|
WOMEN IN MOTION
January 2002
Vol. 3, No. 4
This Month Contains:
-Articles: Goal Setting/Cold Weather Fitness
~From Around the 'Net
1. Take your heart for a hike, or a good walk.
2. Snowshoeing as cross training?
3. Cholesterol and Calcium
4. Kids and Sports
5. Developing Muscle Memory
6. Speed Training
~Words of Inspiration
~The Running Woman Board
~The Honolulu Marathon
Goal Setting
The New Year has arrived and it is time to set those goals for the coming year.
Yes, I know, you've tried the same thing other years and it never worked. Everything seems to go along just fine for the first few days or even weeks but something always happens to cut into the planned training routine, or diet regimen or whatever it was that you planned for your well being.
How can we best keep on top of things? How can we maintain that initial excitement about our new goals without them turning stale and into a chore?
I am not the best example of someone who maintains sight on goals, but I have a few suggestions about ways to fix my sights on goals that have, in the past, eluded myself.
The first step one should take is to organize! Find a running related training program that suits your needs and USE IT! Get a log book and start entering your daily experiences in running.
Read, read, read. Visit your favourite bookstore and purchase a running book. Here you can find numerous helps to guide you in the area of running and it's very unique kind of mental training. A properly thought out training routine that is fresh and imaginative each day, makes it more possible to keep your eyes on your goals.
Perhaps the most important factor in maintaining your sights on your goals is the support of other runners. Consider joining a club or enrolling in a running program. Join or organize a group run.
So please make those goals, plan your routine and training regimens and follow them throughout the coming year and your life will improve in every way.
All my best to everyone throughout this coming year and on into this new year.
Good Luck and Great Runs, Gord
COLD WEATHER FITNESS
It's easy to stay all warm and cozy indoors during the winter months. To keep yourself from becoming a winter exercise dropout, you will need to focus on what you will gain from exercising through the winter.
Cold weather is a great fat burning time of the year. Your body burns extra calories just to stay warm. Winter exercise helps to shake the "winter blues" by releasing endorphins, the mood enhancing hormones of the body. Your energy levels increase, and you sleep better. And when spring finally arrives, you are in better shape.
Unless your doctor advises against exercising outdoors, you should be able to continue your regular outdoor activities, or maybe take up some new ones.
Tips for Cold Weather Workouts
You can workout safely during cold weather by following these tips:
- Check out the wind chill and temperature before going out. Stay indoors if conditions are extreme.
- Dress in layers that you can easily remove. If you become cool, you can always put on more clothing.
- Wear synthetic fabrics that keep moisture away from you skin. You don't want to become chilled.
- Wear a hat. Most heat loss is through the head.
- Wear mittens or socks to keep your hands warm gloves separate and isolate your fingers losing heat.
- Wear bright colored and reflective clothes. Anticipate that drivers may not be able to see you or stop quickly.
- Change your workout time so that you do not exercise in the dark.
- Head into the wind. You want to end your workout with the wind at your back when you are sweating the most.
- Drink plenty of water. You need water to prevent dehydration in the winter just as in the summer.
- Watch out for slippery surfaces. Exercise with a friend since the chances of injury are greater due to icy conditions.
- Take longer warm ups if needed. In cold weather, strains and sprains are more likely to occur if your muscles are not warmed up properly.
- Protect your skin. Use moisturizers before and after exercise.
- If you are shivering, add another layer of clothing, drink warm liquids, or get inside and warm up.
- Always check with your physician before your begin an exercise program.
Watch out for Wind Chill
Extreme cold can cause a drop in body temperature or frostbite. In addition, the wind chill factor poses an additional threat. Both conditions can be extremely dangerous for the exerciser. When the air is still, body heat warms the layer of air surrounding the body. This layer of warm air acts as an insulator, protecting the skin from the colder air. This makes the temperature seem warmer than it actually is. If you are moving, the insulating layer of warm air is no longer there. You feel colder. Adding wind to the temperature results in a wind chill factor or the amount of "coldness". It measures the amount of heat loss. For example, a wind chill factor of minus five indicates that the effects of wind and temperature on exposed flesh are the same as if the air temperature were five degrees below zero even though the actual temperature is much higher.
Limit or cancel exercise during extremely cold weather or when the wind-chill factor is in the danger zone. Wind-Chill Factor Charts or local weather reports will give this information. Dress properly for exercise in the wind and cold. Wear several layers of light clothing rather than one heavy garment. The layer closest to the body should be absorbent. A porous windbreaker will keep the wind from cooling the body and will allow for the release of body heat. Protective covering is needed for the hands, feet, nose and ears since these parts are susceptible to frostbite. Also, try to keep from getting wet in cold weather.
The Running Woman Message Board
The Running Woman Message board has slowed down in the number of posts. This is typical of the winter season, but as new year resolutions are made, hopefully new runners will emerge with an interest in using running as part of a renewed lifestyle. Let's hope they connect with the benefits of running. We continue to offer advise to all posts. Thanks to all of you who have provided assistance to members old and new. Good Luck and Continued Running to all.
Gord
If you wish to have us feature a picture of you and an article about a road race you have enjoyed, contact us.
From Around the 'Net
1. Take your heart for a hike, or a good walk.
Like taking your dog on a walk, your heart also needs to get out and exercise. A study performed by Harvard Medical School has revealed that the quantity of time walking may be more important than the pace of the walk. This study examined the exercise habits of nearly 40,000 women in the 45-year and older range. The researchers found that it was the number of calories burned, not the pace of the walk, that helped decrease heart disease risk. Women who walked for an hour or more had 50% less heart disease than those who walked less than an hour.
