NikeFuel Band - A Game Changer

Fuel Check

I adore Nike and its products that is no secret but they have one invention that is definitely my beloved products it is something I use and wear on a daily basis, this product has become a second skin to me, it is my NikeFuel band.

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about my NikeFuel band. I believe it is becoming more widespread in Canada and people are beginning to spot just what it is I have been wearing on my wrist for the past 8 months.

Today while getting ready for my second workout of the day two of my co-workers asked me what I had around my wrist. I am constantly enthusiastic to talk about Nike especially the NikeFuel band.

Lady 1 questioned me if it was a toy, she stated that her daughter has been asking her for one but she has been hesitant to purchase it for her. I was flabbergasted that someone would think the NikeFuel band is a toy.

I told her my story of how the NikeFuel band has improved my life:

Since I received my NikeFuel band 8 months ago I have succeeded in losing 26 pounds, 4 inches around my waist and it has significantly amplified the amount of energy I have. I have gone from loathing morning workouts to falling in love with my morning runs and furthermost I love the person I am becoming – confident, happy and energetic.

Lady 2 asked how a band that goes around my wrist could do all of that for a person.

Last Week's Fuel board

I revealed them how the NikeFuel band works and how I make the world my playground. “Through a sports-tested accelerometer, Nike+ FuelBand tracks your daily activity including running, walking, basketball, dancing and dozens of everyday activities. It tracks each step taken and calorie burned. It also tells the time of day.” I set a daily goal for myself – mine is 4,000 – and the NikeFuel band motivates me to work hard to reach my goal so I can receive achievements and rewards. Not only am I competing with myself to reach my goal on a daily basis but I am also competing with my NikeFuel band friends on Facebook. I hate losing so I don’t like seeing myself not in the top spot of my Fuel Leaderboard and therefore I push myself each day to go above and beyond my daily goal each and everyday. My day doesn't end at 4,000.

It has transformed me from being a person that hated the mornings to a person that loves working out in the mornings. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my NikeFuel band leaderboard. If I am not in the top spot it means there is no time to sleep in and let the day get away on me I have to seize my opportunity to regain the top position. 

Most mornings by the time I am done my workouts and ready to head to work I am sitting around 3,000 NikeFuel just 1,000 off of my goal. By lunch time I am nearing my goal, but does this mean I stop of course not. I grab every opportunity I have to Make It Count, if that means taking 28 flights of stairs, running knee high sprints while I am waiting for my print job, using a bathroom on another floor to walk further. Just because I have a desk job it doesn’t stop me from racking up as much fuel as possible. 

Making all these changes in my life to gain more NikeFuel has helped me achieve my weight loss goals and become the person I want to be.

As I was telling my co-workers about my NikeFuel band they commented that I am very passionate about it and yes I am, but I am passionate about anything that gets people moving because as you can see movement has helped me out a lot.

If you don’t already have a NikeFuel band what are you waiting for? Get yourself a NikeFuel band and join us on Twitter and Facebook for some friendly competition, new friends and fun times.

National Eating Disorder Week

It is National Eating Disorder week and as much as it makes me happy that we have a national eating disorder week it also saddens me that so many people have to go through having this horrible disease.

I remember being younger and thinking to myself “why do people have eating disorders, it is easy to eat” until I developed an eating disorder than I realized how hard eating could be.

I remember the first time I really started to hate my body it was the year that the Britney Spears video for “Hit Me Baby One More Time” came out and there was this tall, skinny blonde girl who all the guys loved and all the girls wanted to be and there I was short, tanned skin and dark hair but most of all I had muscle from being a swimmer. 

All of a sudden out of nowhere I was having thoughts of inadequacy I wasn't good enough, pretty enough, smart enough to be considered pretty. The guys would make fun of me and say stuff like “You look like the Terminator” a few of them even nicknamed me The Tiaraator because I had what they called crazy muscles. I wanted nothing more but for these to be gone. 

This is when my life started to spiral out of control.

