Team Nuun Tuesday: Too Good To Wait!

Generally this is news that I would share on Team Nuun Tuesday, but it's so sweet it's going up today!

Our amazing coordinator at Nuun, Kimberly, has offered up a coupon code for purchases at the Nuun Store that is valid until September 30th!

Use coupon code "afternuundelight" at time of purchase to receive:

»25% Off! 

Happy Hydrating!

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other...

Happy BC Day Long Weekend to the freaks and weirdos.

What's the most random search that's found your blog?

"What's Nuun?" Wednesday

Hood to Coast van-mate Dorothy at Mile Posts commented on Facebook that we all kind of take for granted that our readers know what Nuun is.  Yes, I spout on and on about how I love it and how grateful I am for the opportunity they've given me.  But I guess I am assuming that everyone knows what it is and how it works.  And I know that isn't true.  Case in point: I've found myself explaining it to co-workers and we sell it at our store!  So here's a cheat-sheet, so to speak, about Nuun.*

Source

What is Nuun?
Simply put, it's flavoured electrolyte tabs that you put in your water.  

What is in Nuun?
Stuff that helps you NOT bonk.  Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B2.  There's some other scientific-y stuff too.  If you love the extra boost, there is caffeine in Kona Cola and Lemon Tea.

What's not in Nuun?
Carbs (so use food or gels/chews too!), Sugar, Gluten, Corn (but some products used to make Nuun might have it so not totally corn free) or Animal byproducts. 

Why is Nuun good?
See the not bonking part!  The worst part about sports and exercise is running out of steam.  By replacing your electrolytes as you sweat you keep your body happy.  Here are the cut-and-paste reasons electrolytes are important: 

"The body has to perform a delicate balancing act to keep water and electrolyte levels just right. For example, whenever sodium levels dip too low, the kidneys are stimulated to produce more urine, which restores the balance by lowering the amount of water in the blood. And when the sodium level gets too high, thirst develops, stimulating the person to drink. A hormone is also secreted by the brain in response to thirst that causes the kidneys to produce less urine. Together, these effects result in dilution of the sodium and the restoration of balance." 

Or, in layman's terms:

"Nuun’s special formulation of electrolytes helps increase the amount of water that’s absorbed into the blood stream. That means more of the water you drink is actually used to hydrate you instead of being eliminated because the electrolyte balance wasn't right."

No sugar!  And it's safe to use if you are diabetic.

Under 8 calories per tab, which is technically 2 servings.

How does one use Nuun?
Find favourite bottle or glass.  Fill with 16 oz of water or cut a tab in half and use 8 oz.  Select one of 11 Nuun flavours - or 15 if you add in the 4 U Hydration flavours - and drop in water.  Watch it bubble and dissolve (it's not carbonated, but does have a slight fizz if you don't let it sit for a couple of minutes).  Drink and Enjoy!  

Source

Who can use Nuun?
Anyone.  You don't have to be an athlete to like it and use it.  It's not going to hurt to get electrolytes.   

Hopefully this gives you an idea of why I love Nuun.  If nothing else it's another tool to keep in your running box!  

If you have more questions ask away!  I'll do my best to come up with an answer for you.





* This is good practice because I'm going to have to explain it to people on site in August!

Team Nuun Tuesday

⇒ The big news for the week is that Team #2 is now officially Nuun Platuun.  I think that it is a great name, especially with already built-in costume ideas!  And it is totally the opposite from us.  When I saw it the first thing that popped into my mind was that Team Nuun Platuun vs. Team After-Nuun Delight has a very late-60s Hawks vs. Doves feel to it.  We'll be the mellow, "have a try, man" team and, in my head at least, they'll be the "drop and give me 20 and then we'll see if you deserve it" team.  I'm sure it won't be quite like that, but it gave me a laugh.

They "released" their top secret info last week: each blogger had the same post consisting of bios of all of the members.  You can check it out at XLMIC's blog, Taking It On.  She did the compilation so that's the link you get.  

⇒ Plans are underway for our van design.  Nothing is set in stone quite yet, but think 70s, rainbows, flower power or disco (that's the sticking point, but it looks like flower power is winning), paisley, etc.  Lots of colour!  You should be able to see our van a mile away!  I'm a little freaked out by having my face plastered to the side of the van, but there's no I in Team!  Ha!  

