Everything is on fire,
but everyone I love is doing beautiful things and trying to make life worth living, and I know I don’t have to believe in everything, but I believe in that. - Nikita Gill and reposted by everyone, including the Oatmeal The news is feeling like a hard rain right now. This week's email is good news only as an attempt to bring rays of joy to your inbox. And if you get joy through movement, join in tomorrow for Strength Training for Runners. Class is Wednesday night, live to your screen. Find out more. Best news yet, it is free. HULA HOOPING What makes a hula hoop stay up? Researchers at NYU looked into the science of hooping, including what body types make the best hoopers. You can read all about it here, but basically, bring the hips! Also, it must take guts to be a researcher at NYU and declare, I am studying hula hooping, for real. PROTEIN SOURCES RANKED I like this chart on protein sources. "This is a chart for if:
Plogging. Thanks again to you dear readers for sending me these stories. Originating in Sweden, when Erik Ahlström began picking up litter while jogging in Stockholm, the term is a combination of the Swedish word plocka, which means “to pick up”, and the English word “jogging”. So now we have Plogging! And there is a world championship! And they carry the trash in a bag on a stick, WOW. SUMMER DREAMS If you are over winter, watch this video from last summer of a mountain bike/trail run FKT on Broken Top in Bend. This one is a good reminder to not forget the snacks, bring a friend for safety and chase those dreams! Happy trails!
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I am back from Norway and if a perfect place exists, it may be there. Excellent public transportation, groomed cross country ski trails between towns, every grocery store with gummy candy bulk bins and a focus on natural products. I have never seen so little plastic junk in my life. In Norway you can camp anywhere as long as you are further than 250 meters from a house. And they have fjords. And cardamom buns.
I went to see if ski expeditions were going to be my new pursuit as I am looking for my next big challenge. I learned so much at the ski expedition course and in the end of the day, it may not be for me. I LOVED pulling the sled, that is my jam. Anything where you work hard and don't have to be fast is awesome. I could have done that all day (and into the night). I love being outside all day, again, give me some work and the outdoors and I am sold. BUT, the nights. Wow it was tedious setting up a tent, boiling water and getting myself warm at negative degrees where you are burning your fingers on anything you touch. And once the tedious work is through, it is a long night being in your sleeping bag waiting to play again. And it could have been way colder, aka scarier. As someone who sleeps extra poorly, the nights really drag when it is so cold you can't even have your face out of the sleeping bag so it is just hours of suffocation and waiting. Here's the thing. Saying I don't want to pursue a ski expedition makes me want to do it. I hate saying no, backing down, and not taking on a challenge. I also have already forgotten how scary it is when your feet are frozen from the 30 minutes it took to prep the tent site. It also seems like, yeah, it is uncomfortable and the time dragged on like it was standing still, but I CAN and did do it. I took videos and videos capturing thoughts during the course for just this reason as I knew I would quickly forget. SO I am asking myself the question, just because I can do something, do I want to? LIFE'S BIG QUESTIONS Here are the rest of the questions from all of you answered, the resources passed along and again, thanks for sending. I love hearing from you and SEEING YOU! I have an idea, come see me TOMORROW on Zoom and let's work out! First Wednesday night Strength Training for Runners of the new year! Get information here and hope to see you. DEXA SCANS Q: I have a friend who gets DEXA scans to monitor progress as a bodybuilder. What are DEXA scans and are they worth it? A: A DEXA scan is a medical imaging test that measures bone mineral density. It can diagnose osteoporosis or osteopenia. DEXA scans for bone density can be covered if you're postmenopausal and older than 65 years or have a condition that leads to a prescription, but otherwise, you will be paying for this imaging out of pocket. Athletes may find other data that can be collected during a DEXA scan relevant, including body composition measurements. A DEXA scan can pinpoint areas of muscle imbalance and track healing of injuries. As for the question of if they are worth it, this Runners World article recommends, "runners who have a poor relationship with food or a history of an eating disorder, multiple or unexplained bone stress injuries or other bone-related medical conditions may find a scan especially useful." HR ZONES AND WARM UPS DO HR ZONES CHANGE THROUGHOUT LIFE? Yes, HR zones will change. In general, HR zone numbers will stay similar unless there are major health or fitness changes like serious illness, major weight fluctuations or long time away from exercise. What will change more is pace at the HR zones. Hopefully with training you will keep getting faster at the same HR. IT SEEMS LIKE MY PACE AT THE SAME HR IS FASTER, IS THIS FITNESS? Yes, this is fitness! Zone 2 training is something you may be hearing about in popular media. Zone 2 training is lower HR work that is aerobic which means while performing workouts at this intensity you can sing and chat, you don't finish famished and done over time, will make you faster. When you hear about athletes building their aerobic base, this is athletes working to get faster by going aerobic and bringing down their pace at the same HR effort. WHY DOES IT TAKE LONGER TO WARM UP THAN BEFORE? As you get older it takes longer to warm up. As we age muscles can get tighter and connective tissue gets less elastic. A good warm up makes the blood flow to muscles and synovial fluids move in the joints. IDEAS AND ARTICLES YOU SENT
"Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage."
