Green Choices Wednesday

Green Shaving

I've been looking for additional opportunities to eliminate "disposable" products from my lifestyle.  The latest thing that's been bothering me is the use of disposable razors.  A disposable razor is just a blade on a plastic handle.  Use it and throw it away.  The problem is that there is no such place as "away."  Everything goes somewhere.  Disposable products convert the Earth's precious resources into trash, one piece at a time. 

I have half of a package of disposable razors left.  I've decided to buy no more of them.  Here are the options I'm considering:

• A system with reusable handle and disposable blade head, such as Gillette Mach 3 or Fusion, or Schick Quattro.  Greatly reduced waste, but still throwing away the blade head.  A better option than I'm using now.
• A classic safety razor.  The head opens, allowing replacement of the blade only.  I could dispose of the used blades with the rest of my metal recycling.  No waste, and fairly inexpensive.  The classic safety razor is making a comeback, and is considered to be a closer shave than possible with a disposable.
• An "old fashioned" straight razor.  At one time, the main method of shaving.  Used by few in recent years, also currently making a comeback.  No waste, but requires a little more investment, $100+ for entry-level models, plus a strop.   Still considered to be the ultimate close shave.  Not to mention the cool factor!

I also understand that traditional wet-shaving glycerin-based shaving soap, as applied with a brush, gives a superior shave compared to shaving foam in a can.  From a green perspective, a shaving mug and brush is reuseable, compared to a can that is used and thrown away.  I plan to look into this also, and discontinue using canned foam.

I'll post again when I have chosen and purchased a new system, along with a review of the system's performance. 

Think Green and Live Green!

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"Endless roads will surrender if you continue to take one more step."

~a real gem from my online friend Wiiqi at dailymile.com.

Meatless Monday

Running Green supports Meatless Monday, an initiative associated with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of Meatless Monday is to help reduce meat consumption in order to improve public health and the health of the planet.




These delicious-looking recipes are published by the Meatless Monday initiative, and may be found at http://www.meatlessmonday.com/category/this-mondays-menu/

Weekly Training: June 21 - 27

(Graphics are from my page at dailymile.com. The mileage in the graphics include both running and cycling miles.)

This week: 33 miles running and 19 miles cycling, 52 miles total, three weights workouts, two core workouts, and four yoga workouts. This week, I made my crosstraining goal of cycling at least half as many miles as I ran.

• Monday: Rest-- no running.  Weights: Chest & Biceps.  Yoga.
• Tuesday: 4 miles running (2.5 miles warmup and cooldown run, 6 hill repeats), 4 miles cycling. Core workout. Yoga.
• Wednesday: 5 miles running, 3 miles cycling.  Weights: Back & Triceps.
• Thursday: 6 miles running, 3 miles cycling.  Core workout. Yoga.
• Friday: Rest-- no running.  Weights: Shoulders & Legs.
• Saturday: 8 miles running, 4 miles cycling.
• Sunday: 10 miles running, 5 miles cycling.  Yoga.

YTD: 878.4 miles running, 227.8 miles cycling, 1,106.2 miles total.

News Report: Social Networking Sites Help With Workouts

This is a news item about dailymile and other fitness-oriented social networking sites, from KELO-TV Channel 11, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I found out about the news item by way of a friend of a friend on dailymile.  My friend noticed that they used my dailymile page as an illustration in the text version of the report: http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0%2C101583

Food Rules Friday

This is the fifth installment of a weekly feature, "Food Rules Friday," featuring a rule from Michael Pollan's newest book, "Food Rules - An Eater's Manual." Michael Pollan is an acclaimed author and whole food/heathy eating advocate. He is the author of the best selling "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dillemma."

Rule #5: "Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients."

"...any product that has more sugar than other ingredients has too much sugar."

Food processors put extra sugar and sweeteners in foods to encourage us to eat too much of them.  That is probably why studies indicate that use of artificial sweeteners does not really lead t weight loss.

Training Tip Thursday

"Hot humid summer weather -
Hot, humid summer weather doesn't have to put a stop to your training. Running before the sun is up, or late in the evening will keep the sun from baking your brains. Even more comfortable is to workout at the gym in front of the air conditioner or a big fan. The best indoor exercises for the distance runner are: treadmill, elliptical/orbital trainer, stairclimber/stepper machine; spin/stationary bike; leg-press machine. If you combine running with the machines, the running should be first, followed by the gym workout."

