At 35 years Bernard Lagat is a man still at the top of his game. Watching him win 3000m gold at 2010 world indoor championship I was left feeling this guy is special.Consider that his former rival such as Moraccan Hicham E Guerrouj has since retired bogged down by injuries and age.
Is there a Secret?
I tried googling for information about Bernard Lagat, Hoping to find some secret workout but I didnt find any. If his coach has discovered the secret to athlete longevity and he has refused to share with the world, You cant blame him!
The closest I came to a secret has to be an interview Bernard Lagat gave back in 2007 to a small group of American and international media at Nike’s Osaka hotel.
Two questions stood out because they explained the mans approach to training, diet and discipline.
Take us through a season. When are you in Tuscon; when are you in Flagstaff, and when are you in Europe?
After the season, I go back to Tuscon, eat a lot, play with my son, and on November 1st, I begin the base training. I’ll start with no more than 20-25 miles per week, then increase it until January 1st, when we get serious because of the indoor season. After the indoor season, we take a few weeks off, then hit it again in Tuscon until April when we go to Flagstaff for eight weeks of hard training.
In Flagstaff, that’s the time when I start training in the morning and afternoon. Once that’s done, there are several races, including Mt. SAC, Prefontaine, New York, and the US nationals. After the US nationals, I go to Germany and stay there for three months until the final Grand Prix meet of the season. Once the season is over, the cycle starts again,
Where is your European training base?
I’m based in Tubingen, Germany. It’s about 20 minutes south of Stuttgart. Stuttgart is easily accessible for us (especially when traveling to meets in Europe); all we have to do is take a short drive up to the airport. Tubingen has a lot of good forests in which you can run; you can run north, south, east, west. It’s good for a runner like me, who likes to run long distances. I stay away from cement. The good thing about Tubingen is that there are a lot of different trails. I can do tempo runs, hill work, I can run on the flat if I want to.
Apple Iphone has 140,000 applications, and still counting. Wading for your perfect application can be a headache if you don’t know what you are looking for, this list makes it easier to find applications dedicated for runners. Just type the name of the application on apple search box and you shall find it.
Trailguru Application for runners
Trailguru, this Iphone application records your distance, speed, and time as well as details such as how many stops you made, how long they were, your elevation, and statistics on your runs.
RunCalc Iphone Application for runners
RunCalc. Novices as well as experienced runners will enjoy using this app that calculates the pace and speed of your runs when you enter the time and distance.
Can Do 26.2 Iphone Application for runners
Can Do 26.2.will help you find any marathon in the US, can register you for the race, provides links to the races’ websites, and can tell you if the race is a Boston Qualifier.
Fitnio Iphone Applicationfor runners
Fitnio Application tracks your runs, it calculates and stores time, distance, and calories burned for each run and even keeps an emergency button with a friend’s number programmed in case you need help during a run.
Distance Meter Pro Application for Runners
Distance Meter Pro. Get distance, speed, a route map, and more with this GPS distance tracker that can be used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks.com.
Aerobicview Iphone Application
AerobicView application has over 40 attributes including distance, speed, calories, heart rate, and notes.
Imapmyrun application
iMapMyRun application allows you to see maps or your runs and synchronizes with your workouts on MapMyRun.com. If you Twitter your runs, you can do so straight from this app.
Runchart application
Run Chart. Customize routes and times as you track your runs and information about them. This app works great with your music, so you can listen to your playlists while you run.
Iphone Runners Applications that cost money
Pedometer Iphone Application
Pedometer. For only $2.99, this application probably works better than most old school pedometers that cost more money.
RunKeeper. Record your speed, pace, elevation, and more for each run as well as maps of your runs. This app is free with ads or $9.99 without ads.
There are many good things you can say about Michelle Obama and one of them is her well toned muscular arms.
Is it all in the genes or fruits of hard work.
Michelle Obamas trainer has revealed in the latest edition of Women? health magazine that those arms were as a result of Michelle’s willingness to do the heavy lifting and shedding sweat in the gym.
Michelle Obama Gym Routine
Cornell McClellan, the Chicagoan who has been Mrs. Obama’s trainer for 12 years, says that an “arm-training superset” of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls are the secret to her toned and defined arms.
Her typical work out consists of a combination of intense cardio and weight lifting routine.
The arms are a result of setting high standards and sticking to it. Her personal trainer sums it all “She’s truly committed herself to the importance of health and fitness.”
Learning how to breathe (inhale and exhale) properly has benefits such as improving a runners performance.
