Macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These three nutrients are essential and play vital roles in our body's ability to perform. You may have heard of the "macro diet" or "flexible eating". Both of these plans are based on the foundation of tracking your nutrition and hitting your individualized macronutrient goals each day.
Athlete burnout is very common in the world of obstacle course racing. With events taking place year round, there is often not enough time to step away from the sport to decompress and refocus. As we begin the new year and a new race season, let's take a moment to look at the risk factors for burnout and develop a plan of action in the event you experience any of these symptoms.
The joys of summer semi-freedom-from-clothes days are still 6 months away, and this message is going out to the 99% of us who didn’t just step out of an American Eagle ad for just long enough to slather some coconut oil on our rippling 6-pack abs. In other words, if your shoe size is a bigger number than your body fat percentage, go back to selecting the right pomade for your surfer ‘do, as there’s nothing new for you to learn here.
Hill training is one of the most important components of a solid OCR routine. Learn the basics of hill training in this OCR 101 article.
Congratulations, you've registered for an Obstacle Course Race! Now it's time to put in the work and start training! For best results, give yourself a solid 6-8 week of training before your race date. I have developed 5 step OCR specific process to take you from where you are to where you want to be; the finish line.
You could feel the nervous tension in the air at the OCR World Championships at dusk on Thursday night. In 12 short hours, the first racers of the weekend would be taking their mark. Athletes from 67 different nations were congregating around the obstacles as the finishing touches were being made. Strategies were developing and although we did not speak the same languages, you could tell we were all thinking the same thing; this course is going to be brutal.
Do you love running? Hate running? or are you like me (and I suspect the rest of the active world) - you love to hate/hate to love running? There's no question about the effectiveness of running on your mental & physical health, no matter how hard many of us try to avoid daily/weekly mileage, running is a huge part of our lives - or, at least it should be.
Losing the Passion Author's note: I started writing this last year while I was really in some fitness doldrums, and this will be a multi-part series trying to explain how I re-ignited my passion for fitness. First, here's how I lost it. Whether it's your job, friends, relationships, or stuff like your car, phone, house, and [...]
My 30-day goal kicked off on January 10 and ran through February 8. Starting weight was 168 lbs, and my target weight was 158 lbs. I was not concerned with BMI, BMR, lean muscle mass, or the size of my waist – my goal was simply to drop 10 pounds with a balanced diet including (2) SmashPacks a day and 30 minutes/day of bodyweight exercises, daily walks or bike rides, and a few short runs per week - How'd I do?
the entire 30-day SmashPlan has been fun and relatively easy overall; every day I have enjoyed the convenience of grabbing a SmashPack pouch no matter where I'm headed. Breakfast has been on autopilot for the past month, I don't need to think about what I should eat, and there's been no reason to grab a muffin or breakfast sandwich at a drive thru when I have a nutritious meal right there in my cupholder.
