Goal Setting Exercise

I am working on a brand new program that includes a running plan, strength training for runners, an injury prevention tool box and a nutrition guide. 

Before starting any new running, training or healthy-living program (we don't "diet" around here) it is a good idea to take some time to think about your goals. After all, if you don't know where you want to go it's kind of hard to get there. Set clear goals before starting any new program. Write down your goals for the best results. Yes, on old fashion paper. Did you know when you write down your goals you are more likely to achieve them? Of course you still have to do the work, but the first step is to write them down.

BE SMART

Get specific. Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Instead of saying that your goal is to run faster, it is better to say you want to decrease your 5K time by 30 seconds per mile in 12 weeks by running four times per week, including three or four 20 minute strength training workouts and eating properly for running performance. Be specific as possible with a goal that you can measure, that is realistic and achievable within a reasonable timeframe.

FOCUS ON ACTION

Goals don't achieve themselves. Write down your goals then write down three to five things you can do every day (or every week) that will bring you closer to your goal. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds, your five action steps might be: 1. Eat mostly whole foods from natural sources 2. limit added sugars to 20-25 grams a day 3. walk 10K steps a day 4. Do a workout that gets your heart rate up for 30 minutes 3x a week 5. Sleep 8 hours a night. Then focus on action. You can't always control the outcome or timeline of achieving your goals, you can almost always control the actions. Focus on one new action at a time and build slowly over time. 

CHANNEL YOUR INNER FIVE YEAR OLD

The next step is to understand the why. Find your inner five year old. Did you ever tell a five year old to clean his room? But why? Because it's messy. Why? Because you left for school without putting your toys away. Why? Because we ran out of time and the bus was coming. Why? Because the bus driver is on a schedule. Why? Because our tax dollar pay him. And so on...

You want to lose weight? Why? To feel better. Why do you want to feel better? So I'll have more energy. Why do you want more energy? So I can do more things with my family without feeling worn out. Aha. The why is the family values. While you may want to lose weight to look sexier, there is often an underlying reason that helps connect you emotionally to your goal. If you want look skinnier so you can get more likes on instagram, you are less likely to achieve it. Find the reason that connects your goal with what you value in life.

Make sure you have a goal that you find meaningful. Make sure it is something you actually want to achieve instead of what you think you should want. Find your why. Dig deep to uncover your why for better success in achieving your goal. 

BE FLEXIBLE

Things change. Goals change. Sometimes you don't want what you thought you wanted six months ago. It's OK to change your goals as you go, in fact, it's a natural progression. It's not quitting. It's pivoting. It's evolving. It usually means you are growing. Don't feel the need to hold tight to goals that don't serve you anymore. When your goals no longer align with your values, it's time to pivot. 

SHARE YOUR GOALS AND JOURNEY

Some people say that social media is turning us all into cast members of The Walking Dead. People are walking into traffic and tripping into water fountains because they are too busy staring at that object permanently attached to their hand. But there are good things about the internet and social media. Leave the bad behind (caring about likes, drama and fake news) and embrace the good. Social media allows you to connect with like-minded people all over the world. If you are a knitter who loves basketball and techno music, there is probably more than one other person in this world with those same passions. You can find them on the internet. If you happen to love running, reading blogs, working out, alternative rock music and dogs, then hey, we should probably be friends, because that is what I love. 

Tell your friends and family your goals. If you want to expand your friend circle, tell like-minded folks on social media your goals. You're likely to find hundreds of supportive people ready to cheer you on. Use hashtag #strengthandrunninggoals to share online. Find me on Instagram or twitter and I'll be your virtual accountability buddy!

Like this post? It helps me a lot when you share with your friends and followers on social media.

