You are here >> Home / Resources / Newsletter

Newsletter: Volume 45, February 2003

Register here for Jeff's Free email updates:

“You have almost complete control over how you will feel during and after your run. Slow down at first and enjoy!”

Jeff Galloway

Sale Items of the Month:
AllSport SeatShield – Save your car seat! Was $20, now $17.80
Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook – was $18.95, now $16.95

American Running Honors Gala

Wednesday March 12, 2003 * Ritz-Carlton Hotel * Washington, DC

This will be a very special evening for running, with stories, and fun. You’ll come away inspired, with the glow of having helped a great organization. Everyone wins!

Featuring:
Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic Gold Medalist
The Nike Running Team that made running come alive in the 70’s, and afterward
Jeff Galloway - for promotion of running since the 72 Olympics

Special Guest: William H. Frist, United States Senator, Majority Leader of the US Senate

Benefit: the non profit American Running Association’s program to improve youth fitness. We all know that something is wrong when almost 30% of school age children are overweight or obese. The American Running Association is doing something about it and will raise funds through this event.

Special areas for Galloway folks. Celebration of Jeff’s 45 years of running

Silent Auction - with some really unique running items, memorabilia and services

For more information, visit www.oai-usa.com/running or contact Dave Watt (dave@american running.org) or Inne Kim (ikim@oai-usa.com)

“I hope you can join us. The ARA does more for promoting health and running than any I know of. It will be a fun and invigorating evening.”
Jeff Galloway

Reducing Heart Attacks Among Runners

Tips from Jeff’s Running School, Atlanta, Jan 4th

1. Warm down before hitting the shower. Slow your pace to a jog for 5 minutes, and walk for 5-10 minutes.
2. 1-2 beers or wine glasses a night can reduce risk by over 20% according to a recent study. Does not apply to 5 or more drinks nor to those who have alcohol-related problems.
3. Reducing Cholesterol if your reading is above 200:
   •Oatmeal 3 days a week
   •Niacin as a supplement—talk to your doctor
   •There are some very effective drugs which lower cholesterol

As always it is best to stay in touch with your doctor about all significant medical issues.
This information will be summarized at Jeff’s Running School May 24th and 25th, in Los Angeles and Orange County.

Staying Motivated

Screenplay for a Bad Day
Let’s say that it was a bad day at work and you really don’t want to run. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get the body in motion using whatever tricks, rewards, etc. are necessary. Here’s a simple “script” that has helped some folks get moving – and stay moving until the endorphins start flowing. You’ll need to adapt it to your situation and rehearse it over and over, especially when you’re going home after work each day. The more you rehearse, even on days when you don’t need the motivation, the more likely you will move from one step to the next when you do hit a low.

For much more info on this, see GALLOWAY’S BOOK ON RUNNING 2ND EDITION pp174-175

You’re driving home after a terrible work day. You’re hungry and your left brain has a dozen reasons why you shouldn’t run.

Action:
1. Lie to the left brain, saying “I’m not going to run today. I’ll take it easy around the house in some comfortable clothes.”
2. You arrive home and immediately put on running shoes and clothes, all the while telling yourself, “I’m not going to run today, just going to be comfortable around here.”
3. Eat an energy bar or other energy snack and drink your beverage of choice. (Hint: caffeine helps.)
4. Put on some favorite music and go over the reasons you run.
5. Stick your head out the door to see what the weather is doing and then just step outside.
6. Walk to the edge of the block to see what the neighbors are doing.
7. Cross the street and you’re on your way!

From Jeff Galloway’s Marathon You Can Do It! (Shelter Publications, 2002), pp. 65-68

The Motivational Track
There are many quick fixes that can get you out of the door or a mile down the road. I actually like to have, as a last resort, some dirty tricks ready when the primary motivation elements are not working. But it’s actually quite easy to stay motivated by expressing the positive thoughts, feelings and momentum you get from your runs. Just a few minutes each day will help you understand the process of staying motivated and will make you a more positive person.

