July 27th, 2009 / Uncategorized

For those of you that are not on my monthly email list, I thought I would share my thoughts with you on the MINT blog.

This month, I started my email off by bragging. An athlete I train ran a huge personal record this week and qualified for the Track and Field World Championships in Berlin in the 5000m. This is a huge deal, as it is the biggest track meet in the world in non-Olympic years. She finished 4th at USA Nationals but because the winner will be focusing on the Marathon at Worlds, Julie got the standard at a race in Belgium this week, where she will be representing the USA. Here is an interview with her and two other runners after the race she hit her standard in.

Sticking with the running theme…just because it’s summer and scorching out doesn’t mean you have to be confined to a treadmill. Here are some hot weather running tips from Runner’s World.

And finally, one thing about nutrition that you may not consider while eating is energy density…eating a large amount of fruit, veggies or whole grain wheat may have less calories than a bowl of ice cream or a candy bar but could make you feel much more full. This article puts it really well.

Hope everyone is have a great summer so far. If you have any fitness-related questions, feel free to contact me at sobrien@mintconditionyourself.com.

Tags: running, Sean O'Brien, Track and Field

May 7th, 2009 / Uncategorized

Sean O’Brien here. So it’s spring time and even though it’s been cold and rainy the last couple days we are definitely past the worst of it and headed for the sunshine, a great time to really commit to a health plan. To motivate you, I’ve compiled a few articles that might just get you going.

In case you didn’t know, “running is good for you” (I know it’s from Shape! but it’s still good). And in case you missed it, check out this health article from the New York Times.

It was real hot earlier this week and that means you must make sure that you’re getting enough water, but also making sure that you don’t let your sodium levels get to low.

Finally, I have had a couple requests for info about my running days so I decided to put this to the TV broadcast of last year’s Penn Relays. If you want to see my race just skip to almost exactly the halfway point. I ran the anchor leg of the USA vs. The World Distance Medley Relay. Spoiler: I did not win but it was still one of my better races.

Tags: fitness, health updates, health updates dc, MINT Private Trainers, personal trainer, running, running dc, Sean O'Brien