This may indicate that women's hearts respond to exercise differently, since men's heart health benefits from a more intense aerobic workout.
So bundle up and take a walk. Be sure you ask your doctor before beginning a regular exercise routine.
2. Snowshoeing as cross training?
Snowshoeing has been around for many years, but has only become a popular recreational sport in the last few years. It is an inexpensive sport for all family members. No training is required. Put on snowshoes and take off walking or running. Unlike cross-country skiing, children are able to keep up with adults.
Snowshoeing can provide a workout for runners in the winter months. You'll exercise the same muscle groups that are used for running, only your quads will have to work harder. It's very likely that you will raise your heart rate to the upper limits of the your target heart range.
The health-related benefits are
- Improves Cardiovascular Fitness
- Develops Strength
- Develops Muscular Endurance
- Develops Flexibility
- Helps Control Fatness
The skill-related benefits are
- Balance
- Coordination
- Agility
- Power
3. Cholesterol and Calcium
Is your brand of margarine the best for lowering your "bad" cholesterol? Certain varieties of margarine are better than others. In a recent study, LDL cholesterol was 12 percent lower in people eating soy oil, when compared to people eating regular butter. Squeeze bottle margarine, soft margarine, shortening, and stick margarine crept closer to the butter level respectively.
Calcium is a strong weapon in the war against fat. Studies have shown that if you take the government recommendation of calcium, 1000 milligrams a day, you would lose 7 pounds over the course of a year. A recent study has promoted the rank of calcium higher by discovering a link between calcium and fat metabolism. If you are an active person, consuming calcium revs up your engine for breaking down fat. Calcium supplements should not be seen as a dietary "magic pill," but rather as one more weapon in your fat-fighting arsenal.
4. Kids and Sports
We can never say enough on this topic. Children are not small adults. They are physiologically, mentally, and psychologically different than adults. It is important for sports training and conditioning to be age specific. The following are some guidelines for keeping young athletes healthy:
- Children need daily healthy meals. Calcium is especially important for its healing and preventive properties: prevention of bone fractures, muscle cramps, and muscle injuries.
- A healthy weight must be maintained. Some sports, such as wrestling, encourage their athletes to observe strict dietary rules.
- Vitamin supplements may help to meet daily requirements. Calcium is especially important for prevention of injuries.
- Resistance training should be performed at lower than maximum levels. Kids can use their own body weight, light dumbbells, or medicine balls. Exercise machines are not ideal for children.
- It is important to maintain a high degree of flexibility. Proper warm-up and cool-down exercises are essential before and after practice and games.
- The proper sports equipment designed to prevent injury should always be worn.
- Sports drinks and water are better choices than sugar, carbonated, and caffeinated drinks.
- Pressure should not be placed on children to progress at the same rate as other children. They may not be ready to progress at the same rate; their biological clocks are on different times.
- Plenty of rest is needed.
- Parents need to watch for early signs of physical problems such as pain or limpness. Many kids will try to ignore an injury. Prompt treatment of injuries along with rehabilitation is important.
- Conditioning programs are needed before and during a sport's season to improve muscle strength, endurance, flexibility and cardio-respiratory fitness.
- It is important to keep the body hydrated before and during exercise. Eight glasses of water is the daily-recommended amount.
5. Developing Muscle Memory
Muscle memory occurs when a certain muscle movement is changed from a conscious action to an automatic response, requiring no thought. Top performance athletes spend thousands of practice hours engraining in their minds certain motor skills. They work on the technical aspect of a motor skill until it becomes unnecessary for them to think about.
This special "knowing" allows them to perform at the highest levels during competition. You may have been told during sports competition, "don't try so hard." The coach is giving the message to rely on your muscle memory. Tension and doubt trigger biochemical changes that interrupt muscle memory.
The pressure of trying too hard has several adverse effects. Physically, it increases heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension and the flow of perspiration. Psychologically, it can cause sensations of panic, confusion, and a feeling of fatigue.
6. Speed Training
Don't go for broke: Speed training does not mean sprinting all out until you collapse. Even the fastest runners in the world don't push themselves to the limit. Rather, speed training is all about learning to control your hard efforts, to parcel out your energy evenly over a set distance or for a certain time period. Glenn Hughes, RW associate art director
Words of Inspiration
Most running is not hard, fast, exhaustive running.
Even the champions are advised by coaches and physiologists
to run easy 80 percent of the time.
-from Amby Burfoot, The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life, page 25.
Honolulu Marathon, December 9.2001
The morning of the marathon was overcast with a slight rain for the first 45 minutes of the marathon. High winds up to 25 mph affected most runners who were not running in packs.
Attendance this year was down to 21,000 with just 19,800 runners finishing the marathon. A far cry from the 30,000+ two years ago.
Fariyal found this marathon, her 26th, to be the most difficult of them all. Right from the start, her heart rate was elevated 10-15 beats higher and this was constant throughout the entire marathon. She registered a max of 191 beats per minute. This indicated that something was wrong.
Her completion time was off by 16 minutes and she got sick for the first time after she passed the finish line.
Our analysis makes us suspect that only allowing two days to adjust to the humid air affected her. In the past, she has finished this event with lots of juice, indicating that she could have run faster. Not this year!
Results are as follows:
10K: 00:43:30
Half Marathon: 01:34:14
30K: 02:16:33
Gun Time: 03:22:50
Finish Time: 03:22:41 9 seconds to cross start line
Place Overall: 339
by Gender: 44 Women (9,776 females)
by Division: 11
Placement moved from 19th female to 44th and time from 3:06 to 3:22.
She still finished as the first Canadian female. | 
