Ok, for the last 30 years at least we have heard that a person needs to drink 8-8oz glasses of water each day to be healthy and especially if they are looking to lose weight by being more active. And when you look at the facts, its no wonder since about 60% of the human body is made up of water, according to a National Institute of Health Report.

This includes most of your brain, heart, lungs, muscles, and skin, and even about 30 percent of your bones. Besides being one of the main ingredients in the recipe for humankind, water helps us regulate our internal temperature, transports nutrients throughout our bodies, flushes waste, forms saliva, lubricates joints and even serves as a protective shock absorber for vital organs.

So getting back to the above-accepted rule of drinking those 8-8oz glasses of water, really is not the medical rule of thumb. And in all probability, its probably more than an average person should be consuming. Why you ask? Because this statement doesn’t really take into account that we also get a good portion of water from our daily food intakes as well.

Everything we eat contains some water. Raw fruits and vegetables have a lot; fruits such as watermelons and strawberries, for example, are more than 90 percent water by weight, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Different diets naturally contain different amounts of water, but it adds up. According to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, the average North American gets about 20 percent of his or her daily water intake through food, and that counts toward healthy hydration.

The other key water sources that the "8 x 8" rule overlooks are other beverages. Non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, tea, milk, juice, and soda contain mostly water, and all contribute to your hydration. Contrary to another popular myth, studies show that coffee does not dehydrate you and is a suitable form of H2O intake. In fact, new studies show that the average person can consume 3-5 cups of coffee a day without any harmful effects to your body, specifically your heart.  It was never the coffee that was an issue, it was thought to be the caffeine contained within it. New studies show that the average person can safely drink that proportion of caffeine contained in those servings without causing any specific harm to your hearts rhythm.

But consuming caffeine can affect people in different ways, it all depends on your own body makeup and what it can handle.  There can be adverse side effects of drinking too much caffeine, including headaches and disrupted sleep, for some people. And we do NOT advocate getting a good portion of your H20 intake from consuming large amounts of soda, while it is liquid and qualifies as a substitute for water, besides the large amounts of sugar it contains or some adverse issues that come up when you drink diet anything, soda for most people will actually cause you to become more thirsty, hence you want to drink more, which inflates your daily intake as well.

And if you look at the origins of this rule, which we believe goes back to a research study done in 1945, which came with the conclusion that a person, who consumes a 2,000-calorie diet each day should drink 1 ml of water per calorie of food they consume.

For someone eating a diet of 2,000 calories per day, this adds up to 2,000 ml (roughly 64 oz), or eight 8-oz glasses. But what got lost in the message was the caveat that much of this water could be obtained from foods you consume. So instead, what people remember is the 8x8 rule. And since drinking water can satisfy your thirst while making you feel full for a period of time, most diets, both Fad, and legitimate ones embrace the drinking of ½ gallon of water each day to help you feel fuller, so you will maintain their dietary rules.

Most trainers, team doctors, and even your family physician will tell you the human body is an amazing creation. It will actually let you know when to drink by sending out signals to your brain that you are THIRSTY!

Ok, that’s a little history lesson on drinking enough water. But when you’re working out, are you drinking enough or over-doing it? Based on recent accepted studies the general guidelines are to drink 17 to 20 ounces of water 2 to 3 hours before exercising, another 8 ounces during your warm-up (or 20 to 30 minutes before exercising), 7 to 10 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise, and 8 ounces of water within 30 minutes after exercising.

But is water enough to keep your body moving to its potential during and after a workout, or does it need a little help by your drinking a “Sports Drink” Now again, the jury’s out a bit on this but it is true that when you push your body it sweats and with that sweat coming out, your also losing several minerals and nutrients. If your training or taking part in a marathon of continuous exertion you're going to want to replace that lost water by consistently drinking and the weather also plays a factor in this. If it's hot, your body is going to try and cool you off by using its built-in cooling system, again sweating! And as we said above, with the sweat comes losing those minerals and nutrients. The best bet for rehydration is to consume a low-cal beverage that contains electrolytes such as sodium and potassium. Good choices include sports drinks but choosing the right one again depends on how your body reacts to ingesting a drink while you're exerting yourself and your overall stomach tolerance. One drink that goes with me is the Nuun Active Electrolyte Tablets

These hydration tablets are loaded with electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals to help you stay properly hydrated throughout the day! When your exerting energy during an intense workout, drinking a sports drink that can not only help you to maintain your hydration levels but can also put back those nutrients that you've lost from working your body hard.

