This one’s for all the track stars.
Have a great running meme you want me to post? Send it to me!
Race Recap: YMCA of Pikes Peak Region Turkey Trot (5K)
On Thanksgiving morning, as part of my strategy to have a healthy turkey day experience, I dragged my super-supportive boyfriend out of bed to come cheer for me as I ran my first post-injury race.
I had to dig up all my Winter running gear because, y’all, Colorado Springs is COLD. This might just break the record for the coldest race I’ve ever run. Having fully embraced the sunny California climate, this was a bit of the shock to my system.
Also, there’s less oxygen than I’m used to. At 6,500 ft. elevation, it’s definitely harder to breath, but I didn’t think this would be too big a deal. I mean, this is a 5K, not the Leadville 100.
It’s not a big deal … UNLESS you have to run up a giant hill and just flew in from your sea-level abode. Do you know how many hills are on my running routes in Roseville? It rhymes with hero.
I made it up the first hill okay, but by the second hill, I was breathing hard and starting to get dizzy. A man running just behind me flat-out collapsed. It was just past the half-mile mark, but for me, it was time to walk. I spent the rest of the up-hills run/walking to avoid any actual altitude sickness.
It’s a Turkey Trot, so I was far from the only person walking up the hills. At some points, I was forced to walk just because the wall of walkers in front of me was so dense, and the course narrowed to a sidewalk at one point.
The course is out-and-back, which means I got rewarded for all the uphill running in the first half with a fun downhill run in the second half. I love these kinds of courses – easy negative split! It was fun to take off toward the end.
I didn’t push myself super hard, so wasn’t too tired, but it definitely took a while to catch my breath. At the end, there was a giant mass of people wandering around, seemingly aimless. I finally had to ask another runner where the water table was. On my way, I spotted a food table and grabbed a banana. There were also bagels (of course).
The crowds up and down the course were great, and many runners joined in cheering (especially for all the parents running uphill with baby strollers – talk about dedication!). There were also about a dozen dogs barking out their motivations, and jumping around in excitement at all the running targets people.
All in all, it was a super fun experience that I highly recommend if you find yourself in the Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak area over Thanksgiving.
Did you run a Turkey Trot? Give me your race recap!
Great Gifts for Runners
Happy Cyber Monday, y’all! Thanksgiving is over, so it’s prime time for holiday shopping.
I put together a collection of great gifts – at a variety of price points – for all the runners in your life. I tried to take this list out of the box a little bit, so not your standard running fare. Enjoy!
Click on the title to open a web page where you can buy the item. For the items on Amazon, I do get a small stipend if you buy through the link.
What’s on your holiday wish list?
How to Survive Thanksgiving – 5 Tips
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photo by Lew (tomswift) Holzman (Flickr Creative Commons
Okay, let’s be honest, I have no useful advice for how to best deal with the awkward hugs from your crazy uncle or the politically contentious comments of your great grandmother.
I do have lots of experience not overeating on this feast-of-all-feast days, though. For some reason, being surrounded by massive amounts of food all day, every day makes me more aware of healthy eating habits. Also, I follow these great tips:
1. Raw Fruit & Veggies
I love apples, so I always try to have them on hand. If I’m at someone else’s house, I usually ask for the extra celery that didn’t make it into the stuffing to munch on. They’re usually happy to get rid of it. When you’re surrounded by pre-dinner snacks, it’s easy – and very tempting – to graze. You know what’s not easy? Eating ANYTHING ELSE when you have a mouth full of apple.
Bring your favorite fruit or veggie to share if you’re not sure what’s gonna be offered. This helps keep me from snacking and also fills me up so I’m not starving come dinner time.
2. Don’t Eat What You Don’t Like
I do not like white meat. Whether is’t turkey, chicken, or any of the other white meats, I’m just a dark meat kinda girl. So while, yes, turkey breast is lower in calories than a thigh or leg, I end up dousing it in gravy to drown the taste. I don’t enjoy it, so it doesn’t really fill me up. If I’m not starving, why would I eat anything I don’t enjoy? So I get a nice hunk of dark meat on my plate and leave the gravy.
Before you put something on your plate, ask yourself, “Will I enjoy eating this?” Even if it’s healthy (and when it comes to Thanksgiving, even the healthy-looking food is slathered in something unhealthy), don’t put it on your plate unless you’re going to enjoy eating it.
3. Take Three Bites
Honestly, how often does your grandma make her famous pecan pie? Do sweet potatoes make you drool, especially when they’re loaded with sugar and covered with marshmallows? Don’t deny yourself the food you love. That will only make you crave it more.
When I see a dish that I really want, but I know is totally horrible for me, I give myself three bites. And I focus on enjoying every morsel of each bite. Often, I find that the first bit is friggin’ awesome, and the second bite is equally as tasty. By the third bite, though, I notice the diminishing returns. It just doesn’t compare to that first wonderful bite. So I’m satisfied without going overboard.
