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Teen shares how he stays fit
Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman "You can be far away while really not being far away at all," runner Eric Fitzpatrick says of team practices above Camel's Back Park. Cross-country runner Eric Fitzpatrick says he virtually never drinks soda. He may make an exception once or twice a year. Ever wonder if you should just say no, or at least say yes less often, for your sake and the sake of your kids? Here are 10 reasons: 1. Weight gain. Soda gives you calories without any nutrients. A 12-ounce can of Coke has 140 calories. A child’s risk for obesity increases an average of 60 percent with every additional daily serving of soda. 2. I’m not hungry. Soda or sugary drinks decrease kids’ appetites, increasing the odds they will skip food or drinks that are good for them. The average soda sold in the United States has more than 3. Calcium depletion. Phosphorus, a common ingredient in soda, can suck the calcium out of kids’ bones. This is most dangerous for teen girls. 4. Save it for special occasions. A sweetened drink doesn’t do much damage if kids drink it only occasionally, like on a family movie night. 5. Soda with caffeine as an ingredient can give kids headaches and insomnia. 6. Soda rots your teeth. 7. It’s addictive. 8. Breaking bad habits is empowering. 9. It’s expensive. 10. Ask yourself, “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” Source: Dr. John Freeman, pediatrician, Saltzer Medical Group, which has offices in Ada and Canyon counties; and Corrine Morgan, physical education teacher, Koelsch and Amity elementary schools, Boise School District. 1. Water. The cure for thirsty. Soda doesn’t 2. Milk. 3. 100 percent fruit juice. Read labels carefully. 4. Beware of vitamin waters, athletic drinks and “superfood” drinks. Many have heady amounts of sugar. Try eating the fruit or vegetables instead of drinking them. Source: Dr. John Freeman, pediatrician, Saltzer Medical Group By Colleen LaMay
The case against soda
doubled in size since the 1950s, from 6.5 ounces to 16.2 ounces.Instead of soda, try ...
ease thirst.
Eric Fitzpatrick has been running since elementary school and at 17 is faster than 95 percent of the competition nationwide.
He has a goal — the Olympics in 2016 or 2020.
Fitzpatrick can run a mile in four minutes and sixteen seconds. “There are probably kids who are faster than that, but there are not a lot of them,” said Fitzpatrick’s coach, Dave Mills, at Boise High School.
By comparison, a grown male couch potato can run an 11-minute or 12-minute mile, if he can run a mile at all, by one estimate.
To run as fast as he can, Fitzpatrick takes good care of his body. He goes to bed early and sleeps 8 1⁄2 to 9 hours. Any less sack time and he risks falling asleep during class.
He eats foods that fuel his body for the 45 minutes to 1 hour of running he does six days a week, mainly at Camel’s Back Park in North Boise.
The 73 boys and girls on the cross-country team run 5 to 8 miles each day in the Foothills behind the park. After a recent practice, Fitzpatrick picked blades of grass out of the park’s lawn as he explained why he runs.
Cross-country running lacks the glory and the screaming fans of football. “No one really wants to watch cross-country,” he said. “There’s a meet at Camel’s Back and you will be able to watch the kids twice — when they leave and when they come back.”
He runs for his team. “You forget how long you’ve been running if you have somebody with you,” he said. “You get in a zone and you don’t really realize you’ve been gone for an hour.” Fitzpatrick likes running alone, too. “I can get lost in my head. I’ll be thinking about stuff that is happening in my life.”
The senior is talking to coaches from colleges across the country, including the University of California in Los Angeles, Oklahoma State University, and Columbia University in New York. Competition for a limited number of cross-country scholarships is fierce.
He watches what he eats because he risks having side aches if he doesn’t. Even gum can cause side aches if he chews it the same day he runs. He drinks lots of water, in anticipation of losing it to sweat.
He avoids sugar-sweetened drinks, which include the sports drink Gatorade, packed with electrolytes athletes need after a hard workout, but also a big dose of sugar to make the medicine go down. Fitzpatrick buys powdered Gatorade and adds extra water. It doesn’t taste very good, but it does the job. The classic foods after a run are bagels and bananas, maybe washed down with chocolate milk.
He expects running to be a sport that lasts a lifetime. “You can always enter road races,” he said. “You can become a coach, and you can just do it for your own enjoyment.”
Care and feeding of a running machine
This is what Eric Fitzpatrick eats four or five days a week. A few days a week, he either has plans that take up time or sleeps too late to make lunch.
• Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese, yogurt, banana and milk or water. Sometimes, he will make scrambled eggs.
• Snack: Muffin, trail mix or granola bars
• Lunch: Ham or turkey sandwich, chips, yogurt, granola bar, banana/apple, carrots and water.
• Snack: Bagel and granola bar or yogurt and banana or cheese and crackers or a
combination with a drink like water or milk.
• Dinner: Steak with whole-wheat rice, a salad with spinach or romaine lettuce
(no iceberg!) and a pear or peaches with water or milk, and maybe a dessert like a cookie or brownie.
• Other good food: Steak is good for runners because you get a lot of iron from it, and many distance runners are iron deficient.
• Milk and yogurt are great for calcium, obviously, and strong bones do make a difference because many runners get overuse injuries such as stress fractures. If you have a lot of calcium in your diet, your bones will be able to withstand more stress, and you will be healthier.
Source: Eric Fitzpatrick