Midwest Fit Fest report: Yeah I did that!!!

       WOW!! JUST...WOW! What a weekend! My first fitness conference and it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I got there first and was just overwhelmed by the Ohio State staff. They were organized, gracious and helpful in every way. And Oh My the facility!! Wow. It was a huge gym. 4 floors: 2 big gyms downstairs with all the toys--stability balls, weights, gliders, dumbbells, medicine balls, mats and other goodies and even a stage area where the instructor could stand so everyone could see them equally. Upstairs a little more there were  tons of cardio machines, squat racks, weight machines, benches  for presses. Climb another flight and there were more individual studios for things like yoga, pilates and Indo-Row. One more flight and it was a wonderful track!


  
       I even found a new machine I would love to suggest to my gym which was a smith machine that could not only move vertically but also back and forth so as to make things like rows possible with heavier weights. I had to test it out. I was able to do a moving bicep curl which was really cool!  I thought of so many possibilities for that machine.

     
     



          We checked into the hotel and I went to bed early because I had lots of workouts the next day and good thing I did! I woke up at 5:30 am to hit a 7am boot camp.  What a way to start the day! Sprints, weight lifting, pushups, core. It worked me top to bottom.

 After that came a class called CSI--no not Crime Scene Investigation--but Cardio Strength Intervals. Basically the premise behind this is to keep the body guessing between high intensity bouts interspersed with total rest. It created confusion in the body that makes it stronger. It is kind of like flexing any muscle. You have to create a tension/relaxation or concentric/eccentric action.

        Then I went to the welcome meeting where they were giving out FREE!! Victoria's Secret stuff..I got a VS sports bra, socks, bag. Wow. Gotta love free stuff!I also got to see how many universities were represented and that was exciting! I met lots of great fitness people.
     
          After that I had an Indo-Row class which is rowing but it is a new class format and the Indo-rowers are very special. They use water pressure to power the workout and keep the participants engaged. There is a console which tells how much water pressure and you keep track of that reading as you do your workout. It reminded me of the consoles they have in spinning where you keep track of your cadence except here they are recording how much pressure you put on the water in the spinner with your strokes.
     Lunch and then off to Total Body Conditioning where I learned about a new body of science in the fitness business that is researching the way the body learns and perfects sports-related skills as it relates to the focus of attention. So Dr. Wulf, who did this study, found that when one was learning a new motor skill if you focused the attention outwardly as to what you were trying to accomplish instead of inward focus of attention (paying attention to where your feet are, what your biceps are doing, how your quads are feeling) actually ends up being "neural noise" which can disrupt the pathways to natural movement. According to Dr. Wulf if you want someone to do a task have them focus on what is going on outside instead of how they are doing on the inside. Interesting and I think it could have good results. I will certainly try it.
   We also did lots of stuff like holding a forearm plank with the right arm while doing a pushup with the left arm at the same time. Brutal but effective. 
     The last two classes of the day were metabolic conditioning which uses the body's three metabolic systems in one workout: short bursts of activity to activate the phosphagen system; bit less intensity for a bit longer period for the anaerobic system and then some aerobic activity to stimulate the oxidative system.

LAST CLASS was TRX. Where, by that time, my body was tapped out. I managed to do what I could and I LOVE the TRX but my upper body after a whole day of weight lifting, pushups, burpees, etc..just went..um. NO. We're done.

That night had a nice night out with my colleagues, and had my typical glass of Guinness to celebrate the day.


This morning a class about HIIT--High Intensity Interval Training and then a lecture on working with special populations. Amazing time! and I am so happy to have had the chance to go. I love learning and being able to pass that on to people. AND.....this showed me I am in better shape than I thought I was. I kept up with a bunch of 20 somethings, or younger, for an entire intense weekend and matched them pretty much play by play. Had to do low impact options for my knee but otherwise felt great! YAY for fitness, health and longevity!
 

Treadmill training for the re-habbing runner?

    I have been taking these courses to learn to teach trekking which could be considered lame by a lot of runners but to the general population who do not know how to do speed workouts, hill workouts, etc...or lack particular compunction to run (which I cannot conceive of anymore) it is good for them. I think the classes are fun and and it makes indoor running more interesting. I think the music, other participants and the energy of the leader helps to take away some of that negative stuff from the treadmill experience.
  Truth: I have never really liked treadmills. I always had this in the back of my mind that one day I was going to be whipped backward off the thing so I would hold on for dear life if I went any faster than a 4. I also found them boring...very boring. The only thing keeping me going on a treadmill workout would be the great article I was reading in Scientific American Mind.
   And then...THEN..Came running fer' real; BARA, track workouts,  training runs, long runs,  trail running, marathons, trail races, excitement, adventure and the treadmill was the absolute LAST place I ever wanted to run.
  So then I got hurt. Well actually a problem I had been dealing with for some time got worse plus some IT band stuff so I have to take a little break from the more intense stuff. Not forever just dial it down a bit for awhile. I don't want to and was jealous of everyone out there running in the sun this weekend. Happy for them but grumpy for me. I had to take two trekking classes this week to fulfill my homework assignment of learning how to cue the participants. I stepped up to the treadmill kind of resigned.

