Exercising While Sick + Honey, Lemon & Ginger Tea

Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat and stuffy nose.
The savvy thing to do would have been to make some tea and curl back up into my bed. But no,
I headed out the door in hopes that running in the freezing cold would reinvigorate me and cure all.
About two miles in, I felt like I was moving slower than a sloth and could not breathe for the life of me.
I contemplated heading back to the house, but hey, am I or am I not a triathlete? Nothing can stop me, right?
So I convinced myself to keep running. Worst.Decisions.Ever.
After one mile I had to stop and walk back home. Fail.
My lungs were burning, my throat felt like sandpaper and I was feeling like the biggest IDIOT in town.
I arrived home light headed but at least the agony was over. I brewed me some honey, lemon and ginger tea (recipe below) and went back to bed. Which is where I should have stayed all along.
Considering that cold (and flu) season is in full swing - and the poor judgement on my part this morning - I thought it would be a good idea to discuss whether it’s to OK to exercise while sick.

Running A Marathon Is Awesome (And You Should Totally Try It!)

Last weekend was NYC marathon weekend.
On Sunday morning runners from all over the world gathered in New York to achieve one goal: Crossing the finish line after running 26.2 miles.
Now before you look the other way, mumbling “Not another post about marathons please”, bear with me for a couple of minutes, and let me just explain you why I believe you should try completing a marathon - at least once in your life.

Some of the Benefits of Running

I run almost everyday and every so often someone tells me: “Running is no good for you, it’s too hard on your joints, knees and your body. You should not run that much!" 
While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I’ll stick to my guns and say: “Everything has pros and cons, but if done right, running it’s actually good for you, very good for you!”

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Are You Exercising Too Much?

Exercising too much, is that possible? Yes, exercise overload is just as much a problem as not exercising at all. 
It is in fact well documented that doing a load of exercise can easily do more harm than good. If regular exercise is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle, taking it to the extreme may cause severe health issues. 
For the majority of people, who struggle to exercise, the thought of doing too much may seem ludicrous. However, overtraining is much more common than one could assume. At the beginning, it may be simple enthusiasm, but then the idea that you can’t take a break from exercising creeps into your mind and before you know it you’ll find yourself falling into exercise overload. The problem arises when you feel the need to exercise beyond normal level, or better yet, beyond your normal level. 
Here are some of the most common signs that you might exercising too much.

Quitting Is Out Of The Question

There are only two things that may stop you from running: injury and attitude. The former is something that is (most of the time) beyond one’s control, but what about the latter? What about that voice between your ears that is telling you to stop, to give up?

You see, mental attitude is a huge factor in running; it’s the determination that makes you keep going when you feel you want to stop, to throw in the towel. In fact, a positive mental attitude is one of the most important things a runner needs.

We all have days when we wonder if it’s really worth it, and when we’re feeling so miserable that all we want to do is quit.
It’s precisely in those moments that you have to remind yourself of the importance of pushing forward.

Credit: Image courtesy of fitnesspo.tumblr.com

Running is a lot about self-belief. It might be after your first step or at mile 3, but at some point you’ll need to tell yourself “Damn, I can do it!” and not give in to doubt.

One of the biggest challenges in running is the gradual buildup of mental tiredness. When it hits you, that’s exactly when you need to keep focused and don’t let the negative thoughts cloud your brain, ignore them and keep going. It’s when things seem worst that you should not quit.

Mental toughness in running comes with experience and you need to work at it. Once you master it, it stands you in good stead to handle anything that comes your way, especially when you feel like quitting.

If you just started, it’s important that you set realistic goals.You need targets that challenge you, but don’t break you.

Feed your motivation by attaining constant incremental successes. It boosts your confidence and makes you feel that you’re moving in the right direction.

Also, it doesn’t help to be overly critical about how fast or how far you’ve run. Stay positive and look at every run as a new opportunity that was given you to become better at it.

Rest if you must, but don’t quit, Remember that success is failure turned inside.

Michael Jordan once said:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded.”

So keep at it, even when you feel that you have taken three steps back. Failing is part of the process but when you’re out there running, quitting is out of the question!

Running Is Only About You

Last weekend I went for a run in Central Park, something I never do. I prefer to stay downtown, cross the East River on the Williamsburg bridge and go from there.

For this one time, however, I went uptown on the Hudson River Park and entered CP from Columbus Circle @59th st.

“Whoa!” was my reaction as I entered the park and saw that tsunami of runners hitting the pavement. It was tad overwhelming, to be honest.

It was actually so jam-packed that I had to dart between people. A bumper-to-bumper situation, without the bumpers, of course.

As I was making my way through this massive wave of runners I noticed that there was a good amount of beginners. Which is cool, people hitting the road to get healthier. I like that.

However, I saw that most of them spent their time (and energy) twisting their heads looking at other runners instead of concentrating on their own run. As if they were under constant scrutiny by more experienced/faster runners. Which is such a stupid thing to do in the first place.

Being an experienced runner I feel like I need to share this secret: we (i.e., faster/experienced runners) do not give a “fat rat ass” about other runners; all we care about is our pace, heart rate, time and the distance we’re covering. Simple as that.

You run slower? We don’t care. Actually is not that we don’t care, we are just concentrating on our own run and we can’t be bothered to look around. That’s about it. We might get angry if you get in our way (well, really angry), but unless that happens, we’re cool.

Credit: Image courtesy of http://iloveart17.tumblr.com/

How Often Should I Replace My Running Shoes?

I was talking to my friend Sam last week and he told me that lately he’s been experiencing some knee pain after his morning runs. I know from experience that knee pain should be taken very seriously and it's not something you wanna mess up with so I sat him down and started asking him all kind of questions. Turns out he’s been running on a pair of shoes that are at least 2 years old and that he’s also been using for walking, working out, shooting hoops and a number of other activities.
So I told him that before having his knee checked, he should try buy a brand new pair of running shoes and give it shot. He called me last night saying that he did as I told him and that he no longer experienced knees pain after running.
His story gives me the opportunity to talk about one of the most important things in running: replacing running shoes.