Motivational Videos: Recent Youtube Favorites

I love motivational videos.  Here are some of my recent faves:

Enjoy!

The Hydration Chest: I unlocked it!

Many of you know that I have been battling some major hydration issues during this training season.  I tried everything, and I just couldn't seem to get it right.  I often drank so much that I felt nauseous but still incredibly thirsty.  I was suffering from indigestion, and this delirious, dizzy feeling that left me feeling utterly drained by the end of each long run.  Well I think I've just about worked out my perfect combination.  I should point out here that, unfortunately, this combination is always completely different for each person.

Pre-run: Vespa!  This is an amazing amino acid supplement in liquid form.  You gulp down a little packet of it and you are promised improved, long-lasting mental clarity.  The amino acid formula is supposed to initiate the utilization of fat, a much more efficient source of energy, instead of glucose.  I've had blood sugar problems all of my life.  My mother and sister suffer from hypoglycemia as well, so I can't believe I hadn't considered that the problems I've been having are related to the way that my body metabolizes sugar far to fast.  I take a gel, it rushes to my bloodstream, gives me an instant high, and then crashes my entire energy stores within 20 minutes.

Pre and during run: Powerade Zero  Apparently all of the gatorade that I was drinking was doing bad things to my energy stability and digestion as well.  Powerade Zero is loaded with sodium, potassium, and electrolytes, but sugar and carbohydrate free.  It keeps me hydrated without the sloshing feeling or the extreme highs and lows.

During Run:  I take one Clif Block (Extra Salt, Caffeine-free) every 7 miles.  If my stomach is starting to hurt or cramp, this seems to calm it down quickly.  I carry two 10 oz bottles on my awesome hydration belt.  The first bottle is full of Powerade Zero, and I drink that within the first 7 miles.  Next I polish off a bottle of Vitargo S2, which gives me a more constant supply of carbohydrates to sip away at.  I station two 20 oz bottles of Powerade Zero along the rest of my route, so that as I empty these first two bottles on my belt, I can refill them with as much Powerade Zero as needed to finish the run.

Post Run: I keep a Nu Go Protein Bar (Dark Chocolate Pomegranate is my favorite) in my car and down one on the drive home from a long run.  This makes sure that my body has the protein that it needs for instant recovery and muscle building as soon as I finish a run.

And in the end... I felt great!  This was the first time ever that I caught myself grinning during mile 17 of a 20 mile run.  Next week I will be repeating this scenario for the IU Mini Marathon!

The Doubt Battle

"Sometimes, the moments that challenge us the most - define us."  - Deena Kastor

Every day we are surrounded by hundreds of dissenting opinions, and a few of those opinions may even be directed at us.  I don't know about you, but I occasionally encounter some negative opinions (expressed both verbally and nonverbally) mixed in with the good.  Normal? I think so.  Why is it, then, that a single negative voice can have such a lasting impact on us?  If we hear a constant mix of the bad and the good, why does the bad always seem so much louder, so much truer, so much more memorable?  Listening to those ever-ringing negative voices more than the positive ones can have such detrimental effects to all areas of our lives, and they become even more dangerous when we hear them enough that the negativity becomes the voice that we repeat inside of our own heads, day after day.

I might be guilty of this more than most, or maybe I'm just not aware of how much other people listen to their own negative little voices all day.  Either way, it cuts into my fitness, my career, and my personal life more than I should let it.  A few weeks ago I went to the track for a very important speed workout designed into the training plan that I am following.  It's called the "Yasso 800" workout.  Basically, after a 1-2 mile warm up, you run a series of six 800-meter repeats at 100% effort, with 400 meters of slow jogging in between to let your heart rate recover (then you run a 1-2 mile cool down at the end).  Everything I've read tells me that this amazing workout is the best predictor of your marathon finishing time according to your current fitness.  If you average all 6 repeats at 4 minutes, you should finish your marathon in 4 hours.  If your time is 4 minutes and 30 seconds, your marathon finish will be 4 hours and 30 minutes.  I was hoping to average out these repeats in 4 minutes each to put me on target for a marathon finish of 4 hours.

