Leg strengthening for running

Last spring I developed an overuse injury in my knee.  Part of the issue, according to my physical therapist, was that I wasn't doing enough strengthening exercises.  After a few months of physical therapy, I left with a set of exercises and minimal knee pain.

After my long run last week, my knee was in a lot of pain.  I'd been slacking on those exercises.  I began a daily morning routine on Tuesday and after yesterday's long run my knee pain was again minimal.

Here is the list of exercises that I do:

• Wall Squats (10 sets of 2): I don't have or want a ball so I use a foam roller

• Monster Walk (2 sets of 10): I use a thicker band than she uses in the video. You want something that you'll feel in your hip.


How to Do Lateral Monster Walks - Women's Fitness


• Single Leg Raises (3 sets of 10 on each leg): add ankle weights for more resistance

• Side leg raises (3 sets of 10 on each leg): add ankle weights for more resistance

• Walking Lunges (40 total alternating legs): I do not use weights with these. 

• Massage the left side of my upper thigh (and anywhere else that feels tight) with the stick

I skipped a race and don't mind it

I picked up my bib and souvenir mug last night.  Then stayed out with friends later than planed.  I didn't imbibe because I was planning to go to the race.  But I got home and  realized that 5 hours of sleep with a packed Saturday would be a little rough.  I decided to skip the race.  I don't regret staying out, I had a great time with friends I haven't seen for a while.

I do have agressive running goals but this morning's race was neither a half marathon nor an NYRR race. Skipping it didn't prevent me from meeting any of my goals.  I'd actually been thinking about skipping the race for that very reason earlier in the week.  Waking up before 7 AM on the weekend requires motivation, especially since I don't even wake up that early for work.  I managed to get a 6.1 mile run at a good pace in later in the day.

I was also vindicated by an email from the race organizer stating that the timing devices malfunctioned.  As a result the race was just an untimed fun run.  It wouldn't have been different from my training run anyway.  And hey, I still have my souvenir mug!

Brrrrrooklyn Hot Chocolate 10K Playlist

Saturday I'll run the Brrrrrooklyn Hot Chocolate 10K in Prospect Park.  For a 10k I want a playlist that doesn't start out too slow and picks up quickly.  Starting out slower helps achieve negative splits, allowing a strong finish.

Here's the list:


You Don't Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor) Ben Folds
Conquering Fools O.A.R.
You're So Cold The Red Romance
Come on Eileen Dexy's Midnight Runners
Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West) Jay-Z
Your Love Is My Drug Ke$ha
Hit 'Em Up Style Blu Cantrell
Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) B.o.B
The Way You Move  Outkast
Telephone      Lady GaGa & Beyoncé
Where The Party At (Remix) So So Def Allstars
Party Up (Up In Here) DMX
Stronger Kanye West
Dog Days Are Over    Florence + The Machine
Bionic Placebo
S&M Rihanna
Under Pressure     The Used/My Chemical Romance

Sickness! What about training?

You're following your <insert race distance> training program and everything is going great!  Distance is increasing and workouts are getting easier.  Then along comes a sniffle.  At what point do you slow down?  How will it impact your training?

This happened to me back in August during my Philadelphia Marathon training.  I was three months out from the race and had a 14 mile run planned.  Leading up to the run I had a fairly nasty head cold.  I had to choose, run with the cold or skip the run?  Even though I felt bad I decided to complete my the run.  This was one of my most miserable runs ever.  The run ended up turning sinus congestion into chest congestion and making me sicker.  I had to take a week off from training just to recover.

Flash forward to last week.  Again, I had a head cold and something going on with my eyes.  Since it was fairly cold in New York City last weekend, I decided to skip the long run.  I completed my shorter in-week runs on a treadmill.  (I was travelling for work so indoor track was out of the question).  This was much better for me.  Instead of worsening the cold, I missed one 10 mile run and one 3 mile run.   My training wasn't severely disrupted and I'm ready to tackle this week's long run.

Its not easy to make up missed runs without inflicting injury.  So I generally just pick up with the next week in my training plan.  If I'm not quite ready for the length of the suggested long run, I'll cut a mile or two off.  Its important to do what feels right for you in training while being comfortable that you can meet your goals.

