A Time to Give Back, and a Time to be Selfish

Like anything in life, balance is a strong component of success.  I take balance pretty seriously in my work, personal, and fitness life.  But in all honesty, distance running can be a pretty selfish endeavor.  You naturally become very self-focused as you dissect your diet, training plans, goals, aches and pains…   If you’re going to make it through a training cycle in a healthy way, you have to pay a lot of attention to yourself.  The ugly part of that is that it naturally takes your focus away (at least a little bit anyway) from your other commitments – your relationships, your work, your other hobbies – there are only so many hours in the day, and if you’re spending a few hours focused on your running each day, you have to cut attention away from something else. 

I am very aware that next year with the tentative goals I have that some other things will drop down my priority list, but I am ready for that. I have a tendency to train hard with high mileage about every other year, and in those ‘off’ years it is important for me to give back to the sport of running.  Training hard every year would get old for me, plus, I would probably die of boredom if I had to focus on myself for so long! 

The most significant way that I give back to the sport is by coaching at the high school level.  I have been blessed to have some amazingly talented girls come through the program, but what really excites me about coaching is the work I do with the girls that are brand new to running.  Maybe they were cut from volleyball and still wanted to do a sport, or maybe they’re just trying it out because their older sister ran previously.  Either way, I love coaching those girls.  It is most important to me (more so than winning and getting the girls to hit their goal times) to lay the foundation for these girls to have a healthy relationship with running, and with their bodies.  Running is special in that it is something you can do for your entire life, and I really believe that those first formative years in the sport are detrimental.  We’ve all seen women who have an unhealthy relationship with running  - they use it as a punishment on their body, or as a tool for regulation of their caloric intake.  Anything I can do to bring out the fun in running, and promote a healthy partnership of working with your body and not against it to succeed is a victory in my book, even if it doesn’t culminate in a team win at a meet. 

Speaking of team wins...  here is a pic of my girls winning their Sectional
meet for the first time EVER this past Saturday.

 

 

                Another way I love to give back is by answering people’s running questions, helping with training plans, and giving them tips on injuries, gear, routes, and mental strength.  Running is accessible to everyone, so if I can be an approachable resource to help get people out the door and on the way to discovering their own strength, that’s awesome.  I get really excited to hear about my friends and co-workers running their own races – it reminds me of the excitement of tackling a new distance and meeting a goal you weren’t sure you could attain.

 

A group of my lovely running friends.

                So now as my cross country season winds down (this is the last week with the State meet this Saturday) I am mentally prepping myself to get back to running solo, paying attention to my body’s feedback instead of dialing into the aches and pains my athletes have, and am really looking forward to focusing on my nutrition the next six weeks or so.  I recently read Scott Jurek’s book Eat and Run and want to explore some different, plant based foods to add into my already pretty healthy eating habits.  If you know me at all, I am not a cook.  I would live off of toast, soup and cookies all year if it was acceptable – so I want to take some of my rest cycle time to try some new things.  I have some tempeh in the fridge that I want to use to make a recipe that was in Runner’s World a couple months ago.  I'm shooting for cooking / trying something new every week.

                So as I get ready from the transition of being a coach for my girls, to being more focused on my own miles, I am happy to have spent most of this year investing in other people’s running goals.  It gives me lots to think about when I’m training on my own, and also provides a lot of inspiration as I think about my athletes and friends, and the struggles they have shared with me. It’s like they are giving back to me when they probably aren’t even aware that they are.  To me it feels like the perfect balance of giving and self-focus.  So thank you to my athletes and my running friends who inspire me through the darkest parts of the trail.

 

Me with an athlete I used to coach who I consider to be a sister. :)

 

 

Fall Run in Pictures - Loving Wisconsin

I am headed out shortly to meet a dear old friend for yoga and dinner, and since I have recently decided that chocolate chip cookies make up their own very important food group, I headed out the door for a trail run to enjoy the fall day.  I find that I have quite a few readers that aren't here in Wisconsin, and may not even have cool temperatures yet, so these photos are for you. 

