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.

Forward Head Carriage

You may have heard the term Forward Head Carriage thrown around, but what does it mean? When you have good posture, when standing up straight, the center of your ear should be directly above the center of your shoulder. It is common for people’s head to drift forward from this position, that is referred to as Forward Head Carriage. 

This type of posture happens when the muscles in the neck get tight, pulling the head forwards, or the upper back has an increased curve. It is caused by long hours spent sitting, especially when in a fixed position looking in front of you, such as working at a desk or driving. Other slouching positions also contribute, such as sitting in a deep comfy sofa whilst playing video games. As the muscles that pull the head forwards are used to assist breathing when you need extra air in your lungs, doing endurance sports such as running or cycling also tends to bring the head forward. So, if you are a triathlete who works in an office and likes to relax in front of the PS3 you can see that you have a lot of lifestyle factors contributing to Forward Head Carriage.

The big question though is why should you care? For each inch the head is forward from its ideal position it is like the muscles in your neck and upper back need to support the weight of the head again. It is not uncommon for us to see a Forward Head Carriage of 3 inches, that places a lot of strain on the neck and upper back, causing tension around your neck and shoulders that can lead to headaches, aching shoulders, restriction of movement, reduced lung capacity, expending more energy than you have to and an attractive hunchback posture. 

The posture is quite straightforward to correct with stretches and exercises that you can do at home. Many clients feel relief from the aching shoulders and headaches in a matter of days of consistent stretching! If you spend a lot of time working at a desk or in the car then these simple stretches can help you avoid falling into bad posture and can help you keep a clear head.

If you would like to see how your Forward Head Carriage is getting on, or are ready to do something about it please give us a call and we can help you get your head on straight again!

Guinea Pig Workout Weeks 6 & 7 - by Carrie Adamson

Sometimes life just takes over. I apologize to anyone who has been following me that I haven’t written a summary for a couple weeks. Like so many others I have other commitments and trying to juggle all of them can be tiring. Like others I am tired, get headaches, or just don’t want to get out and go. You have to want it, always remember the feeling that you get when you’re done and want it. Training, not just exercising is almost like a second full time job. I run six days a week, workout with Alan and Corina three times, so that makes for three days of double workouts. Each one is at least an hour. But it is a commitment I made and put priority on to make it at the top of the list. It competes with other things I do in my life, but I am determined to do it all. So here is what has happened in my training the last two weeks. 

My build weeks came back with a vengeance. Like Alan and Corina said after my recovery week my body did feel light, refreshed, stronger. But one day back at full speed in the studio and I was feeling the burn for sure. My second build session started with two legs days and one upper body. Any exercise that used weights had them increased. My second build week was on arms and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it through. Along with the weight increases I was pretty beat up from my running workouts and not getting as much sleep as I should from being out. I feel like a struggled a bit on my upper body days and there were times in my head I was telling myself I wanted to be done, not finish my sets. So hearing Alan behind me pushing me on to get through makes the biggest difference. I am getting down to the wire, only four weeks to go until my race, so making sure I get the rest and sleep I need is just as important as my running and weight training. 

I am starting so feel some aches and pains from the training. Alan calls them something different, but with his accent I can’t quite tell what the word is. I think it starts with the letter n? My soft tissue recovery work has been a welcomed treat at the end of my weeks. For the first time two weeks ago I was tag teamed by Alan and Corina during my massage, both working on my legs at the same time. Alan worked on both my legs and let Corina be the mean one and really work out the trouble spots making me grimace for the last half. Last week I was still having some trouble in my hamstring, or what I think is my hamstring and Alan taped it up with Rock Tape. This tape felt like it was a gentle stretch, a massage for the few days I kept the tape on. It is almost like a battle scar. I got asked several times what it was and I got to explain it making it seem like I am a trooper for battling through the pain. A cool feeling to have, knowing I am still able to work out and getting the attention my pains are getting taken care of before they become injuries. Just like sleep and rest, listening to your body for the aches and getting them treated is just as important. 

My life has kept me busy, two full time jobs – the one that pays the bills and training for the Boston Marathon plus spending much needed time with my boyfriend, family and friends. I am happy to do it all and hope that I have the right balance of it all. Back to the grind.

Alan’s Top 10 Tips for Enjoying the Holiday Season

1. Enjoy your Holiday party season but remember that once the party has finished the diet and exercise regime must restart. The Holiday Season is long, you just keep exercising between Thanksgiving and New Year!

2. Don’t get involved with New Years resolutions. Make lifestyle changes when you are ready for them rather than just because it is the turn of the year.

3. When you go out drinking, and no I’m not condoning it, try alternating between soft and alcoholic drinks. This will hopefully reduce the amount that you drink and will increase your hydration level.