I ran the first set and looked down at my watch.  Then I looked again.  Then I squinted and rubbed the sweat out of my eyes before I held the watch closer to my face.  3:28!  That's right, my watch said 3:28, a whopping 32 seconds faster than my goal.  Before I even gave myself a pat on the back, I heard that awful little voice.  "It's only the first set.  There's no way you can hold this for 5 more.  Clearly you didn't warm up right.  Clearly you're doing these wrong, or the articles are all completely wrong."  Suddenly I caught myself.  I realized how ridiculous this was.  Mid-lap I shook my head and shut my eyes, unclenched my fists and shook the tension out of my wrists.  "Let's try this again.  3:28, you ran 3:28!  The work is paying off!"  I realized I was smiling now, and I'd started my second set.  I felt my arm muscles take charge and my feet striking faster.  Throughout the whole workout I did this.  I kept hearing the negativity, feeling it creeping up on me, and then shoving it down deeper, forcing my own praise and realizing that I'd earned these faster times.

I averaged all of my 800s in exactly 3 minutes and 30 seconds.  The negative voice was not ready to give up.  I walked away from the track coming up with all of the reasons that this kind of time really meant nothing that important, that I still had so much more progress to make.  The sound of my own negativity can almost be deafening at times.  I stopped it again though, and I celebrated.  I celebrated this single small victory, and smiled all of the way home, because I don't think that any of us do that enough. Training will break you if you don't celebrate the small victories.  Life will break you if you don't celebrate them.  If you let your whole life pass you by while you are acknowledging all of the tiny things that you could have done better without stopping to truly reward yourself for the daily improvements and milestones that you make, it will all have been for nothing.  The big steps are nothing compared to the hundred small ones we make.

That celebration paid off.  Days later when I was in the midst of an 18 mile run, feeling my fuel running low, the water sloshing in my gut while the rest of my body cried with an unquenchable thirst, I told myself that I surprised myself once this week, and this was one more chance to do it again.  Had I never celebrated that, I would have never been able to conquer my doubts when I needed to most.

Training Updates for Fellow Runners

Quick non-philosophical rundown on how training is going:

Knee pain kicked in two weeks ago.  I was forced to terminate a short, easy run when I felt the pain that I knew was not a typical ache, but a more serious inflammation of my patellar tendon.  I felt it again for most of my long run that Saturday, but I made it through 16 very slow miles.  I spent most of this last week not running.  I replaced each run with swimming, elliptical, or cycling.  I bought some foam rollers and started rolling out my leg muscles at least twice a day.  If you've never tried foam rollers before, do it now.  They hurt so bad that I kind of want to cry while I roll my quads, and I make a lot of painful noises.  Afterward, I feel like a new runner.

On Thursday I broke my running hiatus for my March time-trial.  I went from 7:19:04 on February 1st to 7:13:99 on March 1st.  I know I can do much better next month.  Most of my celebrating afterward was because I felt zero pain in my knee during the trial.

Yesterday I polished off my 14 mile long run.  I started out feeling amazing, probably from the combination of extra foam rolling, stretching, and rest.  I made a rookie mistake and took this as a chance to go way too fast for the first 7 miles.  I made it through the first 10 miles at a pace of 8:10 per mile, and then started to fall apart.  I was walk-running by the last mile.

This week I'm going to continue foam rolling and try to return to my usual running schedule at a controlled, slow pace.  Next Saturday I'm scheduled to run 18 miles.  My goal is to begin at a 10 minute pace and finish at 8:30 or 9.  I am also trying to workout some hydration issues.  Suggestions are very much welcome!  I have been drinking about 10 ounces of gatorade mixed with two scoops of Vitargo S2 for every 16 miles.  I down one caffeinated GU at mile 10 or 11.  Afterward I get really burpy and have some pretty bad stomach cramps, but I feel like I have an unquenchable thirst from mile 10 on.  I just can't get my hydration figured out!  Also, I don't really like GU.  The texture usually gags me.  Does anyone have any gel alternatives that they like?  Help!

