4 Races in 4 Weeks: Week 4: Review of BattleFrog 15k in WV

The fourth race in this series is the BattleFrog 15k.  The BattleFrog Series has a 5k and 15k leg. I opted for the longer race and I was glad I did.  The race is advertised as being designed by Navy SEALs and having a minimum of 25 signature SEAL-inspired obstacles. 

This race was held at an ATV park in West Virginia, which I think is a great location for an event.  There were some hills along the course, but nothing like a mountain that would wipe you out before you finished the event.  I was very pleased with the event.  Even though this was only their 3^rd event, you couldn’t tell based on how well everything was executed.  Not only was the actual event great (more on that later), but the pre and post racing activities were done well, including packet pickup, pre-race hype at the Start line, post-race shirt and beer pickup.  There was even a Navy SEAL demonstration on the grounds where a team of SEALs are flown in by helicopter and executed a “mission.”  I was already on the course by that time, but the YouTube video of it looked awesome.

The obstacles seemed to be well thought out and not just the same old boring obstacles you would see at other events.  Did they have 6’ or 8’ walls to climb? Yes, but they built the wall with steps on ½ of it and none on the other.  Depending on your physical abilities, you could turn-up or down the intensity.  I saw this on several obstacles and thought that was a nice touch.  I always enjoy new obstacles/challenges.  The few that come to mind is the Rope Traverse, SEAL PT, ladder/rope traverse, Paintball Gallery, and Normandy Jacks.  The Rope Traverse was approximately a 60’ rope stretching over a pond that you had to get across.  As I made it about half way across, my Ruck, which held my water bladder, dipped into the pond and started filling up with water.  The extra weight made it extremely difficult to finish, but when you have SEALs telling you, “Don’t quit until your feet touch grass,” you tend to listen.  At SEAL PT, there is an area of sand where a SEAL stood.  He let you know in firm voice that you had to complete 20 8-count bodybuilders, which are a version of a Burpee.  So naturally you are getting down in the and for the push-up portion of the exercise.  Oh, and if you didn’t complete an obstacle along the course, the penalty was to do 10 8-count bodybuilders.  At the ladder/rope traverse, you would climb a very small military looking ladder; the kind you would see handing off a helicopter.  At the top you traverse to a rope and then climb down.  At Paintball Gallery, you had 3 rounds to hit a target about 25 feet away.  One of the last obstacles was the Normandy Jacks.  These are large wooden structures that the barbed wire was strung across.  In this event, there was a SEAL there to coach you along.  And if like me you get caught stepping over a low lying wire, he’ll make sure you are face-to-the-mud going under the rest.  He was a nice guy!

The same “Nice Guy” saw 2 small children cheering on their dad from the sidelines going through this final obstacle.  He had the kids jump the fence and even run the last 100 feet with their dad.  I thought that was really something and must have meant so much to that family.

Overall, I thought the event was well put on and I look forward to doing more races with them.  With a field that seems to be getting crowded, I see BattleFrog becoming a top notch OCR and becoming one of the leaders in the industry.    

RAW or COOKED?

There is no denying that eating a variety of fruits vegetables is good for your health. The question is whether eating vegetables cooked or raw is more healthy? I personally think it is important to incorporate a large amount of raw fruits and vegetables and fruits into your diet on a regular basis. There are so many nutrients and enzymes in raw foods that are beneficial to our health and the cooking process can often denature or eliminate these nutrients. However, cooking has its benefits as well. For example, cooking can break down nutrients in some foods so they are more easily absorbed by the body. In addition, cooking can break down some of the fiber in more cruciferous vegetables, which makes them easier to consume and digest.  

Here is a list of some vegetables that are better eaten cooked than raw:

• Asparagus
• Mushrooms
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and brussel sprouts

In general, I would encourage you to try and consume more raw foods in your diet, but you do not need to eat 100% raw. If you prefer to cook your vegetables and this keeps you eating healthy then this is okay too as long as your cooking process does not involve adding extra salt or oil. Whatever method you decide, cooked or raw, just focus on eating more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. 

