Knowledge Is Power- October 10th

Are you ready to learn something?  Here you go, and a day ahead of schedule!  Also, shoutout to the Ukraine, you guys are reading almost as much as the US on here!

How Much Does Mental Toughness Affect Race Times? by RunnersWorld- Why it matters: Perhaps the scientists are a bit off on how much mental toughness affects race times, but regardless they come out with the conclusion that it is still a huge factor.  Imagine that only 3% of a 20 minute 3 mile run is 36 seconds!

Improving Olympic Performance by Popular Science- Why it matters:  This is the future of athlete training.  Very specialized science and medicine which will create specific diet plans and training plans on the highest level.

Training Essentials- The E's by Vern Gambetta- Why it matters:  This article is very short but to the point.  You need to think about how you approach every training day and make sure this is a part of your program!

Efraimson Takes Another Step by Dyestat- Why it matters:  This year the quality of girls competition in high school is through the roof.  I've noticed locally that even some state champions have become also-rans in the girls races.  The sport is becoming very tough across the country.

Alexa Efraimson has represented the US internationally and medalled.

What Makes Great Runners Great by Milesplit- Why it matters: Dr. Matthew Mitchell breaks down two components that runners can improve to be great.  I really like the line "good is the enemy of great."

Competition Day Routine

I have been asked to give a little overview of what I think is the best considerations for what to do/eat/drink on the day of a meet, game, etc.  This is vital to performance maximization, so I am going to give you a short list of you what you need to do think about and do so you can be your best.

1) Set out all your items such as uniforms, shoes, warm-ups, etc., the night before and place them in a bag, except the items you will wear when you leave your house.  Setting your clothes out the night before allows you to prep when you are aware of items you will need rather than shuffling around in the morning, half-asleep.

2) Don't eat a huge meal the night before a morning race or a morning game because you may not have enough time to flush everything out of your system.  Eat a normal, healthy meal and get plenty of fluids (because we lose fluid during our sleep).  Make sure you wake up with enough time to do your normal morning routine (i.e. don't wake up late and rush to get to the meet).

3) Count back 8 hours from when you plan on waking up and go to bed at that time.  Unless you plan on waking up at some ridiculous hour like 3 A.M., this shouldn't be too much of an issue.  It is well known that teens need a lot of sleep, yet don't get enough.  Don't cost yourself a victory because you were too stubborn to go to bed at a reasonable time.

4) Start taking in fluids as soon as you wake up to replenish what you lost, but the closer you get to the race, slow it down to a sip here and there to avoid cramps or the need for last minute bathroom breaks.  As far as eating, don't eat a bunch, and know your stomach!  If you can't handle a whole sandwich in the morning, eat half of one, but never attempt to race off of eating nothing.  You spent a lot of calories at night, and you don't even realize it.

5) Don't eat heavy items.  Stick to foods that will either digest while not upsetting your stomach, or foods that you know won't bounce around when running.  Items such as peanut butter on a whole wheat bagel, thicker racing gels, or some non-sugary cereals can be good.  Try to avoid lactose (milk), fatty foods (fast food), or large amounts of food.  Also, never try to eat something new on race day that you haven't tried before such as drinking coffee if you aren't a regular coffee drinker, or trying any type of food with ingredients you normally don't eat.

Follow these rules and you will be set on race day.  But always, know your body and make adjustments when necessary.

How to Stay Healthy

Raise your hand if you like to be sick or injured.  If you raised your hand, you may now exit the post. Those of you who survived the first round of cuts, congratulations.  So it's safe to say that if you are still here you are looking for some good, juicy info on how to stay on top of your game.  Well, the health game I mean.

Alright, well look, the good news is that for the average American becoming a more healthy person is easy.  Americans tend to be unhealthy.  Why?  Well, let me make my rant really short: we tend to be very lazy.  Laziness goes hand in hand with being unhealthy for many reason.  But the good news is, you can easily get over this.  You don't have to be stuck in a constant battle between training and taking off. Here is a list of ideas that you can follow to break out of the cycle and perform to your highest level.

1) Sleep.  Sleep.  Sleep.  All three of these ideas I'm listing are equally important, but to paraphrase Animal Farm, this is the "greatest amongst equals," mainly because so many high school athletes run themselves into the ground by shrugging off sleep.  I know for a fact many of my runners stay up late texting, facebooking, and playing video games, and it is easy to tell when a kid is struggling because of lack of sleep.  You can't stay healthy or compete at a high level without proper sleep.

2) Eat healthy!  What so many people refuse to admit is that food affects their body.  If I eat too much fast food in a short amount of time, or too much processed food, I usually end up feeling ill.  I know plenty of people who feel the same way, and it gets worse as you get older.  Eat as much organic food, or lightly processed foods as possible, and definitely avoid too much sugars.  And remember, All-Natural means nothing!  The word Organic is regulated, but anyone can claim anything is all-natural.

Yogurt and fresh fruit is a common healthy dish.

3) Take measures to avoid injuries/sickness before they become an issue.  Some call it pre-hab, or pre-habilitation, but it means treating injuries before they are injuries.  This means if you always know your knees are very sore a few days after a long run, take measures such as icing as soon as you are done, don't wait till you are sore.  If you always get sick when the weather changes or when it rains in the winter, take vitamin C and other vitamins before the storms or weather change even come!  You need to think on your feet and do your best to beat out sickness and injury before they manifest.

Common Sense Eating

If you've never had one of your athletes say "Coach, you'll be proud of me, I ate pizza last night!" then this post probably isn't for you.  Working with young kids you begin to realize that they have a totally skewed idea of what is healthy and what an athlete should be eating.  Most young athletes these days focus more on supplements than they do what they are taking in for their actual nutritional and caloric needs.  Furthermore, especially for girls, the crash diet has become a common and disastrous answer to their perceived "weight issues" (which usually is not even an issue).

Our job as coaches is to disseminate information to our kids that will help them in life, in addition to the present.  One reason the obesity epidemic is as bad as it is now is because we aren't teaching the youth that over consumption of food and eating processed goods is not a healthy path.  The worst offenders are the "high metabolism" group that can eat anything they want as a child, yet ultimately they will have major weight gain issues in their 20s when their metabolism begins to slow.  Arming these kids with knowledge is going to help them to not just be better athletes now, but healthier people in the future.

Not only is processed food less nutritious than fresher foods, even normal fresh food products are becoming less nutritious than they use to be due to various reasons such as genetically modifying the plants.  The more we allow our kids to go down the path of eating fast foods and microwaveable meals, we are setting them up for failure.  It has been noted by physiologists that processed foods affect performance in even elite athletes.  Imagine what it is doing to the young one.  If you want your body to perform to the highest level in a competition, or even just daily life, you have to consider how to make some common sense decisions on diet.

Some keys are not to substitute processed foods when you can eat the real thing, such as eating protein bars instead of just eating a healthy portion of meat, beans nuts, etc.  Don't eat Ramen or ice cream (believe it not many people do this) for carbs when you can have whole wheat breads and pastas.  Don't eat processed oils for fats when virgin olive oil is available.  Also, try to cook at home and eat foods that have been altered as little as possible since they were harvested.  

Yes, your body may crave fast food, which also has addictive properties, but you need to think about how your body 1) can only use for energy what you put into your body.  There is no magic pure energy system that comes from no where.  Everything is based on what you ate. And 2) your body is composed of what you ate.  If you've eaten nothing but fast foods, you will probably be more susceptible to getting sick, feeling weak, etc.  Eat healthy, don't over eat, and treat your body the way it needs and wants to be treated!