The Fine Art Of Cross Country Racing

 

 

Cross Country Racing is much like survival of the fittest. Animals in the jungle fight tooth and nail for their lives to outrun the predator. A cheetah runs after a gazelle. The gazelle has to outrun even the slowest cheetah if it wants to survive in a race. It all begins in the starting boxes.

The blood in your system circulates around your body faster than the outrageous flow of Niagara Falls. The sweat in the palm of your hands collect as your fists tighten. The blood is pumping faster and faster as the arm of the starter raises up into the air slowly and sits there like the burning afternoon sun. The POP of a gun sends you off down the chute. You are the gazelle. All of the girls behind you are the hungry, vicious cheetahs trying to catch you. You keep telling yourself to “push ahead”, “keep going” and “don’t let up”. Meter after meter. Four thousand times.

You forcibly push yourself up the hills like they’re the greatest obstacles you’ve ever encountered. The smallest and steepest hills seem to be as big as Mount Everest.  My teammates, friends and family are lined along the course ever so strategically to give me that extra push of motivation to maintain my effort and speed. As I am advancing forward to outrun all of the cheetahs surrounding me, I realize that I am only behind 25 or so girls which meant I have already outrun 180 of them. With this extra peace of mind, I push through my last 400 meters. Breathless, weak, and nauseous, I finish 29^th/205. I am the 29^th gazelle to outrun 176 vicious cheetahs.

 Surviving in a race isn’t always easy but that’s what makes it one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have ever encountered.

Food Inc

Food Inc is a great documentary on Netflix that I'd highly recommend anybody to watch if you're interested in health or just the food industry in general.

Food Inc. was a very powerful documentary that brought forth a lot of information about the past, present and future food industry practices and techniques. The purpose of Food Inc. was to make the consumer aware of not only what goes on behind closed doors but also aware of where the food actually comes from and our buying power as consumers.

In the opening credits, we see a typical supermarket scene that uses classic pictures of farms and fresh air. This uses appeals to tradition. The film is later contradicted with scenes from a chicken coop that practiced harsh and cruel actions on chickens. The purpose of these contradicting scenes are to shows the consumers the contrast between what is marketed vs reality and truth. The information is implied in this documentary with the intent to open the consumer’s eyes to the truth. Other harsh scenes are presented with dark, ominous music scores to set the tone and mood.

When we are introduced to Kevin’s mom, the film uses appeal to emotion. The tone of the film shifts slightly different depth of emotion. Images of Kevin flash across the screen with a narration of his story. This also uses course of action because of the laws and bills that Kevin’s mom tried to get passed. She made sure to take these issues to legislation and get more officials who had more power to change the food industry which allowed for more publicity to make it a public movement, requiring a bigger crowd of action. It was meant to support the claims of unsanitary, harsh conditions supported by the meat industry. This related back to the purpose of the film that opens the consumers’ eyes to the dangers and sketchy-ness of the origin of meat product.

The film shows how much of an impact the general public has on controlling the food industry by sharing the history of fast food. They use upbeat music and images that display the typical “American Way”. This uses populum and appeal to emotion. Once we had been set up to understand our impact on American food culture, we are taken inside of the industry again, similarly in-depth like the meat industry with dairy and produce. This is done with the rhetorical device of course of action. This showed us the recent demand for Organic dairy and produce. We are introduced to a farmer who worked at a dairy to produce organic products for Walmart, explaining that their consumers had demanded a wide variety of yogurt; so more had been produced to be put on shelves. This was done by using course of action (explaining the demand and showing the fulfillment of the demand) and claim of reality (showing the industries for what they really are and how they operate)

Food Inc used many strategies to achieve its purpose including ad populum, course of action, appeal to emotion, claim of reality and many more. The purpose of Food Inc. was achieved by showing the consumers the truth of the food industry, the source of food and buying power of the consumers.  (542)

Runner's Rut

A trend I've noticed with myself is that I get stuck in a runner's rut. I have no idea if that's even a term but if it's not then I'll coin it as my own. My own personal definition of a runner's rut is really hard to explain. It feels like no matter how hard I try, or how much effort I put into the workout, I get nothing in return. I hit a wall. Usually hitting a wall doesn't happen unless I get out too a fast in a race and try and pick myself back up towards the end.
The last few weeks during track I've felt really tired, sluggish and overworked. Even on the easiest workouts I could feel myself just hitting a wall. It's been almost 3 weeks and I'm still stuck feeling like there's no way out. I've tried different variations of running within the assigned workout to try and switch things up but even that doesn't seem to help. I've tried changing paces and running different splits a bit outside my assigned time frame.
Yesterday, at the very start of our workout, coach said something to me. He asked; "Are things just falling apart?" I said "Yeah, and they have been for a while." It's really disappointing to think about how much of a better runner I was just a short time ago during cross country. I feel like I'm on a constant decline and it's really worrying me.
I talked it over and there seems to be some hope left for me. I don't know the exact problem or the cause for that matter, but I think I can bring myself back.
Coach said something about how he tracked his progress with a heart rate monitor. He made himself stay within a range to keep his heart rate steady, running at a very slow pace. Within 2 weeks, he said he had cut off 2 minutes on each mile at recovery pace. I'm looking forward to trying it because it seems like it's worth it. I really have nothing to lose by taking it easy and trying something new.
As the saying goes, "Do what you've always done, and you'll get what you've always gotten." (372)

