Tuesday, May 31, 2011

National Running Day

Because National Running Day is tomorrow, it's time to share (via runningday.org) 10 Ways to Celebrate National Running Day. Big fan of #2... why can't we do that every day a la New Yorkers?

Remember, if you're in Btown, come celebrate with us! Meet at 6pm at the Sample Gates. Bring friends or family - raffle prizes and popsicles for all! Cost: free!

So: what are YOU doing to celebrate running?

  • 1Declare your passion – People run for millions of reasons, and we want to know yours! Head to www.runningday.org and let the nation know why you run, be it raising money for charity, keeping your waistline in check, or getting to that bagel at the 5K finish line.
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  • 2Bring a runway to work – Swap your loafers and heels for sneakers and you'll be dressed to the nines for National Running Day. Your feet will thank you for it, and it will be that much easier to step out for a short jog during lunch or on your way home from work.
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  • 3Morph your friends into running fiends – Friends don't let friends just walk on National Running Day! Invite a pal or two—the more the merrier—to hit the road with you. They'll be hooked in no time!
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  • 4Change Happy Hour to Running Hour – Shake things up by adding a run to your post-work plans. Head out at 5:00 p.m. with some co-workers and relax over miles instead of cocktails.
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  • 5Strike new ground – Seize the day and take the road you've never traveled. Who knows? You might find a new favorite running path to spice up your summer.
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  • 6Give the gift of happy feet – Donate to organizations that support youth running, likeShoes That Fit. They’ve assisted in getting 800,000 pairs of sneakers on little feet – just think of all the miles you’ll help them run!
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  • 7Make running run in the family – They have your eyes, but what about your endurance? Leave the bikes and baseball bats in the garage and run around the neighborhood with the kids. Keep things interesting with a short race to see who is the fastest.
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  • 8Choose a running resolution – Kick off a new fitness goal on National Running Day. It can be anything, including adding five minutes to your next run, running a new distance, or signing up for a road race.
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  • 9Take advantage of the great outdoors – Running outside beats spending all your time on the treadmill. Step out the front door and away from the gym to take in a bit of nature during your afternoon run.
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  • 10Treat yourself like a champion – Set yourself up for success by indulging in your favorite post-run snack, sporting your lucky t-shirt, or helping your feet to a new pair of sneakers.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Rollin'

Hi hi, Steph here (again). Happy Memorial Day! What's new with us?

Yesterday we went to the Indy 500 with Jaz, Mom, and Enrique. It was fun! My ears are still ringing (36 hours later), and as a "safety person," I'm kind of freaked out. Besides that, the race was a good time; JR Hildebrand, rookie, led the last few laps and almost won -- except he crashed into the wall at turn 4 to finish second to Dan Wheldon. The double-wide restarts made things very interesting. Here's a shot of the parade lap before the race, below. As usual, Florence Henderson sang "God Bless America" and Jim Nabors sang "Back Home In Indiana" (yes - Ben knows all of the words), along with the usual military jet flyover during the pre-race show. Since it was the 100th anniversary of the race, after the race they did another celebratory flyover with a Stealth Bomber. We had pretty good seats up in turn 3!


On the running front...
It's been a week since Run with the Foxes, and my ankle's still noticeably swollen. No running for the next week, again, probably. I've been riding 25 miles twice each week now, to sort-of make up for it. This morning, we went for a 30-mile ride in 80-something-high degree weather and high humidity, with the high for the day exceeding 90 degrees. It was August-in-Indiana miserable!! Unfortunately, I strained my ankle again when unsuccessfully unclipping from my bike today, nearly taking a fall on the road. There was a lot of icing and anti-inflammatory ibuprofen-popping that followed.

Ben's been doing really well relatively easing into triathlon training. He's been running at the IU XC course quite a bit, and will do that before/after a long ride of 50 miles some days. No injuries for him... just tired a lot! He's designed a few good ride courses lately too, including the Tour de Bloomington, a 25-mile loop around town that's relatively flat and stays within a reasonably close radius of Bloomington. On hot days, it's smart not to go too far in case anything happens while you're riding.

