Before welcoming in 2010, I’d like to take a few sentences to mention what I’ve been thankful for in 2009:

1. My husband, who is both my friend and the love of my life
2. That we have enough resources to keep a roof over our head and food on our table
3. Family and friends, who have supported and comforted me throughout the year
4. My dog Amigo, who we lost to old age this year, but who I was privileged to live with for almost 17 years
5. Our new puppy Pedro, who may challenge us but will also enrich our lives
6. Good health
7. The continued gift of being able to run

Wishing everyone a New Year filled with good health and joy, and maybe even a PR or two!

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There may be something really wrong with me (I’m sure there is), but I’ve always loved running in fresh snow. It’s not that I like cold weather–in fact, I don’t really like the cold much at all–but there’s something about the way the world looks all frosted over that I really love.

This morning I got my chance to do my first real snow run of the season. Sure, we’ve had flurries a couple of times this year already, but this storm is supposed to be the real thing. In fact, the weather sites report that we’d already gotten up to 6 inches by the time I headed out this morning, and we may get a couple of feet in my area before it’s all said and done.

The #1 key to enjoying running in the snow is to dress properly. For me, that meant a long-sleeved shirt, tights, ancient (15 year-old?) Goretex jacket and pants, hat, gloves and overmitts, wool socks, and stabilicers over my running shoes. With that, I felt pretty comfortable on my short two-miler.

The #2 key is to take it slow. There’s really no point in trying to run fast in this stuff, so just enjoy!

Hope you’re all enjoying your fall running.

Related posts:

1. Winter Running Gear Part 2

Well, it depends how you look at it.

If you’ve been following along, you know that I was planning to run the Denver Half Marathon this past Sunday, that I’ve had a few injuries this year that have kept me from training as hard or as much as I would have liked, and that my only real goal for this race was to finish the race feeling healthy. I did have it in the back of my mind though that I wasn’t going to be able to finish much under 2:30 because I was planning to run/walk the race and I was run/walking about 11 minute miles in the few longer training runs I had prior to the race. So as not to keep those with short attention spans in suspense, I did end up finishing healthy, and my time was quite a bit better than I had guessed it would be. So all in all, I’d count the race as a success.

The morning of the race was cool–probably in the mid-40s–but it was predicted to get into the low 80s that day. So I started the race wearing a fleece that I’d bought the day before for about $2 at the thrift store knowing that I’d toss it to the side in the first mile, with a short sleeve shirt and some Zensah arm sleeves under that. I also parked myself way towards the back of the start, which meant that it took me what I guessed was about 2 minutes to cross the start line. Yes, I said guessed. That’s right, I made the rookie mistake of forgetting to wear either a watch or my Garmin, which I hadn’t realized until we were already halfway to the race. This made it difficult to execute my race plan of doing a 4/1 run/walk ratio, but I figured I would try to walk for a bit every half mile or so and just see how things went.

This plan went pretty well through mile 7 or so despite that fact that it felt really odd not having a solid idea of what pace I was running at, other than the clock at about mile 5 where I estimated I was running about a 10:15 pace. However, for some reason I didn’t see the mile marker at mile 8 so I missed a couple of walk breaks between about miles 7.5 and mile 9, which I should have realized because I remember thinking to myself “this is the longest mile EVER”! I was still feeling pretty good though, so I stuck with the ‘walk a few seconds every half mile or so’ plan.

Somewhere between miles 11 and 12, the marathoners and half marathoners parted ways. I was feeling a bit tired by then and very glad that I wasn’t running the marathon, but was happy that I hadn’t had any pain or any real problems at all other than a bit of a hot spot under my left forefoot, so I knew I was going to finish. Shortly after that, I saw my husband and heard him cheering for me, which was a huge boost. I decided not to do any walking in the last mile and just ran it in, giving me a clock time of 2:12:05.

Other stats: Actual time: 2:09:55, 2052 out of 4480 participants, 1024 out of 2834 women, 125 out of 367 in my age group. This was a personal worst time for me by over 10 minutes, and over 20 minutes slower than my PR. However, since I hadn’t done this race before, it was a course PR for me (weak, I know, but it gives me something to shoot for next time).

All in all, I felt pretty good about this race and was glad I did it even though I knew I wasn’t at my best. Hope you all are enjoying your fall races!

