I recently completed the “Marathon Survey” on Facebook.

One question asked what you would do if you didn’t run.

The person that answered before me had responded with, “Find something else to obsess over,” and I had to crack up. I am the same way. I obsess over many, many things – running included.

Obsessive. Good word. I believe many runners are.

I posted a few days ago that I am trying not to be so absolutely structured with my schedule, but it is not always possible.

This made me think about the obsessive remark – yes, I can be; and so can other runners. I tried then to describe myself in one word, and it was tough!

I’m obsessive at times. Hyper. Social. Fun, I believe. Inquisitive. Impatient.

In one word, though?

Hmm, gonna have to give this some thought.

Can you do it?

My question for the week is for you runners: Describe yourself in one word! Only one!

No run this Am – core and arm work only. Believe I will be running Monday through Friday this week, four days in a row, not used to this so I may skip a day in there somewhere. But I have to be creative because my  schedule is getting kind of turned around this week.

Look, I’m not being quite as obsessive as usual!

Now, perhaps my one word will be Flexible.

Yes, flexible.

Oh, right, who am I kidding?

Have a great run this Monday!

Let’s face it: Runners are oftentimes rigid in schedule when it comes to getting that run in.

We say, ” I have to get up and do this at 5 AM, no matter what.”  We get no sleep, it rains, it snows, it ices, we are in pain, and yet we run.

This happens to me, and oftentimes I am up before 5, like 4:50, and then I can’t rest afterwards because I’m fearful I’ll fall back to sleep and miss my run.

It’s particularly difficult as a mother of two young children to get those runs in when the time has passed. I can juggle running with one of the girls in the stroller if it is a short run; two girls, though, doesn’t work, and I only have 9-1 Monday through Friday to fit in that one run that I’ve missed with the one girl – along with the thousands of other things I have to get done.

I’ve been working on being more flexible with my workouts , though.

Take last night. Husband said, ” Let’s have a glass of wine.”

I winced. It is Friday night, I wanted to remind him; I don’t drink wine on Friday because Saturday is my long run day.

“I know, I know, you can’t, you have to run tomorrow, ” said H with a downcast look.

So I sucked it up and said, “Okay, pour me a glass.”

Three glasses later we headed for bed, happy, giddy, and glad that we had spent some fun time together during an unscheduled time.

And guess what? I didn’t get in my ten miles this AM but I got in my Sunday’s 5 miles, and I did it faster than I have been doing it!

I think the freedom of tossing my schedule in the trash can and doing something unconventional really pushed me forward to a faster pace. It was awesome!

Now for tomorrow: I Should do that 10 miles, right? But I’m not sure I’m going to. I honestly am not missing those long runs right now and since I am not in training I may skip a week or two of anything over 8 or so miles. My time is getting much faster now that I am training for speed rather than distance, and I may just work on speed until the race season is over (a few more 5Ks, and one 10K) and then start training for distance again later in the summer to prepare for my Nov/Dec race.

And how do you feel when something gets in the way of your scheduled running plan? Are you:

• Easy to please, as long as you get it in?
• As rigid as a board, frustrated that something got in the way?
• Somewhere in the middle, depending upon the day and your stress level?
  

Don’t forget about our giveaway! Check the post, leave a comment, and you’ll be entered to win a core exercise book.

Does this look like you before your first cup of coffee?

Are you feeling sluggish each time you attempt to workout (or do anything, for that matter?)

If so, and you feel as though you are getting enough sleep, it may be time to evaluate your exercise program.

Sometimes, even with the best intentions, we workout too much, don’t eat well enough to support our programs, don’t drink enough water to replenish our fluids, or do too much without taking rest days.

If you are feeling sluggish, these are a few things you should consider:

• Your mileage. How far are you going each day and have you recently increased a lot? Remember to avoid injury most experts suggest increasing only 10% at a time each week. Those of us who run further oftentimes increase more, but I’d suggest beginners follow this recommendation.
• Break days. Are you taking rest days to give your body time enough to recover between hard workouts? When you run you work your muscles. You need to give them some rest in order to repair. If you go from running zero days to running seven days, not only are you going to get tired from the sudden increase but you are setting yourself up for injury.
• Dehydration. Are you taking in enough fluids to support your level of workout? Even those of you running 3 miles at a stretch need to be drinking before and after running.  Experts recommend drinking about 5-10 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes of a run. Don’t drink until you hear sloshing in your belly; that’s too much! But don’t go without drinking at all; too little! You need to be hydrated but not overly or under so.
• Sports drinks aren’t needed unless you are running distances. If you are going over 60 – 75 minutes, substitute some water with a sports drink to replace electrolytes. At this point, water alone isn’t enough.
• Check that urine! If it is dark, drink. You’re good when it is clear or light yellow, though caffeine can trick you by lightening the shade some.
• Got some cramps? Drink up! Muscle cramps often mean your body needs more liquid.
• Are you eating enough calories to support your current running distances? You should not be cutting back a lot on calories and increasing a lot in miles. Your body needs the foods for fuel.  That’s how it goes! Just like a car needs gas, make sure you have adequate calorie consumption for your workout routine.
• Keep a calorie diary if needed. Write down all you eat and all you burn. What’s your total caloric intake? Don’t go below 1200; in fact, you should be eating more than this if you are active.
• Are you sleeping enough. Really sleeping enough? We say we are, but we get 6 hours for 20 days at a time. If you don’t have a sleep in day each week, add one.

