BIG PHARMA

Magnesium the forgotten electrolyte

First off what is Magnesium..
Magnesium accompanies calcium in an ideal ratio of 1:2.
When calcium flows into working muscle cells, the muscle contracts, then, when calcium leaves and magnesium replaces it, the muscle relaxes.

Simply put, if the body doesn't have a sufficient supply of magnesium, energy production is compromised

Magnesium is an often overlooked mineral that is actually extremely essential for good health. Unlike some other nutrients, your body is unable to independently produce magnesium. Magnesium is essential for over three hundred different chemical reactions, and is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body. Because of this, it is absolutely essential to consume foods rich in magnesium, or to take magnesium supplements on a regular basis. It’s estimated that we only eat approximately one fourth of the magnesium that’s required for our bodies to be in optimum condition.

What are the benefits of Magnesium?

Magnesium is responsible for many important bodily functions. Maintaining a proper level of magnesium is essential for:

■Proper formation of Bone

■Maintaining normal muscle function

■Releasing energy from muscle storage

■Manufacturing proteins

■Maintaining normal muscle and nerve function

■Regulating body temperature

■Proper absorption of Calcium

What happens when you don’t get enough Magnesium?

Magnesium deficiency is very common, and can manifest with symptoms in virtually every area of the body. Some common symptoms of magnesium deficiency include backaches, headaches, muscle spasms, constipation, abnormal hearth rhythms, insomnia, anxiety, and a tingling feeling in the arms or legs. It’s obvious that magnesium is absolutely essential for good health, and many studies are finally giving magnesium the recognition it deserves as an extremely important mineral.

Why should I take Magnesium with Calcium?

To put it simply, magnesium is the “key” to calcium absorption. In many cases of magnesium deficiency, the cause is actually an excessive intake of calcium. Since childhood, many of us have been educated about the importance of calcium in our diet, but actually, magnesium is just as important. If your body is deficient in magnesium, this causes a spike in a hormone called PTH (pituitary thyroid hormone). This increase in PTH actually prevents any absorbed calcium from being used for bone formation, and instead promotes the calcification of soft tissues. For proper calcium absorption, try to take a calcium supplement that also contains an equal level of magnesium.

What are some good sources of Magnesium?

There are some foods that can help to provide you with an additional source of magnesium in your diet. Incorporating magnesium-rich foods into your daily eating habits can greatly help in maintaining good health. Examples of foods containing high levels of magnesium include:

■Almonds

■Halibut (a type of fish)

■Oatmeal

■Spinach

■Peanut Butter

■Cashews

■Avocado

Take the 100 or 50 Pushup Challenge….if you dare!

You are to work up to perform 100 pushups (or as many as you can) in 5 minutes. If you do not reach 100 then record how many pushups you can do in 5 min below in the comments. You can use your watch to time it, clock or this online stopwatch here.
Scaling by Ability

Scale to your ability level (such as angled pushups with bodyweight straps or against stairs/bench/low wall/couch) and stop after 5 minutes. Do the best you can and report your time and score below in the comments (to help motivate others out there and also compare progress in the future).

Make it a 50 pushup challenge if that is what is needed for you at this time.

For those that think 100 in 5 min is too easy? (which I am not one of those people) Do a larger range of motion with hands on blocks, using straps, or elevated feet. Still too easy? Well then feel free to strap on a weight vest (or put on a backpack full of books or additional weight).

Challenge Tips:

Break your pushups into sets and do NOT go to failure during any set. For example if you can only do 25 pushups max at once, do not do 25 at first. Leave about 2-3 pushups “in the tank”. So in this case do a set of 20-22 and then stop and rest. Then go again stopping 2-3 short of failure.

Or better yet break it down into somewhat easier sets of 10 (until that gets too hard) with minimal rest between. Going to failure will only fatigue your muscles and require more recovery from it (and that 5 min will be up quicker than you know it!)
How to Getter Better by “Greasing the Groove”

The “evil Russian” Pavel Tsatsouline is the one who introduced people to the concept of “greasing the groove”. Below is an excerpt from his article entitled “Grease the Groove for Strength” originally published 1999 in MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes.