Getting on the motivational track is as simple as describing out loud for yourself some of the positive things running does for you and others. It may take you a few weeks to set up your motivation routine but, once it is in place, you can stay motivated with a minimum of regular, fine-tuning exercises. You’ll learn about developing a vision and how to transform this into a real and satisfying mission. Some quick and simple belief exercises are included to help and point you toward your mission. All of us have much more potential than we usually allow ourselves to explore.

For much more on Motivation see GALLOWAY’S BOOK ON RUNNING 2ND EDITION pp164-179

You Gotta Have Fun!
In all this there is a magic ingredient that keeps you motivated in just about any situation. When you find ways to have fun during your run, you open the door for the right brain to take over and work its creative magic. You may start it rolling by reading a funny story before your run, visiting a coffee shop with interesting characters, running with a person or group, going to a favorite trail, exploring new countryside. But, don’t stop with my suggestions. The best ones are those that allow you to enjoy running. Anything that makes your run special and interesting should be included in your bag of fun tricks.

Watch Your Blood Sugar Levels
You may be just half an energy bar away from motivation. If your exercise time is at midday or later and you feel tired and unmotivated, you may suffer from low blood sugar. Waiting for more than two hours to eat a balanced snack or meal (foods high in sugar make the situation worse) will lower your concentration and motivation. Low blood sugar is a significant stress on your system and causes the left side of your brain to unleash a stream of messages, such as “You’ll feel better tomorrow, take the day off,” “You have too much to do,” or “You’ll feel so much better on the couch.” An energy snack, with water, about one hour before exercise, will often silence the left brain and get you off the couch.

For more info on this, see NEW MARATHON 59-67, 81

Jeff Galloway’s Tahoe Retreat - July 11-18 and July 18-20, 2003

Lake Tahoe is perhaps the perfect summer running area. Join Jeff and his guests for a refreshing, invigorating stay in beautiful Squaw Valley at the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. Everyone stays at the comfortable and beautiful Squaw Valley Lodge, with hot tubs, swimming, tennis, health club, etc.
The friendly 2003 presenters include Joe Henderson (Runner's World), Bob Anderson (Stretching), Dr. Gary Moran (Physiology and Strength Training), Sister Marion Irvine (the humorous and inspirational nun who qualified for the Olympic trials at age 54), and Dr. David Hannaford (podiatrist).

July 11-18 $1099 each dbl & $1549 single
July 18-20 $399 each dbl & $499 single

For more info, go to our Tahoe Retreat page or email carol.miller@jeffgalloway.com.

Reasons for Running

The reasons for running are diverse: to lose weight, become fit, feel good, reduce stress, compete, or share the experience with others. It may also have something to do with the advanced state of technology. Most work formerly done by hand is now done by machines. While our distant ancestors led physically active lives, covering long distances to gather roots, nuts and grains or to pursue game’ while our grandparents or great-grandparents tilled the fields for food and handcrafted everyday necessities, we now find ourselves in a largely sedentary economy.

In increasing numbers, people are seeking to regain the health, fitness and leanness that was once natural to our physically active predecessors. A new spirit seems to have arisen. Perhaps when a society attains a high level of industrial and technological efficiency, those people who have long neglected their physical nature react and begin seeking ways to reestablish harmony between body, mind and spirit.

