Learning to Run and Having Fun

I recently read the book "Born to Run" by Chris McDougall.  I thoroughly enjoyed every page of the book...I couldn't put it down.  As entertaining as the book was, the story starts with a simple question.  "Why does my foot hurt?" 

I've been asking myself similar questions for a few years now.   Why do my ankles hurt?  Why do my knees hurt?  Why does my foot hurt?  Why?


This excerpt from his website pretty much sums up what I'm feeling:

". . . I’d abracadabra myself from a broken-down ex-runner into an unbreakable, unstoppable, ultrarunning dirt demon. I was at least partially correct: the secret to injury-free running isn't the proper shoe. It isn't stretching. It isn't even training mileage.

It's skill.
Like every other sport, healthy running is all about technique.

But why hadn’t I ever heard that before?

All I ever heard, over and over, was about shoes. Every podiatrist, sports physician, and running magazine preached endlessly about the absolute necessity of corrective footwear. I was never told what to do; I was only told what to buy. "

Imagine that.   I've been a sucker for marketing yet again.  I even wrote a blog a few months back about how many different shoes I had tried and how excited I was for my latest pair.  I eagerly strapped on those new kicks and started pounding out the miles, assured by my "research" that I had finally found the solution to my problems.  Two weeks later I had pounded my knees into such pain I  couldn't walk without a limp for over a month, and it was almost two months before I could jog again without my right knee killing me.

It was clearly the fact that I had bought the wrong shoes.  Yep, of course it had nothing to do with me, only those damn shoes!

Then Chris McDougall had to bring reality crashing in on me.  It wasn't my shoes, it was me.  Like so many other runners out there I was running wrong.  My cadence was too slow and stride far too long, resulting in some serious heel striking going on.  Naturally when I switched to my new minimalist shoes that I thought were the solution to my problems, my heel striking form crushed my lower body into oblivion with the lessened cushioning of the shoes.


After finishing "Born to Run" I really started reading up on proper form. 

This is a good starting point, pretty much where I started a couple weeks ago.  Over the past two weeks.  I've run consistently almost every day.  I've really focused on my form and nothing else.  What I found is that I haven't had any pain at all, none. 

Another thing I've noticed is that I'm actually faster taking shorter faster strides landing on my midfoot than I am with a longer stretched out stride (thanks high school track coaches for constantly encouraging to "stretch out my stride"). 

It's definitely not an easy transition, and the longer I run and the more tired I get, I can feel my body trying to slink into my old lazy form.  I really have to focus hard at those times.  I'm training my body how to run all over again, and its refreshingly fun.   Three weeks until Beachpalooza, Five until Tough Mudder!

Tough Mudder Incoming

Less that 6 weeks until the Tough Mudder and I'm seriously behind on my training.  With the move and job search I've been slacking lately with the workouts.  Heather and I got up this morning and jogged a quick couple miles, but that's the first run in a few weeks (sad I know)...Sooooo less than 6 weeks till Tough Mudder and I've got to kick things into high gear.  I'm still doing well weight wise - down 21 lbs since I started this blog back in April.  I'd still like to lose another 10 or so before the race.

We'll be doing the Beachpalooza in Galveston at the end of September as a warmup - its a 3 mile obstacle race on the beach in Galveston and it should be a blast. 

I'll be posting at least training recaps from now till then to help keep myself accountable!

On a different note, I had a great interview today so maybe things will be turning around soon on that front.

Finally - I posted this video a month or so ago on Facebook but if you missed it check it out!

Obsession

While I was living in Ohio this summer I often rode my bike past a house on hwy 84 that was covered in writing.  In addition to the writing on the house there were signs in the yard and the van parked in the driveway was also covered in writing.

Obviously someone was trying to make a statement.  It turns out the guy that lives there is in a 10+ year litigation regarding his brother.  I don't know near enough details to even begin to form an opinion on the matter. 

What I do know is that his brother got in trouble with the law, there were supposedly two separate automobile crash sites, both of which were the spot where his brother had wrecked his car.  According to the guy who lives in the house, there are all sorts of conspiracies upon conspiracies that make this ordeal more and more of a mess.  Throw in a few crooked lawyers, dirty judges, his mother's will and some unscrupulous friends and this guy has become obsessed.