This morning, we rode part of the Hoosierman Triathlon (Olympic) bike course. I've only heard stories about it, but it is ridiculously hard! You end up riding up a pretty steep/long hill for some time as soon as you start the bike portion. This race is not for the faint of heart - you've officially been warned! :)

We're always looking for new people to join our riding group... in fact, we welcomed a new person today! Since we're runners, we're extremely laid back when it comes to riding - and I'm hoping to add more people so we can complete the spectrum of abilities (or inabilities in my case, haha). Comment or send me a message if you'd like to get the info on our weekly Saturday or Sunday morning rides. As usual, Ride-Run-Rides still exist on Wednesday evenings. For the most part, everyone's in the run group at the stores, and no one really has that typical got-something-to-prove cyclist mentality.

Other stuff that's going on...
I'm making some decent progress on house projects, being injured and all. Is that bad to say that I really enjoy this newly-discovered free time suddenly available? Ben's been reading up on all things triathlon. We're taking a trip to Sandusky in a few weeks to scope out the course, where I'll get to see my mom! I miss my mom, definitely, but I miss having my cat, Nikki, around too! (She constantly gets picked on by my sis's two 20-pound cats, poor kitty! I'll never understand why she walks around with her tail down all the time... she is such a funny slow-moving robo-kitty, but I love her to death)

Besides the upcoming mini-trip, June 1st -- this Wednesday -- is National Running Day! Go out and celebrate!! (and if you're in Bloomington, we're hosting a 6pm run at the Sample gates... free popsicles for all!)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Run with the Foxes - Race Report

Run with the Foxes - half marathon race report

I'm starting to think that this shirt is not so lucky after all (see facial expression).

On a whim, Ben and I decided last night that we would run the half marathon in the Run With the Foxes at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Granted, I haven't run more than 6 miles since a month ago at Boston, and I ran my first two consecutive days in a row just Thursday/yesterday.

To recap Boston, I left the race pretty injured. More injured than I was in Chicago. That's two marathons in a row (Boston and Chicago) that I've come very close to DNF-ing due to injury.

If you remember giving me help on my Boston race-day outfit via Facebook, this is what I wore:


Let's rewind a little to this morning. First of all, Ben and Ted decided to ride their bikes up to Morgan-Monroe... crazy already. I slept in and drove the car up there, we signed up for the race, and things were good. I wasn't sure how the whole thing would go, since I'm pretty lacking in the endurance department. Yesterday's run on the cross country course felt awesome, despite a little heat and humidity, so with a soft trail surface, it wasn't unreasonable to think that I could run 13.1-ish on the trails. Right? After all, I ran Tecumseh successfully without much training or endurance base, and it was great!

The other half of me was saying that it was the dumbest idea ever and that I am going to screw up my IT band/knee again, worse than Boston. Injuries are horrible and I probably don't respect them as much as I should. Sometimes, when I get burned out on running, I don't mind being injured (because I usually am). But knowing that I can't run, even if I want to, is beyond frustrating.

Throwing aside all better judgement, I made my way over to the trails this morning, signed up, and off we went. I ran with Rebecca, Chris, and Evan for the majority of the time. I randomly also ran into one of my Rolls-Royce intern buddies from 2006, Ben. Also good. [Have I really not seen you in 4 years?]

At mile 1 I slightly rolled my ankle, but it happens all the time. I felt like we were taking a decent pace on the trail, but it was soft and forgiving enough that I didn't think it'd bother my knee. There were quite a few sticks, rocks, and roots.

At mile 2, well - I didn't quite make it to mile 2. At 1.5 miles I hardcore sprained my ankle on a bunch of roots. I have never even come close to a sprain, but I achieved it today!!! I couldn't think about anything but how much it hurt for about a solid minute, and thankful that all of the above-mentioned people stopped briefly for me.