Related posts:

1. Race Day Magic at the Colfax Half
2. Colfax Half Marathon Goals

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times previously, I’m going to be running the Denver Half Marathon this coming Sunday. As you also know if you’ve been following along, my training hasn’t gone all that well this year because of various injuries. In fact, the longest run I’ve been able to get in since mid-August is the 10-miler I did this past Saturday.

Because of this lack of solid training, I’ve decided that I’m going to run/walk the race using a 4 minute/1 minute ratio. I’ve also decided that since the race is no longer a goal race for me, and I haven’t really trained enough to warrant it, I’m not going to bother with any sort of taper. Instead, I trained pretty normally last week, putting in a bit over 20 miles plus a bit of cross-training and weight work, and I’m going to do about the same this week. The only concession I’m going to make is that I’ll skip the leg weights this week to make sure my legs aren’t stiff on Sunday.

So what’s my plan for Sunday? Well, besides just trying to stick with the 4/1 run/walk ratio, I just want to finish the race feeling good and not injured. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes, particularly since I’ve never run/walked a race before.

Any of you have experience running a race after coming off any injury and not being as fit as you’d like? How did you adjust your goals and tapering schedule?

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I marked my second week of post-injury running with a race this morning. It was the Broomfield Days 5K–a tiny little race that is held during the ‘burb’s annual community celebration. Last year the race had fewer than 150 entrants; I’m guessing that this year’s turnout was about the same.

I debated quite a bit before deciding to enter this race, both because I wasn’t sure I wanted to pony up the $20 and because I thought it might be a bit too much of a strain on my foot. However, in the end, I was convinced by several twitter friends that the cost wasn’t out of line, and I thought that as long as I didn’t push too hard, my foot could probably handle it.

I didn’t know quite what to expect from this race but I knew it was going to be pretty low key (the picture is of the finish line; low-key may be an understatement). No clocks at the start or finish, and no gun to start it…I think it was basically just a “Runners ready…3, 2, 1 go!” that started us off. My first mile was probably a bit too fast given my current level of fitness, about 8:27 according to the guy that was calling out times (I decided not to wear my Garmin or even a watch so I wouldn’t worry about my time). And I held the pace pretty well through mile 2; I think I hit about marker in just over 17 minutes. However, in the 3rd mile, my pace dropped a bit and I ended up finishing in 26:55, which is about an 8:40 pace. Not a great time, but better than I expected and good enough for 4th place in my age group.

I’m pleased that my foot seemed to hold up well; it felt pretty good during the race and afterward was just a bit stiff. So overall, I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been recovering.

I started back 2 weeks ago by doing 4 short runs, all with planned walk breaks every few minutes, and I continued the cross-training I’ve been doing. This week on my Tuesday run I also took planned walk breaks, but increased the mileage to just over 5, and Thursday, I again ran about 5 miles but with no walk breaks after my warmup. I also managed to get in a swim, some strength work, and one quick bike interval session this week in addition to today’s race. And I’ll probably wrap up the week tomorrow with an easy swim.

I’m hoping to be feeling good enough by next weekend to get in 7-8 miles or so on my ‘long’ run, and I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to get in a couple of 10+ milers before the Denver Half Marathon on October 18. I’m feeling good enough that I think I’ll be able to complete the race, but since I’ve lost quite a bit of solid training time, I’m probably going to run/walk it and just try to enjoy the experience. A PR can wait for another time.

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Due to my injury, I’ve been doing a lot of cross-training lately (which I should be doing regularly anyway, but that’s a different subject). In an attempt to keep my fitness level up and also keep myself entertained, I’ve been doing high-intensity intervals a couple of times a week on the bike.

High intensity intervals are different from the more standard interval training I’m used to doing in that they are shorter and (predictably) more intense, consisting of a short, all-out effort followed by a brief period of rest. In theory, high intensity intervals give you the same endurance benefits as longer periods of aerobic exercise while also increasing your metabolic rate.

If any of you have experience doing this type of interval training, I’d love to hear about the workouts you’ve done and how effective you think they are. If you haven’t done high intensity intervals before but would like to try, here are three different workout ideas I got from the book Run for Life:

• Tabata Intervals: 8 x (20 seconds all out, 10 seconds recovery)
• Sprint-8: 8 x (30 seconds all out, 90-120 seconds recovery)
• Momentum intervals: 8 x (3 minute hard, 1 minute recovery)

These workouts are nice because they can be done with any form of aerobic cross-training–bike, swim, stairmaster, whatever–and they are really easy to remember. And although they are very short, they are killer workouts. I’m hoping they work as advertised and will keep me in shape during this injury layoff.

