One of the most powerful ways to enjoy running is to put your attention on it. While this may be surprising to some, the only path to running that is worth doing is through learning how to put awareness into it.
To that end, I'd like to share a basic body awareness meditation. Over time, I will share many of these, and they connect with articles I have written before on peak performance, including one on using the heart to make running wonderful. So without further ado, here are some instructions to try at home and then explore in running.
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Entering into February, we are now at the time honored point of the year where many of the 50 million or so Americans that entered into a diet as part of their New Year's Resolutions have given up. For whatever reason, it failed and left the individual in a complex, often disappointed but ultimately unique place. As primarily a whole person running coach, you might expect me to say: No! Don't give up! Keep trying to lose that weight!
But that's not what I say. And here's why.
This week I'd like to comment more on life in general rather than just running. I've realized my life flows much better if I admit that there are far more outside influences that impact me than I at least would have thought. There are the obvious- such as the company we keep, the weather, the degree of nature and green around us, and so on- but I'd like to focus on how the seasons turn us all upon their great wheel.
Questions around correct or ideal foot strike is something I get asked about a lot as a coach. Everyone wants to know if there is a correct foot strike. Unfortunately, the answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is there isn't. Moreover, any coach that tells you to change your foot strike without taking the rest of your running style into consideration is someone to run away from, fast!
Why? Because your foot strike is actually very likely a symptom of your running style, not a cause. This means that if you try to change the foot strike, you are changing something that was actually preventing injury or at least reducing the negative impacts of whatever your body is not doing quite right.
Free radicals and antioxidants are terms that gets bandied about in our progressively more health conscious culture, but they are also one of those more misunderstood things. Marketers are always taking advantage of this, touting everything from Vitamin C supplements to the latest "super food" such as acai berries.
So today we are going to take a closer look at the science behind the hype. What are free radicals, exactly? How are they formed? What do we need to do about them in everyday life and if we are working out or even trying to get the dream performance out of our bodies?
We all know water is crucial for any body to function well, but why is it such a big deal? This article takes a look at water and exercise. We take a look at where we keep body within our bodies. Crucial functions of water are briefly explained. Sweating, electrolytes and the dangers of too much water are explored as well. Exciting right? This is where to come if you want to understand a little of the physiology of water in plain language.
Contrary to the popular wisdom that we are 70% water, the actual range is from about 40% to 70% of our body's mass, or about 42 liters. It makes up 65% to 75% of muscle mass and 10% of the fat mass. Because body fat has a low water percentage, those with more fat have a lower overall percentage of their body weight as water.
Today's topic centers around the potential training challenges for women in particular. We'll be taking a detailed look at what's known as the female athlete triad- what it is, how to catch it, and what to do about it.
Premenopausal women can face a triad of syndromes when they are training intensively while emphasizing weight loss. Studies involving female athletes in recent years have found a tendency to engage in disordered eating. These are often connected to menstrual irregularities (such as amenorrhea or cessation of menstrual flow). They are also linked with energy drain and osteoporosis.
The time has come to talk about food and exercise. For today, this means I shall elucidate what exercise physiology has learned about macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and their role in the body for exercising. Macronutrients are characterized by having their ability to provide energy and significant storage in the body in one form or another.
Keep reading to get a deeper look into our body's need for macronutrients in exercise.
Working with my running group today, we were really struck by important it is to accept how we are feeling in the moment. This means both emotionally and physically. Some days are just harder than others, while some are just great, and others start out one way and end another. It can be dangerous to make a judgment on a day's run in the first half based on how things are in that portion, even if that assumption ends up being correct.
When managing a run there are many possibilities- indeed as many as there are in life. The variety of states we will find ourselves in is pretty immense, and its important to remember that the states aren't really that important. How we relate to the state is the key.
Running from the heart is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding activities I know. Imagine, if you will, a run powered by the heart. The most basic level of this, accessible to anyone, is a run characterized by feelings of compassion and love. The advanced heart based runners live in a world where physical effort is powered by mindful focus on the heart- a world in which opening the heart directly results in running with greater ease and often faster paces.
So, how do we do this?
It may not be a sexy topic, but for any runner intent on improvement, injury prevention, or effective training of any kind, training logs are the way to go. One minute or less of jotting down each day's run can help prevent injuries, personalize training programs, track experiments, provide solace in tough times and satisfaction at other times.
So how do you best make use of training logs? |
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