Dieting .. Strike that ... a MUCH better phrase ... "Nutrition Ammunition"

The Dreaded Word ... Dieting


This, by no means, is a bad word in the vocabulary of the new runner.  It is a word to embrace and although many will say you need to follow a strict diet when starting out as a runner, I prefer the words "life balance".

By using the wording "life balance", you are learning how to balance your new exercise regimen with your life as it exists ... work, children, spouses, entertainment .. whatever your daily life entails, you need to learn how to incorporate a balanced nutritional lifestyle with your other activities.  If this means, you need to cut out that extra bit of bread or get that extra two hours of sleep a night, then this is your new "life balance" routine you need to follow.

When I started out with the Learning to Run clinic and at the same time following the Dr. Bernstein "diet" I found I had two things that were counter-intuitive to the culture of this diet clinic ... yes, I had a lot of energy, but, I also had to choose wisely what I was going to eat to make up for the lower caloric intake I was facing daily.  It was very difficult at times to keep up with the energy output required for the running without having a lot of calorie input going into my body.

That is one of the beauties of that program, you can talk to a registered nurse and the doctor on staff to address those concerns and help make an efficient use of the low calories you are ingesting so you don't get off track.

(Just a quick note to say that I am in NO WAY advising you to follow the exact same plan and diet clinic I visited and I'm not promoting their business in any fashion .. I am merely providing you with how my journey progressed and you can make your own decisions based on what you need to do and what your doctor advises.)

I think one of the main problems with new runners and individuals who are starting this as an exercise regimen to get fit and/or lose weight, we never really know where to begin the process.  Many questions I had involved "what can I eat that won't end up putting weight on me as I know I will not lose all that much weight to begin with" and "I am worried that I will not have enough energy to complete any distance of running without simply giving up on trying to run in the first place".  Your questions may be more complicated or not, depending on your level of fitness to begin with, but, I do know that I felt a little shy to ask these types of questions from more seasoned runners for fear of sounding like a "newbie".

One of the goals of this portion of the blog will be to give you the nutritional "ammunition" to get through any type of training you are facing and help to make proper nutritional choices for the rest of your life.

A Running Start

Where Do I Start?

This is a very good question for the newby runner.  If you are asking yourself "I have never ran a lot of distances in my life" or "I have run distances, but a very long time ago", then perhaps looking at a starter running program, such as a "Learn to Run" clinic, may be perfect for you.  I started with this type of clinic that I took through an organization called Running Room here in Calgary that was extremely helpful.  

Learn to Run

Here are a few details on what that type of clinic will help you with in achieving your goal (I have taken the info from the clinic site itself):

• Teach you all you need to know about running in different types of climate
• Teach you about biomechanics
• Teach you about nutritional needs for you as a runner
• Teach you how to set realistic goals
• Teach you about injury prevention and how to deal with injuries when you get them
• Keep you motivated and on track for the goals you have set for yourself
• Teach you about "pacing" and how important it is for your running development

Each clinic starts out with a short talk for approximately 10 minutes or more on a variety of interesting topics and then you go outside for a group run.  The run portion starts out quite slow with run and walk breaks of short times (for instance, you will start out with a run of 1 minute and a walk of 1 minute and these are in sets of, say, 5 sets, to start out with) and you will slowly progress to longer sets of running and walking until you hit a distance of between 2.5km and for a period of 20 minutes (with the run/walk breaks incorporated).  

You also join the running group on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings as part of the public portion of the running clubs, where anyone can join in that is not part of a registered clinic.  You may wonder and think that perhaps just going out for the public runs twice a week will get you to your goals.  Normally, I would agree, but, within the registered clinics themselves, you have the opportunity to participate and have your questions answered about weekly topics, have access to an online member portal whereby you can input and track your own training logs and download the training schedule for your clinic (this will tell you how many kilometres you should be running both with the clinic and public run groups AND on your own.

This is a GREAT first clinic to take if you are just starting out or you are looking to get back in to running to make sure you are able to run a full 5km race.

I signed up for this clinic after I walked/ran the 5km Resolution Race in Calgary on December 31st and realized, after the race, that I could finish this type of clinic without any problem.

So, with my official registration in this clinic not only made sure I was honest and true to my goals (which at this point was to simply finish a 5km race and not finish in last place), I took my first step "toward the finish line".

Why This Blog?

Hello Running World!

I thought it would be a really good idea to start a blog for people who are either new to running or just want to know how to get started.

I am a (46 year old) new runner ... having never ran any distance my entire life ... OK .. maybe not my entire life ... I did do the 400m and 800m track and field fun run in Grade 7/8, but, that is the extent to my distance running.  Other than having to "sprint" to those quick meetings I was potentially late for, or "sprinting" to the bathroom from a parking spot far away from them .. that is the full extent of my running career.

You may ask yourself, how is it after all these years, did I finally sign up for running?  Well, it was more of a "catch 22" situation where I gained quite a few pounds between getting married and having two wonderful children and I was in the situation whereby I couldn't exercise because of the weight and I couldn't get the weight off through many yo-yo diets in order to exercise.  I finally took the plunge, after much consultation and research with hubby, that we would go the route of the Dr. Bernstein Diet and Health Clinics so that I was medically supervised during my weight loss program.  This finally allowed me, after losing an initial 12 pounds, to begin a real exercise regimen.

I then decided I would try to do a 5km walk/run (and it was mostly walking at this point) when I was about 6 weeks into the program and had lost that 12 to 15 pounds.  I did lousy, time wise, but I felt very empowered and proud of myself for just signing up at the last minute (my husband was also running the 5km in the same race, but, of course, as a long distance runner that his is, he was done almost half an hour earlier .. lol).  At this point, my thinking was that I could actually run a race with a bit of training.  This race happened in late August of 2012.

I still did not lace up any runners to do a real running program at this point, I just basically hit the treadmill at the gym to see if I could handle the stress this new exercise program would put on my body.  After losing another 10 pounds I could then get back on my bike and begin doing some kilometres on it as a preparation to further endurance training.  Once I felt comfortable with having done some form of training and exercise, I knew I was ready to get out from behind the sidelines and work toward being a confident runner at the start line.

Thus, my quest to learn how to run and enter races had begun ....

And, this is where and why this blog was created.  I have seen many running sites/blogs that seem to be more dedicated to the seasoned runner or marathoner and not really set up to help those individuals who really want to:  learn how to run all distances, how/when to pick the right shoes and training techniques.  Although that is just a short list of what can be discussed, there are many more to help all age levels that will just be added on as the need arises.

I hope I can help those individuals who are looking at how to begin and looking at diet and exercise from the viewpoint of someone who has been in that same exact position.

If you have any suggestions for topics, please let me know and I will be happy to incorporate them into the blog :)

Enjoy and remember, the first step of wanting to better yourself is the most important and that is the step you have taken today, by finding out all you can about running/exercise before hitting the pavement.