|
Welcome to the archive of the
ULTRAU TUESDAY EMAIL |
Photo courtesy of Full Send Media. Race by Go Beyond Racing.
|
|
Fourteen years ago, I ran a 50K where everything clicked. My body showed up, my training showed up, my mind showed up. I ran beyond my expectations and set a big PR. It was a rare alignment of the planets.
And yet, out of 60+ races I have done in my racing life, that day stands out. There’s one 100-miler I’m deeply proud of. One marathon where I still think, “was that even me?” But then there is the race where I panicked because I didn’t have enough water and watched my “good time” dissolve in real time. The too many races where I moved so slowly it felt like I had stopped mid-race to knit a sweater. And then there are the many, many races that fall into that forgettable middle ground of fine, meh, unremarkable. If you are an endurance athlete, this may sound familiar. Most of the athletes I coach carry similar stories. A few shiny happy highs, a handful of real bummers, and a long stretch of unremarkable races that didn’t quite meet expectations. And the thing is, when you choose a sport/life/hobby like running and you pair it with a personality that is driven/focused/perfectionist, satisfaction becomes elusive. When you train so hard and for so long it makes expectations rise. Mistakes feel less acceptable. And then what for many people and even for you in the past would have been the raddest day ever becomes the "oh whatever". You don’t just want to just finish, you want to SHINE! And most days, it doesn’t all come together because the thing we are doing is so damn hard. So, if your next race feels meh or your time seems like you stopped midrace to bake a cake, you’re not doing it wrong. You’re doing a TOUGH sport. Keep chasing the alignment of the planets! And keep chasing strength. Join me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. ROAD VS TRAIL Love this graphic from Semi-rad on road vs trail. ROAD: "I am going to eat a big meal after my race." TRAIL: "I am going to eat a big meal during my race." SQUAD GOALS Growing up women's sports had a every woman for themselves feel to me. It seemed like women had to fight each other for a small piece of a pie that was not made for them. While there are so many examples of how that has changed in recent years, this brought me to tears watching it, reflecting on it and I am still cutting onions the day after. Yeah, Jordan Chiles is incredible BUT the WHOLE TEAM behind her with her routine memorized, doing the moves and cheering her on, THAT is the energy I hope you are all bringing to your group runs and to your friend's A-races. FIX YOUR FEET Some resources that will really help when it is time to fix your feet or prep them for a long race.
NEW PRODUCT ALERTS
0 Comments
I went to an opera once. I thought it would add culture to my life and be a new obsession. It was so, so very boring, it seemed it would never end. There was a screen above the stage broadcasting the lyrics in English so you could follow along. The singing was so drawn out that the words seem to change about once every five minutes.
I just spent seven days skiing while pulling gear in a sled on the Kungsleden trail in Sweden above the arctic circle where the landscape is huge, whiteness reaches as far as the eye can see and the trails stretch out forever. If downhill skiing is rock and roll and skate skiing is pop music, classic skiing is yacht rock then pulling a sled in the arctic is opera. It is gorgeous, much respect given, but it is SLOW and difficult. I will start by saying, having a long trail with winter infrastructure like warm huts with kitchens and snack shops is an adventure miracle. Having a warm place to stay and chat with likeminded folks out on similar journeys is a joyful way to end the long days out and the wildness of the landscape in between the huts is like nothing I can compare. We had incredible weather, 10-20 degrees and really just one windy day. Even so, my face feels like a leather balloon. There are not enough lotion samples in the Duty Free shop to fix this fast. I can’t imagine if we had been there a week earlier with colder temps and skiers extending their stays in the huts from high winds. A typical day was wake up, breakfast, ski, ski, quick snack, ski, ski, wonder where the freaking hut is, ski, ski, YAY arrive, collapse, CHOP WOOD, carry water. The huts are maintained by the guests which meant after the ski there was wood to chop and water to collect from a hole in a lake or spring. Dinner was in the shared kitchen with skiers and snowshoers from all over Europe and beyond. Stories were told, routes were shared, then we did it again the next day. The best parts were unlocking a new endurance adventure mode and full immersion in a most gorgeous place. It was a week-long soul bath. The worst thing was my right ankle got absolutely smashed by my ski boot and I am hoping that a few days without anything touching it and some rest will calm it down. I will see you next week for live Strength Training for Runners, no class tomorrow. Instead, go outside and give yourself a soul bath. I loaded a few pictures here and will be posting to Instagram this week about the adventure. Greetings from Sweden where I am about to have SEVEN days of no cell service and cross-country skiing above the Arctic Circle on the northern section of the Kungsleden or King's trail. It is a hut-to-hut trip like this one but no guides, just me, a friend, some sleds with gear and YAY for sleeping inside heated huts.
