Biggest Loser Run/Walker Thread 2012/13--Everyone Welcome! :)

[Flossbolna]

What kind of water container do you all like? Handheld? Those bottle things that attach to your belt?

Oh, I am really interested in answer to this question as well! As my runs get longer I realise that I need to take some water with me. Just unsure on how to do it.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I have enjoyed reading everyone's replies to the question of the week. I will be back later with replies.

Kaiti--I would work on preventing it. Here is my favorite calf stretch. I call it the towel stretch. Lay on your back. One leg flat. One leg straight up in the air. Hook a long towel or strap around your foot and pull your leg towards you. You should feel it in your entire leg. What I like about this stretch--you can rotate your foot to get stretch throughout your foot and ankle. You can pull your leg towards you and feel the stretch in your hamstrings. I did it for 30 sec at a time. 4 times a session, 3-4 times a day. There are lots and lots of calf stretches, just be aware that while it is important to stretch your achilles tendon, you don't want to over do it. No bouncing on calf stretches. Too much too fast is not a good thing. Again, not a doctor, this is just what has worked for me. If you google it you should be able to find lots of other calf stretches.

Nancy--Mike has an amphipod hydration belt with 4 water bottles. If I run alone I will just carry a 16 ounce water bottle. Drink it until it's empty and then either refill at water fountains if I'm in the park or take water from water stations at races. I do have a belt, but for my cell phone, etc. Stuff around my waist bugs me, so I try to avoid it. My running skirt has 3 pockets so that comes in handy.

I got glutened over the weekend (my own fault--I was hoping the nachos I had when we were out wouldn't have too much cross contamination but I lost that bet) so I have not been feeling so great the last couple of days. Hoping to be back to normal tomorrow. Have a great Tuesday!

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

My training has been practically zero lately. Having a tough time finding time to get my runs in. I am going to really need to prioritize! I am going to sign up for some more local races to keep me motivated. The Bronx half is turning out to actually be a Bronx ten miler. I think will domit anyway. I need to get up my mileage AND keep up the short runs.

What kind of water container do you all like? Handheld? Those bottle things that attach to your belt?

Nancy, I use a Nathan hand held, it has a zipper pouch big enough for keys and a energy gel and I hardly realize I'm running with soemthing in my hand.

Ran 2 1/2 miles on the treadmill last night- right leg a little tight and twingy but after streching felt pretty good.

 

[sissy_ib]

B. It looks like a lot of people have goals for this year or races they would like to complete. As runners (mostly women in this group) I think we hear a lot of "CAN'TS". For instance, we have a friend who is in her 20s and can run a half in under 1:50. She developed itbs this spring and the doctor she went to told her women are not designed to run and she should find a new sport. What "Can't" or "No" messages are you hearing or are you telling yourself that could be a roadblock to your training?

I'm trying to fight the "I cants" right now.
I have been all or nothing with running a 5K. I guess to prove to myself that I can. Well, I also have the symptoms of exertional compartment syndrome. My doctor told me he believed I do have it but he and I decided not to do the pressure test as it is invasive and I would not elect to have the surgery anyhow as it is very invasive and I have no problems walking or even power walking. Plus at the time I was in the military getting ready to get out and had no plans to continue running once I was out. I am in week 7 of C25K and the runs are 25 minutes. The symptoms have been starting around 20-22 minutes. As soon as it starts I have been breaking down telling myself I cant do it. I need to accept the fact that I may not be able to run the entire 5K and I need to understand that walking is not the same a quitting.
I am going to finish C25K but I will have to modify my runs. When we do the 5K next week I plan on running for 20 minutes then walking for 2. My symptoms are not to severe so just those 2 minutes walking will give me enough rest to be able to keep going

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Question for those that do intervals for 1/2's and fulls.
How do you know when your 1/1 or 2/1 interval is done? Do you count? Do you have an app that says walk/run?
My Jeff Galloway app(5K) will not work on my phone at all. I've taken it off my phone and reloaded it, done the updates, everything. Nothing works, it always crashes!

I need to figure out how to gauge my intervals.
Trying RunKeeper again, but it's not the best either.

I also downloaded Jeff Galloway's 1/2 and full training schedules to see which one I'd rather do. However the full is over 1/2 filled so I need to decide soon.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Buffy--Mike has runkeeper on his phone. But we have a garmin which we mostly use. Runkeeper works ok, but has been off on some of the distances.