Selfish or Selfless?

Have you ever felt guilty about working out?  Like maybe that time should be spent on something more important, less selfish?  I know I have.  People have even made comments.  I love when people tell me things like, "I think it's so great that you run all of the time, but my life is just too busy for that."

Here's what I'm thinking when someone says that.  Every person I have ever met has filled their life completely.  In fact, not just every person, every primate that I've studied does it.  We are allotted a certain number of hours to acquire enough resources, maintain enough social bonds, provide enough care to offspring, and it is up to use to figure out the most ideal trade-off and balance between those things.  We all do it differently, and we all need to.  After all, we are all occupying our own unique micro-niche in the world.  Believe me, I am still figuring out how to maintain my own balance.  I'm trying to earn a PhD, manage several major research projects in the hopes of publication, taking classes, teaching classes, keeping pets alive, being a partner to my fiance, looking presentable, helping my friends, and I would have much more time for those things if I weren't training for a marathon.  Or would I?

My biggest problem with allowing for no exercise in that scenario, is that you will eventually let the entire balance collapse if you have not taken care of yourself.  All organisms need rest.  We need recovery.  We need play.  I chose to do it in a way that recharges me, reenergizes me, and makes my body and brain the healthiest it can be when I shift my focus back to all of those other things.  I can guarantee that every person who claims to be busier has hours that they fill with some other form of play, and if they don't, they are not performing as well at all of their other life commitments as they would without the time away.

This semester, while training the best I ever have, I have become more academically productive than ever.  I've begun to feel like my research is picking up and taking off.  Things are becoming clearer, more cohesive, and more focused than ever.  When I am running, my brain enters a different form of consciousness than at any other time.  I lose control of my thoughts, but I am still aware of them.  I shift so much energy to my heart and my muscles and my lungs, that my neurons begin to fire at random.  What I get is a sort of cleansing or organizing of my thoughts and worries.  I find myself considering my dissertation for a few moments, then my relationships, then back to my research, then onto my house or one of my friends.  After several hours, I feel like I've moved through enough worries to move them each aside, and my body is so exhausted, so sweat soaked and sore, that all of those thoughts fall away.  This is when I shower, sit down, and find an amazing focus and clarity to my work.  This is when my best ideas come to me, when I understand a reading the most.

Most importantly, this is how I've discovered that selfless and selfish are not mutually exclusive.  Spending hours upon hours by myself, running just to run, is definitely not selfless, but it is not selfish either.  It makes me a more cheerful, balanced person.  It makes me a more focused student, a better listener and clearer writer.  I inevitably reach an exhausted point in each day where I feel I can't handle the stress, or I'm losing focus on my work.  This is when I lace up and run it off.  I lose an hour of my workday, but I gain an increase in productivity when I return.

This is why my fiance and I never make one another feel guilty for leaving for a workout.  We are both incredibly busy, and rarely get time together.  It would be easy for one of us to tell the other not to go out today, to stay and and sacrifice.  We understand, however, that taking care of ourselves means being able to take care of one another.  I'd like to think that if I ever become a mother I will be able to maintain this outlook.  I know mothers that, no matter how difficult it occasionally seems, work to keep their physical health and time away from everything as a priority.  I think it makes them enjoy motherhood even more when they're home with their children, and therefore helps their children.

Of course, in the long run, I am already giving any future children a gift.  Each year that I maintain a high level of personal health, fitness, and emotional confidence adds another year of physical self-sufficiency to my long term future.  It means I'll be there for my fiance, my siblings, my whole family once I'm old.  So have you ever felt guilty about taking care of yourself, taking time for yourself?  If you have, remember, taking care of yourself only increases your efficiency in all other areas of your life, so make it a priority.

Wear your pink however you want.