Speaking of which, two weeks post-injury, my foot is improving, although it’s not back to 100% yet. The swelling is pretty much gone, and walking hurts a lot less, but it still doesn’t feel good enough to risk a run. I’m hoping that one more weekend without running will be enough to get it healed, after which I’ll slowly work my way back into my normal running schedule.

Related posts:

1. Does Commuting on a Bike Count as Cross Training?

I seem to be plagued with injuries lately. First a hamstring injury, now this: a stress reaction in my second metatarsal, left foot.

For those of you that don’t know what a ’stress reaction’ is (I didn’t!), here’s the lay explanation my podiatrist gave me: it’s basically a less serious version of a stress fracture, where the bone bends, leaving a weak area, but doesn’t break. I’m actually feeling pretty fortunate, considering that pre-MRI, he told me if he were a betting man, he would have bet that I had a stress fracture.

What that means for me is two weeks without running, jumping or anything high-impact. Biking and swimming are okay, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on. Also, I’m supposed to ease back into the training for the two weeks after that.

Overall, it’s not so bad. I don’t have to wear a boot, and the recovery time is much shorter than the 4-6 weeks it would have been if it had been a stress fracture. So I should still be able to run the Denver Half Marathon in October.

Best wishes to my twitter friends, @boulderrunner, @deefsu, and @britishbulldog, who are all dealing with similar injuries. May we all heal quickly!

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Last night our water heater decided to give up the ghost.

Around midnight, just as my husband was starting to drift off to sleep, he heard an odd noise coming from our basement. Being a wiser (or at least more alert) person than I, he went downstairs to check it out and found that our water heater was spewing water from one of its pipes. Yikes! Thinking quickly, he shut off the valves and came back upstairs. By that time, I had finally woken up and he told me that our water heater had died.

Fast forward to this morning. I went out on my run, thinking that even though I really hate taking cold showers even in the summer, that I’d be forced to do so this morning. Then I remembered: Martha, the creator of ActionWipes, had been kind enough to send me a sample of the product. So after getting home and eating my morning snack, I grabbed an ActionWipes packet and went upstairs to try it out.

The wipe came in an individual packet (not so important for me today, but this would make it very convenient to take them to work or an event), and when unfolded, was fairly large–much larger than a typical baby wipe or hand wipe. The scent was fresh but not overpowering or antiseptic-smelling, and it left me feeling clean rather than sticky after using it. In sum, the product met all of my expectations.

I often think that I’d like to work out during the day when I have to go in to work, but there’s no shower at my office and I don’t belong to a gym down there, so I don’t really ever do that. However, if I had a supply of ActionWipes on hand, I think I could get in an occasional workout on my lunch break without offending my co-workers for the rest of the day.

The price seems quite reasonable; $1.25 for an individual pack, and less if you buy them in a 15- or 25-count multi-pack. And another great thing about ActionWipes–they can be washed and reused.

If you’ve been looking for a product like this or have been using baby wipes and our looking to upgrade to something better, I’d definitely recommend you try them out.

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I’ve had some ongoing hamstring problems for the past couple of months. Except for the first week or so, I’ve been able to run despite this, after being advised by a therapist that it was okay to do so. Speedwork though? Not so much.

On top of this, last week I went on vacation and didn’t manage to get in any running at all, although we did do a bit of hiking. I thought that the time off might allow my hamstring to heal. However, it almost seems like the combination of not running and spending quite a bit of time in the car had the opposite effect. Monday, when I got in my first post-vacation run, my legs felt incredibly tight and my attempt at doing intervals was incredibly slow. In fact, I can’t remember ever doing 800s quite that slow.

The good news is that today’s run went much better, not as far as the speed (still incredibly slow), but my legs seemed to have loosened up on this 3rd post-vacation run. Now I’d like to work on getting my speed back without re-injuring myself.

One thing I’m going to do is to re-commit myself to doing strength training. I’m fairly sure that weak hamstrings have contributed to the problems that I’m having, and I’m hoping that strengthening my legs and core will help prevent me from re-injuring myself. I’m also going to work on really taking my easy runs easy, which I’m hoping will help me feel stronger when I’m doing tempo runs or intervals.

Anyone have some other ideas on how to get some speed back? I sure could use some help!

