Friday Fun
Happy Friday! It’s almost impossible not to feel good on Friday, right? Here are some things going on around here: Summer has arrived! It was already 80 degrees for my morning run yesterday (the high this weekend is supposed to be 93- can’t wait for my long run!) so my summer running wardrobe is back. When it’s really hot I just. can’t. stand. to have anything touching my stomach. It’s weird, but even a tank top is too hot. This particular run was at 9 am, so it was pretty late. I probably still have some early morning tank top runs left before summer is here for good. My hydration vest arrives tomorrow! I can’t wait- I will no longer have to do this: For my last several long runs, I’ve developed the “ingenious” plan of hiding a water bottle the night before, then I pick it up midway through the run, drink as much as I can, flatten it and stick it in my Nathan belt. On the day I ran to the beach I threw it into the recycling bin in front of a house I passed- otherwise I usually carry it home. This isn’t the worst plan in the world, but it does have some drawbacks. Running with a hydration vest will give me much more freedom. But! I’ve never run with one before. I’m always worried that it will a) bounce around and annoy me, and b) make me too hot. The one I ordered is this one recommended by Deborah. The reviewers said it did not bounce or make them hot- we will see! I’m excited to try it out on Sunday. Lastly, FOOD! Specifically the best food ever invented, bread. I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this before, but this recipe for homemade bread is my favorite. It’s easy and foolproof, and there’s no kneading! I mixed all the ingredients together yesterday morning and let it sit for a couple hours while I did my thing, then I just put the bowl in the refrigerator before I went to work. An hour before dinner I took it out, formed it into loaves, and baked for 20 minutes. The best part is, it makes anything I serve it with instantly acceptable. The conversation goes something like this: “What’s for dinner?” – “Smoky split pea soup.” – “Ew!” – “…and homemade bread!” “Oh- hooray!” Btw, the bread AND the soup were delicious. I’ve learned that you just have to know how to sell it. Hope everyone has a great day! What’s your summer running wardrobe? What’s your hydration system in the summer? In the past I’ve planned my long runs around water fountains, but that doesn’t work on the trails!
It Doesn’t Make a Life
On my run today I listened to the Ali on the Run Show podcast where Julia Lucas talks about her “fourth-place finish seen around the world.” In 2012 Julia was competing in the Olympic Trials in the 5k, where she was favored to win. She had a sizable lead early on but ultimately couldn’t hold on, and finished fourth, missing the Olympic team by 1/100th of a second. You can watch the highlight video of the race here. It’s hard to imagine the disappointment of that moment, but you don’t have to- Julia talks all about the race, what led up to it, what happened during and after, on the podcast. She talks about how it changed the trajectory of the next four years for her, and it made me think of my son. My son is a senior in high school and will be going to college next year as a trumpet performance major. Applying to be a music major requires the usual application process, plus an audition. This year because of Covid all auditions and interviews were held by a complicated combination of video recordings and Zoom. Because he had a specific trumpet teacher in mind, my son had a “dream school” at the top of his list. He spent the year doing everything in his power to make that happen, including taking lessons and establishing a relationship (again via Zoom) with the teacher and re-taking his SAT’s specifically so that nothing would hold him back academically. After his audition the teacher gave him every reason to believe he would be accepted, and we all made plans (in our minds) of how this school would be a part of our lives for the next four years. I’m pretty sure you know where I’m going with this… the big day of college decisions finally arrived, and he was rejected. It was one of those moments as a parent that just hurts your heart. We know it’s good to build character and learn Important Life Lessons, but it was so hard to see. My son took it extremely well. Better than I did, actually. I’m still angry at how the whole thing played out (as a matter of fact the other day I was doing a Google search for a running website, and realized I had unconsciously typed the name of the school into the search bar. Ha ha… time to move on, Mom!) Back to Julia. As one would imagine, nine years later she’s built an amazing and fulfilling life as a running coach and writer. Of course going to the Olympics would have been incredible, but as she said “It doesn’t make a life.” So what does make a life? My son is in the process of sorting through the schools where he has been accepted and making the big decision for where he’ll be next year. He got his Moderna shot yesterday, the first step to getting a normal social life back (he and his friends are all getting vaccinated and plan to have a “fake prom.”) He’s thinking of buying a car, and is enjoying re-watching all the Harry Potter movies. Big wins, big losses, and all the moments in between. Has anyone listened to that podcast? Can you imagine missing out on the Olympics like that? (Although, there’s always a fourth-place finisher!) People with kids… it gets harder and harder the older they get, right???
