When you can't climb, run!

Update: I didn't crush hard last Friday like I thought I would.  I actually felt pretty tired and ended up climbing easy and moderate routes.  The same thing happened this past Monday night; I led some 5.10s but struggled to climb 5.11s cleanly.  The mere thought of trying a 5.12 was laughable.  In fact, I'm still shaking my head about it.

I find that, as I get older, I need more rest time in between hard workouts.  This doesn't equate to rest days, per se, but instead requires staggering workouts to allow muscle groups more time to rest.  Although I have desire to climb three days a week every week, I think it might be better to limit to 2 days/week.  On the days when I am not climbing, I plan run, do yoga or strength training.

Thankfully, K had a work event on Wednesday which cinched my decision to give my fingers and shoulders break from climbing.  Instead, I went on a foggy afternoon run.  Starting around 3:30pm, I got in 6 miles and made it home before the rain started (which later turned into snow, shutting down the Federal gov't on Thursday).  Having run a total of 4 miles in the previous 3 weeks, my legs were super fresh and full of glycogen.  I felt so good that I surprised myself by running two 8-minute pace miles in the middle, which was very satisfying after so many weak-sauce climbing sessions.  Despite my ability to run a decent pace without much training, I can tell that I am out of running shape because my quads were sore next day.  Which, to be honest, only motivates me to want to run more and get back into running shape.

How to choose a grocery store: My thoughts on Trader Joe's and Whole Foods

Whenever I move to a new area, one of the first things I do is figure out where to purchase my groceries.  Factors that influence my decision include

• Distance from my house - How long does it take to get there by car? by bike? walking?
• Ease of use  - How big is the store? is it organized logically?
• Availability  - Do they stock the items I want to purchase?
• Quality - Does the produce look fresh?  do they offer grass-fed meat and dairy?  Pastured eggs?
• Price - How do the store's prices compare to nearby competitor prices?

Living near Old Town Alexandria, my favorite places to shop include Trader Joe's (612 N St. Asaph St) and Whole Foods (1700 Duke St).

I appreciate Trader Joe's for the excellent prices and ease of use.  Trader Joe's is a smaller store which requires less time to walk through.  If you know what you want, you can get in and get out very quickly.  Trader Joe's doesn't offer the variety of a bigger, conventional grocery stores but, for what they lack in variety, they make up for it in price.  A package of Gimme Organic seaweed snacks costs $1.99 at Whole Foods. Trader Joe's sells a similar product for $0.99.

Seaweed offers many healthful nutrients, including iodine, vitamin K, and calcium.

I shop at Trader Joe's for staple items like olive oil, canned beans, broth (vegetable, chicken), maple syrup, blue corn chips (so much lighter in texture and flavor than WF brand), regular cheese, bagged lettuce (my favorite is the Wild Arugula), bananas, organic carrots and celery, baby portobello mushrooms, precooked beets (so easy to add to salad), Applegate deli meat, hummus, and frozen fruit.

The high fat / medium protein + medium fiber / low sugar content
make these dark chocolate covered almonds a low glycemic snack

One downside to shopping at Trader Joe's is the temptation to try the plentiful processed or packaged foods such as their Triple Gingersnaps.  The only specialty item I allow myself to purchase is the Dark Belgian chocolate covered almonds, made with 73% Cacao and only six other ingredients (provides 5g protein, 5 g fiber, only 9 g sugar per 1/4 cup serving).  The other downside is how crazy busy it gets during rush hour.  I will NEVER choose to shop at Trader Joe's on a Sunday (10am - 4pm) or right after work (i.e weekdays around 5pm).

I might shop at Trader Joe's exclusively if they didn't have such a limited selection.  When I go grocery shopping, I usually have to make two stops - one at Trader Joe's and a second at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods offers a high-quality shopping experience - from the handsome store layout to the thoughtful consideration they put into procurement of each and every one of their offerings.  Many complain that Whole Foods is expensive - but you get a hassle-free environment offering a wide selection of quality foods.  As an example, Whole Foods is the only place I can find Snowville Creamery milk.  Reading the label, this milk comes from grass grazed cows fed only non-GMO feed & forage.

According to Jennifer Adler in her new book Passionate Nutrition: A Guide to Using Food as Medicine fro a Nutritionist Who Healed Herself From the Inside Out (Sasquatch Books, 2014), "because of bioaccumulation, or the accumulation of a substance in a living organism, organic meat and dairy give you the biggest bang for your buck.  Over its lifetime, a 1,000 pound cow consumes far more pesticides (which are added to its feed) than a carrot or strawberry would be capable of absorbing.  A study in Israel found that when people consumed organic meat and dairy, they reduced their exposure to certain estrogen-related pesticides by 98 percent."

Whole foods is my favorite place to purchase meats, dairy, eggs, and seafood because it is easy to find options that are grass-fed, pastured and wild caught.  I also tend to buy fresh produce items like apples, ginger, kale and broccolini (a.k.a. tender baby broccoli) because it is likely to be local and/or fresher.

Flax, Chia and Hemp - what is the difference?

A doctor friend of mine asked for advice about changing up his morning smoothie recipe.  He currently uses almond milk, banana, spinach or kale, and ground flax seed.  He asked what I thought about chia and hemp seeds.  Here is my reply.