Mashed Cauliflower

I've seen a recipe for making mashed cauliflower that resembles mashed potatoes. I've always wanted to try it. A lot of people make it for the reason that it doesn't have as many carbs as potatoes do. I'm not really concerned about that but I think it's a good swap if you want something lighter or something higher in fiber. There are a lot of health benefits of cauliflower and not a lot of people eat it. I think it's pretty nasty when it's raw because it's just a bunch of crunchy nothingness.
Anyways, so you can use frozen or fresh cauliflower. They're both going to deliver the same health benefits. (Some say frozen vegetables don't have nearly as much nutritional value as fresh veggies do but it's actually a myth. Frozen vegetables have a greater health benefit because they are flash frozen immediately after they are picked and washed, preserving their vitamins. Fresh vegetables are transported across the country in a matter of days and sometimes more than a week causing them to lose not only their freshness but vitamins too.) Go ahead and cook the vegetable until you're able to separate it with a fork, that's how you know that it's done. Next, add it into a food processor with salt, pepper, garlic, almond milk and herbs. If you want to add butter (I'd use non-dairy butter on mine) you can add it in before you start to pulse it. Pulse it in the food processor until it resembles mashed potatoes. Then it's done!
It's a much lighter substitute to mashed potatoes that are lower in calories and high in fiber. The texture will really depend on how much almond milk you use to thicken or thin them. If you use too much, they may be runny.

Flavored Water

A widely known rule of the fitness industry is "don't drink your calories". A lot of the IIFYM "flexible dieters" follow this rule. They also are huge advocates of drinking lots and lots of water. Their reasons for this during bikini prep (for a show) is to reduce boating, water retention and to flush out toxins.
The problem is, many of them say "I hate drinking water" or "It doesn't taste good" or "It's hard to reach my water intake goal because I get bored". So I've seen a lot of people use flavored water packets to help them reach their water intake goals. Crystal Lite, powdered Gatorade, Propel, Mio, etc.
I personally don't think this is such a bad idea, but of course, just like everything else in life, it's all about moderation. A lot of the powders have hidden ingredients. First, let me back track with a short story. So I was looking in my pantry for something when I found a box of peach tea powder that you mix in with a 2 quart jug of water. I re purposed it into making my own stronger, more concentrated version of it by filling up my own regular water bottle and adjusting how much powder went into it. This got me thinking about how much I loved the Propel packets I used to mix in with water bottles.
I did my research and compared boxes to find that a majority of them have artificial sweeteners, as expected. However, not all have fake dyes and added sugar. In fact, some have added vitamins which made the ingredient label appear longer than it really is.
If you are the type of person to get addicted to things very easily, I'd recommend that you get the packets that don't have any dyes or the ingredient aspartame. If you can't help but to love the bright red and yellow colors, here's my strategy: Drink an 8 ounce glass of PLAIN water. Then "reward" yourself with a 16 ounce bottle of your flavored water, and alternate them to help ease up on the consumption of artificial ingredients.
Flavored water isn't exactly "healthy" but there are a lot worse things out there than drinking calorie free water. And at the end of the day, if it helps you reach your goals, then go for it.

School Food

Over the past few years, the department of health and nutrition has been under fire for a few different reasons. There are so many questions as to why schools aren't offering very many healthy options for school lunches.
Most kids eat at school because they may not get meals at home if they live in poverty. Because of this, it's important for schools to offer good food with a lot of nutritional value to ensure that America's kids are getting enough nutrients to grow and excel in school.
Over the past few years, there have been new set laws and guidelines for nutrition in school lunches. I know that a few of them have some loopholes. A lot of them sound like a sorry excuse for nutrition. For example, the one that gets me the most is the fact that tomato sauce on pizza is counted as a vegetable as well as French fries. If these junk foods qualify for being nutritious, I feel like that's major issue.
I do applaud Michelle Obama's work because I have noticed that there are healthier snacks and more fresh fruits and vegetables offered than in the past. I remember in middle school when dessert was offered every single day and you could even pay extra to get a second serving of cookie dough. I used to buy chocolate chunk rice Krispy treats every day. I was still stick skinny but it wasn't an excuse to get junk food at lunch.
Even though there are healthier snacks offered, I have to go back to the topic of having absolute crap food as a main dish. How is popcorn chicken, nachos, corn dogs and pizza a healthy meal that will provide kids with proper nutrition and sustained energy? They're filled with oil, grease, and fat. Food is made in factories and froze to be shipped off to schools for the lunch ladies to pop into the oven. Food isn't actually made from scratch anymore. All school food is continence food. I feel like that is part of the problem.
There have been a lot of improvements in school lunches over the past few years, but we still have a long way to go as a country. (371)

