Weekly Rundown
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone had a great week. This was my last “normal” week before a cutback next week. I’m getting my second shot on Tuesday, and judging by how the first one affected me, I’m planning on spending Wednesday on the couch under a blanket, and also assuming that my plantar fasciitis will flare up again. But who knows? Maybe I’ll feel completely normal, in which case I’ll take it as a bonus week. I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. Oh, and I 50% solved the problem of chafing with the hydration vest! Read on to find out how… Monday Day off, as always. This Monday I was reflecting on how much I enjoy starting the week in such a gentle way. It’s kind of nice to get up and putter around the house for a while before making breakfast and then heading off to work. Tuesday Three mile run followed by Gauntlet Plank workout. Wednesday Squats and deadlifts first thing, then a six mile trail run after taking my daughter to school. I’ve been liking my “hard Wednesdays.” Thursday Upper body strength, focused on pushup snd pull-ups. Friday Four mile run, with two tempo miles thrown in. I did a dynamic warmup, some drills, then ran two slow miles, two tempo miles, and then walked to cool down. Boy, it was hard to figure out a pace for those tempo miles. I haven’t done any speed work in ages, no races, and am coming back from plantar fasciitis. Hmm! I just tried to run at a fast-ish pace that I thought I could keep up for an hour. Who knows… but it felt about right. Saturday Three mile run with my husband. He hasn’t been home as much lately because of work, so I chatted the whole time, filling him in on what the kids have been up to. As a result, the run flew by. I can definitely see why people like running in groups! I almost always run alone. Sunday Twelve mile trail run! This run felt GREAT! It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized my foot didn’t hurt at all. Not in the beginning or any time during the run, and my calf also felt fine. As a matter of fact I didn’t even think about it! VICTORY! It still hurts when I get out of bed in the morning, and I’m starting to think it will for the rest of my life. But I’m fine with that- as long as I can run, everything else is cool. So last week Kim suggested using KT tape to prevent chafing. At first I tucked it in the back of my mind as a last resort, but then later in the week I heard an ultra runner on a podcast say that he always carries KT tape with him “because sometimes there’s just nothing else that will prevent your hydration pack from chafing you.” WELL! I immediately knew he was speaking DIRECTLY TO ME. I taped up before my run, and it worked perfectly on one side. On the other side, the tape started to come off and I chafed. Luckily it was more towards the end of the run. I feel like I’m on the right track here- just have to figure out why it came off on one side. Ha ha, I don’t usually take selfies in the middle of a run and now I know why! I love my hair (it was windy) and my beet-red face (it was hot!) It seems like almost everyone has gotten at least one shot by now! Do you feel a sense of freedom? What do you think about running alone vs. running with people? – I usually like my podcasts, but that run with my husband was fun!
Running Can Be Anything
“A race is just a race, but running can be anything.” -Julia Lucas Last week I wrote about the Ali on the Run Show podcast where Julia Lucas talked about her fourth place finish in the Olympic Trials, where she missed the Olympic team by 1/100 of a second. Julia also wrote about that race in her article, A Race is a Race. Lately I’ve been trying to figure out where I want to go next with running. Races are coming back around here but I haven’t signed up for any. I haven’t been doing any speedwork and am torn about signing up for a race just for the fun of it, knowing that my finishing time won’t be remarkable. So I should do speedwork, right? Well, I’m a little afraid to because of my foot. My plantar fasciitis is still there, but hasn’t been hurting when I run. I’ve really been enjoying my long trail runs. As a matter of fact I look forward to them every week. I don’t want to jeopardize that by stressing my foot with speedwork. Or maybe I should be like Camille Herron. Coming back from an injury, she knew her marathon time would be slow, so she decided to set a different kind of record. With a time of 2:48:51, she set the women’s world record for the best marathon time wearing a superhero costume. She wore a full-body pink Spiderman costume, which covered her face and head as well. She said the costume was very hot, and caused her to chafe (but I love how she still ran a “slow” 2:48:51!) On second thought, maybe I won’t be doing that. For now I’ll just continue to enjoy my runs and appreciate being able to run at all. But it’s lurking there in that back of my mind- “What am I doing next?” If running can be anything, what is it to you right now? Do you enjoy running races even if you know you’ll be slower than you have been in the past?
