Welcome to Minnesota

SNAPSHOT

YES, Minnesotans are Minnesota NICE.

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There is always one kid that won't smile for the family picture.

DIGGING DEEPER

All customer care centers should be based out of Minnesota.  Everyone is nice.  I mean super nice! I would have waited another 20 minutes for the DMV specialist because she was so genuine and caring.  The school employees, check out boy at Target, post office clerk, gymnastic coordinator, and the ticket receiver at the Minnesota State Fair (biggest in the nation) are so, well, kind.  I love you Minnesotans and your nice attitudes.  You make me a better person after interacting with you.

Beginning of packing 2 Uhauls

So you got the hint that we packed up our family of six and moved back to Minnesota.  My husband and I met in college at Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2000.  We had our first son in Mankato in a wintery March of 2002.  We moved from MN to IL to NY. However the time came for us to return to our roots and finish raising the kids where we grew up, the Midwest.

Photo Bombed by a muscly teenager during out first evening in the Midwest.

Sorry for the long pause in blog writing, I have thought of you very often and have yearned to set out my thoughts on running and life before you.  Summers are always full of play and adventure. However, with the school year starting, I am able to carve out writing time.  I am so looking forward to sharing my constant new revelations and experiences.  So watch out Freedom to Run blog, Minnesota style is coming your way.

SOLUTION

Stay tuned, wait, is that even a relevant saying anymore, what is tuned? Perhaps a better saying would be to check your email for musings.

One Change Impacting 180 Steps/Minute

SNAPSHOT

One small change that will affect you 180 times a minute

Each running minute you take about 160-180 steps.  Each step is a chance to move forward with less effort and with greater distance.  The placement of your heels impact those steps. 

DIGGING DEEPER

This one change in your running stride will increase your speed, decrease fatigue, and lighten your step.

After your foot leaves the ground at the back of you, raise your heel to be horizontal to the ground, as high as your knee. Even better is when you tuck it under your glutes as you swing the leg forward.  A shorter leg is easier to swing forward to take the next step.

Incorrect Yellow Line - Heel should be lifted up to the blue line.

Correct - Heel is lifted to a horizontal level and as high as the knee.

"Less flexion of the knee is a negative during the swing phase of running because longer levers are harder to move compared with short levers. Longer levers require more force and thus more oxygen to move. In addition, the foot represents a significant weight, and having a large weight at the end of a long lever makes it very difficult to accelerate forward." (Running Science by Owen Anderson, PhD)

Top picture- Heel is too low, causing extra work while moving the leg forward. Bottom picture - Heel is tucked near the glutes, causing less work each stride.

View these videos below to see the correct heel placement during the swing phase of the running stride.  Thanks to my son, the freezing videographer, for his assistance during Winter Storm Stella! (We got 17 inches in less than 24 hours.)

SOLUTION

It is that simple. Next time you run, make each step easier by raising your heel.

In Just a Year and TWO MORE Runners

SHAPSHOT

Celebrating ONE YEAR and looking for two more runners!

DIGGING DEEPER

Hello Runners,

March 20th will be my first anniversary of private running coaching. Last spring I embarked upon this level of coaching and I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have had these past 12 months.

For seven years at the YMCA, I coached and presented Running Clinics with many runners of all different levels, individually and within groups. It was a great training ground and I became comfortable in the coaching role. 

However, one year ago I stepped out of my comfort zone by developing a website portraying how I can guide others through their training. I introduced myself as a running coaching and found many runners wanting guidence.

During this year of professional growth, two of my articles have been published in the Adirondack Sports Magazine, one (with another soon to be out) article in the Saratoga Mama magazine.  To date, I have published 34 blog posts, which have been a pouring out of my passion for running and all things related. Writing has given me another outlet to share the continuous knowledge I gain through my love of learning.  I enjoy having a voice as a writer. 

Receiving my USATF Level Two coaching certification brought a sense of pride as this mother of four had accomplished a great feat. In return, I have gotten the opportunity to observe the coach of the Shen High School girls running team, who was the second best team in NY and advanced on to Nike Nationals in Oregan in the fall. These trainings have strengthened my ability to guide runners through their seasons.

