Fit Happens

What?  Who?  Me?  Yep.  Fit happens.  To you, me and everyone else who leads an active, athletic lifestyle. It’s a wonderful thing, agreed?  Feeling strong running up those subway stairs twice as fast as the average person.  Love it. Productive and energized, ready to take on the day in the office after a good morning workout.  Love it even more. I might wane on my exercise routine now and then, but I’ll never give it up.  Neva.

I find that what makes my running life interesting from one year to the next is taking on a new challenge each year.  My knowledge base, as it relates to training, continues to build as I strive towards achieving my new goal.  I’m curious about different training options, attentive to details, and try to reach further when I can.  Try not to stay inside the box.

So, we all learn a lot about running, cycling, triathlons and training because we are (for the most part) always in it and consistently picking up new tips. The growth rate on our knowledge is increasing! (Hopefully, the equity market will react this way pretty soon).

Now, let me take a survey.  Where do you think your knowledge base is on nutrition and healthy eating?  Well, we all know that our daily diet should always start with the basic core foods (fruits, veggies, healthy grains, etc).  And that we should eat three servings of fruits and veggies a day.  And then?  Humm….  The average person probably knows a little about a lot (I’m one of them).  But since we are fabulous and fit, it would be nice to see some upward growth in our knowledge base of the nutrition world. 

The chart below shows the gap of the average person’s knowledge of their training compared to the average person’s knowledge of Nutrition 101.

Now, if we wanted to gain some ground and start leveraging all of the information out on the Internet and the fantastic books in Barnes and Noble (or your favorite book store), your chart would then look like this!

Concluding that knowledge is power and that the more we know, then the more often we implement what we learn, the healthier and fit we will be.  Healthy eating will complement our training very well if done correctly.

Suggesting reading ideas: don’t skip the nutrition article in Runner’s World, Triathlete Magazine or your daily newspaper of choice; you might pick up something new.  Instead of signing onto Facebook, search for a healthy eating website and see what you can learn. (LOL, ok, I do this occasionally).  On the way home from the movies, pop into Barnes and Noble (they are open until 11 pm) and check out the cookbooks.  See what interests you.  I purchased The Athlete’s Plate by Adam Kelinson on the recommendation of a fellow NY Flyer.  Excellent book.  If you pick up one new piece of information, from a book or seminar you have attended (lots of nutrition seminars around town), then you are a winner!

Happy Spring Everyone!  We made it!

Anne H.