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Let me explain: You train for an event...a 10k. A marathon. An Ironman or Half-Ironman. Fitness competition of some sort.
You taper, conduct your event, and have a post-race cheat meal. Life is good.
Now what? Resume your standard training regimen? Take some time off?
Let me offer this suggestion to you - do another race. What? I just did a race. You're crazy.
Not the next day mind you, but a week later - or two weeks later. Pick a shorter race than the one you trained for and have fun with it. Enjoy the competition. Have fun.
For example, if you trained for a Half-Ironman, you put some serious hours preparing for the race, but once you recover from that race, all of that fitness that you gained didn't just disappear. It's there, so why not use it!? Run a 10k. Run a 5k. Do an Olympic distance triathlon.
I recently completed what was probably my 80th + Army Physical Fitness Test a couple of weeks ago. I did just fine on it, especially considering that I took it by myself. As I prepared for the APFT, I ran a lot of intervals to dial in my pace for the 2-mile run.
I took the test on Friday. On Monday, I wanted to see if I could run a 21-minute 3-miler...a decent standard for a 225-pound Army dude. You know what? It was pretty easy...I ran relaxed and enjoyed the mini-challenge I had set for myself following the APFT. I also knocked out 20+ pull-ups because I had been doing a lot of pull-ups and wanted to assess where my max effort was at, another fun challenge to see what my hard work had produced.
My example is on the absolute micro-scale.
While there may be exceptions to what I'm suggesting (a full IM will take some time to recover from before you dive into your next event), I think too often we train for a specific event and then just return to our "normal" training without trying to fully capitalize on the hard work we've put in over the last 2-3 months.
As you begin your training for whatever "big" event you're training for this summer, I encourage you to look a couple of weeks beyond it and see if you can find another race or two - on the smaller scale - and just go out and have fun and see what you can accomplish with the pressure of your big race in your rearview mirror.
Train hard! Have fun!
-Ed
One of the more popular recent voices on the subject promotes a plant-based diet in a big way: The Game Changers. This Netflix special proposes eliminating meat from your diet and replacing it with plant-based sources of protein and nutrition.
Having spent years as a vegan and understanding the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, I couldn’t help but agree with many of the points brought to light in the film.
As a medical doctor, I saw a fundamental flaw in his information: plant-based proteins do not contain enough of each essential amino acid for most of to provide their bodies the wherewithall to optimize body protein synthesis. This is a fact observed through my own experience, through the experience of my patients, and backed by scientific research.
You know that the cardiovascular system is responsible for pumping blood and oxygen throughout your system, right? And that the endocrine system manages hormones? And that your nervous system relays messages throughout your body?
Well, underlying all these systems is an astoundingly complex electrical system.
This electrical system is busy sending an almost uncountable number of messages to the muscles, bones, brain, and the cells. The human brain is the home to approximately 100 billion neurons, each firing about 200 times every second.
Sometimes it feels like there are more types and brands of water than drops in the ocean. You go to the grocery store and discover a huge shelf packed with different brands of water that all claim to be health-beneficial. Add in the hundreds of in-house water purifiers, and it can seem like a “sea” of confusing options (cue the pun).
Thankfully, your choice doesn’t have to be that complicated.
