Do Girl Scout Cookie calories count for runners in training?

 Runners burn a bunch of calories, especially during pre-race training season. Let’s be honest. That’s one of the reasons most of us started the whole running pursuit. Then we discovered endorphins and the thrill of chasing the next personal record (PR).

 

Enter the Girl Scouts with their tantalizing roster of cookies. Here they come!

 It’s that time of year again.

 Here's a cookie-by-cookie calorie run-down. Look at the calorie counts for these popular Girl Scout Cookie varieties. Instead of listing “serving size,” I’m showing the “per cookie” calories. The serving sizes are up to you! (Amounts are approximations, based on package information.)

 

Let’s assume the average runner (or jogger or fitness walker) burns something in the neighborhood of 100 calories per mile (with the amount varying by body build, weight, fitness level, and plenty of other variables). You can easily do the math to determine how many miles you’ll need to do to burn off those cookie calories.

 It’s definitely doable, if we don’t go overboard with cookie-binging. If we do, we’ll just have to train longer.

 Hey, it’s for a good cause anyway.  Crunch! Crunch!

 

Related Items:

• 10 favorite pre-run breakfast foods
• Carb cravings can be consuming.
• Humor is healthy … and laughter burns calories.
• Runner fitness: 12 ways to hop past Easter weight gain
• What’s the difference between a runner and a jogger?
• Winter weight: 8 ways to stay trim during the holiday season

 

 

Image/s: Girl Scout -Pixabay, public domain. Cookie listing adapted by this user, including fair use product promo photos

 

Feel free to follow Runderdog on X, as well as Run Run Run in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois (Runderdog Runs the Midwest) on Facebook. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

Can running beat medications for anxiety and depression?

 Running is good medicine. Ask any marathoner, triathlete, cross-country runner, track star, sprinter, or weekend jogger. We can trumpet the health-related virtues of exercise, cardiovascular fitness, and stress relief – which all come with running regularly.

 

 Now modern medicine is making that claim official. Running is good medicine, and perhaps it even trumps medications often prescribed for anxiety and depression.

 A recent medical research study in the Netherlands examined 141 depression/anxiety patients over a four-month period. Some were given escitalopram (Brand name: Lexapro), an antidepressant medication. Others received running therapy. Although both groups experienced some antidepressive improvements, the running group also enjoyed better overall physical health benefits. (in terms of remission and response). The Journal of Affective Disorders published the research study findings in 2023.

 The researchers pointed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as mood boosters for the medication group, reducing anxiety and depression. In the running group, two to three 45-minute runs weekly brought about slightly better antidepressive improvement than the other group. In addition, the running participants bettered their overall fitness, while losing weight and reducing their blood pressure and heart rates. And the running group faced no potential drug side effects.

 The only trouble with the running group seemed to be that a few participants dropped out of the training sessions over the four-month period. As we all know, the benefits of running only hold true, if we stick with it.

 Those findings don’t even take into account the famous “runner’s high,” brought on by increased endorphin hormones released in the body during rigorous exercise.

 So, yes, running is good medicine for lots of reasons.

 We could have told you that. In fact, we probably did. Runners know the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of making time to crank out a few miles. And we know how crummy and cranky we can feel when we can’t get our runs in.

 

Related Items:

• Can you run with sleep apnea?
• Cold-weather running: 10 ways to save face
• Mixing it up: Cross training adds spice and fitness
• Value of running evolves with resolve and vast victories
• What’s the difference between a runner and a jogger?
• Winter weight: 8 ways to stay trim during the holiday season

 

Image/s: Public domain photo

 

Feel free to follow Runderdog on Twitter, as well as Run Run Run in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois (Runderdog Runs the Midwest) on Facebook. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

Can you run with sleep apnea?

 

It’s not exactly sleepwalking.

 Lots of runners find themselves gasping for air after a speedy sprint. Maybe that’s why so many of our finish-line race photos are so comical, or even scary. But what happens when runners (or other folks) experiencing gasping or a struggle for air while sleeping? Doctors call that sleep apnea, and it’s not uncommon among runners.

 

“You can’t have sleep apnea. You’re not fat.”

 My primary-care physician actually said that to me, while I was training for another marathon. “If you can run a marathon, you surely don’t have sleep apnea,” he added.

 My Garmin watch/activity tracker consistently showed respiratory and heart-rate fluctuations and awakenings overnight, during hours when I thought I’d been sleeping.

 

One sleep study later, I was diagnosed.

 Based on that experience, I began researching apnea and running. Here’s what I learned.

 Sleep apnea affects some 10-30 percent of all adults in the US, according to the Sleep Foundation. It’s a sleep disturbance, marked by plentiful nightly episodes of cessation of breathing. These not only affect respiration, but they also increase blood pressure and heart rate, as the body struggles with the lack of oxygen.

 Basically, apnea causes breathing troubles and poor sleep, which domino into all sorts of complications. Apnea sufferers may experience choking or gasping. The lack of quality sleep can cause morning headaches, daytime drowsiness, reduced energy and endurance, slower muscle recovery, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, memory issues, weakened immunities, dramatic snoring, and more. What’s more, apnea increases a person’s risk of heart and brain issues over time.

 Contrary to my own doctor’s pat answer, apnea isn’t restricted to those with excessive weight, although it’s most commonly associated with obesity (and frequently with diabetes). It’s found among those with narrow palates and necks, as well as those with thicker palates and fattier necks. Men are more likely to have it than women, and it’s more often diagnosed in folks aged 50 or older. Not everyone who has apnea actually snores. And it can run in families.