Aside from dark green leafy vegetables, seeds are one of the most nutritious foods humans eat.  The seed provides all the building blocks necessary to generate a brand new baby plant - so it makes sense that seeds are packed with healthy fats, digestible proteins, vitamins, minerals and fiber.  Eating seeds contributes to a healthy diet - but each type has a slightly different nutrient composition.

Per 1 tablespoon, flaxseeds contain 1.9 g protein, 2.8 g fiber and 2.96 g polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).

In contrast, 1 tablespoon chia seeds contain 1.7 g protein, 3.5 g fiber and 2.74 g PUFA.  Hemp seeds contain 3.3 g protein, 1 g fiber and 3.3 g PUFA.

Note: The nutrients listed for flax and chia can be found on the USDA Nutrient Database.  Not surprisingly, hemp seeds are not included in the USDA Nutrient Database, so I used the Nutrition Facts panel on a sample of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts instead.

If your goal is to get more protein, hempseeds are a better choice than flax or chia.

If you goal is to get more fiber, chia seeds win.

If your goal is omega-3 fatty acids, both flax and chia are better than hemp - as they have more ALA (an omega-3 fatty acid) and a better w6:w3 ratio (read: more anti-inflammatory).

Food	Serving Size	ALA (% of FA)	LA (% of FA)	Ratio of w6:w3	ALA (g/serving)
Chia seeds	2 T/30 ml (20 g)	61	20	0.33:1	4
Flaxseed oil	1 T/15 ml (14g)	57	16	0.28:1	7.8
Flaxseeds, ground	2 T/30 ml (14 g)	57	16	0.28:1	3.2
Flaxseeds, whole	2 T/30 ml (20.6 g)	57	16	0.28:1	4.8
Greens, mixed	1 C/250 ml (50-60 g)	56	11	0.19:1	0.1
Hempseed oil	1 T/15 ml (14 g)	20	61	3:1	2.8
Hempseeds	2 T/30 ml (20 g)	20	61	3:1	1.2
Walnuts (English)	1/4 C/60 ml (28 g)	14	58	4:1	2.6

Table from an article in Today's Dietitian (Feb 2010).

Certainties in Life: death, taxes and change

Benjamin Franklin once said "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."  While I agree with Mr. Franklin, I would like to add change to the list of certainties.

Nothing in nature remains static.  We live in a world of cycles.  The sun rises and sets, the seasons change, and even the temperature fluctuates within seasons.  Take the recent weather in Washington, DC as an example.

Silly me, I failed to snap a picture last night.
Thank you http://www.houseofhawthornes.com/ for the photo.

Over the weekend, the weather was dry and sunny on Saturday followed by freezing rain on Sunday that left the world bathed in a thin layer of ice.  Beautiful to behold but not so beautiful for travel, it resulted in yet another 2-hour delay for most of the working world this morning.  Fast forward several hours and the temperature is now 43 degrees with sunshine and blue skies.  A symptom of global warming, we've been experiencing some erratic weather patterns this winter.

Some of my friends complain that they are sick of winter and wish spring were here already.  But what I think they are missing is an appreciation for the present.  Yes, perhaps we've been hit with cold weather nearly every weekend so far this year (2015), which limits the ability to go for long bike rides or travel to Chinese New Years parties, but we've also had some unseasonably warmer days, too.

Instead of getting stuck in the rut of thinking that the weekend is the only time to play, consider being spontaneous and adventurous during the work week too!  Take advantage of of the "warmer" winter days and go for a walk during your lunch break.  Or perhaps sneak out of work 15 minutes early so you can go for a quick run before the sun sets and the temperatures drop back down to freezing.  The world is full of possibility - you just have to keep your eyes open and look for it!

If you don't like the weather today, just wait until tomorrow.  There is a good chance it will be different.

The importance of listening to your body

I've started climbing more often since resigning from my corporate travel job.  Instead of just climbing on Mondays and Fridays, I'm climbing most Wednesdays, too.

Climbing was awesome for the six weeks of 2015.  K and I started doing 4 x 4 workouts again (A 4 x 4 is where you choose 4 routes and climb each one 4 times in a row).   When we weren't doing laps, we were projecting difficult routes.  We'd get to the gym at 5:30 and stay until 8:30 or 9pm.  Eventually, I improved enough to climb a straight-wall 5.12minus cleanly!  Two weeks later, I climbed it four times in a row without falling!  I felt amazingly in shape.

But eventually, the repetitive stress caught up with me.

Last Monday (2/16), I met K at the gym at 5:30pm.  Like usual, we started warming up on 5.8s and 5.9s but I quickly realized that something was "off" in my left shoulder.  My back muscles (rhomboids and serratus anterior) were so tight that it was affecting enervation of the shoulder joint.  It felt like only 50% of my shoulder muscles were working properly.  Any time I reached my left arm out and pulled my body toward the wall (a move I had done over and over and over again on the 5.12minus the previous week), I felt a strain in my deltoids as they overcompensated.

Not wanting to injury my already over-worked muscles, I backed off and climbed 5.8s for the rest of the night.   I listened to my body and took it easy on Wednesday 2/18 and Friday 2/20, too.  On the nutrition side of things, I added extra anti-inflammatory foods to my diet to help calm down the inflammation in my over-worked shoulder muscles.  I stretched and did gentle yoga.

Although frustrating, the rest paid off.  Now, two weeks later, I am beginning to like normal.  I'm headed to the gym in 30 minutes and I can't wait to get back on those 12s!