First Time Training For A Half Marathon

Completing a half Marathon is not something you can do without some serious training. That said the training doesn't have to be that extreme or held to an any rigid regime. There are a few main points to follow to ensure you'll complete your first half marathon without any injuries or needs for medical attention during your first race.

If you can't already run 4km without stopping I wouldn't enter a half marathon to start with. If you can, and you have at least 3 months till the race day then it should be an easy task assuming you don't get any injuries during training. Avoiding injuries is always the number one priority.

Measure Your Progress

The most important motivator in my view is to record your runs and be able to see improvements over time as you analyse them later on graphs. The most popular fitness/running monitors based on the upgradeyourbody fitness directory are currently Garmin Watches, followed by iPhones with apps such as Runkeeper. Which ever you choose, the main thing is to be able to record your distance and average pace using GPS. There's no better motivator than watching these measurements improve over time, and in my opinion there's no better competitor than yourself.

Two Short Runs A Week

When training for my first half marathon I used to run twice through the week. These should be your shorter runs where you focus on improving speed. A short run can be anywhere from 4km minimun to around 8km. Try to run the same track each time so you can compare times and pace and make your goal to improve the overall pace. Running for at least 30 minutes should be the aim and it can be increased to anywhere up to an hour as the half marathon day approaches. Be careful though not to make your short runs so long where you'll become reluctant to do them at all. If you find yourself thinking it's too hard to go for a run consider shortening it or making it easier by making your front door the start and finish line.

One Long Run A Week

On the weekend pick either day, depending on other schedules. Keeping it flexible will keep you happy. This run should be an endurance run. The goal here is to run as far as you can without doing injury, or wearing yourself out so much that you can't perform your two weekly runs. For me I started my long weekend run at 8km and increased it by around 10% each week. The goal should be to get up to around 2 hours worth of running for your long run. Any longer than 2hrs and you'll find the recovery time is too long and painful. So the main point here is to remember it's not about pace its about endurance. Take it easy and most of all don't get injured. If you can work up to running for two hours, no matter the pace you can do a half marathon.

Supplements For Half Marathons

You'll soon notice during your long run each weekend that running after one hour becomes incredibly grueling. After the body has used up its readily available reserves of easy to burn carbohydrates, burning other sources of fuel is much harder. Your legs become tired, heavy and the psychology tells you to stop and walk or give up. At this stage it's greatly beneficial to consume any of the energy gels that are readily available on the market.

Energy gels usually come in plastic tubes which contain about 100 calories and some come with optional caffeine. Caffeine is more psychological, as its known to the professionals to aid in covering pain during extreme exercise and increase endurance. For me, around 10 minutes after consuming these 100 calories you feel your legs come back to life and the energy boost usually lasts for around 20 minutes. Everyone is different so experimentation with brands and frequency of use during your long runs will help you understand what to consume during your actual race.

Psychology Of Running A Half Marathon

The average time for a beginner to complete a half marathon will typically be 1:45 to 2:30 depending on age and fitness level. Running continuously for this length of time is not natural and you'll fight a constant battle to not stop and walk. That urge that keeps a successful runner going through the pain all comes down to psychology.

If you need to stop and walk, it's always OK, as long as you intend to get going again once recovered. The main thing is to keep focused that you'll keep going as fast as you can. Beating previous personal record paces or distance records always provides a great sense of achievement that keeps long distance runners satisfied and motivated.

Having said that if you ever feel sick or unwell during a training event it's important to stop and recover properly so you can resume training with the least downtime.

Two Weeks Before The Half Marathon

Now is the time to begin your training wind down. Nearly all half marathons are held on weekends so make your last long weekend run two weeks before the event. It takes two full weeks for the body to recover from a half marathon which is the reason this will be the last long training run. Be careful again to take it easy and focus only on running for 2 hours. As a beginner you should be able to now run at least 17kms in two hours, meaning you will probably run your half marathon in 2:30.

For your weekly shorter runs which are normally go as fast as you can, it's time to introduce tempo runs. Tempo runs are where you warm up for about 10 minutes, then run flat out giving it all you've got for 30 seconds, then run slow for a 1:30 or so to recover and do it again. This is repeated until the end of the run. I found the Runkeeper App on my iPhone was the best for programming this. After setting the intervals, it has voice prompts that tell when to run hard and when to recover. Overall, this technique will teach your body that it can run at a faster pace and has been proven to have significant results.

The goal of tempo running is to not have to stop and walk. You should feel what your body can do and push only so hard during the fast running that you don't need to walk during the recovery. Run as slow as you like to recover, but listen and feel to your fitness level so that when you run hard you won't be so exhausted that you need to walk to recover. Tempo running should teach you to feel how hard you can run, and how to run slow enough to recover without having to stop or walk.

On the last weekend you can actually take it off completely or go for half a long run. It's up to you.

During the last week do one more tempo run early in the week.

The day before the run you should be feeling heavy and lazy again. This is exactly what you want because it means your body has recovered from all the training, your muscles are recovered, and energy reserves are resupplied. If you're feeling keen you can do a quick 10 minute warm up just to get those legs moving again but don't over do it. You'll now be fully trained and recovered, ready at peak performance for race day.

