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Feelin' good

In the midst of any trial, there is always some respite. Even in the depths of disappointment or the challenge of constant stress, there always seems to be a saving grace that can take the edge off the lowest point. Mine came today. Lately, it's felt like life is a stream of stress and frustration, be it with mediocre races or the pressure of performing in other areas, especially school. Today, however, was my own personal timeout. It was the calm before the storm, so to speak, but it was enough to give me the energy to make it through a high stakes week. To begin with, I took two subject tests, effective eliminating a fraction of the testing I'm in for. After that, however, the real fun started. It began with a lovely 7.5 mile run, which, I'm proud to report, took merely 59 minutes and 49 seconds. This included the two mile "warm up" that I did with my dad, after which I just continued running. I was going to try to run with music, but 30 seconds into the first song I pulled out my headphones and just embraced the day. It was a beautiful 55 degrees and overcast, perfect running weather. I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace but I did feel strong, and just kept running. It was amazing, one of those times when the sidewalk squares flit below my feet and the predictable sounds of suburban life feel comforting as opposed to stifling. My mind wandered aimlessly and I relaxed into a removed tranquility that only dissipated after I'd gotten into a hot shower. Post-run, I buckled down and did a bit of homework, though even this seemed relaxing in stead of laborious; getting responsibilities out of the way takes pressure off my shoulders and allows me to breathe a bit easier. Finally, I settled down to make some chocolate cupcakes with salted Carmel buttercream, which were pretty dang tasty and very therapeutic (picture and recipe to come!). Later, I spent the night with my sister and her friend from college who are finally home! I didn't know how much I missed her, but laughing with her throughout the night reminded me of how much I love having her around. So, even with all these looming challenges, I will sleep well tonight knowing that even in the most strenuous times there can be joy. I often think of a relatively famous family in the area that consists of several phenomenal runners and feel a pang of envy. However, with the support and love I got from mine today in my tests, my run, and the company we enjoyed, I am completely happy with the family vie got. More than happy, I know I'm completely blessed. I think family plays a much more important role in our success than we expect, and this includes running. Though having a family that trains intensively and is competitive may seem like the best option, I really appreciate having one slightly removed from the running community. They place no additional pressure on me and merely serve to support me. I have coaches, teammates, and running role models already. What I really need is the respite of unconditional love that a family can provide so readily in order to continue pouring so much effort into everything I do.

Let the games begin!

I was challenged today. Literally, Mac told me she was challenging me to create and effective training plan for anyone hoping to drop some time. Well, I'm always up for a little competition, so I am now working on a training plan to help a new runner begin running and eventually racing. While I'm far from a coach, or even really knowing how to initiate training, I do know a couple things about cutting down time. My first step is going to be to create a base from which one can work up mileage and intensity. This will probably start at about 35 minute runs daily and work up to 45-50, with a longer run on Saturdays. Then, those 45-50 minute runs will become his easier days, which will be interspersed with lactate threshold work, with a bit of speed. Finally, we will begin more emphasis on speed in order to really cut down on time. I'm surenthis is by no means the best plan, but I'll do some research and see how it goes! I'm very excited! In the meantime, I'm very very proud of my teammates! Both Mac and Bridgit got seasonal bests this week, and everyone seems to be bonding like sodium and chlorine (hehe). Especially on the distance team, we seem to get to know eachother almost too intimately. Because of our closeness, it really is exciting for me personally to see all my girls do well. It's been a cold, late night however, so I'm going to sign off with the promise of a more comprehensive post tomorrow. Until then, sweet dreams and happy running, or better yet, happy dreams of sweet running!

