It's Okay To Fail

Sometimes we can't hold on. We have to let go, give up, start over. That's okay. Failure is a part of life. When it comes to being active failure is HUGE. Without failure we lose the drive to get better.

There are those days when we just don't feel like doing anything. We want to sit on the couch all day, watching something on Netflix, all while stuffing our faces with Cheetos or Doritos. This is okay, but what we need is to forget about all of that. Just remember that the only workout you'll ever truly regret is one that you don't do. It's okay to be lazy, it's in our nature.

Getting over the laziness is part of life. Yes I am trying to teach a life lesson here. When you don't feel like going through the physical trouble to accomplish something.....DO IT. Forget the laziness, ignore it and do what you have to.

If you fail, good. If you don't, you will eventually. It's a fact of life. BUT, that's what we want. Our character is measured by the amount of effort we give and how willing we are to get back up when we fall. 

As I like to say: "Sometimes if you want to dig deeper you need to have a cave in." 

Don't give up. Never back down.

Photo credit: Eneas De Troya

Rest or Be Forced to Rest

For those you morons who think that rest days are the worst thing ever invented....you're a moron. Rest days are very vital to our exercise experience. Even Olympians have rest days.

 What happens is over time during workouts our muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and joints become "injured". Our muscles tear and our joints strain, this is when our immune system starts to kick in and begins to repair them. BUT if we don't take rest days and are constantly practicing, our immune system cannot keep up with us. Repairing the muscle tissue is where we see the muscle growth and naturally the secret to "getting big".

 The level of rest depends on your fitness level and/or sport. Sometimes for some people a rest day just consists of easing off on your workout and others consist of no workout at all. Either way, rest days could be considered one of the most important parts of working out.

 We need to allow our bodies to rest and heal, this way we can prevent injuries. Constant work with injuries such as shin-splints can create more damage and over all destroy any career that was possible. You can't work when your injured, so basically you just lose all of the progress preceding your injury.

Don't injure yourself and lose all of the hard work you've done, take a break. Rest up!

(Info courtesy of: https://www.wellbridge.com/fit-like-that/give-it-a-rest-its-ok-to-skip-your-workout)

(Image courtesy of: http://thetamburarunner.com/2014/02/10/cleveland-marathone-training-week-3-the-importance-of-rest-days/)

Tricky trails

Running on roads or a track all the time can get very boring. Also, you can get injured. Throughout my years of running I've always hated running on roads and tracks. I've always liked running on one surface, trails. 

From my experience, trails are fun and exciting ways to get your run in. Whenever I get the chance I do my workout on a trail instead of a road or track. I may get dirty and scratched up from the nature along the trail, but it's worth it because you get to see beautiful landscapes that you can't from a road or trail. 

When I got my latest issue or Runner's World, I was happy to see that they did a article on the benefits of trail running. It goes through and says different reasons people should run trails and what kind of trails they should run. 

If you're a new runner you should look for flat, easy trails. It gives examples like cinder paths, wide dirt trails, and rail trails. Running on these trails will reduce the soreness that new runners often experience. It also gives a workout that is alternating running and walking for 20 to 30 minutes.

If you're injury-prone it says to run on soft surfaces. It gives examples of grass, dirt, wood chips, or technical trails if you're comfortable with them. Running on these trails reduces the pounding on your joints and muscles. This reduces the number of joint-related injuries you'll have. The workout that they give is to run for 15-20 minutes and make sure that no injuries flare up. 

If you like to run a treadmill it says to look for a flat trail that isn't challenging. It says that gravel paths and nontechnical dirt trails are ideal. It also says that if you're stressed it'd be a good idea to run outside in nature because it'll relieve your stress. The workout that they give is just to go run for times and don't worry about pace. 

If you're a road racer it says to look for nontechnical trails with challenging hills. The hills will force you to run different paces and makes a normal run into an interval workout. One workout that they give is to run hard on the up hills and recover on the downhill. 

