Archive for December, 2009
The house of sniffles and coughs
Posted by: | CommentsSo uh, I wasn’t able to kick that hill’s arse yesterday, instead I’ve been dealing with the crummy cold that my husband and daughter have had for nearly a week. I’m following my “neck rule” and since whatever this is has settled in my chest, I’m skipping the running for a few days. So if you are not sick or/freezing (it’s 38 for the high here today and my acclimated southern bones cannot deal with it), I will offer up a new running challenge for the day.
Many people assume that to run faster you need to increase your stride length. In truth, many studies have shown that elite runners all have something in common and it isn’t stride length, it’s footstrikes. These runners’ cadence is about 180-190 (or 85-90 per foot) footstrikes per minute. The more efficiently you can turn over your feet, the faster you run. So your challenge is to see where you are. Time yourself for 10 seconds, just count footstrikes on one leg since that’s easier, and see how close you are to the 85-95 number. Now see if you can achieve the ideal cadence of 95 by doing 30 footstrikes in 19 seconds. You can also do this drill as a speed workout.
Now as I sit here freezing at least one part of me is warm, my feet. I hate having cold feet and a couple of years ago I got these down booties. Yes, they are terribly ugly but they are also incredibly warm and they are great for long flights because you can smoosh them and throw them in your carry on. So if you’d rather have warm feet than tragically hip ones, get yourself some of these.
Something for your holiday mix from one of my favorites, Rufus Wainwright. I love all of the Wainwright McGarrigle music, they are what I envision my family would be like if any one of us could play an instrument or sing.
Brrrr
Posted by: | CommentsI’m not a scientist and I’m pretty sure I didn’t use the scientific method in arriving at my current conclusion. But I’m about 99% sure that it takes a mere 30-45 seconds for someone who moves from a northern climate to a southern one to adapt to the mild winter. In contrast, it takes about 50 years to get used to cold weather again. It has been cold here, but that’s a relative term. It was about 45 and windy when I went for my run this morning and though I spent most of my running years in a climate where I ran as long as it was zero degrees or warmer I was freeeezing. Just like with running in the rain, once you get going, it’s never as bad as you think, it’s just pushing yourself out the front door that’s the issue.
I have a few shirts with quasi mitten cuffs but they don’t cover my whole hands, and gloves are inevitably too warm. Someone needs to invent a running shirt that has fold over mitten cuffs like they have on those little gowns for babies. I saw these cool gloves, they might be too warm for me but those of you who live farther north of the equator might find them useful. They even have a built in key pocket, that’s pretty sweet.
Well I stuck with my pledge and altered my running route, I took a loop I haven’t done for a while and it was a nice change of pace. So the next challenge is to embrace a hill. Most of us hate hills and usually slow our pace when we climb and speed up on the descent. Switch things up, conquer the next hill you encounter – run as hard as you can and slow up on the descent for your recovery. For extra credit, run the hill again. I live at the top of a long gradual hill and especially on long run days, the hill gets the best of me. Not tomorrow though.
Here’s a Hanukkah song for your running mix. I love this song, last year we had a holiday get together for my book club and we played this and the kids danced the hora and loved it.
Virtue
Posted by: | CommentsI just saw a story that John Mellencamp promised to stop smoking if he gets a million facebook friends. And Drew Carey will donate $1 million to Livestrong if he gets 1 million Twitter followers. Am I the only one thinking, why do you need all that affirmation? The fact that your 14 year old son wants you to stop smoking should be enough for you Mr. Mellencamp. And if you have a $1 million to spare, why not just donate it already Mr. Carey? Do you want to tell someone with cancer that the reason you didn’t was because you weren’t popular enough? Apparently these guys weren’t raised by a mother who reminded them that “virtue is its own reward.”
Exercise is one of those virtues. You shouldn’t start running or an exercise routine because you want to look skinny or sexy for someone else. You should do it for yourself. Do it because it makes you feel good. Do it because you want to be healthy. December is the hardest month to stay on track though. My friend Joanna had a good idea, adding just one small thing to your workout to help you stay motivated. I’m going to try and think up a small running challenge for myself each day. I was going to try and run every day in December but I just don’t think that’s going to be feasible with traveling and holiday chaos.
Today’s challenge: mix up your route. I run pretty much the same route every day. From my house I run a mile to the park and then run on the trail until I hit the halfway point of the distance I’m running. On my next run I’m going to run a different way home to mix things up. If you run a loop, try running it the opposite way. Run down a different street in your neighborhood. Or run a completely different trail. Just a little something different to make you think!
Today’s mix is a Hanukkah song from Sacha Baron Cohen’s brother. Seriously, the dude is a musician!
