Running and Dating: A Comparison.

Today, I was thinking about dating.

I had two conversations this week with two incredible friends who are both absolutely gorgeous (not just saying that…they really are above-average, physically beautiful), witty, well-traveled, hilarious, and kind.  And they’re both single.

In the past year, they’ve each been really interested in guys who have both dropped the ball.  Just…dropped it.  There was some interest, there was some flirting, and then there was nothing.

It frustrates me to no end, this trend of passivity among Christian guys.  And then I hear guys wishing they had a wife! Um, hello, folks, to get a wife, you have to get a girlfriend.  To get a girlfriend, you have to ask a girl out.

I don’t have an answer to this problem.  But it got me to thinking about running.  I’ve been wondering a lot lately what my time will be in Boston.  Will I PR?  Will I tank?  What will the weather be like?  Will I be able to pull out the splits I want to?  Will I fuel correctly?  I know what I want to happen.

The thing is, it’s not magic.  A PR doesn’t just happen.  One of my favorite running one-liners is:

To run fast, you have to run fast.

I’m not just going to wake up on April 16 and go, “Hey, I want to run a marathon today in under 3 hours and 20 minutes!  Let’s go!”

No, sir.

I’ve taken the steps (literally) day after day to get here.  When I registered for Boston back in September, I essentially made myself a promise that I was going to do this thing and do it well.  Like asking a girl out (not that I’ll ever know the particular hardships of that task), it hasn’t always been fun or easy.  But it’s been necessary to get me where I want to go.

It’s about choices.  It’s about taking action–or, actually, taking a bunch of little actions over and over. It’s about the journey.

 

*Disclaimer: extreme randomness of thought processes and irrational similes are the responsibility of a stressful week and the author of this blog does not take responsibility for the opinions found herein.

Boston packet came in the mail!

oh my gosh! i'm so excited i turned into Kermit the Frog!

Wanted to share my unedited excitement with you about getting a packet full of information about the Boston Marathon today in the mail!  See above for my best Kermit/I-forgot-my-dentures impression.

the goods.

It includes a merch catalog, a little flier full of helpful info about optimal hydration while running a marathon, a welcome booklet full of necessary detes like maps and weekend schedule of events, and, most importantly, my bib number pick-up card.  I will be guarding that thing with my life.  It would be just like me to forget/lose it.  Please, Lord, no.

It’s real!  I’m running Boston!

Does Caffeine Enhance Performance? {A True Story.}

This morning, I cut myself some slack.

I woke up excited for my midweek long run.  I love these runs.  They boost my confidence and build mental toughness in a way that speedwork, weekend long runs, and those Steady Eddie runs don’t do.  They make me believe I’m a runner again, that my identity supersedes the grocery-shopping, tax-filing, gas-pumping, sometimes-invisible life I lead, that I can actually do something on a plain ol’ Wednesday that takes discipline and vision.

 

But I didn’t do it.

 

My alarm went off and I shuffled into my kitchen (about a foot from my bed in my teensy tinesy studio cottage), filled up a bowl with water like I do every morning, and stuck it in the microwave for four minutes.

That’s how I boil water. Don’t knock it until you live without a stove.

Then I got my favorite mug, plunked my red Melitta filter on top, and reached blindly in the cabinet for a coffee filter.

*this image was captured on a much better morning.

Nothing.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I said aloud.

No one answered, and no coffee filters appeared, so I put the Melitta back in the cabinet.

Plan B:

Celestial Seasonings Roastaroma tea which, while warm, is definitely not caffeinated.

 

I sipped my tea while spending time with the Lord, journalling for most of the time since my brain was too fuzzy to do much else.  Sitting in silent prayer was definitely not an option, for instance.

By the time I had read a final Scripture, laced up my running shoes, and loaded my Garmin, the mental toughness I prided myself on was going the way of the coffee filters.  I was starting to wonder if my “mental toughness” was less mystical and more bean juice, if you catch my drift.

Instead, I loped along at an easy pace for a regular little run.  I listened to some new podcasts I’ve been discovering, saw a Golden Retriever, two of those smush-faced dogs, some squirrels, and noticed a house I’d never seen before that was painted a beautiful shade of spring green with just a tad darker shutters.

