Help Yourself

For the marathoners and people who come to the Wednesday workouts, I've done a lot of waffling over time about when to put the next solo run. I originally had the marathoners running on Fridays, but that's the day before the long run. I switched it to Thursdays, but am not entirely happy with that. I know that I feel like I was beaten with a bag of oranges, or possibly more of the nasty persimmons Kellie bought last night, so I'll run tomorrow, and today will be my cross training day.

The ideal for those doing Wednesday workouts, I think, would be to make Thursday your cross training day, and then run Friday morning. That gives you time to recover a bit from Thursday, and to recover again for the long run Saturday morning. Running in the morning also ramps up your metabolism for the day, which is good if you're wanting to burn some fat. If anyone would like to burn some of mine, feel free.

So, someone asked yesterday if we should just be feeling sore full-time, now. Funny, because earlier in the day, I was thinking about how I was definitely in that phase of my training where I'm sore and feeling a little beat-up most of the time. Thing is, I also feel strong, and the soreness and beat-uppedness shouldn't be indicative of more serious issues, like muscle pulls or strains, shin splints, skeletal issues, or infestation by an incubating, parasitic alien.

I'll say again, we are in a phase where we have to take responsibility and start taking extra care of ourselves. This is half marathon and marathon training, not a correspondence course in, I don't know, incubating parasitic alien infestations. There are things we can do to minimize or eliminate our discomfort, and help ward off injury. I know I've posted about these things before, but they can't be said enough:

Ice baths - after long runs, even after hard weekday workouts. It alleviates a lot of soreness, and hastens recovery, so that the next run is not so horrible. I know some of you have become believers - would you please weigh in on this in the comments?

Stretch - I am the worst about this. For one thing, if you aren't very flexible, stretching doesn't seem very satisfying, and it can be a bit disheartening. We have to be disciplined and do it, though, especially as the weather gets colder. Light stretching before runs, then good stretching after every run. I like to try to stretch again a couple of hours after the run - we tend to get in our cars, go home or to work, and sit, making it as easy as possible for our leg muscles to tighten up. Tight muscles affect your stride, even your footstrike, increase the chance of some injuries, and generally makes life miserable. And with just 5-10 minutes a day, we could avoid a lot of that. Yoga is helpful - more on that in a moment.

Massage - Massage is another miracle worker. If you wanted to be completely serious about this running thing, you'd get them regularly. I know there's an expense factor. But even if you can get one once a month, it'll help tremendously.

Self massage is a good thing, too. No jokes, please. I'm checking on organizing a foam roller seminar that would cost some dough, but we'd walk away with foam rollers and some instruction on their use.

Get help now, not later - We all want to run, some of us are afraid of stopping and losing ground. But the algebra of this is simple - you can go get that pain looked at now, maybe have to sit out or minimize your running for a few weeks, or maybe just address it with rehab or changes in routine, or, you can ignore it and keep pounding at it, thinking the magical running fairies, or maybe your incubating, parasitic alien infestation are going to repair it, and end up injured, fat, and asleep on the morning of February 18.

Listen to your body - Facing and overcoming discomfort and fear, even pain, are attributes you need as a runner. But ignoring pain during training that is trying to warn you of an issue with your body is just stupid. Get to know your body, and pay attention to it.

Run softly - I keep our workouts on the streets, because that's what you'll be running your races on. Dick Beardsley was saying last week that he thinks people train on trails, then run distance on the street and their bodies aren't ready for it. I think with the great trail system we see here, that it happens a lot. I have a friend that runs ultramarathons on real trails, and will run the occasional marathon, and he talks about what a difference it makes when you aren't used to it. But there is a very real cost in impact and wear and tear on our bodies. So, on your solo run days, I encourage you to run on the trail, or even in grass. Take any opportunity to minimize the impact. You're also getting a slightly harder workout when you run on a surface with more energy absorption and less traction.

Cross train - When the calendar says "cross training", that's not like, some admonition to get to church (yeah, that was bad. sorry). You should be using that day to give your legs a break, particularly from impact,

I'm still failing to enact Phillip's suggested core training into our workouts, but I haven't given up on it. In the meantime, Jack and Adam's Bicycles, at Lamar and Barton Springs, has free core workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays, at 5:30pm. Free. Strengthening your core is going to help you run stronger, and maintain your form longer.

Also, some of Team Spee is already hitting the free Friday night yoga at Yoga Vida. Yoga is fantastic for flexibility and even building some core strength. I think all athletes should be doing yoga, actually - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gives a lot of credit for his unusually long basketball career to his practice of yoga.

There's more to discuss - nutrition is a huge consideration. And, maintaining your mental well-being, though clearly already a lost cause in general for many of you (OK, of us), is important to. And, at some point, we'll talk about how to deal with incubating, parasitic alien infestations, with the pain and the screaming and gurgling and exploding and the Sigourney Weaver and what-not.