Training For Life

Stephanie this post is for you.  Here is a good program that is obtainable for you.  The link is a good source as well.  Let me know if you have any questions and please feel free to leave comments below.  happy training.

If you are a runner with a goal to run your first marathon or run a PR marathon then you no doubt been exposed to your share of marathon training program advice.  If your years of training and researching about how to train for and run a marathon or how to improve your marathon PR have resulted in frustration, self-doubt, and confusion, then read on.  The next few minutes will provide you with what you’ve been looking for, especially if you’re looking for a marathon training program for real people with jobs, families and busy lives.

Training for a marathon does take a lot of time, commitment, and determination. The most typical marathon training program out there usually involves at least six days per week of training. This type of program takes up a lot of time and makes it difficult to balance with your work life, family, social time, etc.   However, that many days per week or running is not necessary and only leads to burnout and injury.  The good news is this:

Four quality runs per week over a fourteen to sixteen week period is an appropriate and efficient program that will get you successfully to the finish line.

The Golden Rule of Surviving Marathon Training: Less is More.

Training and running more will not lead to better results.  If anything, it will lead to a break down of the muscles and the mind.  Simply stated, this is too much running and the exact reason why runners who run so many days/miles per week  in a heavy marathon training program experience common injuries such as shin splints, IT Band syndrome, tendinitis, knee pain, etc.

To get better and be better, rest days are just as important as running day, and a 4 day training week is an ideal way to achieve perfect marathon training program balance.

What Does a 4 Day Training Week for Marathon Look Like?

A marathon training program that can produce fantastic results for busy runners includes four days per week of quality running.  Each run has a different focus and varies with pace, distance, and effort level.  A combination of these run workouts is an excellent balance of challenging the body to prepare for running a 26.2 mile event.  Furthermore, the built in rest days allow muscle recovery and injury prevention.

An example of the 4 day training week:

-Mon: Active Recovery

-Tues: Speed workout (i.e. 3-4x 1-mile repeats at tempo with 2:1 work:rest ratio)

-Wed: Easy Run (i.e. 5-10 miles aerobic)

-Thurs: Active Recovery

-Fri: Intervals or Hill workout (5-10x steep 1-2 minute hill repeats with walk or jog down)

-Sat: Active Recovery

-Sun: Long Run (10 – 20miles that include race pace intervals and fast finishes)

Your longest long run should be 20 miles and you would do a training build-up to this distance over the course of sixteen weeks.  Three weeks before the marathon race will be a taper, during which you gradually reduce mileage.

Each active recovery day can include core, yoga and other recovery protocols.

In addition, you should also include strength training exercises in a 4 day per week plan.  Running a marathon exacts a great toll on a runner’s body.  Strengthening the core and legs will help you better deal with the mileage you will run over the next several months.  You don’t need expensive equipment or a gym membership to build a stronger body.  Body weight exercises are all you need.

In fact, most elite runners do a majority of their strength training in this manner.  When you started doing strength based body weight exercises, you won’t believe how much stronger you’ll and how much your running will improve.  You can simply do a six exercise set, twice a week, and would be amazed by the results of adding this into your marathon training program.  It’s simple, but it works.

Summary: Why Should You Use a 4 Day Program?

A 4 day per week running schedule is optimal for a majority of “I-Have-A-Real-Life-Thank-You-Very-Much” runners.  You can get all the mileage you need as a beginning to mid-level runner in 4 days.  Adding more days, or more mileage will help you improve, but also introduces a higher likelihood of injury.

Marathon training will be challenging, but should be fun and enjoyable. Following a marathon training program that does not overdo it on the running should help make the experience a pleasant one.  Remember, you can successfully train for and finish a marathon.  Believe in yourself and believe in the training program.  Once you begin to believe, then you will realize your goal. Finishing a marathon is an accomplishment that less than 1% of people in the world can say they have achieved. You are about to be one of them!

http://www.marathondominator.com

Will Drinking Lots of Water Help Me Lose Weight?

I’ve tried different things to help me shed those extra pounds. We’ve all heard about the many supposed benefits of drinking eight glasses of water each day, but can water help me meet my weight loss goals?

ANSWER!!!!

YES. Drink water cold and it comes out in urine warm.  It takes energy to warm it and this burns calories. Water will also act as an appetite suppressant and help you to stop overeating.

There are many reasons to drink water.  Along with the two posted above;

The body is smart.  It knows that it is made up of 60-70% water.  If you do not take it in,  it is going to hold on to it.  So when you start to take a lot in, it will let go of  a lot of water that is not neccessary.  Thus less water bloat.

Drinking water helps the lymph system (the liquid garbage can collection system of your body)  release toxins and junk that contribute to cellulite (the dimpling on the skin).

