Category Archives: Fitness

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Well, I’m back running and it feels great! I’m still working on my strength and flexibility so I can get to 100 percent, but I’m doing so much better and am almost finished with my physical therapy as well. Now that I’m back training, I’m going to make “Footprints” a regular Monday feature on the blog recapping my training week, and letting you know what I’ve been up to and what roads (or treadmills) I’ve left my footprints on each week. For the next month I’ll be in a base phase building my fitness level before I start an official training plan in February to prep for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon.

Last week I tallied 17 miles and mixed in some cross training as well. Here’s the breakdown:

Monday: 4 miles at the Fairfax Four Miler. This was such a great New Year’s Eve race and a fun way to start off the night’s festivities.

Tuesday: 3 miles easy through Arlington with a finish near the Iwo Jima Memorial – I love this city!

Wednesday: I hit the gym for 45 minutes on the elliptical.

Thursday: 4 miles easy – Today’s run took me from D.C. to Arlington with a run home from work.

Friday: Today was a bit scattered. I got about a mile in on the treadmill at physical therapy, followed by 2 easy miles on the treadmill at my office gym later that afternoon and 35 minutes on the elliptical.

Saturday: 3 miles easy through Arlington

Sunday: I hit the gym again for an hour on the elliptical. Luckily I had NFL playoffs on the TVs to keep me entertained.

Feels good to be back! Credit for naming the Footprints feature goes to my creative director Ian Gallagher.

 

 

Back in Action: Fairfax Four Miler Recap

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2012 was a great year of racing for me until I was slowed over the summer by an injury, but after a couple months of physical therapy and steadily getting better I figured what better way to end the year than with a race. Pacers put on the New Year’s Eve Fairfax Four Miler complete with great swag – I love my sweatshirt!

Driving out to Fairfax during rush hour for the 6 p.m. start time has never been easier. Apparently lots of people in this area still hadn’t gone back to work or got sent home early! I’ve just started running again over the past few weeks and was given the green light by my physical therapist for this race as long as I just ran and didn’t actually try and race. I’m still going a bit slower than I would like, but am working hard on getting back to full strength, fixing my form and gradually building my speed back up again.

I lined up at the uphill start line a bit further back than normal so I wouldn’t be tempted to sprint out at the start, and took it nice and easy out of the gate enjoying the festive atmosphere at this race. The course looped through Fairfax rather than an out and back, which was a nice change of pace from most shorter races I’ve done. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the race and have a good time.

I didn’t look at my watch at all during the race because I was worried it would make me want to speed up, but  checked my mile splits after and for the most part kept to my plan of a fun race with an easy pace. I finished mile one in 9:13. I did a lot of weaving through mile two and felt like I was going a bit faster than I should running it in 7:51, but evened myself out for the second half running miles three and four in 8:33 and 8:16.

My watch had me finishing at 4.1 miles likely due to my weaving in and out of people instead of just running in a straight line, but regardless I finished with a respectable time of 34:23. I came in 339 out of 1,156 runners overall, 114 out of 616 females, and 28 out of 95 in my age group. It felt so great to be back out there, and I can’t wait to be racing at full speed in 2013!

Outside Pacers by the Start/Finish

Outside Pacers by the Start/Finish

Ready to Run

Ready to Run

Start Line

Start Line

2013 Race Calendar

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I love racing. I like big races and small races. I feed off the crowd’s at the big-time ones and the challenge of pushing yourself at the smaller ones. It’s one of my favorite things about running, and keeps me pushing towards getting fitter and faster and reaching tougher goals.

In 2013, I want to race smart though. Seven races in seven weeks at one point last year where I ran my hardest in most of them might not have been the smartest idea. Adding a marathon to my schedule a month and a half out from race day was another one of my not so bright moves. My break from running as I recovered from an overuse injury in 2012 has left me hungry for all the races I can sign up for, but to make sure I don’t overdo it, I’m only planning two goal races for this year. I know I’d go crazy only having two races on the schedule so I have a handful of others I’m planning to run for fun as training runs.

