Probiotics will maintain the Universe.......your bowels :)

I remember reading some advise about dealing with bowel dysfunction during endurance racing and probiotics being one of them . The particular article focused on race day. As I have said before I literally talk to people all day long about bowel habits, and one thing for sure constipation, diarrhea or irritable bowel can be very complex. The bowels are affected by so many variables. Diet, including fat,fiber, hydration. Exercise, and overall immunity. Yes, immunity. More and more research is showing that you really are what you eat, and the gut flora has a huge role in overall immunity. Prebiotics, probiotics, and microbes help to regulate the gut. I know this to be true , by simply listening to my endless stream of patients with benign bowel dysfunction or irritability. I must say that the diagnosis of irritable bowel is of exclusion, meaning other disease most be excluded before IBS is diagnosed. Other diagnoses would be inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative or crohns, infections. Viral or bacterial, celiac disease, cancers, bowel obstruction, pancreatic insufficiency, eosinophilic gastroenteritis , thyroid disease, other chronic disease, or polyphArmacy. See complicated right, but really, with most people in medicine, it is the horse before the zebra, meaning what is most common usually is, but you can't forget the zebra. Probiotics are not a bandaid, you cannot take them race day and think they will fix any GI distress that day. Probiotics are something to start daily . They help with gas, bloating, distension, diarrhea, constipation...over time. Through medical literature most probiotics will help the gut, there are over 400 species of probiotics, but the best are typically bifido bacteriums. People can spend a lot of money on these probiotics and you really do not have to . I recommend a gummy bear probiotics I buy at Costco. since it is a gummy substance it is more prone to pass successfully through the acidic stomach and make it to small/ large bowel to do it's work . I take mine morning and night. The more I train , the more I see how important nutrition and bowel regularity is. Of course I am an elderly athlete now. I don't remember focusing so much on my bowels when I was young and swimming 10,000 yards daily! I laugh with my patients a lot about how the bowels are truly the center of our universe!!!

Sick and tired, but not sick enough. Should you work out sick.

Sore throat, mild cough, now for 24 hours. Dangit , with 4 kids , 2 in daycare and 2 in school, plus working in medicine, the germs abound!!! So do you rest , or not!!! Ok, the rule is , above the neck symptoms, such as eyes, ears, nose , throat, with no fever then its ok keep exercising, at a lower intensity. Symtoms below the neck, deep productive cough, chest congestion, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea , rest, and resume a couple days after symptoms dissipate. Its bound to happen, the common cold. Most of us get on average three a year. But when you are focused on training , it sucks. I had to cut my workout this morning from an hour bike to 1/2 hour because I just wasnt feeling it. Luckily my runs are done until Sunday and the rest of the day I can rest and push fluids.

Honey, yes , it is all about the shoe!!! First ,almost injury, Calcaneal bursitis, posterior heal pain.

So, I like to bargain shop, at times I will admit it. But when it comes to certain things I should have known better. When you run and run and run however, it seems you go through 100 dollar running shoes quite quickly. So, I have been running in the Saucany Kinvara 2, and now 3's. For some reason , this is the running shoe for me. I never get foot pain or shin splints, I feel like I have proper form when running in these shoes. So, as the story goes, I found a pair of Saucany Oasis Grid's at a local store for only 30 dollars . I thought hmmm, I suppose I can try them. I wore them for one run and GOT horrible pain in the back of one of my heals. The padding in the heal was too overbuilt for my foot and gave me horrible pain right on my achilles tendon insertion point. Wowser. And as I was trying to figure this out, you can imagine the thoughts going through my head, like Oh great its my achilles tendon, I have a spur, and I have only two months until my Marathon. But , I am happy to say, I never put the pair of shoes back on , I immediately purchased a new pair of Saucany Kinvara (now 4's) and I am not having the pain. Through my research, this is quite common, with runners with poor running gait, or poor fitting shoes, any shoe that may irritate the achilles tendon insertion site. This can even happen with the shoes you wear at work. IT is so important to have the RIGHT pair of shoes. And listen to your body, other concerns with posterior heal pain could be achilles tendinopathy, calcaneal bone spurs , or from plantar fascitis which typically only affects the plantar( bottom surface of the foot, but can affect the entire heal pad.) So , I suppose if you read my stuff , you can learn from my experiences...... On the road to Ironman.. Take home message to tell your husband, yes , honey I have to have the more expensive Shoe!!!

Wake up and enjoy your coffee !!!