Specificity + frequent practice = success. It is so obvious, most people don’t get it. Once I came across a question posted on a popular powerlifting website by a young Marine: how should he train to be able to do more chin-ups? I was amused when I read the arcane and non-specific advice the trooper had received: straight-arm pull-downs, reverse curls, avoiding the negative part of the chin-up every third workout… I had a radical thought: if you want to get good at chin-ups, why not try to do… a lot of chin-ups? Just a couple of months earlier I had put my father-in-law Roger Antonson, incidentally an ex-Marine, on a program which required him to do an easy five chins every time he went down to his basement. Each day he would total between twenty-five and a hundred chin-ups hardly breaking a sweat. Every month or so Roger would take a few days off and then test himself. Before you knew it, the old leatherneck could knock off twenty consecutive chins, more than he could do forty years ago during his service with the few good men!

So if you want to get better at doing a certain movement (more reps in this case), then more frequent practice will help you actually achieve that goal, provided you follow some simple rules:

* This challenge is a test, which will bring you to failure at some point (for most all). Doing a test to failure often will not help as you need more time to recover from it. Just use it once in a while to gauge your progress (like once every couple weeks).
* You never want to go to failure during any “grease the groove” set, and should do sets of about 50% your max reps (so if you can only do 40 pushups to failure, then your sets are around 20).
* Daily practice should be broken up into multiple sessions and spread through out the day (such as doing 20 pushups every couple hours)
* If you are feeling progress slow down, then do less reps/sets during the day.
* Have fun with it, make it a habit like the example above (do 20 pushups everytime you open the fridge for example…or walk into a certain room)

Give it a shot with any exercise that you are looking to improve reps on. You can also modify this for strength work by increasing the resistance (80%+ RMax).

Report below in the comments how many pushups you got, and your time if you completed all 100 in under 5 min. Good luck!

Thursday Night Recap

A huge group down there last night. I would say about 30 people . We ran the IA course first time in a while. It was Chris Glaser birthday. Everyone sang well and had cake...

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution starts tonight on ABC 8pm

What Does A 900lb Gorilla Do?

Anything it wants to!

What is true of a nine hundred pound gorilla is true of the colossus that is the pharmaceutical industry. It is used to doing pretty much what it wants to do. It used to be a pretty good business, but now it’s a stupendous one. From 1960 to 1980, prescription drug sales were fairly static as a percent of US gross domestic product, but from 1980 to 2000, they tripled. They now stand at more than $291 billion a year (This is more than half of total sales worldwide!). Unfortunately, amongst the many events that contributed to the industry’s great and good fortune, none had to do with the quality of the drugs the companies were selling nor lives they are supposedly saving.



The increase in drug spending reflects the facts that people are taking a lot more drugs than they used to, that those drugs are more likely to be expensive new ones instead of older, cheaper ones, and that the prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up (Sometimes several times a year!). At an average cost of $1,500 a year for each drug, someone without supplementary insurance who takes six different prescription drugs (The national average is 14.3!) would have to spend $9,000 out-of-pocket. How many pills does it take to get healthy?

Just last week, a patient of mine who is a local Pharmacist told me that during his grueling 14 hour shift at his Pharmacy they were able to hand out over 1000 prescriptions! That’s around 71 per hour, over 1 per minute, and that was in just one random week-day in a community of 30,000 people….. Say wow. The sad fact is that statistically over 90% of those people will be in line again soon for a re-fill in hopes that they are getting healthier or that they will be able to live more comfortably. But are they?

If the US #1 in drug consumption, #1 in health care spending (excuse me, sick-care costs) and by far #1 in biotechnology research and development, we should absolutely be the healthiest nation on the planet… right? Wrong.

The U.S. has a higher infant mortality rate than most of the world’s industrialized nations
The USA’s life expectancy is ranked 50th in the world
Medical debt contributes to 62% of all personal bankruptcies
The US is worst in preventable death ranking
45% of Americans have at least 1 chronic disease
5/6 people (who are all on the meds by the way) die of heart disease and cancer every year
These sad but alarming stats tell a story of a nation that has totally removed personal responsibility from their health and looks to find health in a quick-fix pill form. There isn’t only one reason that the state of health in our nation is so poor, but I can absolutely assure you that we are not one pill closer to curing cancer, heart disease or diabetes. We are not one treatment closer to promoting optimal health and longevity. The solution lies in making better lifestyle choices most of the time, over a sustained period of time. 95% of your health outcomes are up to you. Plain and simple. There will never be a drug, potion, or powder that will ever make you healthier. There is no silver bullet, no magic wand, or snake oil. Health is simple, it’s just not that easy.

