Hey everyone, I’m officially announcing that I’m running Boston in 10 days!!! This will be my first time! You can read the article below on which elite Americans are running, but this isn’t fully correct (Paige Higgins scratched…Ruth isn’t running). It looks like my good friend Mary and I will be duking it out for Top American! Should be quite fun.
Reyes, Akor, and Herron in Boston Marathon [Read more...]
If you’ve read my “What I eat” page, you’ll notice…. I eat a lot of fat in my diet. I had my diet analyzed in grad school. I knew from this experience that I liked and thrived on a higher fat diet compared to most people (~mostly natural foods too). There’s an excellent article on this, “Female Runners Eating a Low-Fat Diet may Increase Risk of Injury, Limit Energy Supplies, UB Study Suggests“.
While I knew I thrived on a higher fat diet, when I first started traveling to national races, I would try to pick “healthier”, more natural food options, assuming they’d be easier on my gut. I would also often stay with host family’s who ate “low fat” diets. In fact, from what I experienced staying with host families, it seemed that a lot of people were afraid of fat (AND didn’t eat much, real food, in general)! I would get really hungry as a consequence, probably due to getting in less calories than usual as well. I found myself not feeling or performing as great.
I have a new sponsor, 2XU ! They make tons of great compression gear for various purposes– for performance/support (firm compression), active recovery (~has graduated compression), and rest-recovery (also graduated and firm). I previously wrote about the benefits of compression gear here . I’ve had great success with wearing my compression pantyhoses after marathons and hard workouts, so I’m looking forward to trying an assortment of compression gear. I’ve never tried racing in compression gear– this is definitely personal preference and something I’ll have to experiment with. 2XU also makes specialized training and racing apparel for the triathlon/swimming/cycling/running and has various accessories. I’m interested in trying their running gloves, which have grip– something I’ve definitely felt would be helpful. Thank you to 2XU for your interest and support– looking forward to being an ambassador!
Introduction
One of my friends requested I do a blog post about how I prevent and treat cold/flu/respiratory issues as an athlete. Fortunately, I haven’t been sick for 4 years, so I must be doing something right! I used to get sick consistently every winter, dealing with two colds before the ’08 Olympic Trials, a fractured rib from a bad cold/cough in ’07, and getting pneumonia my freshman year of college. I thought it would be beneficial to share with others how I personally prevent getting sick and then also how I treat any respiratory stuff (~I still tend to get hay fever from environmental changes). [Read more...]
Dr. Jason Miller, whom I mentioned I’m working with for my new strength and conditioning program, sent me an excellent video on how to correctly foam roll all the critical body parts. This is esp. good because there’s a certain way to do your back (~chin tucked, keep butt on floor, roll, extend back) and also your latissimus dorsi (which mine are really tight). He pointed out that you don’t want to be foam rolling your lower/lumbar back because that’s actually meant to be stable. I have kyphosis of my upper back, so the foam rolling has helped me straighten out my back/posture and can breath better…. I measured myself and I’m actually 1/4″ inch taller after only a week and a half!
The video also goes over using a lacrosse ball on your butt and shoulder.
We are a week+ post-Olympic Marathon Trials. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m FIRED UP about the next 4 years! The next 4 years is going to be a process, a journey…. a metamorphosis. As I said on my Facebook page last Sunday, “Leaving Houston highly inspired! I know what I need to do the next 4 years.” I want to explain what I mean– where I’ve been, where I am now, and where I see myself going. [Read more...]
This past weekend we drove to Springfield, MO for a low-key half marathon called Run for the Ranch. We figured with it being a 4x criterium loop course with several turns and considered “flat and fast”, it would be ideal practice for the Trials. After scoping out the course….. well um, yeahhh… no. [Read more...]
I have a friend who’s currently dealing with “pain behind the knee”, and it reminded me of the time I had this problem high school. Our coach had us doing “plyometrics” stuff– jumping through ropes and over hurdles. I always had a tendency to “tweak” things when I did anything supplemental for my lower body– this is why even today, I’m very careful with anything I do outside of running. Nothing more frustrating than to randomly tweak something while NOT running! I believe the muscle I tweaked was the popliteus muscle– it’s a very small muscle behind the knee, and it’s very difficult to target for stretching/rehab…. but you certainly feel it if it’s tweaked and then trying to push off while running! [Read more...]
Got new shoes– BLACK Inov-8 230s!!!! I didn’t request a specific color this time (of a gazillion colors to choose from)…. wanted it to be a surprise! They sent me black…. very cool! They feel so right, and that makes me feel confident. It will be tough trying not to put too many miles on these babies before the Olympic Trials (!!!). [Read more...]
Introduction
Given my research background on bone health, I’d like to talk about a highly under-appreciated micronutrient: Vitamin D! It’s especially important to talk about since we are entering winter, when Vitamin D status drops because of less sunlight and exposure. [Read more...]
