I miss running!!!
Newsflash! It’s challenging to write a blog about running, when you can’t actually run. My injured foot has kept me out of commission for six weeks now. ARRRRG! Anyway, I thought it would be fun to look back at the last real week of running I did, which was the last week of September. It was a great week, other than the fact that I mangled my foot. Here it is! Monday- I lifted weights. Not really sure what I was thinking here because Monday is typically my rest day. Lifting weights on this day meant I went for two weeks straight with no true day off. Hmmmm. Tuesday- 4 easy miles. And I got a massage! At least that was a good idea. Wednesday- 8 miles with a workout: 2 miles warmup, 4 miles alternating 400@5k pace/400 easy, 1 mile at tempo pace, 1 mile cooldown. I didn’t write it down in my log, but I remember my foot was bothering me on this run. Thursday- 4 miles easy, with some light strength work afterwards (planks and pushups). Friday- 5 miles easy. Saturday- 4 miles easy, plus strides. Sunday- the famous long run of 16 miles. In retrospect a terrible idea, but it felt great at the time, except for my foot. 41 miles for the week! I really miss this schedule- I was loving running six days a week! Moving forward… eventually… when I can run again, I’m thinking of running five days a week and reserving the sixth day for weights. I was having trouble fitting in quality strength training, and at my age (54) it’s not optional. But first I have to get running again. My foot still hurts when I get up in the morning, and on and off throughout the day. It’s better than it was, but I’m afraid if I run I’ll aggravate it again. I did walk today for 40 minutes and it felt good! It just felt nice to be outside moving forward. The test will be to see how it feels tomorrow morning. In this podcast, they talk about coming back from an injury. You might run a bit and feel fine, and even feel good after the run. But they said if you wake up the next morning and it hurts, that means the muscles, tendons and/or ligaments weren’t actually ready to handle that load. Anyone have a good balance of running and strength training? If so, please share it with me! Any advice is appreciated.
5 Tips for Your First Triathlon (using equipment you already have!)
I’m purely a runner these days, but there was a time, about four years ago, when I was interested in triathlon. Ultimately I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue but I did have fun with it for a while. I know it can be a daunting sport to get into, so I’m going to show you how easy it is to get started. I’m assuming you’re a runner, so you probably have running clothes and shoes. If you’re thinking about triathlon, you probably swim at least a little, so you probably have goggles (if not, you can purchase them cheaply at any sporting goods store or Target). And, you probably have a bike… any kind of bike- it doesn’t have to be a triathlon bike or even a road bike. Any kind of bike will do. You could even borrow one if you don’t have one. And that’s the equipment you’ll need! Read on to find out how to make your first triathlon a fun experience. 1. Pick the right race! This one is very, very important. Triathletes are a highly competitive group of people. Highly. You want to find a race that will have plenty of other beginners and casual triathletes (if such a thing exists). Pick a sprint distance- the actual distances in sprint triathlons vary, but it’s usually around a 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. If you can find a race connected to a holiday, like July 4th or Thanksgiving, those are more likely to attract all sorts of racers (kind of like how a Turkey Trot attracts a lot of people who don’t otherwise run). And finally, DO NOT PICK A RACE WITH AN OCEAN SWIM. Trust me on this one- lakes are your friend here. More on that one coming up… 2. But what do I wear??? This one baffled me at first. I couldn’t figure out how I was going to wear the same thing to swim, bike, and then run. For my first triathlon, I wore cycling-style shorts (they look like cycling shorts but don’t have any padding) and a running bra for the swim. I had a tank top with my race number pinned to it in the transition area, which I put on before starting the bike portion. This all worked perfectly fine! Any running shorts would really work, but you’ll be happiest with close-fitting ones. 3. So what about that swim? Triathletes who have a swimming background are SO lucky. Swimming is the only one of the three sports that really requires some training to do correctly, and it’s hard to get really good at it if you’re an adult beginner. While my swim form leaves a lot to be desired, I can get from point A to point B. And you can too! Especially if you’ve taken my advice and chosen the sprint distance. A quarter mile really isn’t that far. If you can get yourself to the pool a couple times a week for several weeks before your race and swim some laps. you’ll be fine. You can practice open water swimming if you want to, but I didn’t. Again, do not choose a race with an ocean swim! You don’t know what the weather will be like that day, and the water could be rough. A nice calm lake is perfect, and don’t be afraid of it- they wouldn’t let people swim if there were a high load of bacteria, or alligators. You will be perfectly fine. 4. But I don’t have the right kind of bike! Never fear! Neither did I. I did my first triathlon on a hybrid on-road/off-road bike. You will be in a special category called “Fat Tire.” This made my first triathlon extra fun, because I won the Fat Tire category! I have to go to admit that there was only one other woman in my category, ha ha. But I got a medal that said “First Place.” I regret now that I didn’t purchase the photo of me standing on the top of the podium- at the time I thought it looked a little silly that there was only two of us (my son suggested I could photoshop Usain Bolt into the third spot- I was thinking more along the lines of Gwen Jorgensen, but Usain would work too!) Anyway, the point is, if they have a whole category for it, you won’t be the only one not riding a road bike. (But wait! You might be thinking… if there were only two of you in the category, won’t I still look like a total weirdo with my mountain bike? Most of these races have a duathlon option, which is just bike and run. A lot of those people won’t have a road bike either- you won’t look weird.) If you do have a road bike, great! If you have cycling shoes to clip in, also great! You’ll have to change shoes between the bike and run, whereas if you ride a hybrid with no clips, you’ll just wear your running shoes the whole time. Also, if you do ride a road bike, you might want to invest in triathlon shorts. You want some padding, and if you swim in regular cycling shorts you’ll feel like you’re wearing a soggy diaper. Triathlon shorts have lighter padding and are made to swim in, and then dry quickly. 5. Anything I need to know about the run? Yay, you made it to the easy part! One thing you might want to do in advance is a couple “brick” workouts, where you practice running right off the bike just to see what your legs will feel like. Spoiler alert- they won’t feel good. They’ll actually feel pretty horrible, but you get used to it. If you practice it a couple times then you won’t panic in the race when you start to run and your legs feel like jello. Even if, for some reason, you don’t
Who knew?