Weekly Rundown- Back to Normal(ish)
Happy Sunday everyone! This week started with some pool running because my plantar fasciitis flared up, and ended with a ten mile trail run. I’m back, and it feels good. I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get to it! Monday Day off, and I was in a BAD MOOD. My foot was hurting, and it had been so good! I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong… it felt okay at the beginning of last week but my PF flared up with a vengeance on Friday. Hmmm. All would be revealed soon though… Tuesday Three mile run in the morning, and it hurt. Sob. I followed that run with Runner’s Touch exercise. My foot was so bad that I was pretty sure some pool running was in my future, but ironically, we had a weird “cold front” come through with several nights down to the 50s. That’s cold for us in April, and it made the pool cold. Sigh. I decided to do a chilly 30 minute pool run in the afternoon, as I felt the pool would be a little warmer than it would be Wednesday morning. No photo because well, just like pool running is boring, photos of pool running are also boring. Wednesday I did the Gauntlet Plank workout in the morning, and this was the day I had an epiphany. I talked in this post about my swollen “Covid arm,” the general malaise I felt last week after my first Moderna shot, which “coincided” with my foot flaring up again. Duh- it was the shot. Since then I’ve talked to several people who had different things flare up in their body after getting their shot, which can cause inflammation throughout the body. Of course, some people have nothing, but I wasn’t one of those lucky ones. Realizing this actually made me feel much, much better. It wasn’t anything I did to my foot and it wouldn’t be permanent- I just had to wait for this inflammation to die down. Knowing that, I did a short two mile run in the afternoon- it hurt a bit but I felt that it was better to keep things stretched out. Thursday My schedule these days is to reserve Thursdays for lifting only and I usually do squats and deadlifts on this day. But, I woke up with a very sore adductor on my right side. Believe it or not, I think it was the pool running. To make it less boring I did some intervals where I tucked my arms into my flotation belt, which really taxes your legs. I think I tweaked that adductor while doing that. Yes, only I can hurt myself running in the pool! To be on the safe side, I did upper body only – pushups (my “ten down” routine) and pull-ups. Friday YAAAAAAAAAY! My foot was starting to feel better and I ran three miles. Saturday My foot felt pretty much back to normal (which for me means, it hurts when I first wake up and if I’ve been sitting for any length of time, but loosens up as soon as I move around) so I ran another three miles. My adductor was still a little sore but it didn’t affect my running, and I wanted to keep it that way so I skipped any strength work. Sunday Back to the trail! This felt so. good. I didn’t do a long(ish) run last week so it’s been two weeks since I was on the trail. I missed it so much! I stuck to ten miles, but I’m itching to run farther. I found a new podcast called Humans of Ultrarunning hosted by Candace Burt. They talk about things like 200 mile races, running the 800-mile Arizona trail… stuff like that. I love hearing stories like these, and it makes ten miles feel like nothing. So this turned into a good week of running! Strength was a little lacking, but I’ll get back to that next week. I know some people responded to the first post on this subject, but anyone else have any strange reactions to the Covid vaccine? Anyone have any great podcasts to recommend? I’ve been in a podcast rut lately and need new ideas.
What I Wish I Had Known
In the most recent episode of the Running Rogue podcast, host Chris McClung talks about eight things he wishes he could tell his younger running self. His inspiration was Lauren Fleshman’s article “Dear Younger Me,” which was written in 2017 for MileSplit and recently reprinted. Lauren writes so beautifully. Among the many gems in her article: “I need you to know, I PROMISE you, that the ultimate star you are chasing is further ahead than any shiny thing you see now. The way you get there is to protect your health and protect your love of the sport above all, even as you reach for the shiny goals right in front of you. You simply do not know and cannot predict your personal path, but you’ll get there. It will look different and brighter and richer and more multi-faceted the closer you get.” Well, my writing skills aren’t quite up to a Lauren Fleshman-type article, but here are three things I wish I could tell my younger self. 1. Run more in high school. I was interested in running in high school, but it never would have occurred to me to join a team. I was heavily into music and (even if I had thought of it) I would have said I didn’t have time to do both. I also would have assumed I wasn’t a good enough runner. Well, both points are valid, but I probably could have made time for both, at least for a couple years. And even though I wouldn’t have been a star, I’m pretty sure they would have taken me on the cross country team. The fact that I missed out on a chance to have a coach and run on a team makes me sad. 2. Start strength training earlier. I’m sure a lot of runners feel this way. As a matter of fact, it was on Chris McClung’s list and he has an interesting take on it. He feels that if he had embedded strength into his running training early on, he might enjoy it more now. He says that he knows he needs to lift weights, but it’s something he now tacks on begrudgingly. Well said, Chris! I’m not sure if doing it earlier would make me enjoy it more, but I do know that the earlier you start, the better. Muscle fiber loss usually starts around age 30, but can begin as early as 25. And muscle fibers lost from aging are primarily fast-twitch fibers. ACK! We don’t want that! Lift weights, younger self… and, well, everyone. 3. Learn to do speedwork properly. In the 1980s and 90s, there just wasn’t the wealth of information that we have today. In the library in the town where I grew up, there was ONE book geared towards women’s running, Marathon Mom. And I read it! I have no idea who the author was- I tried to look it up, but it’s probably long out of print. The point is, I somehow knew that in order to get faster, one did something called “speedwork” and this is how I did it: Once a week, I went to the track and ran 400s. I have no idea how I came up with the original pace, but I would run one 400 at a “fast” pace and then a slow one to recover. Each week I would increase the reps until I got to twelve, then I would start back down at a faster pace with lower reps, and build up from there… etc. That was it! It wasn’t terrible, but there was quite a bit lacking there. I definitely had never heard of a “tempo run” or “strides.” But the best part is how I trained for my sub-4 hour marathon: I ran every single run (other than my weekly track workouts) at a 9:00 mile pace. Every week I increased my long run until I could run 20 miles at that pace. Then on marathon day, I ran that pace for 26.2 miles. Voila! I achieved my goal (easily) but I look back at a lost opportunity for a much faster time. Who knew? I certainly didn’t. I have one more thing to say to my younger self: In spite of all the foolish choices (let’s not even get into running a marathon in a cotton t-shirt) you did pretty well with the limited knowledge you had. Now, time to look forward! I wonder what my 85-year-old self will want to tell my 55-year-old self? How about you? What would you tell your younger running self?