Eating Out

A lot of people wonder how my friends and I can eat decently at restaurants. Ever since my friends and I have been eating more plant based, I've noticed how easy it is to make simple changes to make it fit specific dietary needs. Now, I don't eat out very often at all. Maybe a dozen times per YEAR. I know that seems crazy when I hear my friends going out to eat at least 3 times per week.
Just today, I went to get coffee with a friend. I normally never go to starbucks but since it's Friday, I offered to buy us a special treat. Plus triple shot espressos help me make it through my 13 hour days. I usually had bought a triple shot nonfat latte made with skim milk, which wasn't a good idea because I'm lactose intolerant anyways. Today I switched it up to help fit my plant based "needs". I switched to coconut milk instead of skim. They also offer soymilk but since there are health concerns with soymilk, I opted for coconut. I couldn't really taste it at all, even with absolutely no flavoring. Starbucks charges and extra $.60 for milk substitution. I personally think somebody who's vegan or has milk allergies shouldn't have to pay extra just to get coconut or soy milk instead of regular. That seems dumb to me.
At restaurants that mainly serve meat and dairy based dishes, it can be a bit more difficult to avoid consumption of these products. A few good places to eat out with friends are places like Chipotle, Hu Hot, etc. At chipotle, I'd order a burrito bowl with beans, rice, corn and salsa. Completely plant based and a healthier option than being weighed down by a floury tortilla and mounds of meat. At Hu Hot, the same rice based dish applies. I have actually never been there but I know that they offer a wide variety of vegetables. It would be pretty easy to get a bowl of rice with string beans, peppers, etc. I personally don't worry too much about sauces and things like that. I would definitely avoid buttermilk ranches and soy based sauces but other than that, I wouldn't really worry about dairy making it's way into it. If you order sauces and dressings on the side of dishes, you can control the amount that you're having.
I do like the fact that a lot of restaurant chains do offer a lot of options these days. You couldn't get them 10 years ago, which is a nice improvement to see. (431)

Clif Bars

Since I've gone plant based this last month, I've had to find an alternative to my beloved Quest Bars...and I think I have finally found my new addiction. I've found that I really like Clif bars! I don't think in terms of the traditional protein obsessed dieter that they would be considered "macro friendly" because there are a lot of carbs and not a ton of protein. The particular one I have on hand right now is the Chocolate Brownie flavor and it has 4.5 grams of fat, 44 carbs and 9 grams of protein. I like Clif bars as desserts and sweet snacks because they have a texture that reminds me of oatmeal cookies and dessert-like bars. It gives me my sweet sugar fix in a nice sized bar that's really satisfying. I like that they are a lot cheaper than Quest Bars. Clif bars are 98 cents and Quest Bars are usually $2.29 per bar.
Clif Bars come in a ton of different flavors. Some are fruit flavored but I like more decadent flavored bars like White Chocolate Macadamia because it tastes like a giant cookie. I like to warm them up in the microwave too.
The only problem that I have with Clif bars are that they can be high in fat if you buy certain nut based flavors. I also have a little bit of concern for the soy ingredients that appear on the label. The protein in the bar is made up of soy protein isolate. There are a lot of shady things to look out for in soy. The fact that 70% of the ingredients in a Clif bar are organic helps lessen the effects of the soy. Soy can mess with the hormonal balances in your body especially if you're a male. Soy doesn't really have a good reputation but I don't think it's something to be overly concerned about.
I've already cut of 100% of all meat and dairy products in my diet and I feel that if I restrict too many more things that it won't be a very healthy way to live. (352)

The Western Diet

I know I have touched base a lot on the eating habits and patterns of modern America, but it seems like the best thing to talk about. How are we going to fix our dietary issues as country if we constantly brush them under the rug?
I want to talk about the Western Diet. It's basically the nice term for the fat filled-meat inclusive diet. According to the FDA, the average American diet doesn't even fall between the guidelines. Apparently, our "average" diets consist of 50% carb, 35% fat, and 15% protein. The FDA recommends that our macros sit at 55% carb 30% fat with 15% of our calories coming from protein. I think it's safe to assume that most of the fat calories come from oil and meat. Most of the carbs probably come from soft drinks, bread and candy. If you try and dissect a typical fast food meal in your head, what comes to mind? In my mind, it makes total sense. The bread being the refined carb, the meat being the very little protein that Americans consume and the rest of the patty being a source of fat, along with the fries. The large pepsi or whatever somebody would choose to order to wash it all down would be the 3rd source of refined carbs (French fries being the second, but that's mainly a source of fat)
Looking beyond macronutrients, have you ever looked up an ingredient list of a fast food meal? How I bet there are 65+ ingredients in your meal alone. How many of those ingredients do you think are chemicals or preservatives? Probably a lot. The modern American diet. Is careless. There is no caution or safety towards American's health status. The food industry is not out to make a healthier generation for us or our families, the food industry wants your money so much that they will do anything to keep you coming back. Oreo filled Chips Ahoy Cookies? Reese's Oreos? The Pizza Hut Cinna Sticks? The triple whopper? Obviously all marketing techniques to make something look new and exciting. And yeah, I've fallen for it before. Being a little kid I saw commercials for Kid Cuisines and Cinnimini's at Burger King. Any time my mom offered to get breakfast or pick up something for lunch, I could never decline. Hell yes 5 year old Sarah wants that Barbie toy in her happy meal, of course I want the 6 piece chicken nugget because 4 is weak and have you SEEN those new flavors if Artic Rush (formerly grew up knowing them as "Mr. Misty's"
 In the last 3 or so years, I have not taken my family up on any offers for fast food. Since deeply educating myself on topics like these, it's repulsive to even think about fast food. Even though it's been years since I've had fast food, I still crave it sometimes. Constantly being surrounded by food ads and new restaurants opening up, the temptation is real. Then I think about the Food Inc documentary and the truth behind fast food and I'm instantly repulsed.
The Western Diet is majorly flawed and I hope to see some kind of action to change the direction the diet in this country is headed. (544)

