Archive for the 'running' Category

Walk-Running: Jeff Galloway would be proud

Published on March 29, 2008 in Personal, books, fitness and running. 0 Comments

skitched-20080329-141959.jpgLast Sunday, I went on my first run since the injection. I’m taking it slow: about 2.5 km and 20 minutes of running. My ankle was fine, my knees were mildly creaky, and my pride was only mildly offended by my absurdly slow pace. I wish I could say I was thrilled to be running again, but really I felt paranoid. “Am I hurting myself?” I wondered with every step. At the same time, I missed the care-free days of 5 milers down Town Lake on sunny Austin Sundays. But things change.

Today I went for run #2. This time, I alternated running with walking for 5km and about 40 minutes. The run-walk was, without a doubt, the way forward. I was able to cover more distance while keeping my heart rate up, plus it alleviated most of my paranoia around injury. I also felt great. Gone were the creaky legs and stiff joints of last weekend. I could almost recall what it feels like to run. If you’ve done much running, you know what I mean - it’s that feeling of lightness, where the run feels completely natural, the legs are fluid, and it’s easy to breath - to me, that’s running.

But for now, run-walking will do. Though he hesitates to admit it, Jeff Galloway agrees. From his Book on Running:

Our bodies weren’t designed to run continuously for long distances… Sure we can adapt, but there is a better way to increase endurance than by running continously. By alternating walking and running, from the start, there’s virtually no limit to the distance you can cover… Once we find the ideal ratio for a given distance, walk breaks allow us to feel strong to the end and recover fast, while building up the same levels of stamina and conditioning that we would have reached if we had run continuously.

Link to Jeff Galloway’s website
Link to Galloway’s Book on Running 2 Ed

What is Sinus Tarsi Syndrome?

Published on March 6, 2008 in Personal, fitness and running. 1 Comment
skitched-20080306-061211.jpg

The sinus tarsi is “the eye of the foot”, an opening on the outside of the foot between the ankle and heel bone. This canal contains ligaments which can become inflamed if put under undo stress such as high-impact running, jumping, or simply running with bad form. The pain associated with this is called “sinus tarsi syndrome”.

I know all this because I went to have my left ankle looked at by my GP who diagnosed me with sinus tarsi syndrome, apparently very common among sporty people (like me? hah!). Last night he injected some steroids into my sinus tarsal to calm down the inflammation. The procedure was painless, until he said “I’m very deep in the sinus cavity now”, at which point I became a little nauseous. I recovered quickly after a short rest on the couch and a large glass of red wine.

If all goes well I should be able to run again in 10 days time. Here’s to hoping…

Link to Sinus Tarsi Syndrome on Orthoteers

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Swim Lesson 5: A lesson in not swimming

Published on February 13, 2008 in Personal, Swimming, fitness and running. 2 Comments

I’ll start with the good news: I ran on Sunday for the first time in months. I did two loops of Clissold Park, running solely on grass, and walking over the odd stretch of pavement. It was something like 2 miles.

While the run wasn’t hugely difficult muscularly or cardiovascularly, I could definitely feel it in my joints, especially my knees. But fortunately not my ankle.

This was supposed to be a light jog to get me used to running again, so I was really surprised when I woke up (after a very broken sleep) with very sore legs on Monday morning. I usually like this kind of physical feedback, but instead I immediately thought “Ugh, I don’t want to go to my swim lesson tonight”. All day I had this on my mind, feeling dread at the thought of going, but guilt at the thought of skipping.

Eventually I decided that these mind games were stupid and I should just do what would make me and my body happiest. So I skipped my swimming lesson in favour of rest. That night, I slept 8 hours straight, and went for a swim at the London Fields Lido before work on Tuesday morning. It was only the second time I’ve been to the Lido this year, instead tending towards the closer and newer Clissold Leisure Centre. But the CLC doesn’t beat the Lido in length (50m) or ambience (outdoors, heated). And on Tuesday morning, the Lido was enshrouded in fog, so much fog that I couldn’t see the few brave swimmers around me (unless I looked under water). And after such a good sleep, the swim felt great. My legs were still sore but the swim loosened them up. For those 26 laps (1300m) and 35 minutes, I focussed my thoughts on swimming, breathing, kicking, the task at hand. At the end of it, I felt totally relaxed and wondered why I ever traded this pool for anything else.

This is what swimming is about for me: the relaxation, the quiet, the peace. It’s not fun when I’m swimming back in forth in a crowded pool, thinking more about not bumping into people than on the swim itself. These quiet spots are hard to find in London.

I started with good news, which usually means some bad news to follow. But now that I’m at the end of the story, I realise there is no bad news at all. If anything, it’s that the Lido will become more crowded as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer. Even so, the atmosphere is so completely other from the rest of London that it’s impossible to complain. And more people in the pool is a sign that winter is ending and summer is on it’s way. Good news triumphs again!