Let me repeat: It.Hurt.So.Much. I was speechless. All I could do was stand there like an idiot and groan. I didn't even have time to look down to see a non-swollen ankle. It was completely bubbly by the time I even bent over to inspect it. I didn't really have much of a choice but to limp back on my own after making sure that the rest of the group didn't lose too much time by stopping for me. I passed Rebecca going in the other direction, and (she is amazing) she gave me her car key - girl came prepared! She had athletic tape and ibuprofen in her trunk.

Evan said at the finish, "Yeah, but I know your personality and I know you thought about finishing." Yep, definitely considered walking it off and trying to run the next 11.6 miles on the ankle -- countless times. As I hobbled back, every minute or so, the thought would enter my mind that I should try - or that I could - still walk it off and keep going. I could probably turn around any second and just continue running. I even tried a few painful jogging steps. I'd be behind, but I would at least finish.... I have never DNFed before and did not intend for it to be today.


It was like one of these moments.

In the middle of thoughts like this, the highly logical (more intelligent?) part of me would force me to lean down to look at my ankle. It obviously hurt pretty badly, and no denying that it was swollen. Fortunately, my shoe served as a little compression in the time it took me to get back to the start. The swelling wasn't really that convincing (that I should quit), but when I'd poke on it, the resulting pain was argument enough.

Rinse, wash, and repeat this cycle for the next 1.5 miles, or what was probably about 30 minutes.

If anything, this has to be the universe telling me that I shouldn't have attempted this run. I'll never know, but maybe this injury prevented me from causing a worse injury later in the race. Well played, Universe.

When I got to the finish, I saw Allison and Claire waiting at the end, since they'd completed the 5k a little earlier. (Allison's baby, Tommy, is really cute - like, puppy cute!) Get this - when I was approaching the turn where these two girls were, it was a huuuuuuge downhill to get to the finish line. The course marshals there would not let me not-finish! Like, they wouldn't let me DNF and take care of my ankle! All the while I am hobbling along just looking for a way to get some ice and the tape from Rebecca's car. Talk about adding insult to injury (literally. Or is it adding injury to injury in this case?). They were completely adamant about me hobbling down the hill to the finish line and giving the timers my pull tag, as if it could not possibly wait 10 minutes while I put my ankle back together. Fortunately one of the guys that had finished his race was nice enough to take it down there for me. Allison let me use her stroller as a way to elevate the ankle. I still have yet to figure out how to tape, as easy as that sounds. It only took me 2 tries to get it sort of right?


After taping, I hung around with Claire and Allison to watch everyone else finish. The race organizers didn't exactly have any ice, but they did give me a plastic fruit bowl and showed me where the cold water hose was. Eh, that sort of worked.

Run-wise, everyone else did great!! Craig ran the 10k and Evan in the 10 mile, while Ben, Ted, Ben, Chris, Rex, and Rebecca were in the mini marathon. I can't tell Rebecca thanks enough for having that stuff on hand and letting me have some! A huge thank you to Rex also for giving me a ride up the hill!

Result: I'm couch-ridden for the next few days, but taking care of the ankle and all of the other injuries remaining from Boston. Ben's upset that this incident only supports my hatred for trail running, and now I've experienced my first confidence-shattering DNF.

All in all, Adidas shirt, you're NOT a lucky shirt. Good thing you're pretty.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Is this actually happening?

And now, another diversion from the Boston trip recap...

The Summer training schedule! Anyone who's crazy/reading this is more than welcome to join. The string of emails today includes our tentative Summer training schedule. Just remember, Rick/Ted/Ben/Zach are training for the "Ironman"/iron distance triathlon Rev3 in Sandusky, OH. So, when you see these numbers: yes, they do refer to miles - not minutes. [gasp]

The tri itself sounds pretty cool because Rev3 is all about family events. They choose good vacation destinations or, in the case of Sandusky, offer activities for families while their athlete is out racing for hours... and hours... and hours... Basically, the family gets free entry into Cedar Point during the race. Ever been to Cedar Point? It's a roller coaster-lover's paradise.


