Archive for March, 2009

I am running… just not AR50… in a skirt

March 28, 2009 · Filed under Endurance, For the love of running, Reviews, Training, ultramarathons · Tagged

Part One: I Am Running

I am getting back in shape.  Yesterday I truly ran for the first time in a month.  Not limp-run.  Not hobble-run.  But actual run-run.  A nice 8:30 pace.  Today I ran again. And tomorrow I will do the same.

(Non-sequitur: Today was the second time I have run from my house to my kids’ basketball game.  It does make a girl feel kind of cool to leave the house early and say, “See you there.”)

Problem is, I have lost too much training for AR50 and my leg isn’t 100%.  If I had to quantify it — as my wise partner made me do earlier this week — I’d say it is at 75-80%, which isn’t strong enough for my first 50-miler.

It’s disappointing.  

However, there is no sense crying over spilled milk.  I have two fabulous 50Ks coming in the next two months, followed by another attempt at Boston in September, and my goal of two marathons in two weeks in October. I am starting to enjoy my swimming, which creates a whole new set of goals.  In fact, my friend was mentioning a local triathlon club being formed.  Maybe I will try one of those. I bet I could do a sprint. Although I’d need a bike (LOL).  

The world is full of challenge and adventure!  One race is not the end-all be-all.  Bring it on!

Part Two: My New Running Skirt

Nike Dri-Knit Running SkirtI am a girlie-girl.  I didn’t even own a pair of jeans until third grade.  You won’t catch me in a power suit, even though I am a director at a Fortune 100 company.  I like my long hair, lacy tops, high heels, and sleek sophisticated black.

But I am also an athlete.  I have biceps and abs and can run for 6 straight hours, fairly easily.  I am competitive. I like to take on the boys. I like to win.

I try to merge these two elements of my personality.  I don’t like either to suffer.  The running skirt, in its only silly way, seems to blend both rather nicely.

When the running skirt craze hit — and frankly I think has subsequently died — I was intrigued. They were cute, but they were also basically a tennis skirt.  I played tennis for years. I know a tennis skirt when I see one, no matter what Nike tells me.  Then I went to some races and saw some in action.  Some were cute, some were not.  I decided it wasn’t for me.

Well, last week, I found Nike Dri-fit Core Knit on sale for $11.00 (supporting my notion that the craze has come and gone). So I decided, what the heck.  They are still cute and $20 less than any shorts on the rack.

I have now run three times in two different skirts.  LOVE THEM.  Total convert.  They look flattering.  They move and feel great, better than the Nike Tempo Track that are all the rage. (I have four pair myself.  Not the most attractive shorts ever made.).  And for gals worried that they aren’t modest enough, they show far less than most running shorts and actually have shorts underneath.

The running skirt brings together two distinct elements of who I am.  Give me my skirt; give me my challenges; bring it on!

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Status Update: a little running, a little swim

March 22, 2009 · Filed under Training

It is March 22nd and I am about one month into my psoas injury.

Bad news

  • Still hobbling when I try to run

Good news 

  • Ran the past two days, if only just for an hour per day.  It’s still something.  
  • Not limping when I walk.  
  • Making it down the stairs without pain.
  • Added strength training back into my regime.  I used to do 150 crunches and 60 push-ups 3-5 times a week, religiously. I had done that since college. Not sure when or why I stopped.  It was about a year ago.  Got back on the saddle last night and added these to the squats and stretches I have been doing every other day.
  • Got in the pool.  Felt great to swim laps after my run today.  I bore easily in the pool, so my initial goal is just to do this once a week.  If I can do it once a week for a month, I know myself and soon once will become twice and twice will become three times.  
             

    • Luckily, my friend Julie was there.  She swims every weekend.  I made her goal — 30 minutes to complete 30 laps + 10 laps with the kickboard — my goal.  I ended up doing over 50 laps in 30 minutes and was pleased with that.  Was TOTALLY impressed with the gal next to me.  She had used a walker to get into and out of the pool. She was swimming laps almost completely with her arms.  Stud-ette if ever I saw one.

Looks like the good is out-weighing the bad.  Baby steps.

AR50

  • Holding out hope.  I will probably hold out hope until the day before.  My hotel room is reserved.  I have my running plan.  I have my nutrition plan.  I have many solid months of training behind me.  Holding out hope.  
  • Leg needs to be 100% to run it, obviously.

P.S. – I wore a running skirt for the first time today.  Loved it! Will do a review later.

