Good Form Running

Genevieve from New Balance at Fit Tri Run in Galveston

FitTriRun store in Galveston hosted a running clinic this past Saturday.  It was taught by Genevieve from New Balance. (Gosh I hope I spelled it right.  I know it's not pronounced the way most of us think it should be but I think I have the spelling correctly.)  This was my first time to a running clinic so I went suited up to run or maybe not.  I forgot my water bottle (which is a definite no no in this Texas heat and humidity) and I forgot my strap for my phone.  Fortunately, most of the clinic consisted of doing some exercises inside the AC'd store and doing a very short run in front of the store.  I learned that a running clinic is a class to instruct you on the proper form or technique of running and also record you to humiliate...I mean consult you on how you can better your form.

Now, Genevieve did not humiliate me. It was a joke.  However, she did record each of us running past her, first with shoes and second time barefoot.  Then she hooked her Ipad, the device she used for recording, to a large TV inside the store and proceeded to play each person in slow motion as she critiqued their running.  I have to say it was interesting to see everyone in slow motion. You see alot of minute things you would have missed had you watched at regular speed. For instance, while I was running across the screen, I could clearly see each roll of flab as it jiggled up down with each pounding of my foot and I must say, I discovered that each jiggle comes in waves and not just one big whop! Ok, that is not the only thing I discovered but before I go into my evaluation let me tell you some of the things I learned about good form running.

1. Posture:  Stand tall while you are running (even if you are only 5'1").  Your toes should point forward because...well because you want your toes to point in the direction that you are going. Keep your head up because looking down will cause you to slouch. Unless of course you are running on uneven road or trail and in which case you may want to look down from time to time so that you don't fall flat on your bum.  Your arms should swing freely from your shoulders with your thumbs pointing upwards and elbows at about 90 degrees.  (Another good reason to get the Amphipod hand held mobile phone holder) She suggested you reset your posture during your run by reaching up towards the sky and circling your arms back into correct position.
2. Midfoot:  You should aim to land on your midfoot when running.  Visualize marching in place while your ankles are flexed.  Heel striking can cause plantar fasciitis, over striding and injuries because of the hard landing.  Landing on the forefoot can cause Achilles pain, calf strain and shin splints.  She said shin splints happen because the wrong muscles are being used. Instead of the calf being used, the runner is using their shin.  
3. Cadence:  Ok, this was completely new to me. But when running your cadence should be 175-180 strides per minute.  That is 90 strides per leg.  If you are not sure about what that is and you have a smart phone, look for a free metronome app from Itunes or Googleplay and set it at 180.  Try to match the cadence at home while marching in place. Or click here for an online metronome.  She also mentioned Jogtunes that works on your IPhone or Android phone. To find your current cadence, count the number of right foot strikes you do per 20 seconds and multiply by 6.  Remember to run light.
4. Lean: This was a fun exercise.  She asked us to stand with are toes pointing forward and lean forward from our ankles until we felt the urge to take a step forward. She said that angle just before we fall forward is the optimum angle to utilize gravity to propel you forward rather than excessive muscle force. Some of us did that one over and over again.  I think we just liked the idea of falling forward.

Sounds like a lot to memorize, right?  Well she said one way we could train ourselves to do this naturally would be to barefoot run once a week. (of course make sure the surface is smooth and free of broken glass or loose gravel that may harm your foot.) She also said to march in place prior to your run with ankles flexed to help you strike midfoot.  Also before and even during  your run, reset your posture by swinging arms overhead and bringing them back to your side.   Also, listen to your foot steps.  They should be light. Your goal is to reduce the sound of your footsteps to a minimum because that means you are running light.  

Well when we watched the video of my running, we discovered that I look down instead of forward. One could argue that I am a trail runner and must keep my eyes out for fallen limbs, snakes, rabbits and alligators but that is no excuse. Because I looked like I was looking directly down at my feet.  I am also a heel striker...which could explain why I am having another episode of plantar fasciitis.  I didn't seem to heel strike as badly when I was barefoot so I guess next on my list are some vibrams 5 fingers and incorporating some track work into my running routine so that I have a smooth surface.  (My husband would argue I am just looking for another reason to go shopping.) 

