Tag Archive for: tracie wright-vlaun

Welcoming the Holiday’s……

Its holiday season and its time to get everything together. I feel like the holidays have come so quickly, and I’m not even prepared. So completely overwhelmed  with presents, Christmas trees,events, dinners, work, vacation…..AH! How many people are feeling overwhelmed out there?

As I pace my house at night I finally remembered that I’m a yoga teacher,( which I do sometimes) and this is the best time to practice what I preach. So a super early, cold walk down the beach the next morning at 6am , when the sun came up….gave me a different prospective. I can do as much as I can, move as fast as I can, but possibly the Universe is telling me to slow down!! I am currently writing from my bed after I have developed a pinched nerve. Now I am self diagnosing this….but to barely move your neck or shoulders……I think I am correct.

So what’s my lesson? Wrapping presents at midnight is not helping me….SLOW down Tracie!

How many people out there need for someone to say this to them. Take a breath, take a minute, find a quiet space….and Meditate for just 10 minutes.

Now you are ready to Welcome in the Holiday’s!

 

 

 

For questions or comments to me feel free to email : booking@luvmeyoga.com .

Many stories and thoughts to come. I welcome all opinions and suggestions.

YOUR PERFECT TEMPO

This “comfortably hard” run is the key to racing your best, at any distance. Here’s how to add tempo runs to your weekly mix.

Published

May 23, 2007

Robin Roberts runs like a Kenyan. Okay, she doesn’t run as fast as a Kenyan, but the 47-year-old New York City advertising executive–who trains far from Nairobi–has achieved personal records by using the same workout that has helped propel the likes of Paul Tergat and Lornah Kiplagat to greatness. The secret? A tempo run, that faster-paced workout also known as a lactate-threshold, LT, or threshold run.

Roberts–who’d dabbled in faster-paced short efforts–learned to do a proper tempo run only when she began working with a coach, Toby Tanser. In 1995, when Tanser was an elite young track runner from Sweden, he trained with the Kenyan’s “A” team for seven months. They ran classic tempos–a slow 15-minute warmup, followed by at least 20 minutes at a challenging but manageable pace, then a 15-minute cooldown–as often as twice a week. “The foundation of Kenyan running is based almost exclusively on tempo training,” says Tanser. “It changed my view on training.”

Today, Tanser and many running experts believe that tempo runs are the single most important workout you can do to improve your speed for any race distance. “There’s no beating the long run for pure endurance,” says Tanser. “But tempo running is crucial to racing success because it trains your body to sustain speed over distance.” So crucial, in fact, that it trumps track sessions in the longer distances. “Tempo training is more important than speedwork for the half and full marathon,” says Loveland, Colorado, coach Gale Bernhardt, author of Training Plans for Multisport Athletes. “Everyone who does tempo runs diligently improves.” You also have to be diligent, as Roberts discovered, about doing them correctly.

 

Why the Tempo Works…

Tempo running improves a crucial physiological variable for running success: our metabolic fitness. “Most runners have trained their cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to the muscles,” says exercise scientist Bill Pierce, chair of the health and exercise science department at Furman University in South Carolina, “but they haven’t trained their bodies to use that oxygen once it arrives. Tempo runs do just that by teaching the body to use oxygen for metabolism more efficiently.”

How? By increasing your lactate threshold (LT), or the point at which the body fatigues at a certain pace. During tempo runs, lactate and hydrogen ions–by-products of metabolism–are released into the muscles, says 2:46 marathoner Carwyn Sharp, Ph.D., an exercise scientist who works with NASA. The ions make the muscles acidic, eventually leading to fatigue. The better trained you become, the higher you push your “threshold,” meaning your muscles become better at using these byproducts. The result is less-acidic muscles (that is, muscles that haven’t reached their new “threshold”), so they keep on contracting, letting you run farther and faster.

 

…If Done Properly

But to garner this training effect, you’ve got to put in enough time at the right intensity–which is where Roberts went wrong. Her tempo runs, like those of many runners, were too short and too slow. “You need to get the hydrogen ions in the muscles for a sufficient length of time for the muscles to become adept at using them,” says Sharp. Typically, 20 minutes is sufficient, or two to three miles if your goal is general fitness or a 5-K. Runners tackling longer distances should do longer tempo runs during their peak training weeks: four to six miles for the 10-K, six to eight for the half-marathon, and eight to 10 for 26.2.

Because Roberts was focusing on the half-marathon, Tanser built up her tempo runs to eight miles (plus warmup and cooldown) at an eight-minute-per-mile pace. “The pace was uncomfortable,” she says. “But after a while I realized, ‘Oh, I can maintain this for a long time.’”

