Tag: mlfitness

100th Run of 2011

I saw on daily mile that my 4 miler yesterday was my 100th run of 2011. Yesterday was also the 271st day of 2011. So I’ve run about 1/3 of the year thus far. I have a few too many hiatuses this year. January, May, and July most notably. I’ve only logged 370 miles so far which is sad considering my goal was 1,000 miles this year. I know I’ll finish out 2011 strong, but I’m still disappointed.  

Rage Run

Sorry I’ve been off the grid lately. My sister was visiting this weekend which was fabulous. She even joined me for part of my long run on Saturday. I did 2 miles out and back with her and then went out for another 1.5 out and back for 7 miles total. My sister said I was a good pacer. I rarely run with people, especially a person who i is built similarly to me – so it was interesting to see her as a pseudo mirror of me running. 

My rage however comes from this week. I had to report for jury duty. I was somewhat excited for jury duty. I however was not excited that jury selection for a Capital Murder Case was starting this week. Luckily I was able to get removed from that pool due to some work commitments over the next few weeks – although seeing the defendant was scary. I did sit on a jury for another case today, but there was a mistrial due to a number of circumstances.  I am really worried about our judicial system. I’m worried about the defendant’s next trial. I would have found him not guilty based on the point we were at. The mistrial could have be avoided, easily if people weren’t so dumb and made bad decisions. I really worry about being judged by my “peers.” Yes going back and forth to the court house for 2 days was annoying, but you knew about this for MONTHS. So many folks didn’t seem invested in justice, including people working IN the justice system. I’ll stop ranting. I’m back to work tomorrow and my reguarly scheduled life.

However all of my jury rage lead to a fantastic 5K that I ran tonight without my ipod and I shreded. I needed to sweat out my emotions. I also went to spin yesterday and it was one of my better classes. I rocked it and I bet it was due to all the sitting and stewing for jury duty. 

Shred Part Deux

Now that I completed the 30 Day Shred in level increments of 10 I am going to do a L1 for 2 days, L for 2 days, L3 for 2 days and repeat until I get through 30 days.

I did level 1 day and it was crazy how much I improved for 90% of the video (those arm raises with a alide lunge always kill me). I’m excited to see where I am month from now!

My Slow Motion Running Video & Lessons Learned!

Last night I went to a Good Form Running Clinic at the new local running store. The store was awesome, I’m obsessed. However let’s jump right into the clinic.

There were 9 of us there (8 women, 1 older guy) plus the owner of the store, John. John’s been running for 30+ years completely injury free. He’s run EVERYDAY of those 30 years. He said good form is key.

After some brief intros we immediately went outside to have John take video of us jogging. We lined up and John was a few yards down from where we were so by the time we passed him we were in stride. First we jogged in our sneakers, then he asked us to take off our sneakers and jog barefoot. We went back inside and John said he’d show the video at the end. John had us run first before he told us how we SHOULD be running, which was clever. He also was not pushing a barefoot running approach, but instead pointed out how as humans were were BUILT TO RUN. He said how many shoe companies have created shoes that give us bad habits (landing on your heels for example). He said we need to go against some of our developed tendencies and pay attention to our natural tendencies which are best noticed barefoot (even if it’s just warming up). 

John asked us who was taught to drive, bike, swim (we all said yes), then he asked if we were taught to run – none of us were formally taught which is the norm. He then proceeded to talk through Good Form Running via handout. However it was not just a lecture. He had up get up and do what he was talking about while critiquing us. He also had some AWESOME visuals. I could have read all this info (like I hope you will), but hearing it and doing it in person was phenomenal. 

I’ll share the biggest points I took away.

Overall: When running lift your legs, don’t push off your feet.

1. Posture

  • to reset your posture stand up straight with your feet and shoulder forward and stretch your hands straight over your head to realign your posture – do this throughout your run (esp after a stop/break). 
  • keep your feet, hips, shoulders and head facing forward. Your hands should be thumbside up and thumbs straight ahead. (not a thumbs up)

2. Midfoot

  • Keep your feet UNDER you.
  • Running should be an accelerated march. 
  • Hitting midfoot is key. If you hit with your heel it leads to shin splits and knee problems. 

3. Cadence

  • Cadence should be 180 (3 steps a second) REGARDLESS of speed. 
  • Check your cadence under a variety of circumstances (trail, road, uphill, flat, etc.)
  • You can buy a Metronome device that beeps to keep cadence or use jogtunes.com

4. Lean

  • For good form before running lean from ankles until your heels lift – then start running (doing this barefoot is helpful). 
  • Think of your body as 11:26:30 (picture the second hand). This was a great visual for me.

