Training for your first 10-K

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO TRAIN TO RUN YOUR FIRST 10-K RACE? If you possess a good level of fitness (because of participation in other sports) you probably could run a half dozen miles on very little training. The same if you have run a 5-K or an 8-K race before. You might be sore the week after a 10-K race, but you still could finish.

But if you've made the decision to run a 10-K race you might as well do it right. Following is an eight-week training schedule to help get you to the finish line of your first 10-K. (For those metrically challenged,10-K is 6.2 miles.)

To participate in this 10-K program, you should have no major health problems, should be in reasonably good shape, and should have done at least some jogging or walking. If running 2.5 miles for your first workout on Tuesday of the first week seems too difficult, you might want to begin by walking, rather than running. Or, if you have more than eight to ten weeks before your 10-K,

The terms used in the training schedule are somewhat obvious, but let me explain what I mean anyway.

Stretch & Strength: Mondays are the days in which I advise you to do some stretching along with some strength training. This is actually a day of rest following your long run on Sundays. Do some easy stretching of your running muscles. This is good advice for any day, particularly after you finish your run, but spend a bit more time stretching on Mondays. Strength training could consist of push-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, use of free weights, kettle bells  or working out with various machines at your gym. Runners generally benefit if they combine lighter weights about 60-80% of 1 rep max with a high number of repetitions, rather than heavier weights, however as your strength increases so should your weights increase. I also suggest that you do some strength training following your Thursday workouts, however you can schedule strength training on any two days convenient for your business and personal schedule.

Running workouts: Put one foot in front of the other and run. It sounds pretty simple, and it is. Don't worry about how fast you run; just cover the distance–or approximately the distance suggested. Ideally, you should be able to run at a pace that allows you to converse comfortably while you do so. This isn't always easy for beginners, so don't push too hard or too fast. Under this workout plan, you run three days of the week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, Sundays being a longer run. (See below.)

Cross-Training: On the schedule, this is identified simply as "cross." What form of cross-training works best for runners preparing for a 10-K race? It could be swimming, or cycling, walking, or other forms of aerobic training ,or even some combination that could include strength training if you choose to do it on Wednesdays and Saturdays instead of as indicated on the schedule. And feel free to throw in some jogging as well if you're feeling good. What cross-training you select depends on your personal preference. But don't make the mistake of cross-training too vigorously. Cross-training days should be considered easy days that allow you to recover from the running you do the rest of the week.

Rest: The most important day in any running program is rest. Rest days are as important as training days. They give your muscles time to recover so you can run again. Actually, your muscles will build in strength as you rest. Without recovery days, you will not improve. In this program, Friday is always scheduled as a day of rest to compliment the also easy workouts on Mondays.

Long Runs: The longest runs of the 8-week schedule are planned for Sundays, since you probably have more time to do them on the weekends. If Sunday isn't a convenient day for your long runs, feel free to do them on Saturday–or any other day of the week for that matter. What pace should you run? Go slow. There is no advantage to going fast during your long runs, even for experienced runners.

Walking: Walking is an excellent exercise that a lot of runners overlook in their training. In the training schedule below, I don't specify walking workouts, but feel free to walk during your running workouts any time you feel tired or need a break. Nobody cares whether you run the full 10-K, they're more concerned that you finish.

The 10-K training schedule above is only a guide. Feel free to make minor modifications to suit your work and family schedule. 

HalHigdon.com

Post from: Fitness Magazine

Fruit and vegetables are generally lower in energy per gram while offering usually high amounts of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Both are vital requirements for weight loss diets, because when you aim to lose weight you need achieve a balance between reducing your energy intake and consuming enough vital nutrients. If you would only reduce your energy intakes without considering how you can achieve enough vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in your diet you may actually cause harm to your health by dieting and leading to nutrient deficiencies.

Fruit and vegetables furthermore are rich sources of fibre which helps to feel full for longer and has many other health promoting effects in your body. Vegetables in particular should be eaten at high frequencies and in a broad variety, because they are low in simple sugars. Fruits on the other hand contains large amount of natural sugar, which make them taste nice and sweet however there is some evidence that even natural sugars in fruits may lead to quick raises in blood sugar levels.

