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Newsletter: Volume 31, September 2001
Clinic Topics
1. The retreat will meet at Camp Richardson Resort (800/544-1801)
on Wednesday & Thursday (Oct. 10-11). Check out Http://www.laketahoemarathon.com/housing.html if you're interested in looking at housing options. To register for this retreat, go to http://www.jeffgalloway.com/retreats/tahoe.html#registration.
Most marathoners who start their long runs too fast or exceed the length of their current long run by more than three miles or both will experience a fatigue "wall" at the end of the run. If you're running within your capabilities from the beginning, you'll be tired as you reach the mileage of your longest run in the past two to three weeks. Most runners can go one to two miles beyond that point, accumulating more fatigue quickly but able to move ahead as before. The wall hits you quickly as you reach your limits. Within a few yards, you go from feeling tired but capable of continuing forward to feeling like you can't go more than a few steps. The muscles have gone too far beyond their limit and can't handle any more running. Because of the physical stress, your left brain is sending you streams of negative messages which tell you to quit, question your sanity, and ask you philosophical questions such as "Why are you doing this?" So your wall is normally the length of your longest run within
the last two to three weeks, provided you are running the pace you
could run that distance on that day. Even a little too fast in the
beginning will introduce you to the wall sooner. On a hot, humid
day, you'll bump into that wall before you should -if you don't
slow your pace down even more than normal from the beginning. Even
those who have missed a long run in the marathon schedule have been
able to do the next long one by slowing down to at least three minutes
per mile slower than they could run and by taking walk breaks much
more frequently. The more conservative you are, in pace and in walking,
from the beginning of the run, the more you can push your wall back
farther and farther with little risk of fatigue or injury. Why do I need to run a 26-mile training run before the marathon? I get a lot of feedback on this one. My name is used in vain, they tell me, during the 26-mile training run. But within 24 hours, the wonderful realization and confidence takes hold: "I'm a marathoner!" On each long run, including the 26-miler, most who are training for their first marathon are running farther than they have ever gone in their lives, by two to three miles. After running the 26-mile training run, the training is complete. You won't have to push your wall back during the marathon itself. You have arrived. The confidence bestowed by that 26-mile achievement will take away many of the nervous anxieties leading up to the marathon itself. You're going to have some negative messages from that left side of the brain anytime you attempt a challenge like this. You'll reduce them down to a manageable level after the completion of this, the ultimate long training run. From Jeff Galloway's Marathon! (Phidippides Publications, 2000) pp. 6-7 
(an exerpt from UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, August 2001, p. 6, www.WellnessLetter.com) Americans spend huge sums on antiperspirants and tend to see sweating as sloppy or unclean. Many would gladly take a pill that prevented perspiration altogether. But such a pill would be deadly, since sweating's primary - and crucial function is to cool the body. When sweat evaporates, heat is removed. You perspire when your body's temperature rises, and also in response to emotional stimuli such as anxiety, fear, or sexual arousal, or even spicy food. Millions of sweat glands pump the fluid, which comes primarily from the blood, up through ducts to the surface of the skin. The heat-regulating function appears to be limited to so-called eccrine sweat glands, located all over the body, but especially in the feet and palms. Apocrine sweat glands, the other major type, respond to emotional and nervous stimuli. Connected to hair follicles, they are located mostly in the armpits, groin, and around the navel. In mammals, apocrine perspiration helps attract a mate through scent, but that doesn't seem to be true of humans today. What is sweat? Why do you sweat more when you exercise? Do you sweat more when it's humid? Why is dehydration a problem? The Athlete's Kitchen Making Dietary Changes: Willpower -- Or Nutrition Skillpower?
