I believe I have had a paradigm shift in my running, thanks to my meeting with USAT Coach, Stacey Richardson.   I’ve spent the last two years making tiny improvements in my running by focusing on form, cadence, posture.   These worked to an extent, yes.    But I think in some ways I was stuck in the land of Chi/Pose running.  Pose says to lean to get gravity working for you.  I really never got that, even tho I still think it’s good stuff.   Pose also says to land on the balls of your feet,  lift your feet off the ground using your hamstrings.  I did get that, and still think that is good stuff, too.     Chi says to think about fast cadence, moving your feet, while keeping your core body stable.    Chi likens your core body to the car of a train, and your feet to the wheels – spinning fast as if in a circular motion.   This kind of works too.  But I was keeping my upper body TOO still.   Like a robot.  For the past year, I have been trying to run like a robot!

Stacey told me to let my hips move naturally, working in balance with my arms.   She also said to play with it.   And she said to skip the music and listen to my feet.

Some thoughts:

chi talks about body being like the car of a train.   I took this to mean upper body should be as still as possible and legs move independently.  but really, your legs and uppper body are one fluid entity.  There is a lift in the hip, or maybe it’s a circular motion in the hip joints.  And the glutes are engaged in this motion.   Hard to explain.  Need to do a video blog or something.

More notes:

On Tuesday, I went on the IOS ride, and did my usual brick run afterwards.    I did not bring my music.  I listened to my feet and thought about “light, light, light”.     It’s only 1.6 miles, but I made a PR on that run.   I was running pretty fast in Zone 2 at a pace of 8:46.   I was even chatting with another girl while running that pace!!!    I usually get close to a pace of 10 on that run.

Today, I ran my usual 6 miles to the lake and back, rolling hills.   I again tried to listen to my feet.   I also tried to let my hips move naturally. Not a lot, just a little hip movement, as opposed to my former stiff hipped robot style of running.      I usually have to bust my ass to get a sub 10 pace on that run.   I got to the half way point in 28 minutes.   Heart rate was in Zone 2.  I felt like a cheetah!    The way back was a struggle, tho, as my hips and core were fatigued.   And it was getting very hot and humid.   The second half, my heart rate was mostly Zone 3.   I still finished the run in 59 minutes, sub 10 pace.

I think it will take my body some time to build endurance in my hips and glutes.  I think these muscles must have been just taking it easy up until now.  I guess you could call me a lazy ass.  Hahaha!     My hips are sore and tired now.     I expect this will take me six weeks to adjust, just like it did when I changed my biking.    Should be plenty of time for Duke 1/2 and B2B.

All I need now is a paradigm shift in my swimming

Aug 1st: did do a nice solid brick run, flat, at pace of 9m/m. Hips and adductors super sore before, so it was a good pace on sore legs. Right knee hurt that night.

Aug 2nd: Right knee okay in the am, after icing it and advil. Got pace of 10:14 on my 6mile lake run, 142 avg hr. Not too bad, but not monumental either. Still real sore.

Need to rewrite this completely, because I’m not so sure it’s a paradigm shift. maybe more of a kaizen. also, use this…

Great quote from Matt’s blog: “Of course, I could not really swim all day at that pace. My new pull is so novel and unnatural for me that it is mentally if not physically exhausting to recreate it stroke after stroke. Indeed, I cannot yet recreate it with exactitude every time. There’s always a little variation as I fumble to follow the pressure of the water against my hand and forearm and to coordinate the pull with my body rotation, the movement of my recovery arm, and my kick. I have a lot of work ahead of me to groove and perfect these new patterns.”

I’m finding this to be true with the changes I have made in my running. I think the changes are right. However, I have a hard time maintaining the new running form, and the faster pace that is coming along with it. Stay tuned, I will be writing alot more about my running progress!

This idea worked great! Even though I had pre-existing blisters on my left foot, they did not bother me at all while running. And no new blisters on either right or left foot. So now I have happy feet for my long training runs.

I don’t think I will be buying the CEP socks. Sorry CEP! I was all set to order them last week. But I was not sure what size to order, since my calf measures 15″, which is right between two sizes. The CEP website says if you aren’t sure what size to order, send them an email and they will help. I did that on Monday. It took them two days to respond, and their reply was “what shoe size do you wear?”. Since I didn’t get a quick answer, I knew that I wouldn’t get them in time for this weekend’s training. So I started wracking my brain for other ideas. Which led to this weekends two blog posts.

