Frugal training plan to look extremely great up to summer starting in February

Hi there fellow runner! Finally, here is a plan for the rest of us.

1. Nutrition

Here are my basic advices on food. You can stick to them if you want to, but can shift to your own nutrition plan, it's not mandatory, must of my thoughts are based on two points -- healthiness and frugality. And it's average plan. You can imagine more healthy and less frugal variants, while some other folks may think it otherwise.

a. Breakfast

Muesli is the key here. Buy some and add some kefir instead of milk. It might be nice to grab some additional stuff to put it in your bowl later -- vanilla sugar, cinnamon, various nuts, dried fruits of some sort, fresh fruits like banana or apple.

How to get it: according to a rule of fist (the rule where you consume no more then the size of your fist in one meal) grab a fistful of muesli and put them in a bowl, put some additions if you want, fill the bowl with kefir, mix everything well, wait for a couple of minutes, eat.

Tip from a pro: don't prepare your meal a long time before you'll eat it. For example in the evening the day before. It tastes better fresh.

Alternative variant: fruits and cheese. Simple, fast and tasty.

b. Early lunch

Drinkable yoghurt would be a perfect decision. It can be the only dish there or can be accompanied by whole grain snack like muesli bar or some fresh fruits like apples, grapes or pears. Nuts will do good too. It's an optional meal -- good for those fellows who commute from home to office for about an hour or more.

c. Lunch

If you prefer eating out then try some complex lunch here with a bit of everything -- fresh vegetable salad, soup, buckwheat porridge and some meat if you love meat or fish if you love fish or just porridge if you don't like eating dead animals and fish. I, myself, would rather prefer such complex approach to alternatives like subway or other sandwich-based meals. Ant here is my point explained: sandwich approach is good if you are short on time but you will soon be hungry again, so if you are free for about an hour or a half of it -- spend it whole tasting food you eat and feel good long after. No hastiness mean good meal for me.

Tip from a pro: from the other side you might as well prepare your lunch box at home and deliver it to your office. It has it's benefits: it's more frugal way, it can be healthier way, due to your area may suffer lack of good places to eat out healthy. But there are negative points here too: eating at office cuts your opportunity to walk out of the building for a certain amount of time, less socialization and also it takes time in the morning or evening to prepare descent food for your upcoming lunch. So choose your way.

d. Afternoon snack

Some fruits or nuts if you feel hungry still. And by the way it's not fixed to the office hours. So if your trip back home is long enough you may become too hungry to stay in control of yourself later in the evening, when you'll be enjoying your healthy dinner.

Tip from a pro: always have something healthy and tasty with you in your bag in case of sudden hunger struck.

e. Dinner

Here it is, last meal of the day. Typically you will reach dinner worn out and would like to refresh yourself towards some evening opportunities, or dinner may be eaten out though it will be an affair itself. My basic rules here are: when eating out you may intake more calories because you'll consume some of them during your trip back home. Though, when eating at home you may switch to vegan style or something like that. My personal choice is: bowl of creatively mixed vegetable, fruit or combined salad with some yoghurt and spice topping.

Tip from a pro: if choose salad, be creative, invent new mixes each day so you'll never get stuck with it's taste.

f. Some typical advices

First: hydration. Some say that coffee does not count as a fluid intake because of it's nature. Tell this to the about 50% of people who prefer drinking coffee all day long instead of water. Though you might want to switch to water. And you should if you could. By the way promote a habit of drinking a glass of water early in the morning.

2. Training

Here is the carcass of your training plan. It's not very complicated, especially in comparison to p90x )) But there are options even in this plan. So you can shift activities, mix in some from "additional training" section and exclude parts of running, weight lifting or abs, squats and push-ups. Therefore you should consider that fact: if there are more exercises during your route from February to June then there are greater results in your final shape proportionally.

a. Running

There are only two ways to run for you here: first is to tun like hell and second is to run as you can and want to. For me decision is made already, for you I can't give any advice because I'm not a pro at all.


Read more in next week's shiny little episode, so stay tuned )

Listen to the music as you run, it helps a lot

Lime splashing into water. Extremely shallow DoF Uploaded by matchstick

So we finally settled matter of training plan down. We are good boys and girls and had done good job. Let's talk about our first or one of those first days when we hit the ground with our newbie running feet. First week of training is quite simple when looking at our timers and thinking on training time. You have only 5-15 minutes a day to run, here is almost nothing to fear. Second week reveals new problems -- you run about 20-40 minutes and you need to fill them with something to let you be happy and not fell asleep.