Amanda--I am sorry about the injuries. I think a lot of people have more trouble switching over to some form of walk breaks mentally than anything else. It's especially frustrating cause so much of the running community still sees it as a fail if you walk. I have had tons of conversations with folks about this. The lightbulb often comes on for some people when they realize I am faster than they are and I take walk breaks. (Not that it matters how fast one is, it is just often an aha moment.)

I did not start off with walk breaks and I think I told the story of my first half where I ran the entire thing without walking a single step. This was before I was diagnosed with gluten issues. Since then my body has basically told me you have to either do something different or stop running. So now I run short distances without breaks, but for longer distances I do run/walk and have finally settled on 2 run 30 sec walk as my favorite interval. I have tried longer, shorter, run a mile walk a minute, run 5 min walk 1 min, etc. This works best for where I am at right now.

Mike actually ran a 1:54 half with walk breaks. And it was a HUGE shift for him. He ran cross country in hs and worked out with the cc team in college. He has no problems with it now, but it took a lot of research on his part to decide it was a good idea.

Mentally it was a big shift for me and I still get very anxious at the start of a race. It is very strange to walk after just a couple minutes of running. BUT when I stick to the intervals I finish strong. I have kept up some pretty decent times even though I have spent a ton on time in physical therapy in the past 7 months. Take some time and think about it. I totally understand your frustration.

I hope you are able to avoid surgery and work something out so that you are feeling better and feeling positive about your effort.

 

[Rose&Mike]

article: Are you ready to run a marathon?

http://www.rivercityraces.com/files/user/Are_You_Ready_to_Run_a_Marathon.pdf

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

article: Are you ready to run a marathon?

http://www.rivercityraces.com/files/user/Are_You_Ready_to_Run_a_Marathon.pdf

Uh, no.

But I really want to try.

 

[JacksLilWench]

Kaiti--I would work on preventing it. Here is my favorite calf stretch. I call it the towel stretch. Lay on your back. One leg flat. One leg straight up in the air. Hook a long towel or strap around your foot and pull your leg towards you. You should feel it in your entire leg. What I like about this stretch--you can rotate your foot to get stretch throughout your foot and ankle. You can pull your leg towards you and feel the stretch in your hamstrings. I did it for 30 sec at a time. 4 times a session, 3-4 times a day. There are lots and lots of calf stretches, just be aware that while it is important to stretch your achilles tendon, you don't want to over do it. No bouncing on calf stretches. Too much too fast is not a good thing. Again, not a doctor, this is just what has worked for me. If you google it you should be able to find lots of other calf stretches.

Thanks Rose! I will try that tomorrow before my run. And I'll google some other stretches too....how sad is it I never even thought to search for it? It's like if it doesn't deal with Disney, I have no clue where to start looking for it

*******
I have another question too: how bad is it if you miss a Galloway training run? For two weeks now, I've missed my Tuesday 30 min run, but always made sure to do my Thursday 30 and my Saturday long run. What's the worst that could happen?

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Good question!! I don't have the answer but I would gather that you will probably be ok. Just try not to miss to many more. Are you doing any cross training?


My concern is that I will miss a magic mile, the 26 mile practice run (Or 14 mile 1/2 marathon run), and another 6 mile run in the taper when we go to Disney for Xmas. I'm concerned.

 

[sissy_ib]

Amanda--I am sorry about the injuries. I think a lot of people have more trouble switching over to some form of walk breaks mentally than anything else. It's especially frustrating cause so much of the running community still sees it as a fail if you walk. I have had tons of conversations with folks about this. The lightbulb often comes on for some people when they realize I am faster than they are and I take walk breaks. (Not that it matters how fast one is, it is just often an aha moment.)

I did not start off with walk breaks and I think I told the story of my first half where I ran the entire thing without walking a single step. This was before I was diagnosed with gluten issues. Since then my body has basically told me you have to either do something different or stop running. So now I run short distances without breaks, but for longer distances I do run/walk and have finally settled on 2 run 30 sec walk as my favorite interval. I have tried longer, shorter, run a mile walk a minute, run 5 min walk 1 min, etc. This works best for where I am at right now.

Mike actually ran a 1:54 half with walk breaks. And it was a HUGE shift for him. He ran cross country in hs and worked out with the cc team in college. He has no problems with it now, but it took a lot of research on his part to decide it was a good idea.

Mentally it was a big shift for me and I still get very anxious at the start of a race. It is very strange to walk after just a couple minutes of running. BUT when I stick to the intervals I finish strong. I have kept up some pretty decent times even though I have spent a ton on time in physical therapy in the past 7 months. Take some time and think about it. I totally understand your frustration.

