Friday Fitness: Turkey Day Trot Nutrition

For those entering a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to make the most out of your event.  Whether walking or running, it is important to fuel and hydrate yourself before, during and after the race.  Too often those in races or running events end up needing medical attention or feel lousy during and/or after the race.   Dehydration? Overhydration (low sodium in the blood)? Hypoglycemia? The root cause of some of these mishaps could have potentially been prevented if a personal nutrition game-plan was initiated.   Here are some tips:

Hydration: 

1. The day before the race, drink enough water throughout the day until your urine is pale in color.  If yellow, drink more water and/or consume more fluid-based foods such as vegetable based soups or fruit smoothies.


2. On race day, drink 8-20 ounces of water prior to the event.  Sports drinks (6-8% carbohydrate) are only needed for those who are going 60 minutes or longer at moderate-high intensity. 


3. During the event, use the course as most offer water stations every couple of miles—take advantage by drinking 4-8 ounces per stop (1 gulp is equivalent to about 1 ounce). 


4. After the race, drink enough fluids to replace what you lost during exercise.  For those “salty sweaters”, try drinking an electrolyte based drink, tomato juice or add electrolyte powder to your water. 

Everyone has different needs on event day, but here are some general guidelines include the following when it comes to food intake before and after the race:

1. “Graze” the day before the trot on easily digestible high-carbohydrate foods with added protein.  Examples include:  ½ cup plain greek yogurt with ½ ounce of salted almonds or a small banana with 1 T. almond butter.  Avoid the fiber packed bars (e.g., Fiber One).


2. Eat familiar foods—especially your breakfast prior to the trot.  Breakfast is essential.   Have something light, easy to digest, and added protein to help fuel you for the race as well as preventing post-exercise muscle soreness.  Example) A whole wheat english muffin with a hard-boiled egg washed down with 12 ounces of water.   


3. If you are not having a meal within 30-60 minutes of the race, make sure to have a snack within that same time period to assist with muscle recovery.  A 3:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein is ideal after a race.  One cup of low fat chocolate milk actually has the perfect ratio… 24-26 gm carbohydrates to 8 grams of protein (the picture is actually me in the cow suit.  Flattering, I know.  “Buttercup” was providing chocolate milk to those finishing at a race in Indiana—be on the lookout for the milk stations.)

Enjoy and savor your Thanksgiving meal either later that afternoon or evening :-)

 

Fundamentals of Finding Your Stride

With another Turkey Trot in the books, I figured how could there not be a better time to go over a few points to tweak our running technique. My love for running started as an H3 program intern, and as a full-time member of the H3 squad, I’m amazed of how much this sport motivates our guests. Many of our guests come in never expecting to participate, but in the end push themselves to where they think they can’t go, while enjoying the experience.

Personally, I see running as not only an opportunity to challenge yourself, but at the same time it allows one to remain free and relaxed. Every time I go out for a run, I honestly learn something new about who I really am as a person. We’re beginning to see a popular trend in the sport, and the best part is every single runner has different goals – anyone can compete. If you’ve ever experienced these feelings then you probably know that the single best feature of running is that it’s INTENSE no matter who you are.

Walking, jogging, and running come naturally to many of us, but have you ever been taught the proper technique? A lot of the time we tend to focus on the aerobic benefits of cardiovascular training (which don’t get me wrong is phenomenal), but if you’re looking to improve your running performance it’s important to take a step back and find your stride. In any sport, improved skills can lead to better economy of movement with additional savings in energy. Why is this important? It allows you to exercise for a longer duration (stamina), improve your times (new PRs!), and probably the biggest gain is that you’ll experience less running related injuries.

Running is very complex with many actions that we will not even begin to go over; today we’ll focus on the key elements that will get you off and running.

1.  Posture – chin on chest, shoulders slumped, back humped over, arms nearly straight or held in front of the chest crossing the midline – these are probably the biggest energy wasters when it comes to running technique.

-          Keep chin high, eyes looking into the distance

-          Shoulders relaxed in line with your trunk

-          Arms should remain close to your side with a normal rhythm

How to improve? Have a friend shoot a video of you running, check the cues.

2.  Vertical Foot Movement – “Pose Method” of running technique formulated by Nicholas Romanov. The basic tenet is that runners should experience his/her feet moving up and down – not swing backwards and forwards.