There are options, as usual. Believe me or nit, but there are many. Some say, that listening to the music is the best one, but here we come to the problem of play-lists -- you have to create ideal one for your every run or you would stop every 3-4 minutes and search for a comfortable tune which really fits your current mood. Many people fell nice and like their own breath as it sounds during training. It's an option for those runners, who breathe right. Or who breath good. Or for those who are going to improve their breathing technique (we'll discuss it later). The third option is to use special tracking software with your smartphone. It will tell you your current training data like speed (average and current), pace (all the same), time, distance and even transmit data from heart-rate monitor if you have one. This dataset will change from program to program, but I use runkeeper with android phone, it works good and I sure as hell may recommend it.

So there are no more options and it's hard. Like a rock. You are free to combine these techniques, like mixing up music and software vocalized training data. It's a bes option so you can listen to your favorite tracks and don't have to constantly check your timer.

As for me, I prefer radio, but there are days when I just run in silence or listen to the software voice in between my ears. By the way. Do you remember your first running gadget? Yesterday I spotted ipod mini 4 gb blue model in local used electronics shop. It's almost like the green mini, which accompanied me while I was making my first steps in the running field. Tomorrow I'll show you some shots of this device.

Weight loss (or just beginner's) running training plan for those with lack of good mood

Looking at the Sea. Sad young man gazing at the sea. Uploaded by SSPIVAK

Who among us had never faced great and almost overwhelming life circumstances? Life is like a game, when played on easy level it brings you just wasted time, neither fun, nor fame and glory. You switch to the harder level and achieve more interest -- you are involved and cam make changes and place your stakes! You can win or loose and what you'll get is a life itself, full of things in it to let you stay captivated through the subscription term. But there are times when life seems harder then it really is. Or just too hard. Sometimes it breaks all your achievements and plans leaving you all alone with no light of hope and surrounded with nightmares from the deepest hell. It's time to get back to foundation and rebuild everything, start with running. It helps.

First of all -- I recommend to run outside, park, wood, street -- it's fun, consume more energy and help you stay motivated -- you'll gel much positive feedback though it sometimes will be a little bit negative. Be prepared to be chased by packs of wild dogs, struggle with the surface and step over your shame. Every run will give you such a great relief...

Believe me or not, but there are only three options for you if you are going to start running. You should create a training plan or use on, already created. You have to adopt one of novice training concepts -- 30 minutes per training, 20 minutes per training or as much as you want whatever per whatever ) And of course you have to buy a pair of nice running shoes.

Let's start with a training plan for today and discuss it later in details as well as running shoes and the problem of choice and beauty. Let's assume that you are going to create a good habit.While creating a habit is not too hard itself, it isn't easy from the other point of view. You might set up one or more supporting habits to empower your motivation. Like paying yourself for every training and or placing some pleasure-like activities after the training.

If you are inventing a plan, you can shift and customize everything in it to fit your work or study timetable. Just take a time slice of 20-30 or whatever minutes a day or two and divide them in two parts -- one for running and one for walking. For example let's assume that you are going to get your first 40 minute run in two weeks, what you should do:

day, week	run (minutes)	walk (minutes)
Monday, week 1	5	35
Tuesday, week 1	10	30
Wednesday, week 1	10	30
Thursday, week 1	15	25
Friday, week 1	10	30
Saturday, week 1	20	20
Sunday, week 1	15+5 (run, then walk, then run again)	20
Monday, week 2	15	25
Tuesday, week 2	5+15 (run, then walk, then run again)	20
Wednesday, week 2	25	15
Thursday, week 2	30	10
Friday, week 2	day off	day off
Saturday, week 2	30	10
Sunday, week 2	40	0

Three days a week training or more for a novice runner?

Hi there, fellow runner! Today's agenda will run about daily running. So you are starting your training and following one of entry-level programs. You are running 2-3 days a week and want more, because it seems possible and even easy. Here are some tips and thoughts. People always think that if small amount of something is good, then increasing this amount mean greater good. But it rarely happen this way. In most cases it works upside-down. And increasing something like training frequency without rethinking the process can result in more pain and injuries. You even can think about leaving running for more hard ones. So motivation will be corrupt from the beginning and almost all fun will be lost -- can you really risk this?

J.J. Eller wins 120 yd. Hurdle 1911

For a newbie runner or runner over 40 years old it's very important to have a plenty of leisure to recover body from stress after training. Right after run your body is going to expand it's aerobic capacities -- it's like building more infrastructure so oxygen may be delivered to muscles in more effective way. It consumes time and increasing training frequency can collapse all bodies ventures on this field. So the first keystone is good leisure and a plenty of sleep to recover from a training day.

