This'll shut them up!

When I tell people that I run I constantly get comments from them (always non-runners I might add) that I'm wrecking my knees. Women's Health magazine has an article posted online 6 Reasons Why You Should Run. And look here at number 3.

3. Your knees will thank you

Contrary to what your mom says, running doesn't wreck your joints. Osteoarthritis (the most common type of arthritis), occurs when joint-cushioning cartilage starts to break down. The biggest osteoarthritis risk factor besides age? Body weight. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that obese women had nearly four times the risk of knee osteoarthritis than non-obese women; for men, it was five times the risk. Runners are much more likely to be at a normal weight than members of the sedentary population, significantly decreasing their risk of osteoarthritis.

It goes further than just the benefits of weight loss, too. Running bolsters your cartilage by increasing oxygen flow and flushing out toxins, and by strengthening the ligaments around your joints. Hitting the trail also gives your bones a boost, helping to prevent osteoporosis.

Though it's important to treat all running injuries and to replace your shoes often, in the end, running will build your joints up, not tear them down.

Very nice indeed.

Bad week

Total mileage this week - 19 miles - yup, 19 measly miles.

I tweaked my knee the middle of this week. Weird thing it was my OTHER knee - my "good" one (and when I say good - the one that had less cartilage removed.) And to top it all off, I didn't tweak it running; I tweaked it walking the dogs. *sigh* Sarah is a brute of a dog. She's about 80 lbs and all muscle. We were told she's a lab cross at the humane society, but she's REALLY short and stout and has a massive, flat head. Similar features to a pit bull my dad once had. Hmmmm... She's a totally sweetheart though. NEVER shown an ounce of aggression, even when another dog bit her. She's a lover, a licker and a player. So, this all goes to say that she loves to pull on the leash when she sees another critter to play with (squirrel, duck, cat, dog..) Somehow I must have braced or planted wrong walking her with her harness and tweaked my knee. I felt it happen, but it really wasn't too bad and I thought I could walk it off. I finished the walk and it felt better toward the end. But the rest of the week it's been pretty sore. I've had my patella support band on all week and have tried to lay off it. So, no good mileage this week, but I didn't want to risk hurting it further. So, I'll take things slow and easy this week and get back into the saddle.

On other interesting notes. I bought some Luna Moons this weekend. I'm anxious to try them out during the long run. I'm typically a goo gal, but the moons looked pretty good.

Some good links to check out:

Dane from TBL is at it again. After the marathon controversy last time he is going to run the Country Music Marathon next month and asking people to run with him. Hopefully this will be a much better experience for him (and the media won't LIE about his time). You can check out the story here: http://blog.nola.com/running/2009/03/biggest_loser_contestant_back.html

AND Brooks has a contest to win your own running gazebo. You win an eco gazebo/shed for your back yard, furnished with treadmill, water cooler, surround sound, flat screen TV, etc. You can sign in to win once a day through March 30 at http://www.runhappyplace.com

That's all I got for today folks!

Today I LOVE: quiet mornings working from home.

Last week wrap-up

Tuesday - 3 miles (too sore to even walk on Sun and Mon)
Wednesday - 6 miles (slow...)
Friday - 6 miles
Saturday - Rained out
Sunday - 12 miles to make up for Saturday (WITH negative splits I might add!! 1st 6 = 10:46 pace and 10:00 the 2nd six)

Total mileage = 27 miles. Off by 3. Drat. Will try and make it up this week.

Although last week's 16 miler felt awesome at the time, my legs tended to disagree with me all last week. Seriously - it took about five days for my legs to recover. Ouch. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday's runs were very slow and a bit painful. By Saturday I was pretty well good to go for my long run, but it was raining heavily all day and I refuse, (REFUSE, I say!) to run that kind of distance on a dreadmill. So, I just pushed the long run back to Sunday which was probably a good idea since it let my legs rest an additional day.