Electrolytes are minerals, just as a refresher, are primarily sodium, potassium, calcium, chlorine, magnesium, and phosphates that are in our blood and other body fluids. They have electrical charges and work to activate the electrical tissues of our bodies, including muscles and nerves. Roughly, electrolytes keep our system functioning. Most major organs help regulate our electrolyte levels, and when they're correctly balanced, our blood chemistry runs as it should. This is why it’s important to try and keep this balance stable so that when you ask your body to perform to that next level, it has the means to do so for you!

Bottom line, every person is unique. There are no set guidelines that say you need to drink this specific amount of fluid in order to have your body perform to its maximum and in order for you to still be standing on your feet once you’ve reached the finish line or your own particular goal.

We mentioned it above. The key is to listen to your body, know its hints and nuances and it will let you know when you need to tilt your head back and take a nice long drink!

If your gearing up to participate in an endurance event, like a triathlon, or even an Ironman/Woman race. Conditioning your body is only one part of the training exercise. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a large part. But if you don’t have the right kind of fuel ready to burn to get you from point A to point B, well then, you’re not going to hit your mark, heck, you may not even be in shape to finish.

Now that would be a shame if your body is in decent shape to go the distance, but you run out of gas before you crossed that finish line.

Eating, we might as well say it, “Nutrition” is a key factor in every facet of our lives. Even if you’re not pumping iron or racking up hundreds of miles to get yourself ready to compete in that Triathlon race. Eating right can make the difference between your having a good day at work or falling flat when the clock is only showing 2 pm in the afternoon!

As an endurance machine, we sometimes forget that eating well is more than just chowing down on energy bars and salt pills. We all have grown used to taking them along with us on those long runs or bike rides our energy bars  and gels, are great for providing us with that extra boost when we need it, but what are we eating when we are not pounding the pavements, cycling countless miles or swimming those early mornings or late evening laps to condition our bodies?

Keep in mind the mantra of most endurance trainers is that our own general health is the foundation of endurance fitness, and a high-quality diet is essential for general health. Most triathletes struggle to get leaner despite an appetite inflated by heavy training. A high-quality diet is able to satisfy your appetite cravings in a calorically efficient way.

Some simple things to keep in mind as you shop to fill your fridge with what you need to fuel your body's engine are:

Your plate should be overflowing with fruits, vegetables, lean protein and complex carbohydrates

You avoid the urge to binge on junk foods (including large amounts of processed energy bars and gels) Remember, while these are good when your pushing your body out on the road, and the miles are dropping behind you, remember they also have large amounts of sugar and salt that if you’re not exerting energy so they process out of your body, then your only building up a reserve of these nutrients and when not exercising they can turn into fat!

You limit your intake of alcohol to one or two drinks a day and keep caffeine to a minimum.
Supplying your body with enough fuel to burn on training days is important. After all, if there is not enough fuel in your tank, you could possibly end up breaking down muscle as your body looks for areas to draw on for energy.

Make sure you get started with a quality breakfast, between 800 to 1,000 calories, split up between pre-workout, during and after. Your first meal of the day should make up a third to half of your daily calories, to avoid getting tired in the evening and eating too much or too poorly.

Be aware that during the course of your training that if you:
Think about food all the time
Your workouts aren’t enjoyable and don’t feel like quality sessions
Your hunger spikes in the evening

The above can be indicators that you’re not eating enough to supply your body with the energy it needs to perform the tasks you’re asking from it.

