REDEEM Yourself

Nutrition.  My worst enemy.  As I confessed during the holiday season last year, I struggle with eating properly, which is a huge hurdle for many people.  I grew up on junk food back when I was a child and had a much faster metabolism and hours of sports practice each day.  My weight always managed itself - until I was no longer a full time athlete and started struggling to maintain the body image I had grown to accept as a given.  Part of the reason I started running and teaching fitness classes was to combat the encroaching weight gain.  My levels of activity are definitely going back up, but my metabolism is still slowing down with every birthday, and I know that workouts alone are not the full answer to the problems I'm facing with weight management.  I need to do better about eating.

Thankfully, I'm not alone in my quest.  I have supportive people all around me who are encouraging me to make better food decisions and acknowledging my successes to remind me that the hard work is paying dividends.  I have a big network of acquaintances, bloggers, and fitness fanatics who are facing the same struggles and sharing their experiences so other can learn for their own battle.  And now, I also have a supplement that is supporting my goals without slapping me across the face with side effects.

Appetite suppressants have never been something I thought would be a successful addition to my cabinet.  Most of them contain stimulants like caffeine (I'm highly caffeine-sensitive) and supposedly work through thermogenics (increasing heat in the body to burn energy), and I've always thought of them as kind of a crock.  I've even tried a couple in the past that did nothing for my weight, yet threw so many adverse side effects at me that I had to toss them in the trash before my health suffered any further.  REDEEM, on the other hand, had a noticeable effect on my weight with no unwanted side effects, and it only took a week or so for results.  Now THAT is something I can get behind!

REDEEM is stimulant-free and contains ingredients your body actually needs to function, such as thiamine and other B-complex vitamins that help you fuel efficiently.  I started taking REDEEM and at first questioned that it was doing anything at all.  After a couple days, though, I noticed I as already doing a little better with food amount choices - such as stopping earlier in a meal instead of shoving more food down my throat thinking I was still hungry.  My overall calories slowly started to decrease, and after a couple weeks I had noticeably lost weight!  To be honest, I was pretty surprised to find myself not only eating less, but considering more carefully which foods I would eat when I started to get hungry.

After a few weeks of consistent use, I felt much more confident in my nutrition decisions and my ability to say NO to more food when I had eaten enough.  So far my weight loss has been roughly seven or eight pounds, in a couple months, which is perfectly healthy for me - not that those numbers are even reflective of the total change that has come from REDEEM!  I've also been running much more and building additional muscle over that time, which has actually added muscle weight, so my overall fat loss is much more than the pounds that have come off the scale.  I've leaned out noticeably (and have received many compliments on my figure lately) which is almost completely attributed to my food successes since starting with REDEEM.

Though I still occasionally give in to cravings or overindulgence, on the whole my relationship with food is becoming much more healthy.  Rather than using REDEEM as THE plan for weight loss, I am able to use it as a true supplement in a more self-aware nutrition plan.  It's not the solution, it's a guideline for keeping on track.  I don't feel dependent on it, either, and have actually gone off it for a little while to test how effective my decision making is without the supplement influence.  I do waver a bit more when I'm not taking REDEEM (especially when the cravings hit), but I definitely continue trending towards healthy now that I've proven to myself that I CAN do it!  The chemical support of REDEEM just helps me continue to grow and build better habits, and I'll be keeping a place in my supplement cabinet for it for sure!

What types of weight/nutrition assistance have you found beneficial? Where are the greatest opportunities in your diet plan?  What are your biggest weaknesses when it comes to food?

Marine Corps Marathon: The Good

Continuing my Marine Corps Marathon recaps, today I'm looking at the highlights of race day at my very first marathon.  Originally, I had anticipated this being the ONLY post I would need to describe my experience...  But we'll get to that later!  So here we go for now, the best aspects of MCM!

Seeing my family on the course.

Without a doubt, this was by far the best part of this marathon.  My brother and his wife live just outside of DC, and hosted my mom and I all weekend.  They also handled 99% of the logistics for race day for me, including getting me to the race early with zero issues, and plotting out ways to get to various points along the course with hilarious signs to cheer me on throughout the day!  No one was quite sure how accessible the course would actually be for spectators, but as it turns out, they were able to walk right up to the road for full visibility - and for SWEATY HUGS!  They caught me at several points, including from a bridge above runners at mile 7ish and right in the middle of the National Mall.  Not only did I get a kick out of their awesome race signs, but they were also a hit with many of the spectators (a surprisingly large amount of GO TRIBE to be heard on race day)!  Getting to share the experience with them put the biggest smile on my face all day, and I can't thank all of them enough for everything they did all weekend!

