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13Jul

Posted on
in Articles, Rio de Janeiro

Now that the entire world is focused in Brazil due to the FIFA World Cup, and if you are lucky enough to be in Rio for these days, we recommend the following trails as the best places to run in Rio!

If you go to Copacabana, you can start running at any point of Ave Atlantica, you will run through the FIFA Fun Fest, and you will be able to feel the World Cup!  If you go all the way, through Avenida Atlantica, it is approximately 4.8 miles or 7.7Km.

See Trail here

Running in Rio Ave Atlantica

Another great spot to run is Ipanema Beach!  You get to feel all the “Carioca” spirit all along the way!

See trail here

 

2Sep

Posted on
in Articles, Smoothie Bar

Ginger has a lot of health benefits for athletes, it is anti-inflammatory.  Here is a smoothie, that you may want to try:

Healthy Drink

* 1 oz of fresh ginger

* two apples (pealed)

* two carrots (chopped)

* juice of two oranges

 

Put all the ingredients on the blender, and some ice.   you can have this smoothie for breakfast, you will really enjoy it!

Ginger is well known as an anti-inflammatory, ‘in herbal medicine, ginger is regarded as an excellent carminative (a substance that promotes the elimination of intestinal gas) and intestinal spasmolytic (a substance that relaxes and soothes the intestinal tract).”

Ginger also has a immune boosting action, it protects agains colorectal cancer, it also prevents the symptoms of motion sickness.

 

references:

The World’s Healthiest Foods

 

7Aug

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in Articles

Lately I have been training with a TRX Home Suspension Training Kit at my own bedroom. This is very convenient when you cannot make it to the gym and you have to keep up with your strength training.  The TRX Home system is light (it only weights 1.4 pounds) and portable, so it is very easy to pack and go.


 TRX HOME KIT

The TRX Suspension Training System is a fitness tool made from nylon, it has two handles, and it can hold up to 1400 pounds.   You can set it anywhere:  outdoors or indoors.  As part of the kit you get a “TRX door anchor”, so you can easily train at home on any sturdy door; or if you go outside, you have a “TRX suspension anchor” so you can set up your straps anywhere – even on a tree!

There are many advantages of training with a TRX; like:  you get a “total body workout”, for example, when working your arms & shoulders, you are also working out your core, since you have to use your abdominals to maintain the form; as opposite to a regular ‘biceps’ workout where you are only working your arms.    The TRX suspension system allows you to work your arms, legs, core, legs, hips, chest, back, shoulders, and total body using your own body weight.   The TRX suspension training system builds lean muscle and burns fat, it strengthens your chest and arms, it helps increase flexibility and endurance, it helps develop and maintain a rock-solid core.  (Taken from trxtraining.com).

When you buy one for your own use, you can go online  (TRX training mylocker) and download different videos with exercises:  core exercises, arms & shoulders, legs & hips, chest & back, stretch, total body, and more like 8 weeks TRX challenges, etc.

Check out this video “introducing TRX Home”: [HTML1]

If training your core is important to you, give TRX a try and you will start seeing differences in your body!

my gym TRX SYSTEM

 

19Jul

Posted on
in Articles, Smoothie Bar

Start your day with a healthy green smoothie!   Drink your green smoothie first thing in the morning before eating anything else, this way, your body will better absorb all its nutrients.

Here is one that we recommend:  Kale & more Smoothie

Ingredients: 

1 cup of dinosaur kale

1 banana

3 oranges

1 cup of strawberries

Some ice

Peel the banana and the oranges, put all the ingredients on a blender; blend it for about 90 seconds, and enjoy!

“Did you know that a single-cup serving of kale has almost as much vitamin C as an orange and as much calcium as a cup of milk? Kale contains fiber and antioxidants, and is one of the best sources of vitamin A, which promotes eye and skin health and helps strengthen your immune system”.

Green Smoothie

24Jun

Posted on
in Articles

One of the best things about running is that you only needed a pair of shoes to hit the road and exercise. However, nowadays there are several popular gadgets that help you track your training and progress, provide valuable data such as heart rate, pace, distance, etc. and entertain you while you are running (almost indispensable for those long run training marathon sessions).

We are fans of using gadgets, it is certainly helpful to monitor your performance, and with it train more efficiently.

As with any device, there might be that time when you needed it the most and the gadget for some unknown reason crashes on you.  Since we began with Where do I run, 6 months ago, our staff has participated in several races from 5Ks to triathlons to marathons. In this relatively short time, 2 of our staff members have faced the unfortunate experience of having their devices “freezing” in the midst of a race. They were using different brand devices and in different conditions (triathlon in Miami and 15K in Bogota).

When this happened to them, the initial reaction went from surprise to frustration; from anger to acceptance.  So based on these experiences, and some research, we have came up with a list to help you better manage this situation.

