Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.

Tag Archives: challenge


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The beach makes everything better

A day at the beach

Growing up in Southern California, I went to the beach every day until I moved to Nor Cal. That’s just what we did. Rain our shine (although there were few rainy days). Maybe that’s why I love the beach so much. Any time I’m feeling sad or anxious I head for the beach. Guess that’s why I like to run on the beach in the rain. Strange as it seems, it makes me really happy.

With the weather starting to get nice and the evenings staying light longer I’d like to suggest that everyone get themselves to the beach one evening every other week. I’m out there at least two evenings every week and it’s wonderful! Lets celebrate the season and the beautiful place we live and hit the beach!

You can do anything you like at the beach, walk, run, ride your bike in the hard sand. Aside from the emotional lift you get from being at the beach, working out in the sand requires added balance working your core and makes everything a little harder. Even just a few beach runs strengthens your ankles, arches, and all below-the-knee muscles more than running on harder surfaces. Sand work also burns 1.6 more calories than working out on hard surfaces. How do you like that?

The goal I’m putting in front of you is to simply go to the beach. However, once you’re there I suggest tossing in a few of the following exercises along with your walk or run. Bottom line, just get out there!

If you’d like me to tell you how many of each exercise to do I will, if not, just go out and play around, have some fun and mix it up.

 


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T-Minus 24 hours

A day at the beach

Happy Friday everyone. For me this week has flown bye.  Lots of family dramarama, this nasty weather and the anticipation of my little stair climb tomorrow has kept things moving at a frightening pace. Maybe that’s a good thing? While the added stress has me a bit put off, sometimes distractions have their benefits. The key is to find my focus on race day.

Anyway here we are, T-minus 24 hrs. In spite of the shitty weather I went for a little run along Baker Beach this morning to loosen up the legs. I must tell you, there’s nothing better than a run along the beach in the rain. Nobody was out, not even the naked guys. I easily found my rhythm and had a fantastic run. I’m ready, I’m hydrated, I’m rested and I’m lookin’ forward to kicking some serious stair climbing ass!

Why am I doing this? I signed up for this event thinking that I might encourage some of you to joining me. I thought it would be a relatively easy goal for anyone to accomplish and because it’s a very good cause. After all, I am rather fond of breathing and I am fortunate in that my lungs are healthy so I wanted to do what I could for the cause, as well as those of you who seem to want to reach new fitness heights. That and the fact that I like doing new and different things and this is something I’ve never attempted. Maybe more of you will join me in the next challenge?

So, there you go — I start climbing tomorrow at 9:00, be a sport and send me some good juju between 9 and 9:20, breath deeply and frequently. Hopefully, this stair climbing business will take me less than 20 minutes; I’ve got shit to do. Kra-zy! I’ll send an update via twitter if you’re interested. Check me @motionstarved or on this site under the photo to the right.

Stay dry and I’ll see you next week, kiss, kiss…

P.s. Weather Lady says the sun is on it’s way back to SF next week! Hang in there!


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White girl with rhythm

I dated this nutty AfroRasta whack job a few years ago.  That’s when I first experienced the evils of a Scorpio Gemini consort.  That aside, my old friend did have some pretty funny things to say. One of them was, “wo-man, U a white girl wit’ rhy-dm!” Somehow that seemed odd to him.

Rhythm — While extremely useful on the dance floor, finding ones rhythm is extremely helpful anytime you need to keep something up for an extended period of time. I’m referring to the rhythm that helps you breath and focus as you exercise. Before I started writing this post I did some Googling for help but all I could find was a bunch of Jesus stuff (WTF?), some stuff about sex and a little about music. I read the sex stuff but not the Jesus stuff.  It was kind of annoying.

Anyway, finding rhythm is imperative to a successful day on the bike, on a run or even cleaning the house. You must get into a flow/rhythm to get anything done successfully.

