Dry Martini: Embracing My Inner Troll
I survived the holidays and I hope you can claim the same. If you can’t, well, I’m wondering how you’re reading this.
My intention was not to drop off the face of this here blog for more than a month. But with one thing and another, it just kind of happened. I’m back now, though, and ready for winter running.
Vacation runs are better when large bodies of water are involved.
Which makes it seem like I haven’t been running during the last 30ish days. I really, really, really have, because my next half marathon (in Austin, Texas, y’all) is on February 14, a date that feels like it’s creeping closer faster than it ought to.
Most of my training runs have been relatively uneventful. I’ve been hitting my race pace of 11:22 fairly consistently and can crank out miles of tempo when I need do. I’ve put in a 13-mile long run and, as I write this, have a 15-miler two days from now, because Coach Christine seems to be trying to kill me. Or, more likely, is hellbent on bringing out my inner BAMR no matter how much I whine about it. That is her job.
There have, however, been a few runs of note, like the Eminem run I had to do on Boxing Day. It was all I could do to achieve enough escape velocity to get out the door; once out there, I realized I’d forgotten a visor or hat or headband, without which my hair tends to dangle in my eyes and make me nuts. I decided to suck it up, though, and pushed through mile four of my out-and-back route.
So far this year, I’ve found 11 cents! I might have a whole dollar by the end of the year!
Right when I made the turn to come home, my phone battery decided it was a fine time to die. No problem, I thought, I’ll just call my husband to have him bring the battery back-up that’s in my desk….
Runner’s brain is real, my friends.
Because it was an out-and-back and I couldn’t call anyone, I had to run the four miles home in silence, with nothing but my brain, who can be a real jerk, for company. Once I stopped pouting, it wasn’t too bad. Really. Lesson learned, universe.
I worked in a few vacation runs during the week between Christmas and New Years, which is when we go to our friends’ place in the Poconos and do nothing but play board games and eat. Most years, there is also skiing, since there’s a great set of slopes nearby. The general lack of snow this year put the kibosh on that, which is fine because it gave us more time for the eating and games.
Then we were home again, where the weather turned seasonally appropriate just in time to head back to work. The last couple of weeks have been assicle city, so much so that I wondered if my behind would ever be warm again.
An ad for these showed up in my inbox right after a sub-zero run. All I could think about is how pleasant it would be to be able to sink into a cup of tea.
For me, however, my frozen tush is the only downside of the sub-sub-zero weather, because (and this will make sense in a minute) I seem to be a troll.
Let me explain: I tend to listen to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books during long runs. I’ve long been a fan of his particular blend of fantasy and wit; plus, the plots are just complicated enough to be interesting but not so complicated that I miss too much when my attention span wavers. While Susan, Death’s granddaughter is my favorite character, I feel a particular intimacy with Pratchett’s trolls, which are sentient rocks whose minds operate best when the temperature drops. Chill them enough and they can solve nearly any problem.
It dawned on my that my running life is like that. If the day is above 60 degrees, the run is a slog, to say nothing of what happens when my nemesis Voldesun makes an appearance. Given me a day below freezing and I feel like Lauren freaking Fleshman. Bodies are weird.
I’m not sure how this will play out in Austin. Given that I lived there for a few years back in the day — the husband and I both went to UT after undergrad — I know that February can be just about perfect for my troll-like tendencies. Unless the sun comes out and gets all Texas on us.
It’s beyond my control, though. We’ll get what we get. And there are breakfast tacos at the end of the course, which will soothe any disappointments. My race motto: #earnyourtaco.
Anyone else traveling to Austin in February? Or has anyone else discovered that they, too, are a troll?
(On the QT: I’ll be running Pittsburgh again this year as well as womaning the AMR booth at the Expo. If you’d like to run, too, either the half or full, and have not yet registered, drop me an email at amartini@stny.rr.com so that I can sweeten the deal….)
A Simple Reminder Why We All Need a Cheerleader Now and Then
Co-founders Ashley Hicks and Toni Carey launched Black Girls RUN! in 2009 to support women of color in the running community. Carey (right) shares an experience she had that reminds us on MLK Day 2016 that we are all runners–and we are all cheerleaders for one another.
