Breathing Tips for New Runners

By Thad McLaurin
For Active.com

Are you a new runner? Are your legs just fine, but you just can't seem to control your breathing? Are you frustrated by more experienced runners who appear to run with little effort and with unlabored breathing that seems as normal as if they were standing still? You’re not alone. Most new runners experience the same frustration. Just know that many experienced runners also struggled with the same breathing issues when they first started.

Your body needs a good deep inhalation in order to get oxygen deep into the lungs where it can be transpired from the alveoli into the bloodstream. Better oxygenated blood means more oxygen getting to the muscle where it's used to make energy. More energy means more endurance. 

keep reading . . .

Pesto Veggie Kabobs

from the MangoDuck.com 

*Use any combo of veggie that you like.

1 eggplant, cut into chunks

1-2 zucchini, cut into chunks

2-3 bell peppers, cut into chunks

cherry tomatoes

2 red onions, cut into quarters

1/2 of the pesto sauce (or more if you prefer), recipe follows

bamboo skewers, if wooden soak in water for at least 20 minutes before using

Get the directions and tasty pesto recipe!  

Weekend Challenge

At Arms Length

20 push ups
25 yd bear crawl
Reverse plank 1 minute
25 yd bear crawl
20 deltoid push ups (downward dog position, come up on toes, drive your head down towards the ground as if trying to touch the ground with the top of your head)
25 yd bear crawl
30 sec. right side plank
30 sec. left side plank

My Standing Desk Experiment from ZenHabits.net

For the past three weeks I’ve been standing while I work, instead of my usual sitting. I have some interesting results to share with you in a moment, but first let me tell you why I’ve been doing all this standing.

It all started after a couple of tweets came across my radar in the same day about the negative health effects of sitting. It turns out that sitting all day every day for work might not be good for your health and wellness. Who would have thought?

The studies and experiments I found really caught my attention, partly because I’ve been sitting through 40- to 60-hour work weeks every week for the better part of 15 years. Now that I’m in my mid-30s, I’m starting to really consider my current health and habits and trying to do a better job of giving myself the best shot at living a long and active life.

Here’s the evidence about what sitting can do to you:

• Multiple medical studies (like this one in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and this one in the American Journal of Epidemiology) have shown that sitting greatly increases the rate of all-cause mortality, especially from causes including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. In particular, that first study showed that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks.

Get the whole story . . .

Stewed Tilapia

Ingredient list: (Serves 4) 

• One can of green olives (look for olives packed in water and salt and nothing else)
• One small can of clams (look for clams packed in clam juice and salt and nothing else)
• One bunch of green onions
• Four roma tomatoes
• One package of shitake mushrooms
• Four  tilapia (or other white fish) filets
• Fish Sauce
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Get the prep. instructions . . .

Weekend Challenge

jelly legs!

100 meter walking lunge (100 meters is about a quarter way around a track)
broad jump 50 meters
backpedal 50 meters
100 meter walking lunge
sprint 100 meter
repeat!

don't forget to streeetttchhhh.

Sugar.

4.2 gms = 1 teaspoon of sugar, so this looks like 1 cube is about the same! Each cube is a teaspoonful.
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Sweet Potato Hash

sweet potato hash

Sweet Potato Hash from CavewomanCafe

Based from the book “The Paleo Solution” Serves 2- 4, depending on how hungry you are.

8 strips of bacon, preferably nitrate free

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large bell pepper, chopped

1 pound of sweet potato, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 bunch of kale chopped

1 teaspoon of dried thyme, rosemary or oregano (or all!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces and fry till perfectly done. Remove those juicy meat candy from the skillet and place on paper towel to dry. In the yummy bacon grease, fry over medium heat the onion and garlic for a minute till fragrant. Then toss in the bell pepper and the sweet potato and continue to fry, covered stirring here and there, till the potatoes are done, about 10-15 minutes. Add the kale at the last few minutes and cook till just done. Sprinkle with herbs and salt and pepper and serve hot and yummy! One of my favorite things to do is  baste an egg or two and lay on top of a hash mountain. Basting eggs is really easy. Just fry them as usual, then add 2 -4 tablespoons water to the skillet right at the end and put a lid on. Wait for a minute or two and tadaa!