Really, though, it wasn't just my amazing family - the crowd support throughout almost the entire race was unbelievable.  Hundreds of signs, dozens of crazy costumes, live entertainment almost every mile, Crystal City becoming the snack food capital of the world...  Plus, Marines at every turn.  Aid stations, water stops, you name it, they were there.  There's a reason runners love the MCM, and the people are that reason.

Running with my cousin and later with my (newish) friend.

I started the race with my cousin Brooke, with whom I have run other races in the past.  She's a far better runner than I, at least when it comes to distance, and has marathon experience in the past.  I wasn't sure I could keep up with her, but her plan sounded close enough to mine that I decided to try.  We had a blast for the first few miles, but it was around mile 10 that an unexpected injury started to take me out of the running (so to speak), and finally at the halfway point, it was time for us to separate.  She finished strong about 45 minutes before I finally made it in!  Between 13 and 15 I mostly ran alone, until I asked someone to take a photo of me with the Washington Memorial behind me and a voice from behind me said "Wait, aren't you Amanda?!"  A local running blogger buddy who I actually hadn't ever met in person before just happened to be right there with me!  Rachel's energy and enthusiasm carried me the next four miles into the middle of the Bridge, when again that injury finally demanded that I slow down and send another friend on to victory.  Though I'm so very happy that both of them finished the race in good time and had a blast, it got a little lonely later!  But I'd much rather connect when we can, and see my friends and family succeed, so CONGRATS!

I also got to see a running buddy I made waaaaay back in April at the Towpath Half - Kim actually spotted me in the sea of runners waiting for the start, of all things!  Against some crazy odds, we ended up right next to each other donating our throwaways while we waited for the Howitzer blast.  I later found out Kim and I finished just minutes apart, but weren't lucky enough to run into each other at the end for a final hug!  CONGRATS to Kim too!

I finished a MARATHON!

Okay so the whole point of this race was to run a marathon, and though I walked more than I had intended to, I really did RUN most of it, AND that doesn't even matter because I FINISHED and that's what counts!  And believe it or not, as I'm writing this just a few days after the race, I honestly feel like I could do it again this coming weekend.  My body suffered an injury or two during the race that will take a little longer to fully heal, but mechanically and mentally I don't feel like I've burnt out at all.  I covered the full distance (and then some, but we'll talk about that tomorrow), every photo taken of me all along the course has a big ol' smile, I earned my bling and my bragging rights, and did it all through my own power.  Not to mention all the training I actually stuck with leading up to the race, which might be a bigger accomplishment for me than dragging my butt over that finish line...  I am now officially a marathoner, and nothing will ever take that away from me!

There were a lot of little goods too, but most of the little ones roll into either great support, running buddies, or I just ran a marathon, so my three big categories above are probably sufficient coverage of the Greater Good of the Marine Corps Marathon.  Many things came together on race day, including surprisingly beautiful weather (another one we'll talk about tomorrow), but the biggest things that stick out to me are the friends and family - and the MEDAL, of course!

There's still more to come with my Marine Corps Marathon experience, and the aftermath of my first marathon!  Plus, I have dozens of pictures that need to go SOME where, so keep an eye on my Instagram channel for anything I might pop up there, and check out Facebook where I've created an album for many of them as well.

Read about the rest of my MCM experience!   Expo   -   Part 2   -   Aftermath

What makes a race great for you?  How much does course support affect your runs?

Marine Corps Marathon: The Expo

This past weekend, I ran my first marathon.  As one might expect, there is a LOT to say about the experience!  I'll be breaking up my tale into a series of posts this week and and next, taking my time to let my thoughts settle in the hopes of conveying a good sense of what it felt like all along my 26.2 mile journey.  Today's post kicks off with a look at the pre-race expo, which was one of the craziest rooms into which I've ever been crammed!

