Staying Hydrated and Electrolyte balance.

When the weather is close to 100 degrees and all you want to do is lay by a pool and eat ice cream until you see  crazy person running in the heat and wonder how they are not dying of heat exhaustion. The answer to this question is hydration. Hydration is having a proper balance of electrolytes and water. Many people find it a surprise to find that hydration can be maintained by not only what you drink but what you eat as well. There was an article in Runner’s world on the most hydrating food which ironically people tend to crave when the weather warms up. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302–13967-0,00.html This is because what you tend to crave is what your body needs to adapt to the climate. Have you ever noticed that when it gets cold your body craves fatty food ?(especially all the treats that come along ear the holidays) The reason for this is your body senses the cold and begins to crave high calorie snacks in order to gain fat and stay warm. The same principle happens with warm weather except you crave hydrating food like fresh fruits and vegetables.

Another myth that I learned was not true the hard way is that drinking only water is enough to stay hydrated through intense training. When I started intense marathon training I spent the whole day drinking gallons of water. Little did I know I was causing dehydration by diluting my solutes. I had began to feel weak and I had an unquenchable  thirst so I drank more and more water. Then my body gave out and I fainted at work. I went to the hospital after ad was told I had hypokalemia, an abnormally low amount of potassium in my body( potassium is an electrolyte).  After some potassium pills and two bottles of gatorade I felt like I had a brand new body. Ever since then I mix gatorade powder in my water after long runs to replenish the salt lost in sweating and exerting myself for that long.

Ironically that semester in human physiology we had to answer a question about a marathon runner who died during a race because of heart failure due in an insufficient intake of electrolytes while sweating an excessive amount of these minerals out. The answer to that problem was that every time she passed a water stop she reached for the water instead of the sports drink causing her to collapse in exhaustion. This doesn’t mean you should be drinking gatorade instead of water it is a recommended to drink a fluid with electrolytes  if you are participating in a prolonged activity over two hours because this is when you begin to lose all those important minerals. The best advice I can give on hydration is to listen to your body. Don’t deny it what it needs and prepare beforehand for any type of exertion you plan to put it through.

Why Bikram Yoga is a good supplement to any sport

With my fair share of injuries from distance running I had time off where I had to find alternate means of exercise. I had tried cycling, swimming, and even the elliptical( the most boring exercise ever!) and none of these activities seemed to do anything to improve my injury they just were impact free exercises. I saw these few months off where I was not allowed to run and stressful and frustrating. After feeling like that for a few weeks I realized that my stubborn attitude would not help me heal faster. Instead it would tempt me to go out on a run push through the pain and come back with an even worse injury. Instead I decided to approach this time off as an opportunity to try something new and to try and put all my energy into it.

With this in mind I started looking online and reading about exercise that heals and is done as a supplement by many athletes to prevent injury. I found that yoga is known to be a great healing and strengthening exercise with many long term health benefits. However, my main concern was if it challenging enough because I have always been one of those people who feel like they haven’t exercised unless they are drenched in sweat. Naturally I was inclined to try Bikram yoga over the other disciplines along with the fact that a new bikram studio open close by.

Ill start by introducing a little history on the practice of Bikram before I go into the results from it.Bikram yoga was developed by the hatha yogi Bikram Choudhury. Bikram had studied yoga from the age of four in Calcutta and developed this practice fairly recently with it only being thirty years old. Bikram was also an incredible athlete who did marathon running and weightlifting. After a terrible knee injury from weightlifting Bikram developed a routine of 26 postures to be done in 105 degrees with the idea that it allowed muscles, tendons, and ligaments greater elasticity. Bikram traveled to hospitals in japan to prove the healing benefits of his yoga practice and his method was recognized in 1972 in Kyoto ,Japan.

After doing research on how the practice has healed many sports injuries I decided to commit to the thirty day challenge. t I would practice the ninety minute routine everyday for thirty days.At first the postures were new and foreign and I still had trouble remembering the routine and making corrections on my postures. What was amazing was that everyday I noticed a small change. I was able to stretch a little farther or move into a more advanced version of the pose by just consistently repeating the 26 postures everyday. Before I knew it I couldn’t feel the room temperature being 105 degrees. I had become comfortable in that environment and was more focus on improving. There were even days when I went twice a day, once in the morning and once in the night. I could feel my body getting stronger, my injuries melting away, and the toxins leaving my body. I was addicted and had found an outlet to put my energy source into that would heal me at the same time. One month later I was injury free and still practice bikram as a supplement to running and move to a different studio every month to get a taste of the methods of other yogis along with the personality of how different studios are in different neighborhoods.