Regular, quick and high raises in blood sugar levels have been indicated to increase the risk of diabetes. Moreover if sugar or carbohydrates are absorbed more slowly as it applies for most vegetables, it fuels your body more consistently and this is believed to avoid hunger pangs and mood swings.

You may also know that fruit and vegetable are the heroes in the storage cupboards if one aims to prevent many common chronic diseases and to help your body to fight infections, however commonly people struggle to consume the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables and more importantly most people struggle in particular with vegetables. Vegetable juice could offer an easy and tasty solution to this problem. Whereas many people regularly consume 100% fruit juices significantly less people opt for vegetable juice although they offer the same convenience and may have even more health benefits.

Studies in the USA suggest that recommending drinking regularly vegetable juice is a much more successful approach to increase the total amount of fruit and vegetables in the diet than nutrition education or one-to-one nutrition advice promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. This highlights that most people are aware about the health benefits of fruit and vegetable but find it often difficult to implement more fruit and vegetables into their daily eating routine.

Two further studies in particular highlight why vegetable juice could be an especially useful addition to everyone’s diet. One study assessed changes in blood pressure over a 12 week period in overweight people (40-65 years) who consumed 2 glasses of vegetable juice per day and found that blood pressure was significantly reduced after the 12 week intervention in all participants who complied with the 2 juice a day regime. Moreover the participants who complied with the 2 juices per day schedule also met the 5 a day recommendation. There is however one word of warning some commercial vegetable juices contain quite high amounts of salt and may therefore not be suitable for healthy diets, hence it might be worth comparing brands and labels and opt for those with lower salt levels.

The second study was even more encouraging. Again participants were asked to consume one to two vegetable juice per day over a 12 week period in this case however all participants were overweight with metabolic syndrome and were additionally enrolled on a weight loss programme. Participants who drank 1-2 portions of vegetable juice per day appeared to be more successful in their weight loss with an average weight loss of 4 pounds compared to 1 pound for the non-juice dieters. Although there might some other factors interacting with weight loss than the vegetable juice and these might moreover vary for overweight people without the metabolic syndrome it appears drinking regularly vegetable juice could be beneficial if someone tries to lose weight.

Andrea Zick – Esteem Fitness Nutritionist
Esteem Fitness – Personal training London and South East UK

Post from: Fitness Magazine

Menopause is a normal physiological process that occurs when the women’s body progressively stops producing oestrogen in the ovaries usually after the age of 40. It takes about 10-15 years until periods cease and no more egg follicles are produced. Such a prolonged physical change would in theory not cause major problems however many women face serious side effects which interrupt their lives. Common side effects are hot flushes, mood swings and depression, loss of memory, increased frequency of headaches and migraines, vaginal dryness and reduced libido as well as struggle to maintain weight.

Moreover evidence suggests that physical changes encountered with menopause increase the risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones), cardio vascular disease and breast cancer. Current belief is that oestrogen affects all three diseases and with severely lower levels of oestrogen by the end of menopause the protective action for your bones has nearly ceased. This often leads to increased fractures. Added to this menopause appears also to increase oxidative damage to cells and tissues which can speed up the aging process of your body.

However some foods and a healthy balanced diet can not only help you battle these negative physical effects they can also assist in reducing some of the side effects such as hot flushes and mood swings. The most frequently discussed diet related advice for women in menopause is to increase the amount of soy products in the diet. This advice is based on statistics showing Asian populations suffer significantly less from osteoporosis and breast cancer as long as they are eating traditional

Asian menus rich in soy-products. Further investigation has highlighted that phytoestrogens a substance found in large quantities in soya mimics some actions of oestrogens in the human body and most importantly that women consuming diets rich in soy products have usually higher circulating levels of phytoestrogens.

Some studies support a reduction in hot flushes, vaginal dryness and increased libido after consumption of five portions of soya products per week for at least 5-6 consecutive weeks.