It was a perfect fall run - crunchy leaves, cool breeze, the sun low in the sky so the shadows are long and graceful.  Halloween decorations punctuated the houses that connected the two trails I ran, and you could smell that perfect mix of fall, fires, and dinner being cooked. 

Happy fall trails my friends!

 

The Benefits of a Runner's Mindset

It's been a little while since I have posted. My running is winding down to head into a rest cycle, and my work has gotten much more demanding - at a convenient time, really, since I don't need to be logging 75 mile weeks any time soon. 

This week I have logged 12+ hour work days every day so far, and while juggling responsibilities, answering phone calls, attending meetings, making decisions, completing projects, coaching, and trying to keep my staff happy, I came to realize something.  I was in the same mindset I have on race day.  When you toe the line for a race, especially a long distance race, anything can happen.  You can run out of food or water, you could get lost (on a trail race at least), you could cramp, fall and twist an ankle, get sick - anything.  My work days have been the same thing - I had no idea heading into the office Monday morning that my workload was about to more than double.  And instead of freaking out and whining about it, I quickly organized what had to be done, prioritized a working list of things I was responsible for, turned on the Latin pop music (my new favorite thing!) and got to work.  As things would come up through the day I was able to pretty easily shift gears to accommodate what was needed, respond to people quickly, and stayed late to accommodate a deadline.  From there I ran some errands, took my dog on a long walk, and am now writing this.  I'm still in race mode!

Do you have those days?  Where you look out at the tasks ahead of you (or the miles) and know that the tasks need to be done, and the miles need to be covered?  There's no sense in being emotional or overly anxious about it, just figure it out and get it done.  Right?  As long as these days have been, part of me really loves it.  I am thankful for my running mindset I've developed over the years and can naturally dial into it when I need to.  I know right now that my desk is at least partially cleaned off, my dog is tired and happy, my fridge is full and the laundry is done.  The fire that comes as a result of a runner's mind is a pretty amazing thing! 

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body."
-Lynn Jennings

Work, run, work, then take a breath (and look at a postcard of Breckenridge) :)

You're More Than 'Just A Runner'

There seems to be one major difference between people who work out, and people who don't.  People who workout as part of their lifestyle often seem to struggle with resting, whereas people who don't work out seem to savor it.  This past week, I have been resting. 

Just over a week ago my head coach came down with a nasty illness that kept him from coming to our big meet that weekend.  Then last Monday I came down with the same thing - high fever, a carnival took residence in my stomach, and the sinus pressure was so bad it felt like I got kicked in the mouth by a horse.  I can say with certainty that five years ago, well, even one year ago, I would have tried to run through that.  The fever would have kept me inside, but I would have considered the other things minor in comparison for my need to get out the door and log some miles. 

I didn't realize the importance of rest and honestly listening to what my body was telling me until last winter.  I had developed some issues in my left calf and ankle in getting ready for Ragnar in 2012, and those injuries lead to an overuse injury in my right hamstring.  By the time I finished coaching cross country last fall I knew I had really messed things up - the pain in my hamstring was sharp and deep. Now I had to address it. After two trips to the sport med doctors at UW Health, I received the unpleasant news that I had to take time off.  And not just a couple weeks, we're talking months.  I was devastated.  Pair that with the nasty breakup that happened right around the same time and there I was - a hot mess without access to my #1 coping mechanism.  Now what?  I was allowed to do some strength work, and eventually do some agility work, but that was it.  It wasn't until that point that I realized I had all my theoretical eggs in one basket - fitness.  I had lots of other interests, but I had put all of them aside to focus on my performance, and I felt stuck. 