On the “Flip-Side”, You’ve hit the right balance when:
Your performance consistently improves
You recover quickly
You crave sweets infrequently (people who say they’re addicted to sugar are really just hungry)

Be aware of when you eat your meals! Even eating high-quality foods, when eaten at the wrong time can cause a problem with your body’s breaking down of the nutrients to turn that food into fuel.

The rule of thumb is:
An athlete should have some sort of nutrition approximately one to three hours before a training session," says Bob Seebohar, sports dietitian, exercise physiologist, and coach at fuel4mance.com. For short and/or high-intensity sessions under two hours, Seebohar says athletes can benefit from teaching the body to rely on fat stores for energy, which requires consuming fewer carbohydrates. For such sessions, he recommends liquid-based nutrition such as a sports drinks . For sessions more than three hours, Seebohar recommends consuming 200 to 300 grams of carbohydrates one to four hours beforehand.

What you eat after a workout:

When those muscles are primed to accept nutrients, matters just as much. The 30 to 60 minutes immediately following long and high-intensity workouts are especially important. Seebohar recommends consuming 1 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight and 10 to 25 grams of protein after a workout. Fat, which inhibits carbohydrate absorption, should wait until a few hours later. This is probably the most neglected factor once an athlete gets ready to “Chow-Down” It’s important to eat moderately after you’ve subjected your body to a high-intensity workout or taking part in an endurance event.

Fueling your body well goes beyond eating your fruits and veggies. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, have several important functions in the body, and it’s crucial to give your body the right amount of each.

The percentages of each will vary depending on what type of triathlete you are; an IRONMAN triathlete will need more carbohydrates (the body’s primary energy source) than a short-course triathlete logging fewer training hours. But as a rule of thumb, athletes should aim for getting 45-65 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 15-20 percent from protein and 20-35 percent from fat.

Remember, one of the key ways to make sure you're eating properly with the correct number of percentages between, fats, carbs, and proteins is to do the majority of your eating at home!

This way you can cook with the freshest foods, that are low in sodium while containing the good fats that are necessary to maintain that engine you call your body.

Eat Well, Exercise Smart, and most of all, embrace your healthy, fitter way of eating. Your body at the end of your event, with thank you for it!

If you're old enough, you may remember the Jackson Brown song, “Running on Empty” It’s a great song with a good tempo to help you keep running or biking out there on the road and if you want to take a listen to it, well, here is a link to when he performed it live for the “Rock n Roll Hall of Fame”  

Now, the reason I chose this lead into this blog, is that often enough, many of us take off on our exercise runs, walks, maybe cycling, with only a basic combination of carbs and a  small amount of protein for breakfast or possibly a snack in the afternoon before we set off. Now that’s fine for a regular stint of exercise that you do either every day or 2-3 times a week. After all, you know your body better than anyone, but sometimes we get either lazy or fall into a habit of thinking stocking up on less is better than over doing it before you begin your exercise outing. But various studies have shown that your body, while it usually has enough carbs and protein stored in the morning from a night of sleeping, or you had a good lunch in the afternoon and think you can “Pony-Up” to your after work training regimen, well think again, it’s still not enough to help you get through a better than average exercise event. You need to be on top of your game when it comes to eating right when you're putting your body through its paces.

One way you can keep track of how well it’s, your body is performing, is to have the right tools with you like an Activity Tracker. The Garmin Vivosport Sport & Activity Tracker comes with a wrist-based heart rate and GPS technology that allows you to either work out inside or use the built-in GPS to accurately track your activities outside. Along with the fitness monitoring tools such as VO2 max and fitness age estimates, the "All-Day" stress tracking helps you stay in touch with your body’s response to potential stressors. And with the VO2 max feature you can measure up against previous results to see just how well you’re performing, along with the Heart Rate monitoring function that is wrist based.

But again YOUR NUTRITION is probably one of the most important things to look after when you’re engaging in an active cardio lifestyle, like running, fast walking and cycling. It can be the make or break when it comes to not just surviving the miles but actually enjoying the paces you’re putting your body through and being able to train without fatigue.