RUNNING VIDEO

It was not as horrifying as I feared. Especially since not only was it projected on a wall, but he played it in SUPER SLOW MOTION. This part was fascinating. I loved observing other runners and hearing his analysis and I especially loved learning more about me. I have good Midfoot and Cadence, however my arms cross my body a bit (they should remain next to me facing straight ahead). I also bounce (aside from my boobs), we were running past a brick wall and you could see my head move between 3-4 bricks in height, it should only be able 1 (this is resulting from me pushing from my feet as opposed to lifting from my legs). John said your upper body and head should not bobble much at all – to think of yourself as an arrow or a bullet. That was quite an A-HA moment. 

Many of the ladies in the video were landing on their heels, and most of us were over extending our legs out (some more than others) as opposed to keeping our legs under us. 

It was interesting to see the other video of us running barefoot. Mine didn’t change much because I was landing midfoot with shoes, but for people who weren’t there was a big natural improvement. All of our leans were better barefoot. 

Here’s another helpful site he shared with us – also with good visuals that you can adjust.

QUESTONS

I also asked a host of questions including:

Water: He recommends belts or flat sided bottles. Said one small bottle per hand may be better for me instead of my large Smart Water bottle.

Gels: YES, he’s tried a lot over the years, must replace what we are taking out of our body.

Stretching: He’s from the school of no stretching at all. Stretching after is okay, but he sees stretching before as possibly causing more harm than good. He thinks a warm up and cool down run are best.

Needless to say I really enjoyed the running clinic and I highly recommend you going to one if they are available near you!

New Running Store

A new running store opened in town in late July. They are SERIOUS. All kinds of cool fitting processes and everything. I am for sure buying my next pair from them. I actually even just applied for a part-time job there, we shall see.

Tonight I will be going there for a Good Form Running Clinic. It was limited to 15 folks, so I’m excited to be one of them. I will be sure to share all the info I learn with you guys. 

This weekend I was at my sometimes boyfriend’s place. He lives in the middle of nowhere so I generally go to the local HS track if I have a run scheduled. I don’t love track running for general runs, but I do like them for interval training.

Anyway since I had my Garmin and it was a delightful day on Saturday I decided to run the backroads. It was weird to run on asphalt. Most of my running is on sidewalks, but I ran facing traffic and only saw about 6 cars who veered away from me – although I was prepared to dive off the side of the road if need be. 

Near where he lives is a BEAUTIFUL Vineyard (picture from my visit there in May) so I ran there and back. It was very peaceful and green. The smell of nature was quite lovely. A stellar way to spent 3.2 miles, I plan to make that a regular thing. 

Gu 2 Go

I took part of the morning off today to do my 6 mile run in 59 degree weather (I’m glad fall has finally arrived in Alabama). Since it was brisk I wore compression capri’s but they don’t have a pocket and after .5 miles I didn’t want to hold my gu. I ended up putting it between my 2 sports bras (what up busty ladies). I’m sure people that passed me as I was putting the gu there and then later retrieving it got quite a show! Putting the gu not against my skin was good because it didn’t hot and since it was between the two sports bras I didn’t even feel it. It also was my first chocolate gu – NOM!

Hash House Harriers

I hashed yesterday! Hash House Harriers markets themselves as a “drinking club with a running problem." I first heard about hashing last summer from my sister and I looked into doing it in NYC. Then this summer one of you fine fitblrs posted about hashing and how it’s worldwide and has chapters EVERYWHERE. I found my local hashers on facebook and now like 2 months later I finally was able to make a hash.

I had NO idea what to expect. I had already ran 5 miles and did shred yesterday morning, but the hash was at 5pm. We met at some law firm parking lot and spent an hour chatting and drinking. The "hare” aka the race organizer of the day chooses the location and brings the beer (hashers pay $5). The hare worked at the law firm so it wasn’t sketchy. Our hash group was about 10 people – there was another “virgin” there so I was glad to not be the only newbie. 

The hare marked the start of the race with chalk, flour and toilet paper. There are a variety of markings that mean different things. Once the hare had been out for 20 minutes we took off. We had to follow the chalk/flour/tp symbols which took us all over. Including through woods with breyers which caused all our of legs to get cut up. I learned you should dress is junk clothes for hashes, especially your shoes. The hare didn’t take us through streams or other water because he noticed I had nice sneakers on.

I was under the impression it was a casual run, but people were hauling ass. There are different calls and things to keep the group together. I was tired from my morning workout, plus I had never run AFTER drinking 2 beers. I didn’t turn on my gps, but we ran for ~40-45 minutes. I’d say we covered a little over 3 miles. 

You end up back where you started and there was then a lot of chants and songs and traditions and drinking. There were also 3 naming ceremonies – for people who have hashed 5 times which was a lot of fun, we get to ask them questions about themselves until we have enough to come up with a name. The 3 names from yesterday were: “Stealthy Tiger, Hidden Cowgirl”, “Plain Jane Missionary Uncut” and “Vagina Tech” The hash wrapped up at 9pm. It was fun, not what I was expecting per say, but I also didn’t really know what to expect. I will be more prepared in the future in terms of clothes, shoes, big spray, water, etc.