Anorexia later turned into binge eating and soon my small frame of 120 pounds turned into a large frame of 250 pounds. Once again an eating disorder caught me but this time it was bulimia. I would become so depressed for being overweight that I would eat everything in the house and purge it out. This was a cycle for me for years.

One day I found the gym and in the beginning the gym was an enemy. I would eat and eat and eat than feel bad about what I eat so I would go to the gym for hours on end and spin and run and stair climb and swim until I felt better about myself and than do it again the next day. I remember my roommate asked me once if I was ok. To me I was no longer starving myself or binging and purging so I didn’t have a disorder. I was not skinny so there was no way this was an eating disorder, so I kind of fell through the cracks. I could fake that everything was fine around my parents.

These days I am healthy. I still exhibit signs of the Eating Disorder lurking in the corners and that will always be there but more often than not I can force those feeling out.

 I have found a better way to cope. I found a true friend in running. The road is always there and willing to listen to my problems. I have gone out on a run to have a good cry and flush out the feelings of not being enough. 

Running has embraced me and I have embraced running. When I finish a run I feel like I am more than enough I feel good enough.

I believe that my feelings of inadequacy are the reasons I have been able to gain so much speed in a short period of time. I take the negative feelings that the eating disorder brings me and I take them out in my run. This inspires me to be a better run.

Sometimes  I wish I could go back and talk to my 14 year old self I would say:

Dear Tiara,

You are beautiful exactly the way you are. Though the boys may make fun of you now it is only because they are jealous of you and maybe a little envious of your amazing muscles. Don't let people and the media get you down because it isn't real and one day you are going to be happy with being fit, you will work hard for it. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but there will come a day when you are happy to have muscles. Love your body for what it can do because it can do amazing things, don't hate on yourself. You are strong and beautiful and talented and you will make it through this.

Tips that Motivate Me to Run

1. GET A NEW PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES. Honestly, getting a new pair of running shoes get me out the door. I love trying them out and seeing how they feel and I love mixing them with my different running outfits. If I am totally struggling to get out there I get a new pair of shoes.

2. RUNNING QUESTIONS "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp, or are you going to be strong today?'" --Peter Maher, two-time Olympic marathoner from Canada.

3. GET OFF THE CEMENT. It's hard to stay motivated with shinsplints, or knee pain, so get off the pavement for a few run and try trail running or get on a track and try working your speed.

4. LOOK TO THE PAST. I have days where I need to focus on a race I did or another good to run get me out the door.

5. SIGN UP FOR A MARATHON having a goal always gets me into training mode, it also gets me eating cleaner. Find a marathon and sign up for one!!

6. THINK FAST. On my long runs I like to split it in half in my head. I tell myself “Ok Tiara you can run these 7 miles easy than when I get to my 7 mile half way point I tell myself ok now get back as fast as you can.” It pushes me but also gets my long mileage in and builds my fast endurance at the same time.

7. GOOD-TO-GO PLAYLIST Download songs that will keep you going. My current favorites are Rhinna, Elli Goulding and Florance and the Machine.

8. FIND A NEW PATH. I find that running the same path all the time can get monotonous so for my long runs I try every so often to find a new path to run I map it out using MapMyRuns.com and I go. Using a new path tends to slow me down though as I need to get used to a new route but it is nice to change it up every so often.   

9. RUNNING COMMENTARY "No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." --Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four-minute mile

10. THE BOSTON MARATHON is a year away. Think you can get there? (Go to www.baa.org for qualifying times.) Than you can run with me! When I run my long runs and I start to get tired I repeat to myself “You are Training to Qualify for Boston” it keeps me going.

11. READ THIS The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, a short story by Alan Sillitoe, tells the tale of a rebellious youth in a reformatory who runs in solitude and makes a stand against a system he doesn't believe in. You'll have new appreciation for the power of solo runs.

12. PLAY IN THE STREET. Skip a dreaded track workout for a fartlek (Swedish for "speed play") session. After 10 minutes of easy jogging, run hard between two telephone poles, and then slow down until you pass two dogs. Then see if you can beat the next person you meet up with to a distant destination, followed by a jog to the next bridge. There are no set rules, so make it up as you go along. These are my favorite and help me get through those long runs.