Mental Barriers

My first few races were difficult.  Not the running itself, I'd trained and knew I could complete the distance.  The difficulty came with the thought that the "real" runners would be laughing at me.  I was slow.  I was overweight.  "What am I even doing here?" I would ask myself.  Showing up at the races took quite a bit of courage.

I was especially nervous when going to my first expo for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  I'd never been to an expo before and didn't know what to expect.  I walked into to the expo and grabbed my stuff.  I was surprised to see that I was starting out in the second corral.  That meant either the majority of people didn't submit a time or I was faster than greater than three quarters of the people registered for the race.  The corral placement made me feel a bit better.

As I've become faster, I've realized that I've been a "real" runner for quite some time.  There are elite runners.  There are fast runners.  There are slow runners.  If you run, you're a runner.  Even if you run/walk, you're still a runner.

I'm always happy not to be the last person finishing a race but I still think the people who finish behind me are awesome.  Especially for long distances, slower people are putting in more training time and more race time than I am.  In Disney World I met a man who said he was doing the Goofy Challenge.  It would be his first marathon.  He said he'd spent seven hours training in one day!  That takes some serious dedication.  I'm not sure how he did with his races but he was quite excited and I hope everything went well for him.

The runners I've interacted with at races have all been great.  Most of the people who are starting in my corrals aren't there to race me.  They are there for fun,  to beat a personal record, or to support a loved one.  No one shows up at races to laugh at other runners.

Don't let mental barriers hold you back!

Run Tracking! Watches and Dashboards! Oh My!

Tracking the distance and time of training runs is necessary for training properly for any race distance.  Reviewing runs over time is fun and motivational.  I often find myself feeling that a run I just finished was too slow.  Looking back at of a similar distance helps me to gauge whether I've actually slowed down (and often I haven't).  In order to track runs you'll need some tool to measure the time and distance of your run.  You'll also need someplace to keep a long term log of the runs.

Since August 2010, I've been through several phases of tracking runs.  I like my current set up the best but I'll explain what worked and what didn't for each of the others I've used.

I started out using Nike+ Ipod to track everything.  This was ok but calibration was never quite right.  My distances were off.  I was doing most of my running at an indoor track so I always knew the actual distance that I ran.  But the http://nikerunning.nike.com/ was pretty craptastic.  It sometimes would force me to log in three times before taking me to my dashboard.  It also wouldn't allow me to modify the stats reported by the ipod tracking.  This was a fairly cheap way to track when I was starting out and I was happy with it for a while.

In June 2011, Nike came out with the Nike+ Gps Sportwatch.  Since I was starting marathon training I thought this would be useful for running outside.  The watch linked with the Nike+ shoe pod so that when it lost GPS it would keep tracking.  When I first got it, I had some trouble.  It would lose GPS in the middle of a run and never pick it up again.  I do most of my running in the city so I understand blips of lost GPS.  But never finding it again?  Thats no good.  I was also still stuck with the http://nikerunning.nike.com/ tracking.  I love the coach plans that Nike has on their site. As far as tracking runs and showing stats, they don't do a great job.

In September 2011, the Nike+ Gps Sportwatch completely crapped out on me.  It always told me that I was running 5 minute miles.  I'm pretty sure I'm not capable of a 5 minute mile.  Support from Nike was abysmal.  Fortunately I ordered from Finishline.com.  While I was outside of their return period, they said as a one time courtesy they would exchange the watch for store credit.  At $200 the Nike+ GPS Sport watch is more expensive and less functional than many other models.  I would not recommend it to anyone.

Around the time that I returned the Nike watch, I borrowed a friend's Garmin Forerunner 305.  I used it for a few training runs as well as for the 2011 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon.  I was happy with the watch overall.  It was a bit slow in finding satellites in the city but in Disney World it was super quick.  I ordered my own Garmin and at the time it was only $130.  A much better deal than the Nike+ watch.  It came with a heart rate monitor and was much more fully featured.

Garmin has their own site for run tracking but I wanted to keep all of my run history in one place.   So I imported everything into dailymile.com and I've been using them since.  I'm happy that I don't have the frustration of logging into http://nikerunning.nike.com/ on a regular basis although I do still use their coach training programs.

