How Racewalking Affects My Running
So, last week I posted about how Walking Is Underrated. It’s been another week of walking and strengthening exercises in the mornings since then, and while I was running this morning, I noticed some interesting things about my abilities:
1. Racewalking helps me practice rotating my pelvis. I’ve been working on my ChiRunning form for the past two years, and only now do I feel like I’m getting the Pelvic Rotation form focus figured out. If you have the ChiRunning book, it’s described on pages 99-101. Doing all that walking and really swinging my hips as I do it makes my body used to that kind of motion, so it’s easier to implement in a run. Also, it strengthens my abdomen so I can keep my pelvis leveled for longer periods of time. When I do focus on rotating my pelvis in this way while running, I start to feel my legs relaxing and the rest of my form solidifies.
2. Proper ChiRunning form requires upper body strength. My arms are getting stronger with the push-ups, triceps dips, shoulder presses, etc. that I’m doing in the mornings. But, because I do them every weekday, by Saturday my arms are a little tired. On the run this morning, my arm swing was great and I felt a powerful momentum and balancing effect from it, but I think my arms pooped out before my legs did! I’ve realized that the ChiRunning arm swing technique is something that I have to make an effort to do, to pull my elbows backwards as I move forward. To me it feels more like an arm “pump” than a “swing”, because the idea of swinging my arms makes me think they’ll just do it on their own, which they don’t. That’s why it takes some extra muscle and control to make the technique work well for me.
3. Racewalking strengthens my calves, but not my quads. Usually, when I’m out for a long run, I know it’s time to stop when either I’m too tired to keep my form solid which leads to my tendons/joints hurting, or my calves start tightening up. Walking in my FiveFingers makes it easy to remember to peel my foot off the ground, heel to toe, and that is a great calf workout. Today I ran about 5.5 miles, and surprisingly, I felt my quad muscles aching. I say surprisingly because I’ve never really felt my quads on a run unless I’m doing sprints or something. This tells me that training for long weekend runs by running on the weekdays builds up my quads, but training for long runs by racewalking builds up my core and calf muscles.
Obviously, a combination of both walking and running for training is in order if I’m going to have a successful half marathon in December. I think I’ll eventually add in one weekday run after school, maybe a sprint workout, and see how that feels. What do you think?
Walking is Underrated!
I am getting a sneaking suspicion that my speed walking for 30 min. every weekday morning keeps up my endurance as much as running 2 times on weekdays used to. A fitness goal I’m about 60% committed to right now is to run a local half marathon at the beginning of December. For the other halfs I trained for, I used the ChiRunning Pain Free Half Marathon Training Program and it was great. But, I had to run a lot after work, and I was always so unmotivated and tired or hungry or whatever when I started running that day that it was difficult. (Over the course of the run I usually would feel better and then be glad I did commit to it.)
I started the school year a month ago intending to train again, but to do my runs before school because I don’t teach first period this semester. With my husband’s encouragement to not jump into a drastic schedule change too quickly, I started speed walking with him in the mornings instead of running right away. And now I like the walking routine so much I don’t want to run instead! Here’s what my morning currently consists of:
We get up at 6:00, are out the door by 6:10. Walk around the neighborhood till 6:40, then I do my 10 min. morning workout that I talked about in my last post. Meanwhile, husband is juicing veggies so when I’m done with the workout I can gulp down a GAPSdiet smoothie of carrot juice, a raw egg (pastured), and homemade sour cream (you’ve gotta try it to believe it, but YUM). Then I shower and and am out the door again by 7:10 and off to school. This routine does take advance planning the night before to have my lunch packed and school clothes ready to jump into after the shower, but after 3 weeks of doing it, I’m finding it energizing and worth the thinking ahead!
The wake-up call about walking being underrated came this past Sunday when I went for a run and I was able to run a full mile and a half further than the last run I did two weeks ago. I felt strong in my muscles, lungs, and heart and was really surprised. I went into the run feeling like “Oh, I’ve been bad not running during the weeks, but I’ll just go as far as I can”. I guess I needn’t have worried. That experience psyched me up big time because the speed walking is already built into my get-ready-for-school routine, so I know I won’t slack off or forget to do it. I’m curious to see if I can keep increasing mileage every weekend while only walking during the week.
Maybe I should buy the ChiWalking book. Maybe it will be my new thing…anyone else try it?
RIP Garmin Forerunner 305 :(
Never. Leave. An. Expensive. Electronic. Gadget. On. Top. Of. Your. Car.