13. THE BATHROOM can wait till the sun goes down. Your tempo run can't so get those shoes on and hit the road.

14. RUN AT LUNCH. Daniel Sheil, a marathon coach in Portland, Oregon, recommends lunchtime runs for two reasons: (1) You get your workout in before the day gets away from you; (2) You get a midday break from work stress. Lunch workouts have become my favorite and prevent me from spending calories and money.

15. THAT NEW RUNNING WATCH you want? Buy it, but only after you have broken a record like your fastest half marathon.

16. BUDDY UP. Find a “rabbit” to run with. Every so often I get Mike to run with me. He runs an impressive 2 hour 54 minute marathon so pacing myself to keep up with him helps me increase my pace. Trust me I don’t want to look like a wimp to my boyfriend so I push myself not to take any stops.

17. HAVE A DAILY NIKEFULE GOAL. I have a rule, if I come home and my NikeFuel goal is not 5,000 I have to do another workout. It keeps me motivated, it keeps me pushing and it holds me accountable not to slack off during the day if I don’t want to go home and do another workout once I get home. My Nike Kinect training is slacking because of it but right now my focus is running.

18. MAKE A MASSAGE APPOINTMENT for the day of your long run it gives something to look forward to after my long run and it pushes me out the door to get my run in.

19. GET YOURSELF A HEARTY DOG who needs lots of exercise. You'll always have a reason for a daily jog. I want to get a dog so bad but sadly I wouldn't fit one in my apartment.

20. RUN THROUGH A SPRING STORM. It is refreshing and with the wind and rain you are surely to run faster.

21. RUNNING COMMENTARY "A lot of people run a race to see who's fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." --Steve Prefontaine

22. FEEL A NEED FOR SPEED. Sometimes I just need to run to see how fast I can get myself going it is invigorating for me. I take these runs to the rack and run 400 meters 4 times as fast as I can go. It is refreshing to get speed since training for a marathon requires endurance.

23. YOU'LL BE WEARING A BATHING SUIT in another month or so! I remind myself of this every time I want to cut a workout short.

24. GO EARLY. Two-time Olympian Shayne Culpepper says that rather than putting off a run, she'll head out even earlier than usual when she's not in the mood to work out. "If I have that extra cup of coffee or I wait an extra half hour, it becomes too torturous," she says.

25. PAY YOURSELF. When I first started running I was 250 pounds and I hated running so I set a price for attaining a certain weekly mileage goal mine was 10 miles, I was a newbie. When you hit it, pay up I would give myself $10 at the end of the week. Keep your mileage money in a jar, and once it accumulates, buy yourself that new running jacket, shoes, shirt you've been ogling. It makes the mileage totally worth it.

26. ASK A FRIEND TO BIKE alongside you when your running partner isn't available. I have to start doing this more often since I am getting faster than more of my friends and hey they can carry the water.

27. RACE RESULTS STAY ON GOOGLE FOREVER.

28. PROVE YOUR ARE BETTER. I had a bad race at Nike Women’s and I am so excited to prove myself at Calgary Marathon. Not to anyone else just to me.

29. HEAD FOR THE HILLS. I have been told that it is ok to throw a hill workout in in-place of a short run if your body is really beaten down. You can’t run hills lazy you need to put your full body into them. Once I do hill sprints I am excited to get back to just running.

30. RUN FOR A REASON. Do a race for charity TNT is a great charity to run with. They are a guaranteed entry into Nike Women’s Marathon if you are thinking about running that one. Also they provide coaching and run groups to help get you out the door.

31. REMEMBER that you almost always feel better after a run than before it.

32. KEEP A LOG. Nike plus has inspired me to run further and faster. When I see my weekly/monthly/yearly total mileage I want to look at it and be proud. It is what gets me out there when I don’t want to be. Also knowing that I am not in first place on my leader board inspires me to get my run on.