  • Manufacturers have authorized technicians that can provide maintenance to your device. It’s not a bad idea to have your device “tuned-up”; try doing this while you are not in the middle of a training program;
  • Rinse the devices that are in contact with your body with warm water after training; this will avoid sulfur-containing compounds from sweat adhering to the equipment;
  • Check the battery a couple of days before the race; change or recharge it if needed;
  • Try running once in a while without any gadgets, so you get used to reading your body;
  • If the device crashed on you during a race:
    • React quickly
    • Move to the side, so you don’t block the rest of competitors;
    • Try to restart it, though don’t waste more than 1 minute;
    • If it doesn’t work, move on, forget about the situation and focus on getting signals directly from your body; this combined with mile/kilometer marks and pacers should help you run very close to your desired pace.
  • Complete the race, ultimately, that is why you signed-up and trained in the first place.

We hope you don’t encounter this situation, but if you do, it’s not the end of the world, and you will be satisfied anyhow once you cross the finish line, you might be even pleasantly surprised with your time.

 

21May

Posted on
in Articles, Journal

As you know, part of the Where do I Run team competed in the Paris Marathon last April. It was the 1st marathon for all of us and we were excited in having finished it (we will provide highlights of the race in another post). Following experts recommendations, we all took a week off after the race, with no real exercising; however, some of us got a common cold or sore throat symptoms, which is not uncommon since your immune system is affected due to the physical (and mental) effort your body is put on in completing a marathon.

In my case, I decided to pick up my running routine 10 days after the race. I hit the road with my new shoes and after finishing 7K, my right leg was really sore. I thought the pain will go away, but it didn’t. I opted to cut the running altogether and focus on cycling and going to the gym to lift some weights for the upper body until I could run again. Then, I got a cold, with nasal and sinus congestion, plus a sore throat. I had signed up for a 15K (the race was 6 weeks after the marathon), which forced me to start building up my miles again. Thus, each time I went out for a run, I got frustrated, since due to the congestion I hardly could keep up with my normal pace, this on top of still some pain in my leg. So I decided to completely stop any physical exercise till I fully recover. After 10 days with the cold (this is almost 5 weeks after the marathon), I went for a 5K; more than the distance itself, it was tough to wake up early and be motivated to go out. The leg didn’t hurt, but I will probably “take a rain check” on the 15K, since I don’t feel my body is ready yet.

Runners

My takeaways from this experience are the following:

  • A marathon stresses a lot your muscles and your body (the effects on the muscular-skeletal system are tremendous, with muscles experiencing micro-traumas); getting sick, taking longer to recover and feeling soreness and pain in your legs is normal after the race.
  • Don’t push yourself to get back into a running routine; take as much time as you need it to fully recover (some websites mention taking about a day off per every kilometer you ran, that’s 42 days).
  • Try cross-training during your non-running period; spinning and swimming are great ways to stay in shape, without over-stressing your muscles.
  • Don’t sign up for a race until you are back into your running routine, feeling strong and motivated (like in my case, you might end unnecessarily stressing yourself up).
  • If you feel you have lost your motivation to train again, try new running trails, add new songs to your IPod/MP3 player, and/or just run for the fun of it without any particular goal/race in mind.
  • Finishing a marathon is a great achievement, so indulge yourself; eat what you want, spend more time with friends and family, and enjoy non-athletic activities; eventually, in no time your body will tell you when you are ready to hit the road again.

 

13May

Posted on
in Articles

For some time we have wondered if training at a certain time of day would make a difference in performance at a race. We did some research to find answers to this question. In several studies, scientists have found that individuals tend to do slightly better on measures of physical performance, including endurance, strength output, and aerobic capacity, between 4pm and 7pm. The main reason is: body’s temperature and hormone levels peak in late afternoon, making muscle more flexible and producing the best ratio of testosterone. However the differences compared to people that train early in the morning or later in the day are very small.

Another interesting fact taken from several long-term studies is that the body tends to adapt to the time of day that you train, that is, if you train in the morning, your body will physically perform better in the morning, while if you train in the evening, you will perform better later on the day.

Out of the above, we can conclude the following: if due to your job or family obligations you can’t train between 4pm and 7pm, don’t stress yourself, accommodate your workout in anyway it fits your schedule; if you are training for a particular race (5k, 10k, half-marathon or even a marathon), you will have an advantage if you train at the same time of the race; most of the races are organized to start early on the day, so you are better off going for an early workout. And the final conclusion, regardless of the time of the day, any exercise is better than no exercise at all.

 

Partially taken from an article published in the Health section of the NY Times

29Mar

Posted on
in Articles

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

Posted on
in Articles, News

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

Posted on
in Articles

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!