running

(Social Media) Thoughts on the 2012 New York City Marathon.

November 3, 2012 · 1 comment

On Thursday morning, I typed this:

In the wake of a “superstorm” like Hurricane Sandy, is a marathon a good thing? I can’t answer this question with a definitive yes or no. I can see the positive and I can see the negative. Apparently, the New York City Marathon route is more or less unscathed. And you can’t deny the sense of pride and identity on the day of the marathon — things the area so obviously needs right now. But the marathon passes through all five of New York City’s boroughs, and people are so obviously still suffering in those boroughs. But… as someone who has experienced the race as both a runner and a spectator, I just hope that at this point, the marathon takes place safely on Sunday.

Then, after seeing the state of Staten Island on the news Thursday night, I definitely started to lean “anti” marathon.

And then we saw the protests begin — on the news, on blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook…

And then, the marathon was officially cancelled.

I wasn’t planning to publish a post on the marathon dilemma — I don’t live in New York and I’m not running the marathon (although I did run in 2010 and 2011).

But I can’t help but think: if it weren’t for social media, would the race have gone on? In my opinion, social media played an integral role in the marathon’s cancellation.

Sure, citizens and public officials were interviewed on the news vocalizing their negative feelings toward the marathon being held. And “traditional” petitions were carried out as well. But when hundreds of negative articles are published by journalists and bloggers via the Internet… when mentions of the New York City Marathon on Twitter suddenly carry an extremely negative sentiment… and when a Facebook campaign grows in “likes” from less than 1,000 to more than 50,000 in 24 hours… well, that’s just some grassroots activity that even eternal mayors can’t ignore.

And the blogger/Twitter lover in me thinks it’s pretty awesome that people are now capable of contributing to change like this.

That’s all I have to say about that.

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Running update.

October 8, 2012 · 5 comments

Remember the time I signed up to run the Chicago marathon? Oh wait, but then, remember the time I slipped on ice and my hopes of running Chicago slowly slipped away? Ah, the life of a runner.

I’ve known for months that running Chicago this year wasn’t in the cards, but gosh, the million race-related emails I received leading up to the race made me a little sad. And then there was this:

Look, I almost ran the race! We’ll just say my chip didn’t register my times. (PS – congratulations to everyone who ran, apparently it was a great day for a marathon!)

Anyway… there hasn’t been much talk of running around these parts over the past few months because, well, I hadn’t been doing much running.

When I moved to Florida in August, my back was still bugging me a decent amount, and the heat/humidity was just extra reason not to run. Plus, beginning school was a big adjustment in itself, so workouts sort of took a back seat for awhile. Little by little though, I’ve gotten that itch to start running again. I blame fall marathons and my love for Saturday long runs this time of year.

So far, my back has been cooperating more now than it has been at any other point since I injured it last winter. Some days it feels a little worse than others, but never any sharp pains! I just keep icing and keep my fingers crossed on that one…

As for my training, I’ve fallen into a routine of running four or five days a week for now. I do two shorter (~5 mile), one medium (~7-8 mile), and one long run each week. Just yesterday, I did 12 miles for my long run! And under Florida’s hot sun, no less. I can’t begin to tell you how I excited I am for it to get a bit cooler around here.

So, that’s my running update. Assuming my back cooperates, I’ll probably keep increasing my mileage little by little. Maybe I’ll sign up for a half marathon or marathon in the winter… maybe not. It’s sort of strange to be doing long runs without a race to train for, but it also keeps the pressure off, and I have a enough pressure to deal with in school.

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Running in Europe

August 17, 2012 · 2 comments

It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything running related here so I figured I’d share my experiences running in Europe!

I’m still having lower back issues — not worse, not better — which I’m hoping to address when I get settled here in Florida, but in the meantime, I’ve fallen into a pattern of running about 5 miles every other day, which is what I was able to do in Europe as well.

Since I run every other day, this meant that I was able to take in the sights in my running shoes in Paris, Thun (Switzerland), Cannes, and London (x3). Out of those four places, I think my favorite was London, but that’s highly influenced by the fact that our hotel was a half block from an entrance to Hyde Park. Anyway, below are my recaps of running in each of those cities.