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What a weird week

March 14, 2009 · Filed under Training · Tagged ,

I am having one of the strangest weeks I have had in a long time.

I should be on a 5-hour trail run, peaking my AR50 training, but I am not.  Instead I am in sweats at my computer after another 6:30AM physical therapy session, my third in as many days. And to top it off, I am wearing hearing aides.

The PT issues: I seem to have strained my left psoas muscle.  I did it about three weeks ago, and actually ran the Sequoia 50K on the injured leg.

picture-5The psoas and the iliacus are major hip flexors.  Put them together and they are called the iliopsoas. The psoas is a long, thin muscle that is located deep in the abdominal area.  The way I understand it, the psoas connects the lumbar vertbrae (lower back) to the lesser trochanter (inner hip).

The source of the strain is in question.  Could be the training.  Could be the steep downhills on Sequoia. Could be the fact that I went trampoline jumping, including wall jumping, with my kids.  Could be all three put together (probably is).

Regardless of the source, Monday I had to admit it was getting worse, not better.  So I called my amazing PT/Chiropractor, Mark Eastland of MORE Clinic, and went in for a visit on Thursday. Mark has seen me through ITB issues, plantar fasciitis, and carpel tunnel syndrome.  He is a miracle worker.  His goal is to get me in shape for AR, but he says “No promises.  We will decide together as we go.”

Mark, who is the former chiropractor for the San Francisco 49ers,  is hard core and makes you come in pretty much every day for 90 minutes – 2 hours. I already see a big difference, i.e., I am not limping, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I really want to run AR, but I really don’t want to risk the next three months to do so.  I have Skyline to the Sea 50K in April, followed by the Ohlone 50K in May.  I am super excited about both.  I have not run since Wednesday, but my plan is to go tomorrow and see how I do.  If I can’t knock out a 5-hour run next weekend, I think AR will officially be out of my grasp.

The hearing issues: For years now I have had trouble hearing what people say.   In some ways, it’s like listening to a world inhabited by the adults from Peanuts.  You know they are talking, but haven’t a clue what they are saying.

I often have trouble hearing what people say when I run.  In particular, I miss a lot of the stories told by my friends Andy and Craig.  Seeing that they are both great story tellers, it’s a bummer.  I get tired of asking people to repeat themselves; frankly, I think they get tired of it too.  So I nod and smile as if I have a clue.

While it isn’t a huge problem, it has been getting worse and I had to stop ignoring it.  Three things happened recently that scared the jiminy out of me.  (1) At work I couldn’t make out what someone was saying who was looking right at me, asking a direct question in a quiet room. (2) While at lunch, a friend was commenting on the volume of a conversation taking place close by.  I heard nothing, not even a muffle.  Absolutely nothing. (3) While sitting next to my fourth grader as we did homework, I could not hear him if he looked down at his paper.  He had to turn his head and face me.  I was literally three feet from him.

Not so good.

picture-4

My Hearing Results

So, I broke down and went to an audiologist. Turns out, and I quote, “You have large chunks of your hearing that are just missing. Unfortunately, these chunks fall within the range of where many people speak.”

Bummer.

After a series of tests, my hearing aides arrived on Wednesday.  I went in totally excited.  But now that I have them, it has dawned on me that I have an actual issue.  I am a 36-year old endurance athlete who is hard of hearing.  The little devices — which I ordered in pink to spice things up — work.  I haven’t had to ask a single person to repeat themselves.  But the sound isn’t natural.  It is like listening to the world through speakers.  And someone actually noticed them today and commented on them, which made me a bit uncomfortable because they were clearly uncomfortable.  It was weird.

So, this is the second year I have wanted to run AR50 and the second year I probably won’t.  And, I am hearing the world through speakers stuck in my ears.  Being a sunny-side-of-life-girl, 95% of the time I think things like, “I now have super-hero hearing! I did hear through a wall this week!”  And as my friend Paul said, “If you have to lose something on your body, I can think of far worse parts than hearing.”

In the big picture of the world I realize neither are that big of a deal, but I am disappointed.  What a weird week.

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Book review: Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, by Kenny Moore

March 5, 2009 · Filed under Books, For the love of running, Reviews · Tagged , , ,

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon…this book is fabulous!  It is meant to be experienced by anyone who enjoys biographies or is interested in the life of the legendary track coach and Nike founder.

