lot of free time

These days I have a lot of free time on my daily routine because due my injury I'm not training. This is a new situation to me: I have time to do diferent things...but by the end of the week I will try to back to the traning!

injuries

Yesterday I suffer a injury while training fast repetitions on the track. I think it is a contusion. I search web for some indications for treatment:

Contusions occur when a direct blow or repeated blows from a blunt object strike part of your body, crushing underlying muscle fibers and connective tissue without breaking the skin.
First aid

Contusions cause swelling and pain and limit joint range of motion near the injury. Torn blood vessels may cause bluish discoloration. The injured muscle may feel weak and stiff. To control pain, bleeding and inflammation, keep the muscle in a gentle stretch position and use the R.I.C.E. formula:
* Rest: Protect the injured area from further harm by stopping play. You may also use a protective device (i.e., crutches, sling).
* Ice: Apply ice wrapped in a clean cloth. (Remove ice after 20 minutes.)
* Compression: Lightly wrap the injured area in a soft bandage or ace wrap.
* Elevation: Raise it to a level above the heart.

Treatment

Most athletes with contusions get better quickly without surgery. Your doctor may give you nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) or other medications for pain relief. Do not massage the injured area. During the first 24-48 hours after injury (acute phase), you will probably need to continue using rest, ice, compression bandages and elevation of the injured area to control bleeding, swelling and pain. While the injured part heals, be sure to keep exercising the uninjured parts of your body to maintain your overall level of fitness. If you have a large hematoma that does not go away within several days, in some cases the doctor may drain it surgically to speed healing.

Half Marathon of Portugal

Next week I will register for the Half Marathon of Portugal.
The RTP 6th Meia-Maratona de Portugal, half marathon, will take place on September 25 at 10.30 A.M. starting from the "Vasco da Gama" Bridge Proceeding into the streets of Lisbon, this race has a very nice course and is a great opportunity for everyone who would like to visit Lisbon, mainly this new area (where happened the EXPO'98), which is in nowadays devoted to social events (music concerts, walk and bike tours near the river Tagus..
All participants will get a T-Shirt with their race number and a medal for those will finish a race.

race report

I ran yesterday Pombal, Portugal half marathon. I finished with 1h29m40 time. It was a good time for me, because this is not a easy run. The weather is hot and the run had a lot small ascents and descents. But far way of my goal: run a half-marathon at 4 min/km....

my next run...

Now I'm trainning for half marathon on Jully, 31. Will be on Pombal, Portugal: meia maratona de pombal. A google map link for this place here.

Home made Sports Drink

search on web I found some articles about rehydration and home made sport drinks:

Among the chief benefits of sports drinks are the carbohydrates they provide to help the body replace the energy-producing glycogen a runner expends during exercise.
Those same carbohydrates, when in appropriate concentrations of six to eight percent, also help the body absorb the sports drink up to 30 percent faster than water.
Finally, sports drinks contain electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium, that are lost with sweat. Sodium in particular is helpful in speeding absorption of the drink. While it is not at all clear that your body actually loses very many electrolytes during running, studies have shown that electrolyte-replacement drinks do cause the body to retain more fluid than plain water.

CoolLemon>
1 cup water
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. sugar

on CoolRunning

Explanation for what sports drinks do on Sports Drinks, CoolRunning

Symptoms of Dehydration; Hypotonic, Isotonic, Hypertonic drinks; Recipes for Home-made Sports Drinks on Fluids and Hydration in Sport on disen.org

more home made recipes on Homemade Sports Drink on davidhays.net

Calculate distances with Google maps

This is a little hack that uses Google's superb mapping application to help record distances traveled during a running or walking workout.

Gmaps Pedometer

Finding Your Threshold Heart Rate

We've already highlighted the difficulties of trying to establish your maximal heart rate. Now you’ve mastered that, here’s another problem: once you’ve found your true maximum, how do you know exactly what heart rates you should be training at? We often see round figures quoted in general guides, ranging from 70-90 per cent of MHR. Unfortunately, the reason they’re so vague is that – as we’ve found out – we’re all different.

Performing A Conconi Test

• Ideally, you need a heart rate monitor that will record and store heart rate information for assessment afterwards. Alternatively, take along a partner who can write down your measurements as you give them
• Perform the test on either a running track or a treadmill
• Warm up thoroughly, as you would for a race or track session
• Your starting pace should be about 70 seconds for 200m (or 10km/h on a treadmill)
• Once started, you need to increase your pace each and every 200m
• At each 200m point, press the store button on your HRM (or tell your partner your rate)
• Speed increase should be about 2-3 seconds per 200m (or 0.5km/h on a treadmill)
• Keep going until you can’t increase your pace
• Jog gently afterwards to cool down gradually
• Plot your heart rate on a graph, against speed
• Find the deflection point
• This is an intense test – only perform it if you’re in good physical health

in runnerworld.com

Calculation of Maximum Heart Rate

The easiest and best known method to calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) is to use the formula MHR = 220 - Age. A paper by Londeree and Moeschberger (1982) from the University of Missouri-Columbia indicates that the MHR varies mostly with age, but the relationship is not a linear one. They suggest an alternative formula of MHR = 206.3 - (0.711 × Age). Similarly, Miller et al (1993) from Indiana University propose the formula MHR = 217 - (0.85 × Age) as a suitable formula to calculate MHR.

more...

Lisbon half marathon

I ran today the Lisbon half marathon and finished in 1h29m50.