You will forget about it, drive off, and let it slide down the back window and out into the fast moving freeway to be lost forever. Well, that’s what happened to me anyway after a run last weekend. I had been in a rear-end car accident the week before, so when I heard a strange clunking noise from the back of my car as I was driving home from the run, I figured something fell off as a belated result of the accident. But no, it was the Garmin bumping off my bumper. At least that’s what I think happened. My husband and I drove the section of the freeway where I heard the noise probably 10 times, trying to see it on the side of the road, but it was just too dangerous to go any more slowly, and I couldn’t get out and walk it on foot. Such a stupid mistake!! Lots of foot stamping and tears ensued.
So, a wedding present from my brother that got me through training and running two half marathons and a ton of other outdoor activities is now dead on the side of the road somewhere. It seems silly to be so upset about a gadget, but it actually had a lot of sentimental value because of the places it went with me and my husband. It was a fun toy to check elevation and distance on our hikes. My natural hippie side is telling me that I lost it so I could learn to run without obsessing about my pace/mile and to just run how far I feel like running, but I haven’t gone on a run since I lost it. Now that I speedwalk 30 min. and do my workout before school every morning, I feel less motivated to run in the afternoons! But I still am interested in running the Santa to the Sea half marathon in December, so I’ll try to get back on track.
Back At It
I went for a run in my Vibram KSOs this afternoon for the first time in about a month and it felt really nice. I have been doing a lot of walking in them lately, and so running felt very free and bouncy. The day was hot and breezy, and the sun was welcome after having been inside all morning. I kept the run short, about 2 miles (Garmin died before I got home), and just tested out my left knee. Happy to note that it didn’t hurt during or after running, but I took an epsom salt bath afterwards just in case :) I have to say that reading on my kindle in the bathtub with this thing to keep it dry is definitely one of my favorite pass times.
My best friend has decided to train for and run the Santa to the Sea half marathon on December 11 in Oxnard, and I’m very tempted to sign up. It looks like a fun race, but the registration price seems a little steep at this date. I wish I had known about it before the price increase! Yes, the registration helps donate money to scholarships for local students, so I’ll probably end up signing up. Anyone else want to join me?
Gödöllő Trail Half Marathon Review: Part II of II
Gödöllő Trail Half Marathon 6.25.11
That look says, “What the hell was that?!”
Official times and distance: 2:42:03 / 11th of 17 women See All Results by clicking “competition results->2011->half marathon” to the left.
Check out a map with kilometer markings of the race course and also the elevation profile.
Background:
My husband and I are two weeks in to a summer vacation in Hungary visiting family here. While we were planning the trip from the US, we thought it would be fun to add in a race or two, just for the novelty of it. My husband found a half marathon event that winds through the forests of Gödöllő, about 30 minutes outside of Budapest. Interestingly, the event includes both a bike race and a running race over the same course and 21 kilometer distance. The bike race started at 10:30am, and the running race started at 11:00am (late, but it was actually really nice to wake up at a decent hour and have time to digest a full breakfast). My husband registered for the cycling, I registered for the run.
Husband starting the race (front left)
While viewing the elevation profile online from our cozy apartment in CA, I remember saying “oh, it looks like some rolling hills…not even a big elevation change throughout”. I guess I failed to notice the more than five times the course inclines over 100 meters in less than 2 kilometers. For my last half marathon review on this blog back in October 2010, I did a mile-by-mile breakdown of the event. The race was over familiar roads of my hometown, and while writing the review, I could go back to the map and remember how I felt at various points. That race course was also so flat that I kept myself entertained by looking at my Garmin constantly to check my pace, distance, and time.
The Race:
Last Saturday’s trail half marathon in Gödöllő was different than the Camarillo half marathon in both respects; it was not over familiar territory, and it definitely was not terrain that I could space out on or let my mind wander. Instead of remembering how I felt at specific mile markers, the big hills are what stand out in my memory, and everything between is a memory mush of continuous right and left turns that always led to another stretch of forest for another .5 mile or so. While running, I had the sense that I was just meandering, constantly focused on the here and now, lest I make a misstep that would cause me to twist my ankle and forfeit the race (thank goodness that didn’t happen). I didn’t even look at my watch very much, because after about mile 5, I realized there was no sense in trying to make a certain time goal. I just wanted to finish without hurting myself or having to stop to rest for any extended period of time.