A few weeks ago I tweeted about an unusual encounter I had at my local YMCA.
It was a weekday morning and I hit the gym early that day to get in a quick run before the day started. It was chilly that morning, so I had on my uber warm Black Girls RUN! hoodie on. As I handed the desk attendant my membership card, she frowned at my hoodie and said, “White girls run too!”
Mind you, I’m not 100 percent awake until I’ve tackled a mile or two. I responded by saying, “Yeah, well we all run.”
Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t working quick enough to shoot back a witty response. But the encounter got even weirder.
She said, “Yeah, we all run, especially if running from big dogs.”
As you can imagine, my only response was a blank stare as I couldn’t muster the brain waves to even try to begin to figure out what had just happened. I hurried off to the treadmill and hoped I could avoid her on my way out.
It was the first time someone of another ethnicity verbally questioned and got defensive about Black Girls RUN! But I get the non-verbal questions all the time. Some of my own white friends aren’t exactly sure why there’s a need for BGR! But most want to know if they are allowed to fan our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
While I can pontificate on this a lot more, I began thinking, “Are we somehow, with all good intentions, being discriminatory or defensive?,” “Shouldn’t we encourage ALL women to run?,” “Should we change our name to Black Girls RUN! (and white girls run too)?”
But, then I remembered why we started this. The alarming statistics that are so real to us everyday. Our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends who are plagued with the diseases and health issues due to cultural culinary fare ingrained in the African-American community, and the belief that our hair is more important than our health.
I’ve realized that the importance and the urgency for black women to live healthier (both mentally and physically) can’t be explained or understood by someone who didn’t grow up seeing how much health and wellness has impacted our race. And nor do I expect them to.
However, I do expect not to be judged for a movement that is imperative to our community. I do expect their support. I do expect them to join the movement, because at the end of the day, we’re all in this together.
So for all the white women who follow us (or would like to), you don’t have to stand on the sidelines and watch from a distance. We want and need your support. Be a part of the movement! After several weeks of thinking about what the appropriate response should have been to the desk clerk at the YMCA, I’m still not sure what her intention was. But, I wish I could have given her a Black Girls RUN! hoodie and offered her an opportunity to join the BGR! movement. Sometimes people just want to be included or at least that’s what I’d like to think.
*Train Like a Mother this spring and have your best training experience—and strongest race—ever. Registrations for 10K, half-marathon, and marathon programs in Train Like a Mother Club close January 24.
#193: Advice for Going Gluten-Free
Sarah welcomes back Adrienne Martini as co-host, and the gals kick off the show by talking about why they each love running—as well as knitted knockers (!). They are joined by Kristin Porter of the Iowa Girl Eats blog to talk about a variety of topics, including how Kristin handled going gluten-free after being diagnosed with Celiac disease after the birth of her son. Before the conversation turns to gluten-free eating and cooking, the mother runners marvel at the 64 (!!) treadmill workouts Kristin has on her site, and why she . After Adrienne reveals that her daughter was diagnosed with Celiac disease at age four, she and Kristin marvel at dealing with a disease that can be managed through food. Kristin talks about the steep learning curve she dealt with when she first cut gluten out of her diet, and how it prompted her to write an e-book entitled Gluten-Free for Beginners. Kristin recounts her “wogging” (walking + jogging) workouts when she finally had enough energy to resume running. Along the way, learn about two gluten-free eateries in Manhattan (Risotteria and Pala Pizza) and two gluten-free baking blogs.
A trio of calls to action from podcast:
*If you have a success story about Hyland’s Leg Cramps to share, please go to this web page to leave a quick review.
*Next week, Coach Christine and Sarah are recording a podcast about reaching big goals–when’s best time, how to get there, how to succeed, etc. We want to get the voices of real mother runners into the conversation–which is where YOU come in! If you have a big goal this year, like doing your first marathon, stepping up a half-Ironman, breaking 2:00 in half-marathon, we want to hear from you via a Voice Memo. Please record a 20-30 second Voice Memo on your phone, starting by telling us your name, where you live, and how many children you have. Then tell us your goal and something about it–how you’re going to achieve it, what you’re worried about, changes you’re making in your life to ensure you nail it. Just bring it to life for a half-minute or so. Then email the Voice Memo to me at motherrrunnerstore [at] gmail [dot] com, please; we need them by end of day Tuesday, January 19. Many thanks!
