You Are What You Eat Pt 1

Happy hump day!

            I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday! I love food and I have always struggled with deciding what to eat before a workout or meet. After four years of being an avid runner, I have come up with these helpful tips and I hope they benefit all of my fellow athletes:

·      Eat carbs: This was a major food group that was stressed to athletes in my sport’s teams. In cross-country we would always have spaghetti dinners the night before a meet. Eating carbs the night before creates and stores energy that is beneficial for a quick and fast workout. The best foods for this group would include whole wheat noodles, bread, rice, oats and even potatoes.

·      Light meals: In the summer I highly enjoy running in the early morning. The down side of running in the morning is you usually don’t have food in your system. I have tried many different choices on what to eat before a workout but my greatest piece of advice has been small meals.

Normally in the morning I am not hungry but I usually force myself to eat. My pre-workout meal normally consists of one plain toasted Eggo waffle and a half of a banana. This meal is just heavy enough for me to get some substance to gain energy and not vomit during the workout.

·      Water: Water is a runner’s best friend. Every since I have become a runner/athlete, water has been an essential part of my life. Some people believe that if you just drink water slightly before and after a workout you will stay hydrated. That is not true. The best way to stay hydrated is to drink water constantly though out the day. My coach used to always say “if you don’t have water on you, you aren’t a true athlete”, and I now take that very seriously.

The best rule of thumb on drinking water is that you should drink fluid ounces of water according to a specific formula.  Women should drink their body weight * .31.  Men should drink their body weight * .35.  (This is according to Runners World). It is totally acceptable to drink more but try to drink no less than this amount.  The benefits of drinking water are less cramps and just an all around better workout.

Since I have been in college and I don’t get to enjoy meals with my family I seem to miss out on praying before a meal. The verse that my family would reference during our prayers was Luke 22:19-20 “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me.”

Praying before you eat may seem like a hassle and awkward at times but it is humbling to take a step back and be thankful for what we are blessed with. I challenge you this week to when you are grabbing a quick snack in between classes or eating food in the union to just take 30 seconds and say a quick prayer thanking Jesus for the food you are receiving.

Have a blessed rest of the week!

Jamie

Cross Training

Greetings,

            I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful week. I was thinking about workouts today and how sometimes running gets old. If you are ever bored or injured it is a good idea to “cross train”. Cross training is just doing some alternative exercises that work other muscles while at the same time keeping muscles in shape.

There are many things that you can do to cross train. My top two favorite cross training activities are biking and swimming.

Biking is my favorite cross training activity. Biking can be done two ways.  You can either ride on a real bike on a beautiful trail or go to the gym and use a stationary bike.

If you want to go on an actual bike ride, plan do about double your usual running distance or more to get a good workout. You can experiment with hills, speed, and trail conditions and even just a new environment.

If you want to do a workout on a stationary bike, the options are endless. You can experiment with resistance, time and speed. The possibilities are endless. Just remember to keep your heart rate up and get a good workout.

If you cross training by swimming, your workout depends on your comfort level in the water. When I swim for cross training, I usually start by swimming three laps down and back in the pool. Then I take a few quick breather and “run” down and back four times. I then repeat this workout and end it with a casual swim to cool down. This workout may seem short but trust me it takes effort.

Sometimes working out makes you sore and want to quit. Just remember that the more you work out the more you will love it and crave it. Just like Jesus. Keep Jesus in your life. Even if it is just a few minutes a day, take a few minutes and thank him for everything. Psalm 106:1,“Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever”.

Have a wonderful week,

Jamie

The Winning Stretch

Hello,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I was recently thinking about being sore after a workout. I am a college student; I admit that I don’t work out every day like I should. Once I do workout I am usually sore the next day. There is only one way to effectively prevent soreness: stretching.

I have a lot of favorite stretches, but these are my favorites:

1.     Figure-Four: This stretch is probably one of the most well-known running stretches. To do this stretch sit on the ground and extend one leg out forward and bend the other one leg in towards the groin.

It should essentially look like a four. Next slowly try to grab your ankle. The common misconception is to grab your foot, but grabbing your ankle reduces the pulling and straining of muscles. This stretch stretches your calf muscles and just feels great.

Repeat with the other side.

2.     Calf Stretch: This is a very easy stretch to do.  Basically all you need is a wall. What you need to do is face the wall and put the bottom of your foot against the wall. Your foot and leg should form a “V” with your ankle being the vertex. This again stretches your calf muscles.

Repeat with the other foot.

3.     Hip Swings: This stretch should be done both before and after a run. What you need to do is find a pole, wall or anything that you can keep your balance on. Stand facing the pole, shoulder length apart and simply swing your leg back and forth. You can face the wall for some or standing perpendicular to the wall. This stretch loosens up your hips and gets you ready for a great workout! For a more detailed description on hip swings see the video http://bit.ly/1ab7fq0.