Needless to say, you are on your own for Strength Training for Runners this week. There is no live class on Wednesday. Here is a video from the archives so you can grab your weights and spend 30 minutes with past me. CARB LOADING Race season is coming up. DON'T wait until your race to try carb loading, first of all, it isn't a giant pasta dinner and done. Second, you want to test it in training. This podcast goes over carb loading mistakes so you can get smart, get ready and get pretzels! CROSS TRAINING Cross training can be super helpful not only if you are injured, but if you are injury prone and need to stick with a lower mileage plan. If you think cross training could help your running, check out this article. Good strategies here for adding biking and water running. Doing the right cross training the right way could be a game changer. PAY FOR RACES WITH YOUR HSA An HSA or health savings account, is a way for people with high-deductible health care to set aside pre-tax money to pay for qualified medical expenses. Usually, HSA money is used for purchasing medications and paying for uncovered medical care. Spartan, the obstacle race people announced a partnership enabling eligible athletes to use these pre-tax health dollars toward endurance event registrations across Spartan, Tough Mudder, and DEKA races. This would be cool if it caught on and all running races were eligible. Then running shoes and our sunglasses could count as medical expenses, right? OUTDOOR SIDE HUSTLE Thought this was an interesting one for trail people. Cascade First Aid sells emergency equipment kits for outdoors folks (now you should be thinking, do I have a good first aid kit, YOU SHOULD!). And they are for sale. For $10,000 you can start selling first aid supplies to like-minded trail people. PEPTIDES Are you starting to hear about people using peptides to fix their joints, peptides for gut health and peptides for weight management. The peptide wave is here and if you haven't heard about them yet, it is coming. Peptides are naturally occurring short chains of amino acids that make signals to the body. They’re also being manufactured and sold as supplements in the form of injections and medication, many on the gray market (uncertain origins of uncertain efficacy). Here is a link to an article that goes over some of what they are, how they can be used, the efficacy of the more popular uses like collagen peptides and tissue repair peptides that may be appealing as a runner. BAD RUN? Have a bad run? It could be worse, you could have leaked the position of your naval ship. This weekend I was with my grandmother celebrating her 100th birthday. In this article about centenarians stats are that 40% play video games regularly, while 27% have asked AI a question which surprises me since the ONE centenarian I have met is definitely not doing that. My grandmother is sharp but thinks I am a gym teacher who gets paid through the TV. The concept of coaching online is just beyond her understanding. The article goes on to say, "nearly half do some form of strength training at least once a week, 67% say they eat a healthy diet, and 42% report walking or hiking on a regular basis". My grandmother has complained about how far the mailroom is from her apartment for years, eats mostly fudgsicles and would give you a scowl if you suggested strength training. So, you could take advice from my incredible grandmother, sit more, refuse PT and play bridge at genius master level, BUT she hasn't started her weekly email yet, so until then, I guess you are stuck taking advice from me, like lift heavy, play outside and tend to your community.