From Galloway’s Book on Running, Second Ed. (Shelter Publications, 2002), p. 7

Jeff’s Picks

Feb. 16 – Motorola Marathon in Austin http://www.motorolamarathon.com/Main.asp
Feb. 22 – The Outback 12K presented by The Home Depot in Orlando http://www.trackshack.com/calendar/events/outback/outback.html

March 12 – American Running Association Gala in DC http://www.americanrunning.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=39%20
March 15 - Tom King Half Marathon in Nashville http://www.nashvillestriders.com/index.html
March 22 – The Home Depot LA Philharmonic Run in LA http://www.w2promotions.com/startlaphil.asp
March 22 – Borden Uptown Run in Dallas http://www.uptownrun.org/

April 6 – Spirit of St. Louis Marathon http://www.stlouismarathon.com/news.asp
April 21 – Boston Marathon http://www.bostonmarathon.org/
April 27 – Big Sur Marathon in Carmel http://www.bsim.org/

May 4 – Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/

Define Your Goals

First think about your goals. Why do you want to run? To lose weight, feel good, regain muscle tone, stay fit year-round? All of these plus enter some races? Or become a competitive runner and race frequently? Think about what you want out of your running. What do you want to achieve in the next six and 12 months? Asking these questions will help you organize a plan and make your pursuit more effective.

For more info, see pp 139-140 in NEW MARATHON. and pp 36 and 89 in GALLOWAY’S BOOK ON RUNNING SECOND EDITION.

THE ATHLETE'S KITCHEN
Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD 1/03
Preventing Fatigue During Long Workouts

"I'm at the gym from 5:30 to 7:00 pm and feel exhausted by the end of my workout. What can I do to prevent fatigue?"

"I'm training for a marathon ... I dread the long runs. I'm dragging after 12 miles. Any suggestions for how to boost my energy?"

"I'm whipped by the end of my afterschool soccer practices ..."

Preventing fatigue is the number one concern of active people who exercise for more than an hour. Sound familiar? If so, this article can help you enjoy high energy and enhanced stamina during long, hard exercise sessions. (For shorter exercise sessions, a pre-exercise snack and some water should fuel you well.)

To prevent fatigue during extensive exercise that lasts for more than 60 to 90 minutes, you have two nutrition goals:
1. to prevent dehydration and
2. to prevent your blood sugar from dropping.
The following tips can help you reach those goals.

Sweat and Dehydration
When you exercise hard, you sweat. Sweating is the body's way of dissipating heat and maintaining a constant internal temperature (98.6°F). During hard exercise, your muscles can generate 20 times more heat than when you are at rest. You dissipate this heat by sweating. As the sweat evaporates, it cools the skin. This in turn cools the blood, which cools the inner body. If you did not sweat, you could cook yourself to death. A body temperature higher than 106°F damages the cells. At 107.6°F, cell protein coagulates (like egg whites do when they cook), and the cell dies. This is one serious reason why you shouldn't push yourself beyond your limits in very hot weather.

When you sweat for more than an hour, you lose significant amounts of water from your blood. The remaining blood becomes more concentrated and has, for example, an abnormally high sodium level. This triggers the thirst mechanism and increases your desire to drink. To quench your thirst, you have to replace the water losses and bring the blood back to its normal concentration.

Unfortunately for athletes, this thirst mechanism can be an unreliable signal to drink. Hence, you should plan to drink before you are thirsty. By the time your brain signals thirst, you may have lost one percent of your body weight, the equivalent of 1.5 pounds ( 24 ounces) of sweat for a 150-pound person. This one-percent loss corresponds with the need for your heart to beat an addition 3 to 5 times per minute. This contributes to early fatigue.

Thirst sensations change with age and older people, even athletes, become less sensitive to thirst. For example, 56-year-old hikers became progressively dehydrated during 10 days of strenuous hill walking. The younger, 24-year-old hikers remained adequately hydrated. This means older people, in particular, should carefully monitor their fluid intake. Light colored urine, in significant volume, is a sign of adequate hydration.

Most athletes voluntarily replace less than half of sweat losses; thirst can be blunted by exercise or overridden by the mind. To be safe, always drink enough to quench your thirst, plus a little more. If you know how much you sweat, you can then replace those losses according to a plan. To learn your sweat rate (and fluid targets), weigh yourself naked before and after a workout. For every pound (16 ounces) you lose, you should strive to replace 13 to 16 ounces (80 to 100% of that loss) while exercising. This requires training your gut to handle this volume. Do not drink more water if your stomach is already sloshing; enough is enough!