*Train Like a Mother this spring and have your best training experience—and strongest race—ever. Registrations for 10K, half-marathon, and marathon programs in Train Like a Mother Club close January 24.
R.I.P. Nuun Kona Cola: A Eulogy
Dearest Friends.
We are gathered today to celebrate the life of Nuun Kona Cola, a lovely brownish hydration tablet whose life fizzed out too early.
Yes, it may seem a bit awkward to mourn the loss of a flavor of hydration tablet, but Kona Cola? It has no peer. Far from having contemporaries, it ruled the world of sports hydration flavors.
Friends, let me tell you a little story. Because, in the tradition of most eulogies, I’m actually going to talk about myself, not the deceased.
Once in a while, a drink comes into your life that changes your life.
For an unhealthy number of my relatives, that was a one-olive, dry martini—or three of them—at lunch.
For me, that drink was Kona Cola.
Way back in the day, in 2004, when Nuun was just a few roots of the hydrated tree it’s grown up to be, I tasted Kona Cola at a trade show. I was smitten.
Just a few sips of the drink with such a badass, aspirational name gave my taste buds access to an elite world of Ironman Triathletes. Athletes who, after a long day battling the waves in the ocean and the winds on their bikes, could only sip flat Coke as they ticked off sub-6 minute splits on a marathon.
They’d sip flat Coke, barely stopping at the aid station, to keep their energy up and their roiling stomachs quiet. Then they’d continue clicking off crazy fast splits, wearing their Speedo suits that they’d worn all day. Their faces were streaked with salt, their eyes echoed all the miles they’d covered that day, but they were still charging. They had trained all year for this, and a few GI issues were not going to ruin 364 days of preparation.
I knew I’d l never compete in Kona. I knew I’d never run one sub-six-minute mile, let alone 26.2 consecutive ones. And Lord knows, I’d never wear a swimsuit anywhere but a pool deck.
But my taste buds could transport me to that world.
Kona Cola reminded me, in my own #motherrunner way, to keep charging. Keep charging through too many injuries, through miles that I was sure would never end, through workouts when I wondered what in the hell I was doing out there, alone, clicking off miles that felt meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
A little dramatic? Of course. But sometimes you have think big to go big. Kona Cola truly helped me go big.
And as I head into my next attempt at going big—a 50K—I’m going to sorely miss my little brown tablets that I lovingly dropped into at least two bottles before long workouts. At least one for the workout, and one, with extra ice, to enjoy on the drive home.
Of course, I’ll find a new favorite flavor. And I’ll figure out, through my miles of upcoming training, a way to forgive Nuun for retiring the.absolute.one-hundred-percent.best.flavor of all time.
But rest assured, I’ll never forget you, sweet KC. Thank you for the many, lightly caffeinated, happy miles.
If you’re feeling as sad as I am, one way to quell your sadness: Stock up on Kona Cola. It’s on—sniff—discontinuation sale. To save even more beans, use code “amrnuun” to get 20% off your order.
Strength Training for Runners: So Many Options!
Fitting strength training into a training plan can be a balancing act. (Oh, I crack myself up!)
Week two of Boston Marathon training is going well. My coach is going easy on my “affected” ankle so the schedule only dictates three runs a week, one less than my pre-fracture training cycles. Currently she’s swapping in an additional day of rest instead. The other two days of the week–currently Tuesday and Thursday–are dedicated to strength training. (With at least an extra 10-minutes of hip strengtheners mixed in at least once/week, often on the evening of a rest day.)
Only photo I have from The Refinery–and it was to show off the sassy Saucony Bullet Short and AMR run.shine. tee I was sporting!