2013 Race Calendar

February 10 – Love the Run You’re With 5k

March 9 – Four Courts Four Miler

April 7 – Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

*April 28 – Nike Women’s D.C. Half Marathon*

July 27 – Crystal City Twilighter 5k

*October 27 – Marine Corps Marathon*

December 8 – Jingle All the Way 8k

*Goal Races*

Now it’s time to get running to get ready for all these races! Let me know what your race plans are this year, and if you have any big race goals!

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year! I can hardly believe it’s 2013 already. I had such a great 2012, and am looking forward to an even better 2013!

The New Year is a great time to reflect and think about goals for 2013, although I often like to pick something each month that I’m really going to focus on and improve on. This helps me keep things fresh and top of mind so that my New Year’s resolutions aren’t completely forgotten come summer time.

Here are my big health- and fitness-related resolutions for this year:

Get Healthy
I’ve been working really hard at physical therapy and doing my strength and flexibility exercises, so I have no plans of giving up on this now. I can’t even remember what it feels like to run at close to 100 percent, but that’s what I’m shooting for this year. For now I’m still doing PT, but even after that’s done with I need to remember to focus on strength and stretching as important parts of being a good runner.

Stronger Core
This goes hand in hand with getting healthy. When I used to teach boot camp, I told my class every day as I made them do plank after plank that a stronger core makes everything else easier, and now it’s time to practice what I preach. Strengthening my core will play a major role in stabilizing me when I run and helping me avoid the hip drop I started doing to compensate for my injury. This will be my big January focus, and I have a goal of doing my version of the P90X ab ripper workout at least five times per week.

Drink Less Soda
Soda is my biggest vice. I love the way it tastes and since I already drink so much water, it is usually a nice change of pace to have something with taste. My office has free soda, so I’ve started drinking way too much with it easily available. I’m not a coffee or tea drinker so it’s my main source of caffeine, but when you start getting caffeine headaches from not having your daily soda, I think that’s probably a good sign that you drink too much!

Boston Qualifier
OK, so this is more of a goal than a resolution, but qualifying for the Boston Marathon is something I really hope to accomplish this year. I was bummed to have to defer my entry to last year’s Marine Corps Marathon, but can’t wait to run it this year and go from my sub-3:35 qualifying time.

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and fun 2013!

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Ian and I getting ready for NYE festivities

Baby It’s Cold Outside

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The D.C. winter has been pretty much nonexistent so far this year with the exception of a few cold days here and there. Today was my first real cold weather test, and somehow I managed to get my cold-weather wimp of a self out onto the 11 degree (sub-zero with wind chill) Minneapolis roads for a quick run. I’m still limited to 20 minutes, but this is one of my first outdoor runs so I used my excitement over that to motivate me to get out the door.

I bundled up in a whole lot of layers, and if my sunglasses hadn’t instantly fogged up there wouldn’t have been an inch of me exposed to the cold.

Good luck fighting the colder weather and Happy Running Everyone!

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Healthy Through The Holidays

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The Thanksgiving to New Year’s period is one of the toughest to stay healthy and stay on track with your workouts. There are parties to attend, beers to drink, cookies and other treats to eat, colder weather and less daylight hours to get a workout in. It can be really easy to just let yourself off the hook and say you’ll start up again in the new year. I’ve put together a few tips I use this time of year to try and make it easier for you to stay on track and give yourself a head start on those New Year’s resolutions to get fit and eat healthy.

Log It
Keep a food log. No one else ever has to see it, but having to log everything you eat has a way of holding you accountable. Studies show its a key technique for losing or maintaining weight. (Check out this study from the National Institutes of Health.) I hear people say they just can’t do this, but I think it’s more of a won’t then a can’t. There are so many easy ways to do this now with apps and websites that there really is no excuse. My favorite is LoseIt.com, which also has a smartphone app that syncs automatically with your web account.