Source: http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/training/distancerunning.asp#4

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."

T.S. Eliot

Meatless Monday

Running Green supports Meatless Monday, an initiative associated with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of Meatless Monday is to help reduce meat consumption in order to improve public health and the health of the planet.




These delicious-looking recipes are published by the Meatless Monday initiative, and may be found at http://www.meatlessmonday.com/category/this-mondays-menu/

Weekly Training: June 14 - 20

(Graphics are from my page at dailymile.com. The mileage in the graphics include both running and cycling miles.)

This week: 38 miles running and 17 miles cycling, 55 miles total, three weights workouts, two core workouts, and two yoga workouts. Sunday's run passed 100 running miles for June.  I'm feeling the benefits of cross training on the bicycle, and trying to put in at least half as many cycling miles as running miles.  This week, I was a couple of miles short.

• Monday: Rest-- no running.
• Tuesday: 5 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Wednesday: 6 miles running, 3 miles cycling.
• Thursday: 4 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Friday: Rest-- no running.
• Saturday: 8 miles running, 4 miles cycling.
• Sunday: 15 miles running, 6 miles cycling.

Food Rules Friday

This is the fourth installment of the weekly feature, "Food Rules Friday," featuring a rule from Michael Pollan's newest book, "Food Rules - An Eater's Manual." Michael Pollan is an acclaimed author and whole food/heathy eating advocate. He is the author of the best selling "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dillemma."


Rule #4: "Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup."

Pollan's objection to HFCS is simply that it's presence indicates a food product that is highly processed.  The  food industry adds HFCS and other sugars to many foods that traditionally did not contain sugar. 

Adding sugar encourages the consumer to eat more of the products, and the extra sugars contribute to the national epedemics of increased obesity and diabetes.

Personally, I avoided HFCS, as much as possible, long before reading Pollan's books.  Pollan states that sugar is sugar, and doesn't seem to feel that HFCS is much worse than other sugar.  I'm concerned about the body of research that shows that HFCS is actually worse than other sugars.  Table sugar is about half sucrose and half fructose.  HFCS is approximately 80% fructose.  Fructose is metabolised differently than sucrose.  Instead of being converted to glucose, which is burned as an energy source, fructose is converted to fats and stored in the liver!  Too much of any sugar is a problem, but using a sugar containing almost twice as much fructose is far worse!

Training Tip Thursday

Leap frog to improve -
Ten percent weekly mileage increase? Somehow the idea has been "written in stone" that the recommended weekly increase in mileage is 10%. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ten percent is the maximum increase, beyond which pain and injury are almost guaranteed. Better is to increase 5% weekly. Even better than that, is to leap frog. Leap frog? Go up ten percent one week, then down five percent the next week, and up ten percent the following week. This procedure challenges the body, allows for recovery, then challenges the body once more. Improvement in conditioning, be it cardiovascular, muscular or the strengthening of your support structure (bone, joints, tendons) takes place during the recovery stage. Continually pushing forward tends to exhaust the body, and exhaustion leads to trouble. Pushing forward, retrenching, then striving again will provide the best results, in the shortest time, with the least chance of injury.

Source: http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/training/distancerunning.asp#4

Green Choices Wednesday

Readers of previous Green Choices posts know how much I dislike styrofoam, and also how much I despise unnecessary use of disposable products.




I was proud of my wife last week!  We went to a restaurant for our anniversary.  She doesn't have the appetite that I do, and hardly ever finishes a restaurant dinner.  She takes the leftovers home for a nice lunch.  Restaurants always use foam containers.  She isn't a fan of disposable waste either, but we always seem to forget to bring a reusable container.  Last week, as usual, she ate about half of her meal.  And then, she pulled a reusable container out of her purse, and put the leftovers in it.

The waiter had probably never seen a diner bring his or her own container, and said he'd have been happy to package it for her.  I just said, "Thanks, but we'd rather not use the foam.  It's a tree-hugger thing."

A small gesture, but it made me feel good.  A simple choice, and such an easy way to make a small difference!  And maybe it will cause the waiter or other diners give thought to easy choices that can make a difference.

Think Green and Live Green!

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meatless Monday

Running Green supports Meatless Monday, an initiative associated with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of Meatless MondayMeatless Monday is to help reduce meat consumption in order to improve public health and the health of the planet.




These delicious-looking recipes are published by the Meatless Monday initiative, and may be found at http://www.meatlessmonday.com/category/this-mondays-menu/.

