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.

I was born with the Clumsy gene - Corina's Marathon Blog

I seem to have a talent for finding ways of avoiding training at the beginning of the week. Last week it was the rain, this week I brought out my inner clumsy. On Sunday, my day off from training, I was wandering around out apartment and gently bumped into some furniture. I’m not sure what happened but I must have caught the corner just right and went down clutching my knee. 

By the following morning a deep bruise had developed at the top of my kneecap, it hurt to bend my leg and it was even sore having the weight of my trousers push on the bruise. Luckily I have a great therapist close at hand and he happily obliged when I asked him to tape up my knee, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

I’ve had tape on before when I have walked into objects and hurt myself. It is truly miraculous. The pain reduced immediately, I was able to bend my leg better and I could no longer feel the injury during normal activity. By the following day it had healed up enough for me to try a run, after carefully selecting an outfit that would complement the tape. Amazingly the tape gave it enough support that I could complete my 7 miles without problems (well, without problems to my knee, I did manage to get a sunburn…). 

I managed to catch up my missed run the rest of the week and completed my longest run so far, 10 miles.

Next week is recovery week where I cut back on my mileage and allow my body to recover. Hopefully I’ll be able to get through at least one week without any drama.

Corina

A Year in Review

It is a year since Corina and I boarded that plane which took us from the UK to the USA, so it seemed appropriate to write a blog post reviewing the year.

If we thought that getting the Visa to come into the USA was hard (and it was unbelievably hard) we were ill prepared for how hard things would be once we got here…

In the UK our business had grown organically over 10 years, we were accepted as experts in our field and we had an established base of wealthy influential clients. All of this gone could we survive? We thought so, but we were also aware that most businesses fail within the first year.

It took far longer to get the studio up and running than we thought. We made some poor choices, we took some bad advice and some people put their hands in our naive pockets… But we have ended up with a beautiful professional studio and most of our sanity...

Personally I have found my passion since arriving in the USA. Before I came over I was struggling to find my niche. Now I train every day with my sword, attending Iai class twice a week, I am an associate photographer (!) with KWD Photo, I have just taken up golf and signed up for a swimming event that will take me under the Golden Gate Bridge. Music has always been important to me and since coming over I have seen my favorite band Motley Crue, I have seen Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith and Sammy Hagar, what is not to love about the USA?

I now attend networking events in order to build our business. I call clients, Facebook, write blogs, newsletters anything to drive business towards us. This is all new and way outside of my comfort zone! I started the year as a personal trainer and massage therapist, I am now an exercise consultant and a business owner.

Now I love Starbucks coffee, I savor a good cup of Darjeeling, and I miss lamb. I have found out that I love the NFL and the UFC, and I have been surprised to find that some Americans actually have a sense of humor!

Americans love our accents. Many think that English, Scottish and Welsh are interchangeable titles… And for some reason Americans think that the Scottish and the Irish don’t get along, whereas in reality we are united by a loathing of the English!

We have been amazed at the generosity of some people we have met, and disappointed by others we thought were friends. Corina and I have made friends we know we will keep for life.

Overall this past year we have been on a roller-coaster, we have had more low points than high points. Corina and I have both shed far too many tears and lost far too much sleep worrying about the business and about money. If I had any hair left it would be grey for sure!

At the end of our first year we are still here, we know that in order for our business to be successful we will have to continue to go through growing pains, and we know that it will be all worth it.

We both love our adopted home, we gave up so much to be here, and we have found it hard. A year on there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Alan

Did Lance Armstrong take performance enhancing drugs and does it matter?

In the recent 60minutes TV show various riders, most prominently featured Tyler Hamilton, said that they saw Lance Armstrong taking banned performance enhancing products including the blood booster EPO and the steroid testosterone. 

I have a poster in the studio celebrating Lance Armstrong’s 7 Tour de France victories. Should I take it down? Should I take it down if Lance is convicted of defrauding the cycling community by taking banned substances?

Lance Armstrong has never tested positive (?). He was dominant in an era or cycling where doping was endemic, systematic and effective. Lance Armstrong has never tested positive.

Lance Armstrong came back from testicular cancer that nearly killed him, this is not in question. Lance Armstrong is the greatest cyclist of his generation, this is not in question. All of his competitors have been busted for taking performance enhancing products. Nearly all the cyclists that he had to beat to win his 7 victories in France have tested positive. He won when everyone else was dirty, if he was dirty did this just level the playing field?

Regardless of what Lance did or did not take, he is the face of modern road cycling. Lance Armstrong promoted the sport of road cycling beyond what anyone has ever done or will ever do. His story is that of true survivorship.