So What Can You DO to Start Getting healthier?

If you take meds, then ask yourself is this pill treating my symptom or correcting my problem? If you come to the conclusion that you still need help correcting your problem, then what you need to do next is audit your lifestyle choices. They fall in 3 categories:

1.EAT
2.MOVE
3.THINK
Your problems will inevitably fall in one of these categories in the form of a toxicity or a deficiency. Our bodies are designed to be healthy, as long as we give ourselves the right sufficient and pure requirements. No matter your health concern, your body will do better EVERY TIME by adding good choices. My recommendation for anyone who wishes to be healthier, no matter who you are, needs to go to www.bonfirehealth.com and start following the program. You will learn about what you need to be doing everyday so you can experience your birthright of true health and vitality. You will find out how to add purity and sufficiency in your life and your family’s life. You will eliminate toxicities and deficiencies and have more energy, better focus, higher quality of life, and help you move away from a life of treating sickness and towards a life of promoting health. Do not wait. You only get one life and one body….why not start today! It is worth it, and you can do it.


Dr. Ryan Hewitt

Track

6's and 8's

600 meters 2:07
800 meters 2:48
600 meters 2:03
800 meters 2:48
600 meters 1:59

Too little salt can be a problem, too

With all the hoopla about reducing everyone's sodium intake lately, it's probably a good time to mention that too little salt can be just as big a problem as too much.

The salt pills at the military base were to prevent hyponatremia (low blood sodium). When exercising for long periods of time or in very hot conditions, sodium losses through sweat can be profound. If blood sodium dips too low, you can experience dizziness, vomiting, loss of consciousness, progressing to seizures, coma, and death. Sodium imbalance caused by profuse or extended sweating can be exacerbated by drinking large amounts of water.

Every year, a handful of marathon runners and long-distance hikers collapse due to hyponatremia. Tragically, some have died because medical professionals mistook the symptoms for dehydration and administered fluids...which made the condition worse. Fortunately, a growing awareness of hyponatremia has reduced sports-related hyponatremia fatalities.

I don't want to scare people unnecessarily: Short exercise bouts are unlikely to be a problem. The conditions you want to be careful of are extended exertion (3 plus hours) and extremely hot temperatures, which increase sweat output.

While it's important to stay hydrated in these conditions, you also need to be careful to replace sodium and other electrolytes as well. Electrolyte drinks such as Gatorade may not be enough to maintain sodium balance during extended exercise in hot weather. In these cases, salty foods or salt pills can be a lifesaver.

Follow up from Yesterday's Post

NYC Half Marathon Results

1st-Kamais Peter Kenya 0:59:53
2nd-Kigen Kipkosgei Moses Kenya 1:00:38
3rd-Trafeh Mohamed USA 1:00:39


Both the men's and women's races in the NYC Half Marathon had unexpected developments mid-race involving the big-name stars of the race.

Gebrselassie Stops
Despite showing no previous indications of suffering, Ethiopian marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie pulled off the road in mile 8, briefly putting his hand to his chest and not showing any sign of injury. At the time, Gebrselassie was running with co-race leader Peter Kamais of Kenya, a 33-year-old 10km road specialist who has run 27:09 on the roads.

Within a minute of stopping, Gebrselassie began running again at a fast pace, but he did not factor in the race after that point.

Kamais would not be challenged again and went on to win the race by a large margin in an impressive time of 59:53 considering the hilly Central Park portion of the race.

American Mo Trafeh, who broke 43:00 in his Gate River Run 15km 7 days ago, ran 1:00:40 to get 3rd.

Kastor's Big Lead Evaporates
Deena Kastor looked to be on her way to a dominating performance with bold front-running in the early miles. Kastor, running alone, built up a lead estimated to be near 200m before British marathoner Mara Yamauchi charged hard in the final miles to catch and pass the American with about 2 miles to go. Kastor tried to hold on to Yamauchi but failed as the 2009 London Marathon runner-up based in Japan and Albequerque won the race in 69:25. Kastor ran 69:43.

His first mile was 4:22.

As soon as the starting gun went off in last weekend’s Gate River Run, a relatively unknown 24-year-old Moroccan immigrant bolted to the front.

His first mile was 4:22.

What was he thinking? Rabbits who start races like this usually fade. The pack reels them in and they learn to regret their mistake. This never happened to Mo Trafeh. Running alone the entire race, he eventually built his lead to 50 seconds. His winning time, 42:58, was the fourth fastest in the race’s 33-year history.

