As an athlete (yes that's you...see definition)
one of the most critical ways you can support your body is by providing fuel during long workouts.

Often new athletes will do a long run or ride, drink plenty of water and then be baffled at why they are tired, out of energy or even dizzy at the end. Simply fueling the body during the effort can provide the energy it needs to power you forward. Teaching clients to do this with whole foods often leads to "ah ha" moments, which are the most rewarding part of training moms.

You don’t need to fuel during an hour of gentle yoga or a 30 min run, eating well before and after are perfect here. Fueling during exercise comes into play with a workout over an hour or a shorter but very intense workout.

Finding a fueling system that works for you takes trial, error and time. That’s why it should be part of your workouts and certainly part of your event training process. When looking for fuel, we want easily digested carbohydrates that will absorb quickly and give you a nearly immediate boost.

The fuel market is full of gels, gu's, bars, chews, you name it. Flip it over, read the ingredients and see if you know what you’re putting into your body. I do this with everything I eat already so there’s no sense in throwing that practice out the window with training. Athletes trained with whole foods long before the gu market exploded and there’s a great way to find balance here.

Whole food fuel options:

• Honey sticks – you can often buy these at farmers markets if you have a local bee keeper. My local grocery store, Raleys, started carrying them in a box recently for a decent price a few years ago. Follow this link to buy on Amazon. Just bite off the end and squeeze out a little honey as you go. If you have trouble opening them on the run, you can cut a slice in the end before you leave, just carry them in a zip lock bag.
  

• Raisins – my all-time favorite fuel. It’s so easy to eat a small raisin on the run, you don’t have to have water at the same time so you can feasibly eat them between water stations if you don’t carry your own. And cranberries, figs, blueberries or your favorite dried fruit can mix up your flavors.
• Fig bars – Find a fig bar without high fructose corn syrup, cut it into small bite size pieces. Yum! Natures bakery are sometimes at Costco and on Amazon. They are my kids favorite packaged lunch snack so I have to hide them if I want any.
• PB & J – If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be peanut butter. So it’s no surprise that making a peanut butter sandwich, cutting it into small pieces is one of my go-to fuels. Potato bread is higher in protein, potassium and sugar than wheat. Protein is go power, potassium is one of the electrolytes you need during exercise and sugar is a quickly digested carbohydrate. 

Keep moving tip: consider potato bread, but by all means wheat, English muffins, the ends of the loaf whatever you have will do.

• Nut butter pouches – Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter and honey peanut butter are some of the single serve pouches widely available. These are a water required fuel option, you’ll be literally tongue tied trying to eat even a little bit of these without water. But they are a quick grab and add variety. Justin's seem to have the most variety, try their Peanut Butter Honey yummy!
  

Stingers – on one particular run, I discovered I’d dropped my fuel zip lock and changed my route to pass the local running store. They had these honey stingers which met my need to have something on the go, while still being mostly whole food ingredients. My nod to living in the real world and not being psycho with my whole food quest.

Zip lock bags are perfect with fuel. An open honey stick is not your friend at mile 8 when you discover it is oozing out of your pocket. The snack size small enough to fit in a pocket, or easy to store in a race belt (fanny pack who are we kidding here). Repac makes a great quality reuse-able bag worth checking out.

Buy a few options or raid your pantry for some foods you have already. Start by eating a small something every 30 min. then play with that. Is every 20 min better or 45? If you are training for an event, find out how often there are water stations available and try matching that interval during your training. A sip of water with any fuel is ideal. Again, training for an event has to include practicing fuel options. Over time you’ll discover you really can fuel with whole foods for your strongest finish.

Do what you would tell your kids to do. Wear clean underwear and eat good food.
 
Keep Moving Mama
 
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Sweet! The kids are off to school, I’m up, the good socks are clean and my phone is charged. I’m going for a long overdue solo run.

• Mile one “Whew I haven’t run in awhile, remember the first mile is a liar”
• Mile 4 “In my grove I am going to rock the half marathon in March”
• Mile 4.3 “Should I have my coffee before or after my shower?”
• Mile 5 “my arm band is really rubbing"
• Step into the shower “OUCH! #$)%&#&%) burning, stinging, multiple chafe spots + water =  no bueno.”

 
If I had only remembered to put on my Glide, I wouldn't have had chafe spots to hurt so bad in the shower! What’s Glide you ask?

It’s MAGIC, plain and simple.

In 1998 I trained for my first marathon with a group and the leader told us to buy a huge tub of Vaseline. We soon figured out why, you put that stuff anywhere clothes will rub, on your feet, under your sports bra, you name it. But even if you put handfuls on it would wear off after several hours, your feet would be raisins and who wants to carry Vaseline during an event much less sit down take off your shoes and put on more?
 
Fast forward to 2008 I’m leading Moms In Motion running and walking teams and discover Glide....the clouds opened up to blue sky and the sun shined right through…really it did.  This stuff is in a stick like deodorant, so you can smear it on without getting it all over your hands. AND it stays-for-hours. Bra line, arm where your arm band is, ends of your toes, inner thighs, booty when you cycle, anywhere fabric may rub across your skin or you tend to get blisters.