I still need something for races. My plan was to get the CEP socks, and just put the one sock on in T1. It wasn’t too bad putting on just the Zoot sock. But it would take too long to put on the injinji toe sock AND the Zoot sock on during Transition. It would be worth it for an Ironman, but not for shorter races. Looking at other sleeves now.

Update: I took another look at the CEP and SLS3 sleeves. Those were my top two choices, because both of those sleeves are true medical compression. A friend showed me his 2XU sleeves, and they didn’t look or feel like much compression at all (I did not try them on, tho). I think the SLS3 sleeves look like they have a softer elastic at the knee. Plus they have red on them, which matches my tri suit. And, it was clear which size I should order. So, I ordered those. I hope they come in time for my race on Saturday!!

Unfortunately, bad veins run in my family.    I have problems with varicose veins and had surgery in my left leg to fix them 3 years ago. Before surgery, my left leg swelled alot, my foot ached constantly, and wounds healed slowly, and of course, I had unsightly veins. The surgery worked great, and I started to wear compression socks while running in hopes of keeping them from coming back. I was thrilled when athletic compression socks become popular!

Zoot Socks

I got a pair of Zoot socks. They have excellent compression, and feel alot like medical grade socks. They were great for training and recovery but are no good for tri racing tho, as they get soggy and heavy when wet, so you can’t swim in them.     Also, I had terrible problem with blisters on my toes last summer, when ramping up my mileage for my Ironman.  It finally dawned on me  that the Zoot socks just don’t wick the moisture away, so are not really good for running, at least not for long runs in hot weather!    They are  still great socks for recovery, and they are still in good shape after about 18 months of use.

Here is a picture I took of the Zoots while recovering:

Zensah Calf Sleeves

I also got a pair of Zensah calf sleeves to wear for races. They also feel like they have good compression, but not quite as good as the Zoots.   They are not as comfortalbe, like a second skin, as the Zoots are…and I always felt like the were a bit short, from ankle to knee.   They perform very well while wet – and do not absorb water – so you can go right from swim to bike. I wore them all last season racing, and they were great.

However, my varicose veins have come back in full force, and I can no longer tolerate the Zensahs. So much for my theory that compression socks will prevent varicose veins.   Now, when I wear the Zensah sleeves, my ankle swells, and the top of the sleeve binds my knee, right at the spot where I have a new bad vein in my “knee pit”.

Here is a funny picture I took last tri season, while wearing my Zensah’s. Read story

Injinji Compression Toe Socks

As soon as I figured out that the Zoots were the cause of the terrible blisters on my toes, I got a pair of injinji “EX-CELERATOR™ Compression” toe socks for my long runs. I like the injinji toe socks in general. They are comfortable and really do prevent blisters. Tho, I think any good wicking sock will help with that. However, the injinji compression socks do not feel like they have any compression at all. They just feel like any old pair of knee high socks. So, that was a waste of money.

What Next?

Now I am trying to decide what to try next. I need a new compression sleeve for racing, that feels like medical grade compression and yet does not bind.  Maybe that’s not possible?!    Compression socks are expensive and I don’t want to buy something and have it cause the same problems.

Any suggestions?  I’ve heard of 2XU, SLS3 and CEP socks/sleeves.  2XU makes sleeves with a heel stirrup.  I was thinking that might give my ankles a little more support.

The terms blue pill and red pill have become a popular metaphor for the choice between the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue) and embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red). – Wikipedia

I got to thinking about red pills and blue pills today because I took a Nyquil pill last night for some allergies.  It looks just like the blue pill from the movie.  Nyquil makes me very sleepy, well into the next day.   I blew off my normal Sunday morning run because I was feeling so sluggish.   After going to church and out to lunch, I still didn’t feel like running.   I made all kind of excuses why I should just skip running today altogether:   “I’m still too sleepy.  I ate too much for lunch.  I am working full time, and it’s just too hard to keep up a decent training volume. I’ll never get back into shape.  So why bother trying. Blah blah blah blah blah.  “

I finally made myself head out the door to run at 3:30pm.  Those negative thoughts were still going through my mind.  I was expecting a crappy workout. I was still feeling very tired from the Nyquil.  And then I started to convince myself that I can’t possibly expect to get back to my former speed while working full time.    That I need to just accept where I am now, and be okay with it.

Then I thought, I’m not going to let a stupid little blue pill ruin my workout.  That made me think of the movie.  And that the blue pill excuse I was inventing in my mind was the easy way out.   The way to just be lazy and accept things as they are and use working full time as an excuse to not working hard at my training.

The red pill is the path of pain and hard work – it represents the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to achieve great results.

I choose the red pill.  Bring It.

