Running Together
Amanda Casanova of Women's Running interviewed me on the topic: running by feel. Read what I and other coaches suggest.
Why Running Without A Watch Is So Important To Your Training article on the Women's Running online site.
The entire interview answers to be posted soon!
What does a runner want for Christmas?
My favorites!
Under Armour Women's Layered Up Reversible Headband
Quick Strength for Runners Book
Resistance Bands 12 inch or long
Running Coach! - What all runners secretly want, someone to guide them and answer their questions, to be on their side, giving them permission to care for their body and goals, with accountability --- Give a once in a while phone call to day-by-day assistance
Daniel's Running Formula book for the serious runner
Peak Performance book for all those wanting to take your efforts in sport, life, and work to the next level
Local Running Club membership - Often comes with free or discounted club races, newsletter, and events
Your Best Stride book for all those that want to understand why fast runners look smooth
Fleet Feet Gift Card for properly fitted shoes and high-end apparel
USATF membership to get involved in the local competition as a USATF member
Eat Slow Run Fast cookbook by 2017 NYC Marathon Winner Shalane Flanagan - Especially for teenage runners
Favorite Waterbottle - The only kind I like!
Deskbound book - For your office worker who has back pain
Spark book - Incredible book on exercise and the brain
Donate a new pair of shoes to a local high school coach. Talk with your local running store about how you can work with them and a coach to deliver a much-needed item to aspiring runners.
Share this blog post with your loved ones in order to make both of you happy!
All it takes is 10 minutes to develop enough body heat to make your run enjoyable.
LOVE WINTER RUNNING
While not officially winter yet, it is incredibly difficult to cross from the comfort of the indoor furnace to the chill or burr of the outdoor temps. Yesterday's run was avoided due to the whipping wind and freezing temperature, but while waiting for my son at the local Y, I bundled up and struck out into the cold.
I wore my regular shoes and socks, running tights, tank top, long sleeve shirt, light wind jacket, neck warmer, hat, gloves, sunglasses (I know it was cloudy but my glasses help block the wind from my sensitive eyes).
The first 10 minutes were cold since the wind was piercing. However, I braved it knowing that I would warm up soon. This is the key to winter running. Braving the first 10 minutes will deliver great rewards. The body makes heat when using energy in the muscles. You become your own furnace.
The second key is to dress in a manner that will keep just the right amount of heat around your body, not too little, not too much. With too little clothing you won't capture the heat you generated. Too much clothing will cause overheating and sweating. Sweating sounds nice when you are cold but can ruin your run when the water cools your body. Therefore, layers and experience help in dressing for your run.
Over and over I would miss the mark on correct clothing choice when I would only look outside while in my warm house. It would look wicked cold or not so bad causing me to overdress/underdress. The better way of determining your winter running selection is to look at the "feels like" temperature on your weather app.
As you see above, the 34 degrees doesn't account for the chill of the wind. The better temperature to dress for is the "Feels like" temp of 25 degrees. The Minnesota wind is strong and sweeping making the wind, even more, a factor when running.
Windy Day Running Tip: Run into the wind at the start of your run, making your return trip easier and warmer with the wind at your back.
Just like you adjust to the warm temperature of the summer heat, you will adjust to the colder temperatures of the winter chill. Give yourself two weeks of below freezing runs and you will feel like 32 degrees is a warm winter running day. In turn, you will be able to handle the 10-20 degree days of real winter running.
Once you have your own body furnace up and running, your run becomes delightful as you can enjoy the fresh outdoor air and movement.
LOVE WINTER RUNNING
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Limit your running when you are sick with the cold.
On Thursday my run was way slower than usual, yet I felt I was putting in the same effort. Then I attempted my normal lifting weights routine and couldn't even lift my usual dumbbell once. Not even once! I knew something was really off!
