Food for running in the morning

    Many runners prefer to run in the morning, which is definitely a good habit. Choosing what kind of food and how much to take become a significant issue for these morning runners, which actually depends on how long are you going to run. Do you want to know how to eat can not only help to keep figure but also make you energetic? Read the following suggestions.

  1)       Less than 30 minutes:

   Normally, for runners running less than 30 minutes (approximately 5 miles) , there is no need to take additional food for energy. You can even run without breakfast.

  2)       30 minutes-1 hour：

Run after breakfast and take one banana or a small piece of chocolate (black) with you. After running for 30 minutes, you can eat them if you feel a little hungry. But to most people, a high quality breakfast is almost enough.

  3)         More than 1 hour：

   You should pay attention to food carefully if you reach this level. Prepare food like bananas or black chocolates at the evening before you running. During the running, take food containing 100-200 calories (like half an banana) every 30 minutes and take water every 40 minutes for 500 ML.

Food choices:

  Bread, fruits sauce, peanut sauces, banana, chocolates. These kinds of food is easy to digest and absorbed by our body, to provide energy quickly.

Avoid:

  It takes a long time to digest food which is high in fiber. Eating these kinds of food can’t offer energy and even put more burden to your stomach, which result in not only running obstacles but also some chronic illnesses for organs.

   Different people have different body for food. There must be a period of time for you to find the best diet for yourself, which may sometimes bothers you. But I am sure that once you find your own diet, get rid of trouble of low blood sugar or eating to much, you will enjoy every running morning. 

Combine meditation and running?

  Maybe many of you have tried meditation on Yoga courses. It is a good relaxing method, not only quiet but also old-fashioned. Have you ever imagined to do meditation while running? You can have a try!

  Meditation is a mental condition that your mind is totally conscious but blank. Actually, our time every day is divided into two opposite parts. One is that you are sleeping but think of nothing, the other is that you are awake, but think of too much. So meditation is a condition that you are not sleeping but you are thinking of nothing.

  Yoga masters instruct learners that we can choose any positions we like, and running is among the them, and even a suggested one. When you are running, especially on a treadmill, it is easy and safe to concentrate your mind on your heart and your body, without any thoughts in your brain, since all of your attention and your and energy is paid to running and there is no more room for being bothered by trifles or any bad emotions such as feeling anxious, angry, nervous, frustrated. That is to say, you are occupied with running, which facilitate you to get into meditation, which is not easy to do. If you still find it hard, don’t worry. Start by counting your breaths and push things away gently.

  Trust me, the benefit you can take from meditation while running is beyond description. Researchers in neurology observed from MRI that the brain of a person who is in meditation is changing. Meditation can make their sympathetic nervous system inactive and thus to make them have a brain relax. And the best way to get rid of mental working is physical working. Besides, hospitals are bringing meditation while running to cure the patients with mental problems.

TIPS:

  

  The best time suggestions are before you go to bed in the evening and after you get up in the morning. It will give you a fresh head and an energetic body for the coming day and a high efficiency deep sleeping in the nights.

  Avoid streets. It is dangerous to do meditation while running when you are running on the street. Run on treadmill or in playground where no vehicles because your response or reactions to the outward world can be slow when you are in meditation.

  Start small.  Since it is hard to get in to real meditation, start small. Two minutes at the beginning is enough and after that you can make the time longer and longer when you try to move on .

  It is a new way to run, right? Why not have a try today?

The 34th Beijing Marathon yesterday

  The 34^th Beijing Marathon was held on October, 19^th in Beijing. More than 30 thousands  Runners set out at 8:00 am from Tiananmen square. 26 thousands players took participate the entire round, and the rest came for the half marathon.

  Compared with the previous ones, this year was tough for all the players, because of the terrible haze weather in Beijing on this day, making this year unique. According to the Chinese national weather forecasting centre, there would be a serious haze weather on the marathon day, but the hosting committee couldn’t put it off because this game is an international marathon, thus delay would cause inconvenience for players from other countries or areas and led to a big trouble for management of the game.

  It turned out that most players still insisted participating the marathon, wearing a mask. The champions of male and female marathon, both from Ethiopia, claimed that the wicked weather didn’t made bad effect on them.

  The last player reaching the finishing line is a 30 years old man, Tong Ying, from a computer technology company. He suffered from a cramp during the running, which made him want to give up. But he didn’t. it took him almost 6 hours to complete the whole marathon, and he made it. “ It is my first marathon. I loved it! It taught me that persistence must result in success. I will come next year, too!”

Want to know more about Beijing Marathon?

l  Beijing Marathon is an annual game, hosted by Chinese government, from 1982.

l  Beijing Marathon represents the highest level of marathon in China.

l  Beijing Marathon has developed into a significant international sports game , and becomes one of the top 10 famous marathons around the world.

l  There are four kinds of programs in Beijing Marathon, depends on the distances. They are entire distance marathon, half marathon, 9 km marathon and mini marathon.

l  Transportation of citizens is forbidden to the tracks of marathon during the 5 to 6 hours, aiming at the safety of the runners.

Running Shoes Choice for Chinese (Specific!) Runne

  Looking for a proper running shoes has been a frequently asked question for newbie runners. When a new runner starts his/her regular running plan, one of the first things to do is to find a pair running shoes that are suitable for his/her personal characteristics as well as the road condition. My personal story is: When I first start running as an exercise, I did not know anything about professional running shoes and just wore a pair of cheap sport shoes. In the second week, I felt pain on my right knee and the pain become more severe when I continue running. Then I searched website about running and finally realized the importance of having a proper running shoes: The force on knee while running could equal to 3-5 times of runner's body weight that needs to be absorbed by cartilage in knees. And professional running shoes are critical in protecting runners' knees during the process. In order to achieve this goal, running shoes features shock absorber structure and thus the choice of running shoes is actually choosing the appropriate shock absorber structure.

