Be strong. Run strong.
Category Archives: Cartoons
Monday Morning Running Motivation: My Run is My Drug
Dr. Chock prescribed, never forget to get your daily dose.
#runforsanity
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TODAY is the day!! The Ezzere Launch Party Runner Night is happening!! All the info HERE and if you’re in the Roseville, CA area please stop by. If you’re NOT, don’t cry, you can still party like an awesome runner and celebrate with us. BUY your Ezzere shirt and show me how you rock the runnerchick chic #SweatsintheCity fashion both ON the run and off. 🙂
They Always Say Home Is Where the Heart Is
Find your home. Find your love. #run
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MY NEW NEWSLETTER! If you missed the first Arty Runnerchick Ezzere Newsletter, don’t cry…don’t worry…just sign up and you won’t miss out on one minute more of the action! 😉
Think of them like a weekly vitamin shot: packed with training tips, news and updates, art, motivation, and more to boost and fuel your running. 😉 Plus way tastier than those wheat grass shots.
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1) Where do you feel most at home?
2) Where are you finding love with your runs lately?
3) What vitamins or supplements do you take, if any?
I hope everyone takes at least some iron supplements!
What’s Fueling YOUR Run?
Whether it be sarcasm, pancakes or otherwise, whatever fuels your running must be celebrated.
Power of the Running Snark
Trust me, a runner’s brain is wont to wander on those long runs and easy days, making jokes is certainly one of the best ways to roll. The perks of being your own running comedian:
* No hecklers: yea, let’s be honest, our brains may be a little deprived of of oxygen mid-run so the jokes may not exactly hold-up on a real comedy tour.
* Free laughs: it’s always MORE than okay to laugh at your own jokes, and out loud. Heck, you could wail like a hyena in the middle of the woods.
* Good times: spot really random moments of people when they have no idea anyone is like finding gold. Runners tend to go unnoticed by normal folk, we just blend into the background, so running is sometimes like the People Watching Olympics.
Running For Pancakes
Literal fuel for your running, certainly never to be overlooked. Now the bait reward of the foods to come often spend copious amounts of time on the brain during a run…
* Long run salivation: staring that 22-mile long run? Shall I take a poll as to how many of those miles were spent drooling over just how much you’re going to savor devouring [insert favorite food here] upon return? No judgement if drooling starts the moment the watch starts.
* Pre-food penance: on the flip side, pick the WRONG food before a run and you’ll most likely spend the entirety of that run paying the price. We need to start assigning a Points System for certain foods if ingested before a run: ice cream ands loads of dairy = 15 fart points, super spicy thai = 27 bush-dive points, burrito bomb = 45 clenched cheek shuffle point/27 fart points/39 bush dive points…that may work in making us reeeealllly consider if it’s worth eating that BEFORE we run. 😉
* Energy: okay, let’s take a moment for a bit of seriousness…use food to fuel your performance people, fuel up right and you’ll feel the benefits. Good news is there aren’t militant expectations, it’s all about balance: ensure you get enough protein, time that protein right, make the majority of your carbs high-quality, eat your fruits and veggies, hydrate well and with electrolytes too, get enough iron and THEN…after that you deserve your desserts, treats, and rewards.
So now I ask, Runners, what’s fueling YOUR runs??
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Tips for coming up with a winning running nutrition plan.
How to eat out while still eating to perform…BONUS, that means you CAN eat for ‘fun’ and ‘performance’…hehe. 🙂
More cartoons and humor because, let’s be honest, laughing is the only way to go!
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1) Last thing you found hilarious while on the run?
2) What were you thinking about on your last run?
I had this annoying song stuck in my head, and that you just can’t run away from. 😉
3) What’s one tip when it comes to running and nutrition you like to live by?
Runner #CoreandCake Party! A core routine chased by loads of cake
Let the #CoreandCake Party get going, Runners! 🙂 I’m going to start by showing you a quick core routine that you can do post-run. It’s short and sweet but effective at hitting those important core muscles, so there’s NO excuse for not doing it because you can whip it out fast.
I’ve got some picture demonstrations for a few of the ones that might be trickier to explain. Truth: I actually did a video but I think I’ve already grown tired of my chipmunk voice, so opted for the stills. 😉
Here’s how it works, there are group of exercises. Work up to doing three sets of each group, do all the sets for each group before moving onto the next group. Try doing this (or at least SOME core work) three days a week.