It is however important to highlight that supplementation with phytoestrogens has been suggested to increase the risk of breast cancer; hence taking supplements appears not to be a safe alternative to soy rich foods. A quick note along these lines: if you do not fancy soya, flaxseed and linseeds as well as chickpeas contain also relative large amounts of phytoestrogens and might offer some further choice.

Although soy products can make a significant difference to your wellbeing in menopause it is not the only aspect of your diet which requires a critical look. As mentioned above there is some evidence which indicates oxidative damage to cells and tissues increases significantly in menopause, therefore it may be useful to raise the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet above the 5 portions a day recommended by the Food Standards Agency as these foods in particular are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which tackle oxidative damage and are beneficial for your cardio vascular health.

Increasing fibre intakes with that added fruit and vegetable and further adding whole grain products could also help you to sustain your weight and reduce the increased risk of atheriosclerosis which could cause heart disease and stroke. A further benefit of whole grains in your diet at this time might be that it could help you to avoid mood swings or even depressions and most importantly whole grain products are commonly rich in B-vitamins which will help you to preserve you memory.

Finally checking your fat intakes is just as important now as it was in other stages of your life and low saturated fat intakes (animal products and meat) will again be protective of heart disease while moderate consumption of unsaturated fats (nuts, seeds, oily fish) will supply vital antioxidants and protect against heart disease.

There are also many herbal remedies often stated to help reducing several menopausal symptoms however recent reviews came to the conclusion that there is currently not enough evidence to suggest these effects can truly help to increase health and wellbeing in menopause.

Menopause is clearly a time of transition for a women’s body added to this it is also a mental transition which reminds us that our days are counted. So it could be a moment in a women’s life to make further changes such as a healthy balanced diet. Such changes achieved with the right advice and implemented progressively can therefore not only help to alleviate side effects of the menopause but could also help to progress into a healthy and active life beyond menopause.

Andrea Zick – Esteem Fitness Nutrition
Esteem Fitness – Personal training London and South East UK

Post from: Fitness Magazine

Scientist estimate adults need to exercise for about 150 min per week to prevent weight gain. However this is not really the magic number as it also depends on other physical activity during your daily routine. Someone working on building sites or being a cycle courier clearly will need less extra physical activity than someone working on a checkout counter at Sainsbury’s or in a City office.

On the other hand for many people aiming to lose weight it appears to be quite important to know which type of exercise is the most efficient exercise in terms of weight loss. To answer this question it really depends on how precisely this question is phrased. There is reasonable amount of evidence out there indicating that building muscle mass will increase your metabolism. This is of particular importance because losing weight will decrease your metabolism and as such your energy needs progressively. Building muscle while you are losing weight has been shown to counter balance at least some of this. That also implicates that muscle building is highly important for people aiming to lose a dress size.

Yet if you ask which type of exercise reduces your appetite most significantly the answer will be very different as has been suggested by a study published in 2008. The researchers of this UK based study observed the effects of 60 min jogging or 90 min weight lifting on 11 male students and found that the activation of two different hormones which regulate appetite varied in both conditions. Jogging on the treadmill altered both hormones whereas lifting weights only influenced one hormone. The researchers suggested accordingly that aerobic exercise might be more effective in suppressing appetite.

However to complicate this matter there appears to be a gender difference in the effects of exercise on appetite. Regular exercise has for example been shown to lead to greater fat losses in men than in women, so more recent studies aimed to investigate whether there could be differences in the activation of appetite stimulating hormones.  One study found that exercise stimulates energy regulating hormones and appetite differently in women and men. Women were found to have higher acylated ghrelin levels (indicating more stimuli to eat) and lower insulin levels after exercise, this may suggest that women have a more robust hormonal response to stimulate appetite and possibly energy intake. This may explain why men tend to lose body fat quicker than women.

However ladies there is no need to give up on your weight loss goals other Canadian studies showed that women who trained intensively lost more weight and body fat over a six month period than women training less intensively. So although different types of exercise might influence your appetite differently you will still benefit of working out more frequently and for longer times.

Andrea Zick – Esteem Fitness Nutritionist
Esteem Fitness – Personal training London and South East UK

Post from: Fitness Magazine