MCM's expo this year was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, which I believe is a big change from years past.  Throughout the weekend, my transportation was provided by my wonderful brother who lives just outside of DC and was willing to donate his time to the cause, so getting to the Gaylord was not altogether difficult - we just drove.  There was a longish line to park, but we kept moving and only had a very short walk from our (unexpectedly $10) parking spot at the center.  There were other events going on concurrently so we had to make our way to the far back basement room to find the MCM expo.  Fortunately it was easy to find our way.

Packet pickup was a BREEZE.  I've never really had to wait long for a packet pickup before, even at some of the bigger races I've done, but I was still pretty impressed with just how smoothly I was able to get my bib and shirt.  There were dozens of Marines waiting at well-labeled booths, broken down by bib number, and thanks to the bib card (printable or mobile-accessible from email) the pickup staff simply had to page through the bin of ordered bibs to yank mine out and hand it to me.  I grabbed a commemorative program (and am kicking myself for only taking one) and my MCM patch, then headed over to the shirt tables.

My bib didn't have any markings for which shirt size I had requested, and I had forgotten what I'd put, but that didn't seem to be a problem as people just went to the size they wanted and were handed a shirt.  We weren't allowed to try them on but a small looked about right so that's what I grabbed.  It fits well, but the material is very heavy and it's a kind of putrid green mockneck, so there's a good chance I won't be wearing it much.  Good quality item, certainly, I just wish I'd come last year for the beautiful red ones!

Now that I was ready for the actual race part, it was time to check out the expo vendors.  First up: the Brooks gear store, which had a huge selection of MCM gear of all kinds!  It also had a line that stretched all the way back to the expo entrance, with estimates of about an hour wait time.  I'd arrived at the expo early on Friday morning, pretty soon after it had opened, so I was shocked by how long that line was!  As it was my first marathon, though, I was pretty determined to grab some MCM goodies to wear proudly back home.  My mom and brother helped me pick out a beautiful dark blue long sleeve burnout shirt and a UV protective tank top before we headed to the line.  After a while of waiting all together, my family told me I should go meet up with some of the people I had planned to connect with at the expo while they waited.  I was hesitant to abandon them, but also realized if we killed two birds with one stone, we could get home sooner.

I headed over towards the Motigo booth to meet up with Celeste, one of the creators of the Motigo app.  We'd been communicating about this awesome technology before the race, and had agreed to meet in person at the race.  If you haven't heard of Motigo, you need to check this thing out!  It's a mobile app that allows friends and family to record personal messages for your race, to be delivered at set points along the course.  MCM had provided a bunch of messages for this race as well, so everyone using it would have "cheers" and motivation delivered directly into their ears while running.  VERY cool!

After chatting with Celeste for longer than planned, I went back to Brooks to check on the line - and found my family STILL in the middle of the Cedar-Point-esque line lanes!  I joined them for the last few turns, during which we actually passed a Gatorade aid station in the middle of the line, a cheer station, and a candy station.  Though the long line was kind of annoying and the space was very crowded, the amusement of shopping line aid stations helped lighten the mood, and I must say I was pretty impressed with how quickly that line actually moved.  Eventually we were at the register, then through the register, and confronted with the madness that was the MCM expo.

I was so surprised to see how small the conference hall was.  MCM's field of about 30,000 runners is one of the biggest races I've ever been a part of, but the expo space was comparable only to races of about half the size.  Vendor booths were crammed in and people were shoulder-to-shoulder at most points around the hall.  All of the open space in which the packet pickup booths had been remained largely empty while the rest of the expo was shoved in whatever corner it would fit.  I felt like I was at Chicago's Wizard World comicon instead of a prestigious race expo.  Wading through the sea of humanity was less appealing than I'd expected, so I made rounds as quickly as I could to grab freebies but ultimately spent much less time connecting and browsing at the expo as I had intended.  I DID try to participate in any activity challenges that took place around the hall, as always, and ended up in my best-ever wheel pose every for a while, which stretched me out after the long car ride we'd made the day before!

Finally, after only one half-hearted loop around the hall, I called it a day.  I think this made my family very happy, but I was a little disappointed.  Still, getting off my feet a couple days before the race was ultimately the better choice, so we packed up and headed for home.  My bags were still brimming with goodies, and of course I had my bib which was the number one most important part!  Saturday was a full day of rest, with absolutely nothing race-related to post about - just a bunch of family gaming and Final Destination watching (side note: NOT a great choice before a big day, as I was starting to freak out about all the little things that could go ever-so-wrong), and of course that little INDIANS IN THE WORLD SERIES thing...