Perfect. Enjoy.

Weekend Challenge

3-minute warmup jog
sprint for 30 seconds
1 min rest
repeat this sequence for 10 minutes.
1 min plank
25 push ups
Finish with a stretch concentrating on your legs!

5 Things I'm loving right now-Jenny Wells, Knoxville Instructor

Training for my first tri
Several of the other instructors and I are about to experience our first tri! It’s definitely
pushing me out of my comfort zone which is a little scary but I’m surrounded by great
friends all working toward the same goal which makes it a blast!

Frozen yogurt
Several frozen yogurt spots have popped up all over Knoxville. They all allow you to
choose your flavor and mix in all kinds of yummy (MOSTLY healthy) mixings.

Spring workouts
Love this time of year where you don’t have to layer up to stay warm but are also not
sweating just thinking of putting work-out gear on and getting outside. It’s the absolute
perfect time to work out.

Chaco flip flops
While I love flip flops of every color and style, my arches definitely do not. Found these
leather Chaco flip flops which are SO comfy!

Favorite workout: Ground attack
I love this workout because it’s ALWAYS hard. It doesn’t matter how great of shape I’m
in or how many times I’ve done it, it makes me sore every time. Who doesn’t love a
little inch worm?

Chili-Rubbed Steak over Cilantro-Lime Salad

from Sleep.Love.Eat

This is a great recipe for a light & fulfilling salad. And you can never go wrong with a great steak. Never. We used grass-fed New York’s for this, but you can really use any cut you like. I was hoping to use a flank (they’re so big and make delicious leftovers), but grass-fed flank is hard to get a hold of these days. These New York cuts were quite delicious, thanks to Jake’s superb grilling skills!

To prepare your Chili-Rubbed Steak:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper

Instructions:

• Mix all the spices together.
• Generously rub your steak of choice on both sides with the spice mixture.
• Cook steaks to your preference.
• Slice steaks thinly for easy eating over salad.

To prepare your Cilantro-Lime Salad Dressing:

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Olive Oil
• ¼ cup Cider Vinegar
• ¼ cup fresh Lime juice
• ¼ cup fresh Cilantro, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Sea Salt

• 1 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper 

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients together & mix well. 

Combine them for a salad!

• Put a bunch of your favorite greens in a bowl. This is a light-flavored dressing, so I would recommend sticking to more mild-flavor greens, such as spinach and romaine. (We used organic field greens mixed with baby spinach, and some of the varieties within the field greens were so strong in flavor that they overpowered the great flavors of the chili rub and the dressing.)
• Pour the dressing over the greens (to your preference), and mix well. Feel free to add any veggies of your choice as well – some chopped celery or red peppers might go nicely with this recipe.
• Lay your chili-rubbed steak slices on top.
• Garnish with leftover chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime.
• Enjoy!

Weekend Challenge

Try The Scorpian Flip!  10 reps
Run 20 minutes

How Self-Control Works, and How to Boost Your Willpower by Better Understanding It

Adam Dachis —If we were entirely logical, we'd be able to abandon our bad habits, curb temporary moments of insanity, and practice self-control. Our logic is paired with emotion, however, and sometimes our emotions motivate us to make poor decisions. That's where self-control comes in. Here's a deeper look into how self-control works, followed by several ways to more effectively exert your supply of self-control in order to make smarter decisions.

How Self-Control Works

Back when basic survival was difficult, practicing the kind of self-control we need today wasn't always necessary. We'd have to hunt for our food if we wanted to eat, and we'd eat what we could find in order to live. Eventually we figured out that this isn't the most efficient way to work and invented one of the biggest life hacks of all time: agriculture. Suddenly there was food when we needed it, and what was once a constant fight for survival became (relatively) simple. Readily-available food made it possible for a surplus of certain foods which made it possible to overeat. It took a long time for this to become a serious problem, but today we face a problem of excess consumption. Shifts such as this helped create a serious need for self-control in new aspects of our lives.  Continue Reading