Today, I’ll buy coffee filters. Tomorrow, I’ll do my midweek long run.  In the meantime, I’m not beating myself up about not doing it today.  I’m not a machine that can just crank out miles by sheer willpower.  Sometimes I need a break.

 

Sometimes, I just need coffee.

4 Reasons Runners Should Try A BodyPump Class

Me at BodyPump.

I just walked in from BodyPump class at my gym and I have literally not stopped trembling since the class stopped.  Hello, muscle failure.  I hadn’t been in a while, and I kept the weights even lighter than usual this time, which is saying something, but it definitely worked me out, got my heart rate up, and helped me remember that I have triceps and hamstrings.  Sometimes those little guys get a tad neglected.

The class is a high-rep, low-weight regimen with a different song for every muscle group, which keeps it interesting.  As I worked today, I was thinking how this would help me for Boston (three weeks from today!) and how BodyPump can really benefit every runner.

1. It makes you think about your posture.

The instructor tonight, Leslie, was a pregnant lady who is tough as nails.  She kept yelling at us to slow down tonight and wow–slow hurts.  The other thing she kept going on and on about was keeping our shoulders away from our ears, flat back, shoulders back, etc.  After Ian told me that I stand like a neanderthal, I’ve been thinking a lot more about my posture and how it affects my running efficiency.  At BodyPump, I can see myself doing whatever it is I naturally revert to when I’m fatigued, whether that’s a rounded back, sitting back into my hips, or getting tense: the mirrors are there the whole hour.

2. It builds your core.

Aside from just thinking about posture and making you look in the mirror for an hour, though, BodyPump goes a step beyond and actually works out those back muscles, shoulder muscles, as well as your core (the last track is for abs), which will substantively improve your form without you having to be conscious of it every minute.  Personally, I hate doing core work.  I just haven’t been able to get around to the whole #plankaday challenge in the Twitterverse somehow.  But when I go to BodyPump, the “Group Effect,” as they call it, takes over, and I can’t just wimp out at the end and leave.  I do the bicycles, I do the planks, I get it done…and get out.

3. It helps prevent injury.

Yes, indeedy.  Working out those glutes, stretching the hams, and killing the quads now will allow you to run stronger, rely less on weaker muscles like hip flexors (I learned this one the hard way not so very long ago), and keep you feeling strong during speedwork and hills.  All this, provided you recover well.  In a recent Runner’s World sidebar featuring Sara Hall, she said she does her strength training on hard workout days so she can truly rest and recover on easy days.  Something to consider.

4. It provides extra stretching.

The lunges portion stretches my hip flexors, the shoulders and back get to those places in my upper body that tend to stiffen up and ache on runs, and in the last 5 minutes of class, we get to do some really slow, deep stretches on the mat that, left alone, I can forget to do.  It makes me want to incorporate more ankle circling into my daily life.  My ankles really like it when I do.

 

Try a class like this out and let me know what you think!  Overall, it’s a great way to build strength that running in a straight line day after day just doesn’t achieve.

 

Let’s chew the fat: post-workout recovery eating.

Okay, so after yesterday, I thought you deserved a picture of what I really look like after a run.

I had just finished a long, slow distance run this morning and took this picture (and about 5 others in which I didn’t look this good..which speaks, I think.) Before you jump on your email to ask who punched me in both eyes, let me reassure you those are just dark circles.  I know.  That’s why I purchase concealer.

Real life, real talk.

Anyway, this is what I looked like next, directly after throwing some Vega Berry, peanut butter, and frozen mixed berries in the Vitamix:

Notice the time frame here.  I cooled down for about 5 minutes, stretched for about 5 minutes, took pictures outside for about 3 minutes, and was drinking my recovery shake within the next 2 minutes.  For the mathematically challenged out there (I am one of you), that’s 15 minutes total from end-of-run to getting that glycogen restored.

No Meat Athlete, which is an awesome blog for the plant-eaters among us, as well as anyone who values good health and good writing, has an excellent post about what to eat after you workout.  They point out that the 15-60 minute window after you finish working out is critical for restoring what you’ve lost during the workout.  Your muscles are like little, famished beggars going, “Please don’t make me wait til you shower! Please don’t make me wait til you meet friends for brunch! Please don’t make me wait til you feel like eating!”