I don’t use it all the time, but I think it’s a great tool to check in on occasion and get a clear picture of your eating and exercising habits. It lets you track calories in and out incredibly easily. You can choose from a database of food or enter custom foods in as well, so after a couple weeks you have most of the foods you eat just a click away. It also lets you log exercise as well so you can get a better look at the full picture.

If you do keep a food log, I think it’s really important to be honest, but also not be too hard on yourself. You’re going to have bad days and sometimes it’s OK to treat yourself. The thing a food log can help with is seeing if you’re doing this too much.

Make a Committment
Don’t wait until the New Year to start an exercise plan. It’s too easy to keep saying I’ll start tomorrow or next week, but then there will always be an excuse to keep putting it off. I love the idea of the Runner’s World Holiday Streak. It challenges people to run every day from Thanksgiving through New Years – even if it’s just a mile, just get out and run. If running isn’t your thing, try a similar streak with workouts at the gym.

Get It In Early
This is the hardest one on the list for me. I hate mornings…really hate them. This time of year more than ever though, things pop up and get in the way of plans to work out later. Despite my hatred for mornings, I always feel great when I have my workout done and out of the way for the day. It’s one less things for me to stress out about during the day.

I see these tips over and over again so I’m sure you’ve heard most of this before, but I hope it’s a helpful reminder. Good luck staying healthy and happy through the holiday season!

Recovery Gear

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Compression sleeves and a foam roller are my go-to recovery gear. While the jury is still out on the science behind whether or not compression gear can really improve your performance, I’m a big fan. I wear Zensah calf sleeves during my runs and CEP calf sleeves after speed sessions and long runs to help aid recovery.

The Zensah sleeves aren’t quite as tight and I like to wear them while I run. Some believe they can increase blood flow and decrease lactate build up in your muscles improving your running efficiency and economy. I have no idea if they really make me faster, but I like how they feel and how they look. When I first started wearing them I was having issues with shin splints and since wearing them that has gone away completely.

Whether or not it was just mental, it seemed to work so I’m going to stick with them. The CEP sleeves I have are super tight and feel great after tough workouts. There is a bit more proof behind compression gear’s ability to help with recovery and reduce muscle soreness. I love these and think they really help speed up my recovery.

My foam roller is my new-found recovery helper and it has done wonders for me. It really helps loosen up my tight muscles. Right now I’m using it to recover from injury, but I will continue when I get back to training to make sure I take good care of my legs after making them carry me through tough runs.

How do you recover from tough workouts? What gear helps you recover?

Running Analysis

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After two months without running, I worked my way up to 100 percent of my body weight on the anti-gravity treadmill, which meant I finally got to hit the real treadmill for a run analysis at physical therapy last week. It’s eye-opening when you can actually see how you run from different angles in slow motion. It’s also amazing what your body will start doing to compensate for pain and injuries.

We first looked at the angle of my knee bend on impact, which should be around 30 percent but was 16 percent on my right side and 13 on my left. I was almost running straight-legged on the left side forcing all of the impact on my hip with each foot fall. This also means I land pretty hard on my feet instead of softly adding to the impact my hip flexors are forced to absorb. I have a tendency to bound up with each stride as well wasting energy that could be put into moving forward.

My feet land slightly in front of my body rather than underneath, but I’m pretty close on this and should see improvement as I continue to work on strengthening and using my glutes and hamstrings rather than relying on just my hip flexors as I go through my stride.

I’ve always been a neutral runner meaning my feet land flat rather than on the inside or the outside of the shoe. This is still the case on my right side. One of the few positives I have going for me right now is that I do a good job of landing neutral on my midfoot on my right foot. I’m babying my left leg however though since I spent so much time trying to avoid feeling pain on that side, so I’m hitting a bit on my toes on the outside of my foot. My big toe almost never touches the treadmill (even when they had me try it out barefoot), so I’m not getting much of a push off at the end of my stride and I’m stressing muscles I don’t need to be.