Here’s what I’m thinking – Rhythm is about focus. Take my stair climb this Saturday. If I freak and get distracted, my breathing will be stressed, any discomfort I feel will be magnified and I will not be able to smoothly and efficiently complete the task of climbing 52 flights of stairs. The thing to do is to relax, and focus only on myself and what I need to do. I’ll put one foot in front of the other, find a pace that I know I can sustain and close everything else completely out of my mind. If I do that I’ll find that my body will naturally find it’s own “rhythm,” and like on the dance floor I’ll boogie up the steps feeling great all the way to the top (“great” might be a bit much).

I hope this makes sense. Finding your rhythm is hard to explain but when you got it you know it and it feels great!

Lastly, here’s what my friend Mo say’s about rhythm – You got to start at your own pace and do what works for your body.  Once you got that going on for a bit, you can try to push yourself, but if you push before you know what you are feeling you are bound to blow.  And ignore all the speedy-Gonzales’s around you.  They have their body, and maybe they and their body will be way behind you at the end (excellent point Mo!).

See you tomorrow for T Minus 24 hours…


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Unflappable

Just don't look up!

It’s the week before the big Fight for Air Climb. Yikes, 1,197 steps up 52 floors. That’s a lot’a steps and it’s all taking place in the stairwell of the B of A building here in San Francisco. If I wanted to, I could start stressing myself out by thinking about what’s in store for me this Saturday, but I won’t do that. I know better. Why bother, it won’t make the event any less painful and certainly won’t make this week pass any more smoothly.

Here’s the plan — My training is complete. It takes 3 weeks to reap the benefits of training so there’s no need to go out and hammer out another hard training session. I’ll exercise this week but won’t do anything that might stress my legs. Lots of yoga and easy endurance work. All I can do is trust that I’ve trained well and let my body rest and recover from the past weeks of intense training. I’ll make sure to drink plenty of water, get lots of sleep and eat right, keeping the fiber flowing. I sure as hell don’t want to carry any extra stuff up those steps. Know what I mean? I’ll make sure I have the cutest possible outfit ready to wear. Shoes ready to go and all the information I need to smoothly pick up my race packet and timing chip on event day. Early in the week (today actually) I’ll make sure to read all event info so I know the exact details of what I can, and can’t take with me in the stairwell, where I can park and so on. I don’t want any surprises the day of the event. It’s important that on the big day all I have to do is show up, and race. I’ll get everything done before hand so I can focus only on doing my very best.

So there you have it. I am confident and ready to go, unflappable. On the day of the event I will find a nice pair of buns and follow them up the stairs all the way to victory. I will feel no pain and dance up the steps to the rhythm of my smooth breath.

The best part of all this, when it’s over I get to come up with a new way to torture myself. A new goal, get ready!

P.s. It’s not a good idea to try something new the day of an event. New shoes, new food, stuff like that. You don’t want to find that GU gives you the runs while you’re ascending an indoor stair case or running down the road with thousands of people, same goes for shoes and cloths you don’t want to find out that your new stuff chafes. Stick with what you know works. This is no time for surprises.


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Small bits

I made it!

Focus. They say all you have to do is “focus” and you’ll get what you want.

I am gonna let you in on a few tips that help me focus when I am trying to ride my bike, run, stand in Tree Pose or even write.

When you’re distracted you loose your focus. That’s obvious, in order to do what you need to do, you need to give “it” your full attention. Period.

Say you want to, climb Mt. Tam on your bike. To keep from panicking and loosing your focus, break the journey into small chunks. Same rule goes for running a marathon, 5k, or whatever. Break your mission into small, easy to digest bits.

It’s actually pretty easy, just focus on getting yourself to the first hill, or make your digestible bits mileage markers. Take it 5 miles at a time and think only about those five miles. Same goes for riding your bike, take it a few miles at a time. Climbing Mt. Tam with a pal? Concentrate on getting to Mill Valley, up to 4 Corners, Pantoll Station, and so on. You get the picture.

Another thing that helps me through tough workouts or events is not to look too far up the road. If you’re planning to run from The Marina Green across the GGB, whatever you do, don’t look across the bay at the bridge, you’ll surly panic and loose your focus. Remember, small bits!  When you’re done, you can look back at where you’ve been, pat yourself on the back and say, “Holey shit! I made it!”