Midweek Mashup
Greetings! I hope everyone is having a great week. Here are a few things that are making my life a little more interesting right now. Podcast #1 Jason Fitzgerald’s Strength Running podcast with Tim DiFrancesco was excellent. I love his podcasts, but to be honest sometimes he starts to sound like a broken record. How many different ways are there to say that if you’re a runner, you should be doing strength training? Or if this expert does have something different to say, you end up confused (wait! should I be doing kettlebells? Plyometrics? Do I need a strength coach???) I’m so glad I listened to this one though- it was a very clear and comprehensive explanation of strength training for runners. DiFrancesco explains what runners need, how to get started and also some diagnostic tests to do on yourself. He has a GREAT plan for starting plyometrics so you don’t get hurt. This episode was so good, I’m going to listen to it twice. Podcast #2 Again- Jason Fitzgerald. He interviews Dean Karnazes in this episode. I loved the part where Dean said that he’s never been injured (WHAT.) Jason asked Dean what he attributes this to, and Dean gives credit to genetics. He said he just naturally has good alignment, and has always naturally run with a midfoot strike, forward lean and high cadence. As he said, “The best thing a long distance runner can do is to choose your parents well.” I get frustrated with people whose message is something like “I run 200 mile races, and if I can do it, anyone can!” I don’t like to use anything as an excuse, including age, including genetics, but there’s a point where you have to consider these things. I agree wholeheartedly that we’re all capable of much more than we imagine, and I’m all for pushing limits. But not everything is possible for everyone. The hopeful part of this message is that if we improve our form as much as we can, it should make a difference. I’ve been working on it! And by the way, I’m not complaining here- I’m well aware that I’ve won the genetics lottery in countless ways. People are struggling with much harder things than a little plantar fasciitis. Books! Books! Books! Ah, I get so happy when I leave the library with an armful of books. I just finished Writers and Lovers by Lily King, which I loved, and I’m waiting for a library hold to come in. To tide me over, I went to the library and just browsed, and this is what I came home with: I’ve read interesting reviews of The Night Swim and Mexican Gothic, and I picked up the Nick Hornby because I’ve read some of his other books and enjoyed them. I don’t know what to read first- I want to read them all at once! Actually, I’m not sure if I’ll like Mexican Gothic. I can’t tell if it’s a mystery, or more in the horror genre? I like mysteries, but not horror- and it’s not because it scares me. I just find it kind of silly. If anyone has read it, let me know! Anyone have any good books to recommend? Have you read any of these? Have you listened to either of these podcasts?
Weekly Rundown- A Few New Things
Finally! I truly felt normal this week. After having a reaction to the Covid vaccine (two weeks ago) and then tweaking my leg while running in the pool (last week) this week just felt like a good old, regular week. Phew!!! I did try out some new things though! I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Here’s how it went: Monday Day off, as always. Tuesday Three mile run followed by Runner’s Touch exercise. I actually don’t even remember this run so it was clearly nothing out of the ordinary. Wednesday I started the morning with squats and deadlifts. Since I didn’t do any heavy lower body weights last week (thank you, pool running “injury”) it felt good to get back to it this week. After I took my daughter to school I did a five mile run. Two things about this run- I added in some rickety tempo miles (haven’t done speedwork in a while) and also, due to the fact that it’s been getting up into the 90s here and I did this run pretty late, I opted for shorts and just a sports bra, which is my summer uniform. A quick word about this- I don’t run without a shirt because I love the way my stomach looks. As a matter of fact, I would prefer to cover it up. BUT, it’s about 100 times more comfortable to run in the heat with no shirt. If you haven’t done this, I would urge you to try it out this summer. Thursday Day off from running. Upper body weights including pushups and pull-ups. Friday A four mile run where I tried something new. I was pretty sure that my long run on Sunday would be on pavement rather than the trail, so I wanted a softer surface today. I tried running on the grass right next to to sidewalk, and it worked well. I kept thinking “This is great right here, but when I get to the next section I’ll have to switch back to the sidewalk” but the grass was run-able almost the whole way. I would say for the four mile run, only about a quarter mile was done on the pavement. Saturday A three mile run (again on the grass) where I tried out my NEW HYDRATION VEST! I wanted to test it out on a short run before committing to a long run with it. Sunday When I ran to the beach on my birthday (and had my husband pick me up) my son’s reaction was, “What’s the point of running somewhere if you can’t run back?” Grr. The beach is both too close and too far for the perfect long run right now- it’s nine miles away, which is too short for what I want and yet too far- right now- to run there and back. My husband and I concocted a scheme where I drove to the beach and ran back. He rode his bike there and drove the car back. It worked great! I ran a couple miles in the area before starting the nine-mile run back home. The big thing for this run was trying out the Orange Mud HydraQuiver hydration vest! A couple things. It has two little pockets in the front that are perfect for gels, and in the back it has a larger pocket where I put my phone. It was easy to reach back and grab the water bottle while running, but not so easy to get the phone out without taking the whole pack off. That was fine- it was kind of nice to run and not think about trying to take pictures along the way. The two things I was worried about- being too hot or having it bounce- did not happen. That part was great. The problem was… I did chafe. Other than that I loved it, so I’m going to figure out how to make it work. This was a fun eleven mile run! The chafing did not ruin it. I just had that “OUCH” moment when I got in the shower. Anyone have any advice for this? I can’t wear a t-shirt to run in the heat, and reviewers said they wore it with a tank top and didn’t chafe. Maybe my skin will just toughen up??? Anyone else getting hot weather now? We feel like summer has arrived.