Tweet

Coach Lea

Rate of Perceived Exertion: How to Determine Running Pace and Effort + Interval Workout

I am working on a new strength training and running program. It will include running workouts as well as short runner-specific strength workouts that can be completed after your runs on easy effort days. I am writing the program for a wide audience (hopefully, cross your fingers and toes) so I have to be more general than I would be with my own clients. Since I don't know your running background, experience or injury background, I can't give you specifics on what paces or distances you should run. As I learned in my Precision Nutrition training, don't "should" all over your clients. It's not about what you should do, it's about what you are ready, able and willing to do.

For example, if I assign a 10 minute mile pace for three miles as an "easy" day run, this may not be so easy for a brand new runner. On the other hand, if I assign a 9 minute mile pace for five miles as a tempo run, it may not be challenging enough to achieve tempo for a more experienced runner. 

On my programs, I define runs as "easy runs" and "interval runs" and I leave it up to you to decide what those paces mean to you. If you try to hit someone else's arbitrary paces before your fitness level dictates it, you'll only end up frustrated and possibly injured.

We solve this issue by using the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) chart. It is very easy to follow. You base your pace on your perceived level of effort. By determining your own paces based on your current fitness level you will be able to grow with the program as you get faster and stronger. 

THE TALK TEST | RPE CHART

Your RPE can be determined by the talk test.

RPE:1 No effort. You are probably sitting.

RPE:2-3 Light effort. Breathing is extremely easy. You may be walking at a leisurely pace.

RPE: 4-6 Moderate effort. You are working a little harder, maybe a jog, but you can carry on a full conversation at this pace without gasping for air between words or sentences. 

RPE: 7-8 Hard effort. You can speak a sentence or two at a time before having to taking a gasp of breath.

RPE: 9 Extremely hard effort. You can get out a word or two but breathing is labored and talking is challenging.

RPE: 10 Maximum effort. You are completely out of breath and unable to talk. You would only be able to hold this pace for a very short time.

EASY RUN

When your plan has an easy run day, this would be a RPE level 2-6. You should always be able to talk through full sentences and conversations when at this pace. It is sometimes referred to as 'conversational pace.' For some this may be walking briskly, for others a jog. 

To get the most out of your training it is important to go easy on easy days and hard on hard days.

INTERVAL PACE

An interval is when you run at varying paces throughout the workout. It is an effective and time-saving way to get the most out of your run. In an interval run, I may ask you run one minute at a RPE of 7-8 followed by one minute at a recovery pace. Your speed for one speed minute interval should feel hard, but not an all out effort. It may take some experimenting to find out what that pace is for you.

RECOVERY PACE

The recovery period during the interval workout will be a RPE 2-3. After a period of a hard effort, you will return to a much easier pace in order to recover before repeating the interval. 

TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS

If you have the means to do it with a GPS watch or a treadmill, I recommend tracking your current paces at each RPE level. You may find when you start, as an example, that a RPE 2-3 is a 15 minute mile, a RPE 4-6 is a 10 minute mile and a RPE 7-8 is 9 minute mile. Then over time, as you get faster and more efficient, your paces will go down for each level. You may find after regular training that now your RPE for 2-3 is a 12 minute mile, RPE 4-6 is a 9:30 minute mile and RPE 7-8 is an 8:30. It's a great way to track improvements. Make sense? Have questions? I'm happy to help. 

RUNNING SPEED INTERVAL WORKOUT

Here is a workout that you can try to get a feel for the different paces. This is a very short and efficient workout. I recommend warming up with dynamic stretches before the run, then begin with the 3 minute RPE 2-3 pace as shown below.

You'll notice that as we start with a 3 minute interval at a moderate pace then a 2 minute interval at a harder pace and finish with one minute at an extremely hard pace. See what feels right for you at each of these work intervals.

The pace you choose for the 3 minute interval will feel harder than a walk, but not so hard that you can't maintain it for three minutes.

The 2 minute interval will be a little harder than your 3 minute interval, but still not so hard that you can't maintain the pace for two minutes

The final 1 minute interval will be just under an all-out effort. Good thing you only have to hold that pace for one minute.

Either cool down with a three minute recover walk (beginners) or repeat the workout (advanced).