Just some of the many reasons to drink more water daily.  Do you have a fitness question? Please feel free to submit your comments or questions.  Happy Training!

Grass-fed beef contains more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has been shown to reduce abdominal fat while building lean muscle. It also has more omega-3s and less omega-6s than corn-fed beef. It’s the same with chickens. According to a recent study in the journal Poultry Science, free-range chickens have significantly more omega-3s than grain-fed chickens do, and less harmful fat and fewer calories than grain-fed varieties. This is important because omega-3s improve your mood, boost your metabolism, sharpen your brain, and help you lose weight.

Just because a food has plenty of fat and calories doesn’t mean it’s fattening. See, certain foods cause you to gain weight because they provoke hormonal changes that trigger cravings, or “rebound hunger.” One hunger-control hormone, leptin, becomes blunted by starchy, sweet, fatty, and refined-carbohydrate foods. That’s why a bagel is fattening: It’s a high-calorie load of refined carbohydrates that double-crosses your natural satisfaction response. Avocados, on the other hand, aren’t fattening, because they’re loaded with healthy fat and fiber and don’t cause wild swings in insulin levels. So enjoy the fat in avocados, olive oil, and nuts. Research shows that diets containing upward of 50 percent fat are just as effective for weight loss as those that are low in fat.

A great fella named Kevin Koskella is known as the official “Tri Swim Coach” . Those of you who know me know that I am doing my first Triathlon. I came across this guy and like his teaching style. He has a couple free videos. He just released the second free video in his “Tri Swim Secrets” series. Click here to check it out. These are actually really good free videos from Kevin for anybody interested in learning to swim or wanting to swim faster.

Yes, he does make you give you name and e-mail address to see the video. But it’s worth it.

OK, so here’s Kevin’s seven tips for surviving the start of a triathlon:

The start of a triathlon can be nerve-wracking, tiring, intimidating, frustrating, and even discouraging (why do we do this sport?). But don’t let all this get to you! The start for everyone is a crazy cluster of splashing, starts and stops, physical contact, and swimmers trying to separate from each other. Here are some tips to deal with what some consider being the toughest part of any triathlon:

1. Expect the worst. Go into the event expecting that the start will not be easy. Know that you will bump into people, others will bump into you, but 99% of the time it is all by accident. Also know that the chaos at the beginning will not last for the entire swim, it will break up quickly as different speed swimmers separate.

2. Prepare. Learn the course before the gun goes off. There’s nothing worse than having to wonder which way to turn around the upcoming buoy.

3. Don’t panic. Keep your breathing from getting short. Stay as relaxed as you can while everyone else tries to get pole position. Don’t let others being frantic affect your state of mind, and realize that 99% of the other swimmers are just trying to find some open water and are not out to hurt you!

4. Stay to the outside. Many will try to stay to the inside, as close to in line with the first buoy as they can get. Don’t follow the pack. Start outside and work your way in as you approach buoy #1. You many not get perfectly clean water, but you will save yourself from much of the madness.

5. Run until the water level is at your knees. This will maximize your time on land without being slowed by running through water.

6. Use shorter strokes to get through the chop. If you are swimming in the ocean and it is a choppy day, this technique helps tremendously. Once you get to some smoother water, go back to long strokes to maximize efficiency and conserve energy.

7. Practice. Swim in the open water often when you are preparing for a race that has an open water start. The more experience you can develop getting used to the conditions and variables in open water vs. pool swimming, the better off you will be mentally on race day.

These 7 tips should help you to at least tolerate, if not enjoy, the beginning of a triathlon!

As you can see, Kevin has some good, practical swimming information. As always please feel free to leave comments and feedback. I know that some of you that read these blogs have done and plan to do Triathlons. Let me know what you think.

1.) Work out intensely/ safely with weights (add stretching)
2.) Do cardio (preferably Interval Style) first thing in the a.m.
3.) Eat small meals with protein and carbs every 3 hours (cycle starchy carbs)
4.) Realize the Power of your mind and how your attitude can change everything

The first 3 on the list above are common sense (or at least they should be), the last one is not so much common sense. I can hear a lot of you now; “Yeah, yeah, I have heard all of this positive thinking stuff before.”

I do agree, it does not seem logical that our mind and our attitude would influence our waistline. On the surface, it seems pretty straight forward;

Work out harder, eat less, and lose the fat and waist line. But I hope to inspire you to slow down and consider for a moment how you can work out less and make more gains with the proper mindset.

1.) Anything you believe deep down in your gut with an absolute certainty will come true for you.
100% of the time.

2.) The placebo affect is very real and very strong. If you believe it, you can conceive it.

3.) Seeing and feeling what you want, in the “Theatre of Your Mind”, like you already have
have accomplished it produces physical results.

