October: Breat Cancer Awareness Month! October 1, 2009 at 8:00
Ladies and Gentlemen, October is National Breast Cancer Month and is celebrating it’s 25th year of spreading awareness and educating everyone on the importance of knowing the facts. Here are some important facts we should all be aware of, both women and men.
* 1 in 8 women will get some type of breast cancer in their lifetime and 192,370 new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year.
* # 1 most common type of cancer in woman. 40,170 women are expected to die from breast cancer in 2009 and currently there are 2.5 million survivors living today.
* Although predominately diagnosed in women, 1% of all men will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
* Not all types of breast cancers are alike. There are several stages of breast cancer based on the size of the tumor and whether it has spread.
How to keep your breast healthy: (Thanks to Women’s Health Magazine, here are some great suggestions on how to stay healthy)
* Stay at a healthy weight. Being overweight can increase your chances of developing breast cancer and as well as reducing your chances of surviving it if you are diagnosed.
* Get some exercises in. Try to aim to get 45 minutes to an hour of exercise in five days a week. Getting regular exercise may increase the immune function in your body and lower levels of estrogen and insulin, lowering your chances of developing breast cancer.
* Lock up the booze. Research shows that as few as two drinks a day can increase your chances of getting breast cancer by 21 percent.
* Veg out! Eating a low fat diet high in vegetable consumption can lower your risk, especially cruciferous veggies such as broccoli and kale. These lovely little green machines contain sulforaphane, which is believed to help prevent cancer cells from multiplying.
* Know your family history. We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to know your family history. This alone can decrease your chances significantly. If you have one first-degree relative who had breast cancer, your lifetime chance doubles, and if you have two your risk increases five-fold.
* Get screened and do self exams. All women should have a clinical breast exam every three years and annual and mammograms starting at age 40. Also, schedule in a self breast exam once a month. Mark it on your calendar so you don’t forget!
* Genetic testing. BRCA is a genetic form of breast cancer and often diagnosed in young woman. This is why knowing your family history is SO important.
The Run-Walk-Run Training Method July 22, 2009 at 8:03
Recently, I had a client tell me about a method of marathon training created by Jeff Galloway, a member of the 1972 Olympic team and training coach. The therory is that depending on ones fitness level, one may run one minute and walk the next minute, repeating throughout their workout or actual race. The other option may be to run a mile then walk a minute. Naturally, I questioned the theory but as I read more and and hear people rave about it, I think I will try it out. I’m running my first 1/2 marathon in less than a month and my second on September 7th. If figure I really have nothing to lose and hopefully will achieve a better time.
Below is from Jeff Galloway’s website. It explains the walking breaks in more detail and why they are beneficial.
Walk BreaksMost runners will record significantly faster times when they take walk breaks because they don’t slow down at the end of a long run. Thousands of time-goal oriented veterans have improved by 10, 20, 30 minutes and more in marathons by taking walk breaks early and often in their goal races. You can easily spot these folks. They’re the ones who are picking up speed during the last two to six miles when everyone else is slowing down.
The mental benefit: breaking 26 miles into segments, which you know you can do Even sub-three hour marathoners continue to take their walk breaks to the end. One of them explained it this way: “Instead of thinking at 20 miles I had six more gut-wretching miles to go, I was saying to myself one more mile until my break.’ Even when it was tough, I always felt I could go one more mile.
Walk breaks in the marathon: how long and how often? The following is recommended until 18 miles in the marathon. After that point, walk breaks can be reduced or eliminated as desired. First time marathoners should follow the ratios used in training as long as they haven’t slowed down significantly at the end of the
long ones. If you struggled during the last few miles take walk breaks more often from the beginning. A minimum suggestion for first time marathoners would
be one minute of walking for every 3-4 minutes of running.