Last winter was by far the longest on record for me.  Fast forward to this past week - I was bummed to have to take some time off and miss practice with my girls, but I had other things on deck that I liked to do.  My unpleasant winter last year forced me to explore parts of me I had long forgotten - my love of reading, writing, time with non-runner friends, artwork, photography, diving into special projects at work, helping other runners and volunteering at events.  All those things were necessary to get me to not go crazy during this last week of rest.  I did miss running in the fall colors with my cross country team, and I longed for that exhilaration of finishing a workout with that burn in your lungs and breathless 'good job's being shared between teammates. 

So as a word of advice, don't forget that we are more than just runners. And as much as we love to run through cities, forests, canyons, mountains and deserts, we're capable of being effective individuals in more ways than our weekly mileage logs suggest.  Most people are winding down their training cycles (congratulations Chicago marathoners!), and it's a wonderful time to scale back the workouts and figure out what else makes us tick.  If you're anything like me, you often feel like you are defined by your running.  I was at a seminar for work the other day and the speaker said that your profession (our in our case, running) doesn't define you, your values do. I urge you to figure out what that means for you.  Winter, or a rest cycle you know you should take, doesn't need to be a stir crazy time of year.  Treat it as an exploration to make yourself a bit more well rounded, and you might just surprise yourself, and others, that you're more than 'just a runner'.  

5 Tips to Make Your Long Run Not Feel So Looooooong.

We, as distance runners, have all been there.  You can have three weeks worth of solid, enjoyable runs in a row. The weather is your friend, all the walk lights are in your favor, your legs have bounce, your favorite running clothes always seem to be clean, and even dogs smile at you as you effortlessly glide by.  And then it happens.  You hit a point in your long run where you think the miles on your gps are going backwards, you can barely lift your knees up, and you want to be anywhere other than where you are.  Those are the most difficult runs for me.  Now, 'long' is a subjective term, depending on what kind of running you're into.  For some people a long run is three miles, for others, it's 50.  At any rate, that weighed down feeling happens to all of us.  So here are a few things that I do to make the best of those long miles.

This was from one of my worst long runs on record.  Yes, it was so bad I had to take a picture.  It was THAT bad.

1 - Change up the route.  I am shocked by the amount of people I speak to that run the same routes, in the same places, year in and year out.  Anyone would get bored with that!  If you do the same urban route to fit in your 20 miler, think outside the box and look for an easy trail system - around Madison I love Military Ridge.  It's flat, straight, and soft footing which is great for the legs.  It may feel counterproductive to hop in the car to drive somewhere to go for a run, but the change in surroundings can make a huge difference.  I also like to go to my hometown a couple times a year and log miles on a 'memory lane run' going past my old house, schools, high school hangouts.  It's a great way to let the miles slide by while keeping your mind occupied with happy things.

2 - Get a sidekick.  If you're a super long distance runner, you might not have friends that are able to go the whole distance with you, so save them for the end.  Even if you are just meeting someone for the last 5 miles, it's worth it.  You can finally talk to someone besides yourself and they can also have a fresh water bottle and snack for you.  It's the best of both worlds!

Having a friend run with me in the dark hours of my relay helped me get through that last leg
 (which was 24.4 miles by the way...yikes).

3 - Give yourself something to look forward to.  People respond well to incentive - for me when I'm running it's a food or drink treat, or allowing myself music.  For a while I'd allow myself half a Red Bull and a handful of Cheez Its at mile 15.  It made a big difference to know that I had something that I really liked on the horizon, and the last few miles cruised by once I had my mood lifted from my sugar and salt injection. 

4 - Break it up.  Running a loooong way on the same terrain, with the same surroundings gets old. Well, at least mundane.  So think about what you can work into your routes to get some variety.  Here in Madison I can plan a 20 miler that includes lake views, hills, flats, ritzy residential, Big Ten campus, prairies and woods.  With variety like that you can split up the long run into shorter parts that are all just different enough to keep you interested.  If at all possible, I try and have the 'natural beauty' segments towards the end.  Nature rejuvenates me in all contexts so to catch some fresh air off the lakes and float through the floor of a pine forest refreshes me even on the worst of days.