Trafeh didn’t even make top ten in last year’s race. A University of Arizona dropout, Trafeh has no sponsor and makes a living collecting road race purses across the fruited plain.

Hoping to capitalize on his recent victory and grab the attention of sponsors, Trafeh will race in this weekend’s New York City Half Marathon where he plans to go out with the likes of Haile Gebrselassie and Marilson Gomes dos Santos.

Running Times: You placed 12th at the Gate River Run last year. This year you won it. What did you do differently in training this year?

Mo Trafeh: This year I focused on the roads. Last year, I was training for the 1500 and the 5,000. I ran more mileage this year. I was having better workouts—longer workouts—like 1,000 or 2,000-meter repeats. I’m a lot stronger than I was last year and more experienced as far as training and racing goes.


How did you learn to coach yourself?

MT: Let me tell you, since high school, I used to read a lot of books. I learned from the internet and from these books. I was coaching myself in high school when I ran 1:53 [800m], 3:49 [1500m], and 14:26 [5,000m]. All this was from doing my own training—not anybody else’s training. In college, I was training with a group. I was more mature; my body was more mature. But I wasn’t getting any more results, so I decided to go on my own and do my own training. And year after year, I started to get back to where I was—back to my potential and where I should be. I wish I could have gotten better at the 1500, but I have to run the roads to make the money. There isn’t that much money on the track.

You mentioned you’ve read books to learn about running. Which books did you read?

MT: I read the book by Sebastian Coe’s father, Peter Coe: Winning Running: Successful 800m & 1500m Racing and Training. I read Jack Daniels’ book and many articles online about training. I learned differing philosophies from coaches. I learned from other athletes. I trained with Khalid Khannouchi for three months. I lived with him for six weeks and learned a lot from him. There’s no secret; you just have to work really hard.

Your opening mile at the Gate River Run was 4:22. Was that your strategy all along---to shake things up right away?

MT: Yeah, I was planning to do that. With the training I was doing, I knew I could take it out like that and keep a fast pace. I was ready for a really fast race.

You ran the race alone. Were you ever afraid of getting reeled in by the pack?

MT: I was worried, really worried. At the same time I was trying not to use all my energy. I wanted to have something for the last 5K. By the 5K and then the 10K, I knew they couldn’t catch me and that I would win.


I’m guessing that you are in New York City. Is that correct?

MT: Yes. I am in New York to run the half marathon. The New York Road Runners took care of me. They paid for my travel, hotel, and everything.

What do you expect to run at the New York Half?

MT: I would like to run a personal best. I am hoping I can run a low 1:01. But it’s a tough course.

Will you be going out with the leaders who will most likely be on sub-one hour pace?

MT: I’m going to go with them as far as I can and let them take me to a personal best.

Since you’re not sponsored, how are you supporting yourself right now?

MT: I am really good with money. I don’t go out to eat. I cook all the time. If all I have is a couple hundred dollars, I will try not to spend it all and go week by week. I mean I will go to a road race and try to win $500 or $1000. But I don’t want to go to too many, because they take away from your speed. I just do enough so that I can survive.

So you support yourself solely from race winnings? You don’t have a part-time job?

MT: Yes I support myself just from my winnings. I do not have a part-time job right now.

Your web site also talks about the 2012 Summer Olympics. What are your goals for them?

MT: I want to run a really good time in the marathon, make it in the top three, and go to the Olympics. I think I can run a good marathon. I haven’t run one yet, so I’m not sure what that will bring, so my goals could change.

What about making the team for the track events?

MT: I only ran one meet last year. I ran a 1500 and an 800. It’s really hard to make it running track. The money isn’t there. You have to be a part of the group or have sponsors. I do really good training, but I can’t go to the competitions, because they are really far away.

You just won the 15K championships—running the fourth-fastest time ever in the Gate River Run. You were 2nd in the 20K championships last year, and you’ve beaten Abderrahim Goumri, a 2:05 marathoner, in the half marathon, yet you aren’t being approached by any sponsors and have to make ends meet through road race earnings. How does this make you feel?

MT: I like to be the underdog. Once I start running really, really well and I’m hot, I’m sure they are going to go after me. But for now, I’m keeping it low key. I’m trying to improve so that when I sign a contract, I’m signing a good deal.

