New programs, exciting things happening, and ROAR

Your guide to everything under the moon, the Amber Moon, 5/13/2024

I was released from PT last Monday (5/6/24). My PT said I was the most advanced total knee replacement client she’s ever had. I’ll take it! I have goals, things to do!

Six months after knee #2, I was able to run for 15 minutes. I honestly didn’t expect it’d happen this fast. And then I tweaked my right foot. So now I’ve not run since that 15 minutes. It’s ok. I know I can.

And summer, for me at least, is a time of swimming & biking, and I’ll continue to work on walking & little bits of running. After my 2 aquabike events this summer, then I’ll shift my focus to more walking & increasing the run time.

New summer programs

With summer about to roll around, my studio schedule tends to get a little different with your vacations, and I’m adding THREE new programs to keep life interesting.

1) Masters Swim in Taylor

When I moved here 3 years ago, the Parks & Rec Director and I discussed this program as a long term goal. They had to do some negotiating on their part w the Y (they run the pool programming). It’s here this year!

Thursday, May 30, Masters Swim Come on by!, optional swim test. 7-8p. FREE. Doris Roznovak Aquatic Center, 1600 Veterans Dr., Taylor, TX 76574

Come meet your coaches, and if you have questions on whether you can swim the 100m continuous (2 laps, or 4 lengths), this is your chance to find out before you register!

Masters Swim, Doris Roznovak Aquatic Center, 1600 Veterans Dr., Taylor, TX 76574

Must be able to swim 100m front crawl (commonly called ‘freestyle’;100m is 2 laps aka 4 lengths) non-stop to join. Doesn’t have to be fast, just has to be. Participants are responsible for bringing swim gear: goggles, fins, kickboard, pull buoy, swim suit (not a bathing suit). Optional: swim paddles, goggle defogger. 

In order to have this program, I also needed liability insurance that covered swimming. My triathlon certification covers this, but only as individuals, but if I had a club…

2) The Quack Pack fitness & racing. Come swim, fly & waddle with us!

So my fellow triathlete, Stephanie, and I started a multisport club. We’ve been talking about the community we want to create since we met. It’s happening. It’s still in process. More to come later.

To do Masters swim, you’ll need to be a club member. Same goes for #3…

3) Middle school summer running

To keep my middle schoolers running, I’m meeting them on Monday mornings, 7a, along the Brushy Creek Trail, throughout June & July. I’ll be biking while they are running so as to keep up.

I’ll also be offering 15- & 30-min outdoor personal training sessions right afterward.

It’s not the crack of ridiculous training/coaching I used to do, but considering I am driving in from Taylor, I’ll still be getting up early.

Cross country season starts the week of August 5. It’ll be here before I know it!

4) Maybe????

Remember I said I may start teaching an in-person class? It’s in the works. Stay tuned!

Amber Eats + Blueberry reads

An interesting twist.

Firstly, I finished Maze Runner. And then had to look up the sequel. A trilogy in fact. Then I went down the rabbit hole of the movies. Of course they changed things, I mean, how were they easily going to explain telepathy in the first movie? Still, a good trilogy. Added the books to my audio wish list. Cuz their gonna be better than the movies.

And then I took up listening to ROAR. The first few chapters were somewhat repeats of what I’d read in Next Level, and I admit I skipped a few that I’m quite familiar. We’re now getting into the good stuff – gut health, hydration, and heat tolerance. Very timely.

Gut health: Not a lot new for me, but the understanding of it all deepened. One new bit – “it appears that having a healthy level of probiotics also improves exercise performance in heat” (p140). How do you get a healthy probiotic level? Eat a wide variety of high pre- & probiotic foods! Not just one, but a variety. We’re just paving the way here for a healthy diet. Have questions on how to up your dietary levels? I recommend seeing an registered dietician (RDN), and if you need one, Amanda Fearheiley is my guru.

Functional Hydration: Drinking water is great. However, does it get into your system as effectively as it could or should? According to ROAR, no. Instead, try adding a pinch of salt & 1 tsp maple syrup to 16 oz of water. It will increase its absorption, and no longer slosh around in your gut. Very important if you’re out training in the heat. You may be drinking a lot of water, but are you actually hydrating? Stacy Sims goes into the science behind it. I’ll let you read up on it. In the mean time, try it. Let me know what you think. I’ve gotten to where I mostly prefer this to Nuun tablets.

Heat Tolerance: This was an interesting one! Firstly, the vast majority of studies are done on MEN, so do not apply if you are a women. Our core temperatures increase in about half the time of men, and we don’t sweat as efficiently. Women sweat less than men, and start sweating later.

There are “also different heat-loss responses across the phases of our menstrual cycle…which change yet again with the onset of menopause” (p203-204). Which, personally, explains a lot of my heat tolerance issues about 5-10 years ago. It’s actually been getting better, but then I’ve also not gone out and tried training hard in the past few years.

Hydration is key to managing heat tolerance. If you’re out training and the legs start to feel heavy, reach for your functional hydration instead of gels.

Interesting tidbit: Did you know that office building A/C temp recommendations were developed in the 1940s, due to research done on… you guessed it… men. Women tend to like it a little warmer because of where we store our blood (more centrally), leaving hands and feet cold.

Biggest take away from ROAR – women are not ‘little men’ thanks to the difference in hormones. I highly recommend women read this book! Yes, there’s a good bit of science, but she also then breaks it down & applies it. I have a science background, so it’s easy for me. I enjoy it. Once you read, we can discuss how it applies to you.

Taylor & virtual updates

As we approach end of school, and summer, my schedule is starting to shift a bit… Please let me know early if you’re going to be out, and if you’re looking for something regular during this time. Slots are “saved” for when people return from summer activities.

• 5/21, Tues, open from 115-4p
• 5/23, Thurs, open from 2-4p
• 5/28, Tues, open from 315p (30 or 45 min only)
• 5/31, Fri, 1215p

Openings subject to change. This is a reflection of this exact moment in time!

Cross country will be starting the week of August 5, and will influence my Taylor & virtual schedules. I’ve already got to it in my calendar, but we may move it to mornings for August. We’ll have to see just how hot this summer gets since we’ve had a lot of rain. We actually had a good plan for evening workouts last year once we moved training to after school that gave the kids a shade break.

Austin updates

Fridays I’ll be at the Austin studio:  6/7 (full), 21*; 7/19; 8/2… and then back to normal every other week until end of October.

* = appointments available starting at 12n instead of usual 130p.

Openings:

• Wed, 5/22, 445p
• Wed, 6/5, 1p or 115p
• Wed, 6/12, 1 & 215p; 445p (30 or 45 min only)
• Wed, 6/19, 1p or 115p, 445p
• Wed, 6/26, 530p

Online & in-person group shenanigans

You can register for Track thru the City of Taylor.

Viniyoga, Pilates & EUTM are online & thru the studio.

Please note, there will be no Pilates Mat online May 14, 28 or June 4 as my regulars are all unavailable.

Thank you!

I really appreciate you reading all the way through! If something caught your eye, made you think, you tried something I suggested, or made you laugh… drop me a note – I always love to hear about it!