This Week in Workouts: A New Milestone!

Good morning! I hope your weekend was absolutely wonderful and to anyone who participated in the Boston Marathon, CONGRATULATIONS, you are incredible and I so hope your was one for the books!! In true marathon spirit, this last week included my longest run yet by a half mile. But, it was my fastest 10K and my longest time spent running. 

What is incredibly interesting about this run was that I did the run/walk/run per usual but decided to run the entire last mile. Turns out that was my slowest mile of all! The pace before that mile was 11.01, The 6th mile went up to an 11:38! There really is something to this run/walk/run method!! So, let's talk about what else I did for exercise.

Monday: 3-minute Magic Mile with a 9:30 pace! 

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 30-minute run. Ran 3.06 miles :)

Thursday: Long run of 6.50 miles on the Legacy Trail- an old train track that has been converted to a running/biking path. The parts that I ran were a bit boring, but I have heard they get better when you get into the state parks. 

Friday: This Hip Opening Sequence

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Some Sun Salutations

A little housekeeping for this week: The hubs and I will be in California for a bit so getting posts out might be a touch more difficult. My goal is to be able to do 1-2 posts about the area that we are in, great workouts (possibly while on an airplane since I have this one down), and hopefully a third!

Next week we will talk about Jeff Galloway's book, The Run Walk Run Method. If you have not yet finished it, or started it, I totally recommend picking it up!! 

Last Week in Workouts: The Longest Run

Last week, at 2:00 in the afternoon with a cloudless sky and 82 degree heat, I ran my longest run yet. It was hot, It was sunny, but it was also incredible. I keep doing the math and checking on my run keeper apps and Google maps to see that I actually ran that far, because my ody just does not feel like it usually does after a 3+ mile run. 

Maybe it was the heat that helped lubricate my joints and loosen my muscles. Maybe it was the incredible views of running next to the bay and by the beach. Maybe it was the run-walk-run time that I was using, but something was definitely different from the prior week's 5-miler from hell, and I am so happy for that!! 

Other than running this week, I did a wee bit of yoga and walked. That was it. I know, should have done more. But, with Easter, work, and just not wanting to, I just did not want to. So here is my workout sum-up and a hope that next week your will see a bit more yoga on my list! 

Oh, and the picture above, that was taken while on the six-mile run. With that view, running really cannot be too bad! 

Monday: 5-mile long run. This was definitely the hardest run yet. My pace slowed to an 11:33 average and my knees and ankles hurt like nothing else. There were also plenty of side stitches and lots of exhaustion when done. Yuck. 

Tuesday: Rest day. Still in pain from Monday. But, have been using this, and it makes everything better! 

Wednesday: 30-minute run using the 3/1 Run-Walk ration. Ended up doing a bit over 3 miles! 

Thursday: This new yoga sequence from Candace! 

Friday: 6-mile long run. This week I only fit in one 30-minute run since I was still catching up from last week. But, this run was incredible and my pace ended up being 11:16. Getting better!!

Saturday: Some nice walking :)

Sunday: I cooked a lot, but as far as a workout goes, that's about it. 

Happy Monday! Do you have any fun workouts planned for this week? 

Running with Flat Feet

There are a great deal of people out there with flat feet. In fact, up until today I thought I was one of them. If you get pain in your heel, pronate your feet (rotate them inward at the ankle when walking), or standing for a few minutes or more hurts, you just might have flat feet. A great way to know if you have flat feet is to do this foot test where you dip you foot in water then place it on a thick sheet of paper. If there is very little mid-section of your foot showing, you are average. If you have a lot of bare space in between your heel and ball of the foot, that is a high arch. Those with lots of wet between the ball and heel of the foot have flat feet.

People with flat feet have a tendency to pronate their feet, meaning that the ankles lean inward when running. These runners are also at a much higher risk of knee, hip, and foot injuries since their foot is not properly supported by the arch. If you get massive pain in the arch or heel of your foot, chances are you have a common injury associated with flat feet and the reason I found out my feet are flat at all.

Plantar Facialis is a condition often associated with flat feet where the tissue (plantar facia) running from the ball of the foot to the heel gets inflamed. This will cause a stabbing pain in either the heel or the arch of the foot. The best remedy is to ice the area injured and limit activities such as running until the pain is gone. Stretching the foot and massaging the inflamed area will also help decrease pain. 

If this form of pain has become associated with running for you, there are ways to help it. Shoes that are low in cushion but high in stability and support are best for those with flat feet. A shoe that have good arch support is also a must since those with flat feet will break arches like Chuck Norris breaks boards.

There is also a fair amount of research saying that barefoot running can help re-form arches in one's feet. Although I am not planning on barefoot running anytime soon, there are shoes that encourage the feeling of barefoot running without the actual barefoot or thin shoe bit. Shoes with a lower offset will replicate the feeling of running barefoot and encourage proper midsole strike.

The offset of a shoe is the difference between the elevation of the heel and the ball of the shoe. The higher the offset, the higher the heel is compared to the ball. Higher offsets encourage a strike closer to the heel while lower offsets encourage a strike closer to the ball of the feet. Personally, I like a low offset since landing on the heel of the foot causes me pain in my arch. Most running experts will also agree that a midsole strike is the best form to have when running.

As for the shoes that are best for flat footed runners, I will have a whole list of the ones others recommend along with my personal favorites tomorrow. Be sure to come back for that fun list along with pricing and reasons why arch support is so dang expensive.

This Week in Workouts: New Shoes!

Well, this has been a productive week! For starters, I remembered what workouts I did all week long. Yes, let's have a parade in celebration! Although there was no writing down of workouts or pictures taken of each workout (two of my three workout goals for the week), the third goal was accomplished and I am able to tell you what I did. 

First off, I will say that this week has been fantastic! The first session of camp is over and all the little ones have gone home. Today we start things up all over again with the older session. This is my absolute favorite one! So many of these campers have been coming to camp every summer since they were 10 and there are so many more that we have never met before. This session also has many more campers from other countries, which is always super fun! Then, there is the fact that we get to have more fun in their daily workouts since 16 year-olds are a bit more coordinated than the bitty 10 year-olds (who are simply adorable). 

Anyway, back to the workouts. This week we did one big run down to town and the rest was filled with yoga, intervals, and quick bits. I also officially wore out my running shoes this week and had to overnight some new ones. More on that later in the week :)

Saturday's workout was a bit tacked on, but I got it in and that made five workouts this week. 

Sunday: Rest Day

Monday: This Inversion Flow with Lesley Fightmaster

Tuesday: This hecka-hard flow with Ali K. 

Wednesday: This interval workout. Try it, you will love it!

Thursday: My new favorite 4-mile run

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Easy hip opening yoga flow