-          Recovery foot lifted toward butt, fall straight back down to surface

-          Keep a small acute angle with knee under your hips (“short pendulum”)

-          Increases stride rate and makes a runner more efficient

-          Diminishes impact forces, thus reducing injury

 3.  Minimal Support Time – This one is all about your foot strike. The distance you move while running is determined by how long your feet stay on the ground. In a nut shell, shoot to decrease contact time with the ground and eventually aiming to land on the ball of your foot.

-          Three types of landing: Heel Strike, Forefoot Landing, Mid-foot Landing

-          As a heel striker, runners  become way more susceptible to injury especially to the leg bones, ankle, knee, hips, and lower back

-          Gradual progress and work on your foot strike – Do not go from a Heel striker to Forefoot

 4.  Minimal Vertical Oscillation – too long of a stride where your foot is ahead of your trunk. This results in bouncing up and down on each and every movement even creating a greater impact.

-          Create horizontal movement by landing on mid-foot

-          Foot should strike just slightly in front of your center of gravity

-          Lean from the ankle (a straight line should be able to be drawn from ear-hips-ankle)

Time to Train: Turkey or Trot?

By Jeff, H3 Program Intern

At this point in our lives, most of us have already had some training on how to delve into a delicious Thanksgiving turkey; however maybe this year we train to trot!  No matter what part of the country you live in there’s a Turkey Trot nearby.  What’s a Turkey Trot, you may ask?   Well simply, it’s the fitness before the feast.

What’s great about these holiday races is that they really help us stay on track during one of the most caloric days of the year.  Also, most race entrance fees are intended to benefit a local charity and participants usually get a sweet T-Shirt versus a sweet potato pie!  Races are usually held early in the morning so there’s still time to gather Grandma and group around the gravy.



So partaking in a Turkey Trot sounds all well and good, but there’s no way I could possibly run 3.1 miles! The good news is you don’t have to. Every 5K or trot offers all levels of runners or power walkers an opportunity to foster some fun. Participating in any capacity is incredibly enjoyable. For beginning trotters it is perfectly acceptable to jog a little of the race, walk a little at a brisk pace, or even walk the entire race. This year’s trot can really serve as a starting point, but most importantly motivate us to improve even more the next time we enter the traditional road race.

What is even more amazing about completing a 5K is that no matter your fitness level there is always room for improvements. Like I mentioned earlier, this could be the moment that kick starts your training and inspires you to keep improving on your current 5K pace. Since I am thankful to be a runner, here are a few tips on starting out and a training plan that will certainly build up your aerobic base so you can translate a steady walk into a light jog for that next 5K.  

Forget about speed.  Increasing duration is the first priority as beginners is key.

Listen to your body.  Jogging or walking should never be painful. Take a day off if there are pains or you are extremely fatigued.

Ease into a routine. Don’t go all out right away – it is important to build-up before.

Keep track.  Have a plan day in and day out – simply highlighting that you’ve completed a workout for the day is a big motivator!

It’s all about completing the first one.  For your first 5K just completing the 3.1 mile trek is a great accomplishment.  After that, challenge yourself with some new goals!

 

Completing the 5K: Beginners Jog/Walk Schedule

Week	Sun.	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Total
1	W20	Rest	W10	Rest	W15	Rest	W10	W55
2	W25	Rest	W15	Rest	W20	Rest	W15	W75
3	W30	Rest	W20	Rest	W25	Rest	W20	W95
4	W40	Rest	W30	Rest	W30	Rest	W30	W130
5	W20	Rest	W10	Rest	W20	Rest	W15	W65 light week
6	J10 W20	Rest	J5 W15	Rest	J10 W15	Rest	J5 W25	J30 W75
7	J15 W20	Rest	J10 W20	Rest	J15 W15	Rest	J10 W20	J50 W75
8	J20 W20	Rest	J10 W25	Rest	J15 W20	Rest	J15 W25	J60 W95
9	J25 W25	Rest	J15 W15	Rest	J20 W20	Rest	J15 W15	J75 W50
10	5K Race Day!	Rest	J15 W15	Rest	J15 W10	Rest W10-15	Rest	J30 W55 Taper

W = Walk; J = Jog; # = Minutes 

At Hilton Head Health, we are all geared up to be participating in the 21^st Annual Piggly Wiggly Turkey Trot at the North End of Island.  Many Guests and Staff will be taking part on Thanksgiving and we cannot wait for the day to come.  I hope each of you consider the trot before the turkey this year, if not set it as a new goal for next Thanksgiving! I only wish I had written this blog a little sooner so you guys could have gobbled up the information.