Make a New Year Race-olution: 5 Ways to a Better Race in 2017

January 1st is right around the corner and everyone is making their New Year resolutions. Instead of paying penance for your holiday indulgences with a diet of carrot sticks and celery, I have a better idea. How about a New Year Race-olution?

Now this is a resolution I can get behind. Whether you are an experienced racer or a newbie wanting to tackle your first race, here are five ways to better race in 2017.

1. SIGN UP FOR A RACE AND SET A GOAL

Choosing a race that is 3-6 months in the future goes a long way in staying motivated to work out well into 2017, when most people's resolutions will be collecting dust along side their exercise equipment.

Choose a race distance that is challenging enough to keep you motivated to train, but not so outside of your scope of experience and abilities that you set yourself up for failure. You should aim high with your goals though, with the proper training and guidance you can do more than you think!

2. DO SPEED WORK

If you want to run a better race in 2017, you'll need to start by logging those training miles. Once you have a solid running base of running three to four days a week for four to five weeks it's time to start speed work, which will be a key element to achieving a better race in 2017. If you want to run faster, you need to train to run faster. Hill repeats, track work, stairs and Fartleks can all be effective ways to build speed. Aim for a speed session once or twice a week.

3. DON'T NEGLECT CROSS TRAINING

Low impact cross training is good way to increase your endurance base without adding additional stress on your joints. Activities like biking, swimming, hiking, rowing, walking or the elliptical are all great cross training choices for non-running days.

While it may be tempting to adopt an all-running-all-the-time training plan, the smartest use of your workout schedule could be to carve out some time for some strength training. A lot of runners neglect the strength portion of training, but it is vital to getting stronger and staying injury free. Stronger legs just may bring you across the finish line at a faster pace. Aim for full body strength training session at least two times a week. There are plenty of quick and effective strength workouts in the archive.

4. BE FLEXIBLE AND REST

Yoga is a great cross training activity that can benefit runners, but when I say flexible I am referring to your training plan. It will be easy to put together an aggressive training plan, then get burnt out, or worse, injured before you have the chance to meet your race goals for 2017. Listen to your body. Take rest days. Take as many as you need. Push through those hard runs, push through feeling uncomfortable, push through laziness but never ever push through pain or injury.

A few days off from running or even a week off (if necessary) for recovery is just a blip in your overall training plan. Remember that it is during rest that your body is recovering and getting stronger! Rest is an important part of the equation. Train smart and schedule those rest days for a better race in 2017.

5. FIND A TRAINING PARTNER AND HAVE FUN

Long after the excitement of signing up for a race has faded, you will still need to be training in order to achieve your race-olution. One way to keep it fun and motivating is to find a running partner or sign up for training with an organized group. Joining a running group or boot camp can be a excellent way to get expert advice from a running coach and make some new running friends. 

I am looking forward to achieving my New Year's Race-olution. I'll be running a better race in 2017. How about you? Are you missing any of these in your training plan? Are you ready to make a New Year's Race-olution? Let me know in the comments.

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Coach Lea

I am a NASM personal trainer and RRCA adult distance running coach that specializes in strength training for runners. I offer in-person training in the Shredshed, online training and Fit to Run bootcamps. If you are interested in a more in-depth running or strength training plan, please contact me. Have questions? I'd love to help. 

While I am a certified personal trainer, I am not your personal trainer. Since I don't know your exercise abilities, injury background or medical history, please see your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. This is an opinion blog. No information in this blog is intended to be taken as medical advice or prescription. Please see your doctor and/or registered dietitian for any health concerns.

The Mind Body Connection

I walked into my massage appointment. "How are you today, Lea?" my massage therapist asked. "I'm a mess." I started to explain how my shoulder injury was still persistent and then I recently hurt my back lifting a bin of medicine balls out of my car after my Saturday morning boot camp. He stopped me mid-sentence.

Don't say that about your body, Lea. Your body is not a mess. Tell your body you love it, that you will take care of it, that you are healthy, strong and resilient. Never tell your body it is a mess. Your body achieves what the mind believes.

He nearly made me apologize to my body for saying bad things about it. 

He's right though. I am quick to tell my exercise class that they aren't allowed to say that they can't during a tough session, because whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. By making negative comments about the state of my body, I was not practicing what I preach.

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Tweet this: Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."

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Do I believe that just stating that I am strong and healthy will magically make me strong and healthy? Of course not, but I do believe in a strong mind-body connection. If I tell myself I am strong and healthy and work hard at becoming strong and healthy (which may include rest) than I am more likely to achieve that goal.