Over 60 youth ranging in ages 6-18 have gathered with me several times a week for 9 months of the year through my USATF youth team. This group is especially close to my heart as they are homeschoolers that would not get the opportunity to participate in a running team if this group did not exist.

Eighteen runners have worked with me in person through hour long running sessions. We have had many miles of conversations and discoveries. 

Six runners have improved their training through daily Training Guidance, which includes a combination of online training logs, texting, emailing, calling, facebook group, and runs. I have their back with resources, options, and tips to help them grow strong and quick.  Contributing to their transformations as runners over many months/year of close attention has been a highlight. 

It is time to celebrate as my one year anniversary approaches! Most of these opportunities to work with runners have come from friends sharing with friends. Please, take the chance to share with others your experience working with me this past year.

There are many ways I can help a runner.  From form analyzing, monthly training planning, race course preparation, track workouts, injury prevention and recovery, high school team preparation, starting running, running as an older runner, to how to fit running into a busy life, I am here to help running be a joyous and successful experience. 

At this point, I am looking for two more runners to work with at the level of daily Training Guidance.  This method has grown hopeful runners into consistent runners with wonderful results. Could you please spread the word and share your experiences working with me?  I would appreciate the referrals.  

SOLUTION

I have shared many miles, joy, and knowledge with athletes from ages 6-65 of all different levels these past 12 months. Thanks, for your support friends!

The Bedtime Blues

SNAPSHOT

Click goes the light,

you're all snug and tight,

into the night,

everything is right.

DIGGING DEEPER

Every night you try to get to bed on time.  You can't. It seems like such an easy task but you just can't make it happen.

I have been there, for years and years.

I remember in college as a competitive runner shutting the books and slipping into bed for my required 8 hours of sleep.  There was no option, I had to get my sleep and stay healthy. Yes, my GPA probably went down from a 3.7 to a 3.65 since I was a student-athlete. 

I am done having babies because I can't go through the sleepless nights. Those 8 years with infants was a long stretch of sleep deprivation where I should not have been even driving.

Then came the years of children's activities that sucked up all the afternoon and evening hours as I was out of the house attending to their schedule. 

All these years I have known the value of sleep. I know I need at least eight to nine hours, often more when training with high weekly miles. I understand that sleep will speed up my recovery, make my brain more alert, and in reality improve relationships with my family members. I can know. I can wish. But how can I actually make it happen?  I can't change the time the alarm goes off in the morning.  I can only influence the time I turn off the bedroom light.

Then came a night last fall when I returned home from my son's soccer practice to a house without electricity. I couldn't open the fridge, turn on the tv, use my phone or computer.  It was unknown when the electricity would turn back on, tonight, or late tomorrow. As I laid in bed at 8:45pm, I felt relieved. Early bedtime, finally check.

The next day after 10 hours of much-needed sleep, I was like a new woman. I did it again the next day, even though there was electricity. Two days of 10 hour sleeps, had me hooked. How would I make this my new routine?

When I woke up each morning I longed for that early bedtime.  I changed what I did throughout the day, inorder to make the appointment with my bed. All the must-do tasks that I filled the last hours of my old days, moved into the daytime. That way when the hour before bedtime came, I was prepared to end the day.

So what does this look like?

• The most important task, even if it seems a bit awkward, is done first. That way if the day goes crazy you can say, at least I did ____.
• Whatever I am avoiding is done first or second in the day.
• Dishes go in and out of the dishwasher throughout the day. Rarely do I empty the dishwasher. Children can empty it very well while I am making their food or in order to eat the food I have shopped, prepared, and served them.
• Emails sorted and responded throughout the day, leaving the lengthy responses to less busy days. Emails to read get put into the "to read" file where if I really want to read them they are easy to locate.
• Lunches packed directly after dinner, while all the food is out and everyone is in the kitchen. (Yes, my 8 and 10-year-olds make their own lunches and so can yours.)
• Reasonable expectations of what YOU can accomplish in 16 hours. Every new season of the year I write out a weekly by hour calendar of what I need to do, adding in time for managing the home tasks. It is like realizing that the huge dinner on my plate will not fit in my stomach and I need to trim off the excess. See another post from On My Mind on this topic.
• Children 8 and older do their own laundry. You don't even need to nag them. When they run out of clothes, they can drag their basket to the washer and follow the directions on an index card on how to wash their clothes. 
• No stacks of papers. NONE. Only files. (If you have a paper pile sitting right next to you, put it in a box in your basement and if you don't need anything from it within 1 month, throw it away.)
• Touch something only once, put it where it goes the first time you pick it up.
• Keep a quick pace while working and avoid sitting.
• Social media is not bad, just have everything else done first.
• Grace for the days that are unplanned chaos.