View from a long run outside Tucson in April, 2011

5 - Mind games.  This is my favorite, and you can do this on the fly whenever you decide you need it.  Almost all of my long runs have been alone, so I resorted to brain games using the alphabet a few years ago.  All you do is go from A - Z and name a city that starts with each letter, then girls names, then boys names, last names, foods you like with each letter, foods you dislike, songs that start with each letter, bands...  It can be really fun!  I can recall some delirious moments where I start laughing out loud while mumbling these games to myself.  One particular laugh fest came when I decided my favorite boys B name was Barkley.  Yes, Barkley.  (I never said you did your best thinking 20 miles in on an 80° day.)

Today's Run in Pictures

Today I made it a point to bring my phone to snag some photos - our colors here are just starting to change, but wanted to post some for my readers that aren't in the upper mid-west.  Wisconsin running is really beautiful right now!

Why Run?

There are a zillion reasons to run.  Health, stress relief, trying to get faster, lose weight, prove a point, social aspects, getting something off your bucket list....   The list could go on forever. In listening to a podcast on Trail Runner Nation yesterday I started really thinking about this.  At different stages of my life there have been different driving factors in what got me to lace up and get out the door.  Lately, I find that going for a run is my version of having a 'reset button'. 

On any given day I find myself being pulled in countless different directions, with my ultimate goal being to do the best I can in every facet of my life, and not get too bent out of shape over things I can't control.  It can be tough when a person hurts someone you care about, when someone overreacts and is unreasonable, when someone close to you makes decisions you don't agree with, but at the end of the day it's not my problem.  I can't control anything that other people do, I can't control their reactions, and I can't reason with someone that is unreasonable.  So instead I do the best I can to stay level headed, make the best decisions I can, and just try and understand where other people are coming from.  And running gets me to that place faster than anything else. 

I am headed out to do a trail run in a little bit and I can't wait.  There's something almost meditative about it.  Stresses fall away and the only things in your immediate world are the trail, the sounds of the stream running past, the fall colors permeating the canopy of the woods, squirrels frantically searching for the last few nuts they can find to get themselves ready for the winter. To me this feels like I've entered a bubble - no one knows exactly where I am, no one can call me, ask a question, or complain to me about something.  No one needs anything from me, so I'm free to dial into my own personal ground zero and just be thankful for the miles, the quiet, enjoy doing something positive for my mind and body, and know that when I'm done I can field all my different obligations from a place that is calm and mindful.  Everyone seems to have their own 'reset button', and running is definitely mine. 

My Favorite Things for a Long Run (like Oprah's favorite things, but better :)

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my next steps in my running career, tweaking my training plan for this winter, taking inventory of what my goals are, and also getting excited to log some serious miles starting in just a few months.  This lead me to think of my favorite things to bring along with me on a long trail run.  I'm sure most of you have caught at least a glimpse of Oprah's favorite things?  Well, this is my version, I just can't afford to give all these things away to each of my readers. :) 

1 - One of my absolute favorite things in my arsenal of gear, are my sleeves.  It can be tricky to layer in fall and spring when temperatures can fluctuate, especially if you're out running for 4 or 5 hours at a time.  They eliminate the need for a long sleeve shirt, and they're easy to pull down around your wrists, and double as wearable Kleenex.  That comes in VERY handy.  :)

 

Not even my cool sleeves can make me look any less ridiculous here.

2 - My Camelbak.  I have tried fuel belts, hand held bottles, one bottle belts, and they just don't work for me.  I also tried a couple different kind of Camelbaks, and then I found the one.  The reservoir is lower on your back and wraps around your waist, which contours naturally with your anatomy, instead of feeling like you have a waterlogged tree trunk running up your spine.  It also has a few pockets that on the straps on your chest and waist so you don't have to take it off to get to what you need.  It gets old fast whenever you have to undo your straps and take your Camelbak off just to get at your second sleeve of gels or stash your gloves.