Or maybe he's just passionate?  Anyway - here are few shots from his house - quite an interesting guy, quite an interesting place.

Life Moves On

"Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such."

~Henry Miller


I've been so busy since I got to Ohio in June that I've barely had (or made) the time to stop and smell the roses.  And life...it's moving on at a blistering pace.

First of all, Heather and I reached the worst financial place we have ever been in this past month.  You'd think that having finally finished my degree I'd be making more money now than before I had the coveted diploma...wrong.  Thanks to budget cuts school districts are scaling back in a huge way and as such, I still haven't found a job for the fall as a teacher.  But, the bills have to be paid and since there isn't any substitute work in the summer I needed to do something to help out.  Heather was able to get me in at Avery Dennison with her.  It's a factory job, I operate a couple huge machines that cut 10,000 foot rolls of paper into sheets of various sizes.  Sounds fun right?

As boring as it sounds, I actually really enjoy it.  I just enjoy being active and having a full day...and there is no lack of work in the factory.  All good things must come to an end though and in 2 1/2 weeks we will finally be headed back to Texas.  I can't wait.

As usual after a couple months of great eating and working out, things slowed way down up here.  It started with the knee injury before I got here and that just sorta faded into everyday life.  I have actually been riding quite a bit but up until this week I hadn't run in a month.  I got back on track yesterday though.  I got up at 5 both yesterday and today and logged a quick 3 miles before heading to work.   It feels great.

It's late and I'm headed to bed, but more tomorrow on the changes I've made with food.  It's amazing.

I Feel Great!

WOW! I feel GREAT!  For the first time in several weeks I actually feel totally healthy.  No sore feet, no sore knees, no SI pain.

I've been out of touch with the "internet world" for the past week trying to get everything ready for my trip up to Ohio.  I left Tyler a week ago on Tuesday and arrived in Geneva  Wednesday night around 8:00.  It was so nice to make the trip in a car rather than a U-Haul truck that keeps breaking down every 20 miles!  Anyway Heather and I had great weekend and even squeezed in a quick overnight camping trip on Saturday night.  I had a dentist appoinment on Monday and that brings us to yesterday.

Feeling adventurous and with extra time on my hands up here in Ohio i set out on the bike headed to Austinburg.  I made the 7.5+ mile ride in just over 30 minutes.  When I arrived at my destination I found this funny sign:

From there I changed out of my biking shorts and shoes into some regular shorts and shoes and headed out on foot down the Western Reserve Greenway.  This path is part of the Rail to Trail initiative where they have replaced old railroad tracks with biking/hiking trails.

The weather in Ohio is so much different from what I'm used to in Texas.  It was 65ish all day, compared to the 102 that Tyler was feeling the same day.  Deceived by the cool temperature and the cloud cover I sported a sleeveless workout shirt for the trip (remember this).  Along the way I saw a chipmunk, a treat since we don't have those in Texas, and quite a few birds and squirrels.  I ended up going a little over 7 miles on foot - hiking most of the time, jogging here and there.  It was an awesome time.  Once I made it back to my bike I changed again and rode the 7.5+ miles back to Geneva.

What a great day outside.  The only bummer of the day turned out to be the sunburn I got courtesy of the sleeveless shirt! Oh well!

If you missed this on my facebook pages check out this really cool video!

On the Road Again

After two week exactly my knees were feeling good enough to give it another go on the road.  I switched to a more supportive shoe that I had purchased a while back.  The Brooks Beast.  I only ran 1.4 miles and i kept it to a very easy pace, but all together it was a pretty successful run.  I just wanted to get out and see how my knees would respond to a light run.  I had a slight pain in my left knee that came and went throughout the run.  Nothing too serious though.  I iced it when I got home and it feels fine now. 

I really think the camber of the roads around town are contributing to the knee pain.  I need to find a place to run around town that  has flatter roads or just a softer surface all together.

I'm going to ease back in nice and slow, I definitely don't want to re-injure my knees.  These past two weeks have been torture.

On the Lighter Side.

My knees are really sore after yesterdays long run so nothing major going on today, I have a few videos to make you laugh though - Enjoy!