Once or twice a week (depending on how my knee is feeling) I substitute a lunch-hour lap swim for one of my short, easy runs.  I usually arrive just a few minutes before the open lap swim begins, while the IU Master's Swim Team is still having their daily practice.  If you've never heard of a "Master's" athletic team, it's the name given to a group of endurance athletes that are usually 45-50+.  Master's competitions are biggest in swimmers, probably because swimming leaves the least wear and tear on the body, so people who began in their early teens really are masters at it by the time they reach 70.  My guess is that a lot of them are former runners and cyclists as well.  The first few times I arrived early on accident, and felt a little annoyed when I had to sit and wait.  Lately, however, I aim to get in there at least 10 minutes before I'm allowed to enter the pool.  I love to sit and watch them for a few minutes, and I've found that once they're done, I leap into my workout with far more gusto than I do on other days.

Athleticism looks very different on the master team members.  It looks like a self-assured, steady-stroked confidence that I don't see in the perfectly fit 19-year-olds at the larger fitness center across campus.  They swim far faster than me, but this is not so impressive (I've always been one of the world's slowest swimmers.  My body just does not perform the same in water as it does on pavement).  When they swim, it looks so natural and consistent.

These women are nothing like I pictured aging to be when I was a little girl.  Young women in our society are taught to fear reaching the age where they lose control of their bodies and their skin.  We are taught that when you grow up and become a mother, you eventually get old and spend all of your time crying over the loss of purpose and your expanding hips.  The older I get, the more I realize, however, that there are so many ways to grow up and then grow old as a woman, and these ladies are the picture of what I want aging to be.  After their final sets of 50 meter sprints and slow cool down, they peel off their swimming caps and then lounge in the shallow end for a few minutes gabbing about their children's latest problems or the academic or recreational project they've been working on.  They chuckle together and tease, then lift themselves out of the pool and towel off as they enter the locker rooms in small gangs.  They don't look like women that have lost control of their bodies.  These women carry themselves with an air of confidence that you can only earn after years of struggling with identity the way that all of us do.  They own their different balances of muscles, their well-defined quads and rippling shoulders.  My favorite part is the way that they all treat me.  Most women of my age are polite to one another in the gym, but we give one another that infamous glance of comparison.  These women give me smiles of approval or camaraderie.  "Have a nice swim," or "lane's all yours," they always shout as they pass me by.

And this is what I love about sports as a girl.  Athleticism is about control, not finish lines, and not perfect bodies.  When everything else in my life seems to be falling apart or under scrutiny, I have the right to go work out, and I can look however I want to when I do it.  I can wear make up if I want, or not.  I can wear pink or black and any kind of shoes that feel good on my feet.  Female can mean so many more things than I thought it did when I was a tiny child, and these women have spent decades figuring out what it means to them and running with it.

A few days later I was out for a hill run around town.  After the first few miles of hill repeats, I descended into the park for a lap or two of recovery.  That was when I passed a small girl of about 5 years old holding her father's hand.  She had a little pink skirt with frills and big clunky ugg-boots that her little legs were struggling to lift with each step.  We were moving toward one another on the path, me much faster than them.  Her father did not pay any attention to one more runner in the park, but I quickly realized that the little girls eyes were glued to me.  For the first time since I started the run, I became aware of how I must have looked.  Left foot, then right foot striking the asphalt, shaking my sparkling shoelaces in the sunlight as my heals moved from under me to behind in a steady, powerful rhythm.  My arms were swaying at my sides and across my stomach in bright purple flashes of compression sleeves against my black shirt and black spandex pants.  I could feel beads of sweat falling from my bright pink headband that pulled my tangles of blonde curls away from my salty brow.  She was following each step, each swaying arm, and giving me a look that was so familiar.  It was the same stare I'd given those women at the pool, and I felt flushed with pride and responsibility.  I smiled back at her as if to say, "that's right, you can wear your pink however you want."


It's a truth that took me many years to discover, but I'm so grateful that I did.