⇒ Loving my new flavours of Nuun!  So far Tropical and Grape are the front runners.  I still haven't worked up the courage to try the Banana.  It really does scare me.

⇒ Hood To Coast is one month away!!!  That makes it sound so close.  The major issue was my passport and it should be here in about 2 weeks.  Other than that I guess I should start hauling stuff out of cupboards and drawers.  

Monday Musings

» First off, go over to Sweat Once A Day and congratulate my HTC van-mate Emily on becoming an Ironman yesterday!  She finished in 13:53:44.  Yup, that's hours.  And while all athletics are totally relative to the athlete, here's a comparison: she swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and still managed to finish the full marathon (26.2 miles) a good 20 minutes faster than I've ever run one.  Of course, she trained her ass off for this!  

» Only one more weekend of work before I finally have a weekend off!  Of course it's a holiday weekend (BC Day) so I'll be there 3 days, but, as always, the money's good so I don't say no...  And the reason I'm so excited to have the time off - besides the fact that I've worked every weekend in July - is that it's Warrior Dash in Whistler!  Time to spend with Colin and 14 friends that is kid free, I can drink as much as I like because I can be slightly irresponsible (but, let's face it, I only drink about 2 glasses of anything before I'm ready to sleep or I totally shut up because I'm cognizant of the fact that I'm drinking too much), and I can run a "race".  

» Colin has finally heeded my advice and agreed to stop running at a local park.  He's been doing his long runs out on dyke trails that go around blueberry fields.  Having grown up in the area he knows that's where the bears like to hang out.  I always ask him to avoid it since I'd like him to make it home in one piece.  Sunday was the day he decided to stop.  Now, it's not because he was bothered by seeing 6 bears.  It's because it's too much of a time waster to have to stop, back up, avoid, wait, etc.  Glad his safety is his main concern...

» I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to choose between running and sleep.  I've found that I just have no motivation to get out the door with Spud in the stroller and it's killing my training.  I'm going to be making the move to early morning runs.  I'm still working out details, but at least one friend answered my Facebook plea to join me at an ungodly hour of the morning.  Well, it is for me.  It'll probably still only be 6am, but that's ridiculous for a girl who loves her sleep.  

Wordy Wednesday: Things I Love & Hate Edition

Stuff To Love: 

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary!  In true we-now-have-a-kid-and-therefore-no-money fashion we had a regular day.  Colin worked, came home, I went to run clinic, Colin ran, we watched tv.  My parents are making us dinner tonight to celebrate - much appreciated!

After sort of complaining yesterday morning about not receiving my Nuun gift pack yet it came in the afternoon.  Score!  I actually got a few more stickers and another bottle, but the bottle was put to use right away.  Strawberry Lemonade and Grape were my first trials.  I put too much water in the first one, but it was still good.  I tried to smell it right after taking off the cap and ended up snorting a bunch of powder.  Oops...  

Grape, though, is awesome!  The smell of it reminds me of gum I used to chew as a kid (Double Bubble).  It contributed greatly to my perfect tempo run last night.  Rarely can I describe a run that way, but everything came together just right.  I felt so good.  I found the perfect pace group (2:10 finish); it was cloudy and windy, but not cold; my leg that was bothering me from wearing old shoes to work on Sunday didn't act up - thank you right Soleus; I was strong on the hill (little, but still a hill) by making up a really corny mantra about not quitting; and ended up doing just under 5km in 32 minutes.  Yay!

Something To Hate:

Why is there no good way to get a good photograph for official documents?  The above photos are from our currently expired passports (on the left) and the pictures for our new ones (on the right).  Canada has this dumb guideline that you have to have a "neutral" expression on your face, meaning you can't smile.  I guess they want you to look like you would if you were apprehended...  Let me just say that Spud did so well with not making faces.  He looks like he's in a lot of trouble in his, but he was very well behaved at the store.  

I said on Facebook the other day that I've gone from fat head to slightly crazy eyes.  I guess that's better than Colin.  He now looks like a normal, albeit tired, guy.  I've always thought his 2006 photo kind of looks like a serial killer's mugshot.  I guess we've moved up in the world!  

Challenge for the day: I dare you to post the "best" government issued photo you have!

Team Nuun Tuesday

Not a lot to report this week.  The 2 things I want to talk about in depth are either unannounced or have not arrived yet.  So here's the pathetically short synopsis.