Like this post? It helps me when you share with your friends and followers.

Tweet

Coach Lea

52 Healthy Habits: How to Self-Assess Your Food Journal

Welcome to the latest edition of 52 healthy habits, where we tackle a new habit each week in order to make incremental improvements to our lifestyle, week after week. You can follow along with my habits or do your own, the most important thing is that you are evaluating ways to improve your habits for an overall healthy lifestyle.

It's not about changing everything all at once, we already know that doesn't work. Choose one small thing and spend a week (or two) working on that new habit. After 52 weeks you won't believe the massive improvements to your life. 

If you've already tried the 'eat, workout and live perfectly' approach and that didn't work (hint: it hardly ever does) try the 'small habit' approach instead. It is a sustainable and healthy way to improve your healthy lifestyle. The truth is no matter how well you live there is always room for small improvements. What habit can you tackle next? This week we are talking about food journals. It's not enough to just keep a food journal, for the best results you need to learn how to self-assess your food journal. 

KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL

I recently wrote about how you don't need to count calories (if you don't want to). There are other ways to monitor intake that are just as effective and less hair-pull-out-y (that's a word, right?).

I do believe that keeping a temporary food journal can be very helpful in evaluating ways to improve your eating habits. If you write down everything you eat for three days you can get a pretty good idea of your regular eating habits. I would recommend Thursday through Saturday to start depending on your work or school schedule. Then do it once a month to monitor your progress.

This isn't about counting calories. In fact, you don't even need to record the calories (if you don't want to). Record what you eat and how much of each food (bonus points for how you were feeling when you ate). You could fill out a written journal, use Myfitnesspal (or other app) or, if you're a nerd like me, type it into a spreadsheet. The method or recording the data isn't as important as the evaluation of it. 

Just keeping track isn't enough. You want to keep track, then evaluate your journal for ways to make incremental improvements. This isn't about a whole diet overhaul. Choose one small thing and work to improve it. Practice your new habit for a week or two, then choose something else to improve. It's a slower process than you're probably used to, but it much more effective. How many times have you started a strict diet but eventually fell off the wagon after a few weeks or even days? I know I have. I just doesn't work. Even when it does work it's usually not sustainable, you eventually go back to your old habits and the weight comes back. 

Just for fun. Hah. Good thing is that you don't have to choose. Everthing in moderation, my friends.

Play the long game for long term results.

HOW TO SELF-ASSESS YOUR FOOD JOURNAL

One of the benefits of keeping a food journal is that you can review your eating habits and see what patterns emerge. If you determine that the pattern is not a healthy one, you can start to work to change it. Be as honest as you can be when keeping your journal. Don't try to eat "better" than usual on your journal days. It's not about judgement, it is just gathering data. Be sure to record everything, especially those hidden calories, like the sugar or cream in your coffee, that handful of chocolate from your co-worker's desk, any drinks or snacks. We often forget about these things, but at the end of the day or the end of the week, they can add up. 

Once you have your three day journal complete, it's time to evaluate it and look for ways to improve. 

LOOK FOR THE LOW HANGING FRUIT

Look for the low hanging fruit in your journal. These are the things that would be very easy for you to change. Sometimes we have habits that we aren't that attached to, they are just mindless habits. Maybe you eat pretzels with your lunch everyday, but you don't really enjoy them or even care. It would be easy to just stop eating the pretzels and eat an apple instead. You added a nutrient-dense food and removed a serving of processed carbs in one change.

Look for the easy changes, the easy wins. Some things may be harder to change and you can tackle those things when you're ready, start with the easy stuff. 

EVALUATE YOUR MACRONUTRIENTS

The macronutrients in foods are the protein, fats and carbohydrates. Most people need a balance of all three in order to eat a healthy sustainable diet. Look at each meal in your journal to make sure you have maximized your macro intake.