Now for when you’re taking on your first race or long distance run or biking event, your food intake is very important to make sure your body has the right combination of fuel to help you to get to the end point of your endeavor. You don't want to put "Economy Gas" in your engine when you’re training at a "Nascar" event level, do you?

Morning fuel: Your breakfast will be one of the most important meals you consume and will ensure you are fully fuelled when you cross the start line, so make sure you are comfortable with it and it works for you.
On the go feeding: Fuelling while running/cycling is key, so get confident at consuming food and fluid whilst at a good pace. Here at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com, we have looked into this important aspect of energy replacing foods and recommend the GU Energy Stroopwafel The Stroopwafel is made with a layer of delicious syrup between two thin wafers, and it’s individually packaged to make it portable and easy to take on a ride or run. It can be used before and during training and competitions. The GU Energy Stroopwafel (Different Name, Great Product!) delivers all the nutrients needed to power your performance: quality carbohydrates, and electrolytes that provide immediate and long-lasting energy from complex and simple carbohydrates, along with essential amino acids, which can help prevent mental fatigue and repair muscle damage during long-duration activities.

Then there are also the GU Energy Chews  This Chewy snack packs energy-dense calories in a portable packet to help sustain energy demands of long duration activities. The 90-calorie packet contains carbohydrates to keep you fueled while delaying bonking by sparing your glycogen stores. Sodium, the primary electrolyte lost in sweat, aids in hydration by maintaining water balance.

Now that we have a few energy packed chewable for you to work your teeth on, we want to make sure we quench your thirst with the right combination of drinks that provide you with more thirst quenching relief than just plain water. Remember, in order to remain healthy our body needs to stay hydrated. But during our daily workouts and intensive sweat sessions, water alone cannot help. Though water will quench your thirst, it won’t boost your energy levels so that you can perform efficiently. The engineers at Nuun Energy have developed a product that can provide your body with the fluid it needs to not only stay hydrated but to also help replenish the electrolytes and other minerals and vitamins your body is consuming as you’re putting it through its paces. The Nuun Energy Sports Drink Tablets  It contains important natural ingredients like:
Sodium: which reduces acidity produced in the muscles during intensive workout sessions which in turn improves speed among racers and cyclists.

Potassium: Which is an electrolyte that conducts impulses in our body. Therefore, it is required by our cells, tissues , nd organs to function optimally. It is vital for healthy muscular and digestive functions of our body.

Magnesium: Which is one of the 6 macro-minerals that make up 99% of our body’s mineral content. It is crucial to enable healthy nerve function, build bones and produce energy from the food we eat. In the absence of magnesium, our body will not be able to synthesize energy from food, muscles won’t be able to contract or relax and production of key hormones that control vital body functions will be hindered.

Vitamin C: Water-soluble vitamin, that has numerous health benefits which should be taken with food or health supplements. It boosts our immune system, helps lower hypertension; maintains elasticity of skin and aids healing of wounds by facilitating the growth of connective tissue etc.

Vitamin B12: is required to keep our nerves and red blood cells healthy. It also helps in the efficient functioning of our critical body functions.

Vitamin B6: plays a key role in converting food into energy and also metabolizes fats and proteins. It helps in keeping hair, skin, liver and eyes healthy.

Niacin: helps to lower and control cholesterol levels. It also releases energy into the body cell’s and helps to stay active and energized.
So as you can see, if you’re serious about being active and want to push yourself from time to time to see if you can in fact “Go the Distance”. Then you need to make sure your fueling your body with the proper energy making foodstuffs to see that you in fact, can “Go the Distance”.

There should never be a reason for you to have your body “Running on Empty” again. Like any good engine, you get out of it what you put into it.

See you at the end of the course, from the active gang here at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com !!

