Suggestions for the runner/triathlete in your life

The first Christmas tree strapped to the roof of a station wagon has been spotted. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone in a frenzy of spending. The local strip malls have strung up their lights and pinned their giant Santas to their streetlights. That's right - it's time to start Christmas shopping.

As runners and triathletes, we're often obsessed with gear, and that can often make it easy to buy for the endurance junkies in your life. So here are some suggestions. I could offer more, but these are a few of my favorite things...

If you're feeling really generous.

The Garmin 910XT

I've lusted after this since it was released. The giantness of my 305 used to not bother me, but lately it seems extra loose on my wrist, bulkier than it used to be. It seems to take forever to find satellites, so I spend a lot of time standing awkwardly on the sidewalk outside of my neighborhood, on the sidewalk outside of my office and pretty much anywhere I ever run ("hey guys, just another second. It looks like it's finally got it this time."). I know the 910 isn't exponentially smaller, but it would track my swimming too! And so many other things. And I do love data. ($399 and up)

The real stuff

Oiselle Roga Shorts

I have never run in shorts so comfortable. True to their name, I wear them running AND to yoga, and they are extremely comfortable in both pursuits. The fit is also really flattering. ($40)










Oiselle Trials Hoody

See a theme here? I love this hoody. I may never take it off. It goes on instantly when I get home, and I wear it after workouts and even on errands. I think E is starting to forget what I look like without it. That's all a long way of saying this hoodie is SUPER cozy. ($75)









Road ID

If the runner or triathlete in your life is lacking one of these, then this could be the best thing you buy them. Seriously. I wear mine on every workout and hassle E to do the same. We both have the Wrist ID Sport. I have pretty small wrists, and I like this one, though I know a lot women prefer the Wrist ID Slim. ($19.99 and up)

Stocking Stuffers

Nuun

I discovered Nuun while training for my first 70.3 this summer. Since then, these fizzy little tablets have boosted me through long bike rides, tough runs and sweaty yoga sessions. So far, I'm a sucker for Lemon Tea and Citrus Fruit. ($6.50/tube, $24.00/4 pack)







Manduka Hand Towel

I actually won mine from Manduka a couple years ago in a Twitter contest. It's not likely a size I would have thought to buy (I have the full size mat towel) but it has become one of the handiest sports-related things I own. It goes with me to yoga, but it also hangs out on my aero bars when I'm on the trainer and dries me off before getting back into the car or changing post-ride or run. It's so ridiculously absorbent. ($16)



CamelBak Podium Chill Bottles

If you live anywhere warm, you will come to love and cherish these bottles. They do a pretty great job (even when you live in Florida) of keeping your beverages cool. And there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that tastes better than cool water in the middle of a hot run.

Here is what happens when you eat a lot of junk food

This is how I felt after Thanksgiving, and several rounds of assorted "oh, I never eat this way so what the hell" meals.

Burgers, fries, pizza...I went the distance. And then a day or so later, I tried to run. And wanted to die.

I only made it 3 miles. I bitched, I moaned, I whined. I shuffled along begrudgingly. I hated life. It was 65 degrees and I thought I was going to melt.

And this, as always, is when I remember that what I eat profoundly affects how I run.

So here's my advice, kids: junk food in moderation. Don't tell yourself it's a "good idea to get it all out of the way at once" or "I've already come this far. What else have I been wanting to eat lately?"

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Source

Last week, I decided that it was time to finally look into this whole rolling thing. 

I've toyed with the idea when I've trained for my last couple marathons, but have never been sure whether to go with the Stick or with a foam roller or what. I've also heard a lot of alternative solutions, like rolling pins, softballs, tennis balls or frozen water bottles.

So I decided to go the best sources I know for good info on what really works: DailyMile and Twitter.

And I got a lot of awesome responses, though I have to say opinions were pretty split between a foam roller and the Stick. 

Source

Ultimately I decided to go with something a few folks recommended that might help me decide: the rolling pin method.

So I rolled for the first time on Saturday evening, and didn't notice a huge difference. I did notice that it felt like it took a lot of upper body strength (which isn't exactly, ahem, my strong suit).  I mostly rolled my calves, which is where I tend to experience a lot of tightness and fatigue.

Then last night, I did some speed work. I did a little over three miles, with six sets of strides. I went home, stretched, iced my shin and ate some dinner. Then it was time to roll.