PROTEIN

Make sure you have a serving of protein at each meal. Protein can help you feel satiated and less hungry between meals. It is essential to build and maintain muscle. Look for ways to add lean proteins to each meal and snack. Check out this article I wrote on protein for some ideas.

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbs may have gotten a bad rap in the fitness industry, but the truth is carbs don't make your fat. Repeat after me: carbs don't make you fat. Evaluate if the carbs in your food journal are whole food choices in proper portions.

Evaluate your food journal for ways to improve your carb intake. Don't be afraid to add whole food or minimally-processed carbs, especially if you workout. Most people get enough carbs, that's not usually the problem. Work on improving the quality and portion sizes of your carbs. I wrote an article called How to cut carbs without cutting your sanity for more ideas. 

HEALTHY FATS

Carbs (and sugar) may be the villain these days, but when I was growing up fat was the bad guy. Fat makes you fat. Makes sense, right? Except it is not true. Consuming dietary fat does not increase body fat directly. Sometimes these beliefs are ingrained because that is what we were taught growing up. Look in your food journal and see where you can add proper portions of healthy fats like avocados, nuts, olive oil, dairy and fish or fish oils.

CONSIDER HOW YOU CAN MAKE HEALTHY SWAPS

Review your food journal for ways to make healthy swaps. Maybe you can add cinnamon to your coffee instead of sugar, maybe swap a processed snack for nuts, cheese or fruit. Evaluate your food journal for ways to improve the quality of the foods you eat by making healthy swaps..

• Replace processed carbs with natural carbs
• Replace processed fats with healthy fats
• Replace processed sugars with natural sugars

CONSIDER WHAT YOU CAN ADD 

People often look at their food journals and stress about what they have to remove in order to be healthier. I advise my clients to focus on what they can add in order to be healthier. If you love your morning waffles, then take a tip from one of my nutrition clients, she adds protein powder to the waffle mix. She still gets her morning waffles, which she loves, but she added protein powder to improve the macronutrient intake of the meal. Is it the most perfect thing to eat? Probably not. Is it a big improvement to the meal to add protein? Absolutely. We are not striving for perfect, we are striving for better than before. 

Don't focus on what to take away. Look for ways to add protein to each meal. Look for ways to add colorful vegetables and/or fruit to each meal. Look for ways to add healthy fats. Take it slow and sometimes the less-than-healthy stuff falls away naturally because you are filling up on the good stuff. 

ASK YOURSELF, HOW CAN I MAKE THIS A LITTLE BIT BETTER?

It's not about perfection. Look at the foods you eat and ask yourself, how can I make this meal a little bit better? Maybe you are at a burger restaurant with friends. How can you make it a little bit better? Ask for a whole wheat bun? Remove the bun all together? Share the fries with a friend? Order a side salad instead of fries? Order water instead of soda. Your aim isn't perfection, just to be a little bit better. Every meal offers an opportunity to evaluate. Maybe it's replacing your soda with iced tea. Or your diet coke with water. Maybe it's eating plain yogurt with berries instead of flavored yogurt with a lot of added sugar. Make it a game with every meal. What can I do to make this just a little bit better? Not perfect. Not even a lot better. Just a little bit better.

DON'T BE TOO CRITICAL OF YOURSELF

The food journal is not intended to be about self-criticism or judgement. You should never feel bad about your journal, only use it as a tool to improve. 

My client likes to eat ice cream at night. I mean Loves with a capital L. Not willing to give up. You know what? That's ok. You know why? Because if you are not ready to change, you won't change. We start with eating the icecream s-l-o-w-l-y. Then we reduce the portion of ice cream. Then reduce the numbers of days eaten each week. Slowly over time. We focus on other ways to improve his diet throughout the day. I know someday he will be ready to swap that ice cream for a healthier option (how about cottage cheese with fruit and berries?) but today is not that day. We'll get there. We are taking a long term approach and it takes time. Do what you can do today. You'll experience a mental shift over time and what seemed impossible or too uncomfortable to change last week, maybe be something you are ready to tackle next week. 

