Month: March 2013
29Mar

Here is a homemade “Sports Drink”, this is an excellent option instead of sugary and artificial drinks:

1 Quart Spring Water

Juice of 2 Lemons

1/3 cup Raw Honey

1/2 TSP Sea Salt

Lemon Sports Drink

 

This homemade sports drink will provide you with water to hydrate yourself,  with lemon juice that will give you vitamin C, with honey that will give you sugar for power and endurance, and with salt that will help regulate fluid balance and will promote proper muscle function. 

(Taken from Advanced Nutrition for Triathletes by Dr. Josh Axe)

11Mar

In every training plan there is at least one rest day, it is very important to take one day off of training.  According to Ed Eyestone (from Runner’s World), rest lets your body adapt to the work and improve. A day off every seven to 14 days prevents overuse injuries, restores glycogen stores, prevents mental burnout.

Rest days are the second most important part of marathon training; according to Dr. Scaff “the whole purpose of training is to break the body down so that it will rebuild itself stronger than before.  It’s when you fail to allow time for the rebuilding phase that problems occur”. For novices, it is recommended two nonconsecutive days a week of complete rest – days when you don’t work out at all!

For intermediate and advanced runners may do some jogging or stretching on one or both rest days; but even elite athletes must take rest days.   If you need an additional rest day, take it.

Strength training is also very important, to keep our body strong and injury free.  Fit two days of strength training in your program, just leave a day of ‘no strength training’ between them and make sure you still keep at least 1­or 2 days of ‘total rest’ per week.

Rest Day

 

Partially taken from “How to gain more by running less”, “Complete book of running”, “Beginner Triathlete”

5Mar

Honey has a lot of benefits!  It is highly recommended for athletes because our body rapidly absorbs all of its nutrients.   Honey could be used instead of “sugary gels, or sugary sport drinks”, since it offers very similar amounts of carbohydrates, without the artificial flavors and preservatives that are used on energy drinks and gels; therefore, honey is one of the best running fuels out there.

After an study done by University of Memphis, in the USA, it was proven that honey increases power and endurance to athletes; they did a test with cyclists, and those cyclists that consumed pure honey provided about 6% more pedaling power compared to cyclists who took placebo instead.  “We were pleasantly surprised to find that honey, which is a cocktail of natural sugars can do so well when it comes to providing power and endurance to athletes”, said Richard Kleider, who led the study in University of Memphis.

Honey - Fuel for Runners

Some of the benefits of honey are antiseptic, invigorating, soothing, laxative, diuretic and germicide, among other therapeutic applications.

100% pure honey contains vitamins B6 and C, niacin, riboflavin and minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, carbohydrates, and enzymes.  It is also an excellent natural energizer (improves mental and physical decay), and at the same time it is an optimal ingredient to sweeten foods instead of sugar.

I sweeten my oatmeal every morning with one tablespoon of honey 40 to 60 minutes before my workout.  You can also have a mashed banana with a tablespoon of honey 30 to 60 minutes before your run. Give it a try!