Sunday's 12 miler was good. I kept things slow and easy for the first six to try and let my legs ease into the run. They were still pretty tight from last week. It seriously took until about mile 3 before I felt decent. The last six came a lot easier than I anticipated. I upped the pace a bit and kept a steady 10:00 min/mile. Nice thing, I'm not so sore this week. My legs feel really good today - so I learned my lesson and didn't overdo it this time.

I was 3 miles off last week of my 30 goal. I was just so sore that I didn't want to push it. I'm going to try and make it up this week, weather and legs permitting.

We went to the running store this weekend because Jeff needed a new pair of shoes and I wanted to look at sunglasses (my cheap Target ones broke). I found a great pair and a nice cool Brooks running hat. Even though I wear sunscreen on my face everyday and sport sunscreen before I run, I'm a little paranoid about over sun exposure (that's why I'm pasty). So, the hat just adds to my over-geared up dorky runner appeal. :) Oh - and I found this GREAT Brooks shirt. My new fav!





















Today I LOVE: that all the azaleas are in bloom! Beautiful!

What the hell...might as well.

Saturday = 16 miles, avg pace = 10:19

Total mileage for the week = 30.5 miles

It was such a gorgeous day yesterday!! I got up early and headed down to the trace to get a nice, long run in. Originally I had planned to do a nice, easy 10 or 12 miles leaving just 4 - 6 for Sunday to wrap up my 30 for the week. I started out the run and it just clicked. The weather was gorgeous, slight wind - just a perfect spring day. I was holding a great pace and it wasn't tiring me out. I got to the 5 mile turnaround and said "ehhh...I'm not ready to turn around yet." 6 mile turnaround - nope. I decided to push to the Abita trail head which has a nice water stop and park. I turned around and looked down at Minnie and was shocked to see my average pace for the first 9 miles was 10:04! Wow. And I still wasn't fatigued yet! It felt great! I started slowing down finally around mile 13 but still managed to hold a 10:19 pace overall.

This run was such a testament of how far a person can come from running just in one year.

- This time last year I was struggling to hold a 10:19 pace for 4 miles. Now I'm holding that for 16 miles!
- This time last year I was scared to death of running anything over 10 miles. Now I'm running 16 just for the heck of it - because it felt good.
- This time last year I struggled with "I can't" and now I say "Sure, why not? I can!"
- This time last year I was such an inconsistent runner. Now I love lacing the shoes up five times a week.
- This time last year my goal was 15-20 miles per week. Now I'm getting 30 mpw without too much struggle.

I'm paying today for the 16 miles. I'm sore, but really not as bad as in previous days. I can still manage a slow run. I think I'll take the pups for a nice stroll today and try and work out some of that lactic build-up. Maybe a slow run tonight?

Today I LOVE: How "I can'ts" turn into "I can".

Some days are good. Some days you puke.

Wednesday - 2 miles, pace pitiful

I'm on travel to Arkansas yesterday and today. I meant to get three easy miles in yesterday but work got away from me and travel delays exhausted me. By the time I got to Little Rock, all I wanted to do was check into the hotel, eat a light dinner and go to sleep.

Well, the light dinner consisted of an apple, a banana, a Luna bar (never leave home without a couple - just for this), and a snack pack of Oreos (provided free from Hampton Inn). I know...not the best dinner, but I didn't rent a car and the Bennigan's that was next door to this hotel last year had been torn down. SIGH.

I went to bed early and resigned myself to just get up early, run my easy 3, shower and eat breakfast and wait for my ride to pick me up at 7:30.

The alarm went off and I dragged my butt out of bed after tossing and turning most of the night (the first night in any hotel always kills me). I got dressed in my running gear, drank a glass of water and trecked downstairs to the fitness room. I started the treadmill out slowly to try and warm up.

The first mile was excrutiating. I had a hard time just keeping a 10:10 pace. I thought that maybe I needed to increase the pace to get a more comfortable stride. I increased the pace to 9:30. That lasted about a half mile. I finished out the second mile back at 10:20 with my body screaming at me the whole time.

