Mallin's Monday Memorial Marathon (Quadruple M!)

Welcome to the first annual Mallin's Monday Memorial Marathon.  I've been planning this for a very long time--about 20 minutes now.

The run leaves from Memorial Park (see how the Memorial theme is playing out?) at 7:30 AM on Monday morning.

There is no planned route--we'll just run. I have a watch with a GPS; I'll put us back at the parking lot at 26.2 miles...or so.

There will be no support--bring a credit card or cash to buy drinks at convenience stores.

Since the entry fee is free, there will not be any trophies or fancy T-shirts. But, I will buy 26.2 stickers for the back of your car should you complete all 26.2 miles.

The meeting spot will be where we usually meet for trail running.  Click Trail Running (up there in the top navigation) to see the map for where to park at Memorial Park.

There is a total of 1 person officially registered (including me), so sign up quickly to guarantee your spot in the first annual Quadruple M!

If you have any questions, let me know!

UPDATE:
There were two of us that did it...Alyson and me.  Here's the route and all the data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/89063342.

It seems a lot of folks are interested in completing a marathon...

Stay tuned... :-)

Running Schedule...

So tomorrow we run!  I don't usually post up about the running schedule, but tomorrow we're going to go for between 18 and 20 miles.  There are three upcoming 30K races I want to do, so we might as well start building up the mileage.  Here's a link to those races: http://www.tejastrails.com/CaptKarl.html.

Sunday's 14.6 mile route

Last week we got 14.6 miles under our belt, but we ran out of time to hit the 30K (18.64 miles) mark.  That data is here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82840924.

So we'll try it again tomorrow at 6:15...well, I get there at 6:15 to do a 3-mile warm-up lap at the "fox trot"--the other side of Memorial where the pretty people run--you're welcome to join me for that if you like...if not, I will be back at my truck at 7:00 to meet you for the trail run.

Yes, there will be dropout points during the run...every 3-5 miles for those wanting to run shorter distances.

Bring water and food if you plan on running more than 5 miles. We'll swing by the cars as "rest stops" to refuel. You can certainly run less and dropout at anytime.

See u tomorrow AM. And, I'll also have the CST-X shirts! :-)

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Yesterday I ran the stairs at Spotts Park. My goal was to push myself hard enough running up and down the stairs to get my HR up around 180 bpm and then walk around until my HR dropped to around 135 bpm. My HR graph from this High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session looks very similar to the graphs of the athletes in Bill's classes. Check out my HR graph. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/68330803. Do NOT look at the calorie count—it is way off because my watch doesn’t calculate calories burned based on HR (I need to get a new HR monitor).

HIIT is a very effective form of cardiovascular exercise because it burns a large amount of calories during the training session. HIIT also burns fat in a short and intense workout. Your body responds to this form of intense training by increasing growth hormone levels which preserve and build muscle. In addition, your metabolism will be elevated for the remainder of the day, which leads to even more calories being burned.

Steady state, lower intensity cardio, is when your HR is maintained at around 130 bpm. There are benefits to both types of training, but in general lower intensity cardio workouts are less effective than HIIT because the only calories you burn are while you are exercising. After the exercising is over, your metabolism returns to normal. In addition, your body does not produce a hormonal response to lower intensity cardio. That means if you use this form of cardio to burn calories, you are less likely to preserve all the muscle that you have.

A good example of the types of athletes that participate in HIIT cardio on a regular basis are sprinters. On the other hand, athletes that use lower intensity, steady state cardio are marathon runners or long distance cyclists. There is a huge difference in the physiques of sprinters and marathon runners. Sprinters have larger muscles, definition between their muscles, and a lower body fat percentage. Marathon runners have very little muscle on their frames, less muscle definition, and a higher body fat percentage.

Anytime you are performing a cardio workout, get the most out of your workout by following a HIIT scheme. You can do this on any piece of cardio equipment that you like. Just push yourself until your HR gets up to 180bpm and then slow down until your HR drops to 135 bpm. Repeat this cycle until you reach your goal of 35 minutes.

If you are interested in participating in HIIT, join me on Thursday mornings at Spotts Park at 5:30 AM. I hope to see you guys there!

Robert.