Ready to get started? Download my three day food journal. Remember, it's not about changing everything all at once. Choose one thing to improve upon and work on it for a week or two. Then choose something else. Rinse and repeat. Over time you'll be a nutritional rock star. 

If you are already subscribed, adding your email in order to download the 3 day food journal will not add you to the list twice. 

Need more personalized direction with your food journal? Need help with your nutrition strategy? Tired of dieting? Want help developing healthy habits while staying sane and balanced? My nutrition and lifestyle coaching program begins in June, get on the list for a big pre-sale discount. 

Need to catch up on the 52 healthy habits series? 

52 HEALTHY HABITS SERIES

week 1: Early to Rise
week 2: Track calories
week 3: Macro cycling
week 4: Morning pages (journaling)
week 5: Stop the scrolling (reading instead of social media)
week 6: Be a good student (take time for learning) 
week 7: Strength Training 15 minutes per day   
week 8: Eat more protein
week 9: Take a coffee break (break from caffeine)
week 10: Mindful eating
week 11: Create and follow a sleep ritual
week 12: 10 Easy ways to eat more vegetables 
week 13: A rant 
week 14: 10K steps a day
week 15: Drink more water

Like this post? It helps me when you share. 

Tweet

Coach Lea

5 WAYS TO FIT STRENGTH TRAINING INTO YOUR RUNNING ROUTINE

Runners are notorious for being runners. D'uh, right? I know because I was there. I love(d) to run. I worked out an hour a day 4-5 times a week and it was all running, because that is what I loved to do. I know I needed to exercise and now I found this exercise that I love. I was burning calories, moving my body and strengthening my heart. I was exercising. Most people don't even get off the couch. Yay me.

Then someone comes along and tells me that it's not enough...that I just can't run all the time, that I need to do more. Even worse, I need to do less of what I love and more of something that I love not-so-much, strength training. UGH.

At that time I may have had visions of spending hours in the gym, but I quickly learned it didn't have to be all-or-nothing. There are many ways to work strength training into a running routine, I could do both. I could focus on running as my priority while also getting in my strength training. Turns out strength training made me a better runner. I got faster, leaner and was less prone to those pesky running injuries. What's not to love about that? 

The first step is to stop thinking of strength training as something that you have to do instead of running, consider it something that you do to improve your running performance. Just like sports athletes work with a strength coach, a runner can improve at their sport by focusing on gaining strength, improving flexibility and fixing imbalances.

5 WAYS TO FIT IN STRENGTH TRAINING IN YOUR RUNNING ROUTINE

ADD 15 MINUTES TO THE END OF YOUR EASY RUN DAYS

It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. If you can't spend an hour on strength training, just add a quick strength workout to the end of your runs on easy days. Spend 15 minutes focusing on runner specific strength. Start with twice a week and add additional days as you get stronger.

BREAK UP THE MILES BY ADDING STRENGTH MOVES ALONG YOUR RUNNING ROUTE

Do it obstacle course style. Run a mile, then do 10 squats, 10 pushups and a 30 second plank. Repeat at the end of every mile. Vary your exercises on different days. On your next run do 10 lateral squats, 10 lunges and 10 tricep dips after each mile. 

Run past a park bench? Try these exercises. How about outdoor stairs? There are plenty of ways to break up your easy run with some strength training moves.

Try incorporating running intervals into your strength workouts, like this one. 

Go ahead get in those reps, your running partner can wait. 

DO TWO 30 FULL BODY WORKOUTS A WEEK

If you would rather focus on running during your run days, then start with two 30 minute full body workouts each week. Try doing compound movements (like squats with overhead press) and circuit-style workouts help maximize your time in the gym to get the most bang for your biceps. 

JOIN A CLASS OR BOOTCAMP

Misery loves company? Or so they say. Too bad bootcamps are fun and when you join with other like-minded people you can get in running shape while having fun. 