I thought I'd just walk out that last mile for an even three. That's when the shakes set in and the nausea came. I stopped the treadmill and sat down to catch my breath. Didn't help. I had to run to the trash can and through the waves of nausea, proceeded to lose the water that was jostling in my stomach. Thank goodness no one else was in the room!

I have now officially "run till I threw up". Ha. Not a good feeling at all. The only thing I can figure is that it was a combo of things: not fueling properly, exhaustion from the travel, the room was hot, and altitude change (from below sea level to the Arkansas mountains).

On my way home this evening. I am going to sleep in a bit and slowly make my way to work. The weather is suppsoed to be gorgeous at home. It'll be nice to get a decent outside run in tomorrow - back in below sea level altitudes! :)

Today I love: going home!!!

9 miles so far.

Sunday, 3 miles - avg pace 9:36
Monday, 6 miles - avg pace 9:28

Ahh - it finally warmed up to about 53 degrees yesterday afternoon. Bearable for a nice little outside run for me. It took about a half mile for my body to warm up and then it felt great. I hit four and felt like it was one. Five miles - legs felt great, slowing a little, but not really breathing all that hard. I pushed through to six and ended with a good pace - 9:28 overall. I held that for six miles! Wow!

Sunday was an easy three to get my legs back running without killing myself. I need to do an easy three today to recover from yesterday. Tomorrow will have to be a rest day since I'm traveling all day in Arkansas and won't get home until late.

Today I LOVE: cherry tomatoes! Man, I'm eating these things like candy - and I used to HATE tomatoes. Funny how your taste buds change as you get older.

Biggest Loser or Biggest Liar??

I'm a huge fan of the show The Biggest Loser. Jeff and I have been watching it now for about four or five seasons and just love the inspirational stories behind the contestants. It's amazing to watch how far they come, how hard they work out, and how they work through not only the physical but the emotional baggage that got them to that overweight place. This is a bit of a late post regarding this week's show, but I didn't watch it until yesterday (thank you, DVR!)

On this week, Dane, a favored contestant, got voted off by the Blue Team (in a stupid move in my opinion). After each contestant is voted off they do a sort of "where are they now" recap to show how the contestant is doing at home. On Dane's interview he talked how his wife was training for her first marathon and he decided to do it with her. The footage shows them both crossing the finish line at 5:53 and talking about what a great feeling it was to run an entire marathon. I totally sympathized. Having just run my first one last year, I was overjoyed that they did theirs together. Then the shot pans to a before and after picture of Dane showing how much weight he lost. The text below the pictures, to my shock, stated that Dane finished his marathon is 3 hours and 53 minutes. WTF??!?! So, of course I rewind it and look again at the clock...sure looked like 5:53 to me. SOOO, then I get online to see if anyone had posted about that or if NBC corrected their mistake. THEN I find out that he didn't even run the full thing!

He and his wife entered a race that shuts down at 6 hours. Knowing they weren't going to make the 6 hour cut-off, the producers put them in their van and drove them 3 miles and dropped them at the 20 mile mark to finish - so they could get their shot. So, the producers not only took away this major accomplishment from Dane and his wife, but then they even felt it necessary to lie about it on national TV, fudging his time??

This whole thing just infuriates me. Why couldn't it be good enough that they just ran it and finished it -damn the time?? I mean, 26 miles is 26 miles - it hurts and is a major feat to finish regardless of time. And why did they try and lie about it even more saying that they finished in 3:53?? I know some elite runners who would KILL for a 3:53 marathon!! And to try and say this guy who only trained for 8 weeks is able to bust out a time like that, just somewhat belittles what so many people push themselves to accomplish in their own marathon experiences.

NBC has "sort of" come out and apologized over the whole thing, but I really feel the worst for Dane. His first marathon experience is now tainted. Apparently he felt so bad over the whole thing that he, his wife and his brother went back and ran those 3 miles later that evening. But still...

Grrr.....