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Paris

Paris definitely took the cake for the most scenic run from a city-like perspective. Our hotel was in the Montparnasse area of the city, and you could literally step out of the hotel and see the Eiffel Tower 1.5 miles straight ahead. Being so close made for some some great run sightseeing.

Being summer, or I guess just the fact that its such a iconic structure, the area around the Eiffel Tower is a zoo during the day, but when you’re running around it at 7am on a Sunday, it more or less feels like you’ve got the entire area to yourself. I did a mix of trying to blend in with local runners (who apparently don’t greet each other?) and playing the American tourist card by stopping for pictures.

During the day, the Seine is bustling with boats, but it’s so peaceful in the early hours of the day. There’s a path you can run right along the river, winding around the city. I’d imagine it’s a nice escape from the city’s traffic.

I covered about 6.5 miles on my Sunday morning run in Paris — it’s easy to get lost in the beauty of the city and just keep running, but since we were in town for the Tour de France, I needed to put on a stop on things so we could start our day and camp out at the Champs Elysees.

Thun, Switzerland

Oh, Thun. I cannot say a bad thing about you! I’ll write a separate post about Switzerland, but running in Switzerland was fantastic for two reasons: first, the scenery isn’t all too bad… I mean, it’s not everyday you’re running with views of the Swiss Alps, right?

The other reason I loved running in Thun was because of how active the community was. I stepped outside at 6am to start my run, and was surprised to see so many others out and about, starting their day by foot or bicycle. I don’t mind being the only person on the roads, but it’s always fun to see so many others being healthy too!

I think I covered about 4.5 miles in Thun. I followed that up with a swim in my dream pool before heading off for a drive into the Alps!

Cannes, France

Despite the fact that I was running along the Meditteranean, I think running in Cannes was my least favorite of the places I ran in Europe. I bet if I’d gone out a little further I’d have enjoyed it more, but it was a fairly urban route along the coast, and since I’m an early riser, I found myself passing people who were still finishing their night (I still don’t understand how someone can stay up until 6am?!).

Nonetheless, running in Cannes was still filled with plenty of great views. And running right along the coast kept things nice and cool. I covered about 4 miles, the perfect amount to move around a bit before lots of beach wandering later in the morning.

London

As I mentioned earlier, running in London was my favorite of all the places I ran in Europe, thanks to our hotel’s location right next to Hyde Park, and the fact that the Olympics were in town. Every morning I went out for a run, I passed tons of other runners/walkers — some were clearly locals, but so many others seemed to be in town soaking up the Olympics. It was definitely a melting pot of runners — sort of reminded me of being at the NYC marathon!

Most of my runs were in Hyde Park and St. James Park, but I did wander into another place one morning…

Notting Hill! I used to watch this movie all the time, so it was fun to run through streets that reminded me so much of the movie. This particular area of London was fairly hilly, or at least more hilly than anywhere else I was in London, but it’s amazing how running through a “fun” neighborhood can make you forget that running up hills is tough.

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That about does it for my European running recap! I think I should start looking into marathons in Europe or something (and free plane tickets, obviously) — who’s with me?

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Staying Active Through Injury

June 24, 2012 · 9 comments

If you haven’t noticed from the lack of running-related posts over here lately, this summer’s running season for me so far has been nearly nonexistent, due entirely to my still-healing lower back. It’s funny (or sad…) to think that a slip on ice that happened four months ago is still causing me problems now. But it is, and I think I’m coping fairly well.

After months of visiting my chiropractor, he finally threw his hands up in the air a couple weeks ago and told me he isn’t sure what is wrong, but whatever he’s been doing obviously isn’t working. So I’m now going down the road to recovery solo with simple home therapies (ice, stretching, strengthening exercises, etc.). I guess the upside of that is I’m saving money on office visits.

Anyway, since I’ve always wanted to keep my entire blog a happy place, and because it’s not really my nature to get down on things out of my control anyway, I thought I’d share what I’ve found I am still able to do to maintain fitness through this rough patch of running (you might have noticed on my workout log that longer/regular runs have basically disappeared lately).

None of these non-running activities will ever replace running completely, since running for me is more to me than a calorie burn, it’s a happy place (another post for another day, I suppose). But for now, these things have been keeping me mentally sane.