Here are my recommended ratios of running and walking, based upon your pace per mile.Remember that long runs should be run at least 2 min/mi slower than your projected finish pace in the marathon. An additional slowdown should be made for increased temperature: 30 sec per mile slower for each 5 degrees of temperature
increase above 60F. It is always safter to walk more often.
Run-walk-run ratio should correspond to the training pace used:
8 min/mi—run 4 min/walk 35 seconds
9 min/mi— 4 min run-1 min walk
10 min/mi—-3:1
11 min/mi—2:30-1
12 min/mi—-2:1
13 min/mi—-1:1
14 min/mi—30 sec run/30 sec walk
15 min/mi—30 sec/45 sec
16 min/mi—30 sec/60 sec
Why do walk breaks work? By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth betweenwalking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goal or not.
Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown.
The earlier you take the walk breaks, the more they help you! To receive maximum benefit, you must start the walk breaks before you feel any fatigue, in the first mile. If you wait until you feel the need for a walk break, you’ve already reduced your potential performance.
How fast should the walk break be? When you walk fast for a minute, most runners will lose about 15 seconds over running at their regular pace. But if you walk
slowly, you’ll have lost only about 20 seconds.
Once we find the ideal ratio for a given distance, walk breaks allow us to feel strong to the end and recover fast, while bestowing the same stamina and conditioning we would have received if we had run continuously.
Don’t get too rigidly locked into a specific ratio of walk breaks, adjust as needed. Even if you run the same distance every day, you’ll find that you’ll need to vary the walk break frequency to adjust for speed, hills, heat, humidity, time off from training, etc. If you anticipate that your run will be more difficult or will produce a longer recovery, take more frequent walk breaks (or longer walks) and you may be
surprised at how quickly you recover.
Do I need to take the walk breaks on the short runs during the week? If you can run continuously now on shorter runs, you don’t have to take the walk breaks. If you want to take them, do so. Walk breaks on midweek runs will insure that you recover from the long ones at the fastest pace.
I propose a challenge: Those of you that will be participating in a running event within the next few months, take the Run-Walk-Run challange with me….then once we’ve completed the event, we can compare notes! Who’s in?
Egg-cellent Breakfast Tip November 18, 2008 at 13:44
Eating breakfast is essential to a healthy lifestyle and researchers just discovered that eggs may help you lose weight. The study found that men and women who ate two eggs for breakfast as part of a low-calorie diet lost 65% more weight and had a 61% greater reduction in BMI than their counterparts who started the day with an equal-calorie bagel breakfast. Eggs, a high-quality protein, keep people more satisfied until their next meal, which helped them stick to and succeed on a reduced calorie diet.
Rain=weight gain? October 21, 2008 at 16:21
Bad news for us Seattleites. New studies show that rainy weather can make it harder for you to shed weight.
Researchers in Scotland say rain can make you fat because this type of weather causes your levels of vitamin D to dip, which affects a hormone associated with hunger. I think it also has something to do with cravings, as in, you’re more likely to crave comfort foods when the weather has you down. Plus, when you’re cooped up inside, what else is there to do besides snuggle up to a good movie with a big bowl of popcorn and mug of hot cocoa?
Either way, the point is this: Bad weather is no excuse to give up your healthy habits. After all, you can workout with Sassy Fit at home during all seasons. When a craving hits, head for the treadmill or fill up on something healthy.
Schedule your Mammogram Now September 7, 2008 at 19:00
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Scheduling your mammogram can easily get pushed to the side when life starts to get super busy (this time of year)– that’s why you are going to call this week and schedule an appointment for October. A recent survey found that 30% of American women over 40 haven’t had a mammogram in two years. Health professionals recommend starting screening at age 35, and to get screened twice a year if you have a family history of breast cancer.
The good news is, a study at the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that the more you exercise, the more you lower your odds of getting breast cancer. Researchers found that physically active women are up to 25 percent less likely to get the disease than their sedentary peers.
So please, call your doc and get an appointment made, and then go out for a walk or a jog! Lots of love to you all!