4. Portion Control
It’s so tempting to load up your plate until it becomes a big pile of delicious food. But if you just serve yourself one serving of something, you might find yourself just as satisfied, and without that sickly, my-stomach-is-about-to-burst feeling later.
WebMD has a really useful tool to help you estimate portion sizes for all types of food.
5. Trot!
Turkey Trots have become so popular, that there is almost certain to be a Thanksgiving Day 5k wherever you plan to spend the holiday. So throw your running gear in your suitcase and start the day off on a healthy foot. I’m heading out to Colorado Springs, so I’ll be running in the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region Turkey Trot.
Even if there isn’t a race you can get to, just get up early and run or walk your own 5k. Get the whole family involved and make it a tradition!
I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
What are your tips for surviving the Thanksgiving holiday weekend?
How to Breathe While Running in 5 Easy Steps
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I’m off to San Francisco for a week for the Salesforce Dreamforce conference (because I am a data nerd as well as a running nerd), so I’m taking this week to share the “best of” I Run With It – some of my most popular posts. Enjoy!
photo by Tess Mayer (Flickr Creative Commons)
When I started running, breathing was probably my biggest obstacle. And it was definitely my brain’s biggest argument to stop. I mean, what’s a good response to, “Um, I can’t breathe while you keep doing this!“? And once I got over that hurdle, a nasty little side stitch was waiting for me on the other side.
I soon discovered that, despite the fact that I had been doing it for 28 years, I did not know how to breathe. (I also didn’t know how to tie my shoes, but that’s a different story.)
Breathing while running is a lot like breathing in yoga. I’m not talking about Ujjayi breath, but about deep breath or belly breathing (also called diaphragmatic breathing). If you’ve taken a yoga class, you’ve probably done something like this at the beginning or end of the class:
- Lie flat on your back. You can straighten your legs or bend your knees so your feet are flat on the floor, whichever is more comfortable.
- Place your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your belly. Pay attention to your breath and how it moves your chest and stomach up and down.
- Breathe in deeply, trying to raise your right hand (belly) while keeping your left hand (chest) still.
- Breathe out for the same amount of time. (ie. breathe in for four counts, breathe out for four counts)
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you are comfortable breathing this way. Then stand up and try to maintain this deep breathing.
I’ve heard some trainers tell people that nose breathing – breathing in through their nose and out through their mouth – is the way to go. This especially helps if you eat while you’re running. Others have advocated for mouth breathing, which is the most efficient way to get air into your body. You can also get into more complicated breathing techniques like syncing your breath with alternate footstrikes.
The best advice I’ve heard, which applies to a lot of running (and life) this, though is to do what ever feels best. Once you start breathing deeply, using your diaphragm instead of your chest muscles, how the air comes into your body is less important.
At first, it was hard to concentrate on breathing deeply while running. Did y’all ever notice how as soon as you think about you breath, breathing gets harder? What’s up with that?
Once I mastered it, though, I noticed that I got fewer side stitches, and running (especially up hills) seemed easier.
Concentrating on my breathing also became a sort of mantra. When things felt tough, I concentrated on breathing in and out. Because as hard as it got, I could always keep breathing. And as long as I keep breathing, I’ll be okay.
Do you pay attention to your breath while running? Do you practice mouth breathing, nose breathing or a combination of both?
10 things I hate about Scott Jurek
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I’m off to San Francisco for a week for the Salesforce Dreamforce conference (because I am a data nerd as well as a running nerd), so I’m taking this week to share the “best of” I Run With It – some of my most popular posts. Enjoy!
Arnulfo Quimare and Scott Jurek. photo by Wolf Gang (Flickr Creative Commons)
- I finished his book, Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness. I absolutely hate finishing good books like this, because then they’re over and I can’t read it any more unless I go back to the beginning and start reading again (which I have actually done).
- He showed me how hard the Western States 100 really is. In fact, he devoted a whole chapter of Eat and Run to how insanely hard the Western States 100 is. Okay, so at this point, I’m just looking to survive 26.2 miles, but there is something in me that wants to go longer, to aspire to even greater greatness. I thought the Western States 100 would be a nice scenic trail run that just happens to be 100 miles long – something way out there, but still realistic. Admittedly, I did absolutely no research on the race for fear that I would realize that it was an insane ambition. (I still want to run it.) And even though it is insanely hard, he still managed to be a 7-time Western States 100 champion. And don’t get me started on his Badwater victory. Way to show me up, Mr. Jurek.
- His morning runs are longer than my weekly mileage. So now, when I’m laying in bed debating whether or not to get up and run, that little motivational voice says something like, “What would Scott Jurek do?” and off I go.
- He’s a vegan. Not only does Jurek’s crazy running schedule mean he gets to consume about a million calories per day, but he does it all without eating meat or dairy. The fact that he just up and converted to being a vegan after eating McDonald’s four times a week convinced me to go vegetarian for the summer (and maybe vegan for August). I already miss sushi and turkey burgers.
- He’s really a vegan. Jurek mills his own flour. Did you get that? Scott Jurek mills his own flour. And Eat and Run is chock full of recipes that show you just how easy and delicious a vegan lifestyle can be. There goes the “maybe” in my vegan for August plans.
