5/18/2010 5:16 PM
A Work of Art
“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected by in as many ways as they are capable of understanding,” Steve Prefontaine.
Was this year’s Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon a work of art for you? There were many components I saw that made me see the event as work of art, in the sense of the beauty and skill of many, but more so in how it captured a struggle of our human condition. In beauty and skill, many records were set, and although none will go down in the record books, they are all worthy of celebration. I heard from those who were running their first marathon or half marathon. Congratulations to all of you who made the commitment, trained, and were on the starting line—this was a grand success. And a special congratulations to those of you who finished, regardless of time you have accomplished something few others
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5/4/2010 9:47 AM
with Guest Blogger Jacque Maldonado, Kaiser Permanente Health Educator, Registered Dietitian, and Marathon Runner
I’ll never forget how invincible I felt the first time I drank Gatorade on a long run. It was as if jet fuel had been injected directly into my legs. That extra energy came from carbohydrates and electrolytes rushing into my depleted cells, and although that was 20 marathons ago, not much has changed in the simple fact that our bodies need to be fed during endurance events.
Your race day nutrition strategy (or lack there of) has a significant impact on your race performance. Here are some tips to help fuel your quest for a successful run:
Pre-race week: Increasing your intake of carbohydrates (fruit, starchy vegetables, nonfat milk or yogurt, and grains) will increase the amount of glycogen (carbohydr
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4/26/2010 9:34 AM
 Fatigue
It is now just a few weeks before the race, so how are you feeling? This is often the time when many start to feel very tired, and have low energy. With all the training, in addition to everything else in life which does not seem to stop, it would be nice to just train, eat, and rest. Do you feel tired and have low energy? If so, what does that mean?
I am currently in Southern California at the Experimental Biology meeting, and to biologists there is a lot of discussion about energy as it is related to calories: how much and what you are eating and, and how much and how you are burning calories through your training. But I’ll bet
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4/12/2010 11:47 AM
IncentivesHave you built-in incentives for yourself along your training process, and if so, what are they? Continuing to work on the behaviors needed to train for the Marathon is difficult. One trap that prevents your appropriate and consistent training that we discussed last week was “all or nothing” thinking. One support that you might use to improve the consistency in your training is incorporating incentives.
For some, positive incentives work. Rewarding yourself with a massage after that 20-mile training run, or buying yourself a new training shirt helps some people push through those difficult times.
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4/5/2010 9:11 AM
All or Nothing?
It seems to be both that time of year, and that time before the race, to closely examine where you have been with preparation and what is reasonable to expect of yourself in the time remaining.
The last few weeks have been for me a difficult time to train consistently. This has been in part because of the weather (isn’t Spring in Colorado fun), in part because of my attitude (I still have plenty of time, my training schedule is more than I really need), and in part because of my body (I am feeling tired, my new shoes are stressing my feet). I seem to have gotten in to a slump of all or none thinking with training, allowing these negative factor
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3/29/2010 2:51 PM
Rules
Recently, I’ve been reading a few new books on rules around diet (Michael Pollan, Food Rules: An Eaters Manual) and around running (Mark Remy, The Runner’s Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know—and Then Some). It’s been interesting and fun to see how this advice might fit into life, and perhaps into your training for an event like the Colfax Marathon.
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3/2/2010 7:04 AM
Dr. Troy speaks to how nutrition can play a crucial role in your running success!
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