I got some “splainin” to do!

Now, I’d love to say I have a great excuse for not updating the blog for 3 months, and I kind of do, but I’m not going to use my perfect, happy 3 month old daughter, Libby, as an excuse! Nor am I going to blame my blogging ineptitude on being very busy in the store and with races! I’m just going to come right out and say it, I suck!! However, in an attempt to follow the recommendation for a New Year’s Resolution from our Mizuno rep, I’m trying hard not suck this year! I’m just 3 months behind!

To catch you up on my training, I wasn’t running as much toward the end of 2011. I was frequenting a spin class at Gold’s Gym. The class begins at 5:30 AM, but I got in to it so much, I was showing up at 4:30 to ride an hour before the class! I know what the “normal” of you are thinking, “4:30!!! How?” Well, I got competitive via social networking. I got this foursquare ap on my iPhone. Many of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter are annoyed by it! It’s an ap that allows you to “Check In” at locations, give a status update, and attach photos. Yeah, it sounds just like the Facebook application, however what I found to be motivating about foursquare, it would inform me of how many days, weeks, or months in a row I had visited a location and award badges for frequency. It sounds pretty corny, but I need all the help I can get to get up at 4 AM! I think the week streak ended for me at 25! During that stretch, I was going 3 days a week to spin and running, probably 4 times a week, minimal mileage.  

Then, another “HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE” (I believe every one is entitled to as many “happiest days of their lives” as they want) happened on December 19!! Baby girl Elizabeth “Libby” Ann Martinez arrived, and as many of you know, things changed. Running and spinning take a back seat to helping out Mommy and taking care of my baby girl!

So, for a status update, all is well with Libby and the running has gotten back to consistent! In fact, I have a goal race in the Dixie 200 Relay the weekend of May 18 & 19, and as of right now, out of the 12 members, I am the weak link. The goal: DON’T BE THE WEAK LINK! I ran 25 miles last week, mostly on the road, and the shin feels pretty good!  As for the blogging, I plan to try to do better (I feel like I’ve said this before). Thanks for reading!

The hottest, cold run EVER!

AHHHH…COLD WEATHER!! Around this time, every year, I’m reminded of a weekend in my life that was a very important learning experience! Now, this story applies to new runners and those who hate the cold, so pay attention!

 

A little history lesson first. I ran track and played basketball at Boaz High School. We didn’t have a cross country team, and most certainly didn’t have an indoor track season. My Fall and Winter running was in the gym up and down a court! I didn’t go outside to run til late Spring and ran a few road races in the summer. Basically, I was a warm weather runner! Well, obviously, that all had to change once I went to UAB to run cross country and indoor and outdoor track. College running meant every day, every condition, with few exceptions!

 

So, I showed up to UAB with what I considered running clothes. I actually did have good running shorts, but everything else was cotton. From August to October of my Freshman year, I was lucky! The weather was rather mild. Then, where is our first conference meet? Good ole Chicago! Now, this is funny for two reasons. One, the trip to Chicago would be my second time EVER on a plane, and two, there just so happened to be a winter storm brewing for that particular weekend.

 

First, the plane! We’re flying into Midway and the captain hits the mic as we’re descending, “Well, it’s a little windy in Chicago, so it’s going to be a rough one going in for the landing. But don’t you worry! We’ll have you guys down safe, shortly.” He did not exaggerate a bit! As we’re getting closer to the ground, I look out my window and can see straight down the runway, as if the plane is coming in sideways!! I was definitely freaking out, but as a freshman, if I were to have started crying, I’d never heard the end of it!! Anyway, we landed and all was OK.

 

OK, on to the running! We went to the course on Friday for a preview. It was a beautiful park right on the lake. The wind had calmed, but it was definitely cold! After the preview, we went to dinner and a team meeting, at which the coach informs us, a Winter storm was blowing in and to expect frigid temps and snow! I was in a panic!! Not only had I never run in snow, but I’m not sure I had raced in temperatures below 40 degrees! Back at the hotel, I looked through my bag. I had my uniform, team warm up, a pair of cotton gloves, a cotton hat and a long sleeve cotton tee. I decided to wear the long sleeve tee under my singlet. At the course, during the warm up, it came a blizzard, or at least, what I consider a blizzard! The snowflakes were as big as my head!! I took off my warm up and lined up on the starting line, shaking like a leaf. By mile two, I was sweating like crazy and about to die from heat exhaustion! At the finish, I couldn’t get that long sleeve tee off quick enough!!