My actual race-day experience will be broken up into a couple different posts, and I'm still working on organizing my thoughts.  There was so much to take in and process!  As you've probably noticed in this post already, I took a lot of photos and my posts will be a little pic-heavy, but gimme a break!  It's 26.2 miles PLUS the rest of the "experience" thing, so deal!

Read about the rest of my MCM experience!   Part 1   -   Part 2   -   Aftermath

What's the best race expo you've ever been to?  What made it so awesome?  How about the worst?

Marathoners are a Nuisance!

This post was originally going to be a Friday Five a few months ago, but I put it in my back pocket for a while.  Suddenly, my last Wednesday before the Marine Corps Marathon, the Wednesday Word pops up as nuisance and it became the perfect time to post!  So here are the five people I have annoyed the most with almost a year's worth of blathering on about running my first marathon!

5. Puppy

Yes, my dog.  This poor pup has had two giant puppy earfuls of marathon talk almost every single day since last December when I decided I was probably going to try running one this year.  You might think the dog doesn't know what I'm saying, but my Kaalia is smart and I swear she understands every word I say.  That's why she tries to squirm away when I start telling her how nervous I am for my long run or how excited I am for the crowds or when I start tearing up while I'm scrolling through the MCM Facebook page at night.  She's probably even more annoyed when I pull her back into a tight "you're stuck listening to this" hug...

4. Dad

Originally I thought my dad would end up at the top of this list, but he's dodged a pretty big bullet by jumping into the deep end of going back to school.  If he weren't hiding in the library all the time, he'd probably be much higher.  On the other hand, prattling on about my training runs and shoving my Map My Run data in his face when he's trying to study probably could make up the difference...

3. Coworkers

This is probably 50-50, since my full time work as a race manager kinda means everyone should be used to race talk by now.  A couple of my fellow managers are runners as well, so they are a little more understanding of the whole mental and physical process and I try to keep my marathon talk limited to those people.  That still leaves about half the office of non-runners who are probably getting tired of hearing "oof, I have a long run this afternoon after we finish working" or "ugh I'm soooo sore from my 20 miler last night" both in the office or at our weekend events...

2. Boyfriend

Bless his heart; my boyfriend has dealt with my incessant marathon focus more than almost anyone.  Half of my training runs (including my first true long run) start and end at his place, so he gets the full brunt of my post-run crazy.  He's patient and encouraging, though, and helps me recover when I'm hurting (even if it means holding me down in the ice bath while I cry and scream about getting frostbite).  He's believed in me from the start, and while his constant harping on my admittedly pretty awful diet can sometimes get annoying, I guarantee I'm far more obnoxious about all this than he'll ever be.  Someone once told me "if you're still in a relationship at the end of marathon training, you're not training right", but I believe my boyfriend's infinite patience and support has pretty solidly stomped that to pieces...

1. Mom

My boyfriend gets a lot of marathon rambling, but no one gets more of it than my mom.  I talk incessantly about training when I'm home, AND I call her after races and training runs that aren't around the house, AND I call when I'm trying to figure out what I should do for different training problems.  She's been sick of marathon talk since probably, oh, April?  When I found out I got in to MCM?  But she's still driving me all the way out to DC, spending the whole weekend there supporting me, and doing her best to encourage me all along the way.  I can't really blame her for getting glassy-eyed when I launch into another analysis of my most recent run or a one-sided discussion about whether I should do my training run in the rain or wait until morning and hope it's drier.  Gonna have to find some way to make it up to her after the race, maybe moving out will be a nice little gift..?

"Oh no, she's gonna start talking about running again..."

As always, the Wednesday Word is hosted by Deb Runs!  Check out the linkup, visit some other bloggers to hear what they consider to be a nuisance, and share what annoys YOU in the comments below!  Thanks for stopping by!

Tracking Training

Guess what - I'm writing about the Marine Corps Marathon again today!  No surprise, I should think, with my first marathon only days away and my whole being focused on the event...  Today it's "Tried It Tuesday" and I'd like to show you how I increased my accountability and data tracking for my marathon training plan.  Introducing: JournalMenu.

