Me, an athlete?

Today, I went to a nutrition and injury prevention workshop put together specifically for the H4C team. The two professionals were Isiah Coles, trainer to professional runners and athletes, and Julie Starkel, nutritionist and a clean eating guru. As I listened to the two of them, I had a profound respect for professional athletes and the amount of practice, discipline and commitment they have. In two hours, Isiah and Julie overwhelmed me with a lot of important information but barely scratched the surface of what it would require for me to perform and achieve the goal I set for myself. (I'm getting a little dizzy just thinking about.)

Here are some takeaways that I'd like to share for those of you who are beginners or re-beginners, like me:

Nutrition:
1. Stay hydrated, (2.5-3.5 liters of water for women my size)
2. Eat 5-6 small snack daily containing both carbs and protein. (ALWAYS eat breakfast with an hour of waking up.)
3. Plan & Prepare: take the time to shop, plan and prepare your meals.
3. Take multi-vitamins (Especially B Vitamins, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc)
4. Caffeine can increase performance (No coffee though)

Injury Prevention:
1. Do a dynamic warm-up and active stretches before training and 30 second static stretches after the race
2. Do NOT put heat on swelling, always ice inflammation within the first 72 hours (ice massage: freeze water into a paper cup, tear the cup an inch or two below the ice and use it to massage injuries)
3. Incorporate weight training (strengthen muscles), circuit training (2-3 set and only 5 moves) and cross-training (swim, bike, cardio-machines)
4. Injuries are an athletes worse nightmare! (But it can be prevented.)

I'm really excited about implementing all this into my training and into my life. I should just register myself for a full-marathon in December so that I can take care of myself like this all year round. This is why I love training season!