It’s important to remain healthy that we follow guidelines when we are exercising, whether we do so three days a week or seven. It’s vitally important when we begin to feel sluggish that we look at our diet and routine to make sure we are getting everything we need.

We exercise to be healthy. Don’t jeapordize this be making silly decisions!

Today’s workout:

Core and arms. I have some work to do, so off to do it!

Don’t forget about our giveaway! Check yesterday’s post, we are giving away a book about core exercises to keep that core in shape and help strengthen the back. Book will be given away at the end of the month, so leave a comment on that post to enter!

Had another raelly good run today. 6 miles in about 54 minutes, not quite sure. Not a super fast run but negative splits for the most part, starting at 9:30 and going down to 9:08.

Here are my thoughts about good runs:

1. You don’t have to have a lot of sleep. I stayed up watching Bachelor last night and didn’t fall asleep until 11:30. As always up at 4:50 and out of bed at 5:15.
2. You can have a one drink before a good run. I mean at night, of course! I had two glasses of vino for the finale, enjoyed every second of them, dranks tons of water afterwards and had a great run.
3. You do need to be limber. Stretch the night before; it helps with the pain and the run altogether. I have had the best runs since I started a stretching/yoga program each night.
4. It’s all in the head. It really is; I have woken up everyday in the past few weeks thinking that I would have a good run, and I have. I look forward to them right now. I know sometimes I go through points when I don’t. This usually means I am doing too much, not getting enough sleep overall and feeling run down. Listen to the body; it will tell you what you need to do!

I am going to be posting a great article on the core tomorrow. I interviewed an author/Pilates instructor who gave terrific advice on pilates, and I think that it is important as a runner that we really take care of our core, which in turn will help us prevent injuries and keep our backs pain-free.

In Other News . . .

I hated the Bachelor finale. Every time I vow never to watch the show again. What was he thinking? Seriously?! This guy is lost.

And the babes . . .

Took the younges tto gymnastics class today; way over her head, the kids were older, but we will do open gym each week. The oldest begins tomorrow and I think she will ROCK. She’s energetic and limber and I have a feeling she’ll make quite the gymnast.    We then did story time. The mayor read a book at the library and the paper took our picture, so we may be in the news tomorrow!

Have a great running day . . . or day off, if it is needed!

The body takes a beating when running.

While we love to do it we should always remember Newton’s law of impact and reaction forces. Don’t recall this one from science class? It goes a little like this:

Every force you apply to a body (your own body when running), the force to which you are applying your own force (ie: the ground when you run) is applying an equal force back to you.

So everytime you hit that pavement you are taking that shock up into your body.

While the body is cushioned and can generally handle such impact, even for long periods of time, we have issues when we are striking down using the wrong gait, or our body is not being held correctly, or perhaps we already have an issue (a knee problem, etc) and we continue to impact that area over, and over, and over again.

Many people have issues with lower back pain after running. This can be attributed to a number of reasons: improper gait, tight hamstrings and quads, tight hip flexors, overtraining.

To help ease this pain it is important to stretch after each run (hamstrings and quads, even the back if you have time) and to do some mild stretching each evening before bed (which not only helps the lower back but which relaxes as well!)

Today  I thought I would share a few of my favorite lower back stretches.

• Lay on back with arms out and legs straight in front of you (like a T)
• Bend knees to chest and hold this position for a minute or so. Squeeze legs with arms if desired, then move arms back while keeping knees to chest
• Drop knees to the right side and move head to the left side
• Hold, breathing deeply, for several minutes, and then drop to the other side, move head to the opposite direction, and hold

This is my very favorite stretch. It’s relaxing, and it really squeezes out the tension in the back.

The other stretch I love, but I’m not sure how easy it will be to explain!

Sit up straight and tall. Cross legs.

• Take right leg and put it up with foot on floor.
• Move it across the left leg so knee is in front of your chest
• Put right elbow on left knee and twist slowly; left hand should be on the floor behind you
• Stop and breathe deeply and slowly for a minute or two
• Twist over to the right, putting left elbow against the right knee
• Switch and do the other side

I’m a visual person, but I could not find images to upload for these. I hope you are able to figure them out!

The other few things that I do for my lower back include laying flat on my stomach, arms stretched out in front of me. Then I put them next to my shoulder and slowly raise my upper body, keeping my pelvis and legs on the floor. Open up the chest by bringing it up as high as you can and breathe deeply. This is called the cobra.

My run today: Little to none. I got up to run but it was lightning outside. I made it a mile and a half almost and came inside. Now it is pouring out. I had hoped to get in 5 miles this morning so I’m a little discouraged and pretty tired. I could have stayed in bed, but I’m finishing up a blog design job for a client so I figured I would utilize this time to get some work done. Of course my oldest got up way too early (sun is not even up yet!) so not getting much work done, either.

Sigh. Hopefully it will clear up, I’ll get in a run, and the daughter will not be too punchy from lack of sleep! (me either, for that case!)

Hope your Sunday runs are great.