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Some Runs Are Just Not As Awesome as Others

Aug16

Runner’s truth….

Not every run is fun.

Not every run is like running through a meadow.

More truth.

Some runs just suck from the very beginning.

Today was such a day.

I think I knew it from the beginning.   I almost walked back in my house after going outside.   Then I thought to myself that if I didn’t go then, I wouldn’t be able to get my run in today.  Besides I was ready to go.  I knew what splits I was looking to hit.   I had my course all mapped out.  I was ready.  I really wanted to get my run in.   Although, truth be told, I regretted the decision for most of my run.  Except, of course, the part when it was over and I knew that I go it in.

I was coming off the rails on this one.   There are several reasons and sometimes that just the way it goes.

First there was the phone call with my mom right as I was getting to go out the door.   Yes, it was 92 today but I have run on hotter days.   The difference is that right before a run I didn’t have anyone say to me, “You shouldn’t run today.   You are going to give yourself heat stroke or a heart attack.”    These are not the words of encouragement needed before a run.   Even though I knew that I was prepared to run in the elements, these words stuck in the back of my head.

Then there was my Garmin which died before I even hit mile one.    This really made me mad because it was on the charger all night.   I’m starting to wonder if my charger is not working properly because this has happened to me before.   I will have to keep an eye on it.   I had toyed with stopping then since I was supposed to be doing a tempo run which is impossible to do without a watch.   Since it was so hot and humid though, I decided to just keep on going and do the best I could.

Then around mile 3, my sunglasses literally broke.   Yes, I knew they were on their way out but really.

broken

My face sums up the way I felt.   Then by this point I was already feeling the pain of the run.   It really wasn’t physical pain but mental.   Part of the problem was the first part of my route did not have as much shade as I thought it did and I was baking in the sun.    Then it got in my head that it was too hot to run.   I kept on going.

One of the reasons that I like to plan a route out is that it doesn’t give me an out once I start.   I was literally 3 miles away and thought to myself even if I turn around I would only be 2 miles shy of the 8 I needed so I might as well stick with it.   I kept on going.   I even toyed with calling someone to pick me up, but I figured I should save that for when I really need it.

Then I got a message from my cheerleader, Dawn, telling me I could do it.   We messaged back and forth and it helped.   I kept on going.   Luckily by then I had hit more shade and although the run was still hard, I was no longer baking in the sun.  I admit that I would run.   Then I would walk when I felt that I needed to.   Then I would run again picking out something in the distance to run to before I could stop again.   Again, it wasn’t pretty.   I was NOT close to any kind of heat stroke except in my head.     I was a hot mess!

Then there was the water situation.    Yes, I did buy a hydration backpack but when I tried it on before my run; I didn’t like it.   I think this cheaper version that I bought might be good for hikes but I could not imagine running in it.  I had my Fitletic hydration belt with all 4 water bottles AND my hand held water bottle.  It was not enough on a day like today.   I should have looped to the park to refill, but I thought that I was fine.   Big mistake.   Then I was on the search for water.

I stopped at a friends house thinking that I would fill with her hose, but she had it hooked up to a sprinkler.  Not sure if it was the sweat on my hands or what, but I could not unhook it to fill my bottles. She wasn’t home or I would have knocked as I’ve done in the past.   Luckily a man saw me sitting, yes sitting, under a tree and gave me a water bottle.   I kept going.   Swung by another friends house and the same thing happened except no nice man to give me water.   By then I was close to home and just kept pushing.

I made it!

I got my run in!

The I realized that for some stupid reason I ran an extra mile.   I did nine instead of eight.   I will chalk that up to being delusional from the heat.

9 miles in 1:45

So, no not every run is awesome and some do suck.   But it is these runs that we push are way through that really show us what we are made of.   It is these runs that help to make us better runners.  It gives us the mental toughness needed to push through when running an event when all you want to do is stop.   If every run was easy, then that means you are not pushing your limits.   Life is about pushing limits and getting out of our comfort zone.

 comfort

So I’m off to bed now as tomorrow is another day

and

I’ve got 14 miles to put on the books.

How do you push through when all you want to do is give up?

Vacation is Over

Aug13

It’s been quiet around here lately, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about my blog.   I took a vacation.   I took a relaxing vacation.   Actually it is a vacation that I’ve been taking for 17 years with my husband.   It’s a vacation that his family has been taking for over 40 years now.   I was camping on a beautiful lake in Vermont.    It’s not a glamorous vacation, but I really wouldn’t trade it at all.   I go with my husbands family and we literally take up several camp sites. The kids run all over the place with cousins and no one even cares about missing electronics.  One of the best things is that the area we camp at has not only limited internet connection, but also limited cell reception.   It really is nice to get away from it all.