Friday morning just after leaving our home I felt that dry mouth sensation moments after drinking a sip of water, the first sign of an oncoming cold sickness. I was out of the house for the day and wouldn't be near my Vitamin C tablets until evening. The day wore on and the throat got worse. By bedtime, I was eating ice cream, smoothies, and Danielle Walker's applesauce.
Thankfully Saturday was a low key day with the skies bringing in wicked thunderstorms and only 2 hockey lessons/practices for one of my sons. With my husband home, I was off the hook from transportation duties. I read the entire Chasing Slow book by Erin Loechner (wow, awesome book) and slurped up the bone broth. I wasn't much better and the night was painful and long.
Sunny Sunday rolled around and I figured I was done with the cold and could soldier on with my backlog of errands. I'm in control, right? However, by midday, all I wanted was be in bed. As you know, moms don't take more than one sick day, so the food was purchased, freezer picked out at Best Buy, and library books returned. The squash, chicken, and dinner all got cooked. I thought my saving grace would be a good night of sleep before the start of a new week.
"Mom, my stomach hurts so much!" pleaded my 15-year-old son. I couldn't deny him comfort through the trips to the bathroom and tucks back into bed. Not so hard if it weren't for the fact that I was pleading also for painless sinus canals and continuous sleep.
So it is Monday today and I am still so sick and still hoping for a good nights sleep. I did do a short run today only because it had been so long since my last and a friend would be waiting for me.
I don't plan to run tomorrow. I will need all my energy reserves for kicking this cold.
NOTE: When you move to another region of the US you get hit harder with sicknesses as you have not built up an immunity to that region's germs. This is going to be an interesting year!
My view of the USA regions include Colorado in the Midwest section.
My personal guidelines for when to skip my daily run due to sickness.
Fever or Stomach Pain = NO RUNNING
Congestion or Sore throats = RUN EVERY OTHER DAY at most//Fresh air is helpful but limit energy expenditures
Headaches = Safe Walks
HAPPY WINTER COLD SEASON, HAPPY RUNNING
A daily run is so much more than just a few miles on a road, it is the peaceful moments that cultivate who I am.
Many miles into my 6 am weekday run I spy an older woman in her dark long pants and white shirt. Sheltered by a sunhat she is bent over engrossed within her morning work of weeding. Her box of tools consisting of a spade, hoe, and trowel was within feet of her position. She never looked up, just kept bent over, nurturing her garden. The hot August sun did not give her a break even in the early morning hours. We were the two lonely people out working in the morning air as the early sun rose.
I was caught off guard because she was in a huge field that at a one person weeding rate would be endless. Why was she working so hard at something so repetitive and vast that it seemed meaningless?
Suddenly, I was struck by the reality that I too was a lonely gardener weeding my vast field. Having not seen another runner in the town at that early morning hour for the past week. I was that one runner that encircled the small Minnesota town without skipping a wake-up call. Each step was another weed pulled, each morning's run was another row in the field. With each November becoming my fall season of harvest. The planning of the spring, hot summer runs, and the never giving up attitude of a sport that goes for all 12 months, is my gardening.
Many would have driven their cars quickly by on their way to work without even a glance over the field. No one would notice a lonely gardener in a field that machines should tend to. Her work only had meaning for herself. As my work only has meaning for myself, valuing my own harvest without performances worthy of notice.
I was adding up 12,000 weeds pulled or steps taken each morning. Why was I so diligent at this meaningless or meaningful work? After each breath in, I was breathing out stress, frustration, sadness, and worry. Without those releases, I would be bound and chained by my life's disappointments and inconsistencies. The release of expectations and the birth of new creative solutions made my day approachable. By halfway through my hour tending my garden, my body, I felt alive again. I could see beauty and knew my diligence would reap rewards.
My 6am gardener in a sunhat with her garden tools near at hand and I are one and the same. When I rise in the dark and kept moving toward the door and trail beckoning my name, my gardener and I rise together, step together, knowing that our diligence will reap the fall harvest.
Not alone in my vast garden.
