Going With The Flow

Just family time. 

PM - Surprised that I didn't feel too bad after a full day of traveling. Ran 3 miles with Jake in the afternoon. 

This was in the Grandma's Marathon book they sent out last week...cool to see me so close to Dot McMahon (in her off-season) at the Half Marathon Champs last year. Hopefully I'll be in good enough shape by then to go back next year...we'll see. 

AM - 30 minutes of recumbent bike/elliptical. 20 minutes of yoga. Feel a little achy/burning in the psoas today so going to take the rest of the day easy. Probably just residual stress from traveling. 

PM - 1 mile walk around the track.

Some thoughts on sexism in athletics and the implications of gender differences. 

AM - 3.5 miles on the treadmill ~8:10 pace. 20 minutes of yoga. Trying to decide after this week if I should continue running every other day but increasing mileage or run 2 days on, one day off. Thoughts?

From Functional Path Training - 

"I have a friend who is 5’8” and weighs 165 pounds, I am 5’11” and 195 we cannot wear the same size clothing. That should be obvious, then why do we do that with training. We take one training program and use it as a universal prescription, in other words we make one size fit all. It does not work. It may be convenient to use with a large group but because it is convenient does not make it correct. The challenge is always to make the training fit the athlete and the demands of the sport not to make the athlete fit to the training. Sometimes to achieve that requires only subtle changes and other times it is major changes. It is important to never lose sight of the objective of the training – to get each athlete ready to perform at their best in competition on the appointed day at the appointed time. To do that we must train adaptable athletes not athletes who are adapted to one method of training. One size never fits all."

AM - 30 minutes on the elliptical.

PM - 30 minutes of pool running with Jake. Lots of nutrition arguing and training talk.

Great post by Maximum Performance about Frequency. I like how he stresses not to add mileage/days of running very quickly and that it's a slow process to get the body to adapt to more mileage (something I screwed up)...I really like his point at the bottom (although I think cross training is the smartest thing to do sometimes when the body can't handle so much running yet!) - 

Note:  It is also important to note that running is a very specific sport, in which we use certain muscles fibers at certain intensities and in certain ways. Other cross training exercises, while maybe good in general for increasing heart rate and general fitness or generally working muscle groups, will not specifically work the exact same muscle fibers in the exact same way as you do in running. This means they are somewhat poor substitutes for developing and training these muscles in the ways we need to use them in running. Running is still and always will be the best way to train for running.

AM - 30 minutes on the elliptical. The sports med doctor put me on prednisone (oral steroid) so I'm feeling really jittery and anxious today. I realized last night that there is a huge difference b/w this 12-day prednisone and the 6-day methylprednisolone that I took at the beginning of this injury - I'm on the higher dose for 5 days longer and it's about 3x stronger. The sports med doctor said that he didn't think the 6-day was long enough to take control of inflammation. Interesting stuff...Anyways, I'm taking 5 days off from running while I'm on the medication.

PM - 1 mile walk. Felt better after the walk than all day at work.

Good stuff happening at the USATF Conference!

"The USATF Rules Committee voted unanimously yesterday on Rule Change 18, which, upon approval at the general meeting on Sunday, will remove the USATF’s sponsorship logo restrictions." From here.

Well I can't say that I'm not intimidated about the new OTQ standards. 2:37/2:43 for women. That's fast. So I would have to be a 2:42 marathoner in order to make the Trials in 2016, 6:13 min/mile. That requires a perfect 2 years of training to even attempt. So come on injury. GET BETTER!

PM - Headed down to Diamond Fork with Amiee to check out the hot springs. 5 mile hike and loved the springs! It was fun to have a little adventure and no injury pains.