Hot and bothered

No, I'm not talking about some steamy romance. Sorry to disappoint, but this post will not be about anything remotely risqué, unless you count hot and sweaty running, which I, personally, do not. I just wanted to put that out there before anyone felt the need to avert their eyes or quickly navigate away from this page. In fact, please don't, because this is actually some pretty interesting stuff. We had a meet today, and lately it's really been heating up. And I mean the Minnesota kind of heating up: hot and humid, like sitting in a greenhouse with barely vaporized water huddled around the skin and gripping to hair, causing unmanageable and unsightly frizz. In addition, the air seems to stick in my lungs whenever I start to breathe heavily. In all, it's just the gross continuous dampness that drives me crazy. In this icky air, I was blessed with the joy of running another two mile. That may seem sarcastic, and the wording is a bit strong, but I'm dead serious. As the meet rolled on, the warmth sapped a bit of my drive, but standing at the starting line I actually felt very content because at that point it was up to me. I psych myself out during shorter events, excusing my poor performance with the fact that I'm made for distance. Come the two mile, though, I have no excuse, and it's oddly liberating. I won't go into detail, but today didn't end as I'd hoped. My pacing was terrible, but the good thing is that I have no one to blame but myself and can walk away a little smarter about the art of racing. However, I became curious about the effect heat can have on runners because of the wide spectrum of results I heard about during this warm weather. What I found was really quite interesting. First, and maybe obviously, running in the heat is hard. But not only does it just feel worse, the body actually has to work harder to get the same output. This is the biology of the matter: typically, a human sweats to lose heat through evaporation and also pumps blood to the skin to cool it off as the body temperature rises (hence the super attractive exercise flush). The conundrum, though, is that that same blood must go to the muscles to deliver oxygen, and when the muscles are contracting, they produce heat. This means that exercising in the heat provides a challenge for the body in that it has to pump blood both to the muscles and out to the skin. Heart rate in hot weather can get much higher for the same level of running, merely due to the change in temperature. Sweat also complicates matters because both ions and water are lost, both of which are necessary in order to work out. Calorie expenditures can also go up in the heat, along with heart rate. All of these complications can prove detrimental to a run, or more gravely, a race. In order to combat the potential negatives of running in the heat, there are a few base tricks of the trade. First, don't wait to hydrate. This is probably the most common mistake, especially for me. I rarely drink more than two cups of water on a given school day, but in reality we need about eight. And don't postpone your fluids until ten minutes before running, whereupon you gulp down six cups that proceed to slosh in your belly; in addition to being ineffective, this is just plain uncomfortable. Also, drink throughout your workout, especially if it's long. If this just isn't your style, weigh yourself before and after a hot run and drink about a cup of water for every half pound you lose. Finally, recognize the signs of heat related illness and STOP RUNNING if you experience them. Check your heart rate, your sweat output, and stay in tune with your body. If your heart rate gets about 80% of your maximum (which is 220-your age), back off. If you stop sweating and either get clammy or hot and dry, you may be suffering from heat stroke, so stop running. The basic rule is to make sure you have enough ions and water to get you through a hot run. Because, as they say, there is no bad weather, just bad preparation.

Biker girl

Almost everyone's been there before. The girls are out on a run, talking, laughing, bonding, and you're sitting in the training room as the sprinters fill up their ice bags, waiting to be poked, prodded, wrapped, and consoled. Yes, you think you're injured. For weeks, the pain in your (fill in the blank) has been bothering you, but the denial prevented you from taking the necessary precautions. You though if you just ran through it, refused to allow it to manifest itself in your training and consciousness, it would silently slip away due to lack of attention. However, this was not the case. Then, as it got worse, you began to take pain killers to get through the increasingly long miles, hoping to just make it through the next meet and then you'd allow yourself a break. Yet somehow the days kept running together, the break never came, and the pain kept worsening, until the day that you literally couldn't run any more. At that point, you had passed the time of no return weeks ago and were substantially injured-- a cowpoke weeks in a boot and a long, slow period of recovery are on the agenda and you're asking yourself what went wrong. Having been there myself, I can tell you what went wrong: you siding listen. The allure of dropping time and staying with the team trumped the logical rest days you should have taken, the cross training days that were so necessary but so unattractive. But, as the girls on my team continue to identify debilitating injuries, I decided to post a quick warning against training to the point of no return. To prevent injury, I take a multivitamin, calcium, do calf raises and hip flexer strength, and cross train. One day a week without running has kept me injury free. Also, running on grass is a huge help. Once you feel the pangs of an injury, buy new shoes IMMEDIATELY. Chances are this will nip the problem in the bud. If not, ice, ice, ice. Don't press the injury. Go see the trainer and get some preventative strength exercises. Start to cross train. All these options allow you to keep training, which is the ultimate goal! I know how it feels to be biker girl, and though you may not want to separate from the team for even a day, think of it as a day of being biker girl as opposed to two months. Believe me, I've been there, and preventative care is much easier than recovery. If you are injured, though, keep your head on straight. I know that I personally had an emotional crisis during my period of injury-- there were tears, short tempers, and feelings of isolation. However, in the face of an injury, you really do learn to love the sport. So, in short, I am just saying that as athletes we must recognize the risks and benefits of our actions. Staying uninjured is the basis for success, but proper recovery is also necessary and beneficial to later success. Keep running, but run smart so that you can do what you love!