I hope you are able to avoid surgery and work something out so that you are feeling better and feeling positive about your effort.

Thank you! It is very mental. Today was a 25 minute C25K run. I decided to do 4:30 run 30 second walk. It almost worked. The first three runs were good, then I didn't look at the time and walked for almost a minute, then I was having trouble getting started jogging again and decided I was going to do 90 seconds jogging 60 seconds walk for the last 9 minutes or so. I ended up walking the last 5 minutes I should have been jogging. But even with the all the walking I ended up going just a bit further than the last two 25 minute runs. I am going to run every other day and try different run/walk ratios until I find one that fits. The 5K I am running is a week and a half away which gives me only 4 run days so having it down before then is not super realistic so I'll just have to wait and see how I do on race day.

 

[JacksLilWench]

Good question!! I don't have the answer but I would gather that you will probably be ok. Just try not to miss to many more. Are you doing any cross training?


My concern is that I will miss a magic mile, the 26 mile practice run (Or 14 mile 1/2 marathon run), and another 6 mile run in the taper when we go to Disney for Xmas. I'm concerned.

I am trying very hard to not miss any, but it hasn't happened yet :-/ It is only the third week of training, so I guess I would be all right. I'm gonna try something new this/next week though, and get up early to get those runs out of the way, and do my long runs on Saturday around dusk to get used to running at night. I'm not doing any cross training right now, but I'm trying to get that involved too! I'm a busy little bee! I definitely do not want to miss that first Magic Mile, it's gonna be interesting to see how that turns out

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'm enlisting DH's or DS15's help on the magic mile. I need a timer LOL

I think if you miss a run here and there, the 30 minute ones would be less detrimental than the big runs.
I think the cross training would help bridge that gap if you miss more than a few. Especially is one of your cross training days is walking.

 

[Rose&Mike]

everybody occasionally misses training runs. Life just gets in the way sometimes. If however you are doing Galloway and only getting in three sessions of cardio a week and nothing else, I would try not to do that too often. If you are nervous about running 2 days in a row, you could always get on the bike, do zumba, the elliptical, etc. Something to get your heart rate elevated and get you moving.

As for the long runs--If you are doing the 1/2, and have gone between 11 and 13 I wouldn't stress too much. Maybe get a run in at Disney even if it isn't 14 miles. Lots of 1/2 training runs only go up to 10. I don't recommend that, because I think a lot of those folks feel very beat up at the end.

Mike did a full this spring and only got up to 22 or 23 on his training run and finished with a decent time, but he was walking more than running at the end. (In all fairness, the end of this race is VERY hilly and it was 80+ outside.)

The thing with the longer runs in my opinion--they give you confidence. They give you a good base. They enable you to run the shorter distances a little faster if for no other reason than you don't have as far to go.

Hopefully Lisah (who is our Galloway expert) will chime in.

Dottie--so Mike reminded me that a couple of the DJs gave score updates on the course last year. I don't remember who Florida was playing. I guess I will still talk to you with your orange and blue on. My boys love college football so much that Carolina plays Florida October 20th which is the weekend of Tom's big birthday bash with his friends at Disney. So we have to plan that day around the game. The Saturday of W&D we play Arkansas. I think I was confused earlier about who we play when.

Amanda--I'm glad you are trying some intervals.

***
I ran 4 miles in my new shoes last night. Feel ok, except the right foot (which was the injured one last fall) was talking a little. I am still thinking this is breaking in the new shoes pain, so I am going to just keep proceeding with caution. It was 82 and we ran about a 10:25 pace. So that was a good thing.

Have a great Wednesday!

 

[::Snow_White::]

Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and start training for a marathon next week. Haven't decided what plan I want to use. I was using Galloway for my half before I ended up kind of throwing everything to the wind.

Don't have a specific marathon to train for, just when I feel comfortable enough running long distances I'll sign up for one so I guess some weeks may be done twice.

My friend and I are going out for a 5k tonight to break in a pair of old white tennis shoes (what I had when I would never think about running. hah!) to wear for the color run. She's only ever ran/walked 1 mile as a serious run so we'll see how she does tonight.

I don't remember if I ever posted here that I was reading Ultramarathon man: Confessions of an all night runner by Dean Karnazes. It was a really great read, and it really made me want to push my limits. I don't know about 100 mile races but I think one of my life goals will be to run a 50mile race before I'm 35. Sounds...doable.

