or iPhone. They also offer Vo2 Max testing, body fat testing and other types of fitness assessments. Plus massage therapy. I am so dropping in to this gym whenever I have to work in the South Bay.

Old Friends, New Friends
At lunch, I met up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time. She likes to joke that the company “outsourced” her overseas for 2 years. She just moved back to the Bay and we were able to meet-up for lunch. It was so fun to catch up! We may not be super close friends, but she’s just one of those people who makes you feel better, just by being around her. She’s someone who really inspires me in a positive way and I’m just so happy to have her back in town again.

Later in the afternoon, I made a connection with an online friend. We’d been casual online friends, having a shared interest in fitness and reading each others’ blogs. Well, come to find out, while we live on opposite coasts, we both work in the same professional space! She’s coming out to the Bay Area for an industry conference next month and we made plans to meet up! I’m so looking forward to it!

Blog Makeover v.4.0
If you’re reading this in Google Reader, or an RSS feed, go ahead and click on over to the actual Web site. Surprise! There’s a new look to it! After last month’s blog makeover, I decided to keep experimenting with its “look.” I worked with an amazing Web designer, The Blog Fairy, to create this new look for my site. She was so easy to work with! I shared with her just a few bits of information about me, my interests and the types of things I like to write about, and she put together this design in lightning speed! She patiently made edits I requested and provided sound guidance when I needed it. If you’re thinking of giving your blog a refresh, I highly recommend her!

Whew, who knew Monday could be such a happy day (for a change)! Let’s hope Tuesday gets even better!

About a month ago, I wrote a post on the Health Coach that I have through work that’s part of my insurance benefits. Well yesterday was my monthly check-in session that I had forgotten all about! It was such a nice surprise to get a phone call from my Coach!

We reviewed my fitness goals which are:

* to run my first marathon at the end of April
* to complete my first baby triathlon at the end of September (I refuse to use the term “sprint” because there will be no sprinting on my part).

Being relatively new to swimming and cycling, my plan all along has been to build a base through the cross-training that I’m doing while training for the marathon. This way, I can learn the fundamentals of each sport, then start to seriously training for them after the marathon. That would give me 5 months to be able to swim 400 meters in open water and ride 11 miles.

During my previous sessions, we’ve had in-depth discussions on training plans and my diet. My coach provided me with these valuable training and nutritional resources:

Training:
* The ABC’s of Fitness
* Workouts
* Marathon Training Plans
* Swim Workouts

Nutrition
* The Food Pyramid
* Live Strong
* Healthy Eating Tips

Today, he also recommended that I visit Crossfit.com to find more information on training.

Then I unleashed a bunch of questions on him:

Q: Now that I’m taking a Strength & Conditioning class twice a week, I’ve dropped my weight-lifting workouts from twice a week to just once a week. Is this a good or bad thing?
A: Adding more muscle could throw my body out of whack. Its probably better to stick with the no-weights Strength & Conditioning workouts because it builds overall fitness which he believes will help me better prepare for my goals. You can’t go wrong when you vary your workouts; it keeps your body on its toes.

Besides, in ancient days, there were no weights, there was only physical movement and labor. Weights were an added bonus over time. However, be cognizant of any feelings of weakness anywhere in your body and incorporate light weights if/when necessary.

Q: And as for swimming?
A: Definitely continue with the swimming, but like he mentioned above, variety is good so I should mix things up. Use a kick-board and pull buoy. (I was so excited to tell him I just started doing that!).

Q: “I don’t take any vitamins or supplements because I feel that a balanced diet will provide me all the nutrients I need. Given the events I’m training for, would you recommend that I take any supplements?”
A: First he gave the disclaimer that he isn’t a nutritionist, but could only share what he does personally, which is to drink a protein shake after a game or hard workout, primarily for muscle recovery.

Then he told me that through this coaching program I have free access to a nutritionist! I was so excited to hear this! I have not been very happy with my scale (actually I’ve been flat out angry with it) lately and I know for a fact its definitely not for a lack of working out. I mean I am either running, swimming or working out at the gym for 10-12 hours a week, with two-a-days on Mondays, Wednesdays and sometimes Thursdays and/or Fridays. So I know the increasing scale is due to diet, and probably stress too.

So I made an appointment to see the nutritionist next week! Needless to say, I can’t wait!

The last thing he left me with was this information on Sports Nutrition for Athletes. These are just basic nutritional rules that I’m sure many of us already know, but its always nice to be reminded of them:

The Basics of Good Nutrition:
* Less than 30% of calories consumed daily should come from from fat.
* Less than 10% of the fat calories consumed daily should come from saturated fat.
* Drink a minimum of 8 to 10 glasses of water per day.
* Never skip breakfast!
* Eat when you feel hungry, not when the clock says it is time to eat.
* To make sure you are getting enough of all the vitamins and minerals you need, make sure your meals have a variety of colors. The more colors of foods you eat, the better your chance of getting all of the nutrients you need.
* Consume a majority of carbohydrates as complex carbohydrates (potatoes, pasta, rice and bread) rather than refined carbohydrates (soft drinks, candy, cakes and sugar sweetened food).

The Basics About Carbohydrates:
* Carbohydrates should contribute 60-75% of calories every day.
* Eating a high carbohydrate diet all of the time can increase endurance.
* Eat a high carbohydrate snack or meal within two hours after exercising to help replenish glycogen stores. At least 300 calories of carbohydrates are recommended for a 150 pound person. Depending on your weight, you may need a little more or less carbohydrates to replace your glycogen stores.
* Example of a carbohydrate snack: 1 cup of orange juice plus 1 bagel or, 1 bowl of cereal with milk and 1 banana or, 1 low fat granola bar and 1 cup fruit juice.

The Basics About Protein:
* The optimal protein intake for most athletes is 15% of total calories.
* Example: An athlete requiring 2,200 calories per day needs approximately 82 grams of protein per day. Five ounces of meat and 3 cups of milk provide 59 grams of protein. The remaining 23 grams can be obtained by eating starches like rice, pasta and cereal in amounts recommended each day.
* Adequate protein must be available for muscle building.

The Basics About Fat:
* An optimal sports diet can contain up to 25% of calories from fat or about 60 grams of fat per day for an athlete consuming 2,200 calories.
* Overeating fat generally results in under eating carbohydrates. Eliminating fatty foods is best.

I’ve been using the Daily Burn for a full month now and I love seeing the breakdown of my daily diet – how much of it was Carbs, Fat and Protein. I also like being able to scan the UPC bar code of a food product and having it automatically be entered as “a food I created.” It definitely takes more effort to track my diet this closely, but for me, I’ve found that its necessary to keep my diet on track.

NOTE: One thing I don’t like on the Daily Burn is that, in my opinion, its functionality is limited when it comes to logging your workouts. So when my workouts fit within their framework, I’ll enter it, mostly so I can see my caloric balance for the day. But as for keeping a fitness journal, I use the Daily Mile.

Workout Update
Wednesday AM: Total Body Workout
Wednesday PM: Interval Run on Treadmill
Thursday AM: Swim

For the first time in weeks, I have no plans for Thursday night! I’m debating if I should do anything or just rest. I’m leaning towards resting. I once read in an article that you need to rest to “let your body absorb your training.” So that’s what I’ll probably be doing tonight – as I finally watch the season premiere of Lost! I have a love/hate relationship with that show – but I’ll leave that for another day.

Happy Thursday!