MyFitnessPal versus Cronometer

Cronometer and MyFitnessPal are apps for tracking food consumption and exercise.  Both require you to honestly enter the foods you eat to be of any use.
At any rate, I've been using MyFitnessPal since around 2011.  As crazy as it seems, I've logged probably 70 to 80% of the meals I've had since I began using the app.  As a tool for general weight loss, MyFitnessPal has been an adequate and occasionally interesting tool since it brands itself as a sort of Facebook meets food diary app.  Unlike Facebook activities, eating habits aren't likely to be offered as readily for public consumption, and that's where MyFitnessPal probably goes wrong.  For example, of the half dozen or so people I've friended on MyFitnessPal, none regularly update their profiles... I'm sure there are plenty of people who participate more faithfully than the people I know... but still.
Cronometer isn't interested in the social aspect of weight loss.  Rather Cronometer is essentially a site that let's you track your nutrient and caloric intake to a fairly myopic level.  You can, if you like, monitor your intake of every single different amino acid.  That's pretty nice.

So let's go through this category by category:

Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal 

Social Component
Winner: MyFitnessPal

• You can track your friends' weight loss progress while posting your own.  
• Might be interesting to see more emphasis on self promoting good health, as opposed just weight loss.  

Appearance
Winner: MyFitnessPal

• It's really not close. 

Quality of Food Database 
Winner: Cronometer

• What Cronometer lacks in elegance and aesthetic is more than made up for in utility.  Granted the $2.99 app isn't terribly useful [at least, as compared to the free app from MyFitnessPal], but it is okay on the run.  Both websites, though, are free to use.
• What I'm concerned with when I'm logging the food I eat are things like poly and mono unsaturated fats [including omegas].  Even supposedly "verified" foods in the MyFitnessPal database often lack that basic level of information; in some cases the listed foods are egregiously incorrect.    As it is now, MyFitnessPal does not even provide fields for vitamins like B6 and B12, nor does it break down protein into its constituent amino acids. This may be a fairly flimsy complaint to make, given that most people really don't care to the degree that fitness fanatics do.
• I find that I have to add certain foods myself using Cronometer.  I'm referring to certain processed foods that haven't even made it into their database just yet. More general items, like a Jamaican meat patty cannot even be added through a general search using Cronometer.  This is not a problem with MyFitnessPal.
• The food database for MyFitnessPal is, it seems, user generated, which is both good and bad. It's good because it allows us to have a wikipedia type of food database... but it's bad because the amount of oversight is zero, and that error rate appears to be fairly significant.  This is something to consider if you have more than a passing interest in logging your meals in a diary. 

As you can see in the images below, Cronometer is pretty in depth.

Overall winner: Cronometer
MyFitnessPal would win hands down if it provided the sort of detail that Cronometer does.  Given that UnderArmour has purchased MyFitnessPal I'm expecting a great deal of improvement.  But for now Cronometer provides such a breadth of detail that I prefer it.

Smoke...

Lots of smoke thanks to some fires. #yxe #Saskatoon

A photo posted by John (@misterspalding) on Jun 29, 2015 at 10:06am PDT

Now that the air quality has improved here in Saskatoon it's actually not too difficult to get out for a nice run. For a time, residents in Saskatchewan were advised to stay inside... if you look at the photo above, you'll see why.
I was just at the library to pick up a copy of John L. Parker's Once a Runner and saw one heck of a line of folks from La Ronge queuing up to obtain library cards.

Today's run was 5.8 kilometres here in Forest Grove.  The goal for this month is to run at least 75k and ready myself for an August race.

I'll leave you with this:

Oh this is exciting. #xbox

A photo posted by John (@misterspalding) on Jul 6, 2015 at 11:46am PDT

Three Excellent Sources of Potassium for Runners

Runners have a terrific need for sodium, potassium, calcium in addition to glycogen.  To get potassium, we tend to look to bananas, but there are plenty of other sources of potassium.

Here are three that I really like:

1. Kale

A cup of chopped kale will give you 329 milligrams of potassium with negligible calorie expense, and a little protein bonus . Think smoothie.

2. Avocados [Post Run or Meal/Snack Time]

100 grams is roughly what an avocado weighs, but you can verify with your own food scale.  At 485 milligrams of potassium, you really would be hard pressed to beat the value here.  I tend to eat two of these at a time, along with some seasoning [yes, that means Old El Paso Guacamole mix] which brings the calorie count to 420, making it a significant caloric investment.  On the other hand, you gain over 900 milligrams, 4 grams of protein, 3.6 grams of polyunsaturated fat and 20 grams of monounsaturated fat.  

3. Dried Apricot

Okay, take another look at that...  1850 milligrams of potassium for every 100 grams consumed! What's even more interesting is that the only fat contained therein is poly and monounsaturated.  On the downside, this is pretty carb heavy stuff.  So I wouldn't necessarily recommend this on non running days.


Happy Canada Day!

Six ways to make your run more exciting?

1. Lose the music

As much as I love running in Saskatoon, yesterday I did something I probably haven't done since 2002, I ran without any music or phone. The only thing I thought about as I ran was maintaining my pace and finishing the circle without slowing down and without walking.  I've found that I really tend to zone out on my runs, even the short ones where attention needs to be paid.  So on yesterday's run, I focused on pushing myself, and as a result, probably had my best short run in some time.