 

[lisah0711]

Hello all!

Alice, it would be fun to run together sometime! I'm still trying to get to 15 mm so pacing would be no problem.

Liz, have a wonderful time doing the Castaway 5K! Can't wait to hear all about it. It is on my bucket list for sure.

Rose, it would be fun to sport some SC gear but there will likely be a lot of FL fans so you may get some comments. Dottie had promised me long ago to teach me a Gator dance to pass the time while we are waiting to start at the W&D.

My Under the Sea sparkleskirt arrived yesterday and it is absolutely gorgeous. Now I am searching for Mickey Head sequins or beads I can sew on a black top to go with it or I may do sparkly fabric paint.

Nancy, I use some little water bottles that go with an iFitness belt and tuck them in my sparkleskirt pockets. I will make sure my route goes back to my car or somewhere where I can refill if it is a long run.

This needs an answer bad, because I can't take it too much longer. Whenever I run, my right calf gets so tight, I can hardly jog. What can I do to stretch it out and make it more tolerable when I do run/jog, so I don't feel like I want to give up?

Bummer, Kaiti!

Here is an excerpt from a Galloway article I found with a quick search on his site:

Troubleshooting Form-Related Injuries

Lower back — forward lean, overstride, too few walk breaks
Neck pain — forward lean
Hamstring pain — striding too long, stretching
Shin pain on front — stride length too long, especially on downhills
Shin pain on inside — over pronation
Achilles — stretching, speedwork
Calf pain — stretching, speedwork
Knee pain — too few walk breaks, overpronation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running form mistakes can aggravate injuries

The most efficient and gentle running form is a “shuffle." The feet stay next to the ground, touching lightly with a relatively short stride. When running at the most relaxed range of shuffling motion, the ankle mechanism does a great deal of the work, and little effort is required from the calf muscle. When the bounce off the ground increases, the foot pushes harder and the stride gets longer, there are more aches, pains and injuries.
Time goal runners need to run faster, and this means some increase in stride length, greater bounce and foot pushing. By gradually increasing the intensity of speed training (with sufficient rest intervals and rest days between), feet and legs can adapt, but there is risk of injury. Be sensitive to your weak links and don't keep running if there is the chance that you may be starting an injury.
Posture is an individual issue. Most of the runners I've worked with find that an upright posture (like a “puppet on a string”) is best in all ways. When runners use a forward lean there is a tendency to develop lower back pain and neck pain. A small minority of runners naturally run with a forward lean with no problems. In this case, one should run the way that is most natural.
Suggestions for running smoother, reducing irritation to weak links

* Feet—low to the ground, using a light touch of the foot. Try not to bounce more than an inch off the ground. Let your feet move the way that is natural for them. If you tend to land on your heel and roll forward, do so. But if you have motion control issues, a foot device can provide minor correction to bring you into alignment and avoid irritating a weak link.

* Posture—In general, good upright posture is good running posture: head over shoulders, over hips as the feet come underneath. Be a good “puppet on a string”.

* Legs—stay low to the ground, maintaining a gentle stride that allows your leg muscles to stay relaxed. It's better to have a shorter stride and focus on quicker turnover if you want to speed up.

Here is the link to the article if you are interested. http://www.jeffgalloway.com/resources/news_archives/may09.html This one is from May 2009 there may be newer ones out there. Have you ever tried compression sleeves?

Question for those that do intervals for 1/2's and fulls.
How do you know when your 1/1 or 2/1 interval is done? Do you count? Do you have an app that says walk/run?
My Jeff Galloway app(5K) will not work on my phone at all. I've taken it off my phone and reloaded it, done the updates, everything. Nothing works, it always crashes!

I need to figure out how to gauge my intervals.
Trying RunKeeper again, but it's not the best either.

I also downloaded Jeff Galloway's 1/2 and full training schedules to see which one I'd rather do. However the full is over 1/2 filled so I need to decide soon.

That is a bummer that you can't get the app to work, Buffy. I use RunKeeper to do my intervals. I set it to beep over my music. Galloway also sells a timer that beeps that you can attach to your belt. I have one but I have to confess I haven't had a chance to try it. One of the things I don't like about RunKeeper is that I haven't figured out how to change intervals mid-run so I have to restart it if I can intervals. I also have problems with my iPhone battery running out at the end of my races right about when I need the music the most.

My concern is that I will miss a magic mile, the 26 mile practice run (Or 14 mile 1/2 marathon run), and another 6 mile run in the taper when we go to Disney for Xmas. I'm concerned.