20-Minute Treadmill Interval Workout

You don't have to run for hours on the treadmill to get results. It's more efficient for you to do higher intensity workouts for shorter periods of time because it burns more fat and ignites the after-burn effect. 

Jog for 2 minutes at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.4 mph

Jog for 2 minutes at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.5 mph

Jog for 2 minutes at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.6 mph

Jog for 2 minutes at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.7 mph

Jog for 2 minutes at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.8 mph

Jog for 1 minute at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 7.9 mph

Jog for 1 minute at 6 mph

Sprint for 1 minute at 8.0 mph

Jog for 1 minute at 6 mph

Cool down

Tips on Staying Healthy when Eating Out

I must admit, I may be one of the most annoying customers for a restaurant server. I always ask questions about ingredients, add things, remove things, put things on the side, you name it. Although I advocate making your own food at home so you can control the ingredients and cooking methods, every once in a while you may want to give yourself a break and go out to dinner. This is fine if it is done infrequently, but try and make healthy decisions when you’re out as well. Here are some tips on how to do this.

Look at the menu ahead of time. Most restaurants now offer nutritional information for their menu items online so you can see how much fat or calories are in a particular dish

Ask the server about the ingredients in a particular dish. If it sounds like it is cooked in a lot of butter or other fat or has a cream based sauce, I would avoid it or make adjustments

Avoid appetizers that are fried or have a lot of cheese

Substitute unhealthy sides, such as fries or chips, with healthy ones, such as steamed veggies

Keep in mind that salads are not always the lowest calorie option, especially when they have meat, cheese and a cream based or oily dressing on them. Just ask for no cheese or meat and substitute the dressing for just balsamic vinegar without the oil

Order water with lemon instead of soda

Remember, a cheap date is usually a healthy one! My husband is lucky because I am a cheap date and usually order water and a salad and/or a bunch of sides such as grilled veggies with rice and do not order the higher prices menu items such as meat and pasta

Go international – international cuisine, such as Asian, Indian, and Thai often provide more vegetarian or vegan options that are healthier than your typical American food restaurants

The good news is, is that restaurants are now making a better effort to provide customers with nutritional information as well as more vegetarian and vegan options. This makes it easier to eat healthy while still enjoying your night out.

This is my favorite website for finding veg-friendly restaurants: 

http://www.happycow.net/

Insanity: Get FIT or Get OUT!

Have you ever considered doing the Insanity program by Shaun T?

I highly recommend it and incorporate the workouts into my weekly workout regime. I do not follow the 60-day program, but intermix the individual workouts with my regular cardio and strength training. On average, I do about 2-3 Shaun T workouts per week. These are INTENSE TOTAL-BODY workouts that combine cardio, strength, and body weight exercises to work your entire body. They are TOUGH, but the results speak for themselves. You will feel the burn for sure! A lot of the time, women think that cardio alone is enough, but we need strength and interval training as well to burn fat and get a strong and lean body. Below I broke down some of the individual workouts so you can see how I incorporate them into my other weekly workouts.

30-45 minutes each

•       Plyometric Cardio Circuit – This is the first Insanity workout I ever did and I thought I was done after the warm-up! This is an interval workout with 2 minute intervals with a 30 second break

•       Cardio Power & Resistance – This workout focuses more on strength training and jumping

•       Pure Cardio – This is my favorite Insanity workout because the exercises are 1 minute each and do not repeat

•       Core Cardio and Balance – This is a good workout for an “easier” day. It is definitely still challenging and will work you out, but is a little slower paced than the other workouts

Cardio Abs – This is a really good 15 minute cardio abs workout with not 1 single crunch! I usually do this after a long run

45-60 minutes - These workouts are in month 2 of the 60-day program and are longer and tougher than the workouts in month 1 but follow the same basic principals

•       Max Interval Circuit – 3 minute intervals x3 with a 30 second break

•       Max Interval Plyo – 3 minute intervals x3 with a 30 second break

•       Max Cardio Conditioning – 1 minute exercises without repetition

Are Humans made to be Herbivores or Omnivores? You Decide!

Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas and Squash

This recipe has a kick, but is a great dinner entre or side dish to bring to a party. It is one of the only recipes I make that has salt in it so be careful with your intake and not to have it too often

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups of sugar snap peas
• 1 large squash
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Ground sea salt, to taste
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 tsp olive oil

Directions

1. Cut the squash into 1 inch pieces making sure they are all about the same size
2. Add the squash and sugar snap peas to a sauté pan
3. Add the olive oil, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes
4. Sauté on medium-low heat for about 20-25 minutes 

4 Races in 4 Weeks: Week 3: Review of Spartan Sprint in PA

The third race in this series is the Spartan Sprint.  The Sprint is the shortest distance in the Spartan Race Series (Sprint, Super, & Beast).  The Sprint is promoted as “3+ miles and 15+ obstacles.”  The one I completed at Blue Mountain Ski Area in Pennsylvania was 4.9 miles.

As with other obstacle races held at ski resorts, they have you running up and down the mountain.  Well I should say walking and even climbing, at parts, up the mountain; there wasn’t much “running” up the mountain.  There was a 2,000 ft. elevation difference between the lowest and highest points of the course.  It is surprising how easy your legs start burning from walking up an incline. 

They had a variety of obstacles from spear throwing to monkey bars to sandbag carries.  Just don’t fail or try to skip an obstacle.  If you do there is 30 burpee penalty and there are volunteers at each obstacle to ensure you complete each obstacle.  Considering this is the shortest of the 3 types of Spartan races, I found it pretty difficult.  My legs were smoked from going up and down the mountain.  Then they managed to wear out my upper body with various carries (sandbags and 5-gallon buckets of gravel), heavy item drags (cinder blocks or large tires) and 2 different style monkey bars obstacles.  For each obstacle where you had to carry or drag something, it was never on a flat terrain; usually down and then back up a small hill.  For most of the carries, I couldn’t do it without stopping for several quick breaks along the way, as I believe everyone else did as well. 

Along the course I heard several people say this particular course was harder than the recent Sprint in New York and even harder than Tough Mudder.  Maye it has something to do with the recent announcement of a deal between Spartan Race and NBC to start airing races on TV (NBC SPORTS VENTURES ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH SPARTAN RACE).  Either way I completed it in 3:25:28, which goes to show you how difficult traversing 4.9 miles of a ski resort with obstacles in the way. 

Overall, I thought it was a great course, with some new and challenging obstacles.  I look forward to more Spartan Races.  In fact, I will be completing the Spartan Super and Spartan Beast this year so I can earn the Spartan Trifecta (Finish one of each Spartan distance - Sprint, Super and Beast - in a calendar year).

Juicing Extravaganza!

I haven’t used my juicer in a while since I have been making more smoothies but I woke up craving a green juice so I decided to go all out and make several servings of juice for the week. I used my Breville juicer to make enough juice to fill up 2 1-quart mason jars.

These are two of my favorite juices and they are so good and good for you!

Each recipe makes 1 quart of juice – about 2 servings

Carrot Juice

1 large bag of carrots – about 20 carrots

1 head of celery – about 10 stalks

2 granny smith apples, peeled

2 lemons, peeled

2 thumbs of ginger, peeled

Green Kale Juice

2 large bunches of kale

1 handful of parsley

1 head of celery – about 10 stalks

2 granny smith apples, peeled

2 lemons, peeled

2 thumbs of ginger, peeled

5 Myths about a Plant-Based Diet

All you eat is salad

I have to admit I do eat a lot of salad. However, salads are one of the most versatile things you can eat. There are so many different types of salads and combinations of foods you can incorporate into a salad that it is almost impossible to get bored of them. You can also make your own dressings using any ingredients you like, which further adds to the variety in your meals.

