Injury Prevention, fruit! and Book Review

I clicked on a link today on hungryrunnergirl.com about injury prevention, expecting it to be the usual "stretch, rest, wear the right shoes" business but it was actually extremely in-depth and helpful, to the point that I had to include it in this post! The article is called fittingly "How to Prevent Common Injuries,"and was published by runner's world. There are pages and pages of really well-thought-out and explained exercises to strengthen the most common problem areas. Usually when I hear "most-common," I automatically think unnecessary...it just doesn't strike a chord with me. However, I clicked through these exercises and realized that many of them would strengthen the problem areas that I've been mentioning, many of which have been in serious want of strengthening since I've left my physical therapist. I HIGHLY recommend these exercises to anyone who's starting out or knows they're injury-prone, or even if you just hope to be running for a long time but haven't had problems yet! Here are some examples (there are is a video of all the exercises included too!):

I'll definitely be adding alllllll of the exercises (there are many, many more than the ones I just included above) to my daily routine with arms and abs. I've actually taken the day off from running/arms/abs because I feel totally blah. Mostly a mental fog but also not 100% physically. I've not been sleeping well and I think it's finally catching up with me. Luckily, I think pink pants with pink polka-dots are good at brightening anyone's day:

Sometimes a good healthy snack can really improve my mood too, so I had this plummy and appletastic snack this afternoon: 

A big part of my love of summer is my love of fruit. Yum!

Last night I stayed up very late waiting for Alex to land in the United States from his trip. I read Eat and Run, which I mentioned a few days ago because I just picked it up from the library and was excited to sit down and read it. 

I plowed through this awesome book. Scott Jurek is crazy...but only in the best way. I loved how much he wrote about his childhood and how he got into healthy cooking and eating (he's vegan, for those of you who don't know) over the course of a slow evolution. I loved his story of why and how he became arguably the world's best ultrarunner. He shares many stories about how close he was to his mom, who sadly wasted away before his eyes throughout most of his life due to her fight with multiple sclerosis. His stories about his mom and caring for her made me realize what a sweet, good person Scott is, and how he channeled this sensitivity into his sport. Any stress or sadness, and he would throw it into his running, pounding the pain away at the ground. Reading this book has encouraged me even more to live a more natural life in general, besides running, but also environmentally. It also has encouraged me even more to seek out some real trails to run on. That'll be my mission after I finish the half-marathon on the 16th.

At some point I'll write about the first running book I ever read, which was Born to Run in 2009. I was intrigued with the concept of such natural running, like what the Tarahumara do. Scott writes a lot about them because he's actually run with them! He knows more about them than many people and it's interesting to see how his knowledge has shaped his running and his perspectives on it. 

I love that the book includes his own vegan recipes and many running tips, as well. There's a section called "Easier Not Harder," that I intend to try to apply to my running sometime soon.

(p.52).

I don't personally have any interest in becoming a full-fledged, 0-support, barefoot runner, but for anyone that does, Jurek provides some good insight and advice on the subject after his experience with the Tarahumara. 

p. 149, 152.

For more the rest of his advice, you'll have to read the book! Until then read his blog! 

40th Post, jicama forts, and training agenda!

I cannot believe that today is my 40th day of writing this blog! In some ways it feels like hardly any time has passed, and in others it feels like I've been at this for eons.

My day started with waffles. My dad put ice cream in the middle of mine!

I've officially gone over 200 miles (I think it's around...206?) in my new shoes and they're still the best shoes ever! They like to hang out with their other shoe friends.

My run today was pretty good--I did a really relaxed, non-strenuous 8 miles as a "long" run in preparation for my next half-marathon, which is two weeks from today. Today is also two weeks out from the half-marathon I just completed, so it was my first official "non-rest" day and I thought it was fitting that I do my long run today. It went well, but I had some old aches and pains pop up again, which seem to have simmered down but were nonetheless discouraging.

Post-run dinner: jicama salad fort? Jicama is surprisingly like Lincoln Logs...