Carbohydrates....again.

In light of my last post about the food industry, and after doing extensive research, I've realized a lot about society.


 A large percentage of the population is overweight and obese, yet nobody sees the insanity of the typical American diet. It's filled with meat, dairy, fats and oils. As soon as somebody wants to make a change in their diet, the first instinct they have is to cut out carbs. Society has trained us to fear carbohydrates. It's a common misconception that carbs make you fat. I even thought that for a while, and I'm pretty sure I talked about it in a few older posts. Then I asked myself this; why would it make sense to cut out carbs when your main form of energy preferred by your body are carbs? You'll eventually starve your body of it's most valued macronutrient and yes you'll lose weight but the reason for the weight loss is loss of water weight, because we all know that water is stored in our muscles. Let's say you start a low carb diet and follow it for 6 months. Yes, you will lose weight because you are depriving yourself so far that it will make you sick enough to lose body fat. You will be in a state of ketosis. But what happens after you no longer continue the diet? All of the water weight will result in weight gain along with the increased carbohydrate intake. This will result in that person gaining all of the weight back, and maybe even then some because their body will try and make up for the deprivation they had experienced. My dad had lost a lot of weight about 10 years ago following Dr. Atkin's diet and he gained it all back. He recently just started on it again and has lost 6 pounds so far. He's addicted to fast food and junk. If the diet was so easy to follow and so sustainable, he would have kept the weight off. This is why I believe that low carb diets are bad way to lose weight or become healthier.

Bottom line: carbs are not bad, so don’t deprive yourself of what your body prefers.

(367)

Tough Competition

The best runners in the state are getting faster and faster each year, making it harder and harder to qualify for state and even regionals. No matter what event, or even race (if you're talking cross country) the competition is insanely difficult each year. Since extending the cross country race course, it's been said that it's a good thing because the girls' times are so fast, it's hardly a race. The top time in the state for a 4,000 meter course is somewhere in the low 13 minute range. Which is crazy. That's about a 5 minute mile pace...held for two and a half miles. Even in track, the 3,000 meter times are crazy fast. The best times for girls are in the upper 9's. That time is LESS than a 5 minute mile pace! In the 1500 meter race, some of the best times are 4:30 and under. A four and a half minute (almost) mile is extremely hard to pull off.
As the competition becomes tougher, I feel conflicted. Part of me sees it as a good opportunity to push myself harder, making myself think "If other girls can pull off a 4-something mile, I can at least try for a 5:45" and part of me wants to just throw my hands up and quit, because I know I'm not a natural born runner. It's tough when you're competing against so many natural born runners where everything just comes so easily for them, and I'm over here pushing myself really hard just to get a semi-decent time.
I'm choosing to work harder to try and keep myself ranked in the middle of all of the competition. I already know a mile under 5 minutes will never happen for me, because I know that my body just isn't capable of pulling it off. I am going to focus more on trying to cut off 10 seconds per race, slowly until I can reach my goals.
Hopefully since I'll be training for 5K's, it'll help translate over into next track season to help get my times down in my events. I'm hoping to continuously run all year round, and not make the mistake of taking too long of a break. I feel like it's really hurt my progress. (378)