Repeat with the other side.

4.     ABC’s: This is my absolute favorite stretches. Since I have previously had ankle problems, these saved my life. This stretch just requires you to sit on the ground with one leg out and the other bent held up against the chest. Then with the leg up against the chest, use that ankle and simply “write” all of the letters of the alphabet with your foot. This loosens up your ankle and again reduces injury.

As before, repeat with the other side.

Many people overlook stretching and feel like they don’t have enough time or they are strong enough to go without it. This is surprisingly very similar to Jesus. People believe that they don’t need any help and can do it well all by themselves. It may work for a while but sooner or later it will leave them broken. Just remember Psalm 32:8, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

Have a great week.

Jamie

Light Post Run

Hello friends,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. The weather is getting colder and I am more excited than ever. Fall makes me want to combine my exercise with nature.  Naturally, I have a really “fun” workout to get you out in the fall weather and enjoy the quickly changing leaves.

This workout I call the “Light Post Run”. This workout can be done anywhere but I am customizing it to be done on the block surrounding Washburn University.  The map of the route is posted below. 

The main point of this workout is to improve sprinting abilities.

I went out and counted the number of street lamps on SW Washburn Avenue. After a peaceful run I learned that there were about 40 street lamps on each street.

For this workout, you vary your speed based on the amount of street lamps passed. So when I tested out this workout I sprinted and passed five lamp posts. After I passed five, I proceeded to jog at a slower place and passed three more. Then I started up again sprinting and completed that side with eight repetitions.

After I completed that one side I started on the SW 21^st Street side and then turned on MacVicar Avenue. Normally I would have completed the whole block by doing the same thing on SW 17^th St but since they are redoing the street I thought doing one less side would encourage me to do the sprinting portion at a faster rate.

This run can be done down any street with light posts.  Just pick how many light posts you want to sprint past, then how many you want to jog past.  While you run, enjoy the changing leaves.  

Finally, to celebrate a good workout, find a big leaf pile to jump in and celebrate a job well done.   Workouts are hard, but they should also be fun.

Today I picked the Bible verse: “He will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.”   Psalm 91:11. While running anywhere one needs to be aware of their surroundings. It doesn’t matter if it is on a sidewalk, a trail or in the woods. But no matter where you are exercising or just living, remember that God and Jesus are protecting you.

God Bless,

Jamie

View Larger Map
View Larger Map

Running Brands

Hello World,

I hope everyone had a blessed week. I know the weather hasn’t been very fall-ish but trust me it will happen soon.

As I said in my last post, I am going to be talking about certain running apparel that I enjoy the most.  I hope these brands are helpful.

First off I’ll start with leggings. I have many favorite leggings and enjoy using all of them very much. But my favorite brand is Under Armour. I have had small and skinny legs my whole entire life, so finding leggings that actually fit tight to my legs has been difficult. 

Under Armour leggings fit the bill.  The “Woman’s UA Perfect Rave Legging” work wonderfully. This pair is wonderful because instead of just having an inseam down both sides it also has a seam that goes behind the knees which makes it tight. The link is http://bit.ly/1bphtq0.

Next are gloves. Using gloves is very subjective based on the runner. But my favorite brand is Nike. Nike makes many types of gloves but my favorite pair is called “Nike Lightweight Tech”. 

I like this pair because they are lightweight, colorful and even have a place to put my key. I love these gloves so much I even have two pairs. These gloves run about $20 and are totally worth the money. If you are interested, the link is http://swoo.sh/1638P21.

Ear warmers are one of the most important things to wear in the cold winter months. I have tried just “ear muffs” but they always seemed to fall off. My favorite ear warmers are “TNF Standard Issue Ear Gear”.  

This ear warmer is essentially an item that is worn as a headband but is larger to cover your ears. It is made of a thin material but keeps your head warm and dry. It runs about $20 and comes in a variety of colors. I would highly recommend this product and you should defiantly check out the product at http://bit.ly/1hP5CDi.

There are many other products that should be mentioned as some of my favorites but I’ll leave the exploring up to you.   Take some time and stroll through your favorite sport’s apparel store.  Try on several styles and decide what works best for you.  I hope some of my favorites will soon be some of your favorites also.

This week has been difficult for me personally but Jesus has gotten me through. This week’s Bible verse is Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

This verse didn’t correlate to running in my own mind but instead to real life. One thing I have learned in college is that sometimes things don’t go as planned. When that happens one must have faith that Jesus has a plan and it will prevail in the end.

Have a blessed week!

Jamie