33. DON'T EXPECT EVERY DAY TO BE AMAZING. I am learning that some days will be slower than others, and some days might even hurt a bit. Elizabeth often reminds me that not every run is a race. I always feel horrible about myself if I don’t run at least a sub 8, but you know what not everyone is going to have AMAZING days every day.

34. JUST START. I have days where I think to myself “I don’t want to run today” I make myself run for 10 minutes once I get 10 minutes in I usually finish my run. Just get out there.

35. RUN SOLO and away from the crowds on recovery days. The faster runners on popular routes will make you want to pick up the pace. Alone, you'll be able to listen to your body and reap the recovery you deserve. We all need recovery.

36. THINK YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO RUN? You are wrong. If you have time to facebook, tumblr, tweet you have time to run. Cut something out that you don’t need to be doing and go for 20 minutes. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say they don’t have time. You had time to tell me that, if you have time to make excuses you have time to run.

37. STOP BEING SOCIAL. For me running isn't a social event, especially when I am training. My training partner Jamie knows this and sometimes she tells me when she wants to start up a conversations she will pretend that we are in an actual race. It makes her push harder and in return makes me push harder, she isn't going to beat me.

38. BUY A FULL-LENGTH MIRROR and make sure you look in it every day trust me once you start seeing how running changes your body you won’t be giving up on it.

39. RUNNING COMMENTARY "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough." --Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder

40. A HEALTHY RUNNER IS A HAPPY RUNNER. As soon as I feel like I have injured myself I get to my physio’s office. The moment something feels not right, roll it out, stretch it out and if you have to get it looked at. You don’t want something minor to turn into something major.

41. INVEST IN GOOD GEAR. I love having the newest gear from Nike. It encourages me to get out there and get moving. If you are new to running get your gait tested at a specialty store, invest in a good pair of sneakers that are right for you and get some good gear. Dri-fit gear, Nike has a great selection.

New Dietitian - New Outlook

Last week I had my first meeting with my new dietitian and she is amazing. She is certified with the International Olympic Committee Diploma in Sports Nutrition and she is also a marathon runner so I thought that she would be perfect for me and after sitting down at our first meeting I realized that she was more than perfect for me she is exactly what I am looking for in a dietitian.

It is no secret of mine that I have suffered from Eating Disorders in the past. Not just anorexia but also binge eating disorders. That is one thing that my dietitian picked up on right away. Sometimes that it is something that dietitians miss about me because I don't look withered away.

Along with wanting to create better eating habits for myself I also want to be able to fuel properly for my long runs. I tend to crash about 8 miles into my run and my runs get harder and harder after that point. I am training to qualify for Boston and this crashing that occurs to me is hindering my runs.

One thing that she explained to me in detail was the need for carbs in our bodies!! I have an irrational fear of carbs I think they make me fat! However, yes they can make you fat but anything that is overeaten can make you fat.

Our brain – just our brains – require 130g of glucose a day to function when we don’t get enough of this our bodies go into what is called control fatigue. This hinders our decision making – reaching for the cookie instead of the apple – our concentration and our moods.

Glucose from carbs just doesn't go to our brains it also goes to our muscles creating muscle glycogen. If we are low in muscle glycogen it will have a negative effect on the quality of the workout – ever wonder why one day you can pump out 20 reps of push-ups and one day only do 6? Yeah you are lacking muscle glycogen – it also has a negative effect on our running. I know I have had days where my legs feel heavy, like lead heavy well this is because the body is going into principal fatigue from not having enough glycogen.

You often hear people talking about their breakfast helping them through their run. I always thought that if I had a decent supper and a good breakfast it would get me through my run, but I was wrong! It takes your body 20 – 24 hours to make muscle glycogen, so what you are eating 20 – 24 hours before your run is what will get your body through those long distances. Don't get me wrong, you still need a carb fueled breakfast but you also need a good lunch and supper the day before.

I decided to take what my dietitian is saying to heart. I mean I am paying her enough I should listen. I had a nice carb, protein, nutrient dense lunch and supper and the next day I didn't head out for a run until 11am. It had been 22 hours since I had my lunch and well I had my BEST run EVER!!