Needless to say, winter running apparel was tops on my Christmas wish list that year, and I don’t know how my Mom pulled it off with no spectacular running store (Trak Shak) in town, but she hooked me up!! There were polyester mock turtle necks, running pants with tapered legs, and the prize of the collection, a kelly green pair of Sporthill stirrup pants. You old school runners remember stirrup pants!!!

 

So, if you’re new to running in the cold or just HATE the cold weather, here’s some tips.

 

1. Cotton is Rotten! Cotton fibers are thicker than synthetic fibers and hold more moisture, which in turn either makes you too hot or too cold depending upon the temperature. This applies from head to toe, so socks, gloves, hats, shirts, shorts, undies……they all need to be polyester, nylon or a blend of non cotton fibers.

 

2. If you are warm before you even start running, you have too many clothes on!!

 

3. Purchase a running vest!! It is by far my favorite piece of running apparel! It’s the perfect outer layer for Alabama weather! I’ll put a thick base layer on under the vest on those under 30 days, and even wear a short sleeve base layer on those 50 and raining days.

 

4. If the really cold weather burns your lungs, buy a neckwarmer. Neckwarmers fit, obviously, around your neck, but they also have a mesh area that fits over your mouth. It helps warm and moisten air as you inhale to ease the burning!

 

5. Fellas, buy a pair of wind briefs! There are certain areas of the body that are more sensitive than others. Wind briefs protect those areas WELL!

 

6. FINALLY, but probably should be FIRSTLY, stop by any Trak Shak location and check out the latest winter apparel from Brooks, Nike, Asics, Skirt Sports and others! There are a lot of smart people working for these companies, and they surprise me every year with new additions to winter running apparel lines!!

 

Oh yeah, for your viewing pleasure. In the picture above, I’m the one with the hat on!! That’s about 45 pounds ago, and the glasses probably weighed at least 5!

A Guide to Ladies Night

The infamous Trak Shak Ladies Night is tomorrow night from 6 until YOU QUIT SHOPPING!!! I was thinking on my run this morning that I need to publish a “Trak Shak Ladies Night Guide”! Whether this is your first Ladies Night or you’ve been to them all, the guide will surely help!
1. I’d like to preemptively answer some common questions. No, we do not RSVP for this event. We want as many ladies in the store as we can get!! For you super, super bargain shoppers, NO you may not get your BTC, Vulcan Tri, Team Magic discount in addition to the already SWEET 20% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE (of regularly priced items) LADIES NIGHT DISCOUNT!! We’re discounting the stuff, not giving it away! HA! Lastly, NO you may not put something on hold on Wednesday night to wait to purchase on Thursday night. I know that sounds strict, but our hold shelf only has so much room, and it stresses our manager out as it fills up!
2. Obviously, the best thing about Ladies Night, other than the guys in skirts, is the 20% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE of regularly priced items. Other than Mercedes Marathon weekend, this is the only time our shoes are discounted this much! Even if you don’t need shoes, I’d recommend considering it!
3. New this year! We’re adding a Sidewalk Sale!! There will be quite a bit of apparel and quite a few shoes outside that will have extra special discounts!! I’d recommend arriving at 6 on the dot if you want to catch the extra special deals!
4. GIVEAWAYS!!!! We’re going to have a table set up with a bucket to throw your name into, from which we will be drawing for prizes at 7 PM!! What can you win? We’re giving away 2 pairs of Mizuno shoes ($100 value) and a Timex watch ($69.95 value). I’m sure, in the next 24 hours, we’ll come up with some other stuff to just giveaway without having a drawing, so be ready for key chains, caps and t-shirts!
5. Look for our Newton Running rep and Alektra Sportwear owner, Angela to chat about their products! 
6. If you can’t make it, try to get by our 280 or Trussville locations during the day, where we will be celebrating Ladies Day!! It’s the same discounts without the booze, raffle and food!
Well, that’ll about do it! If you’re sitting in front of your computer thinking “I don’t really need anything” remember this! Christmas is right around the corner!!! Sadly, I was reminded of that this past weekend after seeing some Christmas stuff already up in the stores! It’s the perfect opportunity to shop for that running brother, husband, girl friend, son, daughter, and…you get it! Also, this year’s attractions include a couple of bearded ladies, which is obviously a must see!!! We can’t wait to see you here!!!

