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Showing posts from November 3, 2019

The world’s first virtual triathlon has arrived!

Maybe you swam in college and miss the camaraderie of being part of a squad. Perhaps past running injuries have made you tri-curious. Or, maybe you are seeking a new challenge as a devoted cyclist. If you are a little nervous about the idea of participating in your first swimbikerun event - not to worry. The Time to Tri  virtual triathlon is the perfect way to get your feet wet in a 3-sport event. And if you are a seasoned triathlete, this four-week-long event is will be an easy way for you to log some miles while positively impacting the multisport community. There's also a club competition for triathlon teams! This FREE Time to Tri Virtual Triathlon is the first ever online swim, bike and run event that allows you to easily sync your workout devices to the Time to Tri virtual triathlon website to track your results and position on the leaderboard. The virtual triathlon is open for anyone (in the US) - with any level of experience - to participate in a triathlon at your ow

Body image and athletics - something needs to change!

Unhealthy weight control/loss practices are a serious and ongoing problem in sport, especially in aesthetic and weight-bearing sports, like running and triathlon. Too often, athletes are pressured by media, coaches and competitors to change body composition in order to boost performance. There's the mentality that you have to be thin to wind. But if losing weight was a guarantee to performance improvements, why don't more athletes excel at sport after they experience some type of weight loss? Many athletes are told (or assume) that they would be more successful in a sport if they lost weight or changed body composition. Regardless of the performance outcome, athletes who are asked or told to lose weight.change body composition are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as fasted workouts, skipping meals, replacing higher calorie foods for calorie-free/diet foods, fasting/cleansing/detoxing, using weight loss supplements, diuretics or laxatives and/or overexe

Do you fall victim to fad diets?

How many times have you fallen victim to the dieting trap? -Restrict food to try to lose weight or to gain control over food choices. -Feel deprived. -Crave foods you are restricting. -Feel miserable, isolated or confused. -Give into temptation and eat off-limit food. -Mentally beat yourself up for eating something you shouldn't be eating and think "What the heck. I failed again so I may as well eat it all." -Feel guilty, uncomfortable and anxious. Become overly critical of your body. Feel like a failure. Get angry. Blame yourself for not having willpower. -Binge eat or give up on the diet and go back to your old ways of eating. -Begin the cycle again. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who go on a diet each year, please keep these important reminders in mind when you consider a new/popular diet as a new way of eating. Dieting affects your self-esteem. You don't fail at dieting, the diet fails you. Diets severly restrict your food choices, making you feel

Keeping perspective of rest days/off-season.

Every athlete and fitness enthusiast will have intentional rest or active recovery days built into the training plan. Right now you may be experiencing a week (or more) long break from training to celebrate your well-deserved off-season. Recovery (or rest) is important to your athletic development as it gives the body time to adapt to the stressors of exercise and to rejuvinate the mind. As it relates to nutrition, recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. What you eat (or don't eat) on your rest day or during the off-season will impact your health. It’s common for athletes to dramatically cut calories or avoid carbohydrates for fear of gaining weight when energy expenditure is low. Or the opposite occurs - a day off from training is seen as a day to eat foods normally avoided for health, body composition and/or performance reasons (aka cheat day). Many athletes struggle so much with rest that the body never receives an inten