I ran a 1:34:43 half marathon, my best half yet. Was my body hurting through my run, obviously I was running an average 7’17”/mile, did I feel awesome, not really I was hurting on my run but was it my fastest, that it was!! It was the fastest long run I had run EVER.

Now I am learning to eat a proper amount of carbs and I am learning to eat a proper amount of food. I have been eating around 1,500 – 1,700 calories and my dietitian said that isn't enough for me because that is 1,500 – 1,700 not including what I burn off exercising and we determined this weekend that at rest I burn 2,300 calories so eating 1,500 – 1,700 isn't even enough to fuel me at rest. Now I am focusing on getting my calories to the 2,300 point with healthy food and making sure I have enough carbs to fuel me through my workouts. 

She gave me a chart of what carbs, nutrient dense food, and protein I should be eating with each of my meals and my goal is to follow this from now until my Marathon, she said if I follow this I should see weight come off, muscle gained and I should see my runs get faster. Two of my mail goals are to run a sub 6 marathon by next year and have abs before the summer, and she feels that both of these goals are do-able.

I believe that any serious athlete should hire a dietitian even if it is just for a few session, athletic needs are different from the average person and what works for me isn't necessarily going to work for you.

Ignite~Perspire~Inspire

Yoga and Running go Hand in Hand

I am your typical runner. I love to lace up my shoes and head out the door and rack up those miles and ever since Nike Running introduced the new app feature of being able to see your leader board I am even more obsessed with racking up the miles.

However, when I started training for my first marathon the wonderful Marie Purvis added yoga to my run schedule and I thought to myself “how is yoga going to help me run 26.2 miles?” yoga help more than you think and I am just realizing this now.

On my first a marathon training I did Bikram yoga; I stretched out but I didn’t really put my heart into it I did it because it was on my schedule and that was what my training was telling me to do that day. Now I have a different mentality towards yoga.

I have had two minor injuries this last year and both have scared me into stretching out more and giving my muscles the love it deserves. I thought yoga was just that stretching out but yoga so much more!! 

I don’t always have the time or money to go to a yoga studio but the amazing ladies at Nike Women have yoga on their Nike Training Club app and the beautiful and talented Leah Kim walks you through the workouts. I love doing this at the end of my day because she has a very soothing voice that calms me down and also the yoga helps me sleep better and gets my body ready to relax and start repairing itself. 

Leah has two yoga workouts on the NTC app a 45 minute one for those days you a have a little bit more time and a 15 minute one for the days you feel a 

bit rushed. Some of the poses can be very difficult at first but what I have learned is not to give up but to keep trying them because each time you will see your body go into the pose more and more and even though you might not be 100% into the pose you are still gaining benefits from it.

This isn’t a plug for Leah or anything! Even though I do respect and adore her.

I found a HUGE benefit in yoga with my running. It has allowed me to open up my hips and stretch out my body, it has allowed me to stretch those joints  and smaller muscles that you forget about and that can cause great injury but one thing that it has really helped me do is perfect my running form. 

Yoga has perfected my posture and in perfecting my posture it has also perfected my running form and when you have a better form your body can perform at its peak and this has greatly helped me increase my speed. As a marathon runner trying to qualify for Boston speed is important but also preventing injury is just as important. Everyone knows when you increase speed your risk for injury goes up and yoga has helped me stay injury free, have better form that in turn has increased my overall training.

I am finding a new love for yoga and I am realizing that yoga and running go hand in hand like a good Almond butter and banana sandwich. 

I challenge you to try yoga out maybe 3 times this week, if you don't have the Nike Training Club app maybe find a youtube video but I promise you that you will see the benefits of yoga in your running.

Ignite~Perspire~Inspire

Speed Work Makes Me Fast

Lately I have been getting people asking me the question “Tiara, how do you run so fast? or Tiara teach me to run fast like you” and I like to tell them I put one foot in front of the other.

I have not always been a fast runner. Remember my marathon that took me 4:35:27 to complete, I wasn’t a fast run, however it was my first marathon.