Pushing through

I woke up today feeling absolutely terrible. I had the chills but my forehead felt hot to the touch. A consultation with the thermometer told me that I really should stay home and try to kick the sickness before it got worse, but at this point I can't take a day off. AP tests are coming, and the season is just starting to pick up aped. Thus, I trucked it through a monotonous but stressful day of school and continued on to track. Surprisingly, I was consistently 15 seconds under pace, and this was sustainable for the full three thousand intervals we did. The four hundreds hurt, as well as the two hundreds, but I attribute that to the ibuprofen sapping the water from my body and making my head pound. All in all, it was a day to simply tough it out, which proved to be achievable. To make up for this discomfort, I had some homemade twix bars. Here's the recipe (courtesy of ME... Yup, it's original!)

 Ingredients
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups plus 2 tbsp flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
3-4 tbsp milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat sugars and butter. Add eggs one at a time, until mixture is smooth. Beat in soda, salt, and vanilla. Fold in flour. Press dough into ungreased 19x9 inch pan and bake for 12 minutes or until edges are brown. Meannwhile, simmer sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar, bringing just to a boil until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking but do not burn, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Microwave milk and sugar one minute until sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool, whisking in cocoa until smooth. Once cooled to a warm but not hot temperature, pour over the chocolate chips, attiring to melt. Pour Carmel mixture over cooled cookie bars and freeze for 10 minutes to set. Then top with the chocolate mixture and let cool to set. Enjoy!

It really is insane

The tv seems riddled with these new infomercials about something called Insanity. With the new fitness craze, I tend to judge each program as a temporary solution to a mid life crisis. This may sound incredibly judgemental, but try marching in place for an hour and listening to a Lulu Lemon-clad woman tell you to feel the burn and you might get a bit cynical too. Why have I even had this experience? During my recovery from a stress fracture I did a couple to get back in the swing of things, but then decided I'd be better off spending my time elsewhere. However, with all the hype I've seen concerning the Insanity workouts, I was curious. I love infomercials, as nerdy as that sounds. They're actually pretty entertaining, especially the Magic Bullet. I came across the Insanity program while flipping through channels and heard a claim that it was the hardest workout a man had completed. He looked pretty fit, six pack abs popping out of a forty-year old stomach. A little grody to see, but it backed up his statements about the workout. My family was discussing the new craze at dinner, and my mom knew a man who'd really succeeded using the program. I was curious purely because I wondered if it really was that hard. My mom started trash talking the whole craze and implying it would be no problem for someone seasoned in pilates and running. Naturally, we decided to try it when we got the chance. I got the opportunity this morning and couldn't pass it up, despite the fact it was a rest day. I excused it as a light effort to loosen up my body post-race and work on some strength to prevent injury. It couldn't be that difficult... Psych. Twenty minutes in I was sweating and had pitied my heart rate through the roof. As I hopped around gritting my teeth and listening to Shaun T growl at me to move faster, I realized that this workout truly is insane. Reconsidering even participating in it, I knew that I should probably stop both to notnupset my track training and to maintain any semblance of dignity, but at that point, it was too late. Completing the dang thing was a pride issue, and I would not be defeated. When the circuits finally came to an end, I was both relieved and oddly proud. I could see how this program would catch on with a group of people really seeking to get fit. And what's more, it was really fun. Yes, I felt goofy flailing around, but it was really entertaining. If I weren't running track, I would definitely try to complete the program just to say that I did. As it is, I think I'm going to incorperate some insanity into my pre-Nordic season training. If you're not in a sport or on a team at the moment, I would definitely suggest giving Insanity a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how difficult it is, and love the sense of accomplishment afterwards. And, like running, it really is insane.