Ignorance of Consumers

We all know the expression "ignorance is bliss". But is it really? Ever since Ms. A showed us Food inc, (which was right up my alley, I found it really interesting.) It also got me thinking about what else the food industry is lying about, or concealing simply for their own benefit of making revenue.
There are a lot of mixed messages sent by the food industry. A huge issue used to be the egg debate. Are eggs good for you? Are they bad? There are a lot of conflicting studies and findings regarding eggs. So many more similar issues make it hard to know what is healthy and what isn't.
Not only are mixed messages an issue, but the ethical side of food is a huge issue too. The consumers don't have the slightest clue of what goes on behind closed doors. We have no idea how many animals are tortured in slaughterhouses every single day. Most people who do know, don't want to actually think about it. The food industry won't willingly share what goes on inside of these slaughterhouses because if you knew, you wouldn't want to eat it.
I have done a LOT of research on the meat and dairy industry over the past week or so and it's completely changed my outlook on food. It goes beyond ethics for me, don't get me wrong, animals' lives matter to me, but there are also a lot more factors that have driven me away from animal products.
I have learned that milk, (I'm lactose intolerant anyways so I don't drink milk. I do [did; as of 9 days ago] eat a lot of Greek yogurt and string cheese.) is legally allowed to contain up to 750,000 somatic cells PER milliliter. Click here to watch the truth about milk Somatic cells are pus cells found in cows; and somatic cells are the same cells that are in zits...yummy. There is also the ethical side of how dairy cows are treated, which is also shown in the video linked above. I really am more aware of the food that I put into my body and really think about the quality of product that I consume.
I of course didn't stop there, I also watched several videos about eggs, which by the way, explains some of the egg debate that I mentioned at the beginning of this post! I continued research about meat in which I discovered the shocking fact that a hamburger only contains 2.1-14.2% of ACTUAL MEAT. WHAT? To find out what's making up the other 86-98% of the burger, the video does a great job of explaining.  I also wanted to know about fish, too. There were some pretty interesting things I learned about mercury levels in fish
Being an informed consumer is the most powerful thing you can do as a consumer. If you do your research and find you don't like what you see, you can literally change the food industry. Don't support things you don't believe in or don't feel comfortable consuming. I recently made the switch to better my health in the long run. (521)

Injuries Part 2

After hurting my foot only a week before the first day of track, I was terrified that I would have to sit out the first few practices. All week I focused on healing.

Whenever I get injured in the leg/foot area, I take extra caution to stay off of my foot and to make sure I do everything I can to speed up the healing process. 

Whenever I get hurt, the first thing I do is pretty much self diagnose the issue because it's never bad enough to go to a doctor. Sometimes I'll have the athletic trainer look at it to get a solid opinion on it. The next thing I try to do is tape up the area so I can get extra support and stability. My favorite type of tape is a roll of plain athletic tape because it's stiff enough to give me the extra support I need but flexible enough to move with my foot. I use KT tape sometimes but it really just leads to disappointment because it ends up falling off or sticking to my pants or socks instead. It's super expensive for what it actually is, so I use it sparingly. 

The next thing I usually do is ice it of course. I'm not the type of person who can just set an ice pack on a towel and put it on the injured spot, I like to put the ice pack directly on my skin, let it burn for about a minute or two and then take it off for a few minutes and then re-apply it until that spot feels numb. Although I wrapped an ice bag around my leg and just let it sit there for 2 1/2 hours straight. Apparently it's "detrimental" to do that...oops. 

Lastly, I'll take some Advil to ease the pain and inflammation. I don't take it very often because I feel like it can only do so much before it doesn't make a difference.
Too many girls these days are weak. I don't mean physically weak, I mean mentally. Most of them just quit on themselves as soon as a muscle becomes sore. There is a major difference between a legitimate injury and soreness. Too many of them can't tell the difference. Sitting out of half a season is not an actual option for a cure to being sore. As soon as you realize the difference, the better off you'll be. (407)

Injuries

Injuries.  Everybody gets them. It's one of the biggest roadblocks of  being an athlete . I realized I run a heath and fitness blog, but have completely left out blogs about injuries. I thought today might be a good day to start. To get to the actual point of the blog, you may have to skip to the second part of this themed post for advice on how to overcome injuries. But first, I feel like I should build up my ethos with my own history of injuries.
I consider myself extremely lucky. Not only have I been given the support and materials to become an avid runner but I have been lucky enough to have a strong body to carry me mile after mile. I have never had any major accidents that have left me seriously injured, and I'm extremely grateful for that. When I had first started running long distance, I had run crazy mileage in a short amount of time. 2 summers ago I had run almost 400 miles in 3 months. It put a lot of stress on my legs and I developed shin splints. My legs were tender and painful when I ran, walked or put any amount of pressure on my leg. I had tried almost everything to help ease the pain. I decreased my mileage from 50 miles per week to about 30 or less.
I had also strained my hip flexor a few months later in my very last cross country race of the season. In track, I had some minor issues here and there but nothing that kept me out of practice and meets. I also haven't had many lifting injuries. I have pulled muscles and strained some but I've always been able to bounce back quickly.
Almost 5 Monday's ago, I went for a run. It was warmer but still cold enough to have some ice spots. I dodged them carefully and went on my way. It was only until after my run that I noticed my left foot was extremely painful to walk on. I thought it was my ankle because I had some swelling and discoloration in that area but I noticed the real pain was along the side of my foot behind the base of the 5th metatarsal. It hurt to walk up the parking lot into school, to walk up the stairs and to even get in and out of the shower. It was almost impossible to get from class to class without noticeably limping. The worst part was that I got hurt 7 days from the first day of track. That took almost 2 weeks to fully heal. Just when that happened, I was struck with yet another injury. Welcome to injury season.
(To be continued) (461)