Salads aside, there are so many other things you can eat on a plant-based diet that will keep you from getting bored. A majority of what I eat on a plant-based diet includes fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and some nuts/seeds. I actually found that when I started eating this way, I was introduced to so many more different types of foods, such as mangoes, avocados, plantains, kale, persimmons, dates, quinoa, and the list goes on. I also tried different types of international foods, such as Indian and Thai food. To someone on a typical American diet, it may seem impossible to give up meat and cheese, but when you realize how many other doors open in terms of the types and varieties of plant-based foods you will never want to go back.

You won’t get enough protein

In our culture, the words meat and protein are used interchangeably and, for some reason, no one seems concerned about your protein intake until you tell them your vegetarian or vegan. However, this equalization of meat and protein has several flaws. One, many types of animal products are proportionately higher in fat than protein, but we still consider them a “protein” and not a “fat”. Two, this relationship in our minds between meat and protein makes us ignore the fact that protein is also found in fruits, vegetables, and grains/seeds. In addition, the proportion of protein in plant-based products typically outweighs the proportion of fat, unlike animal products. The truth is that it is not hard to get adequate protein on a plant-based diet as long as you are eating enough calories.

See below for a previous article I wrote that discussed this topic in more detail:

http://fitonfruit.blogspot.com/2014/06/but-where-do-you-get-your-protein-how.html

You will be hungry all the time

This is 100% NOT true! In fact, I eat twice as much now on a plant-based diet than before because the foods I am eating are more nutrient-dense and less calorie-dense. Animal products and other processed foods are extremely calorie dense because they have a lot of oil, fat, and sugar in them. Therefore, you have to limit your portion sizes of these foods to lose weight which often leaves people feeling hungry. However, on a plant based diet, most foods have a high water and fiber content, which makes them less calorie dense. As a result, you can eat a much larger quantity of plant based foods without increasing your calories. On this lifestyle, I do not limit my portions and eat constantly throughout the day. Not only does this leave me feeling satisfied and not craving bad foods, but I have sustained energy throughout the day and am able to maintain a healthy weight.

It is not sufficient for exercise

There seems to be this misconception that protein is the main energy source for exercise, but actually it is mostly carbohydrates, i.e. glucose, that your body uses as fuel. After your body uses up all of the carbohydrates, it then utilizes fat stores, and its final energy source after the fat is used up is protein. The human body is made to run on glucose, which is derived from carbohydrates, and fruits and vegetables are a large source of carbohydrates. Therefore, if you are eating a plant-based diet, most of your calories are coming from carbohydrates, which is the perfect fuel for your body. With the proper fuel, carbohydrates, your body can sustain higher levels of exercise for a longer period of time than it would on a diet that is primarily protein or fat.

See more on this topic in my previous article about what to eat for exercise:

http://fitonfruit.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-to-eat-for-exercise.html

It is expensive

All I have to say to this myth is YOUR BODY should NOT be a DISCOUNT BODY! Your health should be your number one priority so why wouldn’t you want to give it the highest quality, most nutrient dense, best food you can give it? If anything, spending more money now on your health in terms of the foods you consume will prevent you from spending more money in the future on health care costs due to poor health. In addition, plant-based foods, such as rice, beans, and lentils are some of the cheapest foods in the grocery store per pound. By buying groceries in the store and making your own food at home you will also be saving money by not eating out at restaurants all the time. Living a plant-based lifestyle will ultimately save you money in the long run if you are willing to invest in your health today.

 

See more on the weekly cost of a plant-based lifestyle here:

http://fitonfruit.blogspot.com/2014/06/healthy-lifestyle-tip-1-plan-ahead.html