Fish Oil and Lung Function in Athletes

Reasons to include omega-three fats in your endurance sports nutrition plan

A new study by Iranian and German researchers provides evidence that fish oil supplementation may enhance lung function in athletes. Forty teenage competitive wrestlers were separated into four groups. Two of the four groups received fitness training. One of these two groups also received daily fish oil supplementation. The other two groups received no fitness training, and one of these two groups also received daily fish oil supplementation.

The researchers took several measurements of lung function in all of the subjects before and after the intervention period. They found increases of 41 percent in one-second forced expiratory volume (the volume of air subjects could forcibly exhale in one second) and 53 percent in total lung volume in the fish oil-supplemented groups compared to the non-supplemented groups.

From Wrestlers to Endurance Athletes

Although this study involved strength/power athletes, the results should be of interest to those in 10K training, half-marathon training, marathon training, and triathlon training because the lung function variables measured are associated with endurance performance. But before you get too excited, note that no study has ever found that fish oil supplementation actually enhances endurance performance. For example, a 1997 study by Norwegian researchers found that fish oil had no effect on aerobic power, anaerobic threshold, or running performance in soccer players.

Previous studies have, however, shown other intriguing effects of fish oil supplementation in athletes. A 2008 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, for instance, showed that fish oil supplementation increased heart stroke volume (or the amount of blood the heart pumps with each contraction) and cardiac output (or the total amount of blood pumped by the heart) during low- to moderate-intensity exercise. Again, there is no performance effect shown here, but it is clear that fish oil supplementation does effect the underlying physiology of athletes in ways that can only be described as beneficial.

A Smart Sports Nutrition Strategy

The apparent benefits of fish oil are probably related to the known ability of the omega-3 essential fats in the oil to enhance the flexibility of cell membranes and the elasticity of blood vessels. Omega-3 fats also improve nervous system function and have anti-inflammatory effects.

Because omega-3 fats are scarce in most foods and generally lacking in the American diet, daily supplementation with an omega-3 source such as fish oil or flaxseed oil is widely considered to be a good idea, for health reasons. So even though it still remains to be seen whether endurance athletes can reap specific performance benefits from such supplementation, a daily dose of 2 to 3 g of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA combined can contribute to your overall well-being

Track

Indoor Track was cancel at the last second. I went up there and on the door was a note track cancel. The baseball team was working out in the gym. I talked Patrick into running the workout at the high school.The gates were open and the lights were on. We ran 600 meter builddowns 2:30 rest. The workout started out all right but fell apart at the last 2 intervals. I knew I was going to have trouble going sub 2 on the last two.

2:05
2:05
2:00
2:01
2:03
2:04

World 1500 Meter Championship

Watch the splits.(there's no voice to the video)




We will running at the Joyce tonight probably the same pace....lol

Follow up from my 2-21 post

Here's an interesting follow-up to my recent post How healthy is 100% fruit juice, really?.

A large study, conducted in China finds that people who drink two or more servings of juice a week are 25% more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared to those who rarely drink juice.

This is consistent with another large 2008 study, which also found that increased juice consumption led to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes--but that eating more whole fruit decreased diabetes risk.

Those who view fruit juice as a way to improve their (or their kids') nutrition might want to think again.

Eat fruit. Drink water.

Should You Take a Multivitamin?

Taking a daily multivitamin/multimineral supplement is a personal choice for each endurance athlete. It certainly is not a necessity just because you might happen to be in 10K training, marathon training, or triathlon training. That’s because a balanced diet high in fruits, vegetables, and mostly unprocessed foods should provide you with the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy.

Yet, while it is within the power of each of us to get our vitamins and minerals from our diet, few of us actually do. Particular vitamin and mineral deficiencies are very common in our society, even among athletes who tend to make some effort to control their diet quality. While athletes who have one or more of these common deficiencies would always be best advised to improve their diet, a multivitamin/multimineral supplement can benefit their health and performance while they try to eat better. Here are just a few things to think about if you find yourself shopping for a multi:

• Consider a “real food” multi. These are supplements that contain extracts from real foods and/or vitamins and minerals in the forms found in real foods instead of individual, stripped-down vitamins and minerals, which the body actually treats as foreign chemicals.

• Choose supplements with minerals in chelated form. This means the minerals are attached to proteins, just as they are in real foods, which aids absorption.

• Pick a formulation with enzymes. Certain enzymes help your body absorb vitamins and minerals.