1.  Team #2 has a name.  I found out purely accidentally when their new group showed up in my Facebook news feed.  However, I can't in good conscience spoil it for them.  I really want to spill the beans, but that would make me a bad word of the highest order.  And a really crappy teammate.  Let's just say that it's great and, even though I love our name, I kind of wish we'd thought of it.  If Team #2 is reading - What's taking so long?!?* 

2.  Nuun sent out a gift pack of sorts to team members.  There has been much talk about it on Facebook.  Unfortunately I do not get to benefit from the USPS's efficient service.  While everyone is either ripping theirs open or giving it away (I may or may not be that generous) I am patiently waiting.  That would be the downside to living in another country.  I get to guess when Canada Border Services Agency and Canada Post will get their acts together and deliver my package already!   



*Seriously, I'm only half joking.  I can keep a secret (well, Colin knows), but still.  If the suspense is killing me, think about how everyone else is feeling... :)

Bread And Butter Dreams

Let me preface this by saying that if you find yourself up at 1:07am and you think you are hungry you're not.  Just go back to bed.  Since neither Colin nor I could heed this advice here are the awesome dreams we had...

1. Colin's dream was about Tofino.  My family has been going there since I was young and this year would have been the 20th consecutive year.  However, going to a now very popular tourist destination is not cheap.  So unfortunately none of us will be going.  Obviously Colin's subconscious is still in denial...  He dreamt that all of us were waiting at the ferry terminal getting ready to head over to the island.  I drove my car with my mum and Spud on to the ferry.  Colin waited for my dad who had a 4x4.  When my dad came back he said that he was ready to go, turned around and drove away.  He was convinced that he and Colin could drive there.  

2.  I had a very in depth dream about running an ultramarathon.  It was based in and around Vancouver.  Some of the route was on trails and some was on the road.  At the start Dean Karnazes made a brief appearance and laughed at me when I asked if he could pace me.  Of course I came to my senses and admitted that he would probably be able to finish a couple of times over before I did.  He ran off still laughing at the newbie.  

I didn't really know the course that well so when I had about 10 kilometre or miles left (still not sure what the actual distance was) I got lost.  I was running back and forth along the beach trying to ask people where I was supposed to go, but I was at the finish line and they were all done already.  Eventually someone told me that I had to do a loop of the Stanley Park area and come back to the beach.  By this point I was already well past when I wanted to come in and I was running dead last.  I picked up the pace by using some sort of bulky metal pole/walking stick thingy to propel myself forward.  I started to pass other runners - all of whom seemed really old or hurt.  

Once on my way back I came to a fork in the road and didn't know which way to go.  Colin yelled at me from a restaurant that I was supposed to go left to get back on the beach.  But I missed the turn for that and saw runners going to both Rogers Arena and BC Place.  By the time I got to the arena it was closed to runners.  So off I went to BC Place where they were deflating the roof.  I ran down the concrete ramp inside and discovered that they were packing up to leave.  There were about 4 firefighters giving out medals and the first one tried to hand me a junior medal (don't ask, I have no idea what that is).  When I complained they gave me the real one and then they all started taking my picture from different angles.

Then I woke up; face down on my stomach and both my arms were partially asleep.  I have no idea what time it was except that it was early.

3.  After I got back to sleep I had a dream about work.  Yippee!  My store kind of looked like my store, but it was bigger than usual.  No one seemed concerned or in awe of the fact that I'd just done an ultra.  All I got was a rude look and comment from a customer because I wasn't helping them.  It didn't matter that I wasn't working yet and didn't have my uniform on.  I think there was more to it, but it's gone now...   

So the moral of the story, in case you couldn't figure it out, is don't eat bread and butter in the middle of the night or you'll dream of obscure things.  

Wordish Wednesday: I'm A Sucker...

The only picture we have from the night we got engaged.  It was too dark to take more and we didn't want to waste film (yes, prior to the wonders of digital!).  What you don't see is that Colin set one tea light for each month we'd been together (43) into the sand around our picnic blanket - I had to swear not to peek while he set up and lit them all.  Neither one of us can remember what he said, but it made me cry.  

Staged reaction to proposal taken by Colin the next day.  It's at Spanish Banks Beach Park in Vancouver in case you wondered.

