Adios 2010! A Year in Review

As 2010 comes to a close I have a ritual, I call it, “My Year in Review”. Typically I don’t write this review down, but this year I have a blog to update so I felt it might be an interesting topic. Although I do not believe in New Year’s resolutions, I do believe in reviewing one’s year, and committing to make changes based on that review. It might be the business person in me, but it works!  It’s not a resolution, and I don’t have to be disappointed with myself if by the end of January, I have chosen a different path! It might just be the lazy person’s way of making a resolution, but hey, call me lazy!

2010 has been an athletic year! I have been lucky enough to have a body that has held up to my first two 50 mile runs and another Ironman. 10 years ago, I would have laughed at you if you had told me that I would be completing my 9^th Ironman by 2010. Ten years ago, I thought that running 2 miles was hard and now I am running 50.  Except for a minor setback in June, a broken elbow, I have been able to start and finish every race and training session that I began this year. I can tell you that running hill repeats in a splint up to your shoulder is very hot, and very uncomfortable!  My goal for 2011 is to not break another bone! Oh… and run 100 miles out in Leadville, CO!

2010 has also been good for my business. When I quit my job and set out on my own in 2008, I was scared! “Would I be able to do this”, I asked? I knew that most small businesses closed within the first couple of years. I tried my best to go into my business slowly and cautiously, and when the recession hit, I was ready! Sure, I lost a little business during that time, but my conservative planning paid off, and 2010 was a rebound. Thanks to the many amazing clients who have stuck with me, and sent their friends to me, I am happy to report that Stride MultiSport is stronger than ever! It is a lot of work, but I would not trade it for the world! 2011 will be even more amazing than 2010!

Finally, 2010 has proven to me that I am surrounded by the most amazing people in the world! I cannot say enough about my family, they are my pillar of strength! My parents follow me to all of my races, and my husband makes it possible for me to be gone for 18 hours a day! My friends are my constant inspiration, and their positive attitude makes it easier for me to do what I do every day!  If I could do one thing in 2011, it would be to show all of these people my extreme gratitude. They do so much more for me than I could ever do for them!

So as the ball drops into the New Year tomorrow, I will be looking back on my year. No resolutions will be made, but I hope that next year, I can write an even better review. I hope you can too!

Blizzard Running for Dummies

It is winter in Wisconsin, the temperature has fallen to  negative numbers with the windchill, the wind is gusting to almost 50 miles per hour outside, and there is at least 2 feet of snow on the ground. Why not take up the new winter sport that is sweeping (although rather slowly) the frigid frozen north, Blizzard Running!

Blizzard Running requires some form of mental insanity! Not only is it ridiculous, but it is also rather dangerous! Any exposed skin can be frost bitten within a matter of minutes and the danger of being hit by a passing snow plow is all to real. The Blizzard Runner must sacrifice all dignity, as passing motorists will not only give them a dirty look, but also might stop and ask, "do you need some help?", to which the runner must reply, "no, I am just going out for a run."  Be prepared to get a response similar to, "you are crazy", or, "what is wrong with you?"

Proper attire is essential for the Blizzard Runner. First, make sure to wear a very tight and all to un-flattering set of long underwear. On top of that, wear two to three layers of un-matching polar fleece and polyester. Then, layer with a jacket that restricts all movement, a face mask to block your eyesight, and ski gloves.  Proper foot wear is also important. Goretex trail running shoes, gators to keep snow out of your socks, and last but not least, Yak Trax for extra traction, will have you waddling with ease!

Make sure to plan your route accordingly, as gusting winds can make vision nearly impossible. I recommend a 1/4 mile straight away in front of one's home. Pick two very large markers to sight between as mailboxes and road signs can be buried under ridiculous amounts of snow. Run back and forth between these two points until you have gone comatose with boredom, or until you can no longer feel your face!

Finally, make sure to recover properly after your run! Sure some athlete's prefer a fancy protein drink to help promote muscle recovery, but this is Wisconsin people! Instead of recovering after your run, grab a shovel and start to dig through 4 foot high snow drifts that have magically accumulated in front of your garage overnight! Shoveling is great cross training, it hurts your back, freezes your fingers, and with all of the obscenities you will be yelling it also helps improve your vocabulary!

So as you can see, Blizzard Running is about as much fun as running in a frickin' blizzard can be! Grab your worst enemy and get out there today!

Leadville Trail 100 Run 2009

70 is the new 30!

“I am getting too old for this!” How many times do we hear this saying from our friends or feel like saying it ourselves? It seems that the older we get, the more the age excuse seems to slip out of our mouths. Sure, some of our parts begin to wear a little bit, and getting out of bed in the morning does not happen as fast as it used to, but does it mean that as we age we are condemned to a life of Depends and dentures?  I need to be careful when I talk about the aging subject because by most people’s standards I am still a kid, but I am convinced by what I have seen in the exercise world,  that getting older just makes us better.