HIRE A COACH

If you can't muster up the motivation to do anything but run, it may be time to hire a coach for some accountability. A coach can help ensure you are getting the most of that time away from running. I am both a running coach and a personal trainer, so I can help you meet your running goals while building runner-specific strength to avoid injuries.  

One point I'd like to reinforce is that strength training should always be done on easy run days. High intensity runs should not compounded by additional strength work. In other words, don't max out on hill work or speed intervals, then try to get in strength training afterwards.

Always take rest days after hard or high intensity days. Remember that our body adapts to the effects of exercise (gets stronger, faster) during rest, not during the workout itself. Always give adequate time for your body to rest and repair for maximum results. Got it? Good. 

Like this post? Please consider sharing. 

Tweet

Coach Lea

QUICK DYNAMIC WARM UP FOR RUNNERS

Welcome to the latest edition of Workout Wednesday! Today I am sharing a quick warm up to try before your runs. It's important to prep your body for the workout, so if you have just been just jogging, walking or worse, no warm up at all, then I suggest this dynamic warm up to prime your body for running. 

A dynamic stretch moves the joint through the full range of motion. This warm up increases blood flow, warms up muscles, improves hip mobility, core stability and balance. A quick dynamic warm up can improve performance and help prevent injuries. 

 

LEG SWINGS FORWARD/BACK

Standing on one leg with your knee (ever so) slightly bent, engage your core and squeeze your glutes (butt muscles). With a straight leg swing your leg out in front, then behind. Repeat 10 times on each leg. If you have to hold on to something or touch your foot down to maintain balance it is ok at first, but work on building balance over time. Have a strong core and balance will benefit your running form and efficiency over the long term. 

LEG SWINGS LATERAL

Standing one one leg with your knee (ever so) slightly bent, engage your core and squeeze your glutes. With a straight leg swing your leg out to the right then cross over the front leg to the left. Repeat 10 times on each leg. Work to build up balance over time.

HIP ROTATION

Standing on one leg, bend your knee to 90 degrees and lift your thigh up until it is parallel to the ground. Engage your core and glutes. Rotate your hip out to the side then return to starting position. Repeat 8 times on each side. 

WALKING HAMSTRING STRETCH

Standing on one leg, pull up the opposite leg and hug to your chest to stretch your hamstring muscles in the back of your leg. Hold the position for 2 seconds, lower your leg to step forward and repeat on other side. Walk forward bringing each leg to chest eight times. You could progress this exercise by performing high knees, quickly bringing your knees up alternating between right and left. 

WALKING QUAD STRETCH

Standing on one leg pull your heel back until it touches your butt to stretch the quad muscles in your thigh. Keep your knees together. Hold for 2 seconds, lower your leg and repeat on other side while walking forward in a fluid motion. You could progress this exercise by performing butt kicks, quickly bringing your heel to your butt alternating between right and left.

WALKING LOW LUNGES

Step one leg forward into a low lunge while keeping the back leg as straight as possible. You'll notice when you straighten the back leg, you'll feel the stretch in your hip flexors, hold for two seconds. Keep your core engaged, your back straight and step the back leg forward to meet the front leg. Step forward with opposite leg and repeat eight on each side.

CARIOCA

No, I didn't mean karaoke. I'm not going to make you sing or worse, listen to me sing. This is a fun drill to open up your hips before your run. I recommend doing it once slow and then again as quickly as possible.

Start with your feet about hip width apart, step your left leg behind, then bring your right leg in front so you return to hip width stance, then bring your left leg in front and right leg behind to return to hip width stance. Take 10 steps in one direction, then 10 steps in the other direction.

HIGH SKIPS

Finish off your warm up with high skips to get your heart rate up a bit. Drive your right knee and right arm up while skipping, focusing on moving vertically. Switch leg and arm moving dynamically through the motion eight times per side.

Ready to run? Do you warm up before you run? If not, will you start? Pinky swear? 

Who's a good boy?

Like this post? It helps me when you share.

Tweet

Coach Lea