A good description of a breathing technique on how to breathe and boost performance is from Military.com
Many experts will say that to fully oxygenate the muscles and clear the body of carbon dioxide you should breathe a 3:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio; full inhales and full exhales. This means you INHALE on the LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes and EXHALE fully on the RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes. This pattern is not that hard to turn into a habit, but it may require you to slow your pace down for a few runs to master the technique. You will notice a lower heart rate as you are able to get more oxygen in and more importantly push all the carbon dioxide out of your body. You may notice that you naturally drop to a 2:1 ratio when you are really pushing it to the finish. That is OK. But realize it is difficult to maintain a pace that requires you to breathe at a 2:1 ratio.
There are many techniques on how to breathe, the best way to find a method that works for you is to try them all. If a method you tried does not work, try another method, when you find a method that works stick to it.
The following breathing tips have worked for me.
Breath more from your diaphragm (belly) than your chest (chest breathing is more shallow).
Focus on exhaling more fully. This will remove more CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and allow for deeper inhalations of O2 (Oxygen), I do this when I reach a hill and slow my pace.
We know Jamaican Usain Bolt is faster than American Tyson.
A BBC article titled Why Bolt is special analyses the performance of Bolt and Gay at the 100 metres IAAf finals 2009 Berlin Germany.
According to the article Both athletes strides
Bolt needed 41 strides to win gold on Sunday while Tyson Gay, who claimed silver with a magnificent time of 9.71, took 44½ strides.
On How Tyson Gay can Beat Usain Bolt
The article adds If Gay is to challenge Bolt’s world record it would appear he needs to improve his stride length while maintaining his stride frequency – which is easier said than done when travelling upwards of 27mph.
Bolts biggest advantage is that he has legs longer than his fellow athletes, the Jamaican is 6.5fts, which means he has longer stride.
If Gay cannot run faster by improving his stride length then he may consider undergoing surgery to have longer legs? That may work!!!!
Waking up at the middle of the night is a problem I have whenever I start training for a marathon. I no longer consider it a sleeping problem but an effect of marathon training.
For the last two months since i started training for October Nairobi Marathon, every night my sleep is interrupted, it is usually a case of a full bladder. After emptying it I get back to bed and get back sleeping within no time.
Waking up at night is a good sign for a runner.
The full bladder that wakes me up at night is because of my hydration. To run properly a runner must drink plenty of water to remain hydrated. I always make sure am drinking a minimum of two litres a day to replace lost fluid during running.
While it is inconveniecing to wake up in the middle of the night, I think it is a small price to pay. The most important thing for me is to run properly and that means staying hydrated.
Waking up at night is a sign my hydration is up to standard.
The biggest dilemma in running is, you try to run faster but your lungs always let you down. Running is a cardiovascular exercise, if you can improve on your breathing and how to get more oxygen into your lungs you are guaranteed to run faster.
Runners World January 2009 Issue had a great article on how you can improve on how you get more oxygen into your lungs by doing a couple of simple exercises.
To quote from the article “Just as we strength-train our hamstrings and calves to improve our ability to power over hills, we can tone the muscles used for breathing. “Exercise improves the conditioning of the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen, and the intercostal muscles, which lie between the ribs and enable you to inhale and exhale,” says Everett Murphy, M.D., a runner and pulmonologist at Olathe Medical Center in Olathe, Kansas. “When you take a breath, 80 percent of the work is done by the diaphragm. If you strengthen your diaphragm, you may improve your endurance and be less likely to become fatigued.”
Any exercise that works on your core area such as sit ups will improve the muscles around the diaphragm.
Best breathing method : The mouth or the nose?
The experts interviewed for the article swore by the mouth, the wider is your mouth open while running the better your breathing. I once tried running with my mouth shut and I swear it was horrible.
The chest breathing or the belly breathing.
I was a little bit surprised to learn belly breathing is the recommended method of breathing for runners. When you chest breathe, your shoulders get tense and move up and down. That’s wasted energy-energy you should conserve for running.
Paula Radcliffe is the one of the best female long distance runners. In this video she recommends easy runs to remove toxins from the body.
Cause of toxins in your body.
If you are feeling sore after running exercise it is because toxins (lactic acid) has built up in your muscles. An easy run can go a long way in flushing it out of your body.
Watch video on how to remove / flush out toxins from your body
I was checking out videos on you tube when I came across a video on how to build leg strength.
This video was impressive because the presenter demonstrated how you can build leg strength without gaining unnecessary leg muscle. If you are a runner and you engage in resistance training that adds muscle, the extra muscle will make you add weight that will slow your running speed.
My sister she is always asking me what are the best exercise she can do to get a flat stomach. I have recommended my favourite exercise, running but she refused, she wanted an exercise she can do indoors.
I researched around the internet and these were what I found
1. Good old sit ups
2. Bicycle exercise
3. Exercise Ball Crunch
4. Full vertical crunch
5. Plank on elbows and trunk, it won’t trim your tummy but it will give you a strong tummy
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