Weekly Training: June 7 - 13

(Graphics are from my page at dailymile.comdailymile.com. The mileage in the graphics include both running and cycling miles.)

A good week, 25.75 miles running and 29.43 cycling, 55.18 miles total, three weights workouts, two core workouts, and two yoga workouts. Saturday's run passed 800 running miles for 2010.  In comparison, I didn't reach 800 miles in 2009 until September 19.  Using principles that worked well during marathon training, I lowered this week's running miles, following several consecutive increasing mileage weeks.  However, this was stiill the highest total mileage in recent weeks, as I had my highest weekly cycling distance.

• Monday:  4.33 miles cycling
• Tuesday: 4 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Wednesday: 6.6 miles running.
• Thursday: 4 miles running, 7.1 miles cycling.
• Friday: 1-mile running time test @ 6:44. 3 miles cycling
• Saturday: 5 miles running, 5 miles cycling.
• Sunday:  5.15 running with the local Exygon Road Runners group, 8 miles cycling.

Food Rules Friday

After several weeks' hiatus, here's a third installment of my weekly feature, "Food Rules Friday," featuring a rule from Michael Pollan's newest book, "Food Rules - An Eater's Manual." Michael Pollan is an acclaimed author and whole food/heathy eating advocate. He is the author of the best selling "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dillemma."

Rule #3: "Avoid eating food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry."

Do you keep Calcium Propionate in your pantry?  I dont!

Pollan's point in Rule 3 is that processed foods contain a variety of chemicals that are added to extend shelf life, make the food taste better than it is, and to make you eat more of it.

Read the labels on packaged foods.  See the list of additives that many of them contain.  Foods prepared in the home from fresh natural ingredients are much healthier!

Training Tip Thursday

"Keep a Running Journal

The best way to know where you're going with your training is to see where you've been. Keeping a personal journal of your runs helps you track your progress, avoid past pitfalls and even inspire you to new accomplishments. Your journal can be as simple as a few dashed notes of the distance and time you ran each day, or more detailed with lengthier entries about your route, the way you feel, and the stuff you thought about on the run."

(from Cool Running, http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/tips/index.shtml)

A great way of keeping a running journal is through an online workout and networking site like dailymile.com.  It provides a convenient place to log workouts, including crosstraining activities.  An additional benefit is being exposed to the collective knowledge and experience of a huge community of motivated athletes!

Green Choices Wednesday

It's time to get my Wednesday "Green Choices" feature going again, after a month of neglecting the blog.

This was just a simple and easy workplace effort, a result of being bothered by seeing recyclables thrown away every day at my workplace.  I set up containers in the luchroom for plastic and aluminum collection, and printed  a simple sign for each with interesting recycling facts.

Unfortunately, my city does not have curbside recycling pickup.  However, I collect my household recyclables (paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, and other metal) and take them to local recyling facilities every couple of weeks or so.  I just add the workplace items to my household recyclables whenever I make a trip to a collection center.

I felt this simple exercise was worthwhile because it kept 252 aluminum cans and 226 plastic bottles out of the landfill in 2010, and reclaimed these resources that would have been wasted.  A greater benefit occurred because it started a dialog, raising employees' awareness of Earth-friendly activities.  Some told me that they never thought a lot about recyling before this, but have since started recyling in their homes.

There are opportunities everywhere to make a little bit of a difference, if we just look for them.  This is just one small example.   And making just a little difference here and there in small ways adds up to a noticeable impact.

Think Green!
 

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"Yoga is like music.
The rhythm of the body,
the melody of the mind
and the harmony of the soul
create the symphony of life."

-BKS Iyengar

Running Life: 5 Weeks Post-Marathon

It's been 5 weeks since The Gusher Marathon.  Except for a 5K race report, I have not posted on the subject of running, so this is a 5-week catchup post.  A slight post-marathon letdown is fairly common among runners.  My inital focus was physical recovery.  I followed Hal Higdon's marathon recovery plans fairly closely for the first two weeks, until my legs felt strong enough to resume normal running.  At the end of week two, I ran a 5K race at a PR pace.  The next three weeks, I gradually increased mileage, back to my normal pre-marathon 30 to 35 miles/week.  I've also tried to focus more on mechanics and form.  During taper and post-marathon, I've seen my pace on short and medium distances improve significantly, a tribute, I believe, to the effectiveness of the Hal Higdon training program.  My dailymile friend Joe M says that strengthening the core results in quicker pace, and I have been doing core workouts throughout this time.  It sounds logical; I'll have to analyze it all further.