The second approach to concept of three running days a week lays on three whales -- speed training day, strength training day and long-run day. So here we have some sort of diversification. When you fell like you are ready to improve you shouldn't start with improving training frequency -- it's less important. You can improve speed, strength and distance. Imagine and implement improvements in your routine, add more uphill running for your strength day or add more interesting and complicated intervals to your speed training day. Add more kilometers to your long-run weekend. Rethink the process and feel your aims and passions are fulfilled.

Runner and water: how to drink the right way?

Hi there again, my humanoid running friend! Lets get down to water business. You can ask what should we discuss here -- water is cool and clear and you drink -- what else? And you will be terribly wrong this time -- water can kill you when you drink it wrong way. Here are some tips as usual.

One of the premiere middle-distance runners of his day. Sheppard won four golds and one silver medal at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics. Interestingly, after retiring from competitive running, Sheppard became a lawyer and was one of the defenders of the Lindbergh child kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann.

Some of professional runners ran with hydration packs, some had water from hydration tables at the race route here and there, there is nothing special, but over watering your body means that you can get too much and your blood will have problems with sodium and in result you can die. And you will. And you shouldn't.

Human body can normally stand one percent dehydration and after a long race it's normal to have this level been upgraded to two percent. People always have problems with their metabolism after long races -- diarrhea, weakness, nausea are usual companions of exhausted sportsmen after long and hard race. And it's absolutely normal.

You can ask then how much should you drink to stay alive and be healthy. The answer is really astonishing: you should drink right that amount of water, which can fulfill your thirst. The main problem with this water deaths covers behind novice runners participating in marathons. There is a long way to finish, it takes from six to eight hours to get to the end point and people who really run all the way are being in the risk group while others, who just want to reach the end are free of troubles.

Running in cold and severe weather conditions

Hi there, fellow runner. Today we'll discuss really hot topic -- which meanwhile is very cold and wet and dark and rainy and even snowy in few weeks later -- winter and late autumn running, I mean. You should take care of your health and accessories in advance to never fall down in front of hard times later.

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Elphinstone Winning Washington marathon

1911 (date created or published later by Bain)

So days go darker, work become more monotonous and there's no light in the end and fire in the heart to heat your lazy body and mind. It's much harder to get up early in the morning or go out in the evening to have a nice small run. Your training log is filled with empty days -- no runs -- no fun, no health, no fitness -- all you can think about is a good night-sleep in your comfortable apartments. You know what? I have my great advice for you, fellow runner!

1. Create new running routes

To get more of autumn-winter new short daylight time try to rethink your approach to creating running route. Make changes to it to get more light -- choose something else, but park -- you will get street lighting to help you and mark all places where you can change to your running outfit -- plan running around that places. Utilize work, parents, time after meetings, maybe change your daily get-back-home routine to add some running.

2. Lunch break rethinked

Talking about work, you can use your lunch break as your run break -- find out if you have parks or stadiums around and feel free to change and do your sport activities.

3. Uphill running.

Try uphill -- it will not only strengthen your lungs and legs, but shorten your training time -- you'll fell results of your training faster, so you can get home faster. Find out if you have some fitting landscape around.

4. Try adding more speed.

It will help you get more warmth in short time. And it will empower your legs. Thy intervals like fastening for 20-40 seconds and then walking for a minute two - three times during your training.

When running goes down: revive the dead track!

Hello, fellow runner! Today's question of interest is about getting close to experience cap in our field. Imagine you are at the maximum of your abilities -- you run perfectly from your point of view. No progress and everything you get in return from all your attempts is frustration and pain. Newbies frequently come to such a situation -- adding kilometers and minutes to their daily running activities and receiving less then they are willing to get. It's not a problem of human powers, it's a common problem of overpumped expectations. So grab your will and do nothing but train, but differently, if you please. Just assume that there is no experience cap in running -- you should experiment, involve your imagination, reed blogs like this and create new routine for your fun. But remember that we discuss only running as a hobby -- not professional sport! My advices can ruin your career as a professional runner -- mind this )

First trouble: you are getting low on power faster then you expect and loose speed.

How to solve: just relax -- ease your routine. Run, say, non every day, bun every other day, add walk breaks or something like this -- shorten your training for some time -- take a break an rest a little -- make your running routine more comfortable and life will turn it's brighter side to you. When in actually happen, just don't miss a moment -- empower your training -- run better and faster!

Second trouble: you just can't run faster.

