My favorite post-long run snack!

Want a recipe to recover fast after a long or hard run?

The simple formula is this:  Timing + What You Eat = Fast Recovery!

There is a window of opportunity post workout where your muscles are like a dry sponge – 30 to 90 minutes after you’re finished. When you eat during that window, you provide your muscles the essential nutrients to quickly recovery … allowing for another strong and effective workout next time out.

What you eat is JUST as important as when you eat … and The Optimum Recovery Ratio suggests ingesting one gram of protein for every four grams of carbohydrates.

My 3-year old daughter and I created a very tasty snack that fits closely into the optimal Recovery Ratio ... it's awesome ... and guarantees your kids will eat some extra fruit!

Kayla's Reese Delight

• Place 1 robust tbs. of crunchy peanut butter (low fat and/or organic) into a coffee cup - zap in the microwave for 35 seconds to soften 
• Pour an ounce of organic low fat milk, or almond or soy milk into the melted peanut butter - stir vigorously until mixture becomes a thick liquid 
• Drop in one full scoop of chocolate Beverly Muscle Provider - mix together thoroughly. You may need to add a little more milk to adjust the consistency - it should be a thick dipping sauce.
• Then dip a banana, sliced apples, grapes or strawberries into this heavenly delight ...and ENJOY!!!

There you have it – a delicious treat that even the kids will love!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

This Week's Training

I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving!

This week’s running, for those training through the holidays, includes normal timed runs tomorrow and Thursday, and a tempo run on Saturday. The pace/tempo run will be run at your ideal or goal marathon pace for 4 of the 10 miles, and an easy pace for 6 miles.

So, we'll do an easy pace for 5 miles, then your tempo pace for 4 miles, then the final mile easy again (as an example). For me my tempo pace will be around 8:20 per mile (my Flying Pig goal is 4 hours or better). You can use the McMillan calculator to determine your tempo here: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/cgi-bin/calculations.pl.

More info on tempo runs can be found in last week's post - click here.

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - XT
Tuesday - Run 45 min
Wednesday - XT
Thursday - Run 45 min
Friday - XT
Saturday - 10 miles, 4 at tempo

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - XT
Tuesday - Run 30 min
Wednesday - XT
Thursday - Run 30 min
Friday - XT
Saturday - 4 miles slow

Your Friend in Fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105
www.CincinnatiFitness.com

This Week's Running Update...

This email was supposed to go out yesterday, but we had a snafu with the email program...sorry it's a day late!

This time of the year things begin to get a bit more hectic as we move closer to Thanksgiving and the travel, social & family events kick in. I’m going to continue to send out weekend running updates (without much new running information) that you can modify to fit your schedule. Come January, we’ll get much more specific and focused as a group in training for the Flying Pig.

Also, if you’re experiencing any joint pain or other injury, now is a good time to maintain your current fitness level with some cross-training. I’m going to use the next 2 weeks to alleviate some foot pain I’ve been having lately by using the elliptical machine.

In addition, if you are a 5-day per week boot camper AND running on a regular basis, your body may be ready for a little bit of a break. Doing too much leads to overtraining and diminishing returns from exercise. Remember that improvement occur only during the rest period following hard training. If sufficient rest is not available then complete regeneration cannot occur. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists then performance will eventually plateau and decline. Overtraining can occur from either too much training or too little rest, or often a combination of both.

If you’re feeling consistently tired, lethargic, weak, or sick, these are classic signs of overtraining. The solution lies in reducing your mileage and/or eliminating a run or two over a couple of weeks. Just listen to your body and do what’s best for you.

And finally, the Oakley running group will now be meeting at our studio through mid-April as boot camp has moved to Cincinnati Tae Kwon Do (next to the studio) for the winter.

Here’s this week’s outline for you to incorporate as you see fit:

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 45 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 9 Miles

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 30 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 30 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 3 miles slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105www.CincinnatiFitness.com

This Week's Running

Below is the schedule for both running groups this week.

Again, feel free to modify your time and distances as appropriate for your November/December running goals.

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - 12 x 400 Intervals or 45 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 Mins- easy
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 9 Miles: 4.5 Easy, 4.5 pace*

*Your goal pace is your ideal per mile pace for your next long event, for me it’s a half marathon evaluation on December 27th. Here’s a great calculator you can play with to estimate your pace times for various events and training: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm.

More info on Tempo/Pace runs can be found in last week's post - click here.

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 25 Mins
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 25 Mins
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 2.5 Miles Slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105
www.CincinnatiFitness.com

Final Preparation...

Are you ready for Sunday? Here are some reminders and notes for the weekend...

Packing: Think of all the steps and things you’ve needed for each of our long runs and make sure those items are packed for Sunday morning. Don’t forget your GU, sports drinks, shoes, Glide, running belt (if you use one), running gear, change of clothes after the race, etc. A friend in Columbus said Sunday morning is supposed to be very cool. Pack both cold and moderate temperature running gear. Click here for Columbus weather.

Carb Loading and hydration starts today! Make sure every meal contains whole grain carbs and plenty of water from now through breakfast on Sunday. Remember, we need half our body weight in ounces of water for optimal hydration. A 150 pound person should be drinking at least 75 ounces, or slightly more.

Your Race Plan: Mentally plan out how you’re going to run on Sunday. Take caution in starting too aggressively (which is likely to biggest reason for a slower than anticipated time). It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the event...or have your competitive juices kick in when the gun goes off...or even to just forget to check your pace with each mile marker.

When you start too fast, your body shifts into your anaerobic energy system immediately, bypassing the aerobic system, quickly depleting your top energy system. At a slower, aerobic energy system pace, you can go for a long period, then when you’re ready to kick up your pace, you’ll have several miles of your top energy system available.

Plan your race out in segments and make sure you have plenty of gas in the tank for the home stretch. Check your times at each mile. For example, if your goal is to finish in 2 hours and 20 minutes, you should be averaging about 10:30 per mile. Your first mile will be around 10:30, second mile at 21 minutes, third mile around 31:30, etc.

Start slow. You can always pick up the pace later.

For those who’d like to fraternize Saturday night and after the race on Sunday….

Saturday’s Dinner: We have reservations at Buca Di Beppo, located at 343 North Front Street, at 7:30 for dinner. Click here for map and directions. The restaurant’s number is 1-614-621-3287. Please confirm with Leigh (leigh@healthstylefitness.com) that you are coming so we can formalize our reservations.

Sunday’s Post-race Lunch: We’re heading over to Champps, located at 1827 Olentangy River Rd. Click here for map and directions. Or you can just follow us over (no reservations needed).

Contacting us in Columbus: You can reach me at 513-325-0886 and Leigh at 513-255-7308.

Remember on Sunday Morning…

The hard part is done.
Have fun.
Enjoy the experience.

Don't think about the 13.1 miles - chunk it down.
One mile at a time.
One minute at a time.
One step at a time.

The only thing you have control over on Sunday are the thoughts that enter your head – your preparation is done - your nutrition is done - your clothes you are going to wear are figured out - it's just your thoughts that are left.

Keep them positive and you cannot lose.

Sunday - you'll be a Half Marathon Champion.