On to the next…

Couple o’ things I want to mention

  • Sunday Streets begins this weekend – Get out and play in the street! Route goes along the Embarcadero.
  • Every Monday they offer $2 pints and specials on bar food at the Park Chalet. The food’s not fantastic but it’s a great place to hang post ride or run along the beach.

Get my meaning?


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Never underestimate

Friday, March 11, 2011, the day we all waited for the tsunami to hit San Francisco. We waited and waited but alas, like the snow, it never came. A blessing in this case.

I decided in case the 600-mile an hour wave did show up, I would take my stair running workout to the Lyon Street steps rather than to my favorite place, the Baker Beach Sand Stairs.

Off I went to Broadway and Lyon. Clad in my ultra cute Lululemon togs with the purple trim and a too tight Nike tee that showed off my previous days arms and pecs workout. My hair was finally long enough to pull back and I was feeling like All That!

10 minutes of warm up exercises, a mile run and I was feeling like a million bucks. My goal, 5 times up the 286 steps. A goal that didn’t seem too high as it was not uncommon for me to climb more than that in a work out. If I reached today’s goal it would mean that my base was firm and that next week I would be ready to add a 6th round, confirming that I was more than ready for the Fight for Air Race in two weeks.

Up the steps I went. “Push, push” said the voice in my head. Swinging my arms from cheek to cheek I found my rhythm and was doing great. The second time up I took the steps two at a time (that was hard!).

Feeling the burn, but still confidant I noticed a woman who had managed to stay just ahead of me. I wondered when I would have to navigate around her and that annoyed me. From what I could see, she was “elderly,” covered from head to toe in black sweat cloths and a big floppy hat. I waited a second at the bottom to allow her to make some progress, surly she would get in my way at some point, after all I was All That.

About ¼ of the way up the stairs for the third time I noticed “Grandma” slowing down so I made my move and picked up my pace expecting to blow past her. To my surprise Grandma was working me! Sensing me, never looking back she moved faster and faster, matching my gain, toying with me, keeping me just off her heals.

As we approached the last 50 steps the woman started taking two at a time jumping from step to step! In epic fashion neither of us looked over at the other, we were neck and neck now, flying over the steps in unison as we approached the final stretch. I was in shock! Who was this woman? The voice in my head now yelling, “GO! GO!” I made the crossing of the final step first. “You won” the woman said, but frankly I couldn’t see at that point. My glasses were fogged, eyes full of sweat and my breathing so labored that I couldn’t respond. If I won it was by a very thin hair. I walked a few feet to get my legs back but by the time I turned around GM had already started to descend the stairs preparing to come back up again. Ugh I thought!  Not again, I’m screwed!

I only made it back up the stairs one more time (4x’s total). GM was ahead of me the whole time. I didn’t (couldn’t) challenge her.  While my ego was certainly put in check I was very much inspired by this woman.  I’m going back next Friday to look for her. Something tells me she’s a regular, someone who enjoys being fit and enjoys “working over” those whose egos are badly in need of adjustment. A woman after my own heart! All I can say is, YOU GO GIRL!


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Help wanted

The hills are alive

People ask me “how do you come up with things to write about every day?” My response is, “It’s easy, I just write about what crosses my path.”

Today while chillin’ at the nail salon waiting for my manicure to dry, I thought “let me check Twitter and see what folks are yacking about on this rainy Sunday.” Scrolling through the tweets I spotted one that read “Unusual 10-Second Exercise For Fat Loss That Doesn’t Even Burn Calories – But Fat Disappears!” Normally these messages only serve to annoy me so I scroll right past them, this time however I had to take the bait.

Here’s where things take a turn for the absurd.  The Twitter feed took me to a website titled FASTWEIGHTLOSETIPS (all one word, all in caps). That in itself made my head spin. Negotiating the page full of ads and paragraphs of miserably spaced copy I came to the gist of the “Unusual 10-second Exercise.”   Here goes – unedited, directly from the FASTWEIGHTLOSETIPS site itself (although I had to fix the word spacing it was just too much to bear!)

