Training For An Ultra Marathon

Marathons are traditionally 26.2 miles. To some, the marathon represents the ultimate running challenge. But to others, namely people who have run several marathons, they simply aren’t challenging anymore. For these people, running ultra marathons is the answer.

Ultra marathons are basically any running event that is longer than 26.2 miles. Aside from that, the distances can vary. There are several types of ultra marathon events. Here is a list of some of them:

o Timed events such as 24 hour runs.
o Distance oriented ultra marathons such as the double marathon. Other popular distances are 50 miles, 50 km, 100 miles, and 100 km.
o Events that take place over the course of several days.
o Challenging events that take place on trails and other surfaces. Some also take place on mountains or in very mountainous areas.

Choose Your Event

Since the definition for an ultra marathon is pretty broad, the first thing you will need to do if you are interested in running one is to choose the event that interests you the most. Check out listings at your local sporting goods store or look online. You will want to pick an event that is far enough in the future so that you can have adequate time to train.

Some events, such as those that take place on trails, may present other unique challenges that would not be present in an ultra marathon that takes place on a surface such as a track or the street. The event you choose will all depend on your overall goals.

Develop a Training Plan

Your next step to running an ultra marathon is to find a training plan. Some ultra marathon events are so new that an established training plan may not exist. If this is the case, you will need to come up with your own. You can use an established marathon training plan as a base and just build on it.

If it is an event that takes place on different terrain or over the course of several days, you will have to find another way to develop the plan. Connect with other people who are registered to the event. Speak with a coach or trainer. Look for people who have run the event in the past. Search on the internet for information. The information you gather from the research will help you develop a training plan.

Be Smart

Ultra marathons are definitely extreme. That is why it is important to train smart. Give yourself enough time. Don’t try to do too much at first. Make sure you allow yourself adequate rests. Also, make sure you eat a proper diet that will have you taking in enough calories. If you train smart, your ultra marathon event will be a success.

The Physical Challenges Of Hockey

Hockey is one of the most physically demanding games known to man. This intense sport requires that a skater have as much strategy and skill as football or baseball player in addition to the strength that only a conditioned athlete can bring to the ice, and a kind of ferocity that is a rare quality indeed. Hockey players must tolerate quite a bit of pain and discomfort, and serious players must be able and willing to participate in very heavy training all through the year to remain competitive. Unlike many sports that primarily require endurance, Hockey is all about sudden short bursts of extremely intense activity. This makes hockey a very different kind of physical challenge than a sport like soccer where movement is lower-intensity but continuous.

A hockey player must be able to rev their personal engine from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. At the pro level, a hockey player rarely spends more than a full minute at a time actively skating on the ice. Between those brief flurries of almost manic activity, a player can recover and catch his or her breath, but must remain alert and in readiness for the next explosion of action on the ice. Suddenly jumping from a fairly passive and relaxed state to the height of speed and power isnt easy. The discipline and talent a hockey player must posses in order to do this well are often a large part of what separates the amateurs from the professionals.

The need to be able to swiftly transition from a state of rest to one of peak activity requires specific forms of training that focus on shortening response times and achieving graceful and efficient movement without much of a warm up. A hockey skaters workout regimen contains many predictable activities like lifting weights and jogging, but one place where many players go in order to improve their agility and response time proves to be somewhat surprising to many sports fans.

Although classical music and pink tulle are the last things most people associate with the rough and tumble sport of hockey, many players train at ballet studios. From young boys and girls who are in amateur junior leagues all the way up to Olympic-level hockey players, spending time refining plies at the ballet barre often proves to give skaters a leg up on the ice.

From dance studios to weight rooms to jogging tracks, a hockey player must train his or her body in a variety of ways to prepare for what many consider the most physically demanding of all sports. Between the strenuous flurries of activity, the psychological stress of performance, the lack of warm up time, and the bulky padding of a hockey uniform, a player at the top level of competitive hockey may sweat away up to eight pounds of water weight during the course of a single game. There is no other sport where this kind of drastic weight loss due to exertion happens so quickly. A hockey players body must be prepared to safely weather this kind of ordeal on a regular basis, which requires a level of physical fitness that few other sports require.

Baseball Pitching Tips For Kids

Every kid that loves baseball has fantasized about being a great pro pitcher and throwing a perfect game. Its one of those universal American dreams of little boys everywhere. While dreams like these should never be quashed, its important for responsible adults to teach kids how to pitch a baseball with the correct form and control. Without such guidance, overly enthusiastic children run a real risk of doing damage to their arms, elbows, and shoulder joints when throwing baseballs.

The first thing ever kid needs to learn before he takes the mound to pitch in a baseball game is the correct form. Not only will this give his pitches more power and control, it will also put less strain on the important and vulnerable parts of the body. There are two big keys for baseball pitchers. First, it must be taught to youngsters that effective and safe pitching is powered mainly by the legs, not the arm.

A good training tip is to have players watch several pro baseball games, paying close attention to the form of the pitchers as they wind up and throw. Have them note how the legs are what propel them, and that the arm is really just a means of directing the ball. Kids aren’t analyzers, and most of them will attempt to pitch a baseball using all arm strength. This is sure path to injury!

The other crucially important aspect of pitching a baseball that must be taught early is the role of the elbow. The natural tendency, especially in kids, is to simply try to throw the baseball as hard as they can each and every time. Again, this invites injury and can actually rob them of speed on every pitch.

The proper form is to train the elbow to lead the hand. The elbow should stay ahead of hand until just before release of the baseball. This takes some practice, but once a child learns to do it without forcing it, he s on the path to better control, more power, and (most importantly) a safe baseball throwing motion. *Caution: In conjunction with this move, baseball pitchers must learn to keep their throwing arms shoulder in close to their body. One of the biggest hazards is letting the shoulder jut forward or to the side early in the pitching motion. The elbow moving ahead will put strain on the shoulder joint if it isn’t kept close in. Again, this takes repeated practice, especially for kids for whom baseball pitching is new and whose bodies are not yet under their full control.

A good idea is to impress upon the young pitcher that speed isn’t the top priority in good baseball pitching, control is. This serves two purposes. First, it will help you slow him down in order to ingrain the proper and safe movements outlined above. Second, its generally easier to build up speed after control is learned when throwing a baseball than it is to learn control after speed.