An Old Dog Remembering Old Tricks

A couple of weeks ago, Vestavia Hills Country Club was nice enough to ask me to come out and participate in their first Lunch and Learn session. It was VERY cool! Basically, I got an excellent free lunch to do what I do everyday, talk about running!! During the Q&A, a member, who happens to be a friend of mine, asks about proper running form. He’s noticed over the past few years, after watching folks in his running group and in races, everybody’s form seems to be different. So how does one know when they have proper form? It seems I’ve become rather complacent when asked this question. I answered with, what has become my default response, “You run how you run.”, and added a few tips. For some reason, that answer  really bugged me though! I couldn’t quit thinking about it after the session!!  
Coincidentally, the following week, Newton Running was at our Wednesday Night Run. The reps brought a bunch of shoes to try out on the run AND their running form expert, Ian Adamson. Ian spoke at the run and then put on a running form clinic on Thursday morning. It was about 5 steps into the high knee drills  when I realized, I REMEMBER THIS and I really need to work on my answer to our customers’ “how do I run” question!!
Back in the day, after virtually every easy run, our team would venture over to the practice football field and do a series of drills that included strides, high knees, butt kicks, bounds and my personal favorite, The Karaoke. Back then, drills just seemed like something I had to get through before hitting the ice bath. NOW, after going through them with Ian and the Newton boys, I realize not only how weak I am, especially in my core, but how much they actually help with running form!
SO, here’s the new answer! Obviously, if you are a long time runner, out of habit and muscle memory, you’ve developed a form, and if it’s working, who am I to tell you to change! However, if you are new to running, have been running forever and can’t seem to get rid of a nagging injury, or want to improve your times, add these drills to your running regimen! I know it will help!! Oh yeah, for a full demonstration, please see Scott at The Trak Shak Homewood!

8 is the new 7!

While on a 4 mile run this past Sunday, I was thinking about an Evite I received for a friend’s 40th birthday party which read, “40 is the new 20!”. I was thinking of the correlation of age to pace. You see when I was 20, 7 minute pace was the easy pace. On days between workouts and races, we’d take off on a run, and 7 minute pace just seemed to be where we could stay comfortably forever! Now that I’m approaching 40, (I turn 37 next month, in case you were wondering) 7 minute pace ain’t so easy anymore! So, I’ve decided to tweak my “training” a bit. “Training” is in quotations because I’m not technically training since there really aren’t any workouts, long runs, or goal races. None the less, I’m making 8 minute pace my new 7 minute pace!

After finishing the aforementioned 4 mile run on Sunday, I was shot! Granted, I’ve only been back from injury for about 4 weeks AND that 4 mile run was my longest, I still felt a lot worse than expected. After going through every excuse in my mind, dehydration, 99% humidity, a run-in with a Copperhead, it wasn’t til I plugged my Nike GPS Sportwatch (available for $199 at all The Trak Shak locations) I realized I ran faster than I have been. The first mile was around 7:30 and the rest were all around 7:00 and under. As I thought back further to the training for Mercedes Half and Talladega, I realized all of my runs were close to 7:00 pace! With the lack of speed work and long runs, that’s pretty much race pace, and race pace all the time just ain’t good!

Here’s my training adjustment and what I’d recommend, especially for you guys trying to qualify for Boston or run a PR in the next local 5K. Throw some easy days in there!! Let’s say you’re training for Mercedes Half and your goal time is 2 hours, which is 9:16 pace. Pick two days a week when you’ll run 9:16 or faster and the rest at 10:00 pace or slower, including the long run.

HAPPY TRAILS!

This is how I roll!

It was about my 10th week of running in college when I developed my first running injury! Apparently, when one goes from running about 20 miles a week to running 80 miles a week in 5 weeks, they will develop IT band syndrome! Who knew?! I was freaked out!!!! It felt like I couldn’t bend my knee and the side of my leg was on fire. I went to see a couple of docs recommended by our athletic trainer, and it seemed their only solution was some strength exercises, a shot of cortisone and/or surgery. I did the strength, stretching, pool running and swimming with no success for 4 weeks. Coincidentally, those 4 weeks are when I developed my hatred for swimming and pool running!

FINALLY, my assistant coach at the time, Scotty Strand, mentioned a massage therapist he’d been visiting consistently for a while and maybe I should go for a visit. Why it took 3 and a half weeks to divulge that information, I’m not sure! Scott also mentioned he wanted to go with me once I made the appointment. I wasn’t really sure the reason behind his eagerness to come with, but it didn’t take long to figure it out. Ole Ron asked me to lay on my side and handed me a towel. I said, “What’s the towel for?”! Both Scott and Ron smiled as Ron proceeded to dig into my right IT band! THE most painful 30 minutes of my life followed, and as promised, I figured out the towel was to clinch between my teeth!! Oh yeah, and Scott came along to sit in the corner and laugh at me!

That was a Monday. On Tuesday, I woke up to go try to do my morning run, which had ended at about 1 mile on the previous attempts. Other than a bit of soreness, my IT band didn’t flare up, my knee didn’t lock up, and I was able too complete my 4 mile morning run! Not only that, I competed in our conference cross country meet the following Saturday, with no pain! Well, no IT band pain anyway!