As the book says, “No man has affected more runners in more ways than Bill Bowerman.”  A rich and engaging tale, it spans the time from Bowerman’s grandparents’ life to Bowerman’s own death. I can’t imagine a more definitive work.

The story is written by Kenny Moore, a former University of Oregon Bowerman track star, Olympic marathoner, and cowriter/coproducer of Without Limits – the story of Steve Prefontaine. Fun trivia, Bowerman used Moore’s foot to design the famous Cortez running shoe.

1972 Cortez Running Shoe

1972 Cortez Running Shoe

Because Moore had a personal relationship with Bowerman, the story is told with heart, admiration, details, and a love for the sport that Bowerman made his legacy.

In addition to Moore’s personal knowledge, the story is written with the permission of Bowerman’s family and Nike.  It is full of interviews from fellow track students, neighbors, friends, running colleagues, Nike colleagues - including Phil Knight, and Bill’s sweetheart (and wife) of seventy years. You meet a true man, and all that made him both incredible and flawed.

During his 24-years as U of O track coach, he won four national titles and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records.  But his life is not just about him.  It is also a beautiful history lesson about running in the United States.

There is Prefontaine, Nike and the waffle shoe.  All things familiar to me and associated in my mind with Bowerman.

What I did not know was that Bowerman witnessed the Miracle Mile race between Landy and Bannister.  Bowerman was a proactive force in the U.S.A. jogging movement that swept our nation in 1963.  He was a crucial leader in the fight for the rights of athletes.  Bowerman’s training methods, which included easy runs and rest days, were controversial at the time.  He coached our Olympic teams so many times that I lost count while reading the book.  And he was far more than “just” a coach during the tragedy that befell the  Munich Games.

Published by my favorite house, Rodale, the book tops 400 pages.  I could have done with a little less detail on all the track meets and every race, but that’s just me.  For track junkies, I am sure the stories are more than welcome.

By far one of my favorite running books and favorite biographies of all time.

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Race report: PCTR Sequoia 50K

March 1, 2009 · Filed under Endurance, For the love of running, Marathons, Race Reports, Trail Running, ultramarathons · Tagged , , , ,

 

Sequoia Trail Run - Oakland, CA

Sequoia Trail Run - Oakland, CA (Source: PCTR Website)

Just the Facts, Ma’am:

Elevation Gain: 5030′

Course Description: The course travels through the Oakland Hills by way of Joaquin Miller Park and Redwood Regional Park.  It is a fairly technical course (at least based on my experience) that wanders primarily through forest, with an abundance of canopy, a smattering of creeks, and a balanced combination of single track and open spaces.

My Experience:

This was my second 50K, my first being Way Too Cool, but my third time to run this trail.

My experience was great!  I came in at 6 hours and 10 minutes, a proud 20 minutes faster than I had expected.  I placed 2nd in my age group and just made it into the top 10 females.

Granted, I had no intention of finishing in the top 10 or anything.  My goal was just to finish, not too battered, and enjoy myself.  I finished.  I enjoyed myself.  I am a bit battered.

What I like about this run is that the elevation gain is spread out enough that you never have long stretches of walking.  A few minutes here and a few minutes there and you are back running again.

What’s tough about this run is that some of the downhills are really steep and rocky.  Toward the end of the run, I found myself slowing on the descents because I was tired and afraid I would slip or trip.

The 50K is basically two 20K loops and one 10K out and back.  I didn’t think I was going to like doing the same loop twice.  However, I actually found advantage in knowing what was coming.  I was able to easily monitor my effort, based on what was ahead of me.

PCTR trail runs come in many flavors.  Every race has some combination of a 10K, 20K, 30K and 50K.  This too I found advantageous.  For three hours I ran with quite a few people, including a handful from my running club.  After the 30kers were done, and it was just us ultra-freaks, everything went very quiet and peaceful.  This was my favorite part.  For 10 miles or so I got in a nice groove, and ticked the miles off one at a time.  There were three to four people I stuck with for that back 20K.  You pass each other along the way, but it is sort of nice to “be in it together”.

And as always, the PCTR team did a wonderful job of marking the trail and taking care of everyone.  The aid stations and post-run food can’t be beat.

(Although, you can over do it at the aid stations.  I found my club mate, Matt, struggling a little at mile 16.  He is a fast runner, so to catch him was very unusual.  He looked at me and simply said, “Too many jelly beans.”)

My next PCTR event is Skyline to the Sea, and I already can’t wait.

 

 

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