This is important.

I haven’t always been such an advocate or practitioner of the post-recovery meal/snack.  I used to think, “Gosh, I just burned all those calories.  Why would I want to ruin that with a snack when I’m not even really hungry?”

Again: real life, real talk, folks.

But if you want to keep going, if you’re not planning to just be a six-months-and-then-I’m-injured-and-overtrained-and-out-for-the-count runner, if you really have in mind to make running and staying fit a part of your lifestyle, I invite you into my new reality: the post-workout recovery meal.  Try it.  See how you feel.  Don’t go overboard and eat a pizza when you walk in from running 2 miles.  But yeah, drink some chocolate {soy} milk or have a banana with some peanut butter.

It’s about the journey.  Happy running!

Things I Love About Running: Photo Edition.

This is how the day started.  Compression socks, ice packs (ie., frozen berries and frozen edamame).

Then I went for an easy recovery run down Capital Heights, one of my favorite Baton Rouge neighborhoods, and I took pictures while I was running.  Yes, it was exciting.  It was a thrill.  And I’m sharing it with you.

 

cool truck.

 

sunflower!

amaryllis.

one of my favorite houses in BR. i love the aqua. i love the door. i love the trees. yes and yes.

this is fuzzy cause i was running, but those are lemons! aren't they magical?

also fuzzy, but this is Hundred Oaks Blvd, and it's so beautiful to run on.

 

that says, "Hot Boiled & Live Crawfish." poor crawdaddies. but that's life {in Louisiana}.

 

i had to slow down when i saw this sign. (i kid, i kid.)

 

love this house. let's be honest: i just love those garage doors.

 

another one of my favorite houses! so cheerful.

 

And this is what I looked like when I got back!

What, that’s not what you look like when you get done running?

Will this day ever end?

I woke up this morning at 4:52am, 8 minutes before my alarm clock.  By the time my alarm actually went off, I had made coffee, gotten halfway dressed (running shorts + sleeping shirt + fuzzy purple robe is a look reserved for pre-dawn hours) , made my lunch, drunk a glass of water, and checked my email.

I was impressed.

Two tests were on the schedule:

• Econometrics at 9:00am (spellcheck doesn’t even recognize econometrics as a word, because it shouldn’t exist.  It was invented by sick, sick people who didn’t care about anything, including spelling)
• and Macroeconomics at 3:00pm (1 hr., 11 minutes from now).

I’m telling you, it won’t get here.  I am so saturated in boring information I can hardly take it, and I am afraid it’s going to start leaking out of my brain onto the floor any minute.  I have gone to the bathroom, studied, gone to fill up my water bottle, studied, gone to the Coke machine for a can of Coke Zero, studied, checked Twitter, studied, read blogs, and studied some more.

I’m concerned.

This is my concerned face.

So I thought, in lieu of more studying, I would tell you about my workout today.  I did some treadmill speed and it was a pretty simple workout–just 400m repeats with 400m recovery, which is kind of wimpy, if you really think about it, but who cares.  I hate the thought of speedwork and I have to give myself lots of treats, like long recoveries, to make myself do it.

But it was really fun once I got into it!  I was planning to do 8 and I went ahead and did 10.  But the main thing I wanted to share was how I remembered which number I was on.  I read about this in the April issue of Runner’s World and I always forget how many reps I’ve done when I do speedwork so I thought I’d try it.  You just assign a letter of the alphabet, starting at A, to each rep and associate a word with each one. Super simple, right? But it helped! I made some of them into little mantras to keep myself going during that rep.

I didn’t start till E, when I started having trouble remembering (maybe it’s the Coke Zero).  But here are my words:

• E for efficiency.  Efficient gait, efficient form.
• F for Farah – you know, Mo?
• G for Goucher. Kara Goucher just came in 3rd at the NYC half.  She’s a beast.  Run like Goucher, run like Goucher.  Yes, I’m corny.  But I got the rep done. 
• H for Hall. Duh.  I didn’t repeat anything during this one, but pictured myself running with Ryan.  I would be running full out and he would be recovering and chatting to me about Jesus.
• I for If.  I told myself during the recovery right before this that if I could think of a runner whose first name started with ‘I’ that I would do 10 reps instead of 8.  Then I realized that was stupid and I should just go for 10.  IF you’ve got it in you, go for it!
  