  Then some magic happened.I found something I liked about the treadmill as a rehabbing runner and that is I can see and adjust instantly what is causing me twinges and what is helping me feel fine. I was able to right away see that if I raised the speed up to a 10:00mile then my IT band would twinge a bit so I would slow it down to 15:00 and then it would feel better. I got the information that I can go at a 13:00 to 14:00 pace at 1.0 incline for a mile and a half with no twinges at all. That is important information!I was able to see how much, how long, how high a hill, how fast or slow and if i felt something hurting i could take the incline down or speed down/raise incline lower speed/any number of combinations to learn what my body was ready for and what it wasn't ready for. And it was a BIG boost to see i could manage two 30 second sprints at 8:34 and 8:48! Turned my mood right around!
   Maybe for a runner who is learning what I can and cannot do with some of my injuries it is good to use the treadmills as a kind of testing ground. See how I am doing by "can i do sprints now?" or "how am i handling an incline today? What could make it easier, better? What speed am I good at right now to handle so much distance?"
   Then I can take that knowledge and see a three mile run with confidence because i have proven i can do it at a particular pace first. I can see how I am advancing with doing all the cross-training, leg workouts, rest days and then can see how possible it is for me to do a DINO race coming up or not. I am sure the treadmill is not accurate completely. I raise it to a 1.0 incline all the time as they say that makes it more like outdoors. I wear my own heart monitor and watch because I don't trust the HR on the treadmills to be accurate at all. 
   Yeah I don't get the sunny trails, my good friends and all the other stuff I love but at least I get to run even for a little bit. And that feels good. This I think could be one of the paths leading me back out to the paths I love. The ones with the trees, flowers, mud, dirt, water crossings, sun/rain/snowy days............MY TRUE PATH. Wherever that takes me. Lead on treadmill. You could be my ticket back.

My gung ho just got up and went

    I have been fighting a battle with myself ever since I started this big weight loss explosion just before I turned 40 and the big thing was......Keep going...no matter what. They tell you to walk less...walk more. They tell you to workout less...workout more. They tell you to run less...run more. I think this comes from a lifetime of being told NO and so inside I am saying Hell YES! and it has worked pretty well for me. This winner take all attitude has led me to some pretty incredible places since 2009. I have seen highs I never thought I would ever see. A new career that I LOVE. Some great new challenges and a great set of people to hang out with. And I felt YOUNG.
   Now I have to cut down a bit on my activities and so this has me in a quandary. How do I keep feeling young and gung ho when I am being forced to rest? Well there is the definition of rest. Rest can be anything from sleeping soundly to taking a breather between laps. And taking a rest doesn't mean you aren't tough. In fact resting the body can lead to being tougher because you are doing the hard thing for an athlete. For someone who loves to run then running is the easier thing. Resting can be taken as a punishment. A punishment for overdoing it..overtraining....not training well enough to handle the stresses. It can also make someone like me feel all of a sudden....OLD. I see rest and i think sitting on the couch, getting fat again, not being able to do the things I like to do.
    I am not old. I am not inferm. This does not lead instantly to nursing homes, fiber supplements and adult diapers. It only means it's time to take a bit of  a break after all the intense stuff I have put my body through. I can still run. I can still do what I love. Just have to manage it in a different way. And learn to swim. I liked being in the pool today. If I knew what I was doing it would have been even better!

I know I will make mistakes. I will probably do some running maybe I shouldn't do because I will get bored and lonely at home and just want to hit that group run or track workout. I will be training for the hoosier half marathon but doing it differently than I would have done. I will do flatrock if I have to do the 25K instead of the 50K I can decide that when the time draws closer. I will start training for Flatrock in two weeks. That will give me 7 long months to take my time building up to the bigger miles and taking a week off here or there and cross-training instead. I am excited. I will get in my Ultra. And I will do my DINO races. And I will do my one half marathon. And I will be happy. Because it is not the quantity of the races. IT is the quality yes?

2013 Hoosier Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk

2013 Hoosier Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk

Nothing like a half marathon in a couple of months to cheer you up after a downturn. I loved this race last year and will love it this year as well. Go go Heather. 