- He is one of the nicest people on the planet. I met him for about 20 seconds while having him sign my copy of Eat and Run, and I instantly knew I was talking to one of the nicest guys I would ever meet. He’s the kind of guy you meet and think, “If I have a daughter, I want her to have to change her last name to Jurek.” He’s so nice that you want to hate him, but you can’t. Also, he would never make your daughter change her last name when they get married, because he’s just too easy going for all that jazz.
- And by nice, I mean he will make a big deal about how awesome it is that you ran 4 miles this morning at an 11 min/mile pace. He’s just sorry he didn’t get to run it with you. Why? Because he’s a nice guy.
- He unveiled the ugly truth about the marathon. It’s longer than you think. Rather than the measly 26.2 miles that we marathoners and wannabe marathoners covet, the actual, historically accurate marathon is a 153-mile race. How can I acheive ultramarathon greatness when the actual marathon is a 153-mile race?! Also, guess who ran it – and won it? [shakes fist to the sky] Jurek!
- His mantras get stuck in your head. Particularly the mantra he adapted from something his dad liked to say, “Sometimes you just do things.” At first, it sounds more like a frustrated father who is sick of his kid asking “why” than a mantra. But after a few hard miles, I definitely start to sound like a kid: “My feet hurt, my legs hurt, I’m tired. Why do I have to keep running?” Because sometimes you just do things.
- And the thing I hate most about Scott Jurek is that I don’t hate him at all. His incredible book and inspiring career of genuine ultramarathon greatness combined with a 20 second pep talk have redefined aspiration for me. I’ll run my marathon, and then I’ll keep going, because I can, and because sometimes you just do things.
Ultramarathon greatness, here I come!
Full disclosure: The link to buy Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness is an affiliate link, so I’ll get a few pennies if you buy the book that way. I was not compensated in any way for this post and all opinions are my own.
What do you love (or hate) about Scott Jurek?
Running Meme Friday: If You Look Pretty, You’re Doing It Wrong
This running meme is inspired by an article I recently read by Lauren Fleshman, a.k.a. my latest girl crush.
Back To the Run
photo by Dale (Flickr Creative Commons)
I hadn’t run outside since June.
As I laced up my shoes, I was scared and excited. It was like going to meet an old friend after a long time apart. I wondered if she’d changed. I wondered what she’d think of me.
I wondered how my still-healing foot would react to the concrete.
Concrete—just about the hardest substance you can run on. And I was re-introducing my injured foot to the road on this unforgiving material.
I took a deep breath, let it out, and took off.
‘Everything’s okay,’ I kept thinking. Sometimes, as a question: ‘Everything’s okay?’
I spotted a turnoff to a bike path. Asphalt—marginally softer. I felt my body settle into a smooth cadence as I found my pace for this run.
Then the asphalt turned to dirt.
I panicked.
‘I’m not supposed to run on trails, yet!’ my negative subconscious screamed. ‘I’m going to hurt my foot again!’
But the dirt was packed, and the path was flat. This was no reason to panic. This was the universe giving my feet a break.
I ran past the high school and members of the cross country team gave me unsure glances as I passed by. Sorry, kids, this dirt trail’s for everyone.
I wanted to keep running, but I had to turn back. Only three miles allowed today. I sulked a little, but I knew that being cautious was the better option. I’ll trade a run today so I won’t have to give up months of running later.
But at least I’m back to saying things like “only three miles.”
How many miles did you run today?
Fat Runner: My Battle with My Body
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I’m fat.
That’s such a subjective word, isn’t it? And it has such a derogatory connotation. We prefer to use euphemisms like plump, chubby, or Rubenesque.
Or we can go with the more accurate medical term: I’m overweight. My BMI is 27.
Whatever, y’all, I’m fat.
It took a lot of courage for me to share that publicly, not wrapped in a pretty bow that accents my assets. I have never shared my weight with anyone other than my doctors. I argued that a woman’s weight is supposed to be a private thing – a sacred thing. Heck, I didn’t even like talking about the weight I’ve lost.
Really, I was ashamed. I always thought the number was too high. And you know what? It is too high.
And today, I’m owning my weight. Because my weight is a fact about me. It’s a characteristic, and I can change it.
Last week, I signed up for Weight Watchers and told my boyfriend my current weight. I’ve already lost five pounds (woohoo!), and today, I’m going to share my current weight with y’all.
I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little bit terrified. I’ve built this number up into a big, important, sacred thing – and it really isn’t.
So, deep breath, here goes:
It’s out there. And I’m not ashamed. This number is mine, and it is temporary. It’s another goal that I’m going to crush, because I can.
This is a battle with my body, not against it.
What do you think about sharing your weight publicly? Any brave souls want to join me in owning their weight? Share your number in the comments!
Running Meme Friday: Nipple Tape
You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and you can’t run a marathon without listening to these words of wisdom from Kevin Spacey.