The weather was perfect for running; cool and sunny with a light breeze, and didn’t feel too humid. At the beginning I tried to keep my pace slow, but people just took off around me and I went with the flow, especially because most of the trails were single track and there wasn’t a lot of room to pass, so I didn’t want to hold a bunch of people up. I walked the first time when we hit a big mud puddle and everyone stopped to wade around it. On one of the first big hills a woman passed me who I had passed earlier, and I ended up following her and another lady in front of us for at least 3-4 miles. When they walked, I walked, and we kept pace together pretty well. I had to use my ChiRunning “non-runnable uphill” focuses while walking up the hills just so I didn’t stop or fall backwards. At one point, I groaned out loud when a downhill was really steep and hurting my knees, and the lady in front of me turned around with a smile and said something to me. I said, “Nem beszél magyarul” (I don’t speak Hungarian) and she apologized. On a course like that, it would have been really nice to be able to say a few words of encouragement and keep each other’s spirits up, but oh well.
A man walking using walking sticks and a backpack passed me walking up one of the hills, and at that point I started to worry that I was in last place, because I thought he had been walking the whole race. But then I saw him tuck his poles under his arms and start running at the top of the hill. Eventually the two ladies I was with started going slower on the downhills than I wanted to, so on a more gradual downhill section I passed them and tried to keep up with walking stick man. I saw him here and there for the rest of the race, but I was pretty much by myself after that.
One of the best parts about the race was the awesome organization of the race coordinators. All parts of this crazy course were incredibly well marked, with arrows taped to trees or long white tape cordoning off the paths we weren’t supposed to take. There were race volunteers at every potentially confusing trail junction, pointing the correct path to take. And, there were tables with water and volunteers spaced well throughout the course. I drank at those stations just so I could conserve the water I carried with me. It was so nice, with all the other things I had to concentrate on, to not have to worry if I was going the right way through this forest, especially because I ran alone for probably half the race and didn”t have the words to stop anyone to ask for directions even if I could find someone to talk to. Many of the volunteers said things to me as I went past, and all I could say back was “köszönöm szépen!” (thank you very much). Each time I hoped they were telling me that it was all flat from here on out, but I knew that was unlikely :)
Just once I tried to commit to memory by focusing on my watch that 2 hours in, I was at 9.84 miles (.64?). I knew I was on the home stretch, and was actually pretty surprised to be nearing the end of the race. I felt like it was going to go on forever! Meanwhile, my husband had finished his race in 15th place out of 36 riders, and he said he was the first one in who wasn’t part of a cycling club, or a professional rider. I am very proud of him! After cooling off, he came looking for me and was able to get some pictures as I came in. My forward lean and ChiRunning form are all off because I’m just so tired, but I was running!
When I got to the finish line the volunteers stopped me right then to put a medal around my neck and give me my t-shirt and goodie bag, and I almost knocked them over. In Hungary, they don’t give you all the goodies until after you finish!
Then I started crying from exhaustion and hyperventilating. Soon though, I calmed down enough for some more non-perky pictures:
Recap and improvements for next time:
1. I was feeling a little bummed that I hadn’t been able to run the whole race, even though I knew it would have been impossible to have done so; my body rebelled at anything uphill after about mile 5 and forced me to walk. But my attitude changed when I read this helpful article by a man who ran an uphill race and had this to say: “To clarify what I mean by “running” when I talk about uphill running, I would like to underscore that many times in a ‘running’ race, it is to a runner’s advantage to walk parts of the uphills. As I noted in my recent article about a hilly, 50K, trail run in the ChiLiving eNewsletter, the “marriage” between ChiRunning and ChiWalking is an efficient and successful one whenever hills are involved.” Thanks Coach Keith, I feel better now :)
2. The raw honey and Salt Stick capsules that I carried with me for calories and electrolytes worked really well. I didn’t get any cramping, and I never felt hungry or shaky. Yay for natural fuel!
3. Vibram KSO Treks with the Injinji base layer toe socks were awesome for this course. I hadn’t had time to try out the KSO Treks with those toe socks before the race, and I know that wearing something new on race day is a big no-no, but I thought it was worth the risk to minimize blisters or rubbing. The 4mm tread on the bottom of the shoe was just enough to give me the traction and protection that I neeed from the trail. I recovered so well that I was able to go for a mountain bike ride two days after the race, and ran 4 miles or so yesterday, no soreness.
4. Based on this experience, I would do another trail half marathon, but I would make sure to train intensely for hills, and remember that walking does not equal failure. Perhaps something in the Xterra series would be worth a go.
Any questions, just comment below. Thanks for reading!
