Good list of foods, with a couple I have never heard of. Namely Quinoa, Cacao, Hemp and Maca.

http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/top-10-foods-for-endurance-athletes

Below is an interesitng link on running technique; however, the article is from Matt Fitzgerald who wrote brain training so it has his slant. None the less it is food for thought.

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Can_Running_Technique_Be_Taught_.htm

Most winters I can run outdoors. Not this year. There is 15 inches of snow on the ground and all of the trails are covered with snow. With the toddler, exercise/running is a timing game anyway. Wake up, get everyone food, play for a little before toddler nap time then time to exercise while she is sleeping. However, now need to add-in get into the car, drive to location, then go for run, which isn’t happening.

So I have been using the elliptical and riding machine in the basement. While these have always seemed ok for occasional workouts, 3 weeks in the basement almost every day is boring. But as they say this 2 shall pass and I will appreciate running outside that much more.

An update on the elliptical machine. I increased the incline. I don’t have time to increase time on the machine. Additionally, the ends of my feet get numb if I am on there for much more than an hour. Trying to run faster on elliptical is just as hard running faster on land. So that meant increasing the incline or increasing the resistance. There is a point where increasing the resistance doesn’t feel natural (or like I am running in snow) so it really only left the incline.  This is an old machine and so I am not sure how the levels on the machine are related to % incline. All I can say is that I am at level 3.

It seems to be close to the same level of effort as a run. It maybe just a little less. I have to resist the temptation to decrease the resistance when I get fatigued.

I am stubbornly stuck at 178 pounds. Although I must say I have been able to tighten the belt one notch. So my dimensions are changing. Which goes to the importance of measuring everything. However, given that I barely have time to blog, work keep a workout log, play with the kids and wife, it is not going to happen as far as loggin even more information.

This was on the Simple Marriage Project

http://www.simplemarriage.net/how-to-make-more-free-time-for-your-spouse-or-family.html

Reminds me it is time to make another date

I was able to get a week of training on the books.  Yay.  I am running a little slow, but that is ok.  Speed and endurance comes with training.  Still need to get log posted to the web.  I traveled to Dallas last week so I was able to get my long run (11 miles) in the warm weather which was AWESOME.  There is a ½ a foot of snow on the ground in Michigan which makes it hard to run.  Also it is very cold which makes it impossible to run outside with a toddler.

This brings me to my question.  Is there any way to get close to an equivalent run work-out on an elliptical machine?

I have an elliptical but do not have a treadmill.  The winters have been mild enough that I only occasionally use the elliptical; however, this year most of my running has been on the elliptical.  While I know that an elliptical, theoretically, burns more calories it does not seem to give me the same work out that I need to complete a race a target goals.  So should I increase the incline, increase the pace, or increase the time to get my running “equivalent” workout?  I am not going to go buy anything new until my elliptical is completely trashed!!!!  I have already had it for 10 years and it continues to work great and certainly provide a great workout.

I recently read Brain Training For Runners: A Revolutionary New Training System to Improve Endurance, Speed, Health, andResults.  I liked the book.  Some new tips that I had not seen before were around “Proprioceptive Cue”, Dynamic stretching and core workouts.  The books also contains great training schedules for any of the race distances.  That being said I am still using the Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster schedule but incorporated the core training  from Brain Training For Runners.

It is 13 weeks till Martian marathon and I have been barely training.  I got my schedule laid out for the marathon, but then got sick and laid off for about 5 days.  I usually don’t lay off working out when I am sick; however, this time it happened for whatever reason.  I also lost about 5 pounds over the holidays (which just gets me back to need to lose about 5-10 more).  I lost without even trying.  This happens every holiday which points to stress eating at work as being a big problem.  I will need to find other alternatives to prevent stress eating from occurring.

Work out this morning was 30 minutes on recumbent bike with 15 minutes of sprints.