Go Team

This is short blog to congratulate the members of Coach K Fitness on their running achievements recently.
We had PR's in every race. So let's lay it out.
1. Julie did her best time and best per mile time in the Subaru Distance Classic 6K.
2. Gail did her 1st Half Marathon and lots faster than expected at the Subaru Distance Classic. And
    at the age of 60.
3. Mary did her best Half Marathon time at the Race for the Red fish.
4. Colleen did her best Half Marathon and got 1st place for age group at the Tom Walker race.
5. Debbie did her best Half Marathon and got 3rd for age group at the Tom Walker race.

GO TEAM

36-30

There is soon to be a new focus at Coach K Fitness on the numbers 36 and 30.

The number 36 is used by famous or infamous Dr. Oz as to the maximum waist measurement for men and women. His idea is to focus on this measurement and less on the # on the scale.  I agree with this to a certain point, as there is significant evidence about the correlation of "belly fat" and cardiac disease as well as other systemic problems.

The number 30 relates to Body Fat %. Anything over 30% puts a person into the Obese range, not the layman term of "a little overweight".  I prefer using this method as a person, especially women can have a small waistline but still be obese- hence the fitness term "skinny fat".  For women, this is critical as it puts them more at risks for Osteoporosis, risks for falls and general loss of functional independence.

So stay tuned, as all clients at Coach K Fitness will soon be recording their measurements and taking the appropriate actions to make corrections as needed.

OUCH

Yesterday was quite the learning day.

1.       While running from Santa Fe College at 530am so I could meet up with the track club, I was able to tweak my running technique and have an A-HA moment.

2.       About 20min later, while trying to cut through westside park to find an open bathroom, I learned the importance of don’t get distracted while running in the dark.  I spotted the lit up doorways and did quick change of course. Then a red flag thought- what about those concrete pillars??? 2 seconds later-WHAM. Full speed into one of them, as I had focused on lit up area not my immediate perimeter. BAD.

3.       So I was able to jog/limp and meet up with track club and do bit a stretching before the run. I was thinking “maybe it will just work loose” ha ha ha ha.

4.       After a few miles, it got worse and I was now running/limping at the back of the pack. AARRGGHH.

5.       SO, I shifted into lesson mode- finish the portion of run, then run back to SFC (I had no choice) and use it as a lesson. My thought was during an Ultramarathon I will at some point to a nasty fall, and have to run/limp to a staging area.

6.       Lesson 2- I cancelled my afternoon trail run and went with the wisdom of rest, ice and ibuprofen.

Not often, 1 injury can provide 2 different lessons.

A rose by any other name

This is rare blog post on obesity due to “emotional eating”. In the past month, the topic has come up with clients and business acquaintances. They shrug off their inability to lose weight or even control the weight that they are packing on due to “emotional eating”, As if they were helpless or with this term it is somehow justified.  I know I will probably get hammered for this, but I think it is coping out. It is like saying; I failed in school because I had a bad teacher/parent/neighborhood/whatever.

What if we started using the concept “emotional eating” for “emotional smoking” or” emotional  drunk driving” or “emotional heroin use”.

I know we all have stress and trauma in our lives.

So next time, that emotional distress is so bad that you need to overeat, try a positive behavior like going for a walk, praying for someone in the hospital, go work at a soup kitchen. You will feel better, be healthier and maybe even helped make someone else’s day a little mo better.

Making life mo better is a wonderful thing!

An Open Mind

Yup, it’s a rare and wonderful thing.

AND it actually happened with your Coach today. I took the big plunge and went to try “run the stadium”. This is something that I have bad mouthed for years, as being detrimental to a person’s running technique.  While I still do not favor it as a means for improving one’s running, I do NOW see it as viable means for strength training.

It was my recent struggle with downhill running at the Flagstaff Endurance Run-hosted by the very nice crew at http://www.aravaiparunning.com/  -that made me consider the stadium run.  Since our part of Florida is lacking in decent hills, I have been trying to come up with a training method that will replicate the DF (difficulty factor) of downhill running in real mountains. This could be it for now- other than driving 7hrs to north Georgia.

Remember Train Smarter and keep an Open Mind.       

LOVE THIS QUOTE

""Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated idiot.” —Jim Rohn

Do you think Mr. Rohn would be a fan of training smarter?

If you want different results, you need to change!

Remember the classic saying attributed to Albert Einstein “Insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”

I was reminded of this today when I had finished teaching a class for GCC and ran into a student from a previous class. I asked how his new training program was coming along and got that “nails on the chalkboard “ answer-I don’t have time. BUT he did have time to continue doing multiple group rides during the week. AND he was getting dropped on the hill sections again-just like before the classes.

I just walked away.

 In that series of classes, I stressed over and over that riders would need to break their old habits of social group rides in order to work on weak points.  Easier said than done.

As a Coach, teacher and trainer, it is one of the most frustrating parts of my job. Giving clients new skills and the program in which to develop those skills and they hold on to their hold ineffective patterns.

Part of training smarter, is to realize what is working and what isn’t.

Waiter, I’ll have the Run, with a swim on the side.

Today I set off to do a long trail run and try some new routes. I started from Millhopper Rd- San Felasco Park. Ran through the connecting link, went up a nice hill and ran a very, rustic horse trail that I have not run in a few years. What a treat and cannot imagine why I stopped running it. Then onto the bike trails that lead to park entrance and water fountain on San Felasco north. Re-discovered some worthy trail and got to bottom of the Powerline hill and saw that the “off limits” tape was down from Cellon trail loop that goes to water fountain. BINGO. So I ran that easy trail and actually passed 2 women on mtn. bikes. Then a young runner came from opposite direction and said the trail was dead ended as he passed. WHAT???  I thought, well there are no official signs up and maybe he means there is still some standing water that would stop the mtn. bikers- but surely not Ultra Marathon runners!.

So I get to the “dead end” and see lots of water. HMMM. I do a quick test across small pond and it is only knee deep. By then the Mtn. bike women have caught up and we discuss the situation. They are going back as they cannot carry bikes through all that water. I decided to go for it as I can see the landmark for water station and think it is about ¼ to ½ mile at max. Plus after last weekend’s bonk and first time not EVER finishing a race, I was not about to stop because of a little water.

So I started sloshing thru, get to next dry area and line up with telephone poles and slosh again. Now the water gets a bit deeper, and soon it is waist high. HMMM. No problem, not that far to go. Soon it is chest high and I am holding my water bottle up and let my camelback get soaked. Next thing, I am swimming! I decide to do slow dog paddle style and try to keep water bottle clean from swamp water, plus this is a very quiet swim-DO NOT want to attract gators or worse those water moccasin snakes. The swim goes on and on much longer than I imagined, but am getting closer and a bit “worried”.  This is when I need those Navy SEAL guys from yesterday, who could wrestle the gator with 1 arm or have a knife stashed for snakes.

Finally I make it to the end of “pond” and crawl onto dry land, covered with green algae, YUCK. But, it would have made for great hardcore photo- if I had one of those camera gizmos and carried stuff like that when I run.

The swim did serve nice purpose, as I forgot to put on Aquaphor anti chafe gel in AM, so this washed off all the sweat and dust. Soon I was at water station and refilled my bottle for the run back to square 1 and washed off all the gunk.

While I was in middle of swim I was thinking of quote used by Chris Martinez –check his website. http://360moabadventures.com/site/?page_id=22

 –he has coolest job around-“you are never lost in the middle of an adventure”. Chris is race director for Red Hot 55 Ultra out in Moab and also does guided runs in the area. The Red Hot race is gorgeous and living in the Moab area is high on my list.