Do you know of any devices or sites that are better than the Garmin Forerunner 305 or dailymile.com?  What sets them apart?

PSA: 2012 and 2013 NYC Marathon

If you want to try to get guaranteed entry into the 2012 NYC Marathon (November 4, 2012) without fundraising, you have until April 23 to apply through the lottery.   I've already applied but I'm not counting on getting in.   That's ok because I'm going to run it in 2013!

You can run in 2013 with me!  Join NYRR by January 31, run 9 NYRR races in 2012, and volunteer at one race (or donate $1k).  As I mentioned in my 2012 goals, I intend to go this route.  You don't even have to run long races!  You can run nine 5k races to qualify!

If you're in the NYC area and getting to 10 races in 2012 wouldn't be a burden then join NYRR and qualify to run the 2013 NYC marathon with me.  I've already enlisted Alek and Rebecca.  You too can follow the path to greatness!

So long, and thanks for all the miles!

When returned from Disney I left behind my running shoes.  After logging 400 miles in 4 months they were worn out.  I was a bit sentimental about leaving them behind since they took me through much of my marathon training and my first full marathon.  I've mentioned before that shoes wear out after 300-400 miles.  In truth, I believe those particular shoes should have been replaced closer to the 300 mile mark.  How could I tell?  My feet and knees began to hurt more than they should have after long runs.

Marathon running and training is particularly hard on running shoes.  While training, I spent 3+ hours in the shoes without giving them a chance to decompress.  During the race itself I was in them for over 5 hours.

Now at 1071 miles, I'm about to start using the shoes I got for Christmas.  They'll be stiff for the first few runs.  I expect that they'll feel great after about 30 miles.

The new shoes will be my third pair of Brooks Defyance 4 running shoes.  When I first started running I used Nike Free Run + shoes.  While the Nikes were good for short runs, the toe box was too small.  During longer runs I kept smashing my toes against the top of the shoe.  This resulted in black and lost toenails.  I went to JackRabbit sports to get advice on which shoes would be best for me.  There they filmed me running on a treadmill and slowed it down to determine how my feet landed.  This allowed the staff member to determine what sort of support I needed.  He gave me a few options and let me run on the treadmill in each of them.  If you want to be serious about running, I suggest going to a running store to learn which shoes are best for you.  Doing so saved my toenails!

Unused shoes (all shiny and new)

The yellow wore down to black in the old shoes.  

Also, notice that the grooves aren't as deep as they had  been.  

2012 Disney World Half Marathon (The Donald)

My first of 12 half marathons (or greater) in 2012 was the Walt Disney World Half Marathon.  The instructions said that I needed to be on a race bus by 4:00 AM or I would risk missing the start.  It claimed that there was a minimum 20 minute walk from the drop off area to the last starting corrals.  It also said that runners not in their corral by 5:00 AM would not be able to run the race.  I assumed these were fear mongering tactics to get people there early.  Regardless, I left the hotel at 3:30 AM with Alek and my parents (my chEar squad).  

There was a very long line for the buses at the hotel.  It moved quickly though.  Once on the bus, we hit a traffic jam caused by all the runners trying to arrive at the same time.  I used the trip to nap so I wouldn't stress about making it to my corral on time.  We got off the bus around 4:50 AM and I said goodbye to my chEar squad and headed to the start.  I entered the runners area around 5:00 AM.  I thought I'd just completed the 20 minute walk they mentioned.  I thought wrong.  I got to my corral at 5:20.  As I made my way there I regretted starting in the second corral and having to walk further.  I barely made it in time and saw many runners miss their corral start (they started with later corrals instead).  It turned out that the only bit of fear mongering that Disney used was stating that runners wouldn't be able to start unless they were in their corrals by 5:00 AM.

The first wave went at 5:30.  My wave started about 5 minutes later with Donald Duck giving the "ready, set, GO!" and fireworks as the starting gun.  The course had cheerleaders, bands, and Disney characters along the way.  It was mostly flat with a few highway ramps at the beginning and the end.  I started too quickly but by mile 2.5 I was able to slow down.  My goal was to run the second half of the race faster than the first half, a tactic known as negative splits.  The race entered the Magic Kingdom around mile 4 and exited around mile 6.  While I ran my way through the Magic Kingdom, I found myself racing the 2:15 pacer.  I wanted very badly to finish with or ahead of him to beat my half marathon personal record of 2:17.  He stopped at the bathroom between the 6th and 7th miles.  I never saw him again.  

