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Oh
It's You
- A Member Spotlight
By
Jerry Lardinois
_files/image011.jpg) This
interview did not go the way I intended it
to. When I sat down with RICHARD WENDT I
wanted to focus on his active role in the Daytona
Beach Track Club. I was intrigued as to why
he put so much time and effort into the club. He
served on the club’s Board of Directors, then served as President for
about 5 years. You would think he would take some
time off and recharge his batteries. No, that’s
not Richard. He is serving not only as the club’s
treasurer, but is race director again for the Paul
deBryun 15 and 30K.
Richard
didn’t want to talk much about what he’s meant to
the club and the hours spent trying to rebuild it.
He would rather talk about running and racing. He
did what he had to do for the club, because it had
to be done. Those that work with him feel he was
the glue that held the club together during
difficult times.
Richard
was born in Brooklyn New
York, the Bronx. He attended Northport
High in Long
Island. He moved to Florida to
attend FIT in Melbourne and FTU which later became
USF. After college, he stayed in Florida and
became a teacher and coach at Spruce Creek High,
coaching Cross Country running and Tennis. As a
kid growing up, walking and running to and from
school was a way of life. So when Richard began
running, it was a natural thing to do. His first
race was a local beach 5K and he won his age
group. But 5K’s were too tame for him, so next up
was the Billy Gordon Marathon. He quit racing for
awhile and at age 46 became serious about the
sport. He was introduced to the Track Club by
Danny Philpot in 1997 and began getting involved.
He couldn’t get the Billy Gordon Marathon and the
challenge it had given him out of his mind. To
date he has run 30 marathons. And has qualified for
Boston numerous
times. He first qualified for Boston in 2001
with a PR of 3:25. Almost all of his marathons are
clocked under 4
hours. He is proud of the 4 marathons he ran
in 5 weeks last year. His times were, 3:55, 3:49, 3:45, and his
last 4:20. Not bad for an old guy. But what really
impressed me is his preparation leading up to his
races. He leaves nothing to chance. Every mile of
his races are planned out, and he can tell you
what his time will be at mile 4 or 9 or 14.
To
Richard it’s not just 26.2 miles, it is everything leading
up to it. He believes what you put into your
sport, determines your results. So training is
more important than doing the event. The road
work, track sessions, cross training must all be
coordinated and followed. I don’t have space here
for all the information he talked about for 2
hours. So if you have any questions about running,
talk to the man who loves the
sport.
As
a race director, Richard feels it is more
important to be runner friendly, than to see how
much money you can make. It shouldn’t be all about
money, it should be about
putting on a quality event that is enjoyed by the
participants. It’s nice to give a lot of money to
charities, but please, not at the runners expense. Under his
leadership the newsletter is emailed to the
membership. The clubs website has been updated and
plans to get more info out to the members is
already being planned. The club is in good
financial shape, and with the officers and board
members, the future looks
bright.
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Healthy
Lifestyles - Simple Steps Add Ups To BIG
Changes
By
Pam Giese
Getting
started on the road to optimizing our health is
the same as any other journey we take in life –
the journey always begins with a single step….
Just one single step.
Whenever
it was that each of us began running, it began
with an initial thought; the thought was
formulated into an action and for many, (myself
especially), it wasn’t real pretty the first time
out. However through progression and
perseverance, the new behavior
became a habit, a lifestyle essential and perhaps
even an addiction (one of a healthier sort
some would say); it became something that defines
and separates us from people who think and act
differently.
Making
nutrition choices is also a journey. We are
introduced to food and beverages as a specific
result of the belief system of our family
members. We are exposed to the foods
that our family considers healthy and important
for any reason(s). Thus we grow up with
pre-set notions and ideas about fueling our body,
some of which are founded in scientific truths,
others which are culturally or personally biased
and completely untrue. It is up to us
to evaluate these truths as higher thinking and
functioning adults, and to abandon or change those
that do not serve us well.
Creating
our own truths requires a little knowledge, a lot
of common sense and the adaptation of a belief
system that we are inherently healthy. If we
compliment our body with the proper nutrient
intake and we move around a lot daily, a fit, lean
healthy lifestyle is sure to attach to us and
follow us every where we go. Is it really
that simple? Really, yes it is.
Every small step we take in this direction, adds
up over the years to big positive, amazing changes
that make an incredible difference in our overall
health and the quality of our lives.
So
what does this mean specifically in our nutrition
plan? Let’s look at a few of the major
issues plaguing most of our culture; there are
small steps we can all adopt that will make really
big differences.
#1
Portion sizes
As
a culture we are largely out of touch with the
portion sizes which account for the calories
counts assigned to our food and beverage
choices. Just for a day, measure the foods
you eat, before you eat them. Pour your
beverages into a measuring cup to see what 8oz, vs
16 or more looks like in your cup or mug.
Just to raise your awareness. It is OK to
eat 2 portions of things if your caloric budget
calls for it. The issue is NOT that we are
eating more than one serving – it is WE MUST BE
AWARE WE ARE EATING MORE THAN ONE
SERVING. Think you are exempt from
this – put your ice cream in a level ½ cup
measuring cup, then put it in your bowl….. does that look like your
typical serving of ice cream? The calories
on any container of ice cream speak of serving
sizes of ½ cup – I’m pretty sure most of us and
most ice cream shops are off the marker
there.
#2
Meal Skipping and Skimping
Avoid
skipping meals or going long periods of time with
inadequate, non-nutritive calories. Each
time we go 10 or more hours without eating, we are
absolutely losing muscle amino acids (muscle
fibers and mitochondria – the powerhouse or energy
production center of our cells). To avoid
this self-destructive behavior, which makes us
EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD AT STORING FAT, we must avoid
going long periods of time without eating.
Eat 6 or more SMALL meals and snacks and take in
more calories before 4pm, as you can. Eating
in the evening should be nutrient rich, lean, low
in fats, moderate to low in carbohydrates (making
sure we get what we need) and a serving of
protein. Typically our culture eats 50% or
MORE of the daily calorie budget in the evening
when we do not need it – thus we are exceptionally
good at storing those extra calories as body
fat.
#3
The Magic Pill
Everyone
is looking for the magic pill – here is the
secret. Eat as many vegetables as you can
every single day. Already eating a
lot? Eat more. No one every got fat or
unhealthy by overeating vegetables. Only
like a few vegetables? Eat them often and
keep exposing yourself to new ones. Oh, and
let’s eat vegetables seasoned with herbs and if
necessary, spritzed very lightly with olive
oil. Make a huge effort to edge spreads,
butters, margarines out of your eating plan.
And leave the cheese off too; it changes the whole
concept of eating vegetables, the leanest foods on
the planet, when you smother them in
cheese.
#4
Drink Water
Our
bodies are 45 – 65% water depending on your gender
and your body composition. Let’s treat it
favorably and support those needs.
#5
Sleep
Without
adequate restful sleep, our bodies break down and
cannot recover. If you are not getting
restful sleep that needs to be addressed before
you can expect any kind of positive results in
your health – eating well and exercise only work
in conjunction with stress management and restful
nightly sleep.
There
are hundreds of helpful strategies that we can
employ, but these are just a few of the very
simple ones. Implement these consistently,
and watch your lifestyle improve
tremendously.
For
customized nutrition sessions please visit my
website at
www.lifestylerestoration.com
or
e-mail me at
pam@pamgiese.com
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