Question

I haven’t worked out or conditioned in years. I am running a 5K in less than a week. What do I need to do to prepare?

Well—this is an interesting question.

Obviously, you should have started training for this event several weeks in advance—but since you haven’t and you’re going to go ahead and run it anyway, I am going to assume that you’re participating in this event for fun.

Awesome!

Depending on how deconditioned you are, this race is likely going to be a challenge for you.

Since you don’t really have time to get your body in shape for the race, all you can do is make sure you don’t do anything drastic that could make you sick or prevent your from finishing.

1. Don’t try to pack 6-8 weeks of conditioning in to the few days before the race. This will just make you sore so you’ll be better off just resting or going for an easy jog. If you had even a week or two more to prepare, my advice would be different. But you don’t.
2. Eat like normal. Hopefully, you’re eating healthy foods already. If not, try to make sure you’re getting your veggies, fruits, proteins, good fats and good carbs in. I wouldn’t try anything drastic like carb loading or anything if you haven’t tried this technique before as it could give you unpredictable results during the race.
3. Drink plenty of fluids between now and the race. Use the pee test: if your pee is translucent, you’re ok. If it looks like the color of lemon lime Gatorade when you dump the whole box of powder in, then you probably need to go fill up your water bottle. Or heck–just go to the nearest faucet and starting sucking back some H2O straight from the tap!
4. Have fun! Don’t expect to break any world records. You’re probably doing this for fun or for a charitable cause, which is great—so leave it at that. If you happen to be a very competitive person or if you were a competitive runner in the past, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t set any personal records..

It’s OK. Next time, just make sure you train!

Maybe this race can serve as a starting point for you to start a conditioning program—either for another race in the future of just for health benefits. Use the race as psychological momentum to get yourself active again.

Good luck and have fun!

Technorati Tags: 5k, endurance training, Momentum, Performance, running

I just read a great post over on Mike Robertson’s blog, titled Metabolic Momentum.

Have you ever noticed that there are some people who are in great shape and have low body fat, but don’t exactly strike you as perfect eaters?

I know I have..

You may see someone who likely has a six pack out at a sports bar having beer and wings on the weekend.. or munching on a few fries. Heck, I know some people with great physiques who seem to have a terrible sweet tooth on occasion.

So what’s the difference between this person and the person who is frustrated and fed up, having troubling reaching their goals, even when they try to eat healthy?

The answer (or at least part of the answer), as Mike pointed out, is that the fit person has Metabolic Momentum working in their favor.

What do I mean by this?

While you may see someone with a killer body treating themselves to something sweet or greasy on the weekend, what you may not see is that they have been disciplined in their eating for a decent period of time before this “cheat meal”. They are exercising and working their butt off in their training sessions and are consistently eating high quality foods–and often enough to keep that metabolism churning like a madman.

Their metabolism is at such a high level from having a healthy routine of exercise and proper nutrition, that a couple of fries or wings isn’t that big a deal–their body has become a super calorie-burning machine and sure as heck won’t be stopped by a couple of pieces of fried grease.

It’s because of MOMENTUM..

Think about when you ride a bicycle.

If you start off from a stop, you have to pedal really hard in order to get the bike moving. As you keep pedaling hard and putting in the necessary work, the bike begins to move faster and pedaling gets easier until you’re at a relatively high speed.

So what would happen if you came across a small incline in the road that lasted a few yards?

Well if you had enough momentum, it wouldn’t be that big a deal–you’ll coast up the hill, not have to pedal much harder, and keep moving relatively quickly and easily once you’re over.

The same principle applies when burning Calories. You’ve worked hard all week, have eaten the right foods with the right frequency, and you have been busting your hump during the week at the gym.

With all that momentum you’ve built up, do you really think a couple of chicken wings and a beer is gonna slow you down?

Hell no.

So ask yourself a question. When I eat garbage, is it the norm? If it is, you need to stop it.

Your thought process should go something like this: “I know this is not a great thing to put in my body, but I can get away with it because it’s not something I eat very often and I know I’ll get back on track with my diet right away.”

So get on track with your diet, and get your hard exercise in during the week.

Start building yourself some momentum!

Technorati Tags: Discipline, fat loss, meal frequency, metabolic-momentum, metabolism, Momentum, Nutrition