If you're already running trails it says that you should run new and unfamiliar trails. This will make running exciting to you again. The workout that they give is to run a route that's 20% longer than your normal route. 

It also ranks different trails by their difficulty. The easiest is the rail trail. These are flat trails covered with dirt of gravel. These are old railroads that were coverted. The next is a fire road. These are wide trails that are used by fire-safety vehicles. These can be hilly but won't be hard. The next is a multiuser trail. These are trails used by walkers, runners, cyclists, and equestrians. These can be both hilly and technical. They can also be very narrow and only allow one person at a time to go down them. The second most hard trail is a hiking trail. These are very hilly and technical and are used by hikers. The hardest are mountain trails. These are very steep trails on mountains and can have thinner oxygen at them. Knowing your skill level is essential to choosing heat trail your run because if you run on a trail that's too hard, you can get seriously injured. 

The Runner's World issue that the article is from is April 2014. The name of the article is Take It Off-Road. The website for the magazine is http://www.runnersworld.com/

Track and Cold Weather

Today is the first day of track and since I got cut from the baseball team last year, I will be running track again. Although it's kinda warmer today than is has been recently, I know that it'll get colder later this week and next. Because of this, I was wondering what the cold does to your running. In my experiences, the temperature of 60 degrees is the best running weather for me. Any hotter and I'd start to dehydrate quickly, and any colder I'd feel too cold and want to quit my run. I googled the subject and found the website http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/running-in-the-cold// very helpful. In the article, it explains that when running in cold weather your body uses its energy reserves more quickly and your muscles are less efficient. It says that you can stop these side-effects by wearing warm clothing and warming up before a race. Also, it says to mind your carbohydrate and liquid intake so you won't become dehydrated or hit the wall and lose all of your energy. Although running in cold weather can be challenging, your can overcome it and continue your training throughout the year.

Core Workouts

Because of my last post, I thought it would be a good idea to provide you guys with some suggestions on core workouts that I favor my self:

1. The V-up

Here we're looking at a workout for your abdomen and possibly your obliques. 

(http://www.fitnessgenerator.com/images/exercises/MB_V-up.gif)

2. Rainbows

Obliques, that's all that needs to be said.

(http://fitnessgenerator.com/images/exercises/russian_twist_with_medicine_ball.gif)

3.Role-outs

This will help with resistance and over all core strength.

(http://jeanfittips.com/uploads/2/8/6/7/2867205/964769.gif)

4. The Plank

This works mainly abdominal and central core.

(http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/images/core_strength_prone_bridge.gif)

5. Mason Twists

More obliques and central core.

(http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/images/core_strength_russiantwist.gif)

6. Heals to the Heavens

Upper Abdomen and lower back. 

(http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/images/core_strength_pelvicthrust.gif)

There are so many different types of workouts that can be done, these are just ones that I could find a GIF for. try some out, see if you can come up with your own. 

CORE

Sad to say, swimming is over. but this doesn't mean that being fit is over. for all of you runners out there it's your time to shine. Track starts soon and hopefully the sun will shine soon too.

Whether it's track or you're just trying to stay in shape for the off season, one thing that helps everyone is CORE. It's basic, easy to do, and obviously no body hates having a six-pack.

CORE is a very misused term. people think of it as just your abdominal area. They're wrong. The core of your body consists of the entire middle region of your body. This includes your abs, obliques, and all the muscles that form your lower back and connect to the spine. The importance of core training is definitely more that just a six pack. The entire core is made up of three entire parts: the upper abs, the side muscles known as obliques, and the inner muscles known as the Rectus abdominis.

Working on your entire core area can improve balance and stability because muscles connect to the legs that allow us to walk, squat, sit, all of that kind of stuff. So if you think about it, the core is probably the most important part of your body when it comes to form, control, and balance.

Information courteous of: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/10/whats-so-important-about-core-strength_n_955931.html