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Welcome to the archive of the
ULTRAU TUESDAY EMAIL |
Photo courtesy of Full Send Media. Race by Go Beyond Racing.
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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.
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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. |