The best news of all is that I’m looking forward to swimming again. Tomorrow. In the morning. At the Lido.

Swim Lesson 4: Breast stroke

Published on February 9, 2008 in Personal, Swimming, fitness and running. 0 Comments
skitched-20080209-213536.jpg

To my relief, my swim instructor did not even hint at the butterfly last Monday. Instead, we dove right into the breast stroke, a popular stroke among swimmers at the lido. It’s slow and frog-like, but easy… or so I thought…

With the breast stroke, the synchronisation of feet and arms is key to speed. The legs and arms should never be outstretched at the same time (news to me). So here’s how it goes:

  1. Start by kicking off from the wall and stretching out in a straight line.
  2. Move your arms around in a circle, lifting your face out to breath.
  3. Put your head back in the water and finish the circle by stretching your arms out in front of you.
  4. At the same time as step 3., kick your legs like a frog.
  5. Repeat from step 2.

Steps 3. and 4. are the tricky ones, because your arms move before your legs, not at the same time. This seemed counterintuitive at first, but after a while I got used to it, and was pleased to see I was swimming faster as a result.

It was a good class, but not great. In general, swimming hasn’t held the same joy for me that it did before Christmas. Maybe it’s because I’ve been swimming at the new Clissold Leisure Centre, which is closer than the London Lido, but busier, indoors, and shorter in length (25m instead of 50m). Even so, I’ve been feeling very low energy, which inevitably makes swimming less enjoyable.

Where has all my energy gone? I partly blame a lingering cold that won’t seem to die. The bigger problem is poor quality sleep. Either I don’t sleep long enough, or I wake up during the night. Why is this? Noisy neighbors. Alcohol. Food. Lack of a schedule. Lack of light.

So this weekend I’m having a quiet one, resting up and trying to regain some regularity to my sleep schedule. I won’t swim until Monday’s class, but will test my ankle with some light jogging on a soft surface. I have a workmate who’s been encouraging me to do a triathlon. The only thing stopping me is the running (it used to be swimming, my how things have changed!). I’ve made an appointment with my GP who will hopefully refer me to a specialist that can prescribe me some insoles or something (if the fix is that simple, I will be thrilled). In the meantime, I am going to do a couple of turns around Clissold Park tomorrow morning, alternating between running and walking. The weather is suddenly glorious in London: cool, but blue skies and sunshine, at least during the few hours of daylight. And I love the park early in the morning, with its frost and happy dogs and notable lack of small children. Bliss.

Sunset

Link to the basic breaststroke at the BBC

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

SmarterFitter Food Calorie Database

Published on June 10, 2007 in fitness, food, freedom, nutrition and running. 0 Comments

For some time now, Tim and I have been brainstorming a website that’s full of easy-to-use nutrition and fitness tools. We finally put our brains into action and launched SmarterFitter.com.

Here’s a list of tools we’ve created so far:

If you have any suggestions, ideas, whatever, leave a comment or can contact us at smarterfitter@gmail.com. The goal is to eventually start making money with this thing. Freedom!

Tags: | | | | | | | | |

Sore buns and Sunday runs

Published on April 23, 2006 in fitness and running. 0 Comments

Just returned from running the 24th Annual Schlotzsky’s 5k Bun Run. I finished in 27:30.

My time was 57 seconds slower than last year, but given that I’m not running 5 days a week like I used to, and I’ve had an injury, I feel pretty good. And my ankle didn’t hurt. Am I finally healed? Overall it was a good time. I love a races. Good energy, good exercise, and good shwag (bagels, powerade, bananas, cookies, and potato chips; how anyone could eat a bag of potato chips after running 5ks is beyond me, but people were doing it!).

Today was also the London Marathon. The BBC has an entertaining as-it-happened commentary, including this snippet about celebrity runner, Jade Goody:

0932: Distressingly Jade Goody, of Big Brother fame, has just revealed to Sue Barker the most she has run is half-an-hour on a treadmill in training. She revealed her training regime involved eating Chinese and Indian food as well as boozing. Her biggest concern is that her toenails will fall off!

prognosis nothing

Published on November 11, 2005 in fitness and running. 0 Comments

I went to Texas Sports & Family Medicine to have my ankle prodded and examined by Dr. Hutchens. For a doctor’s visit, it was pretty damn pleasant. Mostly because I didn’t have to wait. I mean, that’s the worst part right? (The possible exception being the wait for a prostate exam… lucky for me I know nothing of that, alas, we women have our own doctoral demons to tend to.)

Sports Medicine practices are interesting places, in a good way: patients are treated like athletes. By that I don’t mean we were fed gatorade and given VIP access to clubs and bimbos. But it’s nice to be spoken to like a runner rather than a person who runs.