If I tell myself I am a mess then my body and mind may just accept that it is a mess...and we can't have that.

I have a shoulder injury, but my back is recovered completely now. I am not a mess. I am a work in progress. I am strong. I am healthy. I am healing. I am resilient. 

2017 is going to be my year. Watch out world. 

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Coach Lea

I am a NASM personal trainer and RRCA adult distance running coach that specializes in strength training for runners. I offer in-person training in the Shredshed, online training and Fit to Run bootcamps. If you are interested in a more in-depth running or strength training plan, please contact me. Have questions? I'd love to help. 

While I am a certified personal trainer, I am not your personal trainer. Since I don't know your exercise abilities, injury background or medical history, please see your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. This is an opinion blog. No information in this blog is intended to be taken as medical advice or prescription. Please see your doctor and/or registered dietitian for any health concerns.

Fitness Voices of Reason: Who I Trust in This Industry

These days there is no shortage of information. Want to learn about fitness, working out or running? There are millions of articles, books, websites and blogs packed full of the all the information you could ever want to know. Herein lies the problem. Information overload. What is the best way to learn new information? The water can get a little muddy between information that is outdated or obsolete and information that is intentionally misleading to sell you something. How do you know what and who to trust? 

Before I became a personal trainer and a running coach, I honestly thought I pretty much knew everything about fitness and nutrition. After all, I had been a fitness enthusiast for over a decade, I read a ton of blogs, books and magazine articles. What more was there? Turns out, a whole lot. You just don't know what you don't know. Until I started the process of getting the education needed to become a fitness professional, I did what most people do, I skimmed the surface of the information available, I took what was valuable, meaningful and made sense to me and threw out the rest. I figured I was pretty equipped to see through the crap. Lose 20 lbs with this miracle shake? Fruit makes you fat? Get in the best shape of your life on 15 minutes a day? BS detector activated! These things were obvious. 

But there is so much more that seems to make sense on the surface, but when you dig a little deeper you realize you're just another layer deep in sales tactics and misinformation. I realized that I had a lot of learn. I am always still growing and evolving. I read a lot, continue to work on certifications, listen to podcasts and talk to people smarter than me to stay up to date on the current trends in health and fitness. 

In the fitness world full of celebrities like Dr. Oz, Food Babe and Tracy Anderson, if you're not careful, it can be pretty easy to be led down the wrong path of misinformation. 

Over the last couple years a few voices have emerged to me as voices of reason. These were the people that I could look to for clarity of information. I know they aren't trying to sell me the latest fitness gimmick or fad. They have established themselves as experts and leaders in their field. These are the people that have proven to me time and time again that I could trust them in a fitness world that can't always be trusted. They are as a whole, committed to moderation in fitness (not extremes), body-positive messages and seeking/spreading the truth. 

ON NUTRITION

JOHN BERARDI - PRECISION NUTRITION

John Berardi is a writer, coach, professor, researcher, speaker and athlete behind Precision Nutrition. I am currently working on my Precision Nutrition Level 1 certification, but I have been following John and the Precision Nutrition blog for about a year. The precision nutrition blog is full of great information on coaching and nutrition that is backed by science and research. No woo or scare tactics to be found, which is all too common in the field of nutrition.

ON STRENGTH TRAINING

TOM VENUTO - BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE

I first bought Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle over 10 years ago as a printable e-book. After I used an entire ink cartridge printing out hundreds of pages, I remember thinking that I was going to cancel all my fitness magazine subscriptions. After everything I learned in this literal encyclopedia of health and fitness I felt like there wasn't anything a fitness magazine could write about that wasn't already covered more accurately in this monster book. Tom has been around for a long time teaching people the basics of strength training, cardio and nutrition. His book led me in the right direction shortly after I kicked off my healthy lifestyle all those years ago and lucky for you, that old ebook is available in hardcover now so you can save your ink cartridge. I love his message that everyone's path to fitness looks a little different and you have to learn what works for you and your body by tracking and experimenting. It was a game changer for me in my fitness journey. 

CORI LEFKOWITH - REDEFINING STRENGTH

When I first stumbled upon Redefining Strength I was hooked immediately by Cori's message of strength and empowerment. She is strong, kind and funny. She offers tons of free workouts on her site and Facebook page and I love The Fitness Hacks Podcast. As a trainer and a gym owner she freely shares her wealth of knowledge about training and business. I've only been following for a short time but Cori made a big impression and I have learned a lot from her already. 