Deep Thoughts

It's finally hit track season and a lot of girls are getting to the good physical shape it takes to run fast and hard to beat out as many people they can to win. A huge issue I noticed is that we all can't help but to compare ourselves to one another. The real reason a lot of people want to be "healthy" is because their main priority is to look good, have a great body and just have a good self concept. There is never a good balance of being truly "healthy". It seems as though if you aren't stuffing McDonald's and Cheetos in your mouth at every meal of the day, you're still considered unhealthy...just in the other direction. You'll hear things like "I never see you eat. Do you even eat anything at all?" and "You eat too much. You're always eating, you should really stop." Neither of those paint a picture of perfect health.  My own personal definition of health is when you're in a HEALTHY mental state. It doesn't matter if your pant size is a 2 but you're skipping most meals and only eating boiled chicken breast and lettuce. That isn't the true definition of health. It's not even happiness. It's misery and self hatred.
Let me ask you this. If we all weighed our ideal weight, achieved our ideal body shapes, had our dream jobs, dream house and perfect relationships, would you truly be happy with yourself, or would you just find something else to hate? In psychology, there was a  term that meant once you achieved your goals, it becomes the norm for you, and you'll be unsatisfied yet again. You'll always be unsatisfied. I've come to terms with that. I have a friend who always says "I'll never be satisfied, and I'm satisfied with that." He's been saying that since I've known him.
The key to success is to set goals. Lots of small goals that are easily attainable. Once you achieve those goals, you can slowly move up to work towards the next ones. This way you're always working towards something. Even when it  becomes your new normal, there is more to work towards.
Now I realize this post is completely unorganized and scattered with 3 or 4 different thoughts but I felt like I just needed to say that a healthy mindset is all it takes to be truly healthy. Your physical shape and being will follow as long as your mindset is on track. (416)

Results

Results are hard to get if you're constantly off track or always placed in situations where it's taking away from progress. Luckily I've been on track for almost an entire month and have only messed up twice so far. I feel better and I don't have any sugar cravings too often anymore. However I'm altering my plan to give myself one cheat day per month to help keep things going.
My only problem is that I'm not seeing very many results. Maybe it's too early, but I'm not seeing huge changes yet. I understand it takes a lot of time to reach a goal but for me it seems like it's taking me forever to get to my first goal.
Yes, patience is key but I'm starting to wonder if there is something I'm doing that's holding me back. Am I not meeting the proper macros that my body requires? Am I lifting heavy enough? Doing enough cardio? There are so many factors to consider and I've been considering changing up the way I do things. Part of me wants to and part of me wants to just wait and see what will happen if I just keep doing what I'm doing and hoping for the best.
So far the changes I have seen have been more definition and slight tone. I try and hit each muscle group every week but sometimes it's hard to work every single angle and muscle.
A great way I've found to keep track of progress is not by the scale, but by measurements (if you took them initially) and progress pictures. Taking pictures monthly or even weekly will really help you see yourself in a different light and checking to make sure that your body is really constantly growing and changing.
A good way to avoid a plateau and continuous progress is to change up workouts like I've mentioned before. It will not only keep things interesting but the muscle confusion will really help tone and shape your muscle fibers. (336)

Leg Day

Legs. They're responsible for carrying you for miles upon miles on runs. They support your entire body. Yet so many people skip leg days. Most guys only train legs so that they aren't top heavy, not because they want to. I personally hate leg day. So I've found a better system rather than dedicating a single day to it.
I take it in doses. First, let me explain something really quick. I work out in 3 different places and only 1 place has machines for legs. I work out either at home, school or my gym. I go to the gym when I feel like it (so like 3 or 4 times per week) and when I go to the gym I do legs. So a small portion of my workouts at the gym are legs. I spread things out so that I don't hate my entire workout at least once per week.
When I do train legs,I do squats with a squat rack and I use the leg extension and leg press machines too. I immediately burn out the rest of my legs that are already on fire with the stairmaster on level 9-12 for 5 minutes to really get a good workout in my legs. I feel like throwing up and my quads are on fire for a soild 15 minutes but it's really the only way I  can get the legs done! Sometimes I do air squats and weighted lunges too but only on the same day that I use the squat rack.
I don't even know what normal people do on leg day but I know that it's not fun at all. Recently I've been playing around with different types of squats. I started (correctly) doing lowbar squats thanks to a few friends who were willing to teach me the right form. I alternate between high bar and low bar squats to work all 3 areas of concern (quads, glutes and hamstrings) and I can really feel it the next morning even if it's the only leg exercise I do that day.
Long story short, don't skip out on leg day simply because you hate it, we all do. Just find a way that works best for you to make it doable and something that you can easily add into a workout. (386)

Why Wait?