But I digress! Workouts: I'm going to come along for the ride (haha, get it?), but probably can't pull 20+ mph on the bike with the rest of the guys. This sort of schedule will probably warrant the purchase of a pair of bike shorts with a good pad! Honestly, I'll probably cut the mileage in half and sign up for the half ironman... who's with me??

If you're just looking to kick your butt into shape (or alternatively, sustain an overuse injury), this is the way to do it! Leave a comment or email me if you want in on these shenanigans. The actual schedule may vary.


So what do you think? Is this completely insane or necessary?

Update - 6/25/2011: We're still hittin' it hard with the mileage, and I've maxed out at 65 miles on the bike when we were in Sandusky last week for some Rev3 course recon. I almost forgot how much better riding on flat roads can be! Today we finished a 35 mile hilly ride (up from the Lake Monroe Reservoir on 446 and around to the dam) and I was able to - somehow - squeeze out an 8 mile run, tying my longest run since. The fast guys did a "King of the Mountain" challenge, consisting of 8 out-of-the-saddle climbs and racing all the way, as fast and as hard as they could. Ben had his first wreck during this competition when he was going too fast down a hill. Cars were warned to take the turn at 15 mph, but he was well over 20 on his bike!! He ditched off and jumped/flew over his handlebars and into a dirt bank a la runaway truck ramp. A little scrapes on his arm, but all looks well. He's lucky!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Boston: Natural Running Form by New Balance

At the Boston Marathon Expo, we stopped by the New Balance area for a natural running analysis. Basically, they video you running on a treadmill, and then you get a short 3-minute coaching session with one of their tech specialists on what you can do to promote natural (barefoot) running.

It's awesome - they send you an email with the actual video and your pointers. When you leave the NB exhibit at the expo, they even print out a pointers sheet for you to take home! The tech rep that helped me and Ben with our analysis was Stephanie, our NB tech rep -- you know, the one who comes to the store with the Minimus and 890 demo shoes. [Sidenote: when we first ran into her, she was just beginning her analysis with some random guy. This random guy was awful! He was really defensive about every tip she gave him and even said something to the tune of, "Well, I don't know how much running you actually do, but..." -- what? He volunteered and chose to do the analysis! Crazy.]

I think this natural running "thing" can help prevent some of my injuries and take some of the stress off the IT band and hamstrings. It's hard to re-learn to run, though! A couple things I learned from NB from my analysis:

  • Cadence - Take small, efficient strides. The target was 180 strides/min. Stephanie told me that my cadence was one of the highest she'd seen that day! Woohoo - go shorty short legs! :)
  • Lean - Don't lean back. Natural running is like "falling gracefully," so even an ever-so-slight forward lean is ok. 
  • Strike - Mid-foot strike. Let your feet fall under you, not in front.
  • Posture - Keep arms at your sides, pumping in a front to back (and not side to side) motion. Arms should stay relaxed and low. This is something I was actually good at!
  • Picking up your feet - something we discussed briefly, but the key to all of my injuries. I need to get stronger hips and use my glutes to run.

Want to see my video?  Go here.

Or see a GOOD example of natural running, here. Click "Good Form Example." (Of course it's a NB guy, haha!)

Check out my natural running video, photo, and pointers, below. The line and circle point out the center of my body and where my footstrike is. The closer your foot strikes to the center of your body, the better.



Of course, Shiva, Ted, Thom, and Ben did this same analysis. And then when I totally schooled them with my quick cadence (read: short legs), they tried it again a day later. They even tried it again doing all of the things that were on their pointers sheets... but not much had changed. Are you surprised at their persistence? Don't be. ;)

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