Congrats to everyone who signed up for a race that gave you butterflies in your stomach or committed to something that sounds too difficult, destined to fail or may hurt! Also, WOW, I asked for questions, comments and replies to my last email and you all came through! Including that quote above, from wise sage Matt Damon (in the movie, We Bought a Zoo) So many responses came through that I am breaking it up into two emails. This one has quotes I love, links to reading material and some questions answered. The second is all science-based and will come out once I am back on the grid, January 21st (no Tuesday email next week). Thanks for participating! Some quotes from a wise athlete and teacher: -Stop worrying about what's coming and prepare yourself to be a person who can handle whatever is coming. -Never half ass anything whole ass everything. EMOTIONAL FLEXIBILITY Orient yourself towards emotional flexibility instead of happiness. -The Growth Equation "There's a lot of societal emphasis put on being happy, partly because we all want to feel good and because it's big business selling people products that promise to make them sunnier. Unfortunately, happiness is rarely a state you can will into existence or even control. If a metaphor helps: It’s easier to buy rain gear than it is to try to change the weather patterns so that every day is sunny." STRENGTH AND THEN WEIGHTS I want to know about combining strength training and running into one workout and which one to complete first. Well, if you want a deep dive science writer Alex Hutchinson wrote an entire book about it. My short answer is do whichever one is more important to you first (this article agrees). For my coached athletes, if they have short sprints and strength training on the same day I prefer them to do the sprints first, without running tired, and lifting after since lifting a little lighter if tired is really no big deal since that is not the primary sport. The ONE key mistake to runners who do strength right after a run is NOT fueling well enough for the combined effort. If the run is 1 hour and the strength is 45 minutes, you need to treat it as one long workout and have some fuel during your sessions. If your strength training is normally with me on Wednesday nights, here is one from the archives so you can get in a workout while I am gone. DOES BIKING HELP RUNNING? Yes! Here is an entire article on it, so get that bike and get out there and ride. "Cycling can benefit runners for both recovery and training. It aids in recovery by flushing the legs out and getting blood to flow through the muscles. You also can maintain a ton of fitness with riding if you are injured." If you want a fun way to learn about rides, check out Portland based rides with Bicycle Kitty! SHOULD I RUN THROUGH GRIEF? Grief is a wonderful reminder of how much we loved someone but it is also a huge a kick in the gut. The new, especially tough part of grief is in the beginning where the kicks keep coming, reminders are everywhere and it is hard to focus. If you are running because you have to, give yourself some grace and decide why you "have to". You can run right through, doing the motions because you can't sit at home and process, but that just puts off the processing. You can run and process and while it may look ugly and your neighbors may be concerned, if it feels good, go for it. Who cares if the snot rolls and the sobs come, feel all the things and do it while moving, that can be extremely healing. After the loss of my first dog I thought I would need to be buried with him I was so devastated. I also had a 50k race the very next day. I didn't want to go but I also didn't want to stay home without him there. I went to the race, wore a big brimmed hat and cried for six and a half hours and it was horrible and beautiful and I wouldn't have changed my decision. Do what is right for you and don't feel bad just pounding the couch pillows if that is what you need to do. HOW TO HOLD BACK Some days I put hikes on my athlete plans. either as a day without pounding OR to practice power hiking which is important for races which can be 50% or more hiking when they are mountain races at altitude. Pro tip from one of my athletes, on hiking days when you may be tempted to run, wear hiking boots. No running in those, it feels clunky. READING RECOMMENDATIONS
PS- In case you are still with me here, I have landed in Bergen, Norway, a most gorgeous place from the air. Luggage hasn't made it yet but feeling confident it will arrive late this evening. Fingers crossed since I super need every single item in that bag I spent over a month carefully purchasing to help me survive in the cold! Leaving on a train to a very small town tomorrow morning so it really must arrive! |
All images and posts © UltraU, 2022. Photos by Runnerteri Photography.