Group A
1) Reverse Crunch Roll-In’s — Set of 16
2) Ball Crunch — Set of 30
*Note: for the middle set, I like to mix it up and do the crunches alternating side to side.
Group B
1) Alternating Ball Reach — Set of 30
* Alternate reaching opposite hand to opposite foot; 30 total, so 15 each side
2) Split Crunch Scissors — Set of 16
* Start laying flat, as you reach up to center with the ball bring your left leg up towards the ball. Lower back down then bring your right foot up to the ball. Repeat.
3) Hamstring Ball Pulls — Set of 8 for each leg
* This move works in three phases, and similar to the BRIDGE EXERCISE DEMO I did but up on the ball. Start with one foot on the ball and back flat on the ground, lift your butt up so you’re doing a bridge on the ball, then roll/pull the ball in towards you. Roll out, lower your back down to the ground out of bridge, then repeat. Then switch to other leg.
Group C
1) Push-up — Set of 10-15 (Modify on your knees if you have to.)
2) Chair Dips — Set of 10
BAM!! You can’t tell me you can’t bust that out in 10-15 minutes at most. But the benefits to your running are incredibly important:
* Strong Core = Efficiency. Build up your core and ‘weaker’ muscles so you’re able to hold better form as you run. Maintaing proper form, even as you tire, will keep you more efficient…read as faster.
* Strong Core = Less Injuries. You got it, most injuries are a result of an imbalance that result from a weak muscle. Fix those so you don’t wind up injured and not running at all.
Oh wait, we forgot the OTHER major benefit, you do your core and you get cake too! 😉
#CoreandCake Party Phase 2…
Nom.
Nom.
Cake sees no speed. Runners of ALL levels working hard get their cake! 😉
Nom.
Nom….check it out, #coreandcake goes #SweatsintheCity style in my Ezzere Run Your Fortune Tee!!
Check out the AWESOME Lisa @ RunningOutofWine because she’s celebrating all the #coreandcake goodness over at her blog too!! 🙂
Thanks all your runnerchicks and runnerdudes for coming, now go get YOUR #coreandcake on too! Don’t forget you can tweet/insta/social media #coreandcake all day, seeing hardworking runners devouring their just desserts always makes me smile. 😉
1) How often do you incorporate core work into your routine?
2) What’s your favorite kind of cake, or any dessert?
3) Have you partied down with Lisa yet too?? If not…you best head on over NOW!! 🙂
There’s Only One High I Chase
Runner’s…I fully endorse living this high life.
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Reminder! The #coreandcake party is happening next Friday…here are the det’s!
More running MOTIVATION
More running ART AND CARTOONS
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1) What’s getting you high this weekend?
2) Is the sun poking out for you yet?
3) Best way to reward a hard running workout or race?
A hint…it’ll always be tagged #getinmybelly 😉
That’ll Light a Fire Under Your Runner Butt
Yes we may run for our sanity, the betterment of our souls, to push ourselves…but when it comes right down to it there’s a little peace of mind knowing if a situation arises where we need to get the heck out of there FAST, we’re faster than one poor, unfortunate soul. 😉
Darwinism at its finest, Folks. 😉 #runtosurvive
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More CARTOONS HERE!!
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1) Let’s hear another situation that you’ve thought of where running fast would certainly help you dodge a bullet? Or any other hazard.
2) When’s been a situation in life that being a runner has helped?
Chasing a bus I was about to miss. Speeding down the terminal trying to make a flight, heart rate at about interval level. 😉
3) What’s making you laugh today?
Runner Tummies on a Roller-coaster and Clif Protein Recovery and Electrolyte Drinks Review
Us runners sure do a number on our poor tummies. All the pounding, up, down, fast, jiggling, jiving…if our stomaches and intestines could speak I can only imagine the expletives they’d be yelling at us!
Actually, those stomaches and intestines of runners DO speak…just with things much more powerful, dare I even say explosive, than words. Yes, runners and their guts are stuck in a state of ongoing negotiations.
“PLEASE behave for my long run, preeeettty please!!” the runner’s silent prayer before heading out the door.
Runners plan their foods accordingly, learn from trial and error, we do our best to set ourselves up to avoid a stomach related attack but sometimes it feels like we’re in some kind of peace-treaty contract negotiation House of Cards style.
Those runner guts are testy, moody, volatile. Sometimes there is just NO pleasing them despite what feels like us doing our best to abide by the ‘rules’.
