Getting Faster Without Running: part 2

With (hopefully) just a few days left in my walking boot, but many days to come until I can run again, I'm still focusing on my critical nonessentials to prepare me for my comeback. Last week I waxed somewhat poetically about sleep and nutrition, and today I'm focusing on more specific and purposeful running-related advantages.

When I'm healthy, one of the best things I can do for myself is to practice yoga regularly. I'm lucky that I have free yoga classes at my school and that I have a great rapport with the instructor, who is also a colleague and friend. Yoga is great for a number of reasons, and you can choose which you want to focus on in your time on the mat. If I'm particularly tired from running or burnt out from work, I can use yoga to recharge and refocus, and the practice becomes less about the poses and more about the intentions. I can really unplug and let go of stress, tensions or worries. Other days, I want my yoga to help me become stronger or more flexible. I've made great progress with crow pose and headstand, although sometimes it feels like I'm still just a beginner. Yoga is very humbling and can be a perfect antidote to competitive running because you truly can't compare yourself to others. Sometimes, even just turning your head to look at someone else's pose can mess up your alignment and cause neck and spinal damage; you just need to look inward. I haven't been doing yoga since being in my boot but I'm looking forward to moving a little more freely and confidently very soon!

Some preseason flow

One of the least considered critical nonessentials is the compression sock. In fact, when I was getting my USATF coaching certification, I suggested compression socks as a recovery method and the other coaches were very surprised. I swear by compression socks, for both during and after a workout.  They help to drain your legs of "dirty" blood and get fresh blood pumping and restoring. I have a pair of fancy, neon compression socks but I also have $9 airplane compression socks that I bought at Walmart. I've been wearing a compression sock on my bad leg for the past month because it helps reduce swelling. Now I can finally see my ankle bone! Another great perk of compression socks is that they simply look fly.  They may not make me a faster runner merely because I'm wearing them but there is definitely some placebo effect when I put them on. If I look fast, and I feel fast, then I am fast. How's that for a new motto?

Don't knock these things until you've tried them, but at the same time, you should probably be running instead of reading this or browsing Running Warehouse for new socks. If I can't run, at least one of us should be logging miles. Get out there already!

Getting Faster Without Running: part 1

This past week we've experienced some beautiful days here in Connecticut, and all I've wanted to do is head out for a nice 6-mile run. Unfortunately I'm still in my walking boot and my leg is still on the mend, so I have to find other ways to satiate my desire to run. And although I have a long time until I'll be able to run, whatever I can do now to get and stay healthy and fit will help speed my recovery process down the line. Along the way, I heard someone call these things the "critical nonessentials," actions you can take that aren't essential to making you faster (only by running will you run faster/farther/whatever), but you will become a much stronger and more balanced person and athlete by taking the time to do all of these. Often the difference between a mediocre runner and a truly successful runner is not the running, but rather what he or she does off the track. Since I won't be blogging about my running any time soon, I'm going to spend the next couple of posts giving my professional and personal opinions about other aspects of the sport.

Today: sleep and nutrition.

I would argue that most important thing you can do besides running is to get enough sleep. Sleep is key for recovery as well as tackling the next hard workout. I'm no scientist so I'm not going to preach about how impaired you become after x-number of hours of sleep, but when your cognitive functioning goes down, so does your reaction time. Think about that next time you're running on a road with no shoulder and the car doesn't swerve fast enough! I love naps (and cats, coincidence?) but naps don't really take the place of a good night's sleep. For better or for worse I am a night owl and do my best work/lesson planning/Pinteresting after dark. I usually get to bed around midnight and wake up around 7:30. My body hates this, though. I am one of those people who needs a minimum of 8 hours of sleep, or I start to feel like I've been hit by a bus. I should be going to bed earlier, especially because hours of sleep before midnight are more valuable than those after midnight. Sleeping 2 AM to 10 AM is definitely not the same as sleeping 11 PM to 7 AM, wouldn't you agree? The other important aspect of sleep that I wholeheartedly ascribe to is the idea of a 2 day sleep cycle. When we were racing Saturdays in college, I would always get my best night's sleep on a Thursday and worry less about the night before. I remind my runners now about that as well, and it's just generally an important consideration for leading a healthy and balanced life. Many of my colleagues rely on strong coffee to get through the day, but I would rather be energized by a good night's sleep than by a caffeinated hot cup.