Many runners use GPS tracking that feeds data into apps like MapMyRun or even Nike training products, producing tons of raw running data.  I've used GPS throughout almost my entire running "career", and I've been able to see time and distance improvements when they happen.  What has been lacking for me, though, was figuring out why those improvements were happening, or why the improvements I expected didn't happen.  With raw data, it's difficult to make many connections between cause and effect.

To enhance my marathon training, I got my hands on a custom made JournalMenu planner.  Maybe it's because I've always loved hand-written notes and letters, but I have definitely found a huge benefit to using my planner throughout the past few months.  I take my raw data from MapMyRun (time, distance, average pace) for each day's run and transcribe it into the journal - but then I write notes on the full experience.  How did I feel on the run?  What did I eat throughout the day?  Did I refuel during my run?  What types of products did I use for pre-, mid-, and post-run?  By notating all the details of my runs, I have been able to make some connections that exposed opportunities for improvement.

I'm also able to record all of my cross training in the same pages, so of course I just had to color code all of my entries!  Run stats in pink, products used in red, experience notations in gold, yoga in blue, lifting in purple...  The more thorough I got, the easier it was to see the patterns of successes and opportunities.  Digital tracking gives us a lot of information, but it isn't always easy to decipher into something useful.  JournalMenu has helped me bridge the gap between information and knowledge, and it shows in my many training gains over the past six months.  I've cut almost 15 minutes off my half marathon since starting my journal tracking!  And there's that little matter of the marathon around the corner, which wouldn't have been possible without learning about my body's reactions to training, fueling, and resting during my training period.

Oh, and BONUS: JournalMenu actually allows you to FULLY customize your planner!  As you can see, my cover is obviously custom made, but the inside pages come in a wide variety of styles, such as weightlifting formats and two-day-per-page blanks.  There are supplemental materials for all manner of training, like pace charts and training plans for various race distances.  JournalMenu caters heavily to the CrossFit crowd, and even included pages of sample CrossFit WODs in my book for me to try!  No matter what your fitness goals or favorite activities, JournalMenu can make you a planner that will help you along your entire journey.

How do you track your progress when training for a goal?  How do you interpret the raw data you collect?  What's your next big goal?

Marathon Hype and the MCM

Lots of people say this is the best in the country.  It's definitely one of the biggest.  Now I'm starting to wonder if picking something a little more low-key might actually have been a GOOD idea - what if the next marathon I do (oh man did I really say that?) isn't as exciting and I don't like it as much?  What if MCM is going to set an unrealistic standard?  I picked it as my first because of all the hoopla, but will that ruin future races for me when they don't have all the pomp?

The number one thing I hear about the Marine Corps Marathon from others who have run it or been involved is that the course support is unparalleled in any other race they've run.  Just recently I ran the Towpath Marathon Half on my beloved Towpath Trail - but I had the option to make the full marathon distance in that race series my first full instead of running MCM.  When I thought about how few places there would be on the Towpath for spectators, and how much lovely-but-lonely distance there would be between those spots, I realized that no matter how much I enjoyed my Towpath races, that was not the right setting for my first attempt at 26.2 miles.  My realization was proven when I ran the half and only passed ONE spectator spot.  The full marathon had a few more places, but at no point are people actually able to, like, spread out along the course and cheer you through whole sections.

Marine Corps will be vastly different.  While there are some stretches that apparently have very few spectators, the majority of the course will be in a huge city with tons and tons of course support.  If it's not local spectators or runners' supporters, it's Marines there to cheer and encourage.  According to the MCM website, there will be live music along the course as well.  Almost every step of my marathon will be surrounded by people, as well as the sights and sounds of a famous big-city race.  It's exciting to think about - but a little worrisome.

I know I've told myself before that I'd just be "one-and-done" on long race distances.  For example, after my first half marathon waaaaaaay back, I said "that's it, no more!"  And yet, here I am, seven of twelve months down on my half-marathon-every-month goal, sooooo....  When I say this may be my only marathon, I'm not sure how set I really am on making that call.  In some ways it's very fitting for me to have my full in DC if that's my only full, since I'm trying to do a half marathon in every state (eventually), and I think it's almost poetic: fifty states at the half and the crowning DC jewel as a full.  On the other hand, I know what it's like to catch the bug, so to speak, and know there's a chance my competitive side will finish MCM and think golly jeepers, I can do better than THAT time!  It'll happen no matter how fast I cover my first marathon, and even my coworkers know it.