Most of all if you always have the bedtime hour on your mind and evaluate your actions to decide if they will help you get to bed on time, then you will be productive throughout the day and prepared for the end of the day.

Honestly, you can only do so much in one day. The sun will rise the next day and you will be rested and ready to work hard and have fun living life.

Several years ago, I learned a very tough lesson as I was training for the half-marathon.  My training was awesome but my recovery was horrible.  I didn't sleep enough to recover from all the miles and speed work.  Two weeks before the race I knew something was very wrong.  My legs were dead even though I was tapering my training. During the race, my body shut down and my dream of a low 1:20s half marathon blew up in my face as I watched my pace slow. Afterward, I took a hard look at my life and realized that I had not overtrained but had under recovered.  The two hours of training every day was not the culprit, it was the late nights limiting the much needed hours of sleep. The words under recovered hit home hard.

SOLUTION

My love abounds when I am a rested wife, mother, friend, and runner.

Please comment below with your solutions to working and playing for only 15-16 hours a day and sleeping the rest.

Those darn hills...

SNAPSHOT

"I was flying until I hit that hill."

"I hate hills!"

"I am so bad at hills."

DIGGING DEEPER

You either dread them or secretly wish for them. Those that wish to climb elevation have come to terms with the pain and determination hill running commands. Birthed out of the moment where you declared hills to be your conquered enemy, you learned how to climb with determination. 

There are a few techniques that you could employ to reach the top with energy.  However, don’t get lost in these tips, because truly it is your will that will get you there.  More on that after I cover the basics of hill running.

Thanks to Youtube for this example of uphill running form.  This runner will make it to the top!

1. Break the hill into sections. Climb each section one at a time. Small goals are easier to reach.  Many small goals add up to the big goal you want to achieve.
2. Slightly lean into the hill.  From your heels, not your hips, lean with the hill.
3. Knees up, strong arms
4. Use the same effort over the top of the hill and let gravity pull you down the decline.  Gravity will do a portion of the work, giving you a chance to rest.
5. Don’t lean back while running downhill, you are breaking yourself and causing extra stress and wasting the free speed of the downhill.
6. Run hilly routes, don’t avoid them.  I remember one run with my 3 boys on bikes and my daughter in the stroller, in addition my friend with her daughter in her stroller where we were in search of all hills in the nearby neighborhoods. This was at the request of my bikers since flying downhill was what kept them from giving up on our adventure.  Look forward to hills. See the upside of hills.
7. Hills are cardio and strength training at one time: multi-tasking as a runner.
8. WHAT GOES UP, gets to go DOWN. Unless your start and finish are in different locations, you will have the opportunity to run downhill as much as you ran uphill. 

My first 5 years of running consisted of conquering Colorado foothills and flying down the backside of high grade “hills”.  The Death Quest hill workout was a Monday staple and summer Wednesdays at six A.M.  brought a fierce fight to the top of the Horsetooth Reservoir switchbacks where you look out at the city of Fort Collins. Most cross country races were ruthless all the while a mile high in elevation.  This was normal.  This is what I had to conquer over and over.  And I liked it. I liked the challenge.

More experience, more determination will rid you of fear. Map out the hills near your running routes and loop them into your miles.  Use the tips above to make the most of your steps.

Hill Lovers Challenge - Bridge of Flowers 10K in August - The elevation map above is from this race through a small town in MA. "You said it was hard, but that was unspeakably hard." Yet, we still keep coming back.

SOLUTION

This coach is proclaiming, “You got this!”

Comment below with your favorite hills.