A lot of people have resolutions for the New Year to eat better or workout more, be happier, etc. A lot of people who start them, wait. If they had a falling out, then they will wait to get back on track. They might wait until the start of a new week or even month. My question is, why would you wait? If you started something 2 weeks ago rather than waiting until now to start, you'd be 2 weeks better at that task. There are opportunities all over the places to start right now.
It doesn't even have to be related to health. If you want to start knitting, why would you wait to start next week? If you started now, in a week you'd have your first scarf done. Waiting leads to nonproductive days. A lot of people procrastinate their homework which leads to a decrease in quality, which actually explains a lot...
Another great example is saving money. Think about all of the times you've gone out with friends and bought something. If you would have saved your money instead of telling yourself that you'd start next time, you could have had a nice stack of money by now, right? Waiting for something to begin isn't going to get you any closer to any of your goals.
Being motivated and driven is a huge part of being successful in any area of life. If people don't have that certain spark of that motivation, there is less productivity, less willingness and less results. I can't tell you enough how good it feels to have a good attitude towards just about anything. This all leads back to being happy with yourself, if you fail or lose motivation, keep that good attitude towards life and yourself in general and you'll get right back up and carry on.
Don't ever wait to achieve goals, because all you're doing is wasting precious time.

The Importance of Carbs

Low carb foods are all over the place. Lots of food labels claim to be low carb and "healthy". Sure a low carb diet might be right for someone looking to lose a bit of weight but low carb shouldn't be in your vocabulary as somebody trying to build lean muscle.

Athletes need carbs for a number of reasons, they support and speeds recovery, they help prevent your muscles from breaking down (if you have a low carb intake, your body will essentially freak out and try to use protein as energy which just completely ruins your gains). Carbs can help steady energy levels, too.

Carbs are so essential to a part of a healthy diet as an athlete, but I think that it's important to pay attention to which types of carbs you eat. Yeah not gonna lie, I've had like 4 pieces of bread today simply because I just felt like it, and it wasn't the best choice and I could have chosen better foods to eat but I mean it's not like I just ate a dozen brownies or anything extreme so I guess it could be worse, right? Eating the right carbs will really help with the lean muscle gain and reduce the chance of adding fat instead of muscle. And no, I'm not going to suggest sweet potatoes because that's the most basic advice somebody could give. Plus I hate sweet potatoes so...Oatmeal is a pretty good option. I haven't had it in a while since I cut out my reddi whip obsession. I've been really into this Green Giant Steamers brown rice, risotto, carrots, peas and kale blend. It's got this amazing sauce on it that makes me actually tolerate kale. Quinoa is a good source of carbs as well but I've only eaten it once or twice before so I can't really remember the taste and tell you my favorite way to eat it. Whole wheat pasta is a pretty good option if you're feeling like comfort food. I usually put some of that fake spray butter on it with some Parmesan cheese and it's so good!

Carbs are super important to athletes for a number of reasons and it's easy to eat carbs because they are in almost every single food. Don't be afraid of carbs because they actually help you more than hurt you! (394)

Numbers Shouldn't Control You

Lately I've noticed throughout the school and my friends and peers have been going on diets for various reasons. "I want to be this weight because it'll make me skinny" So many girls have the wrong idea about what they should look and feel like. They let numbers run their lives. Having goal weights and sizes have become and obsession.
 It's not wrong, but it could be hurting you without even knowing it. I know I've mentioned it before about how I restricted myself to the extreme for a few years. (See: Failure and Restricting) Then I just grew out of it. I realized it doesn't matter how many calories I burn running or how much I weigh because being a set weight will not guarantee your "dream body". It's about looking good in the mirror and being happy with yourself. Looking back now, I realized how stupid I was for being so obsessed. I took it way too far and it was awful. I never want anyone to ever go through what I did. I was so obsessive that I'd do cardio for HOURS at a time just to get my weight down to my "goal". I would manipulate water intake, I would work out 3 times per day. It was so overboard I'm ashamed to even write this (but I know it could help someone in the future) If I met my self from the past I'd probably slap her. It was so ridiculous.
One day, it just clicked for me .I'm almost 7 months from my worst point now completely recovered. I work out when I feel like it (5 or 6 days a week usually) and I do things in moderation. I forgot about cardio for a few months. I focused on getting strong. I lift a lot more now and I do it seriously. 3 sets of 10 reps won't lead to success so I really changed my plans. I don't look at scales anymore. I judge myself much differently now. I don't need sizes and numbers to tell me if I'm fit enough or good enough. I'm not afraid of food. I'm not constantly cold anymore and I'm not too concerned about numbers. My mom said I seem more "confident" and I guess I can agree, maybe it just goes along with the mental maturity and mentality of not being so fragile and afraid. I've come a long way in just a few months and I feel that it's really important for girls to understand that life is not about being a size 0. There is a fine line between healthy and extreme. High School Health Freak crossed that one for too long. Luckily I've found myself in a better place and I couldn't be more happy with myself now. (462)

2.5miles to 3.1 (Cross Country Course Change)

Wednesday night was a whole mess of disappointment and upset teenage girls. No, it'snot because of Pretty Little Liars or Teen Wolf. It's because the board of athletics (or something like that, I actually forgot the name of the organization but it's in the paper somewhere) voted to change the length of the girl's high school cross country race from 2.5 miles to 3.1. I was DEVASTATED. As the typical girl would say; "I can't even". 

I've heard there were many reasons as to why it was changed. My coach told me it was because the girls are getting so fast that it's hardly even considered a race anymore when there are girls finishing with times in the 14's. Another speculation as to why it changed was it changed was because many felt that girls should get to run the same distance as boys do, and they felt it was unfair that our course was shorter. 

