So you’ve decided to take your game to a new level. You’ve run some marathons, a sprint triathlon or two, and now you want a new challenge. You want to go for the Ironman. There are plenty of training materials out there to get you on track toward peak conditioning. Depending on your budget, there are plenty of “gee whiz” gadgets out there to enhance your performance. But where do you go if you want to get yourself in the right mental state? How do you get yourself mentally prepared for a race that is as strenuous as the Ironman?

The folks at Endurance Nation, www.endurancenation.us , have put together four tips on how to be successful at race day. Bottom line, “race day is about execution, not fitness.” In other words, you have spent months on the physical fitness, but if you are mentally ready to execute on race day, you won’t be successful.

Below are the highlights. Details can be found here:

1. Execution
There is a need to generally understand the importance in timing at each stage, how to execute between stages, and know where you can or con not make up time. Perform poorly on the bike. That may be a 15 minute set back that can be made up for in the 26.2 run. Perform poorly in the run and it could end up being a very long run.

2. The Line
Everyone will reach a Line on the last leg where continuing to run at the same pace, or just continuing to run at all, will become very, very difficult. Your focus on Execution above is critical to help create conditions for success at the Line. Success at this point it defined as not slowing down.

3. The Box
Your method of executing and creating conditions for success at the Line is to use your Box. The space inside this Box is defined by what you can control. What you eat, the amount of sleep you get, your equipment, are all items you control, and thus in the box. Other competitors and the weather are out of your control and thus outside the box.

4. The One Thing
As your race day continues, you will eventually hit the Line. It's at this point that your body begins to debate, very loudly, with the mind. Unless you have a very clearly defined goal or compelling reason why you must continue, your body wins and your day will start...to get...very...long. Keep this goal or motivation in mind and use it as a lifeline that will bring you to the finish.


Number 4……No truer words have been said. In my last marathon, I got into some pain early but I kept myself going because I did not want to be seen as someone who walked a marathon. It was a pride thing for me, but it was my motivation that kept me going.

Are you drinking more green tea to increase your anti-oxidant intake? Ever heard of white tea? It’s a delicately light tasting tea, sometimes noted by a faint jasmine fragrance. But don’t let the light flavor fool into believing the tea has no substance. White tea packs a heavyweight punch in regards to anti-oxidants.

It turns out that those same super anti-oxidants may help you fight fat. Recent studies suggest that white tea could be a breakthrough for those folks wanting to lose weight.  Here is why:

Because white tea is less processed than green or black tea, it has more of certain active compounds, like epigallocatechin-3-gallate (an antioxidant) and methylxanthines (theobromine and caffeine). And researchers suspect that these compounds influence fat-cell metabolism by acting on the expression of certain genes.

Fat cells increase or decrease in size, according to your weight. And in a lab study, human fat cells treated with white tea extract accumulated significantly less fat. In fact, the white tea extract reduced the incorporation of fat by as much as 70 percent! The tea also seemed to stimulate the breakdown of fat from mature cells.

That is pretty exciting. Once difficult to find and expensive to buy, white tea is becoming more common and some large tea drink makers are bottling the brew.  Watch the calorie count because of excess sweeteners in these brews. No need to undo all the good of the anti-oxidants with too much sugar.

Details found here: http://www.realage.com/ct/eat-smart/food-and-nutrition/tip/8911

When folks mention that they are doing a “core exercise”, typically they are talking about just working out their stomach muscles. But a core workout is so much more. When you are on a bike and your core muscles fail, you end up hunching your back, creating back strain and pinching off your ability to get a full breath. That is why Selene Yeager, aka the Fit Chick from Bicycling Magazine and my not so secret exercise chick crush, has put together this set of videos showing how to really exercise the core, from the stomach, back, hips, glutes, and thighs. This is a complete set of core exercises that will strengthen you into your next season.

The first video below is the kickoff video and found here: http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/home.html

The additional videos are found here:
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide2.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide3.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide4.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide5.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide6.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide7.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide8.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide9.html
http://www.bicycling.com/fitcore/slide10.html

Another recipe that is healthy, quick, and inexpensive. This one looks CRAZY good, and check out the price. Under a $1.50 per serving! YES!

I’m thinking this could also be a nifty little appetizer for your next cocktail party. Make the slices smaller, put them on a tray, and then eat them along with wine or other adult beverages.

If you have kids in the house, this could be another way have your kids help out in the kitchen. The kitchen prep looks easy, kids love pizza, and this looks healthier than the pizza you would pick up from the pizzeria.

Overall, the recipe looks like a winner. Thank you Eating Well magazine.