Does it matter? Yes, because it does tarnish his reputation. This however does not diminish his achievements in surviving cancer, winning those Tour victories, popularizing cycling, inspiring millions and setting up his charitable foundation.

Lance Armstrong is the greatest endurance athlete of his generation and maybe ever. He has inspired millions of people, helped millions of cancer sufferers an survivors, he co-wrote the greatest sports biography ever “It’s not about the bike.”, he is a true legend.

I will not take be taking down my Lance Armstrong poster.

Alan

I don’t like the rain! - Corina's Marathon Blog

Week 2 of my marathon adventure didn’t start quite as planned. We moved to a new apartment over the weekend, so I had 2 days of carrying furniture and boxes up and down stairs. I’d like to say it was a great workout but I can think of more fun ways to get fit! Anyway, my legs were still toast on Monday so I kept delaying my scheduled run hoping to feel better later. Predictably as the afternoon and evening rolled in I was not in the mood to run and just wanted to curl up on the sofa. I’ll do the run tomorrow…

Tuesday and my make-up run didn’t happen either, this time because of the rain. I could say that I am a complete wimp not wanting to go out when it’s raining but instead I’ll take it as a sign of how well I have adapted to the California lifestyle! In Scotland if you don’t go out training when it rains you wouldn’t get much training done at all. I was used to just slinging on an extra layer and heading out into whatever the weather had in store. Over here you know it will be beautiful again later in the day so it doesn’t seem as urgent to head out when its nasty. 

Wednesday and I had the alarm set early to head out for the 8 mile run I was nervous about. I haven’t run this far in a few months and wasn’t completely convinced I was up to the challenge. But… I could hear the rain pelting down whilst I was still lying in bed, so I stayed there and told myself I would definitely do it later. This time Alan helped and reorganized my schedule for me so he could push me out of the door at 3pm. Off I went with my Garmin GPS watch dusted off and freshly out of retirement. I explored some new routes, took some wrong turns and managed to find just about every hill in Rancho Santa Fe! But 8 miles later I was still going strong, confident that I was stronger than I had given myself credit for and looking forward to the rest of the week that didn’t contain any more drama or inconvenient rain.

Sharkfest

I have a small obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge, I am from Newcastle Upon Tyne and we have quite a famous bridge there: The Tyne Bridge, but the Golden Gate Bridge has always held a unique fascination for me. It has been over 12 years since I first saw that wonderful red structure spanning the bay in San Francisco, Corina and I were on honeymoon, it was my first time in the USA and I remember being awestruck by this bridge that I had seen a million times on TV. On a recent trip to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary I took over 1000 images of the bridge… trust me I am obsessed, and I think that it is one of the most beautiful and iconic sights in the world. 

I studied geology at university, I graduated with an honors degree and in my final year I spent a great deal of time studying the fault patterns on the West Coast of the USA and the infamous San Andreas Fault. Maybe it is because I know that San Francisco will suffer a catastrophic earthquake, maybe it is the history of Alcatraz and Angel Island or the beautiful vibrant city overlooking the bay, there is something magical about that bridge. When I first started to date Corina she had this sweatshirt from a trip to San Francisco that had the Alcatraz Triathlon motif on, I always thought swimming from Alcatraz was insane! 

There are dozens of triathlon races that start from Alcatraz and race through San Francisco, and I have often thought about doing them. I have always wanted to swim in San Francisco Bay and when Corina and I wrote down our lifelong ambitions this was one of mine. We have researched the various races and accompanied swims that take place in the bay but never really got down to actually doing it. Most of the swims go from Alcatraz to the presidio but don’t go under the bridge. Then last week I saw the email from envirosports which announced the inaugural Golden Gate Sharkfest a 1.6mile swim from the South Tower of the bridge to Sausalito…

The plan is that myself and a bunch of other nutters will be dropped off by ferry into the water and then will swim under the bridge to Horseshoe Cove on the north side of the headland. The cut off time is 80mins, this should be achievable but I have not been in the water for 2 years! 

The race happens on October 22nd this is the Saturday following the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco that Corina is running and two days after my 37th birthday! So the timing couldn’t be any more perfect, we took this as fate and a good omen. I get to watch my wife pick up a Tiffany’s necklace finishing the Nike Women’s, I get to spend my birthday in one of my favorite places and then I get to fulfill a lifetime ambition by swimming under the bridge HOW FANTASTIC IS THAT?

I will be Blogging about my journey towards Sharkfest, so please sit back in the warm and dry and enjoy the trip with me!

Alan