The Night Before Your Half Marathon

Carb loading the night before a half marathon is key because carbs are the preferred fuel to burn during running. Eating processed carbs like white pasta will burn faster, but since it was the night before and still twelve until the race, I decided to eat wholemeal pasta with a little mince. 60% carbs, 30% meat and the rest as vegies should be fine. Home made spaghetti bolognese was my choice in the end. Obviously avoid alcohol at all costs and drink plenty of fluids all day.

Morning Of The Half Marathon

Eat a light breakfast based on white carbs. White toast with you're favorite spread or a banana but just enough to stop the hunger. You can also choose to have a good strong coffee as the caffeine will stay in your system for 6 hours and increase endurance. Pack your energy gels and head off to the event.

All the training and preparation above will ensure you finish comfortably and achieve your goal of completing your first half marathon!

 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joshua_M_White

  

            

         

       Where To Go For Fantasy Football Advice For The Newbie

You may think you know all there is to know about football in general and fantasy football in particular. My best friend has a plaque that never fails to amuse me. It says “Those of you who think you know everything are annoying those of us who do.” All I am saying is that everyone could use a little fantasy football advice from time to time. There are people who do nothing but play and analyze this game for a living. Most of us do not have the time or resources for that, so we can easily take advantage of their expertise.

Now you can rely on the advice of your friends provided they are not playing in the same league, but there     are unlimited resources out there so check a few of them out. There are any number of magazines you can buy that have tons of information on fantasy football. Probably the best ones to get before your draft are the preseason issues. They have every player ranked and lots of articles about up and coming rookies and players who may n a decline. ESPN, Fox sports and the NFL all have magazines.

If you check online, the fantasy football sites are just too numerous to name. Everyone has a favorite and they all have similar offerings. You can get cheat sheets, draft sheets, all kinds of statistics and predictions for the coming season. Many of these sites are free and some allow you to subscribe for a small fee. The internet is a wonderful resource and most people either have a computer or have access to one. No, I don’t mean your work computer. Do that at your own risk, but the public library often has computers you can use. When we visited my family in Georgia, my husband was frantic about his fantasy team and my mother did not have a computer so we went into town and used the ones at the library, crisis averted. Thank goodness we have a lap top now.

Satellite TV has so many sports channels; they have to have fantasy football information in addition to all the other sports news. Many sports radio stations and internet radio stations have fantasy football programming. You can even get apps for your phone to keep updated. Even if you are a new fantasy football enthusiast, you can get up to speed very quickly taking advantage of all the fantasy football advice available.


              http://www.football-fantasy.us/

                                    How to Bench with Proper Form  

 

 Let me start by saying that I believe in lowering the weight to my chest. I prefer to touch-and-go with most exercises, and I’ve never experienced any negative repercussions using that protocol. Using touch-and-go is the only way to be sure you are lowering the weight to the same spot each time.

When you use proper form, there is no reason for you to feel discomfort in your shoulders.

If benching is causing you shoulder issues it is likely due to at least one of the following possible reasons:

* You have weak rotator cuff muscles. To fix this, read about how to avoid rotator cuff injury.
* You are benching too wide. Extreme wide grip bench pressing is not advised if you want to save your shoulders.

To find the right grip for proper bench pressing form, follow these tips for for proper arm placement:
1. Lay down on a bench (or stand up if you want).
2. Put your arms in the bench press position with elbows bent at a 90 degree angle between forearms and biceps, and another 90 degree angle at the arm pits, between the upper arms and the back. This is how NOT to bench press.
3. Now decrease the arm pit angle to only 45 degrees. This will increase the tension on the triceps and decrease the tension on the shoulders. Over time your shoulders will experience less strain and your triceps will get much stronger.
4. Grasp the bar with your hands directly over your elbows, with thumbs 2-3 inches outside of the shoulders.
5. Elbows should stay under the hands through the descent and should flare out when pressing the bar through lockout.

Although you will keep your elbows in at a 45 degree angle, this is not a close grip bench by any means.
* The path from the top of the press to your chest is too long. You want the shortest path possible from the bottom to the top of the rep in order to save energy.

As you lay on the bench to begin your set, be sure to use these tips for proper bench posture:
1. Puff your chest out by elevating your rib cage like you are about to strut your stuff in front of the super-sexy girl next door.
2. Retract your shoulder blades by pulling your shoulders and elbows back.
3. Push your traps and upper back into the bench while keep those shoulder blades back and in.
4. Only your head, upper back, and buttocks should actually be touching the bench, but you should NOT have an exaggerated curve in your lower spine (the lumbar curve).
5. Finally, attempt to flare or flex the lats. This will give you a wider surface area on the bench and will help when pushing the weight out of the hole. That is why elite powerlifters will tell you that you need a big back to have a big bench.
* You set up too far away from the bar. When you unrack the bar, it should be nearly in pressing position. Lay down so that your shoulders are only an inch or two forward of the unracked bar. Pull the bar forward off the rack rather than lifting it up and over.
* You are not using your feet properly. For maximum strength and stability, you want your feet to stay planted on the floor directly underneath your legs at all times. Your feet should not jump around during the set, and in fact you should drive through your heels to generate additional force when pressing.

This does NOT mean that your butt should leave the bench at any time during your lift, or that you should exaggerate that lumbar curve we were talking about earlier.
* You are not using your triceps properly. Once the bar passes the half-way point in a rep, you want to try to break the bar in half, which activates the triceps to assist in locking the bar out at the top

 

 

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