Diet and Exercise Expectations

So I’ve heard some discussion lately about leg size in relation to working out in Bill’s class. This made me think that it would be very helpful for all of the participants to know what they can expect to achieve by attending Bill’s class. The following is an explanation of some of the key topics surrounding diet and exercise:

Weight loss is the main focus of the majority of the people that begin a workout routine. Weight loss occurs when you use more calories during your daily activities than you consume during the day by eating and drinking. A quick example: a woman’s Basal Metabolic Rate, BMR, is 2200 calories per day and she participates in Bill’s class in the morning and burns 500 calories which means she uses 2700calories during the day. This same woman eats 2000 calories worth of food this same day. This adds up to her burning 700 more calories during this day than she consumed. This is called a caloric deficit. The energy needed to burn these extra calories came from what was already in the woman’s body at the beginning of the day. Once this woman has experienced a caloric deficit that adds up to 3500 calories over consecutive days, she will have lost about a pound of excess body weight. This seems like a very simple relationship, you eat fewer calories than you burn during a day and you will lose weight. It is true that you will lose weight but depending on the types of food you consume, the weight you lose will be a combination of muscle and fat—not just fat. Consuming a sufficient amount of protein during the day will ward off the loss of muscle while dieting.

While you are experiencing a caloric deficit and losing weight, you will not be able to make your muscles grow and your main goal in addition to losing fat is to hold on to all muscle that you have. The amount of muscle that you have on your body is the determining factor in how many calories you burn each day while at rest, your BMR. So if you lose muscle and fat at the same time, it makes it harder to keep that weight off because your BMR will have decreased and you will have to eat less food to maintain your weight.

After reading the information in the last paragraph we can now explain the initial comments about leg size and participating in Bill’s classes. If you are eating fewer calories than your body uses your muscles will not be growing, but hopefully you will hold on to the muscle you have and shed the fat that is on top of the muscle resulting in an overall smaller/leaner leg. This same concept of shedding fat and preserving muscle applies to the rest of your body as well. The fat that you lose will start at your extremities and work its way to your thighs and stomach.

A quick side note about muscle size and working out in Bill's class: during the first few weeks of participating in the class, your muscles will become firmer and slightly larger because they will be filled with more blood and nutrients while attempting to repair themselves due to the increased stimulation. This size increase will not continue as long as you are keeping your diet in check. Also, an immediate result of participating in Bill’s class is that the muscles worked during the class will be swollen for a few hours after the class is over. The term for this is ‘muscle pump’. The pump occurs because your body is delivering needed nutrients and blood to the recently stimulated muscles. Because the muscles you worked in class will be swollen for a few hours after class, this is not the time to try to fit into tight clothing. In fact I have mistakenly overlooked this fact in the hours following a leg workout and actually torn a pair of my favorite jeans.

Keep up the hard work and be sure you take both exercise and diet into account when working to achieve your fitness goals!

Robert

Guidelines for Eating Out

One of the easiest ways to derail your fat loss efforts is choosing less than ideal foods to eat when eating out at a restaurant. If you keep these few criteria in mind while choosing what to order you will have no problems eating a sensible meal when dining out.

1. If you are ordering a salad, be sure to get a low fat or fat free dressing. Ideally you would request this salad dressing on the side of the salad so that you can use only as much as you want. Excess salad dressing will add unnecessary calories to the meal.
2. Include protein with every meal that you eat
3. Make sure this protein is baked or grilled, not fried or breaded
4. Stay away from any buttery or creamy sauces that restaurants like to top meats with
5. When choosing what carbohydrate to eat, again pick ones that are low in fat and not topped or made with butter or creamy sauces. Grilled vegetables are a great choice since they are low in calories, high in fiber and quite filling.

You are probably thinking that finding a selection on the menu at a restaurant that fits all of these criteria will be nearly impossible. It would be very hard, but you can easily solve this problem by asking the waiter to have your meal prepared the way you want it. Don’t be afraid to make special requests for your meal. I have rarely found a waiter that isn’t happy to accommodate my requests.

Have fun!

Robert

Lean and Sexy...Great! But there's more to it than that...

I tell you guys all the time how great you look--because you do! But you know there’s more to it than that, right? Yeah, it’s great that you guys are all lean and sexy, but there are so many other benefits...I’m just going to jot down a few that come to mind...

