Go Team BLAHH

We are currently in 1st place for average steps with 11,362.87! however, we need to eat more produce since we’re in last place with an average of 3.55 cups.

Keep up the good work.

-PRS

(Posted on Paul's behalf.)

Google Pedometer Maps

Folks, I made a bunch of maps for those looking to train. Most distances cap at 3.5 Miles for those that are participating in the corporate challenge, but there are a couple shorter ones for those that need to work up to it (i.e. me).

Around the Block 1.54 Miles
GRIPA Through Browncroft Neighborhood Back to Culver 3.84 Miles
GRIPA to Harvard Street Via East Blvd 2.56 Miles
GRIPA to Floverton 1.01 Mile
GRIPA to Park to Oxford and back via East Ave 3.45 Miles
GRIPA to Prince Street and back 3.49 Miles (usual CCC training route)
GRIPA to roads between Humboldt and Atlantic 1.82 Miles

Enjoy!

Monday, March 31 - no afternoon activity

There will not be an afternoon team activity today.

Stepping Side Effects

The pursuit of steps is leading to improvements in other areas as well. My 11 year-old daughter was thrilled to do 30 minutes of Dance-dance revolution (DDR) this morning - something I've been loathe to do in the past. Besides a workout for me, it was a great way to spend time with my daughter who typically does not interact with the family very much but prefers solitary activities. She liked the personal time so much, she's willing to get up early and join me for other exercise activities as well.

Any other success stories?

Adding Activity

Getting steps in the day is the hardest for me. Successful changes for me have involved:

1. Going to bed early so I can get up earlier. Simply setting the alarm clock earlier just didn't work.
2. Finding some engaging exercise to do for 30 minutes.

It's the latter that is the most challenging. I've done some activities such as walking, elliptical, calisthenics, and others but the problem is, doing the same thing every day is boring.

The Activity Die
So I thought a way to break the monotony would be to roll a die in the morning and do whatever activity came up. Number 6 would be a return to bed (Come on, sixes!). I'm having trouble filling in all the slots for the die. Any suggestions for early morning exercise?

If anyone is interested in the final die, I'd be happy to share it.

Activities

Hey Guys,

If you have any ideas for activities please share them.

Porter Farms

Shawn,

Thanks for the info on Porter Farms and CSA. I think this is a cool way to get our produce, I'm definately thinking about doing it. -Soto

Gmaps Pedometer

Since we all have pedometers I don't know how handy this will be, but I sometimes use this site called Gmaps Pedometer.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

You can create a path on a map and the application will tell you the distance of that route and allow you to save it. I use it so I can figure out how far I've gone on a bike or walking trip. For example, this is one of my favorite quick bike trips:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1034327

And walking around our block:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1717417

Quick tip

I drink a can of low sodium V8 juice everyday to help me reach at least 5 servings per day. I buy a case at Sam's Club (cheap). It's a quick way to get veggies into your diet.

Pleasing Peas

Some information is best laid out in front, in the tradition of our illustrious New York Statesmen. This will be my first and last post on peas. That said, here is the recipe for an amazingly fast supplement to lunch.

Preparation at home
3/4 cup frozen peas in a microwaveable bowl
1 tsp Olive oil drizzled on top

At work
Microwave for 2 minutes
Salt and pepper to taste (I use Adobo seasoning)

Enjoy!

Porter Farm CSA

During the meeting today I mentioned that my wife and I participate in a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and basically means you pay a set fee to "subscribe" to a farm and then each week during the season you get a bag of produce from that farm. (Their are pick-up points throughout the Rochester area.) For more information about CSAs in general see the following websites:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture

The CSA we participate in is through Porter Farms (no relation).

http://www.porterfarms.org/

It is $340 for the ~20-week season (June through Nov). Last year we split ours with some friends and it worked out well. This year we're thinking of going alone as we're trying to increase our fruit/vegetable consumption. My wife is vegetarian so it works out well for us. Among the advantages of CSAs from our perspective is:

• encourages us to eat lots of veggies
• gets us to try new things
• if you would otherwise buy lots of organic veggies, represents a cost savings
• produce is grown locally, so it is fresh and good for the environment
• support local farms

Oh, and every week the bag includes a little newsletter about the happenings on the farm and a recipe for something health to make with the contents of that week's bag.

Update:
I found an additional Rochester-area CSA, Genesee Valley Organic Community Supported Agriculture.

http://www.gvocsa.org/

First Post-Inagural Post

I must say that I think this is quite an innovative idea. Wish we would have done it last year.

I thought I would share some of my favorite recipe sites.

Food Network
Wegmans
All Recipes

Enjoy!

Inagural Post

Welcome to the Team BLAHH blog. We are here to rock the GRIPA eat well live well challenge. I've invited a few of my fellow BLAHHers to post on this blog. If anybody else wants to post stuff, just send me an email and I'll hook you up.

Oh, and check out this awesome picture I took of Brian eating salad for lunch.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnporter/2347247193/