  As the shock force of running is highly related to the road condition (asphalt, concrete, dirt, plastic, etc.), the choice of running shoes depend on the roads you would run on. In urban environment of China, dirt road usually exist in very few green spaces and not many runners have easy access to. And asphalt road is relatively uncommon compared with US while asphalt surface produce least shock force among other roads. In other words, in most of the times runners in China have to run on concrete road, which is the worst condition for knees. As a result, it is important to find a pair of running shoes with good support and shock absorber for most Chinese runners. Weight is another important factor. The heavier a runner is, the larger force is produced for the knees. So it is important to choose shoes based on the weight.

  Running is still a new form of sport in China so most attendants in retailer do not know much about how to choose proper running shoes. So it is even significant to know what kind of shoes is proper for yourself. Here are some recommendations of mainstream brand of running shoes.

  ASICS：nimbus (heavy weight); culmbus (light weight)

ASICS might be the most notable brand of running shoes. His running shoes do not have huge difference between heavy weight ones and light weight ones.

  MIZUNO: creation (heavy weight); rider (light weight)

Creation series of MIZUNO provide tense support for runners and thus are not suitable for light-weighted runners.

  NEW BALANCE:

Shoes of New Balance generally suite heavy runners best.

Best Running Routes and Locations in Wuhan

    Wuhan, my hometown, is a city with many beautiful city parks and green spaces that could be great destinations for runners. Here I am writing to introduce and recommend several ones that I have been to.

1. Liyuan Park, East Lake Scenic Area

    East Lake is a large lake within the city of Wuhan, and one of the largest urban lake in China. And Liyuan Park is a large urban park on the west side of the lake. This park features long and meandering lakeshores lines with gorgeous views of East Lake. For runners specifically, one of the most unique features of the park is the pedestrian/runner road that connects multiple peninsulas of the lakes. Runners can enjoy the gorgeous scenes of traditional Chinese-style pavilions along the route. Another great characteristic that is great for runners is the fabulous planting design within the park. The most notable ones include sweet osmanthus and pear flower. The former blossoms in early fall while the latter one in spring, providing both shade and scenes for runners.

2. Moon Lake Park, Hanyang District

    Moon Lake is another lake within the city limit of Wuhan. Though much smaller than East Lake Scenic Area, Moon Lake Park has its own unique features to offer to runners. Firstly, the running routes around the park provides runners with fantastic lake view from the embankment. Different from East Lake, Moon Lake is smaller but also more dedicated with features of willows and red woods. Secondly, the running route around Moon Lake Park passed by the Qintai Grand Theatre. Locating in a historic site, Qintai Grand Theatre is a magnificent landscape building in Wuhan. While running around the park, it would be very pleasant to enjoy the views of this building from different angles.

3. Wuhan University Campus

    The last destination for runners is Wuhan University Campus. Wuhan University has been widely considered to possess one of the most beautiful campuses in China, featuring with the scenic Luojia Hill and the beautiful East Lake. The campus is also famous for its old stylish buildings, most of which were designed by an American architect, F. H. Kales. In his design of the buildings of Wuhan University Campus, Kale successfully integrated traditional Chinese style into modern architecture and created a attractive harmony between the buildings and the surrounding environment. The recommended route provides views of all these mentioned features, including the woody hill of the campus, the gorgeous built environment, and the lake view boulevard alongside East Lake on the northeast of the campus. In addition, the campus is a hilly so it also adds some fun as well as challenges for runners.

  

Listen to Some Music While Running

    Are you doubting that is listening to music a good habit or not while running? Actually,  more and more researches have found that compared with running with silence, runners can run faster and further with music. Music can make our brains more excited, thus you can make full advantage of your energy and your body, and be stimulated to run faster and further, and even happier if you choose the appropriate music. Don't hesitate to take your ipod with you when you set out to run!


     So how to make up your music list? Or, what kind of music is "right" for running? Here are some suggestions:


     Choose music the BPM of which is between 120 to 140. BPM is short for Beat Per Minute, which means the number of beats in one minute. BPM 120 to 140 can match your heartbeat speed and thus make you feel comfortable. That's to say, the tempo shouldn't be too fast or to slow.


    Here comes another question, how can I get the exact BPM of one song correctly? By counting by myself? Of course not. A free software called MixMeister BPM Analyzer can do this for you. Just download it from the internet.


    Besides, the music you choose must have consistency. Some music is dramatic and attractive because of the huge change of melody and tempo, it's charming but not a smart choice of running music.


    I feel so excited to share my favourite running music album Running Longer , from the cooperation of NIKE+  and the legendary road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong.
    
    1. Island In the Sun (Weezer)
    2. Dance Inside (The All-American Rejects)
    3. Love It When You Call (The Feeling)
    4. Woman (Wolfmother)
    5. 3's & 7's (Queens of the Stone Age)
    6. Yesterday to Tomorrow (Audioslave)
    7. Move Along (The All-American Rejects)
    8. 155 (+44)
    9. Is It Any Wonder (Keane)
   10. Say It Ain't So (Weezer)
   11. Everybody's Changing (Keane)
   12. Loser (Beck)
   13. Sewn (The Feeling)


   Here are some other tips for running with music:
    
      1.If the beats of the song you are listening now is not fit for your pace now, switch  to the next one.
      2.You can absolutely enjoy music whenever you are running on a running machine, but if you are running outside, watch out the vehicles  in case of accident.
      3. As you know, running is good period of time for you to thing .   So you can make the most of this time to focus on thinking ,with out music.
      4.Headphones is likely to cause some auditory problems. Don't keep it for too long time.