That’s exactly how tempo pace should feel. “It’s what I call ‘comfortably hard,’” says Pierce. “You know you’re working, but you’re not racing. At the same time, you’d be happy if you could slow down.”

You’ll be even happier if you make tempo running a part of your weekly training regimen, and get results that make you feel like a Kenyan–if not quite as fast.

 

UP TEMPO

A classic tempo or lactate-threshold run is a sustained, comfortably hard effort for two to four miles. The workouts below are geared toward experience levels and race goals.

GOAL: Get Started Coach Gale Bernhardt uses this four-week progression for tempo-newbies. Do a 10- to 15-minute warmup and cooldown.

Week 1: 5 x 3 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog in between each one (if you have to walk during the recovery, you’re going too hard).Week 2: 5 x 4 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog recovery Week 3: 4 x 5 minutes at tempo pace, 90-second easy jog recovery Week 4: 20 minutes steady tempo pace

GOAL: 5-K to 10-K Run three easy miles, followed by two repeats of two miles at 10-K pace or one mile at 5-K pace. Recover with one mile easy between repeats. Do a two-mile easy cooldown for a total of eight or 10 miles.

GOAL: Half to Full Marathon Do this challenging long run once or twice during your training. After a warmup, run three (half-marathoners) or six (marathoners) miles at the easier end of your tempo pace range (see “The Right Rhythm,” below). Jog for five minutes, then do another three or six miles. “Maintaining that comfortably hard pace for so many miles will whip you into shape for long distances,” says coach Toby Tanser.

The Right Rhythm

To ensure you’re doing tempo workouts at the right pace, use one of these four methods to gauge your intensity.

 

Recent Race: Add 30 to 40 seconds to your current 5-K pace or 15 to 20 seconds to your 10-K pace

Heart Rate: 85 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate

Perceived Exertion: An 8 on a 1-to-10 scale (a comfortable effort would be a 5; racing would be close to a 10)

Talk Test: A question like “Pace okay?” should be possible, but conversation won’t be.

 

Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Heart Disease.

Shocking report by ABC news on saturated fat, cholesterol and heart disease.
Saturated fat and cholesterol has been accused for almost 60 years to be responsible of heart disease but unfortunately it is not science but marketing. Most of the studies on cholesterol and heart disease are funded by pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately it is not doctors fault since all the research they receive comes from the sale rep of the pharmaceutical companies in most cases and do not have the time to digg into research and good science. However, most of us fear fat and cholesterol based on a theory which has never been proven by science. Feel free to share this.

 

Did You Know????

Did You Know?

  • Studies suggest that people with sleep apnea have a higher risk of cancer.
  • Drinking three or more cups of coffee per day is linked with a reduced risk of death.
  • Propecia, the baldness drug for men, causes sexual dysfunction.
  • In a study of women over age 65, those who ate the most monounsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avocados) had the brain power of women 6-7 years younger.
  • Dogs have been trained to detect oncoming seizures and to identify cancer in tissue samples.
  • People who sleep five hours or less a night are 32 percent more likely to gain weight than those who sleep seven hours.
  • Astronauts lose their sense of smell in space, most likely due to weightlessness causing fluid in the sinuses.
  • Knee replacement surgeries have doubled over the past decade, and more than tripled in women between the ages of 45 and 64.
  • Children who were breastfed for 6+ months are 51 percent less likely to be obese at age 9 than formula-fed kids.

Vitamin C Helps Lower Blood Pressure

Vitamin C Helps Lower Blood Pressure

Scientists at Johns Hopkins recently performed a meta-analysis of vitamin C studies relating to blood pressure going back to 1966. After analyzing data from 29 different clinical trials, they found that over an eight-week period, study participants who took around 500 mg of vitamin C per day experienced an average drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number) of nearly 4 points, and diastolic pressure (the bottom number) of about 1.5 points. And the results were slightly better among participants who had high blood pressure to begin with-their systolic numbers dropped by nearly 5 points.

Given the multitude of benefits of vitamin C and the fact that roughly one in three US adults has high blood pressure, this inexpensive and utterly harmless intervention should be a mainstream recommendation. As one study author pointed out, “[I]f the entire US population lowered blood pressure by 3 [points], there would be a lot fewer strokes.” But don’t expect the Institute of Medicine to change its tune any time soon-that broken record is still advising women and men to get a paltry 75 mg and 90 mg of vitamin C per day, respectively. I stand by my longtime recommendation that everyone take a daily multinutrient that contains 500-1,000 mg of vitamin C.