Recently a long time client of mine celebrated his 77^th birthday. In order to truly appreciate this guy, let me paint you a picture of him. He started training with me when he was 73 because he knew that he needed to push himself more than he already was. In our training sessions not only does he perform some already challenging exercises like squats, lunges and pushups, but recently we have been practicing a standing long jump and jumping rope. When he sees a person half of his age doing a new or challenging exercise that we currently don’t do, he says to me, “we need to try that!”  

At the JFK 50 miler there were two different starting options, one at 5am, and one at 7am. Although most of us chose the 7am start with the 12 hour cut-off, a few brave souls started in the darkness of 5am to give themselves 14 hours to finish. A few of these folks just wanted the extra time, some were struggling with an injury, but many of them were noticeably older than the rest of us! At mile 30, I started to come up upon some of the 5 am starters. I ran into two older gentlemen, 70+, who told me that they walk the race every year. “We finish in just under 14 hours”, one of them said, “but we finish.” I personally, could not imagine walking 50 miles, running 50 miles and being out there for 10+ hours is enough for me! Four more hours of movement sounded ridiculous, especially for someone more than twice my age, but here were two guys that were proving me wrong!

I hope that as I grow older, I can age gracefully like my 77 year old client, and the two gentlemen that I met on the trail that day. There is so much to do in this life, that we truly need all 100 years to experience it all!  Although I think we need to accept the fact that we are aging, we should not automatically hang up our running shoes. Just because we can’t run, doesn’t mean we can move! If you are blessed with good health push forward, and if not, adapt the best you can!  Strive to make 70 the new 30!

"I'll have the salad"

Several years ago, a client of mine was meeting with me for the first time.  As I went through all of the basic questions to try to help determine how we could reach her fitness goals she stopped me and said, “I need to be honest with you. The reason I am hiring a personal trainer is because I really need to look like this!” As she said this she began to dig through her purse to pull out a folded piece of paper which she handed to me. As I opened the folded paper I realized that it was a cut out of a fashion magazine, a size 00 model in next to nothing clothing. “What do you think?” she asked in all seriousness.  This essay is for her…

My first memories of exercise come from high school. My junior prom was coming and I really thought that it was important for me to look my best. Every day after school I would go to the community gym at our local pool and workout for 2 hours. I remember stepping on the scale after several months of working out and dieting, the number read 117 lb. I was happy.

My next exercise memory came when I graduated from high school and went into the working world. The pressure to be thin and beautiful at that age came at me from all angles. I remember comparing myself to every woman that crossed my path. “What size does she wear?” I would silently ask myself. “Does she put dressing on her salad?” At that time of my life I walked one hour every morning before work, worked a physical job for 8 hours a day, went to college, and somehow managed to get to the gym 5 days a week. Size 0, my pants said.  I was happy.

Time went on and another chapter in the exercise novel was written, the day I discovered running. At the time I thought that I had stumbled across a breakthrough to keep me at my hard to maintain size zero. I would run and I would stay thin, “easy”, I thought! What I found is that running wanted to save me from the destruction I had created in my body. The more I ran, the more my body craved fuel. Training for a marathon on less than 1000 calories a day did not compute!   My pencil thin legs rebelled and became muscular columns of locomotion. It was impossible for me to be both a runner, and a starved woman looking for perfection.  The stronger I became, the less important it was for me to be model thin, and for the first time in my life I could say I was actually happy!

So to the woman I met years ago with the picture of perfection in her purse, I ask, what is a tiny pair of jeans worth? Is it worth depriving yourself of everything good in life? Is it worth basing the mood of your day by what the scale says in the morning? Or do we stop worrying about what society says is the ideal and start letting our bodies decide what it the best for us? Challenge yourself to let go of unrealistic expectations and focus on being healthy. Give your body what it requires and it will reward you in surprising ways! And for God sakes, don’t be afraid to buy bigger jeans!

My Mother, Myself

At what time in our adult lives do we surrender to the fact that we are just like our parents? Maybe some of us never do, especially if our childhood was not the “Leave it to Beaver” type. In fact, some of us spend our entire lives trying to live a different life than the one we grew up in. Although I did not realize it as a child, I was lucky! My parents, although tough at times, made me who I am. I am my mother’s daughter, and this became evident to me a long time ago. It was proven again during this weekend’s JFK 50 miler.

I was accompanied to the race in Hagersville, Maryland by my mother, probably my biggest fan! She has been to all nine of my Ironman races, even coming as far as Hawaii to watch me compete.  She is probably one of the most devoted mothers a child could have; this has been proven time and time again as she will drop everything to fly across the country, just to make sure that I had a dry pair of socks to change into at mile 38!

