My Wee Little Warriors Dashing About

But first a picture from Shane's Fall Fest party. His public school adventure is still new to us so it's a little exciting. I volunteered to help with his Fall Fest class party so I got to see the costume parade.

 

Cutest.thing.ever.

 

My little policeman

 

 

Saturday was the 2nd Annual Halloweeney Wee Warrior Dash. This is a free, kids obstacle course run that takes place near Shepherdstown, WV. Dr Mark and the Two Rivers team do a great job of directing this race and making it FUN for all ages.

 

The course was about a mile long with all sorts of fun challenges for the kids like the pumpkin mine field, hale bale maze, hay roll climb, and more.

 

My peeps wanted to test things out in advance

Volunteers held the orange tubes up so the kids had to crawl through them to get to the finish

 

afterwards the kids were encouraged to take a pumpkin, or 10!, home with them

getting over the round bales was harder than it looked.

there were enthusiastic volunteers to help them out

I want Ella's form

 

And they get medals at the finish!

 

 

Downer alert so don't read below if you like end with cheery stuff:

 

I ran Shane's lap with him and then 2 afterwards with Hank. Shane stopped and started a lot so I didn't have any pain that run. With Hank, I didn't have any pain at all for the first 1/2 mile or so. But after that aching quickly turned to pain so I walked the last half of our second lap.

 

We have a slew of expenses because of the storm so no chiropractor for me anytime soon. Frustrating, but that's life so I'll keep strength training and doing a little yoga so I don't turn into a blob.

 

Ok, I don't like to end on a downer either so here goes: The kids' cross country team had their end of season party Saturday evening. The kids ran around looking for baggies of candy while the grown ups stood around and chatted. We have a great group of families on our team so I really enjoyed one last opportunity to hang out with them before we start running again in the spring. :D

 

Hank's 4 Mile Race Report

While I was slogging through the half marathon, Bill was supervising the kids and making sure Hank made it to his starting line on time.

I had planned to register Hank for the 4 mile race in advance, but when I saw the price wasn't much more for race day reg, I decided to wait.

Very fortuitous for my checkbook because I got an email saying that youth could run for free. Woot! I did pay to get him a shirt though because I figured he deserved some swag for his hard work.

Hank's race report as dictated to mom:

We went to the starting line down the hill. I got in the middle and was cramped at the beginning of the race. The guy blew the horn and we took off.

We ran on the road for a little ways, and then we turned onto a trail. It was a long time before we got to a water station (mom's note: ~mile 2).

It was pretty hilly but I still passed some people. A woman told me to keep it up because we were almost to the fun part.

The fun part was going down a hill in the shade. I stopped to get water on the 2nd loop and walked a little.

I ran as hard as I could to the finish. I thought I was the first kid to finish but a 13 year old finished before me. My time was 43:47 which I thought was pretty cool.

And I think it's pretty cool, too!

One thing I really like about the races Two Rivers Treads helps out with is that there is always a kids fun run. And the fun run is FUN. The kids get bibs and either ribbons or medals. Lined up at the start, they do silly warm up exercises often led by Dr. Mark or TRT employees. And the emphasis is to run and enjoy.

The 1 mile fun run was set to begin at 11am giving the grownups plenty of time to finish their races. As my peeps lined up for their race, Bill confided he was a little worried they were all 3 going to end up barfing because they had done nothing but eat pizza and drink gatorade the whole time I was running.

I forgot to mention the post race munchies were endless pizza and kegs of micro-brews...along with water and gatorade of course.

The horn sounded and off they went. Originally I planned to run with Shane since he has a tendency to be distracted, but I was in no condition to run so Hank volunteered. Thank goodness!

The first kid crossed the finish right around 7 minutes...on a cross country course...which is crazy fast!

Finally I saw 3 blue shirts running together and laughing.  Other parents commented how they looked like they were on a team, and I said they are - they're siblings but they also run for a local track and cross country team.

