I think I’m getting old! - Corina's Marathon Blog

After my distractions of last week I thought I was back on schedule, then there was another little distraction … Judo! Alan has been practicing martial arts at a dojo in Poway and was asked by his Sensei to teach a one-off Judo class to the other students. Alan has been practicing Judo since he was 7 and has been teaching since the age of 16. We actually met at the University Judo club many years ago, so Judo is something special to both of us. Alan asked me to assist him in the class, as I had done for many years. I haven’t practiced Judo for about 5 years but I was glad to see that my body still remembered how to do it. The class went really well and I spent much of it being thrown by many of the students. 

That was all great. It was later that day that the realization that I was no longer 18 kicked in. I was aching all over, both arms were covered in bruises, my shoulders felt as if they had been pulled out of their sockets and I had a pulled muscle in my leg that hurt whenever I lifted it up, even for putting on shoes and driving the car. Alan was a little worse for wear too (his bruises were slightly more impressive than mine!).

Come Monday I had big plans, swimming, followed by tennis, then a long run. None of that happened. I woke up, drove Alan to work, emailed my tennis partner to say I was taking a sickie, then I went back to bed for another 2 hours.

My body was coming back together by Tuesday and I was ready to run again properly by Wednesday. My week ended up completely jumbled as usual but I managed to get the important runs done. It was all worth it for having that special Judo experience again.

Finally I’m Swimming!

Yeah I know that a few weeks ago I said that I had entered the Sharkfest event in San Francisco and that I would be posting regular blogs, the truth is that I haven’t been into the water… until now…

On Sunday morning at 6am I finally went swimming in La Jolla Cove with Corina. I haven’t been swimming in the ocean for a few years and it was a bit of a shock. A couple of years ago I had a bad experience swimming while on vacation and I nearly drowned, I haven't really been in the ocean since. I am an ok swimmer, not fast but not too slow, I have good technique but at Napoleonic 5’4’’ I will never be too fast (actually Napoleon was an unnaturally tall 5’6’’). I have swam in lakes in the cold and wet summer of England and that was the last time I did any real distance swimming outdoors.

Adrenaline is a funny thing… I had waited for my first swim until Corina deemed the conditions right for me to get back into the water, Sunday was the day. I wanted to get it over with early so I found myself squeezing into my wetsuit before most people were out of bed. Yes the water was cold, I was expecting that, yes I was a wee bit nervous, I was expecting that, I wasn’t expecting to freak out every time I saw a piece of seaweed! Ever since I told people that I was going to do the Sharkfest people have been telling me about shark attacks… I didn’t think that this had gotten into my head but it obviously had…

I managed to swim as fast as Corina, but I was swimming on pure adrenaline. I would put my head down and swim for 10-20 seconds and then freak out because I saw something in the water below, get an adrenaline rush and swim faster. After a burst of sprinting I would run out of breath and then need to stop, after catching my breath I would restart, see something in the water and then freak out and then start the cycle again… My first swim only lasted about 20mins. I only went a couple of hundred meters, which is ridiculous, but at least I broke my duck.

Did I enjoy it? No. Will I do it again? Yes.

I really enjoyed lake swimming, no waves, no Alan eating wildlife, and I know that Corina loves swimming in the Cove. I will overcome my fears and I will get used to ocean swimming again.

Alan

My First Baseball Game

On Sunday I went to my first baseball game with my friend Ken Williams of KWD Photography (not so subtle plug). The question I get asked when I tell people that I went was did I enjoy it, this is swiftly followed by an apology about how bad the team is. 

To say that baseball is just not cricket is cliche, but hey we are in California! There was no polite clapping and though I found the sledging given to the opposing team to be surprisingly tame! I found the whole experience quite overwhelming, the sights, sounds and smells were like an overload to my senses. It is amazing what people will eat at these events, not sure where some of the food consumed sits on the food pyramid… smelt great though! 

My understanding of baseball comes from two very different sources, films like Major League (whatever happened to Charlie Sheen...) and Field of Dreams (build it and they will come...). The other source of my limited baseball knowledge comes from reading dozens of papers on throwing injuries. Pitchers shoulders provide millions of dollars each year to orthopedic specialists and it is a fascinating field to work in. So yes, I didn’t understand the rules, and yes I was watching the pitchers warm up to see if they were suffering for any gleno-humeral instability (sore shoulders) and yes I half expected the crowd to erupt into a rendition of “wild thing”… 

Baseball is a game much like cricket, it is full of statistics, nothing happens for ages and that is meant to be exciting, it is quite inaccessible for those not brought up in the game but at least it doesn’t last for 5 days only to end up in a tie!

Yes I enjoyed my first baseball game. I was with my friend, in the sunshine with our cameras.. what more could a man want…

Alan

Work/Life Balance in Marathon Training??? - Corina's Marathon Blog

It feels like a bit of a scam calling this a marathon blog this week. I have only managed one 4 mile fun run and won’t get any more in before the weekend. My work/life balance has been a bit out of balance this week!

There is a temptation to just cram everything in and worry about the consequences later, but I have been in this business too long, and have lectured too many clients about it to do that. Our bodies can handle only so much stress. There are lots of things that count as stress, including work, personal and emotional stress, lack of sleep, bad food, money stress and also exercise. Yes, I know, exercise can be relaxing and a great way to recover from stress but it can also take you the other way. This week I felt that I was already reaching my limits before running so I tried to be sensible.