Arugula & Prosciutto Pizza

picture from eatingwell.com

NUTRITION PROFILE:
Low Calorie | Diabetes Appropriate | Healthy Weight

Makes 6 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy
Cost per serving: Under $1.50

1 pound prepared pizza dough, preferably whole-wheat
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 ounces very thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup shredded fontina or part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 cups packed coarsely chopped arugula
1 cup chopped tomato
Please go here for preparation and cooking instructions: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/arugula_prosciutto_pizza.html

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Per serving: 306 calories
11 g fat (4 g sat, 5 g mono)
28 mg cholesterol
33 g carbohydrate
13 g protein
2 g fiber
600 mg sodium
140 mg potassium

2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 high-fat meat, 1 fat

by REX

We all experience those periods where we just don’t feel like exercising. Admittedly, I have been fumbling through half efforts for the last couple of months. Nothing I do has felt right, left me feeling stale, uninspired, etc. I talked myself into buying a new pair of shoes since the others were worn out, ran four miles last night, and felt great!

Okay, so that works for me, but as I’ve noted in other postings about fitness personalities, that isn’t at all like how other folks approach fitness.

What if you are one of those folks who want to exercise, yet for some reason, just can’t get over the hurdle and make the consistent commitment? You’ve made commitments to other things. You are quite successful in life, yet you can’t seem to commit to exercise, and you wonder why. Well, if you are beating yourself up, telling yourself that you are “just lazy”, or “there must be something wrong with me”, then stop that destructive behavior. That negative attitude is just making it worse.

Really good, thought provoking article form Experience Life Magazine explores some of challenges people face when it comes to exercise. Highlights of the article are below. Please review the complete article here:

While a commitment to physical activity does require a certain amount of self-motivation, hardcore resistance to exercise is usually more than mere reluctance. Problematic belief systems, lifestyle patterns, depleting nutritional habits, low energy and a host of other unexpected causes can all contribute to an activity-averse profile.

Sound like you? Instead of beating yourself up, try acknowledging that you’re resistant to the idea of exercise (not lazy or incapable), then determine the source of the resistance so you can remove the real obstacles between you and your fitness goals. “The key is to meet yourself exactly where you are now,” says Bess Marcus, PhD, a clinical health psychologist and professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I., and author of Motivating People to Be Physically Active (Human Kinetics, 2009).

Exercise challenges fall into two categories: excuses and barriers.

Barriers are generally environmental or physical limitations that can be minimized or overcome with some strategic environmental or methodological adjustments. For example, having a broken leg and lacking access to a safe, convenient space to exercise would both qualify as barriers: They throw up certain obstacles to exercise, but don’t prevent you from taking action to work around them.

An excuse, however, is more of an internal barrier: a self-legitimized reason why you feel unable to make it out on that 10-minute walk. Excuse-based exercise resistance is often trickier to resolve than barrier-based resistance because it stems from something deeper inside us.

“Struggling with regular exercise is typically not about scheduling time or having access to exercise equipment,” says Greene. “The real obstacle is usually your thoughts and feelings.”

Common Obstacles:
Low Self-Esteem: “The less deserving you feel, the harder it is to justify taking care of yourself through exercise,” says Greene. A related challenge involves body image — the notion that you’re somehow not fit-looking enough to do the things that fit people do.

The “Fixed Mindset”: If you’re used to succeeding wildly in other, more cerebral realms (being a lawyer, playing the piano, cooking gourmet meals), you might be hesitant to try an activity at which you may not excel. When we don’t perform up to our expectations (which we usually won’t do the first time we play racquetball, for instance), the fixed mindset internalizes it: We don’t think, I failed at this; we think, I am a failure

Perfectionism: Closely related to the fixed mindset is the demon of perfectionism, and exercise is easy prey. We’ve been led to believe that all exercise means a good sweat on a cardiovascular machine, followed by some strength training, followed by stretching — and anything other than that routine just doesn’t measure up.

Martyrdom: Chronic self-sacrifice, a trap into which many parents fall, is another common obstacle to healthy activity. When the priority seems to be on everything except you — kids, spouse, job, housework, volunteering — taking time to be active can often seem beyond reach.

“When you take on the martyr role and meet everybody else’s needs but your own, you eventually feel unworthy of taking time for yourself,” says Greene. This may be less a matter of low self-esteem than a loss of clarity about the essential role your own well-being

How to Overcome?

The Key: Write It Down
Greene recommends setting long-term goals as the key first step to overcoming exercise resistance. Write down your goals and identify what you want from exercise. Maybe you need more energy to take care of your aging parents, you want to thwart the cardiovascular disease that plagues your family, or you’d like more stamina to be able to play with your kids.

Set more-specific activity objectives you can hit easily from your current fitness level: whether it’s four 10-minute walks a week, three strength-training sessions or five 5-mile runs.