If you want to learn more about good form running, just click here and let me know if there is anything you discovered that you can improve.

Dirty Girl in 3...2...1

(Picture from Gritty Goddess Facebook page)

It's 3 days until the Gritty Goddess 5K obstacle run in Galveston!  I can't wait. Two wonderful gals are going with me. No, we aren't running buddies. We are scrapbooking buddies. I love that my two worlds are colliding!  

The last time I did a mud run, I did it with a good friend. I have to confess that when I said yes, I really wanted to say no.  I even think I tried several times to excuse myself from it.  I was scared.  I had not ran in a while and the idea of running through an obstacle course for 5Ks frightened me.  I didn't think I could walk 5K much less run 5K and throw all my fluffiness over a wall or climb a tall rope thingy or huge bouncy thingy (yeah I have no idea what their official names are).    And that day I proved myself right.  My poor friend Mari, I am sure she was ready to strangle me. I admire her. She is tough and independent and confident.  But at the same time she will give you the shirt off her back if she thought you needed it.  She doesn't put up with any crap and is a natural born leader.  She is soo cool she is even part of a roller derby team.  Her name on the team GREEN BEANER ! Love that girl! So she would say, "ok lets just run to spot X" and I was just turn and look at her like she was crazy. You know why I would just look and not say anything?  Because I was out of breadth from just walking!  Half way through, I pretty much convinced myself that I was going to pass out.  Now I am not sure if I was going to pass out because I had no more energy or because I thought once we got round this group of trees we only had on more obstacle and when I got around the trees, I realized we have 5 more obstacles to do and plenty of walking (Uh I mean running) to do in between .   But being the wonderful friend that she has always been, she just encouraged me and stayed with me. Thank you Mari for putting up with my drama.  

Ok, I am pretty sure I still can't run a 5K, much less run a 5K and then some.  But I am not scared.  I want to try.  I want to see what this body can do. I have been running for a few weeks and I want to take this body for a test drive.  I am sure I will get tired. I know that a dozen women are going to grab onto my bum and push me over the 5 foot wall.  I know all this and I am okay with it.  I JUST WANT TO TRY!

So my next run will be Saturday morning at 10:10 in the EIRENE wave at the Gritty Goddess.   I will wear a Tiffany Blue team shirt with ratty old shoes and other clothing that will probably have to be chunked after the run due to all the mud we will encounter.  (thank you Monica for offering to make the t shirts at such a great price) and  (thank you Ellie for having the idea to use a part of my blog name as the team name).  I promise to   nevermind. I make no promises to do anything but do my best, support and encourage my friends and all the women and enjoy every minute of it.

Marathon?

You ever do something that you regretted but at the same time you are glad you did?  Well that is how I am feeling right now.  I have filled out an application to be part of a one year marathon challenge. Julie at Fatty Must Run, is in the process of starting a one year training program for a marathon.  So what, you say?  Ok, well here is the catch...you have to have a BMI of 25 or more in order to be even considered.

I subscribed to her blog about a month ago and when I read the entry from 4/22 that discusses the challenge, I read it and thought to myself, "That's nice. Crazy but nice."  She wanted us to share the challenge with friends. So being an abiding reader, I went to the Active Community forums and posted a new thread.  Then went to my Facebook and shared it with my friends on Facebook.  I made it known that I was not interested but someone out there might be.  DONE!

But I kept going back to that post and rereading it. And every time I read it, the shock value of it lessened just a bit.  On Friday, I decided to submit my application.  Yikes!  Ever since then I have been on this crazy roller coaster of "gosh I hope I am picked" and "I hope I don't get picked so that I have an excuse to not do it."

There is a huge side of me that wants to be picked.  Somehow I have rationalized that if I am picked that not only will I get a training plan but I would also get super powers.  With these super powers I would be able to train for a marathon and actually run one.  I fantasize about spending my mornings training on the trails. These super powers would give me the ability to cook healthy meals, organize my day to fit in all the training that I would need and my super powers would rub off on my family and they would love the new meal plans and help more around the house so that I would have more time to train.  Man the more I think about these super powers, the greater they become.