For the athlete with a sweet tooth, cravings for junk food, or with excess body fat, will power is deemed the missing character trait that leads them into nutrition temptation. Athletes who lack willpower commonly beg me to put them on the straight and narrow and empower them with the ability to "just say no" to food sins. They are convinced lack of willpower is the root of their food struggles. I tend to disagree. The following case studies explain why I disagree and offer another way of thinking about food management. I believe in nutrition skillpower more so than willpower. Case #1.Sweets Craver "If only I had more willpower, I could get sweets out of my life" complained Rick, a 27 year old triathlete. He trained hard, tried to eat healthfully but inevitably would succumb to his "downfalls": chocolate chip cookies, candy bars and ice cream. These sweets undermined his intentions to fuel his body healthfully. "I just have no willpower in the afternoon when my training is done for the day. I want a reward...and chocolate rewards me well!" I reviewed Rick's typical food and exercise program. He ran first thing in the morning, grabbed a small breakfast on-the-run (banana and bagel), then headed for the office. He did his second workout at the gym during his lunch hour, then rushed back to the office. Come three o'clock, he was "starving" and would attack the vending machine. Rick was indeed correct in describing himself as starving; he was! He had consumed only 500 calories, yet had burned at least 2,500 calories. By afternoon, he was 2,000 calories "in the hole." No wonder he was craving sweets. His depleted body was screaming at him for quick energy. Rick believed that lack of willpower regarding chocolate created his eating problem. Wrong. Getting too hungry was the problem. He could prevent sweet cravings by eating more calories earlier in the day. I encouraged Rick to eat a banana and a granola bar before his morning run, refuel afterwards with 16 ounces of orange juice and a bagel with peanut butter, then have half his lunch (a turkey sandwich and a yogurt) at 11:00 (an hour before his second workout), and refuel afterwards with another sandwich and juice. By feeding his body adequately, he prevented the urge to binge on sweets. "I'm amazed!!! I no longer crave sweets. I haven't had any chocolate all week and I haven't even missed it." Rick needed nutrition skillpower (not willpower): better fueling patterns. Case #2.Diet Failure "If only I had more willpower, I could lose weight" complained Roberta, a 42 year old recreational runner. For years, she had been on and off diets, only to feel totally unsuccessful. "I've been trying to lose these same eight pounds for 25 years." Feeling totally helpless, she came to me as a "last resort" to help her achieve her weight goals. When reviewing her dieting history, I noticed Roberta would diet by trying to exist on fruit for breakfast, salads for lunch, yogurt for snack, and fish with vegetables for dinner. Spartan intake, to say the least-as well as a very limited amount of food. I asked "When you are not dieting, what do you eat?" She quickly listed her favorite foods: granola for breakfast, PB&J sandwich for lunch, spaghetti for dinner. Every time she went "on her diet" to lose weight, she denied herself of these favorite foods. She even went to great extremes to keep cereal, peanut butter and bread out of her house so she wouldn't eat them. She deemed them too much of a temptation for her weak willpower. I encouraged Roberta to stop looking at food as being fattening, and instead enjoy it as one of life's pleasures. Given she has liked granola, breads and pasta since childhood, she's naive to think she can stop liking them. Instead of trying to keep these foods out of her house, I encouraged her to eat them more often. I pointed out that her standard "diet foods" (fruit, salad and fish) had no power over her because she gave herself permission to eat them whenever she wanted. I encouraged her to eat granola every day for breakfast (and even lunch, dinner and snacks) to take the power away from that food--and simultaneously teach her how to manage eating granola in an appropriate portion. If you, too, struggle with weight issues, you need to learn how to manage your favorite foods--not how to deny yourself of them. By enjoying appropriate portions of whatever you'd like to eat, as often as you'd like, you no longer need willpower to avoid them. Nutrition skillpower, not willpower, enhances permanent weight loss without denial and deprivation. A skill that enhances portion management is to eat mindfully (not mindlessly), chew the food s-l-o-w-l-y, taste it and savour each mouthful. By doing so, you'll need far less quantity to be satisfied; you'll be content to eat a smaller portion. You will also diffuse the urge to do "last chance eating." (You know, "Last chance to eat bagels before I go back on my diet...") You can have more bagels (or whatever) when your body becomes hungry again. Nutrition skillpower wins again! Case #3. Junk Food Junkie "If only I had more willpower, I would fewer donuts, chips, ding dongs..." fantasized Jason, a 22 year old graduate student and rugby player. "I know I should eat more healthfully, but I just happen to love junk food..." In the past, Jason had tried to go "on the straight and narrow" by limiting his intake to "good clean calories"-a pattern that left him feeling denied, deprived. I reminded Jason there is no such thing as a "good" food or a "bad" food, but rather there is a good diet or a bad diet. He could healthfully balance "bad" foods into an overall good diet. I encouraged him to shift his meal patterns to front-load his calories and prevent the hunger that can all-too-easily lead to overconsuming "junk." I helped Jason recognize when he ate healthfully, he not only felt better but also exercised better and felt better about himself. Skillpower, not willpower, helped him improve his food choices. The bottom line Nancy Clark, MS, RD, nutrition counselor and Director of Nutrition Services at SportsMedicine Associates in Brookline MA, teaches individuals how to build their nutrition skills. Her best seller, Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Second Edition, is available via www.nancyclarkrd.com or by sending $22 to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston St. #205, Brookline MA 02467. Phone: (617) 795-1875 Fax: (617) 795-1876. Book and sports nutrition teaching materials are also available at this site.
Know Your Oats Go Low Children's Running
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