I, however, didn't want the course to be changed for many reasons as well. My first reason being that every year on milesplit, your best times are posted and they get faster every year. Last year my best was 18:18 and this year is 17:58 but next year the times will show up in the 20's which screws up the ENTIRE point of visual progress! I have major OCD towards that and it makes me so mad to know that I'll never know how much faster I'd get if the course were the same. My second reason being is that it'll be my senior year so by the time we adjust to the new length of the course, our running careers will be over. My third reason is the fact that I'm absolutely dying at the 2 mile mark and I can barley get to the finish without feeling like passing out and throwing up, how am I expected to make it to 3.1 AND get a decent time?? Most importantly, this new change will make a lot of girls quit the sport which eliminates competition....which makes the remaining competition even tougher. I even wanted to quit when I found out about the switch in lengths....shout out to Reece and Calvin for convincing me not to though.

I guess we can only wait and see what this next season brings, I hope it's not complete hell, though. 

Quest, Quest and more Quest.

I'm pretty sure I've made it clear that I'm obsessed with Quest Nutrition and all of their foods. I love Quest bars like no other and the Quest peanut butter cups were amazing too. So, I had a few Amazon giftcards that I got for Christmas. What better than to spend them on a new Quest product to try?! This time I bought a box (of 8 bags) of Quest PROTEIN CHIPS. The macro Gods from above have made CHIPS with 21 grams of protein! It seems too good to be true. They chips have been out for a couple of months now but I haven't been able to find them in a store anywhere around here and I sure as hell didn't want to pay for super expensive shipping either...so I've waited until now. 
Yesterday they finally came in the mail. I was super hungry coming home from school to find them sitting on the kitchen counter. I immediately ripped open a bag to try. I was expecting them to be like the Lay's baked chips. They were different; puffier and lighter. I took a bite. The crunch was super loud and they were crispy and light. The barbecue flavoring was really good! The texture of the chip was a lot different than I expected. It was a little bit starchy. It wasn't bad at all! For 21 grams of protein and 5 carbs, I'd eat them for every meal if I could! Except for the fact that they're $18 for 8 bags. Quest Nutrition never fails to deliver. I am super happy with my order! The next thing I want to try is the new flavor of protein bar. They released a smores flavor about a month ago and I'm still waiting for it to get in the stores! If I don't like it that much ( which the chances are slim) I'd rather not pay almost $30 to be stuck with a box of 12 that I don't even care for. 
Anyways, 10/10 for the chips, I love them and I would try all of the other flavors too if I get the chance! (357)

I Quit [Sugar].

So I know I've talked a lot about how I've gone to extremes with restricting, and this next topic I'll cover today might contradict it a little bit but it's not as bad as it seems, I promise!
Lately I've been eating a LOT of junk. Like....A LOT. As you know, these past 3 months have been my off season and I've really just been enjoying myself. I have goals but I haven't cracked down on them too much...until now. Before then, I had been eating HUGE amounts of sugar. Several cookies per day, chocolate chips, Christmas candy. I mean it was really excessive. I started to enjoy myself a little TOO much. Then I realized that consuming sugar in quantities like that is a really bad habit to have. I could get diabetes. It's hard on my body and I felt bad for doing that to myself. So then I just decided 8 days ago that I should just stop eating sugar. Yes. I'm not even kidding you. (And no, it wasn't a New Years resolution!) I just quit eating {added}sugar. Cold turkey. No cake, cookies, bars, brownies, chocolate, fruit snacks, ice cream, cereals, candy, even my beloved Reddi Whip. All off limits. I decided its for the best. I'm trying to go as long as possible (my cousin did it and lasted almost an entire year without added sugar because it was initially a bet she had with her swim coach, and now it's a bet I have with her to match her record or go longer.) 
My experiences so far? It's been fine. It's surprising coming from a sugar addict like me, but I haven't had too many cravings. I quit cold turkey but I've also substituted a lot of things. As desserts, I eat quest bars and sugar free pudding. I have no sugar added jam and sugar free coffee creamer on hand now too. It wasn't until yesterday at work I was on sales floor in the seasonal clearance surrounded by all of the candy that I had cravings. There were cupcakes in the break room again, also with ice cream and other sugary foods. I had the willpower to stay away from all of it though. I was proud of myself for that! 
The first night I gave up sugar, I had a terrible headache. I woke up the next day with one too. My face is breaking out like crazy which seems weird to me because usually you'd break out from eating sugar, not cutting it out. I've been extremely tired lately too. All I want to do is sleep. I also crave carbs and salty things now but hopefully that will go away with time. After another week, I plan to drop down my carb intake. Because of this, I'm retaining a lot of water obviously. It'll be easier to transition in to that track season, though. 
The positive things I've experienced so far: My body is holding it's muscle tone SO much easier. I started lifting (hard) again and I saw almost immediate changes in my arms. (Not abs though because of water retention) I'm amazed. Soon I'll be in much better shape and finally reach my goals! I might update you on this in a few weeks to see how things have changed. (553)