Cross Training Part I

Last week I finally got back to my cross training.  I had laid off for a month for various reasons, everyone came to my house for Mother's Day, a 5 day vacation, my son's 21st birthday and then finally my biggest excuse is I got out of the habit.  They say it takes 21 days to make an activity a habit, it takes about 21 minutes or maybe 21 hours to break a habit.  I had a little eye opener last week when my knee reacted to my three hill runs in a row.  Scared me all the way back to the Doctor.  He told me to keep running but to get back to my cross training. 

The reality of my situation is that in order to run I have to cross train and strengthen the weak muscles that are causing my knee pain.  Strength training is something that I will have to do for as long as I want to run.  They are two activities that have to go together.  The reality is that I lifted weights anyway. I did the elliptical on the days I didn't run.  Now I do exercises that specifically help me with running.  I am working on my  glutes, hips, and VMO.  I do strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I also do upper body work on those days.  Triceps/biceps one day, then chest/back the next and lastly shoulders.  I am also doing core work and riding a bike instead of the elliptical for the summer.  Tomorrow I start back up with yoga.  I have a DVD that is called The Athlete's Guide to Yoga by Sage Rountree.  I can program it do the poses anyway that I want, but I do the ones that Sage designed.  I will probably post more specifics later on the strength training.

I recently started cycling again.  I haven't gotten on my bike in at least two years.  I have a mountain bike that has never been on a mountain.  It's heavy but you do get a pretty good workout on it.  I actually started Wednesday.  I probably biked around 7 miles in about a half hour.  It's funny when you haven't been on a bike and you get on it and take off it sends you back to the first time you rode your bike as a kid.  You remember the freedom that came with having a bike.  The wind in your face. The ability to go far away if you wanted.  Be a daredevil and ride it really fast. 

I spent a lot of time on a bike in my 20's.  My ex-husband was into biking so I was too.  We lived in Santa Barbara and it was such a beautiful place to bike in.  We rode all over the hills above the city.  I got to be very good at climbing hills.  One summer we parked our car at Lake Cachuma which was on the other side of the Santa Ynez Mountains.  I was supposed to ride over them, but the road is a highway and very steep with a lot of curves and traffic.  I would have needed more time to train and truthfully I was scared to death to attempt it.  So we parked at the lake and rode our bikes to Pismo Beach which was about 75 miles away.  We got there late in the day, showered, walked to dinner and next morning rode back.  A week later I pulled the ligaments on both sides of my left ankle while playing soccer.  I was running to goal with the ball in front of me and stepped into hole.  I ended up in a cast for a couple of weeks and then had an ankle that was never the same.  I do ankle circles sometimes after running and hear lots of clicking.    I was grateful that my soccer injury came after the bike ride.  I would have been so pissed that all my training that summer had been for nothing. 

I have enjoyed being on the bike again even if it is only 7 miles and around my neighborhood.  I miss my regular training route in Santa Barbara.  It had a beautiful ocean view, down a twisty hill and then up a killer hill that puts Sierra College to shame.  Oh well, I can still see it in my mind while I bike around my new route.
Hopefully I will notice in a couple of weeks some improvement in my quad strength. 

Running Book Geek

As proud as I am to say that I am a Runner, I used to be proud to say I read books, lots and lots of books.  Over the years with a child and 90 minute commutes and jobs that consumed my time, reading took a back seat to all of that.  I have read a little in that time, mainly 2 or 3 books in a month and then nothing for 6 months or a year.

Recently I have read so many books on running that it officially makes me a running book geek and I can put that right next to my running podcast geekdom.  The reason for the book reading on running is the current state of my physical health.  I'm not ill or anything just dealing with a chronic problem with my IT Band which really is the symptom of my problem with patellafemoral syndrome or chondromalacia syndrome.

I took a break from the technical books to read a book called Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong.  She is the ex-wife of a guy named Lance.  She lives in Austin Texas.  The book has 26.2 chapters with running topics like endurance, passion, and clarity.  I have really enjoyed the book because some of it really hits home.  I will never be the runner she is but I can understand her affection for the women she runs with whom she calls her sweat sisters.  I run with a mixed group of people, men and women, who make it fun to run and add another dimension to my life. 

 I want to quote a passage from her book, but it is really a quote within a quote.  She quotes a trail runner friend of hers who came down ALS. This was written while climbing  Machu Picchu.

  "I am a seeker.  I am a wanderer. I am who I am.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.
   Life is a series of great paradoxes.  To find ourselves, we get lost.  To gain, we lose.  To know the light, we plunge into the dark.  To succeed, we fail.  Opposites seem forever linked.  Without one, we cannot define the other.
   Blessings to all who share these mountains, who share journeys---both guide and traveler.  Blessings to all of those who seek, knowing they may never find.  May you breathe in every moment and with it know that you are truly loved."   ...Dano Keitz

In Kristin's book I finally found the words to why I started this journey to run a marathon.  I was truly inspired by the people in my group who ran the CIM last year, both the veterans and the first timers; although that wasn't quite enough for me.  The greatest inspiration to run this marathon is still my brother Brett.  I can't cure him of his paralysis, but I can stand for something when I run.  Here is what Kristin wrote "Running for someone else makes me less willing to give up and more able to understand the pain and the fatigue, knowing that someone else is drawing power from my effort.  I look at it as an opportunity to carry a portion of someone else's burden, to cover some ground on that person's behalf, to try to lighten the load by shouldering some of it on my own back.  That's endurance.  That's what moves me to move."

She wrote what I felt but could not find the words for.  I highly recommend this book.  There are hidden jewels within it that as a runner you will recognize and feel not so alone.