If you made the decision to take part in a Fall Marathon this year, then you know that you should have been hitting the road since at least early June, after all, there are now only about 8 - 12 weeks left until a majority of them begin to take place. They usually take place in early October/November and go right on through the end of the year, depending of course on what part of the country you live in. A marathon, consisting of a grueling 26.2-mile race will test the Mettle" of any runner, especially if you're new to running them! Below are a few suggestions to make sure you have a check list of things to follow in order to make sure you’re making it to that finish line.

Shoes: If you’ve been running for a while now, you know the importance of a good pair of running shoes. Most trainers recommend that you should retire your old “Feel Good” shoes after you’ve reached the 3-400 mile training goals. This is just plain good advice since like a car’s tires, they get worn down and worn out after the miles they were designed for. If you haven’t partnered up with a good athletic shoe store, one that promotes running and walking for your health, then find one. These people are more than just shoe salesmen/women. They know the sport of running, fast walking or just plain walking for your health. This is their business and they should be good at what they do/sell. They are going to analyze your stride, in house, (if they are any good) to see if things have changed for you if you are a repeat customer. Then they will fit you with a light-weight shoe, but one that also offers you the support where you need it. When getting maybe a month out from the race, you may want to get yourself a new pair of shoes that will carry you across the finish line feeling good. But the ‘Tip” is to wear your race shoes during a 10-mile training run and see how they feel on your feet, and if you experience any blisters, rubbing or chaffing. It’s better to find out earlier than on race day!

And don’t skip on your socks! Remember, your socks are the only cushion you have between your skin and the shoes you’re wearing. You want to make sure they fit just right for you as well and that they don’t contribute to your perspiration, as this can also lead to blistering and chaffing.

While you’re about 9 or 8 weeks out, you can try doing a mockup of your 26.2-mile endurance run. Run at your training pace, this should be a pace that you’re comfortable with but one that allows you to kick it into gear when you're about 8 miles out from the finish. With eight miles to go, begin running one minute per mile slower than your marathon goal pace. Then speed up every two miles to run the last couple of miles at goal pace or slightly faster. This run will teach you how to up your effort as you become tired.

If at all possible, start doing runs on the same topography as the marathon you're planning to run in. For example, go up and down lots of hills, in order to simulate that you’re running in New York City if this is the one you signed up to tackle.
If you live in a flat area and are preparing for a hilly marathon, do several runs on a treadmill, and alter the incline throughout. If you don’t have access to a treadmill, run on stairways or stadium steps. (Hey, drastic times call for drastic measures.)

When you’re a month out, it’s a good time to give your body a test as to how well it has progressed during your “Training Up” for the big race. Get yourself registered for a half marathon. Participating in a 10 miler will provide a powerful mental lift, and it will give you a little rest period in the few days before and after the race as you taper and recover from it. Aim to run the half-marathon slightly faster than your marathon goal pace. If you can’t find a tune-up race, recruit friends to accompany you on a long run, with the last several miles faster than marathon pace.

Drink on the Run
Practice during your remaining long and semi long run with the sports drinks and energy gels  you intend to refuel with during the race.

We like the electrolyte packed drinks from Nuun that come in different flavors which allow you to change up your thirst quenching drinks while your training and gives you the opportunity to decide which flavor you’ll be taking with you on your 26.2 mile run.

Then to help you re-stoke your furnace as you pile up the miles the GU Energy Gels, which also come in various flavors that provides your body with the essential nutrition it needs to keep going for miles and miles and hours and hours. It goes down easy, and it goes to work fast so you don't have to slow down.

Serious-minded racers and those with finicky stomachs should be using the sports drinks and chews that they are used to using during their training. The race is NOT the time to be trying anything new that your body has not had time to grow accustomed to. And remember that sports drinks do triple duty when compared with water by providing fluid, carbohydrates, and electrolytes, the most important being sodium.

Try NOT to overdo it! Stick to your plan when training for a marathon—it isn’t like cramming for a test. That is, doing more miles than you’re used to in the last few weeks will hurt, not help your race! Even if you’re feeling great, don’t up the ante and increase your training. This is the time when many runners have been at it for two months or more and are becoming used to a certain level of training. Draw strength from the hard work you’ve put in. Have confidence in what you’ve been doing. From here on out, you’re just maintaining your fitness. And Most Important, get plenty of sleep!