Now normally while hubby is out fishing with the boys, I lounge in the hammock and read.   I will admit that although I did spend some time napping in the hammock, I did not do any reading.   Mostly because I took this quiet time to get in some runs.   Now, before going I looked up some local trails.   I, actually, found the perfect trail that literally was 10 minutes from camp.   It was a beautiful trail on a converted rail line.    All these years and I never knew it was there.   Literally, picture perfect!

Vermont1 Vermont2 vermont3 Vermont4

Who knew there were flat trails in Vermont!?!

Not me, but now that I found it I can’t wait to run them again next year.

I got in several runs including two eight mile runs one of them being my tempo run.   I’m not sure if it was the cooler air, the scenery, or the flat trail but I not only kept my pace but actually ran a little faster even running mile 7 at 8:55.   I think it was a fluke, but I’ll take it!

I was determined not to let vacation keep me from running and with the exception of not getting my long run in, I did ok.   I will admit that I was very disappointed that I did not get in my long run which was a scheduled seventeen miles.   I wanted to run around the lake we camp at.   It would have been an amazing challenge due to the hills.   I’m not sure if I would have made it, but I won’t know till next year when I will make sure that I have time!

I’m glad that I kept my training up because when I got home I realized that the Marine Corps Marathon is now less than 75 days away.  Oh my!.

Do you keep up your training on vacation?

Water, Water everywhere and Not a Drop to Spare!

Jul28

If you live in Jersey, you are used to hot and humid summers.   Summer heat is great when you can lounge at the pool or surf the waves at the beach.   It’s not so awesome when you are running in it.   The last few long runs I’ve been lucky enough to have days so hot and humid that my town even has cooling centers due to heat advisory and air quality.  I’m a firm believer though if you wait for the perfect conditions to run, you will never run.

Extreme-Heat-Death-Valley

I’ve run a lot of long runs in extreme heat.   A few of my MRTT Mama’s are joking that they think that I am training for Death Valley.   I’m not but I sometimes feel that way too!

Even though to those driving by me running on an 87 degree day with 66% humidity, I may seem stupid, I will say that I am not.   This is not to say that during my run I’m not thinking the same thing, but I do really put some thought into my runs and I do take the weather into account.  Unfortunately, for me many of my runs are during the day.   If I was one to wake up at the crack of dawn I might not have this problem, but I like to sleep.   So I have adapted and adjusted.

Here are four things that I always do for a long run!

  1. I do not go out empty handed.   Actually, I do because I have a Fitletic Hydration Belt; but I ALWAYS have water.   My belt has 4 bottles that allows me to carry 24 ounces of water.
  2. I map out my run to utilize routes that usually have the most shade.   I may not (ok never) follow my map exactly, but it is a nice general guide.   I adjust as I go.
  3. When mapping out my runs, I plan for water stops.  Yes, even with my belt I need to refill.   On yesterdays 15 miler, I refilled two and a half times.   Sometimes I know exactly where I will stop (park or store), but often times I make sure that I am running in an area where there are people I know whose houses I can stop to refill.    I’ve also been known to see a perfectly good stranger outside and ask if they have some water to spare.   You will be surprised how nice people are:)
  4. Go slow!!    This is easy to do in the heat when your legs become heavy the further you go, but so many people try to maintain their pace in the heat.    Don’t!

11796232_10206322188326066_4253787209748915647_n

Also as a side note, if you can perfectly end your 15 miles at a Dunkin Donuts you are golden!   Nothing like an iced caramel latte to help cool you off and put back any calories you may have burned off!

I will not lie, yesterdays 15 miles in the heat was a killer.   By the time that I got home, my clothes were literally dripping with sweat and felt like I had been swimming in them.   Yuck!    That being said, I do keep thinking that once cooler weather comes that all this pushing myself in the heat is going to make for some nice fall running or at least that’s what I tell myself!

I have also come to the realization that it just might be time for me to take my hyrdation up a notch on my runs.   I’m looking at hydration vests.   I realized yesterday that as soon as I run out of water, I wilt.   Then I thought about heading to the hills of Vermont where there are no local friends homes to stop.   So it’s once again shopping time.   I am so glad that running is a sport that is free.  Ha!!!