I’ve done a few posts on handling GI issues HERE and HERE
Today let’s talk about those post-run, especially post-workout tummies and guts. After all that jiggling and jiving lots of runners complain of feeling nauseous, that food is the LEAST appealing thing in the world, and sometimes runners actually struggle to keep food down.
The issue is that runners ALSO know how incredibly important refueling your body and muscles is within the first 30 minutes of finishing your workouts. In order to maximize your recovery (upwards of 60% better) so you can come back stronger, it really is crucial to find something, anything that will get into your system and STAY there.
This is an occasion where liquids can be a runner’s best friend. If you struggle with keeping actual food down due to an upset stomach after your runs and hard workouts take it to the liquids. Recovery drinks and smoothies can get you those essential protein amino acids and carbs to repair those muscles.
Recently Clif sent me a care package, among the bars (which I already knew I liked and enjoy), they introduced me to their recovery and electrolyte drinks. I hadn’t tried either of those so was interested to test them out.
Clif Protein Recovery Drink
I sampled the Orange Mango and really liked it. I tried it mixed in with a smoothie (berries and other fruit) and I also tried it just mixed with water. It’s sweet but not overpoweringly so, and plenty tasty on it’s own just with the water.
Each pack has 170 calories and 10 grams of protein. If there was anything I would change or suggest it would be if there were more grams of protein. Ideally, post-run and post-workout you want at least 25 grams of protein. But other than that, I really liked this one…it also comes in Chocolate and while I didn’t try this flavor, really I’ve not met something chocolate I don’t enjoy.
Clif Electrolyte Hydration Drink
These little guys come in tiny sleeves and are really easy to carry around and stash in a bag. I tried the Cranberry Raz and it was a win in the taste department. The thing with hydration for runners is this is an ALL DAY thing, you need to continually be drinking water and fluids…not just right before or after your runs.
I’ve also explained a lot how crucial it is to drink not JUST water, but to find electrolyte replacement drinks to ensure your balances there are correct. Especially with the potassium and sodium. So this is why the market for electrolyte drinks has exploded the past few years. Taste-wise Clif nailed it. The only recommendations I have is that they offer a few with less calories…one pack is 80 calories because it also contains the simple sugars.
If you’re actually RUNNING (ie: part of your marathon training fueling strategy) you DO need that quickly digested glucose. But, if you’re not and you’re just needing the electrolytes the extra carbs and calories may not be what you need.
Thank you, Clif, for sending me these to test out and review!! All their products are available online and I’ve seen them in lots of stores too. 🙂
Soooo, while I STILL feel entitled to complain and be irked at my stomach any and every time it causes me trouble…on some level, when I imagine the bumping, jumping, jiving, and all that other stuff it has to put up with I can kinda sympathize with it for putting up with me as much as it does! 😉
Treat your stomaches with care, Runners!
1) If you’ve had a dialogue with your stomach how did it go? Do you say a little hope/prayer before long runs?? haha.
2) Something you’ve learned about running and nutrition lately?
3) Have you tried either the Clif Recovery or Electrolyte Drinks?
Out With the Running Shorts…and Razors
It’s Spring now, Runners…so while we ALL love to put those running tights away, it does come with a drawback…
Yay for more daylight, boooo for that missing hour of sleep. I’m still going to be bitter about losing that hour…hopefully it wasn’t too rough for you guys. Now off to scrounge up those razors. 😉
1) Have you been able to bust out the running shorts yet?
I’m not going to lie, I actually never put them away. 🙂
2) What are you looking forward to this Spring and Summer?
A Running Contrast: Pre and Post Workout
Nervous…trepidation…EXCITEMENT.
…pushing out doubts, finding your STRENGTH, finding your center.
Confidence. Remember you’ve DONE this before, draw on the memories of HARD workouts.
“You survived then, you’ll push through the pain today.”
Collect. Relax.
“Can we just START this thing already?!?!”
#nailedit
#endorphins
#confident
Funny the difference a mere workout makes.
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Nervous energy before workouts and races are NORMAL…they actually help boost your performance if you use them right. Posts on NERVES HERE
Posts on finding your CONFIDENCE
More MENTAL TOUGHNESS TIPS
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1) Give one adjective of how you felt before your last workout.
2) Give one adjective on how you felt after that same workout.
3) What is one of the last things you do or say to yourself before a hard workout or race?