Finding the right shoe

I have been running for eight years and definatly have my share of injury stories. Either way injuries are no fun and can effect not only your participation in a sport but the movement you take for granted everyday.

The first injury I had was a heel
Spur in my left foot. It was very painful and is an injury that comes with the wear and tear thats diffacult to avoid in running. My symptoms were a limp and a swollen calcanial tendon. I went to physical therepy for treatment and was told that I could avoid the situation again by purchasing running shoes that prevent over pronation

Once being told this I started looking into specialty running stores that cater to selling shoes with the intention of correcting biomechanical flaws in a runners stride. After purchasing these shoes I never dealt with the problem again. So this brings up the question how do you know which shoes to buy?

The answer to this lies in the shoe you are wearing. You can look at the inside of your worn pair of shoes and see where the most worn out part of the shoe is. I pronate so the outer edges of my shoes are worn out. You could even have perfect balance and need no corrections needed at all.

Another thing that seems like it wouldnt make a difference is the brand of the shoes. In every running team ive been in i have been told never run in nikes. Which i find ironic because the first pair of running shoes was made by nike. The reason nike shoes are discouraged is because nike started branching out to cater to apperance more than quality therefore causing more injury to runners who use the shoes for serious training. It is better to purchase shoes from a shoe company that only makes running shoes such as brooks, saucany, or asics. These companies spend more time and money studying the biomechanics of running therefore
Producing a more efficient shoe.

running inspiration:)

The mental preparation behind running for hours

Running is real and relatively simple…but it ain’t easy.
–Mark Will-Weber

When I tell people that I run long distance the first question they ask is how long do you run? Then I let them know that I run eight to seventeen miles everyday. This is usually a shock to people but there is a common question I get in response to that is “what do you think about for that long.” In all honesty I can’t pinpoint the thoughts that occupy my mind because they range from what I had for breakfast, to my pace, or even just getting lost in pass memories or imagining future ones. For me running has always been a form of meditation or a way to clear my head and organize my thoughts without all the complications that come along with everyday.

I found that in order to run for extended periods of time they key component is to think about anything and everything except for running. The moment you convince yourself that your tired is the same time you let that thought infect your actions. In the sport of distance running thoughts play a stronger force on your performance when compared to physical endurance. I will go over a few strategies I use to distract myself from fatigue and to keep negative thoughts out of my head. Along with this I will offer some advice on how to get out of bed and get moving especially on those days when your beds warm and the weathers does not look to inviting.

One of the first techniques I developed to keep myself motivated is to talk out loud to yourself and give yourself encouragement. Though my experience I have noticed that your internal dialogue is easier to get carried away with if you don’t say your thoughts out loud from time to time.  You could be running up a huge hill and in your head all your telling yourself is that your tired, its so steep, I cant make it up.  If you let these thoughts take over they will become true. You have to say things out loud to combat these thoughts. Try to say positive encouraging things like this pain is temporary, I am stronger than this, I have more strength in me that will come out if I let it. The first time you try this surely enough you can convince yourself otherwise and summon an inner strength.

Along with this strategy  to keep you running, I have use another strategy to keep me distracted on my long runs that last over two hours. I have learned to take in sensations from wherever i am running. If there is a tree i m passing I touch it as I run by and take in the texture and smell and try and think of what it remind me of. Often enough it stirs up a memory based on smell ad touch and the thought of that can keep me distracted for some time.  It may not work for everyone but its worth trying because not only is it a distraction but it helps you connect with your memory and realize what triggers certain thoughts.

Finally I would like to provide everyone with a little inspiration to get up and start running. If a gatorade commercial doesn’t do it for you there are many other tactics I use to get me running even when I am feeling lazy or sluggish. The number one thing to do is lay out your athletic clothes the night before and set an alarm. The reason this works is its a small step that means your committed to the idea. After this pick out a route or a goal to run to so that you have an objective. If all this still does not get you up in the morning read some inspirational quotes from other runners.You can also think of an inspirational scene from a movie like rocky or chariots of fire. Let me know if any of this works and good luck to everyone who gets out there

P.S. heres a helpful link to some inspirational quoteshttp://running.about.com/od/runninghumor/a/runningquotes.htm