I have struggled for the last year, as I have been building my base training , in trying to wake myself up for early morning workouts. IN my defense , it is hard when you have infant children to get a good nights sleep but any excuse I could think of kept me in bed. I tried moving my alarm clock across the room. Setting a couple alarms, but alas I got really good at hitting snooze and falling back asleep, telling myself I will just get it all done that afternoon. SOOOO, as I was resting last week, I decided I would try and get used to awakening and starting my day at 5am, and I figured out My MOJO!!! Coffee. But , not just that I like coffee, but that I get to enjoy my coffee after my workout with NOBODY bugging me. I have successfully awoken every day this week, either ran my 5 miles or biked my hour , knowing that when I am done, I am rewarded with a peaceful cup of coffee, before the rest of my crazy family awakens. It is funny I have been falling asleep anticipating the early morning reprieve from my children. Hopefully I can keep this up.

6 months until my first Ironman. Today was 8 mile running chi..

So, here we go, honey..... My hot husband that is .... 6 months till the big race. Today I started my 20 week build, peak, then taper, officially, that is . I feel Ike my base is pretty good, so I am pushing myself to do the advanced ironman training program , modified just a bi to accommodate a marathon in April, and a 70.3 IM St. George in May. When I first started my journey over a year ago, I can remember two miles was hard to run, and now it's the warmup for my 8 mile run. I have to say that chi running has helped a lot. I had a private lesson with a chi instructor in Meridian , Idaho . You can find Rossanne Gibson at : ezidahorunning.com Chi running makes complete sense, just like the teachings for total immersion swimming. chi running is the physics that call for easy long movement. For me posture, proper foot pressure, arm pendulum instead of reach, and cadence seem to pull it all together. when I can really focus and relax ,I can take my training pace down close to what Was my race pace. My race pace is about 8:15 sand now I find myself easily training at 8:45 pace . I used to train consistently at about 9:15. so her we go , the journey begins. My Dad taught me that life is all about journey

Chi running-life force, lessons on the road to becoming an ironman.

Today I finally will get my chi training. Though the more I run the better I feel my form is, I feel it's probably a good idea to get formal training . Bad habits in anything physical typically leads to overuse injury . I started reading the chi running book by Danny Dreyer years ago and today I get to have a private coaching lesson from one of his disciples . Why , so I can be a grandma competing in ironman Kona! :) Hopefully , I reach my Kona goal well before my qualification relies on the age factor! Chi running just makes sense from a physics point of view. The teaching states your arms and legs are pendulums. Your arms swing from your shoulders and your legs swing from your hips. The law of the pendulum states that any pendulum of a given length will always swing at the same rate. The techniques focus on relaxation . So necessary, I know for sure that most of my running issues are my own stress , and when I'm tense , running hurts more, my breathing gets inconsistent and more labored. Running chi is balance in motion, it makes sense. So much sense that NASA astronauts agreed his theory is correct. I'll let you know more of what I think after my lesson today road to ironman continues!........

How to train for a marathon......just stay consistent.

I have read and read all kinds of expert advise. Remember, I do have a degree in exercise physiology and I have access to endless medical expert opinion through my work. I was terrified I could not get through my marathon, because up to the day of the race I had not ran more than 17 miles at one time. But I was training daily , and staying consistent, whether it was swimming, biking , or running , I was putting in the mileage. I am definitely not trying to say I am an expert, but now I know endurance racing is not as scary for me anymore . It makes me less anxious about my Ironman this summer. And It proves to me that overtraining is not the key. I ran between 4-7 miles most days I went out, about 30-35 miles weekly. I never was overstrained or over tired. And then the closer I got I cut my mileage and tapered down. My time was decent for my first marathon, as I only missed Boston Qualifier by 10 minutes for my age class. My time was 4:00.36. My inexperience showed however in my inconsistent splits. First three miles 9- 9:30. Miles 4-13 8: to 8:20 minutes miles, then up to 9 minutes miles then up to 10 minutes miles, then back down to 9:00. What makes my point even more, that overtraining is not worth it or necessary, is that my husband finished his first marathon as well. Only 4 minutes after me, sick from some sort of viral pharyngitis and had literally not run in 8 weeks, due to breaking his big toe. But we both had come off a good consistent base of training for a 70.3 , two months earlier, and he rode the trainer bike daily for at least an hour to keep in shape. So , in my mind consistency, good form, moderate distance with maybe just a few higher distance days is what you need. I am pretty sure I can make the BQ time next go, now that I have experience and can make a better game plan. The body is an amazing thing. If you can run for 1 hour , why not 4 hours. The only factor is how much you want it to hurt. If you are in good shape and have consistently worked

out, your recovery from the event will tell you if you were ready or not. Personally for me, I was never sore after my marathon. I felt run down for about two days, but I did give myself a week to recover. I actually felt worse the next weekend after drinking alcohol and dancing all night, then I did after the longest run I have ever completed in my life.