Dr. Hutchens was great, and very receptive to my need to get back on track as soon as possible. He recommended taking a few weeks off from running (depressing, but expected advice), and to instead focus on my biking and resistance training. After Thanksgiving, I’ll start running again and see how that goes. Fingers are crossed. He reckons I have plenty of time to train for the half marathon, and I shouldn’t lose much momentum if I keep up my cardiovascular fitness with other activities.

In other news, I am 122 lbs, 5′1, with a resting pulse of 64.
I had my first ever X-ray.
And was out of the office and back to work 45 minutes.

Insurance is sweet.

Injuries - BOOOoooo!

Published on November 6, 2005 in fitness and running. 0 Comments

I while back I blogged about some persistent ankle troubles that plagued my running. Last March I added some ankle support insoles to my gym shoes and the problem seemed to disappear.

Yesterday I hit the gym for some strength training. I typically do some cardio afterwards, and decided to jog on the treadmill. I don’t normally run on Saturdays, but I was in the mood. Anyway, I’m really sad because my ankle started to hurt and it didn’t go away when I stopped running. It’s barely noticeable at the moment, but I can sense that there’s something there. Sigh.

This morning, I had to really force myself to NOT go on my long slow distance run. I even put on my running clothes, and added some new podcasts to my Shuffle. Luckily, I came to my senses before causing any more damage to my tender ankle.

I did go for a bike ride, which was nice, but not what I had mentally prepared for. I found myself missing the oxygen fix and exertion of a good long run.

Oh the price of addiction!

So I read up on injuries in Galloway’s Book on Running. Learned about RICE - rest, ice, compression, and elevation - for injury treatment. So, I’ll be taking it easy the next couple of days. It’s a bummer because tomorrow was to begin week one of my 12 week half marathon training. But I have some alternates in mind, including a bike ride and a camping trip next weekend. And I’m already ahead of the game. With any luck I’ll only need a few days off.

Anyway, my roommate and her boyfriend are making out on the couch and I can hear their sloppy kisses. Can I close my door without spoiling their mood? Do they even know I’m here? Will it end after the commercial break? Is that ESPN they’re watching??

tempo run

Published on November 3, 2005 in fitness and running. 0 Comments

5.25 miles | 61 minutes | Early AM
1.5 mi warm-up
30 minute tempo
1.5 mi cool down

I kicked the ass of today’s run. It was hard. Those tempo runs are elusive buggers!

People sometimes asking me, “What’s a Tempo Run?” Since he can say it better than I can, I’ll quote Hal Higden:

This is a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace. A Tempo Run of 40 to 60 minutes would begin with 10-20 minutes easy running, build to 20-30 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. Hold that peak only for a minute or two. I consider Tempo Runs to be the “Thinking Runner’s Workout. A Tempo Run can be as hard or easy as you want to make it, and it has nothing to do with how long (in time) you run or how far. In fact, the times prescribed for Tempo Runs serve mainly as rough guidelines. Feel free to improvise. Improvisation is the heart of doing a Tempo Run correctly.

My peak speed was 7 mph.

Sounds: NPR’s Most E-Mailed Stories and KCRW’s Good Food, during which I learned about the history of candy corn, and more than I ever needed to know about palm sugar.

Post-Run Fuel: one big bowl of millet rice flakes with skim milk, topped with bananas, strawberries, and honey! Mmmmm, and coffffeeee.

13.1 miles or bust . . .

Published on October 31, 2005 in fitness and running. 1 Comment

I registered for the 3M Half Marathon today. It’s on January 29, 2006. I’m a little scared, but more than anything, really psyched that I’m actually doing it.

I use my Sundays for long, slow runs. A couple months back, I started with 60 minutes of running, and almost every week since, have added a little time to each of my runs. Two weeks ago I crossed the 100 minute mark. It was around that time that I started wondering, “How long will I keep this up for? When will I stop adding minutes? And what’s my goal with all this?” (I mean, what else is there to think about?) Then naturally I started thinking of all the things I could do if I just kept it up as I’ve been doing.

For a long time I used to think it would be cool to be able to run a marathon, hike the Appalachian Trail, or ride a bike across America. I’m starting to realize that I can do all these things, it’s just matter of actually doing them. These aren’t dreams or fantasies; they are goals and ambitions.

So tomorrow I exit the phase in which I run for the sake of running and enter the phase in which I train for the Half Marathon (a feat whose name deserves to be a proper noun!). I haven’t figured out a fixed training schedule, but I like what I saw on Hal Higdon’s website. His half marathon training is similar to my current routine, and I like his attitude:

Be consistent with your training, and the overall details won’t matter.

In other words, global structure, but local flexibility. Or something like that. It means I don’t need to freak out if I have to work late and miss a run, or end up blowing my running wad on a long bike ride. Extra run, extra rest, it all evens out.

And speaking of biking, I predict a lot of cross training in these coming months. The weather is great and Texas is a HUGE place with lots of biking and camping potential.

Fun times ahead! Ahoy!