(Graphics are from my page at dailymile.com. The mileage in the graphics include both running and cycling miles.)

5/31 through 6/6:

This week resulted in PR paces for one mile Friday, and for the half-marathon distance Sunday.  Most of this week's mileage went toward running challenges for dailymile friends Jeni H and Jenny R.

Weekly totals: 37.1 miles running, 6 miles cycling, 43.1 miles total, three weights workouts and two core workouts:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 4 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Wednesday: 8 miles running.
• Thursday: 6.7 miles running.
• Friday: 5.3 miles running. 5th mile at PR 6:08 pace.
• Saturday: Rest.
• Sunday: 13.1 miles running. PR for this distance, 1:59:50

5/24 through 5/30:

Good running mileage again this week.  Also a strong cross training week on the bicycle.  PR single mile paces on Thursday and again on Saturday.

Weekly totals: 34 miles running, 22.1 miles cycling, 56.1 miles total, three weights workouts and two core workouts:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 4 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Wednesday: 4 miles running.
• Thursday: 6 miles running, 1 mile cycling. 6th mile of run at PR 6:52 pace.
• Friday:  6 miles cycling
• Saturday: 10 miles running, 10 miles cycling.  10th mile of run at PR 6:41 pace.
• Sunday: 10 miles running. 3 miles cycling.

5/17 through 5/23:

Building decent running mileage this week. PR single mile pace on Friday.

 Weekly totals: 34 miles running, 10.6 miles cycling, 34.6 miles total, three weights workouts and two core workouts:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 4 miles running, 4.6 miles cycling.
• Wednesday: 6 miles running, 1 mile cycling.
• Thursday: 4 miles running, 1 mile cycling.
• Friday: 1 mile @ PR 7:07.
• Saturday: 9 miles running, 2 miles cycling.
• Sunday: 10 miles running. 2 miles cycling.

5/10 through 5/16:

Building decent running mileage this week. Eco-commute on Wednesday!  5K Race PR Saturday!

Weekly totals: 22.37 miles running, 10.75 miles cycling, 33.12 miles total, three weights workouts and two core workouts:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 4 miles running, 1 mile cycling.
• Wednesday: 7 miles running.  Ran 3.5 miles to work in AM, 3.5 miles home in PM.
• Thursday: 5.5 miles cycling.
• Friday: 4.25 miles cycling.
• Saturday: 5K Race.  PR @25:33, 8:14 pace.
• Sunday: 8.27 miles running. 

5/3 through 5/9:
First week after marathon, a very light recovery week.

Weekly totals: 19 miles running, 18.3 miles cycling, 37.3 miles total, three weights workouts and two core workouts:

• Monday: No Running.  4 miles cycling.
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: 3 miles running. 7.7 miles cycling.
• Thursday: 3 miles running. 1 mile cycling.
• Friday: Rest.
• Saturday: 5 miles running. 2.59 miles cycling.
• Sunday: 8 miles running. 3 miles cycling.

Getting Back on Track

I have seriously neglected this blog in recent weeks.  When I initially created the blog, it was intended to be mostly a personal journal, or chronicle of my path toward a dream of running a marathon race.  As the journal evolved, I started adding content relevant to some of my other passions, such as environmental activism and health/fitness/nutrition.  As I found that real people were actually reading the posts, I was motivated to try to make the content a little more interesting, and less of a list of miles run and boring running stats.

Since I completed my first marathon May 1, 2010, the original driving force behind this chronicle ended, and I've lost a little focus.  Now it's time to get back on track.  Most of the past content contained here is still relevant.  I simply need to slightly redefine the focus.  Running is a great passion, and will still be a prominent feature.  It will just be a little less goal-oriented.  Environmental concerns will still be a prominent feature, as will health, fitness and nutrition.

Thanks to my readers for great comments and interesting discussions that have evolved from some of these posts.  I continue to welcome visitors, and I enjoy your comments!  Sometimes it may take me a day or two, but I will make every effort to personally respond to all comments.

Meatless Monday

Running Green supports Meatless Monday, an initiative associated with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of Meatless Monday is to help reduce meat consumption in order to improve public health and the health of the planet.




These delicious-looking recipes are published by the Meatless Monday initiative, and may be found at http://www.meatlessmonday.com/category/this-mondays-menu/.

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else."


-Steve Prefontaine