Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Miss me?!?...lol

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle

So we/I've been MIA for awhile now. Mike and I were just talking last week about how we both thought that after Christmas things would slow down a bit...but rather it's been quite the opposite...life / work / kid's activities have been stupid crazy busy...and then go ahead and (for me anyways) throw in 2 trips to Florida and time has flown by...so there you go...my apology / excuse for my lack of posts over the last number of weeks.

I've still been active on IG...so of you follow me on there you'll have seen that after I returned home I decided to order this

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It's no secret that I tend to have knee issues when running...which turns into a mental nightmare for me. So after hearing / seeing on IG a great number of people during marathon weekend (at Disney) talking about how they were using this to get through their races and feeling good, I really figured that I had nothing to lose. The book was well timed since this past week was time to start training for the Niagara Falls Women's 1/2 Marathon that I'll be doing again in June. I'm not finished reading it yet, but I'm learning lots, and putting what I'm learning into practice during my runs. The very first training run, when I tried to bump up the speed (I'm doing all my runs on the treadmill right now), I had some knee pain, so I just slowed the pace for that run, and I've been pain free on all my runs since. So I am happy to report - so far this is working for me, and had actually really allowed me to fall in love with running again, to the point where I am really looking forward to my runs again!

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And in even more exciting news...last week we (the blog) were chosen as part of the Galloway Blogger Program - so I'm super excited to share with all if you some tips that I've been learning:

- When paced correctly, running delivers the best attitude boost you can get. Sustain this by pacing yourself gently during the first mile or three.
- A well-paced run enhances vitality for the rest of the day.  Start each run at least 30 seconds a mile slower than you will run at the end.
- If you have a Run Walk Run strategy that is right for you on that day, it's possible to feel good after every run-even the marathon.
- Running is the best stress reliever I've found. Research shows that running tends to activate the conscious brain which over-rides the emotional subconscious brain and manages the negative and anxiety hormones during and after the run.
- Research shows that as runners get faster, their stride length shortens.  A quicker cadence is the mechanical key to faster running.
- The finishing of a run that is longer than you've run in the last 3 weeks can bestow a sense of achievement that is unique and empowering-due to positive brain circuits that are turned on.
- You can't run a long run too slowly or take too many walk breaks.  You'll get the same endurance based upon the distance covered.

Tips are courtesy of Jeff Galloway

Last week I even ordered one of these babies to help me with my training

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I find that even though I could set my Nike watch up for run walk intervals, it doesn't beep loud enough for me - especially when I have my music blasting...and my watch doesn't work during my treadmill runs right now. With the gymboss, you can set it for multiple beeps or (how I think I'll use it) you can set it on vibrate. Since it hasn't arrived yet, I just have to keep watching my time religiously on the TM....although I'm super pumped that tonight will be my last TM run for the next week, as Mike and I are heading to Mexico early tomorrow morning...which means early morning runs OUTSIDE in the ☀, I cannot wait!!!!

...until next time friends...

Anyone else going on vaycay soon?

Favourite place to run?