• J for Jenny.  I thought about Jenny Simpson, but mostly I thought about Jenny Wilde, a longtime friend, longtime runner and someone whose approach to life and running I have always admired. She’s running Cap10K this weekend in Austin with my sister and I so wish I could be there!  Ran this last rep for her. 

Alright, time to use these memory tricks on Macro.

Do you have any memory tricks you use when doing speedwork? Or any mantras you repeat to get yourself going?

TV, magazines and other guilty pleasures.

Can I tell you a secret?

I like running on the treadmill.

It’s kind of like a break.  No navigation (you know, because it’s soooooo hard to make sure I know where I’m going on the route I’ve run 4058 times), no scary dogs (those Shih-tzus on the trail can get cray-cray), no ogling men (ok…that’s real), just me and the belt.

Oh, and did I mention the TV and magazine?

It’s my guilty pleasure.  Not gonna lie.  When I get on the treadmill, I pretend a box of invisibility comes down over me and I just get in the zone. I stretch extra good, then turn up the pace, find a channel that has something good on, open up my mag, and go.  I don’t have a TV at home and I rarely buy have zero dollars in my budget for magazines, so going to the gym, picking from the magazine shelf and flipping on cable feels like an absolute luxury.

A few of my favorite shows to watch while running:

• Top Chef: I have been known to schedule workouts around this show, even on beautiful days.  Not something I’m proud of, but true.
• Project Runway: I haven’t watched the All Stars season going on now at all and I’m so sad!  Last season, Ryan Auld from Baton Rouge was on and he was my all-time favorite.  I was at Barnes the other day and he came and did a little interview with a girl at the table next to me!  I love him.
• House Hunters International: So fun to dream about what it would be like to fix up a little apartment in Florence or have a beach house in Aruba!
• The Today Show: I like to keep up.
• Fairly Legal, White Collar, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, Bones:  I watch episodes of these if they’re on, but I don’t have a TV at home so I’m not really up on all the seasons and episodes.  But I know enough to stay interested for a while.

Favorite magazines:

• House Beautiful: Semi-obsessed with this magazine.  They have great taste, those House Beautiful-ers.  Plus I like that there are lots of pictures and not just tons of tiny print (I’m looking at you, Vogue).
• O Magazine: Is that what it’s called?  I can’t even remember really.  The Oprah mag. One of those can keep you going for a week of rain.
• Shape, Self, Health: These are pretty much all the same (oh, and Fitness, too), but I like them.  I always think,  I am definitely going to do that arms workout soon. And I never do.  But I feel momentarily inspired.
• Runner’s World and Running Times: Hands-down favorites.  Such quality publications.  I drag these out and try to make them last as long as possible when I get my hands on an issue. It’s fun to read a running magazine while you’re running and feel those warm, fuzzy I’m-part-of-the-running-community-at-large feelings.

Not only is the treadmill my favorite place to get decorating ideas and catch up on what’s going on in Syria, but it’s also my favorite way to do speedwork and hills.  A couple of workouts I love (yes, love):

• Warm up for a mile or so, then do 8x400m at 90-95% effort with 400m recovery in between each rep.  Cool down.  I love this one!  Each repeat goes by so fast and after the workout’s over, you feel amazing.  Exhausted but exhilarated. 
• Again, warm up, then do 4x1mile at 5k pace, with 400m recovery in between each.  Cool down. Great one for if you’re training for something a little longer and getting close to race date.
• Warm up, then dial the incline up to 4 for 1:00, 5 for 1:00, and 6 for 1:00.  Take it down to flat for 1:00 recovery.  Dial up to 5 for 1:00, 6 for 1:00, 7 for 1:00, then back to flat for 1:00.  Do one more ladder “up:” 6-7-8.  Then come back down: 8-7-6, 7-6-5, 6-5-4.  Cool down.  This is probably one of my all-time favorite workouts.  Just make sure you really give your quads some love on the foam roller in the hours and days following.