 Once diagnosed, apnea sufferers are generally prescribed CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy, wearing masks with hoses connected to monitored devices.

 

Where does running come into play?

 Exercise has been found to help those with sleep apnea for multiple reasons:

• encouraging cardiovascular health
• gaining lung capacity
• reducing stress (and stress hormones)
• increasing endorphins (How we runners love our endorphins!)
• helping with weight loss
• reducing abdominal and neck fat (common with obstructive sleep apnea)
• improving strength and fitness
• bettering sleep habits

 These benefits combined can help to reduce the severity of sleep apnea effects for lots of people. Of course, sleep apnea experts urge everyone to consult their own physicians before embarking on new or increased exercise programs (including running).

 

Running can be especially helpful with sleep apnea.

 Pounding out a few miles in the great outdoors, while rhythmically breathing fresh, open air, has been lauded as therapeutic for those with sleep apnea. Actually, running or walking can be helpful.

 The trick is to choose an optimum time of day for running (or workouts), while energy and endurance may be as high as possible. For many runners with sleep apnea, that means lacing on sneakers early in the day.

Additional frequent advice for those with sleep apnea focuses on weight loss, healthy diet, good hydration, non-smoking, side sleeping, and regular exercise.

 

Related Items:

• 10 safety questions to ask before going for a run
• How cold is too cold to run outdoors?
• Mixing it up: Cross training adds spice and fitness
• What’s the difference between a runner and a jogger?
• Winter weight: 8 ways to stay trim during the holiday season

 

 Image/s: Creative Commons Licensing, Wikipedia Commons photo

 

Feel free to follow Runderdog on Twitter, as well as Run Run Run in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois (Runderdog Runs the Midwest) on Facebook. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

Holiday fitness challenges kick me into gear

This elf cannot simply stay on a shelf.

As the final stretch of the year approaches, some of us may need an extra push to keep running, working out, and pursuing overall physical fitness. I know I do! 

Annually, I’ve checked off most of the races on my calendar and met many of my mileage goals for the year by now. It’d be easy to just sit back, prop my feet up, and zone out with the TV remote and a pile of favorite snacks.

(I’ll probably do some of that anyway, but just go with me here.)

In this crazy COVID pandemic year, most running races have either canceled or transitioned to virtual events. In many cases, I simply chose not to register (if I hadn’t done so already), once the whole social distancing nightmare became clear. That means (like multitudes of runners), I have had to find means of motivation elsewhere. Upcoming race deadlines simply didn’t happen in 2020.

I think we all hope 2021 will bring an altogether different picture.

Either way, fitness has to happen. We all have our reasons, whether we’re burning calories, keeping illness at bay, or just loving being active. For me, I’m fighting multiple sclerosis, as well as middle-age frumpiness. So I’m gonna keep running and exercising and pursuing strength training.

The holiday season (whether we gather with loved ones or not) brings all sorts of extra dietary delights (and downfalls). Aiming to be proactive, I’m making myself publicly accountable right here.

This year, I have signed on for these holiday fitness challenges:

• 2020 December Crunch
• Merry Miles 2020
• Zooma Holiday Challenge
• Run the Year Holiday Streaker Challenge
  

I can see the end of the road for my Run the Year goal of 2020 miles in 2020.

And, at November’s end, we will complete the Stepping Up for Heroes Challenge, produced by Fort 2 Base in conjunction with Fitness Bank.

You can track my progress and find additional information on these challenges by looking in my blog sidebar. (Mobile users: Choose WEB VIEW to see these.)

(Full disclosure: I am a race ambassador for Fort 2 Base, Stepping Up for Heroes, and Zooma.)

Related Items:

• 10 favorite pre-run breakfast foods
• A feud with food
• Cold-weather running: 10 ways to save face
• Despite MS, sometimes we just have to take it to the limit
• How many miles does it take to burn off Thanksgiving dinner?
• MS makes me wanna cheer anyone struggling to exercise
• Relapse Perhaps

 Image/s: Adapted from public domain artwork

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

Race aid stations - What are they serving this time?

Runners, repeat after me: I will not eat or drink anything on-course that I have not already tested in training.

We get it. We know it. But we do it anyway.

And we are often very sorry we took the risk.

I’ve done it. I’ve grabbed goos and gels halfway through half marathons and regretted it. I’ve gulped electrolyte drinks without trying them ahead of time. And I’ve repented, while panting and clutching my gut in the final miles. 

Not gonna fall for it this time.

An upcoming half marathon race has announced that their on-course aid stations will be offering a new hydration drink, which is billed as carb-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, keto-friendly, paleo-friendly, sugar-free, and vegan. It's probably ideal for lots of runners. 

But I’m not buying it (or even grabbing a free cup mid-race). I looked up the ingredients, and the extremely popular sugar substitute this product contains does unpleasant things to me, even when I’m not running my heart out.

So you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be sporting a bottle of my own favorite electrolyte beverage for that event. And I’ll be reaching out to the water stop volunteers who are handing out actual water.

Better safe than sorry? Got that right!

Like other big races, I’m guessing this event will feature beverage give-aways in the finish chute. If a race volunteer hands me a bottle of this stuff, I’ll smile and thank him or her. Then I’ll find someone to give it to afterwards – someone who can drink it without fear of later mishaps and regrets.

Images:

Created by this user with online generator

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.