4.) Slowing down, doing deep breathing, and thinking of nothing opens up your mind for new
ideas, positiveness, and a whole world of “prosperity”.

5.) Being positive and consistently seeing the “Glass as 1/2 full” is something that you can learn.
And you must never “hold on to” negative thoughts or words.

6.) The body has an unbelievable ability to “regenerate” healthy cells when we;

Put good nutrients in our mouth

Put good thoughts in our head

Hang around people we want to be like

Exercise

Goal Set and get leverage by setting a deadline with consequences

When you start to become more positive and excited about your future, your body chemistry changes. You have 1,000’s of different things firing off in your body that promote health, fitness, happiness, and prosperity.

So I beg you to stay open minded about the power of your mind.

When you change your mind, and your nutrition, and your exercise, and your goals; you can have a totally new body, lifestyle, and life.

As always please feel free to leave comments or send me your questions.

As this article points out, this is not for everyone.  The basic principle of interval training described here can be modified and applied  to most people.  This should give you some great insight and help you challenge yourself  a little more.  As always please feel free to submit training questions and post any comments below.  Happy Training.

What is Tabata? The Tabata protocol is an interval training method originating from a study performed by Dr. Izumi Tabata and his associates, in 1996 at Tokyo, Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sport. Tabata intervals are an incredibly demanding and incredibly effective way to raise anaerobic fitness levels and to increase VO2max. Like all intervals, Tabata intervals are also an outstanding tool for fat loss. 

After performing Tabata intervals for a period of six straight weeks, the athletes participating in the study demonstrated a 28% increase in anaerobic fitness and showed a 14% increase in VO2max. The method also proved highly effective for fat loss, creating a powerful metabolic after-burn.

Now remember: Dr. Tabata and his colleagues performed this study on trained endurance athletes who were already in superb physical condition. And you can hear plenty of stories of puking, passing out, and other great stuff from long-time, serious exercisers who dared to attempt the Tabata protocol. A lot of people will try it once, be amazed by the superior burn—and then talk about it a lot but never try it again.  

Subsequent tests performed on de-conditioned participants failed to replicate the results of the initial experiment performed by Dr. Tabata. This is presumably because you need to already be in great shape in order to achieve the level of intensity needed to make Tabata’s intervals effective. So if you are new to working out, this is not where you want to start.

Tabata intervals are an ideal training method for athletes such as boxers, wrestlers, or mixed martial artists who need to be able to perform at an absolute maximum effort for brief but punishing periods of time.

If you still want to try it, it’s pretty simple in its design. Here’s how to do it. One Tabata interval goes like this: You simply do twenty seconds of any cardiovascular exercise at the absolute maximum effort of which you are capable. Then you rest for only ten seconds. Then you twenty seconds of max effort again, and then you rest for another ten seconds. You go on to repeat this entire cycle eight times. So a total interval adds up to four minutes. But generally athletes will perform more than one Tabata interval in workout routine—for example they’ll do four separate intervals. That’s still just sixteen minutes, though, for one highly effective workout.

In his study, Dr. Tabata had his participants perform their intervals using a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. But you can successfully utilize this method with just about any form of cardiovascular exercise or with calisthenics.         

What makes Tabata so effective? Your body has two different fueling systems. They are the aerobic and the anaerobic systems. The aerobic system uses oxygen to burn fuel, and that’s the system you use for lower intensity exercise. When you work out at higher levels of intensity, your muscles need a lot more oxygen. At some point, if you are exercising hard enough, there is just not going to be enough oxygen in your system to keep up with the demands of your muscles. This is where the anaerobic system kicks in. It’s hard to get to this point, but you will definitely get there if you do Tabata intervals correctly. That is why you can get such an intense and effectual workout in so little time.

This is a long post but one I feel is worth reading. I have posted a link to the article as well. It will give those of you struggling with food decisions or craving some insight. I hope this is helpful. As always please feel free to post comments and ask any questions that come to mind.

Cravings start in your brain.

Chemicals are released when you eat food, any food, good tasting or not. These chemicals and areas of the brain are the same as those involved in drug response and addiction. The chemicals are likely the same because we evolved to encourage healthy behaviors such as eating and reproduction. Unfortunately, drugs that are abused can take over the use of these chemicals, meaning less effort goes toward healthier goals.

Why Food Is Like A Drug

Continuing with the comparison to drugs, let’s look at how food can act like a drug to the brain. A drug addict did not become one overnight, they tried a drug, which caused a release of chemicals in the brain, making the person feel good and want to continue that feeling. To continue the feeling, they learn they need the particular drug to satisfy their craving, just like how someone might crave ice cream when they watch a movie or a hotdog when at a baseball game. This is due to the same chain of events of relating certain behaviors with feelings can occur with food.