What are your favorite shows?  Magazines?

Do you like to do speedwork on the treadmill or just dial in a pace and zone out?

What are your favorite ways to run on the treadmill?

Is running fun?

I was texting with my dad today about watercoloring and he made this simple statement:

The main thing is having fun.

I started thinking about this: in relationship to art, work, relationships, spirituality, and everything else, fun is a simple way of saying

• life-giving
• colorful
• surprising
• funny
• enjoyable for itself, not for what it produces 

Sometimes I get too goal-oriented.  I forget to have fun in my training.  I focus on knocking off the miles instead of noticing the daffodils in bloom or the heron in the cypress (I love my running route around the LSU lakes!).

But the real truth is, running is most fun when I just go–not for speed, not for distance, not because my training schedule says to or I have a race coming up.  But when I just bounce along to feel the breeze, smile at the dogs, notice what’s around me, sprint down a hill or power up one to feel my muscles work–that’s when I remember why I run.

Because it’s fun.

 

Things I Love About Running: Podcast Edition.

So I really love podcasts.  And I have to say, sometimes the podcast I know I’m about to listen to plays a part in is the reason I get out the door in the morning.

My podcast taste has evolved over time.  I used to ONLY listen to American Public Media’s The Splendid Table, “a show for people who love to eat,” and I felt like I was best buds with the host(ess), Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Gosh, I love her.  You will love her.  Go right now and download the podcast.

But I got a little tired of drooling all over my running shoes and so I went on the hunt for some other ones.  Now, I listen to a lot of sermons, and before you go to sleep on me, just try these out.  I’m serious–they’re better than music for stirring me up, encouraging me, and just leaving me feeling like I have truly met with God on my run.

I also listen to some NPR shows and a handful of other podcasts, but some just aren’t long enough.  If I’ve forgotten to make myself a playlist, I hate having to take out my iPod and switch to a different podcast or turn on music (I know, I know…major first-world problem).

Without further adieu, and in no particular order, here are my faves:

• Bethel Church: Hey, running sidenote! This is where Olympian marathoner (and my hero) Ryan Hall and his track star  wife Sara go to church.  I listened to this today, a sermon called “Developing Heart Strength.”  I didn’t want to turn it off when I got home.  It was so encouraging–all about dreaming in God, based on Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
• This American Life: This is a Public Radio International show that tells stories around a theme.  The first one I ever listened to was about breakups. Hilarious!  I think my all-time favorite, though, was about middle school.  Come to think of it, I need to re-listen to that one.
• Joy the Baker Podcast: Do you know her? If you read her blog, you know who she is.  If you listen to her podcast, you feel like you are her best friend. If you don’t have a running partner, and you wish you did so you could chit chat the whole time, get this podcast now.
• International House of Prayer-Northwest: I wish Gary Weins, the leader of IHOP-NW, knew what an impact he has had on my life during the last year of listening to these podcasts.  God has spoken to me so many times through him.  He just finished a (super awesome) series on Sermon on the Mount and is into a new one on the life of David.  I check this podcast obsessively for new episodes.
• RadioLab: How does one describe RadioLab?  It’s another public radio deal.  They tell stories.  They make jokes.  They explore ideas, science, phenomena, etc.  I wish they were longer and more frequently updated.  That’s all.  It’s a great listen.
• International House of Prayer-Atlanta: Billy Humphrey in Atlanta is a fireball. Love him.  His series on Revelation will knock your (technical) socks off.  I hope no one from there is reading this, but honestly, I don’t love the other speakers besides Billy on this podcast.  I only download sermons if they’re by Billy. {Note: Yes, I’ve got a thing with IHOP.  I lived at the Kansas City one for 6 months, but it doesn’t really have a podcast (that I can figure out for iTunes, anyway).}
• Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me: I listened to one of these during my marathon last July and laughed out loud on the course.  It’s basically a quiz show about current events that is hilarious…though sometimes really lame, also.  But I like it.  It keeps me going.

I have several others that are really great, but these are the ones in the main rotation.

What are your favorite podcasts?  Leave me some comment love!