Walking. I think I mentioned awhile back that I’d found a new appreciation for walking. Again, probably not something I’d ever have taken much of an interest in if I were able to run regularly. But when you’re not able to run, walking is actually a great way to stay active. On any given walking day I’ll go out for 4-6 miles, usually maintaining slightly under or over a 13 minute pace. Some days I can keep a 12:00 pace, which I thought was speedy until I realized Olympic walkers walk sub-8:00 minute miles!! Who are those crazy people?!
Run/walk combos. I know I should probably stop running cold turkey if I want to get better, but my crazy mind just won’t let me do that. So a few days a week, I’ll do a walk/run combination workout. I stop running as soon as my back starts to feel uncomfortable, but it makes me happy to be able to run at least a little bit.
Slow, watch-less runs. Keeping the “need to run” thing in mind, if my back feels OK on any given day, I’ll go out for a slow run (I hate to call it a jog). I don’t wear a watch (or, at least not my Garmin) because I really don’t want to see how fast or slow I’m running — I’m just happy to be running!
Swimming. It’s funny how little swimming I do considering I spent a solid 17 years swimming competitively, but I learn to appreciate my ability to jump in the pool and swim every time I face a running-related injury. Swimming is such a low impact workout, which means, unless you’re battling a shoulder injury or something, you can likely swim through just about any injury. I’m actually going to try to up my swim workouts in the next few weeks, in case my brother and I get to swim in an alpine lake while we’re in Europe!
Aqua Jogging. If I get bored swimming laps, I often throw on an aqua jogging belt and run in the water. It tricks my mind into thinking I’m running, without having to pound pavement. The only problem with aqua jogging is how boring it is… I need to find myself an aqua jogging buddy or something to make the time pass!
Strength Training. I’ve really learned to appreciate weight lifting over the past couple months. I always lifted weights when I swam in college, but sort of got away from it a bit when I started running after college. It’s such a great workout when done right (i.e. not just picking up random weights and doing random things). I think I have Tina’s bootcamp to thank for getting me back into the iron pumpin.
Lawn Mowing. Haha, I’m just kidding. But if you follow me on Instagram (LBBakes) you might have noticed I’ve been mowing my parents’ lawn lately. Hey, I think it gets my heart rate up.

Sometimes I wonder if any of this is actually keeping me in decent shape, but I think my random 5k PR a few weeks ago is a decent indication that I’m still in fairly decent shape… even though I actually felt completely out of shape during that race! Anyway, I have no idea if it’ll be 1 month or 1 year before I can run pain-free again, but until then, I’m making the best of what I can do to stay active and healthy!

Am I missing anything? If you’re a runner, what type of workouts do you turn to when you can’t run?

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Wednesday Workout

May 16, 2012

I’m waiting to board a flight right now (although the thunderstorms rolling through Syracuse might have something to say about that…) so I thought I’d share a tough workout I put together on a whim this morning. I guess we could call it What I Worked Wednesday. I woke up planning to go to the [...]

Bootcamp Afterthoughts

April 30, 2012

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been participating in Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp this spring. For the past eight weeks, I worked Tina’s bootcamp workouts into my own workout routine. And for just $25, it was the best money I’ve spent in a long time… even better than my weekly stock up on sugar, chocolate chips, [...]

Running… in Style?

April 22, 2012

One of the best things — in my opinion — about running being so “in” right now is that it seems to force big-name sports brands to focus on everything running… shorts, tights, jackets, dri-fit shirts, etc. I love it because it means I can walk into a sporting goods store and find something I [...]

Getting Into (Non-Running) Shape

April 15, 2012

You know what’s funny (but not really)? How you can be in great physical shape for one activity, yet be slapped in the face when trying another. I remember when I swam in high school and college, I’d always be amused at how I could be in tip-top swimming shape yet running just one mile [...]

Pre-Race Fueling: Live and Learn (and Laugh)

March 23, 2012

Alternate post title: Not All Intelligent People Have Common Sense. You might find this hard to believe because of the crazy recipes you see here on the blog, but with the exception of nightly ice cream, I eat a mostly “whole foods” diet… Lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and non-meat sources of protein (dairy, eggs, [...]

NYC Half 2012 (The Race That Wasn’t)

March 18, 2012

Well, NYC Half 2012 will go down as my first DNF (did not finish) as a runner. And I’m not even very upset about that… I signed up for this half marathon with the intention of running fast (for me, which would be sub 1:40). But with the happenings of the past few months (a [...]

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