How do you stay hydrated?

Training Recap

Jul26

I’ve had a good week of training even if I did skip my 5 mile easy run.     I actually missed my cut-down day and then had to make a choice if I wanted to make that one up or skip it.   I thought that my cut-down was more important to my training than the easy run.

Recap Week

Sun:      14 miles  – This was a hot one.   A very hot one!  This was one of those hot humid New Jersey days where heat warnings were in effect.   I did listen to the warnings and made sure to have my bottles filled with Nuun my new favorite drink on hot days.   I also threw out any perspective pace and went solely for miles.    The run was not pretty, but was more a slow and steady test of endurance.   The average pace ended up being still not too bad considering that I wasn’t pushing it nor was I checking it at all during the run.  Average pace was  11.48.   Consistently in 11’s and 12’s.  Overall moving time was 2:38:10 with total time of 3:03:15 as I made stops to refill water bottles and stand in sprinklers.   I will say that I am very respectiful of peoples property and only stand at the edge of their property on the roads waiting to be cooled off.   I was doing that very thing when a man came out to get something out of his car.   I thanked him for the use of his sprinkler and he was very nice about it.   One stop was even in a 7-elleven to get some water and take a few minutes to cool down in the air.  I felt good (relatively speaking) that I was still able to get the miles in and didn’t need to shorten this run.
Monday:  REST
Tuesday:   Aerobic 7 miles in 1:12:41.   Overall I kept a good pace.  The last mile I allowed myself to push it a little bit, but not an all out sprint.   I was very happy that after six miles of a fairly steady pace in the mid 10’s that the last mile I was able to run a 9:44.
Wednesday:   My sister was visiting from California and wanted to do a quick run before we went for a pedicure.   I knew that I had the Pizza Run that night, so we only went for 2 easy miles.     Then that night I did the Pizza Run which you can read the recap if you want.   Overall, I was happy with the 5K time of 28:38:47 for a average pace of 9:13.
Thursday: Did some swimming
Friday:   This was the day that I was supposed to do my cut-down but I didn’t.   I’m sure that if I really, really wanted to that I could have found the time, but I really wasn’t in the mood.  My foot although not hurting but was bothering me and I really just didn’t want to aggravate it.   Yup, I’m a baby.
Saturday: This was supposed to be my easy 5.   When I headed out I was actually thinking that maybe I would do my 7 mile cut-down as 5 therby combining the two runs.   It didn’t work out that way because once I headed out I knew I wanted to see if I could hit my targets for this run.   I found a new route which is a little flatter, but one that I am also familiar with to not have to think about where I’m going.   It seemed to work as I hit or was very close to my targets completing the run in 1:11:24 with average run pace of 10:12.   My best pace was again the last mile where I hit a pace of 9:15!
Now you would think after such a good run that I would have been flying, but it actually had the opposite effect.   I think I was alone for too many miles as I was starting to wonder why I’m doing this to myself.   I’ve already ran a Marathon, so what am I trying to prove.   Plus I had realized before going for my run that I have only 3 months till the MCM.    Panic may be setting in.    I know I can do this or at least I think I can do this.   Part of me was wondering why I’m doing it.   I am just an average runner.   I will never be the front of the pack runner.  So many people act like I’m this crazy driven person because of my running.   Then I realized that they are right, but I have to remind myself that I am the good kind of crazy driven person.
It could be worse:)
towel
I must remind myself that I push myself because I can.
I push myself because what is life without challenges?
I push myself to be a role model to my children that anything is possible!
I push myself so that my boys will grow up knowing that woman can be strong!
I push myself because there is nothing like crossing the finish line and knowing you are the reason you are there.
What do you do when you feel like throwing in the towel?

Weekly Training Recap

Jul21

WarningMarathonTraining

So it appears Marathon training is in full swing!   Somehow it snuck up on me and apparently I am in the thick of it already.   I was looking at my miles for the Month of July as June I hit 100 and I wanted to see if I would this month too.   Not a problem as I hit it today and we’ve still got a little more than a week to go.  Not even sure how that happened.  This is when I realized that I’m in marathon training.  This past week I ran 30 miles alone!

The surprising thing even with the higher miles I’m feeling pretty good.   I’m noticing that on my faster pace runs that is usually when my Plantar Fasciitis bothers me.   I think between my orthotics, taping my foot, the stretching, and heating my foot it is all coming together.   It’s a slow process and I wish it would just hurry up and go away, but it is better.   I think this may just be something I will have to just realize is part of my running.