Another easy way to improve any sort of performance is to eat better and with more purpose. I don't necessarily "eat clean," (whatever that even means) and I don't eat paleo or low-fat or ascribe to any diet. Again, I'm not registered dietitian, but I do know about macro- and micronutrients and recognize that what I put into my body is not purely for my enjoyment. Ideally I enjoy my vegetables and fruit, eat protein (I keep kosher so this often means no meat), and incorporate whole grains. But I always eat dessert. And some days I eat two servings of mac and cheese and ice cream for dinner. Whatever! I always make sure to eat enough calories. I get crabby and tired when I don't eat enough and who wants that? Not eating will not make me skinnier and will not make me faster; for me it is just not worth it. I do take a multivitamin for "nutritional insurance" but I would so much rather reap the benefits of nutrients from eating well than from a manufactured pill. I don't stress about what I eat too much because I know that at the end of the day, I have a surplus of healthy foods and enjoy my refined sugar desserts.

Some examples of homemade food that I enjoy:

Apple pie with hand picked, local apples

Whole wheat bagel with zucchini, green bean and goat cheese scramble

Homemade kale chips

Stay tuned for more critical nonessentials in the coming weeks. Up next: yoga and compression socks!

Reflection on 2013, or, amusing things I wrote in my running log

Looking back on 2013 there were a lot of ups and downs in terms of training. I went from struggling to just run in January 2013 due to a mystery medical condition and eventually taking time off when most of my runs were ending in me in the fetal position on the treadmill, to looking at racing my first post-collegiate track meet in January 2014.  It certainly was a bit of an extended transition year out of college, but luckily that lent itself to me writing some weird stuff in my running log. Below are some samples of what happens when I write like no one's reading...

1/9/13

Feeling nostalgic for the killer group 3 mid-distance workout that was happening today at Colby, so I did one on my own on the treadmill. 1x800m @ 2:45. Got some funny looks, completely warranted...

2/11/13

Treadmill run, lots of abdominal pain today. Feel like I've tried the "rest and get better" theory for long enough with zero success and will be reverting back to the “ignore all pain signals” method

3/10/13

Slept 5hrs, worked 10hrs, ran 10mi. Take that, DC Doghead hangover...

3/22/13

Distractions prevented the execution of tonight's run.

3/27/13

Still not feeling the vibe at my new gym. Why would people annoy strangers with stupid conversations when they are clearly trying to work out? Meatheads.

4/2/2013 

Drove to Dundalk HS to try out their track….In other news, never returning to Dundalk EVER AGAIN, very sketchy.

5/20/13

the “no run – off” option should probably end in an exclamation point. Long day (6:40am-5:40pm) meant no running after work.

5/29/13

100% laziness. No regrets.

6/1/13

Wedding day run with Kat :) Hot and humid, saw some huge turkeys

10/2/13

Furlough day one (and only).

10/6/13 

No run: off!  Hansel, so hot right now.

11/1/13

unintentional tempo run. Suns out guns out on Nov 1st.!

11/2/13 

@NESCACS! Go Mules!

1/2/14

Nothing like starting out not-JanPlan with the infamous JanPlan repeat 800s workout all by yourself. Felt the cliff of the back of the treadmill on the last repeat as i drifted and faded away (that I had turned into a 400, which therefore turned into a 300). I'm getting too familiar with that emergency stop button, but at least it's fast.

2013 had too few CCXC reunions for my liking, hopefully 2014 can have more like this 10 mile relay race we did in August.