Shane took off and finished ahead of E and H and headed straight for the pizza

I found out later why they were laughing. Ella was slightly ahead of Shane for most of the race, and Hank kept telling Shane he needed to beat her. This made Ella laugh (silly boys trying to outrun my girlie) which made the boys laugh.

And so they laughed and ran a mile together. A very nice way to spend the afternoon!

*I can't find the charger for my good camera so we're stuck with crappy phone pictures for now. :(

Maintain Don't Gain

Those who know me know that I spend a lot of time in Shepherdstown because of Shepherd U's Wellness Wednesday [the Wellness Center (indoor pool, bball court, etc) is open free to the public the last Wed of each month], my favorite shoe store, Two Rivers Treads, is there [they offer a variety of free running clinics and are generally nice folks], and it's very near the tow path where I do a lot of riding.

So you won't be surprised to learn that when I heard about Maintain Don't Gain happening at Shepherd, I was all over it.

Maintain Don't Gain is a great program designed to keep people active and healthy during the holidays. You go to a participating location to be weighed in and then receive coupons for free visits to area gyms and a weekly motiviational newsletter.

After the holidays in early January, you go back to be weighed again with the hope that you didn't gain any weight which is important since most folks don't tend to lose the weight they gain over the holidays.

I made the trip to Shepherd to be weighed in by a stick figure of a college student and groaned when I saw the number. I knew I had eaten pretty badly the week of halloween and had gained nearly 5 pounds, but somehow seeing it on an 'official' scale - with another person standing over my shoulder - made it all the more horrible. ugh!

And have struggled for 2+ weeks since then to get my butt in gear. They gave us coupons for 5 free visits to 6 different gyms ranging from Curves to Gold's so theoretically I could go to the gym nearly every day in December...except that I have 3 little kids who need an education and who have much busier social calendars than I.

I've used 2 visits so far.... a spin class at Gold's (butt kicker!) and a quick mile swim at Shepherd.  I'm happy, sort of, that I haven't gained any more weight, but I would be very happy to see the scale move back down those 4.5 notches.

How do you plan to keep the pounds at bay during the holidays?

A nolhtaud and My weekend at Two Rivers Treads

A nolhtaud (nahl todd) is a backwards Duathlon. I'm such a smarty! ha!  Two Rivers Treads has a running clinic each Saturday morning in Shepherdstown. Since I need to be really, really careful with my footstrike right now, I consider myself a 'new runner.'

I'm trying erase all the bad muscle memory and replace it with good muscle memory. I tend to run high on my fore foot which is bad. Bad for my calves, achilles, plantar plate and toes.

I live near the C&O Canal tow path, and Shepherdstown is on the tow path as well so I thought it would be a great idea to bike there, do the clinic, and bike home - bike, run, bike - a reverse Du!

I started really early because I wasn't sure how long it would take me. I arrived in time to change my shoes and wash my legs which is good because I must have ridden through some horse poo. Stinky, stinky!

Tom led the clinic and it was really good. He talked about many of the basics Dr Mark covers during the injury prevention clinics. He told us he wouldn't critique us, but I asked him to please tell me if I was up on toes at all. After some barefoot running drills we headed over to the Bavarian Inn where he showed us how to run uphill. The road to the Inn is definitely UPHILL!

Then we ran over the bridge into Maryland and then went back to the store. All told we went about 2 miles. I am so out of shape! Thankfully it's a beginner clinic so we were all close to the same pace and they didn't leave me in the dust! I have to say it was really nice to run with people again.

 We finished up, and I hopped on my bike and headed back hoping to beat the wrath of Irene.  I was tooling along, totally zoned out and suddenly there was a huge tree across the path and some people standing around wondering how long it had been there. 