Here's the training schedule that I'm following in preparation for the next H-M:

As you can see, the black is what I've done so far in recovery/preparation, and the red is what I hope to do. Honestly, I have no idea if that's even close to what I'll end up doing...but it'll be the gist. Low-mileage for the most part, one more longer run in the middle of this week at the latest (if I feel okay from today) and lots of rest, perhaps some cross-training. I think that for most runners, doing two half-marathons 4 weeks apart is probably not too big of a problem, especially since I'm not killing myself over the time I complete them in and am certainly not setting world records. I'm just doing them because...I like a challenge, and I like to race and compete. I'm pretty nervous though, with such a short interval between them, because even though Pam Reed might be able to run a marathon back-to-front and then front-to-back on Saturday, and run another marathon on a different continent on Sunday, I'm much more prone to injury and fatigue problems. Honestly, sometimes it feels as though every time I step out to run, I wind up with some sort of injury! My experience with intensive physical therapy in the fall taught me that my body, unfortunately, is prone to injury due to my physiology. Not sure why I got stuck with this weird physiology, because both of my parents have had long, successful running careers! In order to POSSIBLY scrape by for a few more decades without having my "default injury"--IT-Band Syndrome--pop up, I have to do daily stretching and strengthening exercises, and I've learned that even that's not enough sometimes. If I skip days or weeks of my stretches or strengthening, I've found that I really have to pay for it, in pain, need for excessive recovery, and overuse injuries in my weak areas.

Recently I've been wondering if some of the issue is form-related; in fact, I'm sure some of it must be. Most modern runners tend not to run "efficiently" because we now spend our days at desks and wearing weird, "unnatural" shoes that mess up our alignment. So we have to re-teach ourselves how to run the natural way; as if we still had to run for our livelihood and didn't wear shoes that throw off our balance. That's why 90% of runners get injured at some point--we spend our lives doing things that un-naturalize our proper running form! 

This is one of the big reasons that I'm doing so much reading and research on "natural running" and proper running form. I want to know what the best thing I can do would be for both my running and my body so that I can run for as many years as possible. The one thing I'm not catching onto too much is the whole "barefoot running" notion...I think that it can work great for some people, but for others like me, support is necessary. My last running shoes before these had less of a drop in the heel, and were in other words, less supportive. They didn't work for me and I got injured. They were on the way down the ladder of support, but I don't dare go any further down that road! I'm sticking with support. Other than that, I think the best thing I can work on is my form, which as I've said, I'm gathering information on. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on what I find!

Favorite $1 Blazer, new book, and alone.

In one of my recent posts I mentioned my $1 blazer, which I found at a street fair a few years ago. I seem to be able to pair it with every summer outfit for work. It's a shrunken blazer and it has 3/4 sleeves, and it's also made of a light fabric so it goes well with dresses, pants, t-shirts, etc. Would be really nice with shorts too!

Here's how I wore it today:

And the back looks like this!

Today I worked for 8-9 hours and later in the evening I will be going off to do some babysitting. I think it will be late enough that I'm just going to act as a sort of prison-gaurd to make sure the kids are staying in bed and that everything's safe--hopefully not too much drama there! I'm bringing a book which I've just started to look at--Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. I gave this book to Alex for his birthday and after reading Pam Reed's ultra-running book, I wanted to give it a try. Jurek includes a lot of his vegan recipes--he trains/races/exists on a plant-based diet--and I thought that was cool because I'm quasi-vegetarian/not-so-into-meat. I haven't actually sat down and read any of the book yet; I've just skimmed random pages and read little parts out of order, so my goal tonight is to actually sit down and read. So far, though, Jurek strikes me as a little nuts...and not in a bad way! Somehow Pam Reed didn't strike me as super-crazy but Jurek seems to just be a ball of excessive energy and frightening determination. I guess the whole vegan thing baffles me too--I have yet to learn how you become a champion ultra-runner on a plant-based diet but hopefully that's what the book teaches me!

Also today I happened across an old video on YouTube that sort of struck home with me right now. I'm spending a lot more time alone than usual because all of my close friends are traveling or working elsewhere for the summer. It sort of seems like fate that I came across this video at this point, because sometimes--though not too often, because I often thrive being alone--I've found myself feeling a little lonely. Take a look:

I really don't think I'll be going out to dinner or going dancing by myself anytime soon...but I think the general idea of this little movie is really a good one, and I think it's very sweet. After 2 semesters living in a TINY dorm with a roommate (who I love very much, by the way), I've honestly been dying for privacy and alone time...so even though I've certainly missed specific people this summer, I'm not complaining about the amount of privacy and space that I now have! As this film seems to say, sometimes excessive privacy and alone time can be very good for you, and can really be quite productive and helpful in building a better relationship and awareness of yourself.  I just thought it struck me well at this point in my life.

They say the physical act of smiling immediately puts you in a better mood...here's a smile for you, on this dark, rainy new-June evening!