I rolled my hamstrings and my quads, and it felt AMAZING. And I rolled them foam roller style, using my body weight, and it felt so, so good. I spent a little bit of time on my calves, but was icing them on and off throughout the evening (well, icing my shins). Using it like a foam roller, I found it to be a little too low. This whole experiment did help me decide that I'll be purchasing a foam roller sometime soon!

My weapon of choice

Marathon training on the fly

A few months ago, still training for my 70.3, I started thinking about another marathon to run, as I've mentioned a few times, and pretty much decided to try and do the Jax Bank Marathon, which was exactly 7 weeks from my half iron, an amount of time that I read was just about perfect to go from 70.3 to marathon, particularly if you felt you were recovering well from the 70.3.

So I downloaded a training plan, and am more or less following that. It's the Chicago Marathon Set a New PR training plan. I took a week off after my 70.3, so essentially I'm down to 6 weeks to train. Since I'm on the downward end of the training, the plan doesn't require more than a 15 mile run, so I'm debating if I need to do at least an 18 or 20-miler.

It sounds strange, but I'm just sort of doing this marathon because I want to do a marathon. I started the year with the Disney Marathon, and I like the idea of ending with one. I also like the idea of training for this marathon on my own terms, and trusting in what I've learned as a runner and as an athlete.

I always feel beholden to training plans, to doing everything exactly right and beating myself up over missed runs and missed opportunities, and feel that regular life goes on hold. I feel like I need to prove something to myself, and give myself more confidence as an athlete by just going to do this.

Maybe it's strange, but I'm sort of excited about it.

How I Found Running

My first marathon! E and I ran it together.

I recently was asked how I found running, and I gave the short answer, but giving that short answer made me think about the long answer, and how much running changed my life.

Cliche as it is, I came to running on the heels of a really bad breakup. Prior to that, I had been a gym rat, logging hours on the stair stepper, using weights to work out my upper body and dutifully knocking out a series of crunches and pushups daily. I worked out to get in shape and stay fit, but it wasn’t for the love of it, it was just the healthy thing to do. I was still in college then, pretty poor and splitting my time between my classes and a job assistant managing a bookstore.

When the breakup happened, I was devastated. It was unexpected, and I was heartbroken, angry and needed an outlet for all the emotions that seemed to crowd out everything else. My time of the stair stepper no longer cut it; I needed to move.

At the time, the closest thing I owned to sneakers was a battered pair of Chuck Taylors that I wore to work and to punk shows. Poor college student that I was, I took myself to Target and bought the cheapest pair of shoes I could find, a $20 pair of Champion brand sneakers. I pulled on the only workout clothes I owned, which were leftovers from my brief stint as a shot-putter and discus-thrower in high school, hit the trail.

There was a park next to my house that had a .75 mile paved running trail, so I started going there every day, morning, noon and evening, wherever I could fit it in. I was a pack-a-day smoker then too, so speed and consistency were hard to come by; I walked far more than I ran. And really, I knew nothing about running. All that mattered was to keep moving, to break a  sweat and work out some of my angst. And it worked. I didn’t get significantly faster nor even increased my ability to run for periods of time, but I pushed through.

I was working part-time as an office assistant at a law firm by then, and I started going out at lunch with one of the girls. We’d run/walk the bridges, meandering through the downtown area where we worked. It opened a whole new world for me; I didn’t know what it was to explore a place like that, learning the area from the ground up.

Eventually, I moved up slightly in the world by purchasing a pair of New Balance from Kohl's, when the Champion brand sneakers started to make my knees and hips ache (I knew I couldn't afford running store shoes, so I purchased New Balance based purely on the fact that they were on sale, and the fact that they were the brand of choice for my dad, also a runner).
I started doing yoga too, and between the two, found a sense of salvation. I ran my first 5k, and then a couple more. Eventually, I started dating again, and eventually met E. He was training for a marathon when we met, a distance that I barely knew existed, and one that I couldn’t fathom ever completing myself or even wanting to complete. I quit smoking and started running more, really running, and ran my first 10 mile and then my first half marathon, and finally my first marathon. I was hooked. It was (and is) something that's wonderful to do together as a couple, and also something that I have found that can just be for me.

And I still am. I have found a passion for running that has stuck with me; I read about it, write about it and have even been lucky enough to work with a couple running and triathlon companies in my other life as a freelance writer.

I look forward to aging as a runner, and exploring new places and new cities from the ground as I run through them. I've found favorite running spots in places like Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, and some little backroads we explored on a recent trip to Lake Murray in South Carolina. As I began to do triathlons as well, I feel that my fitness journey is only beginning.