Boo Hoo!

Anyway, in looking at my training this last week, I’m realizing that really my runs have just been steadily getting longer.   It’s not just that I went from zero to a hundred overnight.   I’ve been adding a mile to most of my runs over the last couple of weeks.   Very sneaky, Caolan, very sneaky.   It’s good this gradual increase because first of all that is what your supposed to do and secondly I didn’t even notice.

I was also able to sneak in two group runs this past week.   One was a group run that I intentionally let myself fall behind on as they were running at a 9:40 pace and I was supposed to run a little slower and I knew my faster cut-down was 2 days later.   I ran faster than my pace called for but I did have the company of another mama runner who also didn’t want to keep up the faster pace.   Then I was able to do my nice easy 5 with my girlfriend who didn’t mind that I was slowing her down to an easy 11 mile pace.   I needed these group runs:)

Now as I’m in the thick of it, I am also preparing for our annual family vacation to Vermont.   I’m working with my coach to make sure that I don’t loose steam on vacation.   This will be the first vacation that I really try to continue with a training plan while there.   It should be interesting.   She is also going to make this a set back week which I need anyway.   Hopefully this will help and the hills of Vermont will be kind to me.

How do you keep up with your training on Vacation.

Glycogen. What Is It and Why Do I Need it?

Jul9

Well your guess is as good as mine and if you thought I had the answer, you’ve come to the wrong blog:)

I’ve been running now for about 3 years, yet sometimes I still feel like such a newbie.    I have been running, but I have really only started learning in the last year.  I realize that I’m so much a newbie.  When I started running, I thought the whole point was just about getting faster and running further which technically it still is.   That is only a small part of the equation though.   Also there is only so fast and far that my short legs will be able to go.    There is also soooooo much more to this running thing than speed and distance.

Per my coach, I’ve been doing some of my runs without fuel (ie -gels and such).   She has said, “The aim with ‘no fuel runs’ is to maintain an aerobic pace in the zone where you are relying more on fat and sparing glycogen.”  I’m not even sure that I total understand this sentence.  I will say that science is not my forte and this is one of the reasons that I’ve never really dived into this area of my training.   To me it all sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher and looks like this

glcyogenNow my very proficient soon to be 10th grader who takes advanced science might be able to decipher this picture. I’m actually going to ask him later.  Me not so much.    I can also be a great avoided of things that I don’t like and this has been one of the many reasons that I may have been burying my head in the sand when it comes to this aspect of my training.   With most things in life, it is time to put my big girl panties on and face it.   No, I may never fully understand how this all works; but I do need to get a handle on it.

I’m always telling my kids that education is the key to their success.   It might be time for me to take my own advice.    By learning how to master this aspect of my training, I might have a better understanding of what my body needs and when.   Then just maybe if someone hands me a rose at the end of my next marathon it won’t feel like they are handing me a 25 pound weight.  (So whose bring the roses this time?)

Yup, there is more to this running thing than just running.

Who knew?

I guess school isn’t out for summer:)

Do you understand how this all works?

Ruh Roh!

Jun30

ScoobyDooRuhRoh

I knew it was coming.

Sort of.

I was preparing for it.

Sort of.

But now the gauntlet has been thrown down by my running coach.    It’s Marathon Training Time.

Ruh Roh!

These last few weeks that I’ve been working with Caolan, the long running coach, have been preparing both of us for this.   Her getting to know my abilities.   Me getting to know her expectations and training ways.   It’s been working well.   Now it’s time to get serious.

Ruh Roh!

She sent me my training plan for the next two weeks with the miles building up which I was expecting.   We’ve talked about her thoughts on milage and I do know as we get further into training, the miles will build to about 40 a week.

Ruh Roh!

One of the things that I do like though is that she doesn’t think the dreaded 20 miler runs are necessarily warranted.   It’s really a case by case basis.   Some need it to mentally prepare to run a marathon, but since I’ve run one before I don’t need that mental aspect of it.    That is good, because I don’t think I could follow a plan that had 2 or 3 twenty mile runs in them.   This is not to say I will not have LONG runs, but they will be set on time.   Plus it might be multiple days of decent miles.   She feels it’s less wear and tear on the body and I will not argue with that thought process.   I like it.   Plus, we are working on getting my Plantar Fascitiis under control.   Per her suggestion, I’ve been heating instead of icing and it seems to be helping.