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Last night I had the chance to listen to and meet Jeff Galloway, the former Olympic marathoner and current running coach/entrepreneur, who was speaking at my local Road Runner Sports store. The session was a very informal Q&A in which Jeff answered general running questions as well as specific questions about his training programs. Unfortunately, I didn’t take notes, so the following won’t contain exact quotes from Jeff, but will (hopefully) capture the gist of his comments.

On Stretching

One of the audience members asked about stretching, and when they should be doing it. Galloway responded that he didn’t recommend stretching for runners, with the possible exception of an IT band (iliotibial band) stretch (explained here). He explained that there was no evidence that stretching was helpful to runners, and in fact, was often the source of injury. He also said that he believed the same was true of plyometrics and yoga – that there was no benefit to runners.

To me, this was the most radical statement that he made the entire night. I had previously heard and read from several sources that you shouldn’t stretch before running, but had never heard such a blanket statement that it was something to be avoided, and in fact, many if not most programs seem to recommended stretching after running.

On Weight Training

When I asked Jeff about what weight training he recommended for runners, he said that he didn’t recommend any type of leg weights, but he did recommend exercises to strengthen your shoulders and core.

One specific exercise he mentioned was what he called “arm running”, which he described as moving your arms in a running motion while holding weights and standing still. This exercise will strengthen your shoulders, back and arms, which should reduce the fatigue people sometimes get in those areas.

On Massage and Related Therapies

Jeff said that he was a proponent of deep tissue massage, and that he believed that it aided recovery. He also recommended using a foam roller as a home alternative to massage.

When I asked him about Active Release Therapy (ART), his opinion was mixed. He believed that it could be helpful for certain injuries, like plantar fasciitis, if you had a good therapist, but it could cause more harm than good if you put yourself in the wrong hands.

On Cross Training

Jeff said that the evidence showed that cross training would not help you improve your running, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t recommend it for other reasons. For example, he mentioned that studies showed that for every hour spent doing aerobic exercise, people gained two hours back in increased lifespan.

The only cross training exercise that he believed would actually help runners improve was pool running. For this, he recommended using either a ‘pool noodle’ or an AquaJogger belt for flotation.

On Ice Baths

I believe the exact words he used for this therapy was ‘cruel and unusual’. However, this doesn’t mean that he didn’t see the benefit of cooling your legs after a hard run, he just felt that an ice bath was too extreme.

Jeff said that the studies showed a benefit from cooling your legs down within the first 15 minutes after running, but that you only needed to immerse yourself in water that was about 20 degrees cooler than the temperature your legs were at, for example, a pool or a cool bath.

This was welcome news to me, as I am really cold-adverse and the thought of an ice bath just makes me cringe.

On His Run/Walk/Run Methodology

Jeff believes, and said that the results from those that have followed his program show, that using his run/walk/run method both during long training runs and races will produce faster times, at least at the longer distances. When asked specifically about the 5K, he indicated that the results were less positive, although some people had shown good results.

He gave several examples of significant improvements by runners who used this method, ranging from those who had been 6 hour + marathoners to those whose times had been under 3 hours and were trying to qualify for Boston. His explanation for these results was that the walk breaks keep your legs fresher, allowing you to recover faster and not tire at the end of the race.

The length of the breaks he recommends vary from 30 seconds running/1 minute walking for those running at a slower pace (16 minutes/mile) to 4 minutes running/35 seconds walking for those running at a faster (8 minutes/mile) training pace. He also mentioned that during a race, if you feel strong, you can skip the walk breaks during the final few miles.

My Thoughts

Galloway’s opinions definitely gave me something to think about. I’m not ready to wholeheartedly embrace his ideas on not stretching, but I will make sure that I stretch even more cautiously than I have been, and that I don’t push myself beyond my current capabilities when doing yoga. For me, the benefits I get from yoga, including improved core strength and increased calm, are too important to me to make me stop, even if I am increasing my risk of injury.

Regarding walk breaks: this is something I never have done in the past, and I am considering trying it out. I know a lot of people are proponents of this method, and it was interesting to hear that even people who are much faster than I am have improved their times using the run/walk/run method.

Regarding cross training: I will continue to incorporate cross training into my fitness plans, for calorie-burning reasons, variety, and for sheer enjoyment. One adjustment I will make it to include occasional pool running into my training schedule.

If you have any opinions or personal experience on anything mentioned here, especially his more controversial ideas (e.g. not stretching and the run/walk/run methodology), I’d love to hear about them, so please leave a comment.

In the words of Michael B., a fellow blogger/runner and a huge proponent of Galloway’s run/walk/run method, gotta run!

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