Iח a word… HORMONES!

Yουr hormones aren’t doing tһеіr job. Due tο a long list οf things іח ουr food supply аחԁ environment, ουr hormones аrе really messed up аחԁ unbalanced.

Bυt tһеrе′s a way tο stimulate уουr hormones іחtο being balanced again. A simple way.

Tһаt way іѕ spinning around Ɩіkе children. Yου know… іח a circle wіtһ уουr arms out. Yeah, іt mау seem ridiculous, bυt tһіѕ motion stimulates уουr Endocrine System іחtο working іt’s “magic” wіtһ уουr hormones.

Here’s a simple outline tο ɡеt tһе mοѕt out οf spinning.

1. Spin clockwise.

2. Spin around 5-15 times (depending οח уουr level οf dizziness).

3. Spin οחƖу until уου аrе slightly dizzy.

Yου MUST follow those 3 rules. It wіƖƖ take уου a few times tο realize һοw many spins іѕ rіɡһt fοr уου. Don’t ɡеt tοο worried аbουt tһаt. I suggest уου ѕtаrt οff οח tһе low side οf 5 spins јυѕt tο bе safe.

It’s a powerful exercise. Jυѕt bесаυѕе іt’s easy аחԁ unusual (fοr weight loss) doesn’t mean уου саח ɡο crazy wіtһ spinning. Tһіѕ exercise doesn’t need tο burn calories bесаυѕе іt goes down tο a much deep level іח weight loss… hormone-induced weight loss.

One last piece οf advice. Yου wіƖƖ need tο ԁο аt Ɩеаѕt 5 sets οf spins everyday tο ɡеt tһе best weight loss effect frοm tһеm.

Lets be fair, It may work. I can’t say because I’m not about to spin around in circles five times a day. Frankly, it would make me puke and that would mess up my hydration level, which would definitely mess up my hormone levels causing all sorts of other problems.

However, if there were anyone out there reading this that would like to take a stab at weight loss by spinning I would absolutely love to hear about it. Seriously, anybody want to take the Thin by Spin Challenge? Let me know, I see some really good stories coming from this…


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“Why do we do this?”

I’ve been looking through my old race reports trying to find the answer to that question. I remember driving home from many bike races with Penny asking over and over again, “why do we do this?”  The only answer I can remember coming up with was “because we can.” The fact that we could do something that most people didn’t have the nerve to attempt made us who we are. If we gave in and acted “normal” we wouldn’t be the people we are, and in spite of the never-ending torture we had fun, made life long friendships and learned more than anyone can imagine.

This is why I am confused. I don’t understand why so many of you are having a hard time making the commitment to succeed physically. Every day someone says, “I’d really like to loose some/run a/ride a ­­­_____ someday.” Someday? When is Someday?

Let me ask you, every day you have things that you need to get done, correct? You do your best every day to clear your to-do list, you go to work, feed the kids, see friends, laundry… Those things are your priorities, your daily commitments or “goals.” Some of those things are fun and some you do because you have to. Either way you succeed because you’re committed.

Why is it not the same when it comes to achieving a fitness goal? Are you afraid of making a fool of yourself and failing? Are you afraid it will hurt? Maybe you fear that it will infringe on your social schedule or time with your family?

Seriously, when was the last time you heard of someone making a fool out of him or her self while attempting to better themselves? Yep, if you decide to cut calories or train for an event it may cut into your cocktail hour, but it’ll open new doors that will more than make up for the ones it hinders. The pain, yep, pushing your body does hurt a little but it’s not that bad and it really does make you stronger, healthier and hotter!

Maybe you should think of your goal is just another thing on your daily to-do list.

Example; say you sign up for the Fight for Air Climb. With that you know that you need to build your endurance so that you can complete the event, and climb 52 flights of stairs. So, on your to-do list goes the daily tasks that you need to accomplish in order to get yourself to event day. It’s the same mindset you use for making dinner. On your to-do list is the question of menu, shopping list, grocery shopping, cooking and finally achieving your goal of eating dinner. See, it’s easy!