You can tick off some of those boxes by joining me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. VITAMIN D IN ATHLETES A new blog series is coming out on the importance of Vitamin D in athletes. As runners who are in dark places with long winters, please read up. The article is the first in a series on everything you should know. And if you don't want to read it, this first article basically establishes that Vitamin D won't turn you into a superhero BUT not having enough of it could keep you feeling like a super zero on workouts. If you haven't been getting blood tests to check, this is a reminder to inquire with your primary care physician. The coolest fun fact I learned from this article is, if your shadow is longer that you are tall, you are not making Vitamin D. USE SOME VOODOO I have recommended athletes use tissue flossing (aka voodoo flossing) four times last week so I thought I would share this widely in case this could be helpful for you or a running partner. Voodoo flossing is a mobility technique that uses compression in the form of a thick, rubber band wrapped tightly around joints or muscles to reduce pain, mobilize tissues and increase range of motion. The compression when released brings with it a flush of blood flow to the area thought to aid in healing. Voodoo floss for the knee- Basically, wrap it, do some non-weight bearing movement while sitting, then stand up and walk or do some squats and unwrap. 2X per day is enough. You can turn a bike tube into a voodoo strap. If you want some commentary on it, here you go. Also works great for ankles. There are some studies on use of this technique and this one summarizes them all into the "there is weak evidence" category. That said, I have seen pain relief myself and with athletes. They aren't super expensive and may be worth a try. A CASE FOR JUNK FOOD If you are an endurance athlete, this one is for you. For endurance runners, "when energy expenditure is high, carbohydrate delivery is performance-critical, and high-fiber options can become a liability. Low-bulk, rapidly digestible foods aren’t “bad choices.” They’re often the only practical way to hit fueling targets without wrecking your gut or drifting into chronic under-fueling." "Post-exercise, your muscles are desperately trying to refill glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrate that was just depleted). In that window, ingested carbs and sugar don’t just “hit your bloodstream” and linger. Rather, they get transported into the muscle and converted into fuel reserves. That’s one reason refined carbohydrates can be surprisingly useful: they deliver glucose quickly at the exact moment your body is most ready to absorb it." In the refueling period post long run, the emphasis should be on getting in enough, which may be from a burrito joint or ultra processed bar to get in enough. Watch out what you are calling junk! It could be your recovery go to. Happy trails, Dana Hi all,
Yesterday, walking my shaggy muppet of a dog Macy, she saw a man taking out his recycling and started crying and pulling me towards him like he was a long lost relative. I gave the guy a look like, do you have time to say hi to a whiny dog? He greeted her like she was a grandchild and told me this was his number six for today. Number six? He explained that he counts up ten things to get excited about each day and the enthusiasm of my dog was one of his ten today. He told me about the other five, friends he hasn't seen in a while at the gym and a nice conversation he had with a neighbor. Lucky me, Tuesdays I always have something I can count on to be excited about and that is hearing from you. If you have never reached out and want to drop me a note, do it and GET ON MY LIST of ten things for today, I would love it! SPACE SQUATS Have you seen this video of astronaut Jessica Meir working out in the International Space Station? My first thought was, that set up looks like a real pain in the rear and her hair sticking straight up just killed me, taking fly-aways to the next level. Here is a way easier way to workout. Join me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. PODCAST PARTY IN PDX There is a podcast party and if I were in Portland, I would definitely join this one. Feisty Media (the women's sports and health people) and Another Mother Runner (podcasters, coaches and community builders) are having a party (and an optional 5k run) at Portland Run Co on March 18. JAW DROPPERS
SUPPLEMENTS? There is a new paper from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), a position stand on the effects of dietary antioxidants on exercise and sports performance. (antioxidants they include are: Vitamins E and C, Zinc, Ashwagandha, beetroot, curcumin, tart cherry and more things you may be getting ads for in your inbox!) In summary stress from overtraining, poor sleep, the environment or workouts isn’t the enemy, it’s part of the training signal. Sometimes that stress is needed so you adapt and strengthen against it. Sometimes you are just getting beat up from it. Because of that, antioxidants aren't always yes or a never, they are tools you periodize. If you blunt the training signal all the time taking high doses of antioxidants, you may reduce some of the adaptations you are training for. In my opinion, please START HERE: Exercise regularly, sleep 7+ hours, eat fruits and veggies, build community, and make time to relax, all of which are the base where you build your training and this base needs to be solid before you should add anything else. You can't tart cherry juice your way out of a poor training plan and no sleep. Last weekend I went ice skating with some friend's kids who were young enough to fall and cry multiple times yet still skate 2X faster than me. It has been a good decade since my last time ice skating and after all the Olympics watching it just seemed like ice skating was a right athletic people have over regular people. We can have never done it, put on skates and just be fine. I didn't image a triple lutz or anything fancy, I just figured I could do it ok. I was not ok. I learned three things that day. 1- Ice is slippery. Doesn't that sound dumb. But those first steps I was really feeling how icy ice is. Enough of that, it is embarrassing. 2- The ice rink was playing the same play list they were playing when I was a kid and would go roller-skating. Fun nostalgia, but probably time to update some songs. 3- We have no athletic right over anything. Guess I need to do more than skate once a decade to be able to ice skate with a seven-year-old.