ON THE MENTAL GAME

LEIGH PEELE 

Leigh is a writer, researcher and personal trainer. I love her You Need to Hear This Podcast. While she is extremely knowledgable on weight lifting and nutrition, she talks a lot about the psychological side of health and fitness on her Podcast. I'm always interested in hearing her opinions on hot topics because he responses are always based on science and research. I can count on her to be rational and sensible, something that Is not always easy to find in this industry. 

AMBER ROGERS - GO KALEO

Amber shares a message of inclusion, body-acceptance and moderation. She was probably that first voice I heard many years ago teaching that moderation was something to strive for in this fitness world of extremes. She taught me to look at the fitness industry a little more critically. She also seems to be a voice for people struggling with eating disorders. Lately she has taken to a message of overcoming emotional abuse, which honestly has lost me a little since this isn't something that I personally dealt with, but still is a positive message for the people who need to hear it. 

JAMES FELL - BODY FOR WIFE

I am not sure "on the mental game" is the right category for James Fell. I am not sure he fits into any category. Maybe with James, I use the words "voice of reason" a little loosely. I like him because he is hilarious and he has seemed to have made a career out of calling out the bull shit in this industry. If you are offended by strong language or don't appreciate an in-your-face approach to fitness truth, he may not be the guy for you. On the other hand, if you like to laugh and need a little help wading through the misinformation, he may be your new best friend. He tells the hard truth about all the hot topics (and makes some people very angry along the way, he is worth to follow just for the comments). 

Over the years I learned to tune out the many confusing voices of fitness and tune into a few key people that that have proven to operate on knowledge, science, compassion and truth. While I can't say they aren't selling anything, because they all make their living in the fitness industry selling courses, books, training, memberships, etc. I can trust that they aren't selling lies or misinformation.

Who are your fitness voices of reason? Did I miss anyone? 

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I am a NASM personal trainer and RRCA adult distance running coach that specializes in strength training for runners. I offer in-person training in the Shredshed, online training and Fit to Run bootcamps. If you are interested in a more in-depth running or strength training plan, please contact me. Have questions? I'd love to help. 

While I am a certified personal trainer, I am not your personal trainer. Since I don't know your exercise abilities, injury background or medical history, please see your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. This is an opinion blog. No information in this blog is intended to be taken as medical advice or prescription. Please see your doctor and/or registered dietitian for any health concerns.

How to Transition from Running/Walking Intervals to Running

Welcome the latest edition of Workout Wednesday! This week we are talking about how to transition from running/walking intervals to running without walk breaks.

When you first start running it is very common to use run/walk intervals in order to adapt to running. There is absolutely no shame in walking. A lot of people are very successful running full and half marathons on a run/walk program with very impressive finishing times. If you are happy with your run/walk plan and you're continuing to progress, there is no reason to change your program. However if you're interested in transiting from run/walk intervals to running without walk breaks, I may be able to help you with the plan that worked for me when I first started running.

Most people start in the same place, it is very common be short of breath when you first start running. You have to stick with it through that hard beginning part in order to become a stronger runner. It does get easier, I promise. 

Once you have been performing run/walk intervals for a few months, you may be ready to train to run without walk breaks. I suggest that you have a solid running base before starting this program. You should be running (with walk breaks) several days a week for at least four weeks. Follow the below plan two to three days a week with full rest days in between training days to allow for proper recovery.

HOW TO TRANSITION FROM RUNNING/WALKING INTERVALS TO RUNNING WITHOUT WALK BREAKS

The key to train to run without walk breaks is to first start by taking walk breaks. Hear me out. If you stick with the program you will progress to running without walk breaks.

Walk for a few minutes to warm up. Try some dynamic stretching and/or foaming rolling to warm up before you get started.

Start running at a very slow pace. Go even slower than you think you can maintain. It's better to go too slow than too fast at this point. We can work on speed later, for now we are working on endurance. A slow pace is key.

Run until you feel like you just can't run for one more second, then try to count out 50 more steps. This may help you push past any mental barriers. When your mind says no more, see if your body has 50 more steps. It is important to be sure that you are listening to your body and not your mind. Is your mind telling you can't go on? Or is it your body? Sometimes your mind will tell you to stop, but think about it first. Can I breathe? Are my legs OK? How do I feel physically? If it is just your mind, keep going. Your thoughts can lie, especially when you are trying new things.

Once you are sure it is your body and not your mind slow to a brisk walk. Now here's the key to the whole plan: Only walk as long as you need to in order to recover your breath. It is really important to be honest with yourself and start running again as soon as you are able. When your breathing returns to almost normal It is time to start running again, don't walk for one second longer than necessary.  