You should add some speed exercises in your training routine. Seped-ups, slow-downs and intervals. Try uphill running in some cases it can let you focus on your other potential powers. Add long run to your timetable -- for the weekend, sunday morning, for example -- run more then you regular do -- focus on distance, not speed. So, working in this side areas will improve your speed and you will notice the effect after all.

Third trouble: you are over exhausted during your long runs.

Try to slow down your pace, add more kilometers to your training at lower rate -- don't try to eat great pie, take it by slices.

Runner at the boiling point: training harder then you can imagine

Now you are running with the last effort, the training is almost over, stupid day, too. But then something clicks in your head and you're completely exhausted. Do not worry - it's stupid psychology. Muscles are doing their best. Entertainment mode is on: for example you can run - two hundred meters, three hundred meters, five minutes - you can run till your energy is still there to serve. Empty your fuel tanks.

photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24415055@N00/6654115437/sizes/z/in/photostream/

After all, you can always ask the question - if I were to stop now, then how do I get home - on foot? No, foot is to slow. Repeat special spell. Entity mantra. Tell yourself about sore, being angry at everyone and everything, rejoice life or just something to entertain brains - mathematics is always at your service.

The main idea behind this crap is that there always was something in your head to blok your thoughts from running. Think. Or speak. Actually, it's not bad to say something motivational. Or cheer on your feet. Like this: "Legs! Legs, run! Work feet, the sun is high! Time-time-time ". Or something like that - let your fantasy fly free.

You can entertain yourself with podcasts, while not running around the city - there's always something interesting they discuss ... talkative radio is also a nice choice.

But it's not for everybody. In general, see for yourself - weather you are a fan of audio stuff something else -- everything is determined by the situation, imagination and your condition. Imagine that you're running now in a critical race, event that matters a lot for you, anyway. And you can not give up, stop, go the distance. You have to break yourself to win, win, get up on the podium to shake the bottle of champagne, get a medal - just to taste. Lock the head in the picture, to which you aspire, in which you can see for yourself the place for which you are all that and started. Remember everything carefully. And just do your job. Nobody will do it better.

Once a runner, twice a runner: how to get back your running after a break

Hi there, fellow runner! How's the running routine going? Well, you might be in great condition now but remember your sporty time-line -- you sure had hard times when you left training route for a while -- a week, a month, maybe more. Let's discuss the situations so people, who never faced them, before can handle all troubles perfectly correct.

Imagine you had a brake in your training (which we can call fun, I assume) for one or two weeks. The first day back on the road you should run slower, maybe take more walk breaks and try to shorten the lenth of your regular route to avoid being over exhausted. Thats all -- don't worry.

The next situation -- if you stopped your running for a month plus-minus something. Here you have a week plan to get back -- it's easy and you don't really have to stick to it -- just mind it and be sure -- you'll make fun. For Monday you can 15 minutes training and you should run for 30 seconds, then you should walk for 30 an so on. Tuesday is for walking -- walk for 30-60 minutes. Then Wednesday: run for 20 minutes with same pattern as on Monday. You've got the idea? Yes -- next day will be more walking and the other day -- more running. If you feel good you can change ratio between running and walking and run for 30-50 seconds then walk for 30-10 seconds.

The last situation is the easiest -- you left running for more then a month -- it's ok to get back again using the plan above, but it's fun to imagine that you start running for the first time in your life, but again )

photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/2913350364/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Runners' fears!

Troubles, runner can stand!

Why, hello fellow runner! Lets talk about preparing yourself for your first run ever. Or not exactly first, but maybe it's your first race or you stopped all running activities for long time. Let's discuss feelings you can be overwhelmed by in front of this challenge. To be correct from the start these feelings are divided into 2 groups -- wrong feelings and right feelings.

The first group consists of various fears produced by real problems -- like if you haven't bought proper shoes before your first run or you overexercised before the race day. It's a crap! You can fix this next time.

The other group should be handled with care -- it grows inside of black box in your head -- you never know what grows inside, because you can't remember what you have placed inside before. Self-destructive intimidation, for example, can cause really bad results and broken expectations. Try to avoid it, assume that you can't measure how you fit for your situation's demands -- it's not your problem -- you've done everything to perform well an all those measurements are nonsense. Leave fears. Train hard.

photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica/4497738899/

Faster runners, who train more and look better

They are all around -- in every place all over the world there are guys and galz who do running better then you can even imagine, never fear this -- you should live with this or change the situation, but get your nose back from clouds -- it will consume much time. I'll continue on this topic later this week, stay tuned.