4. Do not under any circumstance go for the ‘diet’ option. Most of these sugar free or diet foods and drinks will contain aspartame or similar and should be considered poison. Yes that means that if you are going to have a cola mixer in your drink you are better to go for the full sugar option rather than the diet option.

5. To reduce the chances of the kids going hyper supply them with some healthy snacks such as carrots and fruit rather than chocolate. Your aim is to stabilise your kids blood sugar levels, introduce them to healthy food and it also means the times when they do have chocolate they will appreciate it more.

6. Treat your food like we treat exercise, it is quality not quantity that counts. If you are going to have food or drink that you know is naughty then buy high quality, high cost naughty food. This will mean that you will appreciate the food and drink more, you will savour the flavours more and the chances are that you will consume less.

7. If you are going out for your celebration meal and you know that you are a protein type, have a high protein snack before you go out. If you have a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal the chances are that it will be high in carbohydrate rather then high protein so have a suitable snack first. Also remember that you must include your desert in your carb/protein balance, so if you are going to have a desert you may not want to eat your veggies with your turkey!

8. Chew your food, it sounds basic but trust me this makes a big difference. By chewing your food until it is liquid you will take much longer to eat and this will much improve your digestion. Increasing the time it takes to eat will allow your stomach to actually register that you have eaten, this reduces the chances of overeating.

9. Remember that we are open throughout the holiday period so if you fancy a training session on Christmas day or hurt your back while playing with the kids give us a call.

10. Finally, reduce your stress levels by buying your loved ones a voucher for massage or personal training from The Wolf Studio (come on you didn’t think I’d miss an opportunity to plug the business!).

Alan

Stress

Recently I have been attending Chadwell Center for Health (highly recommended!) where Tony reviewed my supplements and ensured the treatments he gave me still held. After a busy week (…month, year, etc) one of the things we had been working on is restoring my depleted body, hence ensuring my supplements were working for me. Unsurprisingly the question of how much I was training came up. I answered 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day, but on further thinking that didn’t ring true.

When I signed up for the Carlsbad Half Marathon and the Stagecoach Century a few weeks ago Alan and I sat down to design a training plan for me. Since the events I have entered only involve running and cycling it would make sense for me to drop the swims in order to give myself more time to recover and focus my efforts on the upcoming events. It surprised me that I didn’t even manage to finish making the suggestion to drop swimming for the time being before Alan told me in no uncertain terms that I should definitely carry on with the swims. The reason was not related to any kind of training benefit I would get.

Alan has been out with me to the Cove where I swim in the mornings a few times. He has been sensible enough to stay warm and dry and practice his photography skills that morning. Each time he has seen me emerge from the water with a HUGE grin plastered on my face. For me those swims are not a training session, they are stress relief, fun and I definitely miss them when they are cancelled.

Alan has had similar experiences with his Iaido. He is so happy and relaxed when he returns from a hard training session. The difference in his mood is very noticeable one day to the next, especially when he needs to miss a session due to us teaching a workshop on a Wednesday night.

We often think of stress as being an emotional or mental thing. It makes us jittery, short-tempered and can disturb sleep. What we often forget is that stress can have a profound effect on our bodies too. When stressed we can’t recover from training as well, come down with more colds and injuries. Have you ever noticed that when you go on an active holiday, even if you are hiking, cycling, running, paddling, sightseeing etc much more than you could handle back home your body feels great? All those aches and pains that you live with day in day out are gone, and they return as you step off the plane? That is a pretty good indication that you are being affected by stress and it is taking a toll on your body.

The best way to deal with the stress is obviously to remove the source. In reality that can be very difficult. Often in life we have things we need to get through in order to get to a better place. These may include job related matters, relationships, moving house and many more. In these cases you then need to find a way to cope, to provide stress relief and make you feel better. For me that is swimming.

When we were learning massage we learnt how to advise people on ways to relieve stress. We learnt to rattle off the standard list of relaxation tapes, meditation, yoga, long walks and of course massage. For many people these work, for others, like me, we need to find other ways.

Training is a stress on your body and needs to be managed. Doing hill reps, intervals, tough strength workouts and a whole host of other nasties that are very necessary for performance improvements take a toll on your body and increase your stress levels. However, exercise can also be very relaxing, Yoga is the perfect example. In fact any form of exercise that is low enough intensity that your body doesn’t get too exhausted and that you enjoy to such a degree that you really look forward to the session can be a form of relaxation.

So the next time you get stressed ditch the training session and go and enjoy yourself instead. Ride your bike on some beautiful forest trails and watch the wildlife. Go for a run with a group of friends and have a good chat. Or swim in the ocean and watch the sun rise over La Jolla Cove whilst the sea lions play in the water. That type of “training” can sometimes do you a lot more good than whatever was on your training plan for the day.

Corina