10 Race-Day Tips

Here are 10 race-day training tips from the Runners Dude blog.

These are important tips - the most critical one - enjoy the taper!

This information might come in handy as you prepare to participate in summer/fall events this year.

Breaking Through Plateaus

So you've made great strides in lowering your time . . . then it hits. You reach a plateau time that you seemingly can't break.

Most people who engage in healthy training activities reach a plateau at some point. The important thing to keep in mind is that your times will initially shrink quickly, but it gets frustrating to reach a time at some point that you can't seem to overcome.

As this article from www.active.com indicates, it's moving past these plateaus that can be the most challenging part of your training. Moving past a plateau takes focus and discipline. Read this article from Total Immersion Coach Terry Laughlin to learn how you can work to overcome these barriers in your training.

Beginning Training For Triathlon

If you're thinking about tackling the challenges of a triathlon, some helpful advice is available.

The Beginner Triathlon blog recently featured some tips for starting your training. The tips here are especially helpful if you haven't done a lot of running, biking or swimming.

There are some good tips here to help you get started, but I would tell you this -- this is only the beginning. You'll need to consider a more aggressive training plan if you are in better shape than what is indicated in this article. You'll also need to consider how you will build swimming and biking into your training.

This is a good start, but there is definitely more to it!

The Importance Of Recovery

When you start training for triathlons, you often reach the point where overtraining can become a problem.

As you set out with your plan, stick to your plan. Avoid the temptation to go beyond the plan because the risk of injury multiplies exponentially.

It's often natural to feel as though "you're not doing enough" when you train for triathlon events. Check out these resources from www.active.com to learn why you stick to your plan and avoid overtraining.

Getting Your Groove Back

Do you ever find yourself in need of a little "mojo"?

Sure, we all find ourselves in different forms of funk that keep us from our healthy lifestyle goals.

The Oh She Glows blog recently took up this issue and how we can get ourselves out of the slumps we find ourselves in. Whether it's not feeling motivated for exercise, not keeping up with diet discipline or just feeling a lack of energy - there are a variety of solutions for these issues.

Take a look at the ways you can work to "get your groove back".

Training Improvement Through Kaizen

Here's a bit of inspiration . . . do you seek to do better? To improve your times and make yourself stronger?

I think we all know the answer to these questions. One way to to seek improvement is to use a Japanese form of quality improvement - kaizen. Kaizen is a practice used throughout business and government today to improve process. You can use kaizen to improve the process of your training.

Read this entry from the Everymom to Ironmom blog. It provides a some fabulous guidance as to how you can improve your training methods through this approach.

Half Marathon Training

If you have been running for a while, you might feel like challenging yourself with a half marathon.

A half marathon is much easier than training for a full marathon and doesn't take the toll on your body.

Check out this plan that blogger Tina Haupert is using on Carrots and Cake. It's the training program from "Smart Coach" that allows you to fit a plan to your own needs.

Half marathons are easy to enter and there are plenty of them to enter. Take your training to a new level by trying for a half marathon.

The Sleepless Elite

I don't encourage this lifestyle and I am definitely NOT in this category of people.

However, this article from Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal was interesting about the functioning habits of "short sleepers". Amazingly, some people can accomplish a lot on little sleep.

At the end of the day, our bodies are generally very good at adapting to what we train them to do. But everyone is different. When I think of myself, I know I need a good seven to eight hours each night.

Studies repeatedly have shown that maximum amounts of sleep also help benefit training. So, don't be among the "sleepless elite" and get your sleep.

Recovery Through Swimming

I knew there were more benefits to swimming than I realized.

Swimming is an enjoyable, low-impact exercise for me. Now, Matt Fitzgerald of triathlete.com reports about a new study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine showing that swimming has many benefits toward recovery for athletes.

Read how swimming benefited a group of Australian athletes looking to identify a way to gain recovery for their bodies, while keeping up their cardiovascular systems.

Vegetarian Cooking

I recently attended a program with my Rotary group that featured one of our members highlighting the benefits of vegetarian diets.

With young children and because I enjoy meat too much, I have found it hard to go completely meat-free. However, I do make a strong effort to eat healthy and naturally. The program I attended confirmed for me that there are some pretty easy things you can do to improve your diet.

First and foremost - we can easily cut down on the amount of processed foods we consume. Think about how easy it is -- and how healthy it is - to eat raw foods that are good for you and tasty. Fruits and vegetables are limitless.

Check out this post from the Go The Distance blog. The author recently attended a vegan cooking class and learned some of the same things I did. I'm not saying we all need to be vegans or vegetarians, but there are some healthy things we can learn from their habits.

Candy Boosts Morale, Weight

The battle of the office candy jar - do I or don't I?

Certainly, during a stress-filled day, a treat from the office candy jar is the perfect remedy. But that little tasty goody doesn't come without its costs. Eating just a couple of pieces of candy each workday for a year can add up to nearly 25,000 calories!

Not that I'm trying to put a stop to the office treat brigade. Everyone can agree that food is a great way to bridge communication among officemates. However, you might want to take a look at Sue Shellenbarger's article accounting for the various calories for eating candy from the office "treat jar" in the Wall Street Journal.

With the information from this article, you will at least know what you need to do to avoid the extra calories or work them off!