• Eat with your supplement. Take your chosen vitamin and mineral supplement with a meal. This, too, will aid absorption.

• Be careful with iron. Consult your doctor and have your iron levels checked before supplementing with iron. Because iron-deficiency is relatively common in endurance athletes, and especially female runners, many take iron supplements as a form of insurance against deficiencies. But this may lead to iron overload, which can have serious health effects. A recent Swiss study found iron overload in 15 percent of the male participants in the Zurich Marathon

Some or most of this you may have heard this before but it's always nice to have a refresher:

1.Go Gluten- Free: If you haven't tried this before I challenge you to do this for at least 30 days and monitor how you look, feel and perform. Unfortunately there is no cheating with this since it only takes a little bit of gluten every 10 days to keep the gut inflamed.
2.Get adequate sleep. Your health with lack of sleep two days in a row is comparable to someone living with unmanaged Diabetes. Create a routine before sleep. A good sleep aid is Natural Calm.
3.Manage Stress. You can eat on point but if you have a ton of stress in your life it will spike Insulin levels and throw off your hormonal balance. FYI overtraining is a form of physical stress. It's important to de-stress… try some Yoga or Meditation J
4.Post WO recovery is important and the food composition depends on your goal. In general stick to a lean Protein and low/high glycemic carb (depends if you are trying to lean out). Some salmon and broccoli / sweet potato would be perfect.
5.Fish oil!!! We say this all the time, if you are still not taking some …what are you waiting for? Start with .5- 1.0g / 10lbs of body weight per day. (Store your fish oil in the freezer and take it with food only).
6.Eat meat, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds. Nothing in between

Track

8x500 Meters 2 min rest.Chris Negron did his best to make us all look silly out there.He ran the his first seven at 1.32ish. Then on the 8th Donny stepped up to take him on . Chris got him on a photo finish.Chris ran a 1.26....

My times
1.44
1.44
1.43
1.42
1.42
1.41
1.41
1.37


Cool down was tabata push ups....

Sub 4 Minute Mile on March 6 2010

object width="560" height="340">

Let's press on to some other aspects of what sugar can do to us:

•"Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children" (do your children REALLY need a 'treat'? What if you are setting them up for ADD, ADHD, Obesity, Diabetes?!!! Acccckkkkk!)
•"Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children." (Uh oh, did I bring up your children again? Silly me. Sorry. Let's continue).
•"Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection" (Ever get strep throat? How about a urinary tract infection? How many other 'infections' can YOU think of?)
•"Sugar can cause kidney damage" (Uh, no THANK YOU!)
•"Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium." (Osteoporosis?)
•"Sugar can promote tooth decay" (Does your dentist send you yearly 'Christmas Cards'?)
•"Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair" (D'oh!)
•"Sugar causes food allergies" (Any allergic developments happening to you as you age? Eh, eh, eh??)
•"Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver" (Did you know that people who have never had a drink of alcohol in their lives have had 'fatty liver'?!)
•"Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance" (Um, this is a blog topic in itself. Can we say 'Metabolic Syndrome'? Can we say 'Early Menopause'? Depression? Should I continue?!)
•"Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines." (Yeah, again, No Thank You!)
•"Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly" (So I can't blame this one on being a natural blond eh? Dang!)
•Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon (Colon Cancer? Do you know how prevalent this disease has become in this country?
◦"Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, accounting for about 20 percent of all cancer deaths. This year alone, more than 131,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer, and 56,000 will die from it." (Colon Cancer Facts).

How to Deal with Overtraining

Another great article over at Mark's Daily Apple. My current afflictions (tendonitis from lifting and a calf strain that I'm not letting heal properly) are probably from overtraining. I figure I'm not the only one so thought I'd share this post.

The thing about overtraining is that it exists on a spectrum, without clear-cut rules or boundaries. As I said last week, sufficient training volume is entirely subjective, and it’s constantly changing depending on an individual trainee’s goals, nutrition, sleep habits, stress levels, and injury status. What worked well for the last three months might prove to be excessive if your diet gets disrupted. A particularly stressful stretch at the office could undo a heretofore-steady strength progression

How to Deal with Overtraining

Track

I'm actually all right in this picture it just doesn't look it.....



A neat little workout

500 meters 3 min rest 300 meters 3 mins rest repeat 3 times

500 m 1:40
300 m 0:58
500 m 1:37
300 m 0:56
500 m 1:35
300 m 0:54