Night trail half marathon.....blessed night

      I am wired up tonight. I just ran the Planet Adventure Nighttime Half Marathon out at Eagle Creek. The race didn't even start until 6pm. I was wired up all day for this. I started having my clothes panic as early as 11am. Dang it how fast am I gonna run in the dark? How cold should I start out so that I can be comfy when I am running? Um...what clothes to bring to change into afterwards? What shoes to wear? My trail shoes which are still rather new to me or my good ol' Mizunos. I even texted a picture to Christy saying "too much? okay? whattya think?" I ended up choosing my little "body armor" shirt under my purple running hoodie with the fleece inside, two long sleeves shirts and my light windbreaker. Then my heavy tights, my purple ear cover, two pairs of gloves, my toe socks with other socks on top of them and my mizunos. Oh yeah and my hydration pack which I weighed and measured and decided to take as I could also use the extra pockets for all my inevitable little things I felt i needed (which I ended up really using).
    Christy took a picture of me in all my gear and posted it on Facebook saying I was going to either scale Everest or run a trail half. HA HA!! That's okay...i can laugh at myself! You know what they say...angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
    So the time had come to be off. We donned our headlamps, turned them on and started running. Of course at the beginning is the inevitable one track backlog but then we started spreading out fairly quickly. The quarter marathoners had already gone before us so we didn't have to worry about tons of fasties racing by us. I actually was pleasantly surprised at how much of the trail I remembered!! I would say oh yeah here is that bridge and then this little hill and then there is the fence and that building and that big tree. So that really helped! And then the gravely part which we HATE HATE HATE was all covered up with snow which was lovely and helped with traction and to soften up the gravel. Plus....full moon. What could be better??
   At one point I just turned off my headlamp and ran by the light of the moon. It was so bright and I was at that wide open space in between the waters and it was cool to run "naked" of some of my technology. I met a girl who this was her first half marathon ever and i told her this had been my first half marathon too! We passed each other back and forth a bit. And it was so quiet. For there being several hundred runners out in those woods you wouldn't have known it. Everyone was so respectful of the trails that there were no loud hooting, hollering madness to deal with. Just bobbing headlamps, soft "on your left" and "good job" and such. And a bit of conversation here and there. VERY NICE NIGHT. And the t-shirt glows in the dark and the medal too.

So I'm going to walk a race

 

I have decided since my doctor said I cannot run this weekend due to my knees I will walk the Frosty 5 Mile race tomorrow. I know this will actually be hard for me due to my competitive nature and that letting everyone go ahead of me or around me will drive me crazy but I listen to my doctors so I will make myself walk. Does this make me less of a runner? Or am I just counted as a runner on rest? Or...and this is what I think....do labels make me who I am or do I make me who I am? I think it is the latter. I am just going to be happy to be out there with my friends who I have not really run with for two weeks or so and who I miss like mad. And I can have time to take pictures of my fellow racers, maybe some nature pics for my blog, just enjoy the scenery and remember that walking is good too. And I will be grateful to spend my Saturday morning out in the woods. 

Good Luck to All The Frosty 5 Mile Racers!! I will be there cheering you on!!!

Gratitude for running and the folks I run with

       So I *almost* felt I had to stop running this week. I was diagnosed with arthritis in both knees about two years ago and since that was a chronic condition I just was careful with them. If I had a big race, or even a little race that I wanted to give my all to (which is EVERY race) I wouldn't ride my bike that day or the day before...would be careful not to climb too many stairs, even taking the elevator at work. They grind, they twinge, they occasionally hurt enough I call off a workout. But then last week the left one started to hurt more than usual. Then on Monday I was trying to run slowly on a track at the WIC and my left knee just wouldn't cooperate. It felt more than usual twinginess and I decided since I wanted to continue my running streak MAYBE I should go get it checked out.
   I sat in the ER room and they took me to Xray. I thought maybe the arthritis was getting a bit worse, maybe some extra stretching, something like that. Then the doctor came in and said in this grave voice "I see some osteoporatic changes in your knee joint and it's wearing away." She gave me a sleeve to stabilize my knee which is good because sometimes it does track a bit funny. And she made an appointment with an orthopedic doc and sent me home with the scary word "osteoporosis" on my discharge papers.
   I couldn't stop crying on the way home...and it is not fun to be crying on a bus. I told my friends on FB and you know what? Everyone was so sweet and supportive and caring. I got instant support for what I was going through. I got some funnies from Erin, a sweet text from Christy, another from Cheryl, messages and all. I felt like I had such a great "family" that were there for me instantly. I had never had that before. It made me blubber more but in a good way. So then yesterday started crying in Starbucks. That was embarrassing but oh well....people have probably done worse in Starbucks.
   I went to the specialist today and he said he only saw some Osteoarthritis, which is what they had already told me, and I had been running with it anyway. He said if it doesn't hurt I can run as much as I want. Said just take some Aleve if it is bad and do what I have been doing for it all along. I felt reborn! I can run! I can still run! You never, never know how much something means to you until you almost lose it. And you never know who your real friends are until you need them.

Grateful I can continue what I love and grateful for the people who love me.