Our business is changing. We are growing, expanding and trying out some new avenues. This has kept us very busy. It’s a positive stress, but a stress nonetheless. If my primary goal in life was to run a marathon I would need to cut back on the work stress to allow myself to focus on the running. But it’s not, the marathon is a fun goal that I am doing as a hobby. It is important but right now work has to come first.

It is a challenge we face with many clients. How do you fit everything in that you want to do? Often you can’t so it is about making choices and compromises that will give you the best overall results long term. It may mean changing your goals or accepting that you can’t have it all. Other clients tell us that exercising and getting fitter is the most important thing in their lives but they can’t fit it in. Well, if it is truly the most important thing than you can take other things out of your life to make time, but usually what they actually mean is it is important to them after making money, family commitments and socializing. That is fine, just be honest with yourself about it.

I have had to be honest with myself this week and I have questioned my decisions all the time. But I know that if I focus on work a little more right now I can look forward to reduced stress and running more in the future.

Lovin’ Runnin’ - Corina's Marathon Blog

Back into the heavy training. My week started with being super busy at work so I didn’t manage to get my Monday run it until Wednesday. That being an 11 mile run, further than I have run in several months, meant I was nervous about it until Wednesday as well. Once I did get going though it all went good. I ran strong and most importantly I enjoyed myself. To catch up on my missed runs I added another 6 miles plus strides in on Thursday. My legs felt tired but they still functioned. The strides actually felt great to do. I have a habit of my legs turning to lead and just shuffling along. In the past strides have helped me a great deal get a bit of spring in my step. It was good to be doing them again, stretching my legs out more and feel like I was gliding.

One thing that I reached for this week were my compression socks. I have the discussions often with clients whether compression works and whether it should be worn during or after training. My answer to that is that it is a completely individual choice. Personally I love wearing my compression socks after training to help my recovery. I don’t feel they give me any advantage during training so I don’t wear them. Other people feel differently and prefer to wear them during training. The best advice is to try compression at different times and see what helps you the most.

I like using socks the most as I get most of my aches from running in the calves. Again, try out different garments to see which ones work best for you. Within the different brands by personal preference is for Zoot. Their garments are made on a circular loom meaning that the compressive force is even distributed around your body and not concentrated over the seams where it doesn’t do you much good. The other company that manufactures their garments this way is CompressSport, they are just now reaching the US, I have some of their clothing and I love those too.

Keep running :-)

Recovery week, and not a moment too soon - Corina's Marathon Blog

This last week has been my recovery week, and I needed it. Every 4th week during my training schedule I take a week where I cut my mileage down to half. This allows my body to recover whilst I still maintain my fitness. It means I can train harder the other 3 weeks but still recover well, so I make progress faster and prevent burnout and injuries (except for when I bump into furniture…)

The end of last week was the end of my 3rd week of hard training. I had been feeling OK but the accumulated training hit me hard all of a sudden. The day before I had done a 10 miles run on tired legs, followed by a 1.5 mile swim and then 6 hours at the Junior League Summer Style Soiree held in Fluxx nightclub in downtown San Diego. I was “helping” Alan and Ken with the photography, which mostly involved standing around and guarding their equipment, but it felt hard work doing it in heels! 

The following morning I was exhausted. My whole body hurt and I had huge bags under my eyes. That lunchtime we did a short photoshoot to give us some tennis images to use on our advertising. I was dressed in tennis clothes with a strappy top and swinging a tennis racquet. I haven’t played tennis in 25 years so it was just as well I only need to pose with the racquet and not hit anything. The shoot went fine but that afternoon my shoulders started itching under my t-shirt. I checked them in the mirror and found I had the most humungous sunburn! By the following morning I didn’t want to put my running bra on it was so sore. I spent memorial day weekend hiding inside wearing any off-the-shoulder clothing I could find and applying aloe-vera several times a day. So much for an uneventful training week. I missed a few runs whilst my skin healed. My first run back during the recovery week was a 6 mile easy run and I was so well rested I felt like I had some rockets strapped to me! 

I have just written my training program for the next 4 week block, 3 hard weeks and a recovery week. It looks a little scary right now. Best get in some more resting...

If it is on you, then it is in you!

The type of massage cream/wax/oil we use is very important.

Over the years Corina and I have used all sorts of creams, oils, rubs, potions, liniments and waxes. Some were sweet smelling, some horrible, some warming, some cooling, some slippery and some sticky. The cream, wax or oil that we apply to the skin to increase lubrication is known as a massage medium, it can be solid like a massage powder, liquid like an oil or in-between such as a cream or wax. After a day of massage we often found that we could be sweating out the massage medium for a couple of days.

Aromatherapy is based around the fact that we absorb chemicals through our skin. This is the same principle that allows a topical analgesic to work. Neither Corina or I are aromatherapists, but we do acknowledge that what is in the massage medium we use can have a profound effect on the client.

One time a client asked me to perform his massage with a well known over the counter ‘pain relieving gel’… the gel took the skin off the ends of my fingers after about half an hour… The next time he asked me to use the gel I told him that I would only do it wearing gloves. We got the same benefit with my usual massage wax without any of the nasty side-effects of the gel.

At The Wolf Studio we use Tui Wax, and we have used it for the last six or seven years. This is an organic bees wax from New Zealand, that is lightly scented using essential oils. It is a little more expensive than other products but is an excellent natural product that naturally moisturizes and gives excellent grip for massage. We have Tui Wax to sell in the studio, rose and sports wax, the cost is only $30 for a 100g tub.

If you know an aromatherapist in the San Diego area who may be interested in renting some space in our studio get them to give us a call, we would love to offer this service to our clients.