Repeat the running cycle. Run as long as you can. When you think you need to stop, try to count out 50 more steps. You are probably feeling uncomfortable, but as long as you aren't feeling any physical pain, push yourself to keep running for just a little bit longer. When you are sure it is your body and not your mind, it is time to walk briskly again to recover.

Start the run cycle again. 

The idea is that you run for as long as you physically can, then walk only as much as necessary. If you continue this cycle, while being completely honest with yourself, over time your run intervals will become longer and your walk intervals will become shorter, until there are no walk intervals at all.

This process can take between four to ten weeks depending on your starting fitness level and dedication to the program. Remember that no matter what you are trying to achieve, consistency with your training is the single best path to success.

I can clearly remember the great feeling the first time I realized that I didn't need to stop for a walk interval, that I could keep running. Don't listen to your mind, listen to your body.

This same technique can be used to improve your running pace. Just replace the walk intervals with slower run internals. Run fast, then run slower to recover until you don't have to run slower anymore at all.

When you set out to run these intervals run according to time and not distance. For example, make a plan to run for 30 minutes, not three miles. You'll find that over time you will be able to cover the distance in less time. 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

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5 Reasons to Hire a Personal Trainer to Reach Your Fitness Goals

You may think I am a little biased on the subject, after all I am a personal trainer, but everyone can benefit from the knowledge, experience and coaching that comes with hiring a personal trainer. Even trainers can benefit from hiring a trainer because most of the time it is not simply about knowing what to do.

5 REASONS TO HIRE A PERSONAL TRAINER

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE/APPLICATION

Most people already generally know what to do to get results, but they still don't have the results they desire. Why is that? Because there is a big difference between knowledge and application. A personal trainer has experience in taking that knowledge and applying it in a way that produces results. If you know what to do, but don't follow through, you'll never reach your goals. A trainer can help you bridge the gap between knowledge and application. 

WORKOUTS VS. PROGRAMMING

You can do a simple internet search and find millions of free workouts every day. There are sites dedicated to every kind of fitness imaginable. You can even find free workouts here in my archives. But there is a big difference between workouts and programming. You can do random workouts and see some results, but a trainer can help you do the most effective, efficient workouts to meet your individual goals.

Is your goal to run faster? To get stronger? Bigger muscles? Lose weight? Your goal will determine your workout program. A trainer can get you on the most efficient path to meet your individual goal so you don't waste your time with workouts that aren't designed with your goal in mind. A good trainer knows how to tweak the variables of your workout to maximize your results.

There are many ways to fitness, individualized programming will get you there by progressing in the proper timeframe (not too fast, not too slow). A trainer can help you take the guess work out of your workouts by looking at the big picture and building a progressive plan to safely meet your goals over an established time period. 

MOTIVATION & COACHING

Even if you can build your own progressive program, you still have to follow through with it to see results. A trainer/coach can provide the motivation and accountability needed to stick with a program. Having a trainer to check in with you in-between sessions, answer questions and provide feedback can be the difference between success and failure.

REAL-TIME FEEDBACK

Speaking of feedback, this is one of the most important roles of a trainer. Anyone can find a program on the internet and start following it exactly as written and hope to see results. The problem is that everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for the next. A coach can give you feedback on your performance and make changes/updates to your program as needed. You may need to progress faster or more slowly than written. Real life obstacles like family emergencies, work travel and injuries can result in getting off track unless you have a trainer to help you adjust on the fly and work through these challenges. 

PERSONAL BIASES

It is human nature to want to work on our strengths and ignore our weaknesses, sometimes we do it on a subconscious level. A trainer can help make sure you are balancing your fitness. Not just by working on correcting muscle imbalances and making sure you build strength in all planes of motion, but also ensuring you are working on your weaknesses and refining your strengths. Our personal biases can make it hard to make objective decisions and can inadvertently lead to unbalanced fitness and possibly injuries.

Convinced? Contact me.

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Coach Lea

I am a NASM personal trainer and RRCA adult distance running coach that specializes in strength training for runners. I offer in-person training in the Shredshed, online training and Fit to Run bootcamps. If you are interested in a more in-depth running or strength training plan, please contact me. Have questions? I'd love to help. 

While I am a certified personal trainer, I am not your personal trainer. Since I don't know your exercise abilities, injury background or medical history, please see your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. This is an opinion blog. No information in this blog is intended to be taken as medical advice or prescription. Please see your doctor and/or registered dietitian for any health concerns.