Glide is MAGIC I tell ya. If you are a heavy sweater, ahem, do any endurance sports, hike, cycle or mountain bike you're likely to be familiar with the extremely uncomfortable chafe of which I speak. Order some Glide on amazon right now!
 
Keep moving tip: You can also buy an adorable pink Glide container. It’s the same exact product, just more expensive cause it's cute.
 
Silly as it sounds, I absolutely love this stuff. If you must know I actually keep a sample size stick in my purse. Have you used Glide? Or do you have another magic item for workouts?

Keep moving mama

Guilty as charged.

How many times have I thrown on my running gear and shoes, heading out the door with not a single person knowing where I was going, no phone, not a worry? Coaching women runners and walkers has made me much more self-aware, and protective of my teams. Not to mention having kids old enough to go out into the world on their own.

There are a few easy peasy things you can do to keep yourself much safer when you head out to run, walk or bike.

1. Tell it to your mama
Let someone, anyone know you are heading out and along with an approximate route. Text a friend, hubby or use one of those apps that let your facebook world know you are heading out. Call a friend...or just leave a note on the counter.
I always imagine that I’ll fall on my face somehow and not be able to get up or worst fate ever, not be there to pick up my kids after school. Mama, you know it could happen.

2. Invisible girl
Make sure drivers can see you because they are probably not looking. Bright clothes, lights at dusk or dawn, reflectors always and just assume you are invisible. Nathan has a whole line of clip on lights, like this Tango Red one.

3. I can hear you!
If you must listen to music, have the volume down in one ear bud. Tuck the other into your sports bra strap. Use both on treadmills and stationary bikes. When you are outdoors on the trail you want to hear anyone or anything coming up behind you.
 
4. Defend thy self
Carry something to defend yourself from people or animals.

• A partner to team up on bag guys with
• A dog to make strangers look twice
• A container of pepper spray (Damsel in Defense has a great line of clip on and hand held options)
• A stick..why not?

Keep moving tip: Hang onto that full poop bag a bit longer, gross yes, but what bad guy is going to approach a woman with a bagopoop?

5. Identify yourself
If you were somehow unconscious how would anyone know who you were? Bringing a phone with your hubby or main contact marked I.C.E (In Case of Emergency for firefighters or police), splurge on a RoadID bracelet or carry your ID. Easy. Done.
 
Be safe out there. It’s sort of like carrying an umbrella, if you plan ahead by bringing your umbrella, it won’t rain. And for heavens sake mama, wear clean underwear.
 
Share your tips on keeping safe below! And any requests for future food or fitness topics.
 
Keep moving mama

5 ways to mix up your next 5K

If you hang out with runners very long the phrase "only a 5K" will come out of your mouth at some point.

You may start with run walk intervals, build up your distance over time, complete a 5K then another and another. Many runners give a 10K or half marathon a go but decide that’s not the distance they love. Or as the case with many mamas, we want to keep moving but 2-3 hour training runs aren’t going to fit the schedule/mom guilt game plan.


So a 5K it is. Awesome! How do you rock another 5K but continue to challenging yourself? Here are a few ideas to keep you moving:
 
1. Intervals
Mixing up your speed during training or even during an event will give you a good challenge and even get you to the finish line quicker. The control freak part of me says to get out your watch and decide on an exact interval. You can even download a “simple interval timer” to your phone so it will beep when it is time to switch.
30 sec of moving faster every 5 min will get most of our hearts beating fast, if you’re in excellent shape do the 30 sec every 3 min.
 
Keep moving tip: Watch idea to much preplanning? Wing it by increasing your speed at every light pole, tree or us competitive gals might pick it up to pass someone in front of us at an event.
 
2. Terrain
Picking an event that has different terrain than you’re used to adds a new dimension of fun. Pick a trail run, an event with a super hilly course, something in an area you’ve never run before.
 
Keep moving tip: Start a race towards the back of the pack. That way you are bobbing and weaving through the crowd…another change.
 
3. Run at a friend’s pace
Bringing a friend along to chat with mixes up the race day experience too. Especially if her pace is different than yours. A walking or slower friend will allow you to talk more and enjoy not pushing your limits for once. A faster friend will challenge you to keep up…while you let her do all the talking so you can focus on breathing and occasionally pretending your shoe is untied.
 
4. Destination
Completing a destination event is a whole new spin on running. New scenery, surfaces and swag.
Build an event into a trip. Look up an event that’s near your inlaws while visiting or one that’s near that business conference you’re at all week.
OR plan a destination event as a weekend away or a day away with friends. Hang out before and after and chat it up. www.active.com is a great source for events, a quick google search will do it too.
 
5. Make a goal
I PR’d today! What the heck is PR and why do I want that? PR is abbreviated for Personal Record….so you’re best time. Making a goal of finishing your next 5K faster than your previous can keep you motivated to push a bit more on race day and during your training.
Aiming for a pace 30 sec to 1 min per mile faster is a challenging but doable goal in a 5K. Ran a 32:51 last time?  That’s a 10 minute 34 second per mile pace. Shoot for a 31:16 next time shaving 30 sec off each mile. Check out this pace calculator on cool running to crunch some numbers in a jiffy. www.coolrunning.com
 
Whatever you do, keeping it interesting, fun and engaging will keep you running. That’s the goal after all right? To keep moving.