Cotton Candy, Sweet-n-Low, Let Me See That FOAM ROLL!

This weekend I spent some quality time FOAM ROLLING after my long run.  It was yet another treadmill jaunt, due to the insane heat.  Not too shabby, though - I completed 10 miles in 1:33:00 which I was happy with.  I have to say, 10 was tougher for me than 9 was last week.  I don't know what the cause, but I DO know that my secret sauce once again saved me from cramping, which was a great feeling!

I had never used the foam roller before, but after that 10 miler Saturday, I was SORE!  So Sunday, I spent some time rolling around, probably making the most unattractive faces possible - that thing is PAINFUL!  But I must say, I felt surprisingly better afterwards.

Today, I found some tips from an article in Runner's World, called "On a Roll" and I definitely will be using some of these moves in the near future:

 
- CALVES Put the roller under a calf. Rest your other foot on the floor. Roll from the ankle to below the knee. Rotate the leg in, then out. Stack ankles to add pressure.  





 

- ILIOTIBIAL BAND Lie on your side with the roller near your hip, rest your other leg's foot on the floor. Move along your outer thigh. Increase pressure by stacking your legs.
  



 
 

- PIRIFORMIS Sit on the roller and place one foot on the opposite knee. Lean into one buttock and roll forward and back, using your supporting leg to control the pressure.

 - HAMSTRINGS Place the roller under your thighs. Roll from the knees to the buttocks. To increase the pressure, roll one leg at time, turning your leg in and out.  




 

- ADDUCTORS Lie on your stomach with one leg extended slightly to the side, knee bent. Place the roller in the groin area of the extended leg and roll the inner thigh.  

- QUADRICEPS Lie on your stomach with a roller placed under the front of your thigh and slowly roll up and down from the bottom of your hip to the top of your knee.

SOURCE: "On a Roll" From the May 2010 issue of Runner's World 

HYDRATION BELT UPDATE: I bit the bullet and bought one of the hydration belts on my top 4 list but ended up being REALLY disappointed with it.  This weekend, I will be purchasing a new one and hope to have an update to share!
 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Happy Friday :)  I am counting down the hours until tomorrow because my college friends and I are meeting up for a long weekend trip to my favorite city - CHICAGO!!  Because I am such a jet setter, I had to change my training schedule a bit this week, and did my long run (9miles) this morning instead of tomorrow.

Yesterday, I spent some quality time planning out a route for this morning on MapMyRun and was ready to go. After thunderstorms all night, I woke up to muggy skies and checked the weather forecast, which predicted thunderstorms within the half hour.  So, begrudgingly, I grabbed my keys and went to the gym where I did my 9miler on the treadmill.  I was pretty bummed not to be outside on my hand-crafted route, but didn't have a choice, I wasn't game for getting struck by lightning.

The good thing about the treadmill is I was able to keep up a great pace and finished the run in 1:22:30.  I also discovered THE SECRET SAUCE.  Yes, secret sauce:

Every .5 miles I alternated swigs of water with swigs of Lemon Lime Gatorade.  Until now, I have only been drinking water on my runs (and admittedly not enough). Usually, whether I'm running outside or on the treadmill, I have been cramping on my right oblique about 2-2.5 miles in.  BUT NOT TODAY!  And the only thing I did differently was add Gatorade to my hydration.  I also had 1/2 of a banana before my run, so the added potassium may have helped too.  Either way, I'm stickin too it!  I'm also happy, because Lemon Lime Gatorade is what will be served at each water station at the Marine Corps Marathon and this picky chica happens to ONLY like the lemon lime flavor :)

I have to be sure to drink a lot today, because my muscles are already screamin' at me and its only noon...

TOT (Training on the Treadmill)

 

TAKE ME BACK!

Welp, we're back from Mexico, but the weather surely doesn't feel like it!  It was bad enough that while on vacay it was too hot to run outside, but when I came home I expected to be able to pick up right where I left off with my outside runs.  Wrong.

Because the heat and humidity was far too high in Mexico, I did all of my runs, exccept one short run, on the treadmill.  For some reason I always assumed treadmill running would be harder than outside running.  Wrong, again.

Thanks to modern technology, running on a treadmill is actually easier in a lot of ways.  Mainly for pacing.  It's much easier when the treadmill does the work for you, keeping a constant pace - with hills, holes, and traffic, maintaining a truly constant pace outside is much more difficult.  I still think I prefer the scenery of an outside run, but I did log some of my best times so far while on the treadmill, including a 1:00:51 for my first 7 miler.  However, the marathon is not on a treadmill, thank the lord, so hopefully I can get back to my outside runs starting this weekend!

Even when the temps start to cooperate with my training schedule, after my first long run debacle, I will surely be running with ample amounts of HYDRATION!  Im still wavering between hydration belts - I'm going to do some more research this week and hopefully make my selection this weekend.  I like the 4-bottle belt styles, they get good reviews about being light weight and easy to use while on the run, but Im also not opposed to the idea of a CamelBak, especially the fanny-pack type, although I worry about sloshing.  Right now my top 3 right now are:

1) Revenge 4 Bottle-Belt $47.95

 

2) Amphipod RunLite4 $39.95

 

3) Amphipod Hydration Belt for LuLuLemon $44.00

 

4) CamelBak Flash Flo LR $50.00

Let me know if you have any personal experience with any of these or have a favorite hydration back that's not on my list!