BTW, had a great run once I started thinking about the red pill

• I had a mild cold, which made me feel run down
• I overdid it on the P90X stuff, as a reader named Katie suggested.  I approached that with an “I am an Ironman” attitude, and just overtrained.   I’m still very excited about that, and I will do it,  I just need to figure out how to do so without toasting myself.
• cold, crappy weather – as Kevin said, maybe it’s a bit of Seasonal Affective Depression Disorder.
• still having trouble balancing working full time with life and training.
• stressful stuff going on at home.  teenagers tend to have that affect on life.

I was seriously considering just going back to being a couch potato.  But, yesterday two things happened.

1. I was wearing a sleeveless sweater and looked in the mirror.  I saw my shoulders and arms.     I can’t do a frickin chin up, but my tri lifestyle has given my pretty buff arms.  And biking gives me awesome quads.     I don’t want to lose that.    Gosh, that sounds so narcissistic.
2. I went grocery shopping last night.  It was freezing cold outside and I had a ton of bags to carry in from the car.  I was so cold, that I ran in and out of the house a bunch of times as fast as I could, to get it over with.   I enjoyed those little sprints very much, and it reminded me that I like to run.

Last night at bedtime, I was still feeling crappy and went to bed with no plan in mind for a workout.

I woke up late this morning, scrambled to get ready for work, got a crockpot meal going.  At that point, it was 7:30am.  I really should head out the door by then.   I thought, hell, I’m just going pack some running gear just in case I feel like running at lunch.  I really need to get some endorphins and burn some calories!

I started packing things up in my gear bag.   The weather forecast was 45 with a wind chill of 35, and my best cold weather running gear was in the dirty laundry pile.   There’s just so much to remember  to bring along, and I couldn’t find this or that, and started making excuses why I should just bag the idea of a lunchtime run.  Then I decided to “man up” and just pack what I could and hope for the best.

At 1pm, I walked outside to test the air.  It was sunny and not too cold and I was stoked for a good run.  And a very good run I had.  This is what I wrote in my BT log…

Had a great run to lake crabtree from work. Finally a nice sunny day. Wiped out at the very beginning while trying to get the Pose leaning gravity thing working. Haha, got some gravity anyway.

And of course, I twitpic’d it. You know, I read once that people who tweet tend to be narcissistic. oops. Should I seek therapy?

working is hard. i’m tired.  there’s a pile of dirty dishes in the sink.  i’m tired.   i don’t even know if i have any clean running shorts.   i could pull some out of the hamper. ewww, that would be gross. no way am i doing that. so forget about working out.   man, i really need the endorphins.  need to burn some calories too.  but, hey, i was good and skipped the cookie today at lunch.  it was  a free lunch too.  some hot sales guy from Barracuda treated the office to lunch.   did i mention he was hot?  okay, there’s my motivation to workout:  hot guys.   hahahaha.  okay, gotta run now!

I did take my cell phone along and got lots of great pictures, and even a shot some video.    It was fun and hard work.  Much harder on my muscles than normal running, and I was toast by mile 4.   It didn’t help that my legs were already toast from yesterday’s P90X Plyometrics workout!

Nuff, said.  here’s the good stuff:

Video:

Photos:

I had quite an adventure on my run.    I  nearly drowned in the water rushing over the fjord, became entangled in barbed wire, and was attacked by a wild beast.  Well, okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little!   Makes a good story, tho, right?    Here’s how it really played out:

The first lap lap felt like hard work.  I was trying to focus on good running form and trying to relax and have fun and be free.  But I wasn’t having luck and I was not having any fun!  At the half way point, you get to this place I call ”No Man’s land’.   It’s a part of the forest that they have burned away to study how a forest grows back. It is barren and mostly uphill for about a mile.  On a sunny day in August, it is also very hot.  This sunny day in January, it wasn’t hot, but I was definitely not having fun!

After ‘No Man’s Land’, you turn a corner and it’s down, down, down.   I really started to enjoy myself then…I always love running down hills. It makes me feel powerful and fast and happy that I am able to run at my age.

Then I got to the fjord over New Hope Creek, which was overflowing.   The headline “Ironman athlete trips on fjord and drowns in two inches of water” crossed my mind.   Not wanting that to happen, I carefully tip-toed through the water to get to the other side.   Then there is this nasty climb beyond the fjord that takes you up out of the valley and back to the main road.   I  was tired and wanted to stop and had to pee.   I used the ‘need to pee’ to stop for a little rest and trudged into the woods where I tripped over some barbed wire.    Damn, I didn’t even see it!

