Archive for September, 2009
From Head to Toe
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My daughter is a reader and some of our favorite books are those by Eric Carle. I was delighted to discover several months ago that he has a blog. He had a recent post about the inspiration for the book From Head to Toe. As a child he was never really physically active and suffered back pain as an adult. A massage therapist gave him some exercises to do and they inspired him to write the book. The cat pose above is a yoga pose which made me think, I need to get back into yoga.
I will go ahead and admit it right now, I don’t stretch. You can find evidence to support either it works or it doesn’t work or it’s bad for you or not but I think you go with what works for you. When I was doing a lot more races, I went to yoga a couple of times a week and that was much better for me than stretching after a run. Yoga can be great not only for your flexibility but also for your all around well being. It can be calming and centering. I have fallen out of the habit and need to get back into it and I just came across this: 10 Best Poses for Runners. I’m going to challenge myself to do this at least twice a week. My daughter loves doing the yoga poses I’ve taught her so I’m going to recruit her to join me. Unless Max & Ruby is on, then I’m on my own.
If you are an Eric Carle fan as well, be sure to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a child you know and love on October 8 in conjunction with Read for the Record. The goal is to set a record for people reading the same book. You can sign up here.
Speaking of cats, how about a little Cat Power for your running mix.
Put a lid on it
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I like to wear a hat when I run. I have long hair and it keeps my hair under control and with my favorite Headsweats hats, there’s a strip of terry cloth inside that absorbs sweat so I don’t get salty drips in my eyes. I just got an email that Headsweats is running a promotion right now and you get $10 off two hats which is an awesome deal. Just use coupon code BKE2809 when you check out. These hats last forever and I take mine into the shower and wash it with a little liquid soap and it’s good as new. I wear an Ironman hat but I just noticed that they have a cool line of marathon hats so I think I’m going to get a few of those too.
It rained here today so I had to suck it up and run on the treadmill. When I trained for my first marathon I did all my running on a treadmill, I really can’t believe it now. I remember doing a long run one Sunday night at the gym and right as I got on the treadmill the movie The American President was starting. I watched the entire movie during that run. Now I just get bored but sometimes I have to do it if I want to get my run for the day. One thing I do to make it more tolerable is turn it into a little bit of a speed workout. I generally start out at an easy speed, one that I would do for a long run. Then depending on how far I’m running I crank up the speed just one notch – like 6.0 to 6.1 every 1/2 mile or mile. The last 1/2 mile of my run I crank it up every .10 of a mile. By the end of my run I’m usually sprinting but at least it breaks things up a little. I was doing a little online searching and found a Running Times feature on treadmill workouts that looks pretty intriguing, I’d like to try these workouts so I’m going to challenge myself to do a treadmill workout at least once a week and try a new workout each week. Maybe I’ll start liking the treadmill again!
I had Indian food last night so here’s an Indian themed selection for your running mix.
Role models
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I got an email from my friend Charlie today telling me about the race his family did yesterday. He and his wife and their three boys all ran, including his son who recently had brain surgery. I think one of the best things you can do for your kids is model good health habits. My daughter has been going on runs with my husband or me since she was an infant. It’s now just a normal part of our routine, my husband usually pushes the jogging stroller and takes her to the park off the path where we run when they are at the end of their run. The other day I was getting ready for my run and I asked her to get my running shoes for me, she came out of the closet wearing my shoes and hat and said “I’m ready to go running now!”
I hope that she enjoys running when she gets older but if not, that’s ok. We’ll encourage her to find some physical activity that she does like, which shouldn’t be hard since she’s only 2 and wants to try everything. So far she’s requested to go ice skating, play tennis, take swimming lessons, and learn karate. And the good news is that she appears to have much more hand/eye coordination than her mother who abandoned all ball related sports and still managed to break bones and get quite bruised by running and cycling.
Here’s a good article about the importance of fitness and kids.
Here’s a good song for your kids’ mix, we like to play this and run around and well, wave our hands in the air, cock a doodle doodle do.
Long run tunes
Posted by: | CommentsLet me start my post long run debrief by saying that sometimes your long run goes great and sometimes it feels like you are wearing cement shoes. Today was a cement shoe day for me. I was out at a festival yesterday afternoon and think I set in motion some dehydration which carried over to today. Whenever I have a day like today I just power through it however I can. The last miles weren’t pretty and I walked the last one but I finished. I actually think having a bad long run in your training isn’t such a horrible thing. You never know how things are going to go on race day and knowing that you can get through a run even when you aren’t feeling great really does help you fight any negative thoughts. I’ve had marathons where I felt great the whole way and ones where I thought I was going to die. Once I had food poisoning and kind of wished I would die. But I kept plugging away so I could get my finisher’s medal! Don’t obsess over the bad runs, see if you can figure out why you had it and tweak your training a bit. Training is much more than logging miles, it’s a learning opportunity.
One thing that really helps me get through my runs is music. The iPod was a game changer for me. Before then there weren’t any real good options for music. A radio had inconsistent reception and ever try running with a portable CD player? I like controlling my own music selections and not having to listen to the song skip 10,000 times in 2 minutes. I like to make new playlists for my runs or for whatever is going on in my life. I’ve got distance mixes with enough music for the amount of time I estimate my run will take. When I got laid off I had a “layoff” mix and last year when I had a particularly bad September I had a “september sucks” mix.
Recently I’ve discovered PodRunner mixes on iTunes and podrunner.com and prefer those on my long run day. These mixes are house/techno mixes that are each about an hour. There’s a brief intro by DJ Steve Boyett and then an hour of music that’s set to a specific BPM. I usually listen to a couple during my long run and use a faster BPM mix for the end of my run, it seems crazy but the faster tempo really keeps me moving when my feet are starting to feel heavy. And here’s the best thing – all the mixes are FREE! You can subscribe to the podcasts on iTunes and get a new one each week as well as download all the older ones. Today I listened to Chants Meeting which is now my fave, Splendiferous (which really is), and Hothouse which I didn’t love.
What songs keep you motivated?