Everyone misses runs occasionally. Galloway says generally your endurance is as good as your last long run in the previous 3 weeks. A magic mile can easily be done on a shorter run. It helps you gauge your pace. But you really, really need to be sure to make that last long run before the January race happens. Not the week-end before the race because that will interfere with your taper but maybe a few days earlier than it is scheduled depending on when you leave.

Ha! Now I scrolled down to Rose's quote and see she said something similar!

everybody occasionally misses training runs. Life just gets in the way sometimes. If however you are doing Galloway and only getting in three sessions of cardio a week and nothing else, I would try not to do that too often. If you are nervous about running 2 days in a row, you could always get on the bike, do zumba, the elliptical, etc. Something to get your heart rate elevated and get you moving.

As for the long runs--If you are doing the 1/2, and have gone between 11 and 13 I wouldn't stress too much. Maybe get a run in at Disney even if it isn't 14 miles. Lots of 1/2 training runs only go up to 10. I don't recommend that, because I think a lot of those folks feel very beat up at the end.

Mike did a full this spring and only got up to 22 or 23 on his training run and finished with a decent time, but he was walking more than running at the end. (In all fairness, the end of this race is VERY hilly and it was 80+ outside.)

The thing with the longer runs in my opinion--they give you confidence. They give you a good base. They enable you to run the shorter distances a little faster if for no other reason than you don't have as far to go.

Hopefully Lisah (who is our Galloway expert) will chime in.

I am so not a Galloway expert but I do have a great memory for things I've read or heard. Thanks for saying that though, Rose.

The time I was swept at the Princess in 2011 I used a plan that only went to 10 miles. Since I've been going to 14 or 15 miles before a half I've always finished. Keep in mind I'm older, slower and heavier so YMMV. Between the time I got behind the pacer and when I had to get on the bus I had lots of time to ponder all the things I wish I would have done differently. I've made sure that I never have those thoughts again so even when I am not having a fabulous race, I have no regrets.

Kayla, it sounds like you are ready to take on longer distances.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Thanks for the input Lisa.
We leave on Friday Dec 14, but we are driving the RV.
We are boon docking at a Walmart in Wilkes-Barre PA, so if I get up really early I might be able to squeeze in the magic Mile if one of my apps will peep at me when I hit a mile.

We will arrive at Disney on Monday the 17th. If I get up early enough I can do my 30 minutes around Fort Wilderness on the 18th and 20th. My problem is I would be scheduled to run 14 miles or 26 miles on the 22nd. That would take me all day. I'm wondering if I would be better off getting a few miles in, in the morning, walk around MGM all day, then do a few more miles that night.
The 25th and 27th I can squeeze in an early morning 30 minutes but then for the 29th we are back on the road again. We are stopping at a KOA on the 28th-29th so I could get the 5-6 miles in there if we get up early enough.

Right now my big concern is the 14/26 miles. It's just not gonna happen.

This is part of the reason why I'm leaning towards doing the 1/2 instead of the full because I don't think I can realistically get the training in with this trip. It would be different if it was just us but my 2 BFF's are coming in from Montana and Georgia and Montana has never been before so they are sticking pretty close to us.

 

[myweegirls]

Hi! I'm on the busy train today (last day of school, mom arrives shortly, work still bananas, ack!), but I had to check in and toot my own C25K horn just a little.

Today I caught back up to where I was when I broke my toe and had to stop running. I had the 20-minute jog yesterday, and today was 5/warmup, 5/run, 3/walk, 8/run, 3/walk, 5/run, 5/cooldown. I broke 3 miles! I killed my last time on this workout and paced at 10:54, which is just crazy for me. The best part is how good it felt. Can't wait to keep at it; I'm feeling really good about the Castaway Cay 5K now...might even get a C25K in at the Boardwalk when we check into the Swan for our pre-cruise stay...

On that very self-congratulatory note, I'm getting back to work. Hope everyone's having a beautiful Friday!

XO
Liz

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

That's awesome Liz!! Maybe the time off helped?

 

[JacksLilWench]

I'm enlisting DH's or DS15's help on the magic mile. I need a timer LOL

I think if you miss a run here and there, the 30 minute ones would be less detrimental than the big runs.
I think the cross training would help bridge that gap if you miss more than a few. Especially is one of your cross training days is walking.