Put the Jitters to rest! Four or five days before the marathon, do a two- or three-mile marathon-pace, run in your marathon outfit and shoes. Picture yourself on the course running strong and relaxed. Besides boosting your confidence, this run will provide one last little bit of conditioning and will help you lock in to race pace on marathon day. If possible, run at the same time of day as the start of your marathon. This way, your body’s rhythms–including the all-important bathroom routine–will be in sync with marathon needs come race day. The more times you can do this, the better, but shoot for at least the last three days before the race.

Set Yourself Two Goals
Review your training and set one goal for a good race day, and another as a backup plan in case it’s hot or windy or you’re just not feeling great. So many things can go wrong in a marathon that you need that secondary goal to stay motivated if things aren’t perfect, which they seldom are. So golden rule is always be prepared for the unexpected, hence the two goal rule.

Your primary goal is the one you’ve been working toward during your training, whether it’s a personal best, or breaking a set number of hours. Your secondary goal should keep you motivated at the 22-mile mark on a bad day, finishing in the top 50 percent, slowing only 10 minutes over the second half, or just reaching the darn finish line.

Carbo-Load, Don't Fat-Load
During the last three days, concentrate on eating carbohydrate-rich foods, such as pasta, potatoes, bread, fruit and fruit juice, and sports drinks. It’s the carbs, after all, not fat or protein, that will fuel you on race day. What’s important is increasing the percentage of your calories that come from carbs, not simply eating more of everything. Since you’ll be tapering and expending fewer calories, you don’t have to consume a great deal more food than usual. Rather, make sure your food choices are carbohydrate-rich—for example, spaghetti with red sauce, instead of Alfredo sauce, or a bagel versus a croissant.

Slow Your Roll:
Reduce the outside stresses in your life as much as possible the last week. This is not a good time in your life for say, changing jobs.

Try to have work projects under control, politely decline invitations to late nights out, and so on. Most of all, stay off your feet, save museum tours and shopping sprees for after the marathon, and don’t spend four hours the day before the marathon checking out the latest energy gel flavors at the race expo. If you’re into it, get into your yoga phase of mind set and let your mind find that happy place.

Eat Breakfast The Day of The Marathon:
Two to three hours before the start, eat a carbohydrate-rich breakfast, even if that means getting up at an early hour and then going back to bed. The reason: As you slept, your brain was active and using the glycogen (stored carbohydrate) from your liver. Breakfast restocks those stores, so you’ll be less likely to run out of fuel. Aim for a few hundred calories, such as a bagel and banana or toast and a sports bar. At the minimum, consume a sports recovery drink, or a bland, well-tolerated liquid food such as Ensure or Boost.

Warm Up-Get Limber 
But just a little. Even the best marathoners in the world do only a little jogging beforehand, because they want to preserve their glycogen stores and keep their core body temperature down. If you’re a faster runner with a goal pace significantly quicker than your training pace, do no more than 10 minutes of light jogging, finishing 15 minutes before the start. Precede and follow your jog with stretching. If you’ll be running the marathon at about your training pace, skip the jog. Walk around a bit in the half hour before the start, and stretch.

Start Slow, Remember, there are a lot of miles between you and the finish line. Run the first two to three miles 10 to 15 seconds per mile slower than your goal pace. This preserves precious glycogen stores for later in the race so you can finish strong. Just saying, it’s always good advice to learn from someone that has gone before you so you can benefit from what they have also have accomplished.

Finish! Yes we know that by mile #23 you’re just about all in. But talk to yourself, be your own coach! Give yourself that pep talk you need right here and now. Remember, the pain, exhaustion and fatigue will pass, but the memory of conquering this goal you've set for yourself and that feeling of pride that you’ve accomplished it, well, that feeling, will be with you forever!

BE STONG and You can do it!