The next step is to log activity — any amount — in your journal. Marcus coauthored a study, published recently in Preventative Medicine, in which researchers asked 163 sedentary people to log their exercise stats on the Web. “The more times people came to the Web site, the better they did maintaining their exercise habits and meeting their goals,” she says.

Sometimes, overcoming exercise resistance simply requires that you expand, or even redefine, the very idea of exercise. For starters, exercise doesn’t always have to be running or playing basketball or going to aerobics. If you’re after basic health benefits (vs. optimal fitness), it’s about being active for 30 minutes a day, most days of the week.

There’s also no rule that says you have to bang out one 30-minute (or more) session every day. If you’re really stuck, start by dividing daily activity into 10-minute segments, or complete half your goal in the morning and half at night. And integrate as much activity as you can into your daily life: Use the stairs instead of the elevator, get off the bus two stops early and use a push mower to cut your grass. Every little bit counts.

How about eating healthy, good tasting food, that doesn’t take long to prepare, and is inexpensive? Yep, that sounds like the right combination for the busy wide-body family.

How about eating healthy, good tasting food, that doesn’t take long to prepare, and is inexpensive? Yep, that sounds like the right combination for the busy wide-body family.

When I saw the name of this savory recipe, I knew I was going to make it. YUM!

Steak & Potato Kebabs with Creamy Cilantro Sauce


picture from eatingwell.com

NUTRITION PROFILE:
Low Calorie | Low Sodium | Low Sat Fat | High Potassium | Heart Healthy | Diabetes Appropriate | Healthy Weight

Makes 4 servings
Costs Per Serving: $4.50

ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, minced
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar or cider vinegar
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
8 new or baby red potatoes
1 1/4 pounds strip steak, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 poblano peppers or 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
Please go here for the cooking instructions: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/steak_potato_kebabs.html

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Per serving: 271 calories
 9 g fat (3 g sat, 4 g mono)
 65 mg cholesterol
17 g carbohydrate
30 g protein
2 g fiber
368 mg sodium
786 mg potassium.

Nutrition bonus:
 Vitamin C & Zinc (35% daily value)
Potassium (22% dv)
Iron (15% dv).

1 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 starch, 4 lean meat

                                                                
Feeling a little down? Haven’t been as up beat as you normally would or should be? OR, do you want to feel better about… EVERYTHING?  Here’s a tip….

STEP AWAY FROM THE TELEVISION…

Check this out from RealAge: http://www.realage.com/ct/tips/8755

In analyzing 30 years worth of data collected from a national social-survey database as well as other previous studies, researchers found that people who considered themselves unhappy tended to watch significantly more TV than those who said they were very happy. Higher-spirited folks, they found, spent more time on other types of hobbies, including mingling with friends and family members, reading newspapers, and attending religious services.

To me, on the surface, this appears as a “chicken or the egg” scenario. Do you watch more television because you are bored, don’t have enough hobbies, and have a general poor disposition on life, or did you watch television, get sucked in, forget your hobbies, and then form a poor disposition on life? I think it’s the former rather than the later, and yet (!) I believe this is a good reminder for all of us to take an accounting of our life’s activities, reflect on those activities that our propelling us forward on the path where we want to be, and discarding those activities that are holding us back. If you watch television in place of furthering your education, talking with your children, helping a neighbor, working in your community, etc, maybe this isn’t the best use of your idle time. If television is your short break to escape for a few minutes, maybe you are using your time wisely, but you need to make that call. If you are questioning whether “there is something more in…”, the answer is “YES”, and you should find out what is holding you back. IT may be as simple as turning off the tube and opening a book.

I really haven’t done much interval training since I played football, and then I thought it was just a practice drill meant to mimic the speed of the game. Lately, quite a bit about how interval training can;
1) Help improve your overall speeds in your distance runs
2) And can burn off a bunch of excess body fat.

The downside is……I still haven’t found the downside.

I found an easy to use interval routine in the Men’s Health 2009 Training Guide. They recommend doing this three times a week, either after your weight work out or on your off days. It’s a really good routine, but one you definitely don’t want to do before you lift weights. You will be tired!

Another cool thing about this is that it is all time based, so you can do this while you run, ride a stationary bike, or on a rowing machine.

1) Warm up for 3-5 minutes at a pace of 30%-40% of best time.
2) Then go 95% of your best effort for 30 seconds
3) “Active Rest” back to warm up speed for 90 seconds
4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 for 5-7 times.
5) If you can complete 8 intervals, then reduce your rest periods by 5-10 seconds until the rest period is only 30 seconds long.

So, its about 24 minutes of intervals, 5 minutes of warm up, 29 minutes total. Fast and effective.