No Days Off

SNAPSHOT

No Days Off encompasses awareness, honesty, and devotion.

DIGGING DEEPER

"KEEP YOURSELF HONEST...No Days Off is not a race towards your physical breaking point, but rather a call for moderation – a daily greasing of the groove where today’s run is only as important as what you are able to do tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that . . ." Tracksmith

I have fallen in love with the concept of being aware of your body's needs every day.  To care for your body and mind with honesty and devotion.

My body does not need to run 365 days a year but it does need to recovery from yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. I strongly suggest for a runner to have days off from running, to give the body rest.  It is only during rest that the body can repair itself and prepare for the same feats in the near future.

However, there is also a need for perseverance and devotion in order to strengthen the body and mind.  We need to run often in order to increase our abilities. Running most days for an intermediate runner causes the correct amount of adaptions.  It is when a runner gets too greedy and doesn't allow for recovery that injury and exhaustion occur.

The fine line between these two zones of recovery and training is where awareness and honesty keep us healthy. Awareness of how much we are asking of the body and the need to rest in order to become stronger keep us from overtraining.  An honest look at our weaknesses, and devotion to continue when we don't feel like it, pulls us up to our potential.

When training a runner, I seek to balance to training and recovery.  Here is a sample of an average week for an average runner that I coach.

Look at how hard days of running are balanced with easier days.  Notice that there are two days of no running but instead, they are replaced with either core strength or active recovery.  Every day the runner is progressing toward their potential and yet giving the body and mind the rest that is needed.  

Special Note: Please don't use this training schedule next week.  This runner has spent many months preparing themselves for this volume and intensity of running.  On the other side, don't be afraid of it.  This runner was not a runner one year ago.

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend using Tracksmith's No Days Off Desk Calendar or Poster.  I am giving them away on my Facebook live video on New Year's Day!

This instrument can help to keep you aware of your devotion through honestly evaluating if you cared for your body that day.  If you ran when you needed a run, then mark the calendar.  If you performed your yoga or Pilates routine in order to give yourself core strength and active recovery then mark the calendar.  On the day you truly needed an hour laying comfortably while reading instead of pounding the pavement then mark the calendar.  

The day you don't mark the calendar is when you turned away from your planned training or recovery to eat nachos and feel guilty. There will be the next day when you can accomplish and mark your calendar as a reward for your awareness, honesty, and devotion.

SOLUTION

Every day embark upon becoming stronger through either running or recovering. 

Where Strength OrIginates

SNAPSHOT

From the upper quads to the shoulders and wrapping from the front of the body to the back, all the way deep inside your middle, lays your strength.  

DIGGING DEEPER

My last experience recovering from injury brought home the need for deep core strength. My hip strength was lacking and causing the rest of my body to make up for it. I noticed a remarkable difference from just one challenging hour-long Pilates class a week.  Months into the new training I was on a treadmill and found that from the shoulders to my upper quads had become one strong unit like a pole from which my legs and arms moved. 

Remember your strength comes from the middle of your body. Your legs work off of your core, with core stability transferring strength to your legs. 

Using the winter months to develop your core strength will facilitate improved fitness in the spring. I am not speaking of sit-ups at all: zip, zero, nill. Sit ups will only strengthen a small percentage of the core.  Plus, you most likely are using momentum to move and up and down and not truly developing the core.  My favorite core routines are the main 18 Pilates exercises.  I add in challenging moves with a large ball or foam roller, increasing my need for balance. I often use the book Quick Strength for Runners by Jeff Horowitz.  It has 16 routines that I alternate between throughout the month.

Keeping the routine new and fresh causes a stronger core. Challenge yourself with balls, bars, and other equipment. Lay a bar across your back when performing donkey kicks. Add an inside shoulder width ball between your palms to your roll up. Balance on all fours upon a large stability ball. Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry will help highlight ways to challenge your normal strengthening movements. Most of all become creative and playful with your movements.

A special note to women and especially to mothers with young children, it is vital to develop your core muscles.  I remember being surprised during my first Pilates class that I even had muscles in my abdomen. I thought of the area as only being organs.  However, those organs are encased in a wrapping of muscles that need to be identified and developed.  You will find the difference in removing the stroller from the car trunk. If you struggle at all you need to prioritize core strengthening.

SOLUTION

Develop your center strength to revitalize your running.

SIT SIT SIT

SNAPSHOT

Oh sitting, how you have crept into my day.

DIGGING DEEPER

During breakfast, traveling, desk work, waiting room, coffee with a friend, phone call, lunch, dinner, kids' swimming and soccer practices, and on the sofa, we sit, sit, sit.  Look deeply at the normal physical routines of your day. Does sitting consume your body’s day? 

Throw running into the equation, which relies heavily on the hamstrings, glutes, and core to move the body forward, and you have a combination for lower back pain.

The one semi-heavy object that you lifted that caused you to drop to the floor and live on the couch for a few days wasn't the culprit.  It was weeks or months of strain and weakened muscles shouting, “I QUIT!” 

Sitting with a ninety-degree bend in each of the hips and knees creates a strain on the hamstring and glutes.  It also weakens the surrounding muscles since they go unused for many hours of the day. You can imagine and feel the damage of sitting.

I am not taking this battle sitting down and am seeking a healthy restful position to impact this world. This is my change list:

• Sit in the lotus position whenever possible
• Stand when on the computer 
• Keep a straight back when sitting, with my shoulders on by back
• Stroll throughout my thinking and talking periods of the day
• Pilates class once a week
• No screen time after 8 pm

Recommended Book- Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Kelly Starrett

SOLUTION

Copy this list and stick it near your computer for a reminder of avenues to better physical health.

Swiss Ball Balance

SNAPSHOT

Secret Strength

DIGGING DEEPER

 I actually used my balance skills in a real way last Sunday while kayaking. We had paused to apply sunscreen and grab a snack on the steep bank of Fish Creek in the Adirondack Mountains.  I got out of the boat just fine but when returning I needed to balance as I crawled from the bow to the seat.  The half-foot thick mud would not look good on my shoes or in my boat so I used my inner balance to make the 4-foot stretch to the seat.  My husband was kind enough to remind me of my swiss ball skills and I focused my mind in the same way. Yes, I made it without any falls or muddy parts!

These swiss ball skills are truly not for the odd times that I need to crawl over my kayak.  They are for the 180 steps I take each minute while I am running.  Yes, running requires balance.  The better balance you have the more efficient you will be as a runner. 

So here is how I do it.  After my post run exercises (see last post for those gems), I roll my ball to the center of the room.

1) Don't be afraid!  You will only fall a foot or so and you will know when it is happening. When you fall, just roll with the motion.

2) As you are bringing your hands and knees to the ball, find a focal point about 2 feet in front of you to focus on. use your abdominal muscles as that is where balance strength lies.

3) Calm yourself and say "I can do it. I can do it."

4) Keep trying for about 5 minutes.

5) Practice balancing on the ball each day for only 5 minutes each.  Your neuromuscular system will build pathways to improve your balance.  After a few weeks, you will see great improvement.

7) Try challenging yourself with lifting one knee and straightening the leg while on the ball.  After you have reached that level go on to only kneeling on the ball.  Add a twist while kneeling to get yourself to the highest level!

SOLUTION

Try this circus trick for a stronger body and happiness. Video Link