Personal Rewards

One of the strange things about us, the smartest of all living things, is how sometimes we can make some of the dumbest decisions. We adult athletes, with our super healthy lifestyles are no exception to that rule. How we reward ourselves for being faithful to our healthy life style is a prime example.

We make a good informed decision that something is bad for us so we break the habit of consuming it and take it out of our diet. Then when we have reached a goal we reward ourselves by having some. Soft drinks are great examples of this. However one of the things we discover after being without, for a while, is that the food or drink that we craved, just doesn't taste as good as we expected it to any more.

Rewards should be a step forward just like everything else we strive for in our lives. Taking a day trip, to somewhere interesting, is going to be a much better reward, for reaching a tough goal, than a huge high fat and high sugar meal. From the trip we come away with a nice memory but from the unhealthy meal we just feel guilty and bloated. New clothes are a super gift if your goal was to loose inches and you did. New shoes for going the distance or new shorts to show off those nice definitions, you are starting to get, in your leg muscles. A day trip to a real running store to get your stride and foot type analyzed, so you can be fitted for the proper running or walking shoes, should be one of your first rewards.

A good healthy dinner with friends is a great reward if food is what you are craving, let the atmosphere and the company be the reward not the decadence of the food. A big slab of salmon and steamed veggies are going to make you feel great after and not feeling like you need to take a nap, like a big meal that's high fat or full of sugar would. If you have been eating healthy for a while, you would also feel guilty that you spent the money on food that really didn't taste very good any more.

Going to a destination race is a great goal to train for and also a wonderful reward in it's self. New sights and an amazing experience. Then you have all the good stuff, a reward for your efforts, lots of memories and even a medal to bring home. Put some effort into planning your rewards, that makes them even more special. You changed your life style, that means you also should change the way you reward yourself.

It's not just a step, it's a start.

Dave

Bear Management

A Canadian runner friend told me about a trail race she was competing in, where she was chased by a bear. I said, “That must have been scary”. She replied, “It wasn’t the biggest bear I’d seen and besides as soon as I passed another runner the bear was their problem”. That statement was true and it was symbolic of so much in our lives.

Successful, well adjusted people have just as many concerns as any of the rest of it. The difference is that they meet a problem head on and decide what to do about it. Like the runner with the bear, they don’t panic or complain, they deal with it. You don’t hear them say, “I can’t ever catch a break”. Usually the people you hear say that are not trying very hard to catch anything. They are to busy complaining and trying to justify why they aren’t doing better.

People who make healthy lifestyle changes all have their own bears to deal with. For some their bear is that they are carrying to much weight, for others it might be unhealthy addictions like smoking or it could be an issue with self worth. Stress eating, feeling you can’t function without that regular soft drink even shyness can all be concerns that must be handled. As adult athletes we have bears that are unique to us. An injury can throw us into a panic but that won’t help. We have to calm down and make some decisions, so we can start healing, then get back to our sport.

Some bears are harder to deal with than others but each has to be dealt with when it starts chasing you. As with any other concern, complaining isn’t going to stop that bear, positive action is needed. Take charge and practice good bear management and you will find that life isn’t nearly so over whelming.

It’s not just a step, it’s a start.

Dave

Running and Walking Are High Tech Sports

My career as a recreational runner began around 1971. Looking back now, I was doing everything wrong. Running on the balls of my feet like a sprinter, in a pair of flat deck shoes. I tired quickly. Never even warming up just running hard right from the start. I was in the military and we had to run for fitness, but there was little information back then about how to run properly or the correct equipment to exercise in.

The top rated shoe was the Brooks Vantage and I think number 2 was the Etonic Street Fighter. My budget didn't fit either one, so I went to K-Mart and bought some bright blue track shoes with little rubber spikes on them. They worked better than the deck shoes and I got up to a couple of miles wearing them. When I did have the money for a pair of good running shoes, I thought I was running on pillows. Oh what a difference.

I began to really enjoying running, especially since I learned about warming up. Once my muscles were warm it really started feeling good. That is also when I learned about balancing the muscle groups. My lower back began hurting regularly. I started reading everything I could find about exercise and discovered that back pain can be a result of weak stomach muscles. After doing situps for a few days, my back started to feel better.

In basic training, we exercised in uniform with combat boots. The reasoning behind this was to train in the uniform worn into combat. Trouble is, we didn't learn how to exercise correctly. That was when exercise and physical fitness really started to interest me. My promotion to First Sergeant of the Base Hospital came with responsibility for the fitness of base personnel. I was able to put my knowledge to good use and to gain a whole lot more working with doctors, physical therapists, and nutritionists to design programs for the base. I had Kenneth Cooper's Human Performance Lab in Dallas on speed dial. He was the adviser to the Air Force for physical fitness. His fitness programs were based on the "Aerobics" method of training.

There is new and improved everything on the market now. The challenge is picking the proper equipment. The wrong kind of shoe can cause issues with knees, ankles, achilles tendons and IT bands. Shoes don't just cushion and protect feet any more, now they are designed to correct different gait problems. A wrong shoe can stop an exercise program quickly. It's very important to purchase exercise shoes from a store that has employees trained to fit them properly. It's amazing how high tech, putting one foot in front of the other, has become.

It's not just a step, it's a start.

Dave