One thing that scared me in her last email though is the fact that she came to the conclusion on my last couple of runs that “those indicate that you can probably run faster .” 

  Damn.   Damn. Damn.

So now not only is she upping the miles, she is giving them a faster pace.   Not all as she still wants my recovery runs to be very slow, but other runs are going to speed up.

Ruh Roh!

I believe Mary said something to the effect of this on our way home from the Queens 10K,  “so your upset that your coach is making you do the things your paying her to do.”

Well yes and no.

Yes because it’s easy not to worry about where you finish when you are convinced your slower than you might actually be.   To actually try to go faster will be both a mental and physical challenge.    (You get what I’m talking about, don’t you Dawn:)

No because without her help I don’t think I would get to where hopefully I’m going to end up….

The finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon:)

Have you started your training yet?

What are you training for?

Just Running In the Rain

Jun1
I’ve run in rain before. I’ve run in snow before. I’ve run on sweltering summer days.  I’ve even run on nice days and  in all types of weather.   Today though was something I never experienced before.  It was not just rain it was torrential downpour rain.  When I left I really, really, really thought the rain was just passing quickly as the weatherman assured me that the rain was coming this afternoon and we all know that the weatherman could never be wrong.   Shockingly, though he was wrong.   He was very wrong.   I realized that about mile 3, but what was I supposed to do.   I was already wet and I needed to get my miles in.
rain2
I needed to get my 9 miles in and really the only time I had to do them was this morning anyway.   We all know that I hate the treadmill and I really don’t think that there is ANY way that I could have done them on it.   I prepared for running in a normal summer rain.   I wore my water repellant jacket which is very different I imagine from a waterproof jacket.  I had on my hat with a blinkie for visibility and I had on my reflective vest.   Thank God I also wrapped my phone in a zip-lock bag before putting it in my Fitletic belt.  I was good to go.
Flood
Now this was the first long run that I wasn’t supposed to use any fuel.   I wasn’t sure how that was going to go and I actually think that the rain may have helped with that as it both kept me cool the entire run and it also gave me something to think about.  I will say as far as not having fuel goes, I think I did ok.   I kept my pace pretty much the entire run.   I did falter a little during mile 8 as around mile 7.5 my legs were starting to feel heavy.   That being said, I still stayed literally right under 12 at 11:59.    I was able to pick up the pace for the last mile as I could feel the pull of home and it kept me going.   It didn’t hurt that the Emergency Alert went off on my phone warning of flash flooding.   Although at that point the rain was finally starting to slow down.   It was completely stopped by the time I got home.   Yup, that’s the way Mother Nature works.  Good times.
Rain3
I wish that my phone was water resistant so that I could have taken some pictures along my run today.   Running in some spots with water up over my shoes.   This was usually as I was crossing a street near the drains.   In the beginning of my run, I tried to avoid them.   Then I realized that there really was no point.   I was saturated from head to toe.   This is no lie.   This is no exaggeration.   When I came home, I had to put my clothes in the bathroom sink as they were dripping wet.  Due to this, I am dealing with a bit of chaffing.    Again, good times.
worth it
I’m sure that there were those who saw me running that probably thought I was crazy.  During the run there were moments that I thought so too.   I began to wonder why I put my body through it.   I’m not training for the Olympics.   I’m not a front of the packer.   I’m not a sponsored runner.   I’m just a Mama who likes to run.   Then I realized that none of that mattered.   Not the rain, the soggy shoes, the drenched clothes.   What mattered is the sense of accomplishment that I get from each run.   A run like today was not an easy run.   Part of me will admit that there is something fun to be running out on a day like today.   Anyone can run on a nice day, but only a BAMR will run on a day like today.
Do you run in the rain?

Word of the Week – Pace

May13

tortoise

pace

noun

  1. Pace is the rate of speed or a single step taken when walking.
    1. An example of pace is when change comes slowly.
    2. An example of pace is one step taken.

verb

  1. To pace is defined as to repeatedly walk the same path over and over or to regulate the progress of something.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my pace recently.   Probably because if you remember, I’ve recently had to slow it down.   Not really by my choice and not really because I’m Speedy Gonzales.   It’s just something I was told to do by running coach.  I’m getting better at it and I’ve been spending a chunk of my runs making sure to stay on pace.  I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’ve seen some improvement in just the few runs I’ve done already.

