You are here: Home / Archives for Blog

…For the love of it

September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

DSC_0154I recently had a few clients voice that they always want to love running. That the minute running is something they start to resent, or even hate, it’s time to pump the brakes on their training. It’s often during this time in marathon training – about 10-8 weeks away from race day – where mentally it’s easy to start to burn out and lose focus. Let’s face it, pounding the pavement day after day for months can cause the most passionate running enthusiast craving a break.

My advice for my clients: try to find the fun in your training. Sometimes there are days where you just are not feeling it. When that happens, elect to ditch a day of “junk miles” here or there. The big mistake is ditching out on those long runs or tempo runs. Unless your livelihood depends on winning races, remember that you run because you WANT TO. Because you LOVE IT. If you suddenly don’t want to or don’t love it, maybe you need a break. BUT, if you are 8-10 weeks out from a goal race, try to take a step back and to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. Tapering is in the near future, so focus on a week at a time, and your goal for race day.

After your race, take some time off. This is necessary for your body to heal, but it’s also necessary for your mind. The amount of focus, energy, and mental grit to push through a marathon is extremely taxing. Be kind to yourself.

If you don’t feel like getting back to running, find something else you love to do. Or only run and race 5Ks for a few months. Or add cross training.

It’s completely normal at some point to hit that point where you want to bail on a run or two, or to cancel race plans. Do what is right for you. Remember, you are human. No one is going to judge you, or be disappointed in you. Doing what’s best for your happiness is always what’s most important. If that means going for a run, do with with a smile on your face and a spring to your step.

Filed Under: Blog, Training Tagged With: , , ,

Chafing Challenges

September 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment

corky8

As marathon season is upon us, it’s the perfect time to discuss strategies to make those long runs and race day challenge as comfortable as possible. So, let’s talk about those unpleasant, sometimes unavoidable, casualties of running and racing long.

Let’s get nasty:

Blisters can plague you on marathon day, or on those long runs. There is often an easy fix for these painful buggers: running socks. Toss those cotton socks away. If you are still suffering from blisters after making the switch, keep an eye on your shoes. Are they old? Are they the right size?

Chafing. It can happen to anyone, and often occurs due to clothes rubbing against skin, or skin against skin. You wardrobe choice, body type, running form, sweat rate – there are many different factors. Personally, I chronically battle chafing on my sternum, from my sports bra band. I’ve also had it on my arms, from arm sleeves. Bodyglide can help ward off those painful patches of chafing, but in my experience it isn’t always full-proof. Step into the shower, and you’ll often find yourself shrieking!

Bloody nipples plague some male runners. Ladies, luckily this doesn’t happen to most of us! Bloody nipples are caused by the rubbing of your running shirt (more or less like chafing), leaving the nips extremely painful, and often bleeding. Bodyglide can help. Some guys will actually place band aids over their nips pre-race. As I understand it, the pain and recovery time is similar to chafing.

Have you encountered any other kinds of nasty running-related problems? Have you found a solution? Please share with the class!

Filed Under: Blog, Racing, Training Tagged With: , ,

Fat Facts

September 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

img_6105-editLet’s face it, everyone wants to have abs. Just check out people at the gym, and the ab machines are constantly in use. I am also going to bet that most of the folks on the ab machines, or on the floor hammering out crunches will give up sooner or later, no closer to that six-pack than when they started.

Here’s the thing: you will never see that six-pack unless you reduce your overall body fat percentage. Everyone has core muscles. Some are obviously stronger or larger than others. But as long as your body fat level is too high, you won’t see them. Just to be clear: in order to see your abs seriously pop, your body fat has to be very LOW. So saying that your body fat is too high to see abs doesn’t mean you are fat. It just means your body fat level is too high to see your core.

So, while strengthening your core is beneficial for lots of reasons, you will have to drop some fat to see those abs. If you are already in great shape, shedding those few extra pounds can be a struggle – especially for women. Ladies, we simply have bodies programmed to hang on to fat, so we have got to be strong and extremely motivated to shave that fat percent down.

The cool thing: the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. So those ab workouts are indeed beneficial. Just be patient and stick with it. Cutting calories a bit can help too. Just remember to cut those empty calories, not nutrient-dense foods your body needs while training.

Filed Under: Blog, Fitness Tagged With: , , , ,

Cruise Control

September 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

IMG_2916I recently left dry land, my cell phone, email, and normal life in NYC for eight beautiful days sailing and exploring the Western Caribbean. I documented my trip, and will post the video blog in a few weeks. That blog will give some tips of staying active and on track with a training plan, and unfortunately how difficult that was. More on that later.

Folks, I think we can all agree that America is, in general, an overweight culture. If you don’t agree, go on a cruise. Seriously. The health risks so many of the passengers are putting on themselves due to what they put in their mouths – it’s so sad.

I am not saying that everyone should be thin, or feel pressured to look a certain way. The stigma if what is “attractive” causes so much emotional damage, and is never positive even as weight loss motivation. Frankly, looks have little to do with it. I am not talking about people carrying around an extra 10-20lbs., but those carrying around an extra 100-200lbs. You cannot hide the evidence of your lifestyle while walking around in swim wear.

Perhaps I was so baffled by the reality of just how out of control the obesity issue is because in NYC, though there are certainly obese people, the number of obese or morbidly obese was nothing like it was on the ship.

I am not judging those who are obese, morbidly obese, or even over weight. However, as someone who is passionate about health (physical and mental), and reversing this obesity epidemic, my heart breaks to see folks slowly kill themselves. If anything, the cruise reaffirmed how strongly I feel about the need to reverse the course Americans are taking, and how I want to be a leader in that movement.

The first step is recognizing and acknowledging that we need to change. How we manufacture, market, understand and prepare food needs to be questioned and examined. Education regarding nutrition and exercise are practically non-existent, and many medications (which are dished out left and right!) have many side effects that can contribute to depression, change in mood, and difficulty losing weight. How we view happiness, self worth, confidence – so many of us turn to food for these things. I’m part of the class, folks. Don’t believe me? Check out the recent blog entry “Comfort Food” where I share my own personal struggle with food, body image and self worth. We are all in this together.

I guess what I am taking back from the cruise is this: America is fat. Liking “going to slowly kill ourselves while stressing the health care system” fat. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. Not at the fat people, but at the manufacturers, advertisers, and media. It makes me want to help.

If YOU need help, it’s out there. Yes, it takes some major work to admit you need help, ask for help, and follow through with the plan. It’s much easier to ignore it. But I PROMISE you, if you can extend your life by a few decades, and more importantly the QUALITY of your life, isn’t it worth a little work?

Filed Under: Blog, Fitness, Nutrition Tagged With: , , ,

Race Pace Predictor

August 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes it’s hard to predict what a new race goal should be, what is possible, what is “possibly” possible, and what is possible if a miracle occurs.

If you are thinking about a new race goal, and trying to crunch the numbers or predict how one race time can predict race potential at a different distance, I recommend checking out some of the links in this blog:

Pace Calculator

McMillan Race Predictor 

Jack Daniels Race Predictor

Remember, there are lots of factors that should be considered when setting a race goal: course, time of year, current fitness, training time, and more.

Filed Under: Blog, Training Tagged With: , ,