I’ve been continuing with my flexibility and strength stretches and exercises, and have now been able to add 20 minutes of run/walk intervals each day to work on my form. I went back to PT yesterday for another video analysis and still have a bit of work to do, but am excited about getting to run again – even if just for short intervals – and look forward to getting stronger and fixing my form.

If you’re a runner and have never had a run analysis done I’d highly recommend it – even if you’re not injured. Getting that visual feedback is really important and  you might see yourself doing things differently than you thought you were. I know they say if it’s not broke, don’t fix it – but if you could find ways to make yourself a more efficient runner, it certainly seems worth it.

Physical Therapy Update

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This week marks my seventh week of physical therapy and it’s now been two months since I’ve really ran – not including my 10-minute jaunts on the anti-gravity treadmill at less than full body weight. I’m going a bit insane as this is my longest running hiatus since about the eighth grade.

I started playing three sports per year as a first grader so I was always running around, but it wasn’t until going out for the JV soccer team my eighth grade year that I really started running just to run. During our morning sessions for preseason double sessions we had to run – gasp! – two miles every day. I thought that was so far back then, but I also loved the feeling of being in great shape and how much easier it made playing sports. I ran my first 5k with my brother (the Swamp Rat Run in Cicero) as a sophomore in high school and my first marathon as a junior in college. I’ve been hooked ever since.

While I would have preferred to be back up and running right away after a couple PT sessions, I am making progress. I do two sessions a week plus one deep tissue massage a week before one of the sessions. I’ve also been spending countless hours doing daily stretches, exercises, foam rolling and icing.

It seems like it is all starting to pay off. My flexibility and range of motion has improved dramatically. I still have a long ways to go on that and will continue to work on the flexibility as I get back to running and training, but am really excited about the gains I’ve made so far. While some areas are still pretty tender, I can now use my foam roller without wanting to scream out in pain! Whoever created those torture devices is both brilliant and sinister. I’m activating muscles I need to run my best that had seemingly shut down. I can stand on a single leg without wobbling all over the place (or without wobbling as much anyways!), and my posture is improving so that I’m not standing and walking in a position that places constant tension on my hip flexors.

The best pay off: I finally reached 100 percent of my weight on the anti-gravity treadmill yesterday. It was only for two minutes and was at a reduced speed, but I’m still very excited about it. At my next session this week I get to run for real and they will conduct a run analysis, so I can make sure my running form won’t land me with another injury as soon as I get going again. Little by little it keeps getting better, and I can’t wait to get back out there on the roads.

Cold Weather Gear

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December is here and that usually means running in the cold. The D.C. weather is treating us to a bit of extra warmth however. I was able to bike into work this morning in capri length shorts and a windbreaker, and I was actually too warm! I’m never too warm, so that’s saying something. We might hit close to 70 tomorrow. As a self-proclaimed cold-weather wimp, I will take all the nice weather I can get.

Mizuno Breath Thermo Gear

Mizuno Breath Thermo Gear

Chances are this isn’t going to last though, and the cold will eventually come. I’m hoping to be running again soon as my recovery seems to be going really well, and I don’t want to be limited to just the treadmill, so running in the cold will be inevitable. Over the last year I have made more of an effort to still get in outdoor runs even as the temperatures drop and learned that the right gear makes it so much better.

My favorite cold weather running gear is Mizuno’s Breath Thermo long sleeve shirt and gloves. Their Breath Thermo technology has seriously revolutionized cold weather running for me. It’s a fabric that absorbs sweat (or rain, sleet or snow) and generates heat to keep you warm. It’s truly amazing. Worn as a base layer under my Columbia jacket shell and paired with the gloves and a winter hat lined with Under Armour, it keeps me toasty on even the coldest runs, including one especially cold and snowy run in Minneapolis last winter – the ultimate test.

Do you brave the cold weather or head to the gym when the temps drop? What gear keeps you warm if you do go out in the cold?