The Art Of Running

Laura and I have really gotten some motivation to start running again now that we have a goal. Monday I went out for a run, just to get my legs back into a 'running mode.' After a few weeks of not even jogging it didn't take long for my legs to start hurting and really feel that burn. Wow, I remember why I said "I never want to be out of shape." The pain of getting my legs back under me and running isn't exactly fun, but I know it's gotta be done to get where I am going. It makes it easy to understand why the majority of people don't enjoy running; it's simply too painful and hard to do.

My run on Monday was a simple 2 mile route on the mountain. The first mile was like taking a sledge hammer to my shins! OUCH! I clearly have conditioned my legs for hiking because I immediately could feel a relief when I started running up hill, but any time I was running downhill or on the flats it wasn't good. That right there is enough to make anyone stop. I decided that I am going to have to do some stretching and conditioning to get my legs accustom to running again. The best thing for shinsplints, I have found, is a simple exercise called 'toe raises.' We did them in high school all the time for cross country. It's as simple as standing next to a wall for support and pointing your feet straight ahead. You then raise up on your toes and then back down to the heels. Repeat that 10 times and then point the feet outward or in a V position as you look down. Do 10 raises and then point the toes together like an A, once again 10 raises. Now, the key is to be able to do 10 of them for each one and then one they become easy then do 15 or 20. By my senior year of high school I was doing about 50 for each position.

After the toe raises, turn your back to the wall and lean against it. Place the heel of one foot against the wall and place the other foot at the toes of your foot against the wall. This will place your feet about 9-13 inches off the wall, but proportional to your height. Instead of raising up on your toes, rock back on your heels to raise you toes into the air. This works to strengthen the muscles in the front of the shin and keep shinsplints from occurring.

So I have been doing those exercises and this morning my run went smoothly. I just ran for 25 minutes and cruised along around 8 minute mile pace. Around 20 minutes I could feel my legs starting to tire and become heavy, that's when 'survivor mode' kicks in - just finish and keep going at a pace that isn't quite a jog. You know what I am talking about if you have ever been in a race and went out too fast, you lose your legs but you still can keep a good enough pace to finish a decent time, however you could have done better.

I'm getting my training schedule figured out and I am planning to officially start training in May. I am also going to keep track of my weight so I can see the progress of that as well. So far I have dropped about 5 pounds!

We won our ultimate frisbee game last night, we are now 3-0 for the spring league and we are starting to look pretty good. Everyone is learning to play new positions and word of our ability is spreading around, we are definitely one of the teams to beat now. I have been playing pickup at the park with everyone on Monday and Friday, that is a good way to stay in shape and have a good time as well. Not only do I get a few extra miles of running in, but I get to play ultimate while I am at it!

Well, that about does it for now. I've got a list of things to do again today, you would think I would be out of stuff to do by now, but somehow I keep adding more and more stuff to my list. I don't know how it happens, but there is always something to be done. Until again

-=Nolan=-