You probably feel more relaxed. You probably don’t get sick as much as you used to. You probably feel better overall--and why wouldn’t you? Regular exercise can help manage or prevent high blood pressure. Exercise also boosts the “good” cholesterol while decreasing the bad! And the Mayo Clinic also says regular physical activity can help prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer!

Obviously you’re leaner, which makes you look better, but you got to admit, you feel better having shed body fat. And I guarantee you carry yourself differently at work and other social situations as a result. Being fit gives you more confidence. There’s nothing better than feeling good about yourself. When you feel good about yourself, it shows!

And I bet all of you have more energy now! Think about it...we work not only your muscles, but your cardiovascular system too. We’ve made your body more efficient circulating blood and delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. You probably have energy now like you did when you were much younger.

Surely you sleep better overall too. Putting your body through the amount of physical activity I put you through should directly translate into you sleeping like a brick at night. You should be falling asleep faster and sleeping deeper...especially exercising early in the AM like you do. I bet some of you have never slept so well.

I’ll just write the following two words: sex life. Remember the confidence and endurance things above? How you feel about yourself? How you feel about your body I wouldn’t be surprised if your significant other hasn’t said something like the following in the last couple of months, “You know honey, I was thinking I might start working out again.” I’ll leave it at that.

And how about FUN! I try and keep it entertaining with my singing, dancing, dorkiness, and inappropriate jokes. I switch the training up a lot to stop you from getting bored. And I’ve seen friendships build in class...hell, many of you have become good friends to me. I get sad when you sleep in and don’t come to class. Seriously. That’s how I feel about you guys.

So yes, all of you look amazing...and I mean AMAZING!, but the results from this class go more than skin deep. One of the best comments I ever received from one of you was as follows: “You know Bill, you’re not only changing the way we look, you’re changing our lives.”

Alcohol and Diet

Many of you may not realize that there is a very easy way to make big progress in your health and fitness—eliminate alcoholic beverages from your diet. Some of you may already know that alcohol is full of empty calories, and by “empty calories”, I mean calories that aren’t useful for the functions of the body but still have to be worked off just like useful calories.

Here is some less widely known information about alcoholic drinks: A shot of alcohol contains about 100 calories. So, lets put a night of drinking into perspective. If you have 6 shots of alcohol during a night of drinking that is 600 calories. Margaritas have significantly more calories than shots. A typical margarita has 300 calories. If you have 6 margaritas, that is 1800 calories! A woman that weighs about 130 pounds and exercises 5 times per week burns about 1700 calories over the course of a day. Depending on the drink you choose to imbibe during a night of drinking, you will have consumed between 30%-105% of your daily needed calories by the end of the night.

The following is a list of the other effects of a night of drinking:

1. In addition to having ingested many extra calories, since the drinks were consumed right before going to bed, very few of the calories will be used as fuel in the near future and instead will be stored as fat.
2. The next effect of consuming alcohol at night is the disruption of your normal sleep cycles. Since you don’t sleep well after a night of drinking, your body doesn’t repair itself as well as a normal night’s sleep.
3. Drinking alcohol dehydrates your body as well as depletes your body of vitamins and minerals that it needs to function. Until your body is rehydrated and supplied with the needed vitamins and minerals, it will not process food correctly. The process of rehydrating and replenishing your body with the needed vitamins and minerals takes a day or more.
4. Drinking alcohol slows your metabolism. The more you drink, the worse the effects are.
5. Many studies have shown that consuming more than three drinks in one sitting will halt all muscle repair for many days. This means that the muscles that you worked out earlier in the day will not repair themselves well, resulting in little strength and muscle gains from the day’s workout.

All of these side effects of a night of drinking add up to halt any weight loss for a number of days and possibly lead to weight gain. My suggestion to those that do drink is to cut down on the number of drinks you take in during one sitting and stick with drinks that are sugar free so that the calorie content is lower. Some people only drink one or two drinks at night to “ease the tension” and those people probably are wondering if all of these effects apply to them as well—the answer is YES. Obviously the effects aren’t as sever, but they are still there slowing/stopping your fitness progress. The moral of this story is, enjoy the company of your friends and your surroundings without drinking alcohol so that you can reach your goal of a healthier, sexier body.

Robert