Week five of training brought with it the first fast workout followed by more mileage. My first fast workout came out to be a 2- mile warm-up, followed by 2×400 meter run rest 2 minutes between sets and then 2×800 rest 2 minutes between sets and then a 2 mile cool down.

Right now I am taking an exercise physiology class and I am learning a lot. one of the things that I’ve learned is how important a warm-up is. A warm-up to me before was just that first mile. It’s about 10 minutes long and is usually the hardest mile for me. The reason why we need to warm up is because of how our energy systems work. to put it simply our body has three different systems and just like a car changing gears, the body does that as well. Depending on the specific event you are working on you have to train different energy systems.

For long distance runners, the last energy system is the most important because that is the oxidative energy system which converts oxygen to energy. This system also is important in converting fat and carbohydrates into energy. so that’s why they say cardio is the best way to lose fat because if you are doing cardio consistently for 20-30 minutes, that’s time spent burning fat and carbs.

Also I learned, the reason you want to be eating a balanced diet is because your body uses electrolytes. Electrolytes are really important in maintaining muscle contraction. so if you get a cramp it can be because you don’t have enough electrolytes.

What are electrolytes? potassium, sodium, calcium, and water. there is another one but that one is made inside the body. Another reason why you need these electrolytes is because if you don’t have enough when working out it starts taking it from other places in your body. calcium is found in the bone. so as you might assume calcium will be pulled from the bones to give you energy but that leads to bad bones! so you need to be intaking a good amount of calcium for your workouts.

So as a result of learning all these things I am looking for foods for fueling my runs and I feel the difference. my 6 mile run felt great. even my 8 mile run felt good despite having just run 6 miles the day before. The more you learn about your body the better you train and the better you feel! hope that helped some one out! keep training and God bless