Then there is this tiny part of me called fear.  Fear tells me that I am not ready.  That I will lose my enthusiasm early into my training and I will have to hide from everyone out of shame.  Fears says my family will look at me and say, "See we told you, you are trying to do too much."  Fear says that this will just end up in failure and when I think about that failure, it is an infinite thing.  It reaches into all areas of my life.  My home would become messy, I would eat horrible food everyday, stop running and just sit on the couch each day and regret quitting and never forgiving myself for doing so. Fear is horrible and never nice.

I don't let myself stay in that head space for long...too sad.  So I fall back on "Where there is faith, there is no fear."  And faith is belief.  So I have decided to Believe.  My mantra will be She Believed she could, so she did. I'll remind myself that I have walked 20 miles three days in a row, if I can do that, then I can run 26.2 miles in one day.  I will believe that I can do this and remind myself it is not just saying yes and then the next day going out to run 26.2 miles.  No, it means I will start out small and build up miles over time. It is the same concept as couch to 5K and I believe in that concept.

When I received my application, it came with a note about the timeline for training.  She set out dates to run certain types of races. When I compare that to what I have already signed up for, I realize that I am already doing that part.  I am already building my mileage over the next few months.  I am doing a 5K this coming weekend and will sign up for more between now and August.  In September and October I am doing two 10Ks and in December I am doing a half marathon.  All of a sudden this huge task of running a marathon seems attainable.

So the big goal of doing a marathon will be at the back of my mind but I will focus on the task at hand and when it is done, I will check it off and move to the next.  So I will run a marathon, 5K at a time.

Moving Comfort Juno Bra Review

A few weeks ago, I went to a Girls Day Out at Fit Tri Run in Galveston.  If you are ever in Galveston, visit them.  They are on the strand, an area of Old Galveston that has a bunch of quaint shops and restaurants.  I bought two Juno bras during my visit.  I wanted to give them both a good work out before I wrote a review.   They couldn't just take one workout and one washing.  No, they need to take a beating and keep on ticking...wait that is the Energizer Bunny....scratch that.  Let me precede this review with the following.     I do not receive these products for free or at a discount. I am just a normal consumer who buys things out of necessity and I like to share my opinions on it.  Ask my husband, I always give him my opinion. :)

If you are fluffy or just blessed with large bubbies, Moving Comfort has a bra for you.  I am both living large and large breasted.  I discovered there is nothing worse than trying to learn on how to run without being knocked around by my breast friends.  But it is not just that, when they have their own mind, they can really cause some balance issues.  I know people that are very critical about what they put in their hands because what they carry in their hands can throw there rhythm off. Well it is the same with bubbies.  When you leave them unsupported you may find yourself expending more energy to keep balanced than you do moving forward and you may not even realize it.  You have probably done this from the beginning and don't know the difference.  I didn't.  But now that I have seen the light, I will not go back into the darkness.

I am really impressed at the variety of bras they offer.  My first test drive with them was my Maia underwire high impact bra.  It is a back closure and the shoulder straps are adjustable.  My only gripe about them is the lack of variety in color. So these bras come in blah blah blah..I mean black, white and tan.  Sure if your are anti-fluffy and well endowed, the colors are endless with their other styles.  But once you add a layer of fluffy, all of a sudden they, Moving Comfort, seem to think that the layer of fluffiness has somehow smothered your desire for fashion and color.  But barring the lack of color it is a very comfortable bra that offers great comfort and support, without feeling like an underwire bra.

So when I arrived at TriFitRun, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Juno bra comes in a variety of colors for a variety of sizes.   The bra offers great support.  It is a racerback with a back closure, which can make it a bit difficult to put on but once it is on, you will feel locked and loaded.  Your breastfriends are not going anywhere during your run...you have complete control of them. Not only do you have a sense of control but you also have a sense of better posture which helps with your breathing during a run...especially when you are gasping for air because you took off too fast. (Who said that?)

But here is one of the best features of Moving Comfort. If you aren't privileged enough to live near a place to get fitted, Moving Comfort has a superb online guide to help you.  It is called THE FITTING ROOM.  This tool will teach you so much about athletic bras.  If you were not a bra guru before you used it, you will be afterwards.

So I give the Juno two shoelaces up for comfort and style.  And I give the Fitting Room two laces up for ease of use and information.