Halfway through I knew I could pick up my speed since I still had energy.  By the 9th mile the sun was coming up, the sky was beautiful, and I was feeling great!  At the 11th mile I knew that even if I ran with a 12 minute pace I would come in at 2:14.  I worked hard for the last 2 miles and felt great coming in at 2:10:46.  My average pace was less than 10 minutes.  One year ago I couldn't even maintain a 12 minute mile for greater than one mile on a treadmill.  I felt awesome!

Next year, I think I'll try the Goofy Race and A Half Challenge.  This requires running the half on Saturday followed by the full on Sunday.  I'll avoid setting any new personal records then but it'll be an awesome achievement.

With medal at the race finish. Epcot globe [left] and finish line[right] in the background

2012 Disney Family Fiesta 5k

Today I ran my first race of the year, the 2012 Disney Family Fiesta 5k.  Alek, Rebecca, and Jason (Rebecca's boyfriend) ran with me.  The race started at 6:30 AM.  We left the hotel at 4:50 to get to the starting line.  In Disney style, there was  starting line entertainment.  The DJ helped get us warmed up since it was a chilly 46 degrees at starting time.

The race had three starting waves.  The first was for people planning to run a 6-9 minute pace; the second for other runners; and the third was meant for people with strollers and walkers.  We decided to start with the second wave but found getting into the corral to be difficult with so many people crowded around.  We still hadn't gotten in as the race was starting so we decided to jump a barricade to start with wave 2.

Disney used fireworks as the starting gun and we were off.  Slowly.  Although the second wave was supposed to be runners we encountered many walkers during the race.  As a result there was quite a bit of congestion.  But, it was still a fun run around Epcot.  We finished in 34:31 with a 10:42 pace.   As race souvenirs we have bibs with our names on them and finisher medals featuring the Three Caballeros.  It was great to run with people I know!

Disney World Half Marathon Playlist

During most training runs, I listen to audiobooks.  This helps me get through some of the books on my reading list, albeit a bit slowly.  For most of 2011, I listened to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

I found that it is difficult to focus on an audiobook during races.  The excitement of people around me, focus on my pace and race course entertainment forced me to come back and re-listen to the parts of the book I'd listened to during the race.  As a result I now create a playlist for each race.  Because I'm running so many long races in 2012, I want each of them to have a uniquely themed playlist.

The Disney World Half Marathon will be my first half of 2012.  The playlist theme is 2011 hits.  Not all of the songs were released in 2011 but all were on the 2011 charts.

Here's the list:

You Are A Tourist    Death Cab For Cutie
Rolling in the Deep    Adele
Codes And Keys    Death Cab For Cutie
Good Life                 OneRepublic
Give Me Everything Pitbull
Someone Like You (Uptempo Party Remix) DJ Kamikaze
Born This Way Lady GaGa
Moves Like Jagger Maroon 5
Party Rock Anthem Lauren Bennett; GoonRock; LMFAO
We Found Love Rihanna; Calvin Harris
Stereo Hearts Gym Class Heroes
On the Floor Jennifer Lopez
The One That Got Away Katy Perry
Price Tag (feat. B.o.B) Jessie J
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall Coldplay
Some Boys Death Cab For Cutie
Walk Foo Fighters
Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People
I Wanna Go Britney Spears
You Make Me Feel... (feat. Sabi) Cobra Starship
Without You (feat. Usher) David Guetta & Usher
Tonight Tonight  Hot Chelle Rae
Princess of China Coldplay & Rihanna
Dog Days Are Over   Florence + The Machine
Firework Katy Perry
Forget You Cee Lo Green
Just Can't Get Enough The Black Eyed Peas
Raise Your Glass P!nk
The Edge Of Glory Lady GaGa
S&M Rihanna
Tighten Up The Black Keys
Animal Neon Trees
Waiting for the End Linkin Park
Stereo Love Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina
Like a G6     Far East Movement
Grenade Bruno Mars
Secrets OneRepublic

What 2011 hits did I miss?  Do you have suggestions for other playlist themes?