It would seem that only good tasting foods would cause this chemical release. This is wrong. The Food Addiction in Humans study, by Marcia Levin Pelchat, that we pulled our information from, demonstrates how people can come to craving bland and not good tasting food—even when the food provides them with all the Calories, nutrients, and fullness they need.

Even when people took a drug that was created to make food not be as pleasing, there was no association with weight loss. In this way, our country’s obesity problem is not due to overabundance of good tasting food; rather, it appears to be the way that the foods are consumed and why they are being consumed.

How Cravings Can Happen To You

The way foods are consumed can lead to an addictive eating pattern that causes cravings—not the tastiness of the food. This situation is just like a drug addict who no longer becomes chemically dependent by going through rehab. The individual no longer has chemical withdrawals that create cravings; instead, their old environments that were associated with drug use create the cravings. Just as withdrawal is not needed to have cravings with drug use, nutritional deprivation is not needed to have food cravings.

Your environment can be a strong cause of food cravings. The sight or smell of food or even food imagery may serve as triggers. Repeatedly eating a craved food when hungry can cause cravings and eventually release less of the brain chemicals that the food used to before eating the food regularly. This means you are not necessarily as pleased by what you eat as you once were; rather, you crave a particular food to fulfill the association and perceived need that the specific food stops. The chemical reward of eating the food is still released, but the chemical does not stop further cravings for good tasting foods in animals or humans.

In addition to less of the pleasure chemical being released, the chemical’s effectiveness decreases as Body Mass Index (BMI)* increases, leading to even less pleasure while eating the food. Therefore, being overweight and obese can lead to less pleasure while eating foods that are craved.

This information demonstrates how the chemical release may play a more important role in wanting the food rather than liking the food while it’s eaten. It is as if someone can smell and taste what has to be eaten to satisfy the craving, whether it is for good tasting or bad tasting food.

Consider this quote from the article:

“There are many parallels between feeding behavior and drug addiction. Treatments for drug abuse focus on craving, impulsivity, and learning and are not generally focused on withdrawal or other physiological measures of addiction. In contrast, many, if not most studies of obesity focus on minimizing hunger. But not all diet failures are due to hunger; some of them are probably due to non-homeostatic eating or impulsive eating. Given the many parallels between food and drug cravings, it would make sense to use lessons from drug addiction to aid in the fight against obesity.”

The approach of drug addiction with food seems to be promising in having a positive impact on people’s health. This approach seems to be why there was “success at turning craving on and off in 30-s bins was probably due to the fact that subjects were given a task that was incompatible with craving (imagining the monotonous diet) rather than simply being asked to stop craving.”

*BMI – describes the body weight relative to height, it correlates strongly (in adults) with the total body fat content. Defined as a person’s weight in kilograms (kg) divided by their height in meters (m) squared.

What John Recommends If You Have Food Cravings

1. Variety - Do not get in rut of eating the same things over and over, and try not to have patterns where you expose yourself to a lot of food availability, then a little, then a lot, then a little, etc. This is of particular concern in college students who typically do not have a lot of food availability when living on their own, but they will visit home where there is a lot of food available.
2. Don’t skip meals – Preferably eat 3 meals with snacks included.  Don’t go longer than 5 hours between meals. Prolonged bouts of not eating results in low blood sugar and we compensate by overeating later.
3. Don’t skip breakfast – Again, giving your body a stable supply of blood sugar first in the morning will attenuate hunger and reduce chance of overeating later in the day.  Studies show that people who eat breakfast generally weigh less than those who skip it.
4. Eat protein, carbs, and fat at each meal or snack – Combining macronutrients will provide a steady supply of blood sugar and keep you fuller longer.  (e.g. instead of eating an apple as a snack, eat it with peanut butter or a slice of low fat cheese)
5. Drink water – Our body often confuses hunger with dehydration.  Drink a glass with meals or in between meals and re-evaluate how hungry you think you are.
6. Eat a small amount of the food you are craving – By trying to cut out a particularly craved food “cold turkey,” it can increase the desire to consume it and lead to over-indulging on it later.  Try having a little bit of the craved food periodically and surround it with other healthy snacks such as fruit and vegetables.
7. Tap your forehead – Some tips for getting through the craving are to tap your forehead. This may sound crazy but there is actually science behind this theory. When a craving comes on, place the five fingers of your hand on your forehead. Space them slightly apart and begin tapping each finger at intervals of a second. While you are doing this look upward and watch it. Before you know it, your craving will have disappeared.
8. Sniff Mint – A study conducted at a university had subjects sniff peppermint throughout the day and those who did ate 2800 fewer calories per week than those who didn’t.  The scent was hypothesized to disrupt the craving

Here is the link to the study: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/139/3/620