I remember when I was in elementary and I lived in this little town and everyone was super athletic oriented, we were learning track and field in elementary. I did the 400m sprint and came in well ahead of everyone it was a shining moment for me and I remember people telling my parents that I was a rabbit.

I have always been an endurance athlete, even when I swam my favorite distance was the 1,500 meter but I loved anything over 400 meters and I did well at them.

I decided to blog about this since I get asked this question more than anything else. I do a lot of speed work – this includes intervals, track workouts and tempo runs.

When I do intervals I use the Nike Boom app it is seriously amazing. You set how long you want your run to be and how long you want your interval to be. When I started getting wanting to get faster I would set it at 30 seconds. At first I did intervals on the treadmill and I would set the treadmill to a comfortable run pace for me - that is now 8.5 and I would run at this for 1:30 than for 30 seconds I will go up to 11 on the treadmill. That is what I did to start. Now when I try working on my speed I do it by song. I turn on my headphones and I get on the treadmill for 1 song run comfortable and for a song I run 11 this has really helped me get out of my comfort zone and start running at those faster paces.

Track workouts are also great for increasing speed. I have found a track and to start I would do 400 meter sprint and a 400 meter recovery, so two times around the track, than I would do 800 meter sprints and 400 meter recovery, now I am working on doing a mile sprints and 600 meter recovery. You should be running these uncomfortable for your sprint. When I am done my sprint I am huffing and puffing and want to fall over my abs hurt and sometimes I want to vomit. I grab my water take a few sips do a recovery and I go again. These are amazing and will really help you increase your speed if you do them right.

When I was training for Nike Women’s Marathon tempo runs were my enemy I hated them!! Now they are more like a frenemie. I know how good they are for me but they still make me work. I usually like to run tempos on 4 miles and above run. Always start with a mile warm up and a mile cool down, so if you are planning on doing 4 mile tempo than you are really running 6 miles. Tempos should be ran uncomfortable. A good test to tell if you are running them hard enough is to try and sing the song you are listening to. If you can only get a few words in each sentence out than you are running the tempo correctly, but if you can sing the whole song no problem than you need to push yourself harder. You don’t want to run these at a sprint but you want to run them at an uncomfortable pace. These will really help your body feel what it is like to run faster and eventually they will get easier, when they do you need to push harder.

These are what I do to help myself get faster. I have a goal to run the Nike Women’s marathon at a sub 6 mile. We will see if that happens but that is what my goal is.

I also believe the key to running faster is to listen to your body and know when to slow down and when to go faster. The problem with running faster is that you have the potential to get injured. I have a great physio and massage therapist that I relay on to keep me injury free. My massage therapist massages out all the knots in my muscles using a fascia technique and the physio uses his magic such as laser therapy, ultra sound and electronic therapy to keep my leg muscles in tip top shape and out of injury. For me the first sign of something wrong I call my physio and get right into his office because if my body is signaling it is not right than I do not want to push it and risk injury.

My physio has also said to me that my speed could also be genetic, this is true but I think my next marathon will tell the truth of this. 

Genetics or not if you don’t put in the work you will not get faster. The desire to prepare always beats out talent when talent refuses to prepare.

Ignite~Perspire~Inspire

Non-scale Victory - Mountain Climbers

I get easily discouraged when I don't see the scale moving in a downward direction, it actually can make me very sad. However, I have to remind myself of the non-scale victories that our out there. 

When I first started doing Nike Kinect it called for 20 seconds of Mountain Climbers and I dreaded these, BIG time! I actually hated them. They hurt my shoulders and my arms and abs. I said it is 20 seconds anyone can do anything for 20 seconds. Than they were pushed to 30 seconds and I would get down on the floor and do them for 15 seconds get on my knees for 5 seconds and do another 10 seconds of them and this would be painful. 

Now I am up to 60 seconds of mountain climbers and don't get me wrong they are still a struggle at 60 seconds but Monday in my get strong workout of Nike Kinect training I had to do 30 seconds of them and I was so happy with myself because I held perfect form and did them for the complete 30 seconds! 

We all have non scale victories and sometimes we need to remember these more than the scale victories because they are what truly count in the end.