Whether you are training for a triple salchow or to run for a long time until there is some sort of arch telling you it is time to stop, join me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. TAKE ACTION If you are based in Portland, here is a community event for you to promote or join. The group is called Runners Take Action and they are hosting a 5k on March 22. The proceeds of this fundraiser go directly to the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). ON CONFIDENCE
HALF MARATHON DEBACLE Last weekend at the USATF Half Marathon National Championships the lead car for the women's race went off course taking with it the top three women who ultimately realized the mistake and turned around. The wrong turn lead to a confused podium who didn't realize they had won, disappointed runners who were led off course and a ruling that is basically saying, yeah, that wasn't great but we don't really have a way to fix it. More on the chaos here. The crowned women's winner isn't interested in winning this way and the woman who should have won is being gracious as anything despite missing a world team, a podium spot and prize money. Yes, athletes are required to know the race course BUT if you were red lining a world championship race, I think you would follow the leader too. A friend sent me a link to an adventure style autorickshaw race across Sri Lanka and despite seeing this movie showing how bad stuffing yourself into an auto rickshaw for days would be (the heat, the bumps, the mechanical breakdowns, the monsoon rains coming inside), I still am like, HMMMM, that sounds fun. Why do I have to be this way?? Seven days of sitting in a car with air conditioning sounds bad. Sitting in a lawn mower in 100-degree heats sounds like a special kind of torture, but yet here I am, thinking HMMMM. I used to identify as a runner. Now I say I am an endurance person. I like to do things that last a long time and require snacks. I guess I need to update my definition to doing things that last a long time, require snacks and requires muscle power.
MUSCLE POWER Whether you are training for a long drive or a long run, join me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. CRAMPS Do you cramp in long runs or races and can't figure it out. Have you tried and tried to get more electrolytes but nothing is working? So far there has been no correlation between electrolyte balance and cramping in studies on why athletes get cramps. The current thinking on cramping is that local muscle fatigue and an altered nervous system losing the signal that tells your muscles to relax are more likely factors. History of cramping, running faster than your training supports, and prior injury are widely considered major risk factors. So, if muscle fatigue is a potential issue, there is a line of thinking that strength training can help prevent cramping. I mean, we should all be doing it anyway, might be worth a try! THE START LINE What if a race partnered with a well established women's organization to help grow female and non-binary participation at that race specifically with scholarships, training opportunities and childcare assistance? Sounds pretty great. The Women of The Wasatch has partnered with the Speedgoat 50k to do just that. They are calling it The Start Line and I will be watching to see how it goes. Since Speedgoat is part of the UTMB family of races, it would be great if it works to see partnerships like this expand to more races all over. CROWDSOURCING PRIZE PURSES A few weeks ago, at the Black Canyon Ultras by Aravaipa, the race directors gave money for podium prizes and then opened up a fund for spectators and fans to contribute to the prize. It seems intriguing as a way to up the prize money for a race, but also, bummer it has to come to this where brands and race directors aren't paying these prizes. Then there was this article talking about this structure more in depth and it hadn't occurred to me that trail running spectators aren't buying tickets like many sports and maybe the spectators do want to give something to up the stakes for athletes. A long time ago I went dog sledding in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was very cold so the conditions were fast and we traveled 30 miles in three hours. The dogs howled in delight when we harnessed them for the sleds. We had a lead musher and three sleds of total newbies in teams of two, wide eyed, ready for anything. There were just two rules we were expected to follow (the dogs knew what to do, so really, the bar for the humans was low).