3 - Speaking of gloves, I love my glittens. (Those cool hybrids of gloves and mittens). I have a pair of Manzella's and I've somehow been able to hang on to them for three full years.  They're breathable, just warm enough, and the wrists aren't super snug.  It might all be in my head, but I feel like my wrists get annoyed when there's too much pressure on them.  And then my fingers get antsy. Maybe it's just me? 

4 - My North Face Flight Series jacket.  If you're not familiar with this line from North Face, it's a series of light, windproof, really quick drying gear.  I have a turquoise one I bought a couple years ago on a whim and it was the best impulse buy I have ever made.  Not only is it my favorite color, but it is super breathable, it packs super small so it's easy to carry, it's got those fun thumb holes, and the ends of the sleeves fold over into impromptu mittens.  What more could you ask for!  I love that thing. You can see it in the picture at the top of my blog.  That jacket has gone everywhere with me.

5 - Reflective gear as a whole.  I've got a nice little collection of lights - most are Nathan or Amphipod, an Amphipod vest, and lots of velcro reflective stuff.  Having been hit by a car in college while running, I like to be really visible, especially in those winter months where it's dark most of the time.  I probably border on looking like a running rave, but I'm okay with that. 


Rocking the night gear look - of course with my favorite sleeves!

6 - Chicken broth.  Back in 2011 I had a lot of problems with cramping and I could never get my sodium levels right, until I discovered the miracle that is known as chicken broth.  It can be a little tough to execute, because I really don't like it cold, but if you heat it up to where it's practically scalding, and then stash it along a route you're doing a few loops on in a thermos, it works just fine.  I find that even if I'm really nauseous, I always welcome the flavor of it, and I never had any cramping issues after that.

7 - My iPod filled with podcasts and movies.  Sometimes to get out of your own head, it helps to hear what's going on in someone else's.  I'm hooked on listening to any podcast from Trail Runner Nation and The Runners Roundtable.  I find myself laughing out loud, learning things, and feeling like I'm surrounded by friends even when I'm not.  As for movies, I love to listen to my favorite movies to pass the time.  There's quite a few running related movies you can rent on iTunes, so that can be a fun way to keep entertained when the miles are going by slowly. My absolute favorite is Running the Sahara with my favorite altruistic ultramarathoner, Ray Zahab. It's a documentary about three strong-willed ultra runners from very different backgrounds, that set out on a journey to run across the entire Sahara desert.  The story is incredible, and the soundtrack does wonders to help motor you through your long run. 

8 - Body glide.  I swear by using this on my feet when I'm doing anything longer than ten or so.  For a long time I had problems with sporadic blisters and black toe nails.  I still get the occasional black toe nail, but ever since I put Body Glide on the ends of each toe before I put my socks and shoes on it has made a world of difference.  It's been nice to not feel blisters burst, or nails pull away from my toes when I'm on the trail and still have ten more miles to go. 

9 - This is a bonus one, and only for my special occasions.  If I have a really long event planned, I will bring some emotional ammunition.  As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I coach cross country at a local high school.  These girls are such a source of inspiration for me, and when I'm out running my miles, I think of them, and look forward to telling them how it went.  When I was preparing for my North Face 50k in 2011 I brought a bunch of pieces of colored paper to a pasta dinner we had and asked them to write me words of encouragement on them.  I wanted to have them with me (in one of the front pockets of my Camelbak) so if I really started to flounder, I could pull one out and read it for a boost.  I didn't have to resort to reading them while I was running, but I really enjoyed reading them once I finished my race.  Just having those notes along for the run made me feel like I had the strength of my whole team out there with me. 

So these are a few of my long trail run must haves.  If there's anything you don't leave home without I'd love to hear about it.  We're a pretty quirky bunch and it's fun to hear what other people head out the door with!