I thought I must have gone past where I parked so I had to confirm where I was. Turns out that I had not gone past my car so the tree fell some time between 6:45 and 10:30ish. So scary! It's a huge tree and a lot of people are on the path during that time on the weekends. Thankfully no one was hurt and we were able to tromp down the branches on one side so folks could get through.

In the end I biked 16, ran 2 and biked 16 again. It was really fun, and I plan to do it again this weekend!

Earlier in the week, I got an email from TR Treads saying they were GIVING AWAY -as in for free - kids VivoBarefoot shoes on Sunday afternoon.  You didn't have to tell me twice; I was there!

They gave away about 150 pairs of shoes. So cool!   After measuring the kids, they had shoes to fit Ella and Shane. Hank's boats were just too big.

I was completely thrilled and very grateful. Vivobarefoot shoes are top notch and will survive anything these two can throw at them.  We'll be passing these shoes on to their kids I'm sure!

I don't know if the folks in Shepherdstown know just how blessed they are to have a store like Two Rivers Treads. I know that I'm very glad we live close enough to go there often!

Here's Dr Mark's video of it (I'm about 22 seconds into it, white tank, blue and white skirt. Thankfully you can't see the sweat running down my legs. I swear it wasn't pee.)

Running clinics and my confidence level

Since getting the green light to run, I've done very little actual running. Coming back after an extended injury is as much -if not more- a mental challenge as it physical. Quite frankly I'm skeered to run because if I reinjure myself...I don't know...

[Bill told me he had a dream/nightmare that I hurt my foot again, and everyone's life was hell so he asked that I please not re-injure myself because he's not sure he can take another 8 months of non-running me. I didn't realize I had been such an ogre, but maybe I was in a chocolate and wine induced haze???]

Anyway, I run pretty high on the balls of my feet- thus the extremely tight calves and plantar problems, oh and that pesky stress fracture in my toe. I obviously need to change my footstrike to a more mid-foot strike before I lace up my kicks and hit the road again.
Monday night I attended a Chi Running clinic hosted by the running club I belong to. The instructor was our club Presidente Mark Lawrence, and it was a small group of about 6 runners. He spent almost 2 hours with us and since it was such a small group, he could give us each specific feedback. It was an excellent class and covered the basics of Chi Running - if you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it, and if you're local, take some time to hang out with Mark on Monday evenings.

Yesterday, after a completely insane afternoon of errands and dr appts, we made the trip to Shepherdstown so I could participate in a running clinic at Two Rivers Treads. The injury prevention clinic is typically led by Laura Bergmann but Mark Cucuzzilla was at helm instead.

My ortho's response to my questions is always 'you're an aging athlete.'

Ok, fine I'm old [I don't really think I'm "OLD" but whatever].

I can't undo aging, but I *can* change my form and properly strengthen my body to PREVENT injury, right??? What I love about Mark's clinics is learning that YES I can.  He [and Laura] explains things like how having feet that don't adequately dorsiflex pull on the plantar plate which in turn can cause calf pain and tightness and plantar problems.

I guess the average person is content with just getting better. I... athletes in general??... want to know HOW the injury occurred and WHAT can be done to avoid it again. Having access to knowledgeable people who are passionate about the sport and willing to answer those questions is a godsend.

Anyone who has attended a clinic led by either Laura or Mark could write pages about what they learned. The best thing to do is just attend one - if you aren't local, check out the running stores listed on the Natural Running Center website [right column].

After 4 hours of running instruction this week, I feel like I'm on the right track to smarter, stronger, healthier running. I won't be cranking out serious miles for a while and that's ok.

I have already considered this year a wash in terms of speed building or racing. It's about getting stronger and healthier and staying positive regardless of what comes.

I'm still a little nervous about reinjuring myself - but - I didn't get my big butt off the couch and across the finish line of a tough half marathon by thinking about it or reading about other people doing it. I'll be out there again....just a little more cautious and [hopefully] more in tune with my body.