Team Nuun Tuesday

Big news on the Team Nuun front!  Okay, so it's big news if you're on the team...  Team #1 has decided on a name!

Melody was both kind and pro-active enough to put together a survey of all the names we'd brainstormed and tally the votes.  While we're definitely a creative bunch the favourite name won by a landslide.  It was actually the first name suggested, which may or may not have been the reason we loved it.  Henceforth (my big word for the day) we shall no longer be known as Team Nuun #1, but 

After-NUUN Delight

with the cheeky tag line: 

We do it morning, NUUN and night {running, that is...}

It turns out that we weren't the only ones to think of it either.  Team #2 (name as yet unannounced) also thought of it, but we beat them to the punch.

More fun stuff; again, if you are on the team (or living vicariously through us):

Team Outfits:

Kelly and Carrie are on Team #1 and have graciously said that they will provide us with Team Sparkle skirts.  Of course, it helps that they own the company!   We're going to go with different colours for each runner and they'll each represent a Nuun flavour.  

How freaking cute are these?!?

Nuun is providing shirts for us and we can customize them as we see fit once we get them.

Contests:

Nuun's been thinking up contests to run between teams 1 and 2 during the relay.  They totally sound like fun, but I'm not going to share them quite yet since there hasn't been complete confirmation.  Let's just say that the ladies on Team #1 are going to try their hardest to win any prizes that are up for grabs...

"Back to School":

I'm going to need to memorize some facts!  Since we are essentially Nuun reps for the weekend it's kind of important that I know what I'm talking about.  

If You're Looking Out For Fozzie, Make Sure You Don't Step On Kermit!

When Colin came home from his run last night he told me that he had come up with a great title for a post (see above).  I said, "Ew, you stepped on a frog!?!!?"  He then told me about his eventful run:

While running along a local path in the rain and dark he came across what he thought was a good sized leaf.  Turns out it was a freakishly large frog (well, actually a toad) that had come up from the river because the ground was so wet.  Apparently they scared the crap out of each other and both jumped about the same height in the air!  At least he took the time to "shoo" it off the path - with a blackberry bramble, but he didn't poke it with the thorny bit - before it got itself squished by a person or bike.  When I asked him how big it was he held up his hands in a circle the size of a side plate.  Yuck!  

Have a great weekend!  Watch out for toads, frogs and amphibians in general...

T³

1.  Where the heck is summer around here?  Mother Nature is waffling.  It's like she's saying to herself, "Hmm, I really did enjoy spring this year.  Maybe it shouldn't be summer even though it says so on the calendar."  The last few days were beautiful: sunny, hot, verging on being just this side of unpleasant.  Today we get this:

2.  My first ever 2-a-day went so well!  I took Spud out for a 7.5km steady hour long jog in the morning on Tuesday.  It was a little later than I should have been out simply because I was a hot, beet red, sweaty mess by the end of it.  I completed my second run (a tempo) with my clinic, going 3.2km in 19:46.  That's about a 6:10/km average.  I was good until about 2km and then ran with a friend who I know is faster for the last bit.  I was about ready to die, but I blame that mostly on the earlier run.  My legs felt heavy, but I was super pleased.  Best thing of all was that I felt fine the next morning.

3.  I didn't mention it in my post on Tuesday because things were still being decided, but here are my teammates for Hood To Coast.  Make sure you check them all out - they are an amazing bunch of women and I'm so excited to meet them all!

Van #1:
           Leg #1: Me
           Leg #2: Dorothy @ Mile Posts
           Leg #3: Nuun Staffer
           Leg #4: Jocelyn @ Enthusiastic Runner
           Leg #5: Emily @ Sweat Once A Day
           Leg #6: Lauren @ Health On The Run

Van #2:
           Leg #7: Nuun Staffer
           Leg #8: Carrie @ This Mama Makes Stuff
           Leg #9: Mel @ Tall Mom On The Run
           Leg #10: Melody @ I Run Like A Girl
           Leg #11: Kelly @ According To Kelly
           Leg #12: Megan @ Watch MeGo Run      
  

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 4th Birthday, Spud!

We love you!  From Mummy and Daddy.

Team Nuun Tuesday

Welcome to my new Tuesday feature where I discuss all things relating to my Hood To Coast adventure with Team Nuun.