My mother is active, but not athletic. When I was born she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. At one point in her life it was so bad that she had to crawl to my crib, walking was not an option. Thanks to modern technology the RA is under control, but I know that every day she has to will herself to get out of bed because of the constant pain in her joints. Growing up, I never heard her complain. She worked hard, and no matter how much the wind blew, she put her head down and kept going.  You might say, she is stubborn, but I have heard that us Germans can be that way!

I did not admit this to her, but during the race I had made up my mind at mile 32 to quit when I got to the mile 38 aid station. As I plodded through the miles from 32 to 38, feeling the marble size blisters on my feet rub painfully against my shoes, I thought about my mother. She was waiting there for me, with my bag of socks. She had flown over 1000 miles to help me get to the finish, because, “that’s what mom’s do,” she would say! But I knew that most moms would not do that, only mine!  There was no way that I could quit; I was doing this race not just for me, but for her.

As I made my way to the finish line I knew my mom was waiting, just as she always had.  The last 12 miles of agony seemed to melt away as I crossed the line and went to find a patch of grass to rest in until she found me. “Are you good enough to walk she asked?” “Sure” I said rather sarcastically! As I limped down the road to the car she looked at me and with a smile, half serious and have joking she said to me “I could carry you!” What she did not know… was that she already had!

If you can't beat um'... beat um'!

Typically when I am out on my long trail runs I come across several different types of wildlife, if you are a hunter, you would be jealous! It is not at all uncommon for me to find a deer grazing in a meadow, or even a turkey which I will end up chasing down a trail for over a mile while yelling at the poor frightened animal, “I will not eat you, I am a vegetarian!”  Today was different; there was not a deer or turkey to be seen. I did however come across the animal I fear most, the Running Man.

All of us have had an encounter with the Running Man at some point in our lives, in fact maybe some of you reading this are a member of the “Running Man” species. Here is how to identify a Running Man, he stands 6 feet or higher, with long, muscular legs (usually shaved), a determined look on his face and an incredible pace.  I, the Northern European running women stand no chance against my foe; at a measly 5’4” tall, my legs are at least one foot shorter than his and my pace, well… much, much, slower. The only thing we have in common is the fact that we both used a Bic on our legs that morning!

The Running Man seems to prance through the woods like a deer and all the while I imagine that he is probably snickering about my ridiculously slow speed.  I am incredibly jealous of the Running Man. When he crosses my path I pick up my pace and silently think that someday I will be able to keep up with him. I find myself starting to daydream that I and the other Running Men, are prancing down the beach barefoot in out matching white t-shirts like in the movie Chariots of Fire. Then suddenly, I look ahead and the Running Man is gone, I am kicked out of my daydream and back into reality.

There is one thing about the Running Man that I forgot to mention, although we started our runs at the same time, the Running Man finished his much earlier than mine. As I was heading down the trail to start my second loop, I saw him pull away in his car… his run was done, mine was just beginning.  I know that I can never be the Running Man; I will never have his grace or Kenyan like speed, but maybe… I can just run farther than him?  I hope that as the Running Man was pouring himself a cup of coffee after his workout today he thought back to the girl on the trail, he might ask, “I wonder if she is still running?”…

I was.

The Training Program, starting mid January 2011

Week Number	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
1	--	2	4	6	--	14	8	34
2	--	4	8	6	--	16	8	42
3	--	4	8	6	--	16	8	42
4	--	4	8	6	--	18	10	46
5	--	2	4	6	--	14	8	34
6	--	4	8	6	--	18	10	46
7	--	4	8	6	--	18	10	46
8	--	4	8	6	--	20	12	50
9	--	2	4	6	--	14	8	34
10	--	4	8	6	--	20	12	50
11	--	4	10	6	--	23	12	55
12	--	4	10	6	--	23	12	55
13	--	2	4	6	--	14	8	34
14	--	4	12	6	--	25	13	60
15	--	4	12	6	--	25	13	60
16	--	4	12	6	--	25	13	60
17	--	4	8	6	--	10	8	36
18	--	4	12	6	--	28	15	65
19	--	4	12	6	--	28	15	65
20	--	4	12	6	--	28	15	65
21	--	4	8	6	--	10	8	36
22	--	4	15	6	--	30	15	70
23	--	4	15	6	--	30	15	70
24	--	4	15	6	--	30	20	75
25	--	4	8	6	--	10	8	36
26	--	4	15	6	--	30	20	75
27	--	4	15	6	--	30	20	75
28	--	4	10	6	--	10	10	40
29	--	4	--	6	--	10	--	20
30	5	3	2	--	--	100	--	110