Chris McDougall's Visit to Two Rivers Treads

Barefoot running rockstar, Chris McDougall, visited Two Rivers Treads in Shepherdstown this past Thursday. I'm on the TRTreads email list and was excited and surprised to read that he would be in town for a short visit and participate in the Thursday evening clinic.

If you ever have an opportunity to participate in one of these clinics, I seriously recommend that you go. Dr Mark Cucuzzella is extremely knowledgeable about minimalist running as well as running in general....being a 2:37 marathoner will do that for you.

Chris mentioned the importance and wide reaching affect of what Mark is doing at TR Treads. I'm not sure there's any other place in the country currently with a community of minimalist runners. Sure you may have a handful here and there, but in this area, if you're wearing a pair of Newtons, Vibrams or Evos, folks will ask you if you bought them from 'Dr Mark' and the answer is usually yes.

Mark and Chris talking to the group

My pesky foot fracture kept me from participating in the clinic so I sat at the edge and watched and listened. I also had Shane with me so I had to bail early. But I did garner some nuggets to share with you.

~ CaDeNcE- Why the magic number of 180? Stand on the balls of your feet and bounce up and down like you're jumping rope. You'll bounce about 180 times in a minute. It's our natural recoil cadence. And when running more naturally, you'll get closer to that number nirvana.

~ "Experts" resistance to minimalist and barefoot running - Mark talked about this. In the medical community, most lifestyle and health recommendations start at the top and trickle down. A panel of experts decide that something is good/bad for you; then the information flows out to the masses.

Barefoot running began from the bottom and trickled up. Runners realized they could run more efficiently and with fewer injuries (cept knuckleheads like me who do too much too soon) so they started telling other runners and so on.

Mark shared that he and Chris have participated in a number of high profile panels around the country, and there have been varied responses to their schpeal. In some places, their message was well received, the information fairly considered, and they were invited to participate in future panels.

Other times they have been treated poorly and not invited to speak again in future discussions. Sad reflection on the arrogance of some 'experts.'

I stink at estimating, but I think there were about 60 people there. Very cool

~ Nifty jump rope trick- Mark demo'd this and then had one of the older (~10-11 yrs old) kids do it. Run forward while jumping rope. You can't overstride and your foot has to land under your hip, otherwise you'll get tangled in the rope. It's a helpful trick when working on proper footstrike.

~ Your core is core, essential, central, foundational to proper running- Stand up straight, put your hands on your side just above your hip bones, and cough. That muscle is your transverse abdominis, and when it's strong, it's your best friend. Mark had everyone engage their abs and then try to hunch over forward (the way many of us look when we finish a long run). No can do, Kemosabe.

pc: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Media/transverse.gif

He gave some practical tips like ditch your chair for a ball so the hours you spend hunched in front of your computer will be spent strengthening and engaging your core. Or move your computer to a counter top so you can stand...and then you can do things like stand on one leg and do leg lifts to strengthen your gluteus minimus.

I would have loved to hang around afterwards to meet Chris, but Shane was quickly falling apart so I had to skedaddle before they finished the clinic. It was very cool to see so many people there, all ages, shapes and sizes, and I look forward to future clinics when I can actually participate!

Wordless Wednesday

Thought you might appreciate a post with fewer words.

I took Ella with me to the injury clinic at Two Rivers Treads last week.

Gave her the camera and this is what she saw

And I'll say it again...if you are injured or concerned about your gait, see these people. The wealth of combined knowledge between Laura and Mark is incredible.

It's Complicated- Heart Rate Training

In our last Complicated episode, I told you about my transition from big, fluffy shoes to minimalist shoes and how I plan to progress to bare feet altogether.

Today we'll talk about Heart Rate Training.

But first I have to say that it's kinda cool to have a twin sister. We must have been separated at birth...and probably have at least one different parent because Amanda is taller and definitely slimmer than I am, and I think she's younger than I am, too... ok so maybe we're not twins, but there's a sympatico thing happening for sure!

