>I’m extra excited for today because I’m jet-setting to New Hampshire for the weekend. I’ll be spending quality time with the fam, getting in a 18 mile training run, eating my mama’s cooking then running the Tufts 10K for Women with my mom and sister!
If you’re in the Boston area on Monday, The Tufts 10K is an amazing race. 7,500 women of all ages come together for an extremely empowering event.
Little rewind…today was a busy day. I woke to a delicious bowl of oatmeal I prepared the night before (my favorite warm oats combo):
After running some boring (but necessary) errands, I hit the [Rock Creek] park for a 4-mile run..
There’s a section of Rock Creek Parkway where you can enter this area…
I ended my run conveniently at the gym so I could squeeze in a good weights sesh. This training season, I’ve been doing a lot more heavy lifting, especially lots of weighted squats and lunges. To read an article by my brother (he’s a former college athlete and is studying with some of the best strength and endurance coaches out there) on the importance of heavy lifting for girls, click here.
Some good points:
“There is a common misconception that women will “bulk up” if they lift heavy weights. I’ll say this only once…building muscle is an EXTREMELY hard thing to do. If your body had to choose between breaking down muscle and building it, you bet you would look like a bag of bones. Genetically you will not/cannot bulk up, unless you want to compete in competition and take some illegal injections if ya know what I mean.”
“Females want to get “toned”, right. I hate to burst your bubble but there is no such thing is toning or shaping a muscle. Muscles can only get bigger (hypertrophy) or smaller (Atrophy). Now to make those muscle look better you need to shed the fat around the muscle and make the muscle bigger. This can all be done by taking a leap of faith with me and changing what you have always done.”
“What if I told you by doing only endurance activity your only tapping into a portion of your muscle potential. Your body is made up of both type I (aerobic/endurance) muscle fibers and type II (anaerobic) muscle fibers. Type I fibers are used for endurance activities and do not have great potential for growth. Type II fibers are those used during sprint and heavy resistance training activities. (In my opinion, those activities are harder and better). Now type II fibers have a much better potential for growth and strength improvements when trained. That means train heavy and intense and see strength and muscle size shoot through the roof. (See ya lata flabby arms!)”
“With aerobic training or light weight, high-repetition lifting, our metabolism does not stay elevated very long after our training. There is a something called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), which is a process done by your body to repay metabolic debt after anaerobic training. This includes repaying oxygen debt, cellular repair, refilling energy stores etc etc. This is a great thing because this elevates our metabolism for 12-24 hours and beyond. So, when you are done your heavy training, you continue to burn calories for hours on end.”
Interesting, eh?
Oh, and I sported a new running tank I picked up from Tar-jay. They have the best [affordable] workout gear!
After the weight sesh I was craving an omelet. I don’t know why I rarely make them. They’re so good!
And snacked on a recent yogurt obsession..
Feeling refueled I ran out the door to volunteer. I love Wellness Wednesdays! Unfortunately I was called into work and had to cancel on the DC food blogger event I was eagerly anticipating. Ah well, next time.
Whelp, it’s 10pm and I just sat down for dinner. My throat is hurting a bit so a refreshing smoothie was in order:
Choc protein powder, frozen banana, 1T Peanut Flour, 1T PB, almond milk, xanthan gum (to thicken), stevia, dash sea salt, ice, raw cacao nibs.
Alright I’m off to pack, watch the last episode of East Bound and Down, and cuddle this guy who has already made himself pretty comfy…
Biochemista 