"Team Nuun Tuesday" has a nice ring to it so I thought that I could condense all of my ramblings and thoughts into one post a week rather than have a smattering about it here and there.  It puts it all together nicely and, if you are sick to death of reading about HTC, then you can just avoid my blog on Tuesdays until the end of August!

Fun and exciting things that happened this week:

* We received our leg assignments!  Drum roll please and hip, hip, hooray: I'm running Leg #1 (13 and 25)!!!  This was my first choice and I am extremely excited to have gotten it.  It's listed as the least difficult and has the lowest mileage, but that isn't why I chose it.  I wanted to do it because leg #1 runs down the side of Mt. Hood.  Literally.  It's a steep road and there is a 2000ft elevation LOSS in 5.64mi/9km.

                                                                     Images are © Hood To Coast

* One of the reasons I'm happy with my assignment is that I can train for it.  All I need now is to find one or two of my real life friends who are willing to help me out.  If anyone wants to run down Mt. Seymour Parkway with me or at least drop me off 9km up the road let me know!  I'm not joking.  

* I came home from work on Friday to find not only 2 emails from Nuun regarding placements, but 21 other messages from teammates!  We are all apparently very proactive.  So far we're brainstorming team names and slogans to write on our vans.

* I found out my teammates and couldn't be happier!  Lots of amazing women and I'll get to know the ones who aren't in my van in the time before and after the race.

  

* Google Street View is great.  I looked up all of my routes so I at least have some sort of idea of where I'll be running.  The only problem is that the view for Leg #1 was shot in the winter.  I'm not going to be running with 15ft of snow plowed to the side of the road.

* Today marks my first ever 2-a-day!  Like many things running, if you'd asked me 2 years ago if I thought that it was a good idea to run twice in one day I would have looked at you like you were nuts.  I ran a steady and slow 7.5km in about an hour this morning with Spud and will do a 3km tempo run with my half clinic this evening.   

Monday Musings

→ Happy long weekend to those of you (Americans) who are still enjoying one!  I hope you get to spend quality time with your loved ones.

→ Although I had to work all Canada Day weekend (by choice, we need the money) we were able to take Spud out to see fireworks on Friday night.  I worked until 6:30pm and, after getting home and getting Spud fed, we eventually left our house just after 9pm.  We decided to walk to the site rather than try to street park with everyone else.  The weather was perfect and Spud ended up falling asleep about 10 minutes before we got there, which was great.  We found some friends to sit with and let Spud get a bit of a rest until it was time to start.  Since we haven't been to the local fireworks before we were pleasantly surprised how good it was.  It's put on by the local fire department and for a community event it was pretty big.  I'd definitely come back.  The only issue we had was that Spud found it a little loud and we had left his "ear puffs" at home since he said he didn't want them.  

Not my picture, but it is from our fireworks display.

By the time we got home Spud was out like a light and all 3 of us went straight to bed.  All the fresh air and exercise had gotten to us.  I had thought that the walk there and back was about 5km/3mi.  Turns out it was just under 9km/5½mi and the elevation looked like this:

Yup, that's in feet.

No wonder we were tired!

→ Knock on wood, but it seems like summer may have finally decided to show up and stick around in Vancouver!  

→ The only problem with getting a lot of sun here is, like Vancouverites forgetting how to drive when there's snow, we forget how to deal with it.  Colin took Spud to the beach on Friday and did a great job of getting him sunscreened and protected.  He took the same precautions with his own skin.  Unfortunately he forget to get his upper arms when he rolled up his sleeves.  Result?  A wicked red burn that looks super-painful.  Thank goodness we have a huge bottle of aloe, but it looks like it might be time to stock up on Solarcaine too.

→ How do you explain to a 4 year old that he can't scratch his bug bite?  Spud was bitten by something - he thinks mosquito, Colin suspects an insect with eight legs - while sticking his fingers under the door jamb playing on the patio.  It is right between his thumb and index finger so I get that it is uncomfortable, but it's not bad and he doesn't seem to get that if he continually touches it it won't get better.  Calamine lotion will just rub off (and he might freak if we do it because he doesn't even like band-aids).  I don't dare try After Bite because if he popped the top off of the bite it'll sting like crazy.  Any suggestions?  Other than duct taping a mitten to his hand?  

Happy Canada Day!

Source

I'm pretty sure my copy of this comic is in my parents' basement!  I loved the "Veronica in..." series!