We both have ITBS and injured ourselves on the same day. We were both at the Injury Prevention Forum in Shepherdstown, had our gait analyzed by the same people (different days though) and are both transitioning to barefoot/minimalist running. It will be more than a little spooky if she suddenly develops an urge to raise baby chickens in her backyard!

Aaaand Amanda just did a post on heart rate training earlier this week, but I was too lazy to get mine written before now. I promise I won't make you look at my midsection to show you my HR monitor strap. You can go look at Amanda's though because it's much nicer looking.

I had never heard of Phil Maffetone until a few weeks ago when I was surfing at Sock Doc and TR Treads (heart rate stuff starts on pg 2 of link). That led me to Mark Allen's website where I did some more reading. It's an interesting concept, this heart rate training stuff.

The (very) basic idea is this... subtract your age from 180, add or subtract ~ 5 points for different factors like illness, injury, being already very fit, etc and then train at that heart rate to build your aerobic base so that during those long runs your body burns your longer lasting fat stores instead of burning through the readily available yet much shorter lasting sugar stores.

After 4 months of whining not running much, I am essentially at square one in terms of fitness. It's sad and frustrating - but - it is what it is. So I can continue to whine or I can embrace this opportunity to start at the beginning and train for the long term.

And that is what I'm doing. Wearing my HR monitor for my runs fast walks and on my bike, and when I reach 134 bpm (180-41-5) I slow down until I'm back at 134. So easy even an caveman exhausted homeschool mom can do it.

Here is a post written by Sock Doc that explains how he incorporates Heart Rate Training into his training regime. Interesting stuff.

And he wrote an excellent post on how an anaerobic lifestyle can hamper your progress as an athlete and even lead to injury or illness.

Still avoiding my chores and buying...

We started Saturday by going to Home Depot for a little kid craft adventure and we could have gone straight home and cleaned the basement, but I am avoiding that like a little kid saving the brussel sprouts for when momma isn't looking.

Instead we drove to scenic Shepherdstown. The kids were in a very silly mood and after making them sit in a store for an hour with me, Bill and I let them run around the block while I took pictures so they could blow off some energy.

I asked Bill to put them on the wall, but the bull horns are their own doing. Very silly kids.

In the doorway of a really pretty stone church. I took a bazillion photos of them at this spot but none showed the kids *and* the church quite the way I hoped.

Bill stopped in a coffee shop to buy some chickory coffee so the kids and I hung out and took more pictures. Ella suddenly became a little kid fashion model and was lounging this way and that and telling Hank how to pose. It was really cute to watch. So here's one of their 'serious' poses.

Oh! I forgot to mention the store we went to...Two Rivers Treads. You know, that groovy shoe store that does free gait analysis, specializes in minimal running shoes, and is owned by Mark Cucuzella who organized the injury prevention panel I attended in January.

I walked in the door really expecting to buy Newtons and be done with it, but I saw the new New Balance Minimus on Runblogger and wanted to give them a try as well.

True Confession - I am THE MOST indecisive shopper on the planet...especially with something like running shoes. It's not like I can just buy another pair if I don't love the ones I get so I want to try one every possible pair in the store. Painful.

First up, Lady Isaacs. Loved them, they felt great.

Next was the New Balance Minumus. Did not love them. I wanted to, but the strap/gusset thingy that goes across the top of the foot felt like it bunched right where my toes bend. And there is not a notch in the back at the achilles, instead it goes up and it bumped my achilles when I ran. Back in the box.

All set to walk out with the Newtons when I spy the Vivobarefoot Evos. All the cool minimal kids rave about Evos (and you can get over 1,000 miles out of one pair, talk about getting your money's worth!) so I tried them on. They had the same 'bunchy' feeling across my toes when I ran, but they otherwise felt really good. So good in fact that I tried on a pair of....