You might find it helpful to figure out how many gulps of water equate to 16 ounces, and even set an alarm wristwatch to remind you to drink on schedule. You'll also need to plan on having the right quantity of enjoyable fluids readily available. Do not be in such a rush to start your workout that you fail to bring with you the sports drinks and fluids that will enhance your efforts.

Carbohydrates and Blood Sugar
As I’ve mentioned above, you can significantly increase your stamina by consuming a pre-exercise snack that provides fuel for the first hour of the workout and by drinking adequate fluids during exercise. The third trick to enhancing endurance is to consume carbs after an hour of exercise. Depending on your body size and ability to tolerate fuel while you workout, you'll want to target 100 to 250 calories of carbohydrates per hour of endurance exercise. The larger you are, the more calories you need. For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, you should target about 250 calories per hour, such as 8 ounces of a sports drink every 15 minutes, or a 250-calorie energy bar + water.

During a moderate to hard endurance workout, carbohydrates supply about 50 percent of the energy. As you deplete carbohydrates from muscle glycogen stores, you increasingly rely on the carbs (sugar) in your blood for energy. By consuming carbohydrates such as sports drinks, bananas, or energy bars during exercise, you can both fuel your muscles as well as maintain a normal blood sugar level. Because your brain relies on the sugar in your blood for energy, keeping your brain fed helps you think clearly, concentrate well, and remain focused. So much of performance depends on mental stamina; maintaining a normal blood sugar level is essential to optimize your workouts and boost your stamina.
Your body doesn't care if you ingest solid or liquid carbohydrates––both are equally effective forms of fuel. You just have to learn which sports snacks settle best for your body–-gels, gummy bears, dried figs, animal crackers, defizzed cola, whatever.

Despite popular belief, sugar can be a positive snack during exercise and is unlikely to cause you to "crash" (experience hypoglycemia). That's because sugar feedings during exercise result in only small increases in both insulin and blood glucose. Yet, too much sugar or food taken at once can slow the rate at which fluids leave the stomach. Hence, "more" is not always better.

Because consuming 100 to 250 calories /hour of exercise (after the first hour) may be far more than you are used to taking in during exercise, you need to practice fueling while exercising to figure out what foods and fluids settle best. You'll learn through trial and error which snacks help prevent fatigue, boost performance and contribute to enjoyment of your long, hard workouts.

Nancy Clark, MS, RD, nutritionist at SportsMedicine Associates in Brookline MA (617-739-2003), teaches casual and competitive athletes how to win with good nutrition. For her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook ($23) and her Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions ($20) send a check to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston St. #205, Brookline MA 02467 or obtain via www.nancyclarkrd.com.

From Runner’s World (January 2003)

• Breathe Easy: Runners and other athletes who suffer from asthma can now find health information online, courtesy of the Asthma Initiative of Michigan and the American Lung Association. Up-to-date asthma statistics, research, treatments, and more can be found at www.getasthmahelp.org
• Reader Poll: Do you believe stretching prevents injuries? Yes – 62%, No – 34%, Not Sure – 4% Visit www.runnersworld.com to participate in their weekly polls.

Jeff Galloway's Running School 2003

It’s not too late to register!
How to enjoy running more while staying injury free. . . for life

• Los Angeles & Orange County
• May 24th and 25th, 2003
• Individual running form analysis, with suggestions
• Summary of “The Runner’s Heart” info
• Motivation—goal setting
• Training programs for specific goals
• Motivation, Fat-burning, Injury Prevention
• More! For more info, go to our Running Schools page or contact carol.miller@jeffgalloway.com

Home | Site Map | Contact Us
About Jeff | Training | Resources | Nutrition | Training Groups | Retreats | Merchandise

Copyright © 2003, JFG, Inc.
Direct comments and questions to gallowayprod@mindspring.com