But what happens when I start looking at doing another marathon, get through all the training, show up on race day - and find that MCM was the biggest, bestest, most excitingest marathon EVER?  Between a combination of course support, monumental scenic setting, and the whole newness factor of a first marathon, there's a very real chance that no other marathon will live up to all of the hype and excitement that has been building for me since back in March when I first threw in my bid to join the 41st Marine Corps Marathon.  If my next attempt isn't as big of a deal, I'm actually a little worried I wouldn't even be able to make it through the course.  That would make me one sad panda.

Either way, for better or for worse or for ruining my idea of what running a marathon should feel like for years to come, MCM is less than a week away.  Taper has been interesting and a little worrisome, but the worst nerves are probably yet to come.  I'm leaving on Thursday morning for DC, hitting the Expo on Friday to get my bib, then planning on taking Saturday as easily as possible at my brother's house (this will probably involve a lot of board games and possibly some Disney sing-alongs).  Sunday is the big day........

Multi-marathoners, does your first full leave a big impact on your perception of marathon racing?  Have you ever run a race that you thought nothing could ever compare to afterwards?  What happened next time you ran?  I'm gonna survive this thing, right?

Beauty Sleep in a Bottle

I've addressed the benefits of a good probiotic in the past, and have had success with a probiotic-only supplement - but I've continued to struggle with getting a good night's sleep, even with the help of sleep-aid supplements.  Recently, IdealFit released a product in its IdealLean line designed to combine gut health with natural sleep aids into a nighttime probiotic, and I managed to snag a bottle to see if this dual-action supplement might be a good solution for me.

Disclaimer: I received IdealLean products to try and review.  I am under no obligation to promote the product, and all opinions expressed in this and any related posts are, as always, my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

On the probiotic side: as far as I can tell, it's doing what it's supposed to do.  I'm noticing the same gut-related effects, which is to say I poop noticeably more when I'm taking the supplement than when I'm not taking it.  Whereas my previous probiotic experience had my bowel movements landing early afternoon-ish after taking my supplement in the morning, the overnight probiotics have my bathroom scheduled shifted forward.  Morning bowel movements are more frequent and more, ah, substantial.  I actually like this better, because I feel like I'm starting my day by getting rid of a bunch of, well, crap, instead of running to the bathroom at the office and unloading mid-day.

On the sleep side: a blend of Valerian root and chamomile extract give this supplement a little extra nighttime boost, which does seem to be helping a little.  I don't quite have the timing down yet (and a couple unexpected middle-of-the-night phone calls haven't helped) but I have definitely noticed increased drowsiness after taking the supplement, and an easier time falling asleep on the nights when I am taking the probiotic.  Neither of the ingredients are "knock-out punches", so to speak, and they're not intended to be; rather, they supplement your natural sleep cycle to enhance your quality of sleep.

A surprising effect I've noticed actually comes from coupling the probiotic with another IdealLean product I've been trying, a pre-workout that (somewhat less surprisingly) contains caffeine.  With my sensitivity to stimulants like caffeine, I'm always nervous about the side effects of most pre-workouts, but after taking this one a few times I've noticed I do not have the same adverse reactions that most pre-workouts seem to give me.  A little investigation into my probiotic's ingredients found something called L-Theanine, a non-essential amino acid known for its relaxing properties - including mitigation of caffeine side effects!  I hadn't known these two products would go together so nicely when I started taking them, but I LOVE that I can get the benefits of both without the negatives I've seen in the past!

IdealLean's probiotic is just the beginning of a giant line of awesome products.  I've been using a bunch of their stuff lately, and I'm really diggin' it.  Stay tuned as I slowly revive Supplement Sunday by reviewing more great IdealLean products (and others) in the coming weeks!  Oh, and, it just so happens that for the next couple days IdealFit is having a buy-2-get-1-free on the pre-workout that goes so nicely with this new probiotic!  You can head over to stock up by clicking HERE!

Today's post is not only relaunching the Supplement Sunday series on my OWN blog, but is also the LAUNCH of my first-ever hosted linkup!  Share your supplement reviews all week long by adding your link below.  Be sure to grab the badge above and provide a link back to the host!