Staring Down the Marathon

I went for a nice 4-mile on Tuesday.  It was not one of my exceptional runs (one of those where you think you're going really fast and then you look at your watch) but I was happy with it as my recovery run from Sunday's 10-miler.  I was scheduled to run last night, but bumped it to today as my right knee feels a little tweaky.  Looking forward to a brisk (record low temps!  It's November and it's finally chilly!) run tonight, and an 8 mile this weekend. 

But hey, this week has been crazy.  First Wednesday Art Walk on Wednesday, plus our organizations's Annual Meeting, lots of other meetings, working on some fun side projects and waiting for Friday...yay Friday!  I'm ready for some R n' R.

In other news, my internet spare time finds me creeping over to the 26.2 with Donna website and various other marathon training articles and sites, including new favorite, The Marathon Virgin column from Runner's World.  I haven't officially made up my mind, but I'm not sure I can keep up with this wishy-washy stuff much longer.  I think I'm there.  I think I'm ready to commit.  It probably shouldn't be such a huge decision, except I never in my life thought I would be able to do something like a  marathon.  And to think and I know that I can do it, that I have the chops and the toughness to get through it is key for me.

Molly from I'm a Sleeper Baker posted a great quote about marathon training that I loved:
"Have faith in yourself and your ability. You might have some rough moments, and that's when you have to dig deep down and believe in yourself. Be confident because you can do it."

Big Daddy Diesel shared this one:  “You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” Rosalynn Carter

Pumpkin Runs and Halloween Fun

I should have written this post yesterday when I was riding the high of my longest race to date, the Evergreen Pumpkin Run 10-Mile.  Today I'm a little cranky because it's Monday, but I'm still really stoked about my run.  I did it and I didn't die!  It was really, really nice.  Evergreen Cemetery is one of the oldest in Jacksonville, and exactly what you think of when you picture an old cemetery (or at least one in the South):  lots of hanging moss, towering oak trees, marble mausoleums and graves dating from the 1800s.  The run was a 10 mile or a 5k, starting at the same time and peeling off after the 5k.  The 10 mile route took you twice around the cemetery. 

1st Place Sports did a good job as usual with race setup.  They are one of the oldest (if not the oldest) running stores in town, and put on the majority of the big races.  They've got the formula down pretty well, so there is almost always plenty of water, post-run grub, mile markers and digital clocks, and this race was no exception.  This particular run has been going for a number of years, with this being the largest year yet, with around 1600 runners between the two distances.

Elton ran with me, which was really nice.  It was a beautiful morning, in the high sixties, which was the coolest we've had in a while.  Overall, it was just a great morning.  There are pumpkins everywhere, and post-race you can pick one to take home.  We got the bright idea of picking one up within the last two miles, since it wasn't that far.  Two miles seems a lot farther when you have a 13 pound pumpkin in your arms (we weighed it when we got home).  Elton was a trooper and carried it all the way across the finish line, so we had the prettiest pumpkin we saw out there.  It was a lot of fun to carve it and roast the seeds after we got it home, too! 

Overall, the distance and how I felt after made me feel totally ready for the half on Thanksgiving.  It also made me feel like I can do a marathon.  So that whole "seriously thinking about signing up for a marathon" just got a little more serious.

Running Again After Injury

I grumbled, bitched and moaned my way through my week and half off running due to injury, and finally went out for a spin this past Thursday.  I did a short (but fast!) three miles on Thursday that left me feeling spent, but happy to be back.  Saturday I decided to do a longer run and did a slow five miles.  Slow because my body felt really out of whack.  Mentally, I was totally in the game.  In fact, I even sprung, pop-tart like, from bed that morning in anticipation of enjoying the beautiful weather.  But my legs just weren't having it.  I felt like I had the wrong legs and mine were running swiftly somewhere on someone else's body.  It was bizarre.  E ran with me and felt out of alignment as well, so it was quite a run.

I went on another run yesterday, just three miles (instead of my planned 4), and felt the same.  Running home, and paying attention, really focusing on how I was feeling made me realize that my issues were most likely my hip flexors.  They were so tight!  I got home and hit the floor for some pigeon and bound angle, and it seemed to help.  I will find out tonight when I try for four miles!  My 10-mile Halloween Pumpkin Run is coming up in two weeks, so being able to get some good mileage in before that is really important to me.  Regardless though, it felt so good to get back out and moving this weekend.  I've really started to crave cardio!

On another note, I made Spaghetti Squash for the first time!  I also made applesauce, which was also a fun experience.