Skip to main content

Today's LSD, Nutrition & an Intro to Advanced Run Form

This morning's LSD was a 16K. Here are my stats at RunKeeper- not bad.

I am trying really hard to follow the formula to race day. I was in bed early and although it was really hard to drag myself out of bed at 7AM on a Sunday, I was really looking forward to this training run. It rained lightly the entire time and we were drenched at the end. I had one running buddy from clinic who kept pace with me and we clipped along pretty well. On our gentle decline stretches we picked up pace to 4:00 + change. We finished strong and of course had the usual traffic interruptions to factor into our average times. We ran 15:1 intervals, skipping the first walk break (we were barely warmed up and just getting our groove) and using stop light delays in lieu of walks instead of taking both. We were disciplined enough to choke back a Gu gel- plain w/caffeine. It was a great run and I am feeling race ready.

Once home I hit a very hot shower to warm up and went straight to my replenishment meal. Ben makes a mean homemade pasta- for real. He also made a delicious Carbonara sauce, tabouli, spicy pimento cabbage chutney and homemade mayo for our veggie sticks. This is sensible and delicious fuel for training. I also had a slice of homemade toast with butter and a glass of water; and coffee of course. I estimate this to amount to about 550 calories- that seems like a lot for me to eat in a single sitting, but after an LSD I am replenishing the 900+ calories I just spent.

Yesterday I blogged about an interesting conversation/assessment I had with Julia Di Paolo of Physio Excellence regarding core function and run form. I have spent years of conditioning and training to improve my run form for 2 reasons:
  1. Less risk of injury- I want to be running when I am 60. Every injury is a set back and these chronic obstacles will impact the longevity of our sport on many levels.
  2. More effortless running- it is hard enough. Anything that will help my run to be more enjoyable is golden!
This year training for the Chilly Half and the Mississauga Half I have logged many km's over 8 months of solid training. I have spent my attention on form, refining it as much as I can. Julia left me with some insight into core function that I believe will help me further refine my core set both during exercise and also daily activities- active posture. I will be blogging about my training as I tackle these adaptations- it's a lot to cover so I'm going to break it down into the following:
  • Engaging the core while maintaining alignment
  • Controlling the breath while maximizing VO2
  • Optimizing core set with the lean form
  • Effective Thorax rotation
Working with these visualizations I adjusted my form today and had a remarkable run. I look forward to training over the coming weeks approaching race day and I will let you know how my refined form approach is working! Stay tuned.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kate's Guide to Getting the Correct Sports Bra!

I wear an unusual size and it took me years to unlock the secrets to bra fitting (and finding!) I suffered for years in improperly fitting bras, and during exercise I would wear 2 or 3 just to get the support I needed.  E very woman needs support while performing sports; not having proper support means that there is extra stress put on the back during various activities. Even low-impact exercise s done without the support of a sports bra can result in strain on the upper back and shoulders that can result in pain or worse- injuries that may develop over time. Sports bras affect a woman’s posture. Exercising without support can result in slouching to prevent painful bouncing which throws the back and hips out of alignment and impedes form, leading to potential injury. The most common mistakes are when women wear a bra that is too small in the cup and too loose around the body for example a 38e instead of a 36f. Note: When you go down a band size, go up a cup! Step 1: T

I don’t have a Diastasis- Why is my abdomen still distended postpartum?

I get asked this question all the time! Here is my answer: Research has shown that 100% of pregnant women will develop some degree of diastasis recti. A diastasis is a lateral separation in the abdominal wall between the recti or “six pack”, due to a stretching of the midline connective tissue or “linea alba”. Although some diastasis will heal postpartum, in many cases a separation will remain without restorative exercise. Distention from DR will present as a doming in the midline. Women who heal a diastasis spontaneously or through restorative exercise may still find that their abdomens are distended, particularly after a meal and/or at the end of the day. If there is no diastasis, why is this? This abdominal distention does not occur in the midline, but rather across the entire abdominal wall. This is due to a weakened hypotonic TVA- transverse abdominis muscle. The TVA is the deepest anterior abdominal muscle, wrapping around the midsection like a girdle, with a left an

BulletProof Coffee

I have a client who regularly makes us a cup of BulletProof coffee before our workouts. I have come to enjoy its flavor. BulletProof Coffee is simply black coffee blended in a blender (not mixed with a spoon), with clarified grass fed butter (Ghee) and a medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil (Coconut oil works). Apparently there are benefits to brain function by blending healthy fats with your morning coffee. Also it has ketonic diet sympathies, as the fasted body in the morning continues burning healthy fat as energy, reducing hunger and helping with weight management. This is my understanding, anyway. I find it tasty and it perks me up :) Interested in making this for myself, I went to Amazon looking for products. Here is what I found- typical of protein powders and health food supplements, I found a lot of packaging and marketing. This BulletProof coffee package which costs $75.99 for coffee and some hyped up coconut oil? Then there is this Ghee at $57.99. As I added thes