Running to Think

Monday, 10 March 2014

The GAINS of breakfast

I’m not the type of athlete who ever skips breakfast. I truly believe those who still claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Several studies actually prove this fact even though very few people are aware of how important breakfast really is.

As an actively sportive person, very keen towards nutrition and quite pragmatic, when it comes to nutrition and sports, let me summarise here the fundamental facts of breakfast.

ives you an energy boost
A well balanced breakfast that contains the essential macro and micro nutrients will give you enough energy to get through your day. Fibers, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A are just a few of the many nutrients that will help boost your energy level. Oatmeal with a tea spoon of honey, some nuts and one kiwi is an example of a nutritious breakfast (besides what I personally eat every morning)

llows you to focus betterWhenever I skip breakfast, which happens very rarely, my concentration level is really low. One cause of this troublesome situation can be explained with the fact that, for instance, going to work without eating breakfast first is basically equivalent to preventing yourself from fuelling and still burning calories. A body lacking glucose, the sugar that supplies energy to the brain, cannot just work at his full potential. How do you get glucose? Breakfast, of course.

ncreases your metabolism rate

Despite the complex evolutionary adaptations that our body has gone through, the reality is quite different: our body still operates as some thousands years ago. Whenever cavemen didn’t have breakfast (which, by that time, it was clearly not called like that), they usually didn't have any food for the rest of day. As a result, their metabolism went into a state of energy conservation, namely a slow metabolism rate. Can someone explain to our body that we are not living in stone age anymore? Because that's how our genetic compounds really work

o more LDL cholesterolLDL stands for Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol. In simpler terms, the bad cholesterol. When too much bad cholesterol is circulating in the blood, a series of bad things can happen, such as the formation of clots in the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart and the brain. This, in turn, can lead to dramatic consequences, as everybody knows.
Studies have shown that eating breakfast regularly can help to decrease the level of LDL cholesterol.

taves off heart attacks
A study from Harvard School of Public Health found that men who regularly skipped breakfast had 27% higher risk of heart attack or death from coronary heart disease than those who did eat a morning meal. Skipping breakfast increases the risk of high cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, which are all heart disease risk factors. Waking up, switching on the news, preparing some breakfast and take some time to consume it is a good plan that might reduce the risk of having a heart attack. Isn't it great?

This list is not exhaustive, of course. I just wrote some good reasons to start your day with breakfast. Bear in mind that not all breakfast is good. Breakfast is just like fuel for a car. The better the fuel, the cleaner it will burn, the less it will pollute and the more efficient the engine will be.

Can you read it now? Breakfast can only give you GAINS. Have breakfast!
Love,

Caroline

Sunday, 9 March 2014

Dried fruit, yet another misunderstanding

Unknown 16:19:00 dried fruit , misunderstanding 0 Comments

Have you ever been walking around after a workout, chilling in the city and suddenly got the feeling of eating a cow? (allow me the expression, I shouldn't say this as a vegetarian)
So far, the best advice I could give to myself was "eat fruit!". This would usually give me two solid hours before dinner.
Years and years of eating fruit in such situations made this habit quite boring, forcing me to switch to something a bit different than fruit: dried fruit.

Here in Spain, as in other mediterranean countries, dried fruit is usually sold together with fresh fruit. What I personally consider an advantage of dried fruit is that it's cheap, compact and easy to carry, especially whenever I am visiting the city and I am really not in the mood of carrying a bag of two kilos of fruit for me and Caroline.

Turns out that dried fruit is yet another misunderstanding in my apparently-limited-knowledge about nutrition. One benefit of living with someone who studies nutrition for sport consists in realising that eating dried fruit is wrong!!

I honestly got fooled by fruit in "dried fruit", a label that can easily fool many, I am sure.
Dried fruit contains a lot of bad things that make it worse than regular fruit, such as much more sugar and chemicals that keep it coloured and beautiful (I am personally attracted by this feature). As a consequence, it gives many more calories still being less nutritious.

Therefore no more dried fruit! Not for me.

Saturday, 8 March 2014

Summary of week #9

Unknown 10:33:00 running , schedule 0 Comments

I dedicated week 9 to exploring the country side around Cantoblanco, the district of Madrid where I am staying. As I mentioned earlier the terrain is quite diverse, giving me a series of options that I choose according to my schedule. Regardless the terrain that can be simply road or rocky or sandy or muddy, what really characterises this place is the elevation. It's not possible to run for longer than 1 km without hitting a hill which usually kills my legs or slows me down at the point that I have to reconsider my will to keep that pace longer.
The average milage of the last three weeks was 110 km. Week 9's was just a bit above it.

24/02/2014
Coming from a 19km run at progressively higher pace, the run of a monday is usually easy and slow. This reflects a bit the mondays at the office, during which people get familiar with their new (working) condition

25/02/2014
Rest was just what I needed

26/02/2014
Probably one of the most adventurous running experiences I had in the last few years. I wrote about it here. As a recap, I ran for 30 km on the hills near Tres Cantos, with a bull chasing me and dogs so close to my legs they were probably confident of seeing two big sausages instead

27/02/2014
Easy run and stability exercises, following the schedule of the physiotherapist to prevent injuries of ankles and feet

28/02/2014
Second expedition to El Pardo, following a dry rocky road, climbing short and steep hills. I'm still aware that terrain would be more indicated for cyclists on a mountain bike rather than runners. A total of 30 km and dumb legs. Of course...

01/03/2014
Easy run again. No exercises this time. I felt so stiff that the only thing I would have liked to do was sitting in front of a beer and a boccadillo de tortilla. Which I did.

02/03/2014
Purpose of the day was to keep the milage high. Another expedition to El Pardo, with a total of 30 km did it.

Friday, 7 March 2014

The ugliest feet

Unknown 09:59:00 eco trail paris , feet 0 Comments

I've no memories of cute feet. I've never had unhealthy feet either and that's something I am proud of. Increasing the milage, switching from road to trail shoes and back, keeping my feet more wet than dry are all contributing to make my feet look ugly ugly ugly.
I think I've never seen my feet this ugly. And that's something I am proud too.
Why?
Because these feet are carrying me in the country, on the road, on hills and valleys, crossing rivers and jumping stones, in the mud or on the rocks.
The higher milage of the last three weeks gave me quite a lot of blisters which literally destroyed the skin under both the feet and between the toes.
Even though walking on dry surfaces without shoes nor socks solved the problem, the higher milage and the new trail shoes became the perfect combination to turn some toe nails black. I even had to pierce a nail to decrease the pressure of the blood underneath and alleviate some pain. The pain didn't really bother me for daily activities like going to work or just walking around. Running downhill with a black nail full of blood pushing agains the toe box of the shoes at each step... well, that was painful indeed.
But let me spare such details...

Now that the first ultra of the year is closer and closer I feel like thinking about the good stuff instead, such as my physical and mental conditions. What can I say? So far so good! and let's keep fingers crossed.
Approaching the last week of intense training is a relief that I was waiting for a long time. I feel like a sling ready to shoot, because there's nothing else to do.

Wish me luck!