That's what I was thinking as far as the 30 minute runs. I just need to start picking up the pilates more often...I also think that will be good for stretching, strength training, stamina maybe even, etc.

everybody occasionally misses training runs. Life just gets in the way sometimes. If however you are doing Galloway and only getting in three sessions of cardio a week and nothing else, I would try not to do that too often. If you are nervous about running 2 days in a row, you could always get on the bike, do zumba, the elliptical, etc. Something to get your heart rate elevated and get you moving.

As for the long runs--If you are doing the 1/2, and have gone between 11 and 13 I wouldn't stress too much. Maybe get a run in at Disney even if it isn't 14 miles. Lots of 1/2 training runs only go up to 10. I don't recommend that, because I think a lot of those folks feel very beat up at the end.

Mike did a full this spring and only got up to 22 or 23 on his training run and finished with a decent time, but he was walking more than running at the end. (In all fairness, the end of this race is VERY hilly and it was 80+ outside.)

The thing with the longer runs in my opinion--they give you confidence. They give you a good base. They enable you to run the shorter distances a little faster if for no other reason than you don't have as far to go.

Hopefully Lisah (who is our Galloway expert) will chime in.

I hope so, Rose!!

Hello all!
Bummer, Kaiti!

Here is an excerpt from a Galloway article I found with a quick search on his site:

Troubleshooting Form-Related Injuries

Lower back — forward lean, overstride, too few walk breaks
Neck pain — forward lean
Hamstring pain — striding too long, stretching
Shin pain on front — stride length too long, especially on downhills
Shin pain on inside — over pronation
Achilles — stretching, speedwork
Calf pain — stretching, speedwork
Knee pain — too few walk breaks, overpronation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running form mistakes can aggravate injuries

The most efficient and gentle running form is a “shuffle." The feet stay next to the ground, touching lightly with a relatively short stride. When running at the most relaxed range of shuffling motion, the ankle mechanism does a great deal of the work, and little effort is required from the calf muscle. When the bounce off the ground increases, the foot pushes harder and the stride gets longer, there are more aches, pains and injuries.
Time goal runners need to run faster, and this means some increase in stride length, greater bounce and foot pushing. By gradually increasing the intensity of speed training (with sufficient rest intervals and rest days between), feet and legs can adapt, but there is risk of injury. Be sensitive to your weak links and don't keep running if there is the chance that you may be starting an injury.
Posture is an individual issue. Most of the runners I've worked with find that an upright posture (like a “puppet on a string”) is best in all ways. When runners use a forward lean there is a tendency to develop lower back pain and neck pain. A small minority of runners naturally run with a forward lean with no problems. In this case, one should run the way that is most natural.
Suggestions for running smoother, reducing irritation to weak links

* Feet—low to the ground, using a light touch of the foot. Try not to bounce more than an inch off the ground. Let your feet move the way that is natural for them. If you tend to land on your heel and roll forward, do so. But if you have motion control issues, a foot device can provide minor correction to bring you into alignment and avoid irritating a weak link.

* Posture—In general, good upright posture is good running posture: head over shoulders, over hips as the feet come underneath. Be a good “puppet on a string”.

* Legs—stay low to the ground, maintaining a gentle stride that allows your leg muscles to stay relaxed. It's better to have a shorter stride and focus on quicker turnover if you want to speed up.

Here is the link to the article if you are interested. http://www.jeffgalloway.com/resources/news_archives/may09.html This one is from May 2009 there may be newer ones out there. Have you ever tried compression sleeves?


Everyone misses runs occasionally. Galloway says generally your endurance is as good as your last long run in the previous 3 weeks. A magic mile can easily be done on a shorter run. It helps you gauge your pace. But you really, really need to be sure to make that last long run before the January race happens. Not the week-end before the race because that will interfere with your taper but maybe a few days earlier than it is scheduled depending on when you leave.

Ha! Now I scrolled down to Rose's quote and see she said something similar!

I am so not a Galloway expert but I do have a great memory for things I've read or heard. Thanks for saying that though, Rose.

You sound pretty expert-y to me! Thanks for the advice, Lisa. I really appreciate it! I've never tried compression sleeves, mainly because of the prices I've seen. I don't want to get a pair and then thy don't help. But it might be worth a shot if I can get them singly and they make a difference. So with all my new advice, this week I make a vow now to not miss any of my three scheduled runs, and my reward for finishing will be three new songs on iTunes (one for each run! But I have to do all three to get any) and I'll post all my results on here. If you want to add me on FB, I post all my long runs on there. My name is Kaiti Courts.

Thanks again Lisa and Rose- you guys rock!