Guess what? It turns out I’ve been doing it wrong all along! Usually when I get on my bike (I set up my road bike on a trainer indoors), I listen to a podcast, or occasionally music and wonder why every single minute that passes is so grueling. Today I decided to try something different, and set up in front of the TV and turned on Food Network. First I watched Giada’s Holiday Handbook, where she cooked Thanksgiving foods- that was pretty fun. But then, the best thing in the world happened- Brunch at Bobby’s came on, where Bobby Flay cooked a Thanksgiving brunch!!! Who knew this was all happening on Sundays, while I’m usually out running for hours??? Bobby Flay is my Food Network crush (obviously), I love brunch, and I love Thanksgiving. He made pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin granola parfaits, and a hash using Thanksgiving leftovers. It was, hands down, the best hour I’ve ever spent on the bike. And I made it hard- I didn’t just spin easily while admiring Bobby’s cooking techniques. When the time was up I didn’t even want it to end, except that, strangely, I was feeling a bit hungry. I made my own version of a “fancy” breakfast- pumpkin spice oatmeal with toasted pecans and chocolate chips (heh heh) along with my favorite earl grey tea. But wait a minute! Isn’t this supposed to be a running blog? Well, guess what- Bobby Flay is a RUNNER! Here he is being interviewed in Runner’s World! This was from 2010, but I found another article mentioning that he ran the London marathon in 2017. And then this article was pretty fun, talking about various celebrities who have run marathons. Sadly, Bobby is a big meat-eater and I’m vegan, so I guess we’re not soul mates after all. But it’s funny to think of some of these people, who you would assume you have nothing in common with (George W. Bush?), but you could probably sit down and have a really great conversation about something you both love. Running… I can’t wait to get back to it!!! Does anyone else have any tricks or tips for getting through cross training when you can’t run? Please share them with me!
YOU’RE FIRED
No, this is not about the election. Although I had a dream last night that they had decided to count every single vote again, and we were going to find out who really won today. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE??? And what about those poor people still counting votes in Georgia? I picture them finally getting to the end and then someone says “Now we’re going to start all over again.” Anyway… this is actually about my doctor. I’m still not running, but that’s not his fault (entirely). My foot is better than it was but not better enough to start running. As a matter of fact I’m confused about what’s actually wrong with it. It seems like it might be plantar fasciitis AND something else as well. Obviously it’s very frustrating, and to top it all off I’m now looking for a new doctor. I’ve been going to the same sports chiropractor for years. There are actually two doctors in that practice that I see, and one of them I like better than the other. The one I like better is hard to get an appointment with (this time I was going to have to wait over a week) so I saw the other one. I figured since I was mainly there to get shockwave treatments, I figured it wouldn’t matter which doctor I saw. But I was WRONG. In the course of our discussion, he suggested that when I’m back to running again, I should think about replacing one of my running days each week with cycling or swimming… because “running is bad for your joints.” Wait a minute… WHAT? I’m paying this guy (plenty) to get me back up and running, and it turns out he’s ignorant on such an important subject. In this article, exercise physiologist Janet Hamilton puts it this way: “Joints are meant to move. And running is arguably one of the most natural movements you can do as a human.” Well put, Janet! Of course there are circumstances where you might be putting too much stress on your joints, like running with poor form or muscle strength imbalances, but overall running is beneficial. I know not everyone will agree with this, and I don’t need everyone to agree with this, but I do need a doctor who agrees. While I’m trying to figure this all out, there’s been plenty of this: I’m trying to appreciate all the good right now- the election is over, the holidays are coming up, and I’m still able to be very active. I have a good life… it’s just missing that extra sparkle that running gives it. But, I’ve been through this before and I know it will pass. My foot will heal and life will be sparkly again.