Neos. Yum! I went for a little spin down the street in them and they felt really good.  Then the fun began (unless your name is Bill, Hank, Shane or Ella, or the poor salesman). Which one do I choose??

Talk about a tough decision. The Newtons have about a 5mm drop from heel to midsole. The Neos 0mm. I'll have to gradually transition into either shoe so I decided to get the Neo. It's not a pretty shoe and looks a little weird, but I think over the long run it will be the better choice for me.

I went for a .5 mile run in them when we got home and then a 5.6 mile bike ride -slow, fun ride with the fam. They were comfy and didn't rub my foot in any way.

The only thing I'm a little worried about is how breathable they are. The inside was a little damp when I got home from the bike ride  - didn't sweat on the ride and the temp was around 45-50 so I dunno. I'll wear them around the house and do some more reading before I really commit to them.

In the meantime, I'm pretty stoked about taking tangible steps to improve my gait and transition to more minimal running so I can further transition to MORE RUNNING!

Injury Prevention Forum

Last night I got to sit just feet away from some of the rock stars of the natural running community. Truly. Little ol' me from the boonies of Maryland, and it was very cool.

Two Rivers Treads shoe store and the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown along with The Running Clinic in Canada hosted an injury prevention public forum at the Bavarian Inn.

The evening was moderated by Dr Mark Cucuzella, family practitioner and coach of the USAF running team

Featured panelists included
Danny Dreyer, ultrarunner and author of Chi Running
Dr. Peter Larson, author of runblogger.com and professor of Biology at St Anshelm College,
Ian Adamson, adventure racer and Director of Research and Education at Newton Running
Dr Craig Richards, runner, running injury researcher, and family practitioner
Blaise Dubois, founder of The Running Clinic and physical therapist
Jay Dicharry, runner, Physical Therapist and Director of the SPEED Clinic at UVA
Dr. Daniel Kulund, USAF, runner, oldest active duty member of the military, and Chief Health Promotions Pentagon
and Dr. Ray McClanahan, runner and podiatrist

These men are going to spend the weekend learning about running injury prevention and treatment strategies. They generously spent a couple of hours last night sharing their thoughts on injury prevention and then fielding questions from the public.

Hank's cross country coaches agreed to ride along with me, and we arrived about 20 minutes before 7. Good thing we saved our seats and then got coffee because the joint was hoppin'. By the time they were ready to begin, there was standing/sitting on the floor room only.

I have to say it was all quite interesting and there was so much information that I wish they had handouts for us. 

The two recurring themes were:

1) If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you are happily wearing big, cushy shoes, running with horrible form AND you're injury free. Don't go a changin'

2) Any changes you do make need to be incremental. If injuries have forced you to switch from a big heeled, fluffy shoe to flat shoe or to no shoe, don't wake up one morning and run 10 miles in your new gear. The first day run 1 minute in the new shoe and if you don't have pain or discomfort, run 2 minutes the next day. And so on.

The panelists didn't go into much detail about specific injury, but I didn't expect them to since injuries and subsequent treatment are so individual.

They also talked a bit about kids shoes. Dr Mark Cucuzella wrote a piece discussing his thoughts on kids' shoes which you can read here.

Afterwards we got schmooze with the panel. Being the ginormous dork that I am, I brought my Chi Running book so that Danny Dreyer could autograph it for me. And I was pleased to see that I wasn't the only dork because there were lots of other people with their books too. 
**I have to edit this because it turns out I'm not such a dork afterall. Marcia and Green Girl are definitely not dorks and they would do/have done the same thing I did.

It was a great evening and I'm so glad I was able to go.

So what does it all mean for me? Well, I had a lot of fun running barefoot for my gait analysis so I'm going to spend more time barefoot and see how feasible it will be for me to transition to barefoot running. My next shoe purchase will definitely be a more minimalist shoe and I'm going to study my Chi Running book to start encorporating some of those principles into my running as well - gradually of course, but the winds of change are blowing.