Tip For Showing Off Your 6-Pack Abs

I recently received this article in my inbox from RealAge regarding weight gain and stress. 

Apparently, excessive dieting can cause additional stress, which in turn can trigger weight gain, something we've seen in the starvation diets.

According to this article, a study that followed 121 dieters revealed a rise in their cortisol levels, a hormone commonly associated with stress.  And prolonged exposure to cortisol seems to do some pretty nasty things to the body, including inducing an increase in weight.

I guess the advice here is to eat sensibly, exercise regularly, and get your rest on and you'll strip off that blanket of belly fat that's hiding your abs.

But you still have to do your lunges and your crunches to tighten up those puppies!

RealAge: Flatten Your Belly With This Eating Habit

Wikipedia: cortisol

Marathon Preparation Long Run

Ran the 4 hour long run loop today.  First time I've been able to get the time under 4 hours since the temperature crept past 75. If I can do it again next week, I may have to add some additional distance to bring the time back over 4 hours.

Then again, the 40 hill repeats from yesterday may have helped as well.

Might be time to start thinking about cutting back on the distance and focusing more on the hills and track workouts for the rest of July and August.  The USAF Dayton Marathon is about 10 weeks away.

Hill Repeats Today

Today, had a small change in plans.  Was going to do a 4 hour long run but remembered that I had put in only one hill session this week, and it was shortened by a pending storm.

So I did a hill session today and will do the long run tomorrow. 

Today, 40 hill repeats in an hour. Total time out 2.5 hours.

Marathon Running Increases Your Risk Of A Heart Attack

I came across this fun article from Rodale Press supporting several facts and exposing a few myths regarding marathon running, exercise and general fitness.  Of particular interest was point number 6, that running a marathon increases your risk of a heart attack.

At first I thought, "I'm in big time trouble now".  Recently I've been running 4 hour long runs almost every week and the temperature over the last few weeks has been in the upper 80's and lower 90's.  So I know that there's some additional cardiac stress going on.

Training Shorts Starting Line

After keeping my training workout on several scraps of paper, 3 by 5 cards and a big whiteboard, I've finally taken the leap to keeping the training log online. Now I can also integrate interesting articles, nutrition information and ideas from other runners as well.

At the very least, I'll be able to control the proliferation of paper!

Should be an interesting ride... run.

Cleveland Marathon 2009 Completed

Finished the Cleveland Marathon last week in 3 hours 51 min and 26 seconds (adjusted time, of course).

An improvement over last year's 3 hours 56 min and 46 seconds.

We'll see what the summer's training program can do to reduce the time

Results can be found at www.marathonguide.com/results/index.cfm

Akron Marathon Completed

Last week, I finished the Akron RoadRunner Marathon. Still to close to 4 hours. In the process, I managed to cramp up my calf, pull a hamstring and tore off a toenail. Still finsished.

Probably shouldn't do this, buy I think I'll run the Columbus Marathon on the 19th.