My point to that story, it was the first time I realized the benefit of massage therapy for athletes, and attending massage therapy school after college only further reinforced that fact! While in massage therapy school not only did I get the added benefit of weekly massages for education sake, I also had to seek out volunteers to work on to complete the necessary “body work” hours in order to graduate. My volunteers of course were runners, which gave me a “hands on” (pun intended) view of how massage improved performance, prevented injury, and aided in recovery.

Now, if you’re like me, you can’t afford a weekly massage appointment. To remedy this issue, over the past few years, quite a few tools have hit the market to allow any individual to basically give themselves a massage. The two I like the most are The Stick and the foam roller. To give each a poor description. The Stick is pretty much a modified rolling pin made of strong plastic with ergonomic handles and segmented spindles over the shaft to independently roll over muscle. The foam roller is a large cylinder made of foam, and that’s it. They both sound pretty simple, and we’re all saying to ourselves, “Why didn’t I think of that?”! The basic premise for each is to roll over muscles to massage.

My favorite is the Stick! We carry two at our stores, the Sprinter Stick and the Marathon Stick. I recommend the Sprinter Stick to those who like deep tissue massage and the Marathon Stick to those who prefer a more sensitive massage. I prefer The Stick because I can use it to target smaller muscle groups and can manipulate it better to increase or decrease pressure. It works especially well on calves, Achilles tendons, and you can lay it on the ground to roll your feet over to loosen up plantar fascia tendons. You can also use it on neck and shoulder muscles, an often forgotten and tight area on runners who tend to tense up and lift their shoulders while running.

Honestly, I’ve just started using the foam roller! Mainly, because I’m lazy and don’t necessarily enjoy having to get into different “poses” to stretch or massage! That being said, it is by far the best tool to help work on IT bands, hamstrings, quads, glutes and TFL’s (look that one up).  Click HERE to see a really good demonstration on how it works. The idea is to use your body weight to apply pressure and to roll back and forth to massage any particular muscle group.

OK, so when do you use them? Before, after, during, it doesn’t really matter! The basic affects of massage are to loosen up muscle fibers and stimulate blood flow, both of which help warm up muscles before a workout, prevent tightness during a workout, and flush lactic acid after a workout. I am definitely not saying to forget about going to see a professional from time to time, but in the meantime, The Stick and foam roller are very useful in enhancing performance and recovering from hard, long workouts or injury! 

High Quantity H2O

I know a lot of you are right smack in the middle of your fall marathon training, which means, to most, you just have to follow that training schedule to a “T”. I know! I did it a few years back for the Chicago Marathon. Yeah, that ONE! The one where they ran out of water and shut it down with the majority left with at least 10 miles to run! Needless to say, I learned a few things training that year, AND I especially learned some things that glorious Sunday! I figured the hottest week of the year would be a perfect time to share.

Everybody has heard time and time again, you have to stay hydrated, but what does that mean? It is recommended by most docs to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. You have to ask yourself though, who are the docs recommending that amount to? Well, I’ll tell you who it ain’t! It ain’t the runner/walker hitting the streets every morning, much less the marathon trainer in Alabama in August! So, I’ll say for you pavement pounders, 64 ounces is the bare minimum!

Now, here’s where it gets a little tricky! You can drink too much water!! If you continue to drink water after filling full, you basically are flushing your system of essential electrolytes, that not only help you retain water, but also aid in muscle and organ function. What I tell most of our customers is to mix your favorite electrolyte drink in with your daily water intake. So, try to make about 20 to 30 percent of your daily fluid intake blue Powerade, my favorite! I learned this valuable lesson on the aforementioned “glorious Sunday”!! I’ve known FOREVER not to “over hydrate”. I don’t know if it was the constant heat advisories at the marathon expo or the adrenaline that clouded my judgment, but either way, drinking probably 2 gallons of water and maybe half a Powerade the day before was a bad idea. As a result of flushing my system, I had a cramp (I describe it as one cramp because in the moment it just felt like one big, bad one) that started in both feet and went all the way through my legs into my lower back! I couldn’t move! I just stood at mile 16 wondering how I was going to get back to the hotel!

I pretty much drink three things, coffee, water and beer. I mention this because two of those drinks pretty much negate the other one. Coffee and beer contain the diuretics caffeine and alcohol. They tell your brain to get rid of water, which means if you consume those beverages, you have to take that in to account when deciding how much to hydrate. Don’t get all snippy!! I’m not telling you to lay off the tap at The Trak Shak on Wednesday night! Just drink more water!