I set out on my second lap determined to make it feel easier by making it fun.   A little way into the woods I approached a couple walking their dog without a leash.  It was a big dog, too.   It was fluffy like a Border Collie and had a muzzle that looked like a St. Bernard.     It was bounding playfully ahead of it’s owners.    I ran past the two people then past this big playful dog.    The dog chased after me and kept putting it’s muzzle on my knee.  I think it was trying to herd me back toward the other humans.

If I had been on my first lap, I would have been very annoyed by this uncontrolled dog.  But since I was on my second lap – full of endorphins and wanting to have fun – I thought it was just great.  I ran a few strides alongside the dog, trying to get past it’s playful herding behavior.  No such luck, so I stopped to wait for the owners to catch up.   As soon as I stopped, the dog put it’s paws on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.  Oh my, what a big doggie.    I told it to get down.  Again, no luck!    The owners were  shouting commands at the dog and he finally retreated back with them.  I took the opportunity to escape and continue on my run.  The people shouted that they were very sorry, and I waved a thumbs up to them.  It was all good.

I thought about the big bounding dog for quite a while, and tried to mimic it’s playful powerful strides.    The dog was just out there running for fun.   That’s what I should be doing, too.  This mantra worked and I enjoyed the entire second lap of the run.  I even enjoyed ‘No Man’s Land’.  

Here is a link to my Garmin data: http://connect.garm...om/activity/23099060

I’m so glad I ventured out! The old running shoes held up well on the muddy roads, and I had such a fantastic run. I did not have any music with me. Instead, I had beautiful scenery and the sound of rushing water to keep me entertained. I brought my camera and took pictures and tweeted while I ran. At one point I saw a herd of buffalo cross a stream. Amazing!

Without my heart rate monitor or my Garmin, I was running completely free of technology (well, except my cell phone camera!). I was having so much fun running free that it made me think I might like to do one of those crazy 50 mile endurance runs someday!

Here are the pics I tweeted…

I had such a fantastic run on Christmas, that I went again on the very next day. I wish I lived in the mountains. I love hills.

I was starving hungry and exhausted the rest of the day. I went to bed at 9pm, yet I had trouble sleeping. I tossed and turned all night long. It was like I had Restless Body Syndrome. Do they make a pill for that? LOL!

I finally drifted off to sleep, only to wake up at 3 am for more tossing and turning. I was starving hungry, too, so I drank the bottle of Boost that I keep on my nightstand. That took the edge off my hunger. I tossed and turned some more and finally fell back to sleep. When my alarm clock went off at 6:30am, I didn’t want to get up. I hit the snooze until about 7am.

My legs are sore today, but not too bad all things considered. My torso, shoulders and arms are also very sore. I was focusing on maintaining solid running form – including good posture – the entire 23 miles, and that really took it’s toll on my entire body.

Now it’s taper time! I am so glad the hard work is done.

Here is what I wrote in my BT log…oh, and the B2B run course is 26.2 miles with 761 feet of climbing.  So my training runs are alot hillier (don’t have much choice living in Chapel Hill!)

	1h 32m 23s 9.26 Mi 09m 59s/Mi	Min HR: 90 Avg HR: 137 Max HR: 160
10:19 AM Piney Mountain Long Run (Route Hx) Climb: 902 feet First lap. Felt great! [Lap data] [ HR data]

	1h 33m 44s 9.26 Mi 10m 07s/Mi	Min HR: 95 Avg HR: 134 Max HR: 152
12:00 PM Piney Mountain Long Run (Route Hx) Climb: 902 feet Second lap was a Sufferfest. Some of the middle miles were slow. I dug deep and said to msyelf “Ok Carol, this is where you decide are you going to just finish an ironman, or are you going to beat your goal”. Got back on track after that [Lap data] [ HR data]

	45m 46s 4.41 Mi 10m 23s/Mi	Min HR: 100 Avg HR: 142 Max HR: 153
1:41 PM Kenmore, alt hillier fini (Route Hx) Climb: 587 feet 3rd lap: More Suffering. Put the hammer down best I could here. Was doing 9:30 on the flat part, then it got super hilly. Chose this route to simulate the last stretch over the two badass bridges. Imagined my compeitors on my tail and I had to go fast. (pace is good for the hilliness of this route) Going to be a tough finish. [Lap data] [ HR data]

Almost 23 miles today. Was very tough. Hid a big jug of water and a cooler of food items in the woods and stocked up between laps. Tried to be as quick as possible here. I know wasted time at aid stations on the course can easily kill my goal.