RULE #1- Don't let go! One person was driving the sled from behind and no matter how thick your gloves or what was happening, you were expected to hang on. RULE #2- Run uphill to take weight off the sled and help the team. Also, see rule #1 and while sprinting uphill, DO NOT LET GO. So basically, you are getting a fun ride, weeee and then you have to break into a sprint while holding your arms extended if you start going uphill. Not the most ideal for cold muscles, but it was good fun. I feel like winter running needs the same rules as dog sledding. It is easy to skip runs when it is dark and dumping rain. Don't let go (of your plan, of your training partners, of your goals!) And make sure you are helping your team. Take some weight off for someone and everyone can run a little easier. LOW EXPECTATIONS "High standards, low expectations" Broze medalist in the marathon, Molly Seidel, on her transition to trails and her thoughts in advance of the Black Canyon 100k which she raced last weekend and earned a Golden Ticket into Western States on her first attempt. Her thoughts on her high standards for her racing and training yet expecting nothing. "I will work as long as it takes." - full video here. Did you see the TWO wins by Italian Alpine ski racer, Frederica Brignone. Just 10 months prior to the Olympic games on her home soil, she suffered a crash that she estimated would take two years to recover. “And in the end, I wanted to prove to myself that I would be able to come back from something that really felt impossible to do. Sometimes when you want something so badly, it doesn’t happen. But it’s when you stop or when you want something, but not in that almost unhealthy way that it comes. I mean, I was just happy to be here, and I wasn’t trying to win gold." - full article here. RUNNING NEWS
JOIN ME AND GET STRONG Join me on Wednesday night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. 30 minutes and chats about nothing afterwards if you want. Today I had a vision for a group run where the fastest runners did loops around the slowest and the front of the pack came back periodically to check on those behind. The slower runners could hand out treats, enticing the others to check back in. You start and finish together and everyone gets their workout in just how they want it, but no one runs alone. Oh wait, this is just me running with my dog right now. She gets in her intervals, I go steady state. She checks back for treats, I always provide. Dogs invented the perfect group run!
LIVE TOMORROW Join me on tomorrow and on Wednesday nights for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen and always free. Stay home, get strong. Class is 30 minutes, bring your weights. OLYMPICS In case you are feeling meh on the Olympics or just need some human interest to get you warmed up, here are some fun stories including winning a medal and your toddler stealing the spotlight. Or check out this video about speed skater Bittany Bowe and her coach Renee Hildebrand that had me in tears. Also, women can FLY! And here is a fun fact, the highest paid winter Olympian is a woman. Read how Eileen Gu became the highest-paid winter Olympic athlete. BUT DON'T LET ME BURY THE LEAD! Trail runner Anna Gibson tried skimo for the first time in December and now is a medal hopeful. She grew up skiing and is a professional trail runner, but wow, what a story. "An accumulation of talent and a disregard for limits." THAT HALF TIME SHOW!!! (YOUR A$$ IS GRASS):
BULLYING OF FEMALE COACHES A new survey of 2,000 coaches in the UK found 30% of women had experienced bullying in coaching environments, compared with 15% of men. "Women also reported higher levels of harassment, with 21% saying they had experienced it compared with 12% of men, while they also faced more aggression or violence." "The study found the perpetrators of harassment of women coaches are mostly fellow coaches, while aggression and intimidation most often came from parents." This is not surprising but so disappointing. I feel lucky to not exist in a work culture where I feel bullied. BUT I am double disappointed that the conclusion is, "If sport wants a coaching workforce fit for the future, it must put clear anti-misogyny policies in place, backed by training, to tackle harmful behaviors and the structures and cultures that allow inequality to persist." People needing a training to not be a bully to women, feels especially sad and likely not to make a change. Ugh. Let's all go hug a coach right now. |