Don’t over think it. Decide what you’d like to do. Figure out the steps to get there. Take the necessary steps and don’t stop till you get there. All you gotta do is commit, focus, succeed and celebrate!


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If your brain wants to do it, your body will follow

Ridin' in Iowa

I had just picked my Dad up from the Oakland airport.  It was the day before Thanksgiving 2008 and we were en route to Redding some 3 hours away.  As my Dad squirmed uncomfortably in the passenger seat of my Mini Cooper he said to me, “I’d like to ride my bike across Iowa. I heard about this organized ride that goes from the west side of the state to the east. It’s only 500 miles. I think it would be a nice thing to do. What better way to see Iowa, and it’s flat all the way. How hard can it be?” I said… great idea Dad, if you start training now you should be ready to do the ride by next year. Dad said… “Next year, I want to do it this July.” I’m not sure if I actually laughed out loud but I know I did in my head.  I thought, he had completely lost his mind. My Dad, in his early 70’s is very fit and very tough, but not a cyclist. He owns a bike but it’s a cute little 40 lb bike built for riding to do errands around town. Certainly not meant to ride across an entire state. All I could say was… Dad, I really think you’ll need more time to train for this event. 500 miles with 7 days of riding and camping along the way is a long week.  It’s not as easy as you think and by the way, Iowa is not entirely flat! Not by any stretch of the imagination!

In spite of almost zero training, in July 2009 we did the ride across Iowa, Ragbrai as it’s called. My Dad, Paula and Me. I went to keep an eye on them, as I was the only one with a clue as to what we were getting into. After the first day, both D & P were praying that the following days would be easier. They were not, there were lots more hills and rain and wind but they took it one day at a time and were thankful to see the end of each day.

In the end they both pulled it out. Failure was simply not an option for those two. They had a goal and they made it happen. It was amazing and I was incredibly proud to see them finish every day leading them closer to the end of the ride and to the reaching their massive goal.

My point – You can do anything you set your mind to. That was made clear to me in Iowa that July. We’ve all heard impressive stories of things people have done. Why not see what you can do?


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Party’s over, time to make a commitment

It’s time to stop messing around. Time to start making some serious goals and plans re: our fitness. That means me too. I’ve been going easy on everyone because it was the beginning of the year and we were recovering from the holidays. Now that it’s mid February it’s time to get serious. This week is going to be about goals and inspiration so start thinking about what you want to achieve this year. If I have my way, by the end of the week we’ll all be in a committed relationship with an exciting new personal betterment routine.  You with me?

Don’t panic – Remember, my approach is not to jump into an exercise or nutrition routine that’s so adventurous that you’re likely to wiggle your way out, or fail. I like to start easy and build up once things get rolling.  “Go slow so you can go fast” is something a cycling coach said to me years ago. It means that you can’t go hard all the time if you want to be fast/strong and keep performing/healthy. Remember that.

First – Decide what you most want for yourself? Lose some weight? Run in an organized event? Ride your bike a 100-miles, how about 500 miles? Climb 52 flights of stairs for charity (more on that later). Maybe you just want to stop feeling so bloody stiff and would like to start with being a little more physically active.

Second – You will need a relatively structured training/nutrition plan to work from.  Obviously there are lots of classes, clinics, online tools and trainers out there that can help you (like me.). You will need some support.

Lastly – No more excuses, make the effort. Rain or shine, every day. If you fall off your plan, don’t panic just get back on tomorrow. If you decide you don’t like what you’re doing, get sick or hurt, than reassess the situation and make revisions but don’t give up on your goal. Think about/read about all the people who have come before you and done amazing things with their bodies and their lives. I’m talking about “real people” not just the Lance Armstrongs of the world.

Tomorrow – I’ll share a story of two amazing “real people” who I personally witnessed achieve a goal that I never thought they would reach (sorry D & P but it’s true).  It was inspiring and life changing for me to witness.  For them – they’re just glad they did it. Stay tuned…

By the way, Happy Valentines Day. Don’t forget to do something nice for someone. Remember my Unbitter post.

Kisses…