2. Forget your phone

If you're an experienced runner, you already know the running distance between your house and the nearest Sobeys, school and so forth.  For shorter runs [i.e. less than one hour], running sans phone is a nice way to run free and unfettered.  To be sure, it was certainly nice to take off running without fumbling for my phone to start Runtastic, and then securing said phone into my pocket.  It's nice to not feel the phone clanging against my body as I run.

3.  Run the opposite way

As revolutionary as this idea isn't, I ran a simple 3.8k circle in Forest Grove at a relatively fast clip [perhaps a bit faster than a 10k pace] in 30 degree [Celcius] weather.   Here's the thing, because I was running in the opposite direction that I normally run, I wasn't able to fully anticipate distance markers, slight inclines and declines as I normally would.  I think I've become bored of the same twists and turns, anyway.  So this made my run a bit more exciting than usual.
Assuming you'd prefer not to drive to a new place just to do a brief run, run the opposite way!

4.  Do speed work

Interval work is a lot more intense, but in my opinion can be done on any running surface including pavement.  You can tailor your session to meet your needs.  So if you've never run intervals, you can start now!

5. Run somewhere new

This is a fairly obvious one, and yet, I think the one least likely to make sense on a short run, or if you're leaving your phone behind .  But, if you do bring your phone and go somewhere new, this is a good way to spice your run up a little.  For myself, I would like to do more running on the dirt road that runs parallel to a nearby street.  Not only is the terrain easy on my legs, but it leads to a path that gradually declines as it winds through a grove of trees down to the riverbank.   The way back up provides a nice hill challenge that neither overwhelms, nor bores.

6. Do a fasted run!

There's some debate about the value of fasted running.  I would never recommend this for a long run, or for speed work, but if you're running a pretty standard 5k run, you don't really need the pre-run calories anyway.   I'm not sure how 'exciting' a fasted run is, but if you're runs are becoming monotonous, then this will at least give you something to think about.

Kale Apple Smoothie Recipe

A photo posted by John (@misterspalding) on Jun 24, 2015 at 6:51pm PDT

Ingredients
1 cup Kale
.5 cup Celery
1 Banana [85 to 130 grams]
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 tbsp Ground Chia Seeds
.5 cup Apple Juice
4 Ice Cubes

Do this:

Using your blender, blend the ice cubes first.  Then place each item into your blender and blend on a high setting.  I generally never blend more than 60 seconds.

I like this particular smoothie because it hits the nutritional bases.  You're getting 2 grams of polyunsaturated fat from the ground chia seeds, plenty of Vitamins A/C/K and plenty of potassium as well.  I use this smoothie as a compliment to my diet, not as a replacement for healthy eating.

Review: McFarland USA

It's California during the 80's and Kevin Costner arrives in decrepit McFarland for the simple reason that no one else will hire him to teach random children to play football. After knocking heads with the guy who played Deke Slayton in Apollo 13, Costner randomly decides to start a track team and make them champions so that another/better school will hire him and he can escape from the hellfire of McFarland USA.  He executes his plan by picking a random group of kids, including a "fat" one--luckily each can run 5k in under 17 minutes without any training. Speaking of training, Costner has his team do hill work by running over epic mounds of plastic-bag covered almonds. After one workout they appear to defeat every other team at a track meet and capture the state championship.
The script is barely passable, though the acting is alright [note: casting the girl from Homeland?!]. There are a few moments in the film but overall I get the feeling that we're supposed to really dislike anyone who competes against the film's protagonists; these 'bad guys' are conveniently smug and, as far as runners go, uncharacteristically arrogant and elitist... making one wonder if the makers of the film had ever met a runner.  Instead of revelling in the triumph of athletic achievement of the McFarland runners, the filmmakers use running as a vehicle to make a point a political point.

Release date: February 20, 2015 (Canada)
Director: Niki Caro
Running time: 2h 9m

Review of PotashCorp Mayor's Marathon Day Event

The official race medal for the Mayor's Marathon Day.

Saskatoon's mayor is a runner.  Saskatoon's mayor has his own marathon.  Backstory here and here.  I am very happy to live in a city with a running mayor.  That said, let's talk about the event.  Firstly, I didn't run the race, because just a three weeks ago I ran the Saskatchewan Marathon, and I wasn't about to follow my first ever marathon with another so quickly.  So I woke up my partner and kids on this lovely Sunday morning to spectate at the race's two finish lines.  That's right, folks, there were two finish lines.  One for the 2, 5 and 10k finishers and one for the half and full marathon finishers. As a result, our car drove a marathon today, but we ... well, Jas, the kids and I walked... mostly.    

After watching a few 5 and 10k finishers cross the finish line, I observed as both of my step kids enjoyed the many family friendly attractions at the finish line.  As it turns out, there was a heck of a lot to do... if you happened to be a kid.  In addition to the bouncy castles, there were fake tattoos, face painting, balloon artist and even bubbles.

If Dharma is not a distance runner one day I will be shocked.

But here's the thing... after a stop at Flying J's to enjoy a honey bun and a vitamin zero water, we arrived at the finish line at Wanuskewin only to find that nearly all the half marathoners had crossed...   

 But then a trio of finishers arrived.

All in all, I think today's event was a huge success.  The kids had fun, runners got a chance to earn a beautiful metal, and I got to wake my family up early on a Sunday morning without any complaints.