Runner’s spend A LOT of time thinking, talking, and trying to improve our pace.    That being said, very rarely do we try to master our pace (or maybe it’s just me) and usually never spend time trying to slow it down.    It’s always about going faster, faster, faster.   Now it’s about putting on the breaks a bit.   Strange.

Often when talking to another runner and sometimes even a non runner, the question of our pace usually comes up.   What’s your normal pace?   Do you want to run your pace or mine?  I think all our focus on improving our pace sometimes makes us forget that faster isn’t always better.    Also faster is all relative.   What is lightening fast to me, would be a snails pace to a front of the Pack runner.  And what is slow to me is fast to another runner.   We need to remember the story of the Tortoise and the hare to remind ourselves that it’s ok not to run fast all the time.

I’m learning to embrace my inner tortoise.   We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare.   We all know that sometimes taking your time is the best way to get to the finish line.   Yet, we all want to be the hare.     We forget that the hare lost the race and that sometimes slow and steady is all that is needed to win the race.
On my now slower runs, I’ve really been thinking about my pace.   I’ve realized that in order to be able to do the things that I want to do with my running that some days I will need to be the tortoise.   I need to do that so that on the days that I will be the hare, I am prepared.   I need to learn to control my pace, so that when I do finally get to the Marine Corps Marathon I will not have negative reverse splits like in Philly.    Although, I kept a steady and decent pace my time per mile kept creeping up and not down.   Case in point, my first mile was 10:06 and my last was 11:16.   I even had a 12:30 at mile 22.    I would like to get control of my pace, so that when I start in DC, I will be the one able to hold it back in the beginning and have the energy to push it at the end.
One of the things that I had an Aha moment about was that I need to control my pace and not let m pace control me.   It is also a good idea to have in your running arsenal.    There will be days, runs, hills, and everything in between that will benefit.   Maybe, just maybe if I get a handle on it, I will be able to see the right kind of splits in DC.   Luckily, I’ve got months to work on it!
Do you control your pace or does your pace control you?

Check Your Form

May5

I’m going into day 4 of my training.   I have to say it’s been nice not have to think about what I will be doing.  I am excitedly (nervously) waiting for this weeks schedule to arrive.    The only thing that I do know is that I will be running every other day or at least that’s what I’ve done the last 4 days.  I do believe that this will continue as I work on recovory with my foot.

Today is swimming which I haven’t done since last summer.   Oh my, how did that happen?   I was supposed to swim all year long while the boys were in school.   I guess it is true that time has a way of getting away from you.

I will say that I did start to embrace the 11+ miles on my 6 mile run yesterday especially because I went mid morning when it was starting to get hot.   I also thought about how when I ran Philly, I basically ran the entire marathon at a 10:20 pace.   My normal pace.   I need to be able to regulate my pace.   Let me control the pace and not the pace control me.   Now just because I had this Epiphany does not mean that it was easy to keep the 11+ place, but I did it.   I hit my target and I’m not sure if it was the heat, the extra miles, or the route; but I did feel less choppy than I did the first day.   I still had to keep track of my pace, but I didn’t feel so jerky.  I even hit my target pace all 6 miles.

11:36, 11:19, 11:27, 11:34, 11:25, 11:25

I’m happy:)

One of the other things that I was thinking about while I was running was my form.    This gave me something to think about as I’ve never really given it much thought other than to make sure I had good posture.  Well according to Meb from Meb for Mortals there is so much more to think about.

Things like:

Landing position – feet should land under body and need to be careful of overstrides

Core and Back – core should be engaged

Arms – should swing in direction moving, not back and forth (to me this sounds the same, but it’s not).

Shoulders – (this is the only one I was already doing) low and level

Head – Meb says to pretend you have an egg on your head to stay in proper posture

When all of these things come together it is a beautiful thing!

meb

This picture explains why Meb is an elite athlete.  He readily admits that he does form drills EVERY day.   He also knows that the average runner (hello, me) will not do form drills every day, but does suggest to build them into your weekly routine.  His job is to run and run well.   His job is to train.   For most of us, we barely have time to get done what we need to get done.   Although, it really isn’t such a bad idea to pay attention to our form.   Not for speed, but as an injury prevention measure.

I also think that if I work on my landing just maybe this will help with my feet issues. I have a feeling that maybe I have been overriding.   I also hope that my inserts are the magic that I need to take away all that ails my feet.  Bad form can lead to bad things.

Don’t let this be you

as I know it’s me

running

Who knew that there was so much to think about?

How’s your form?