One morning, I do a barre class at The Refinery here in northeast Portland. I’m devoted to the instructor/owner, Ashleigh, who makes the world’s best playlists, and I can perform about 99% of the moves without embarrassing myself too greatly. (Although I’m not going to be mistaken for a ballet dancer, or even a flexible, well-balanced athlete any time soon…)
But, for now, coach has prescribed a body-weight circuit for Thursday workouts, which she nicknamed “Dyna/Functional Strength.” At first glance I read it as, “Dysfunctional Strength,” which made me howl with laughter when I realized my error. Here’s what tomorrow holds in store for my best running friend and me after we warm up by running 15 minutes to the gym:
20 squats
10 lunges per leg
:30 side shuffle (shuffle side to side as 3 shuffles left, 3 shuffles right)
1:00 plank hold
10 side lunges per leg
1:00 squat hold
:45 side plank per side
1:00 glute bridge marching
Repeat series twice.
Rest 1:00 then complete the following three times through:
10 front-to-back hip swings per leg
10 push ups
1:00 plank hold
10 single leg squats per leg
Then run 15 minutes home.
Like so many strength- and balance-building moves at physical therapy, this exercise looks deceptively simple. But it was exercises like these ones that prepped my injured body to handle the load of marathon training.
Incorporating different types of strength moves–hip series, barre, body-weight exercises–got me wondering about the value of each in a training plan. So our podcast next week is going to be a conversation about strength training for runners.
To help me get a clearer picture of what you gals do–from countless squats, to a plank a day, to free weights, to CrossFit, please stack up your comments like so many weight plates. And if your response is, “Strength training: What’s that?!?!” please let me know that, too. All in the Comments section below this post on our site. Many thanks!
If only this was video, you could see my quad shaking from this controlled, single-leg squat performed under the watchful eye of my physical therapist.
How to Motivate to Exercise When You’d Rather Not
This post by Dimity originally ran nearly two years ago to the day, but the advice it offers will still help you get you up and moving when the covers (or inertia or a glass of wine) are calling your name.
Dang these dark winter mornings and dang the end of holiday vacation, where I slept in later than I have in years. (I got out of bed after 8 a.m. I honestly haven’t done that in a decade, unless I was sick.) Dang it that, despite the upcoming Tinker Bell Half Marathon on Sunday, I feel unmotivated and blah. Dang it that every sugar cookie I consumed over the past month is clinging to my thighs and brain like barnacles.
Thing is, I am—and you are, I’m guessing—so much happier and content when I sweat. (Well, you are happier when you sweat, right?) Because of that fact, I haven’t bailed on many workouts from the Train Like a Mother: Finish It plan. Still, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy mentally waffling: Time better spent, of course, not thinking and just going.
Because my sugar cookie brain barnacles just might be hanging out in your cranium, here is how to motivate to exercise when you’d rather not:
☆ Lay out my clothes and gear the night before. Basic tip, I realize, but when you’re lying in bed and you think, I’ve got to gather all my gear and get dressed and then run? Too much. But if your clothes/shoes/gloves/hat/music/GPS watch/whatever else you need are lying in your bathroom, right by the tub, all you have to do is get up to pee and turn on the light. Then you can just go on autopilot.
☆ If you’re not an early morning runner and go later in the day, somehow cut out a step to prevent waffling. When I lived in Brooklyn and walked to the subway, I stopped at the gym on the way to work, parked my clothes in a locker, then continued onto work. On the way home, I had to at least pick up my clothes—the gym staff threatened to cut the locks off lockers at the end of the day—so I just surrendered and sweated. I realize that’s a pretty urban example, but it could be as simple as bringing your running clothes to work and changing into them before you leave so you can stop at a park on the way home to run or be ready to run after you drop your son at drum lessons.
☆ Whether it’s a.m. or p.m., if you’re stalling, take a moment and visualize yourself running with one mile to go. You’re headed home, rosy cheeked and endorphin-rushed and proud and psyched you got out there. Then lace up and chase that feeling.
Recycled post; recycled picture: Dimity getting her sweat on on the NordicTrack treadmill in what used to be her guest bedroom.
☆ If you’re headed indoors to sweat, don’t overthink it. Jump on a machine and pick a program: hit the hills or the intervals or cycle through New Zealand. I’ve been doing some incline training on my NordicTrack 1750, and while I don’t love every second, I do love that it bosses me around and I just have to comply. Believe it or not, sometimes I just don’t want to be in charge.
☆ Right after you run, write down three words that describe how you’re feeling that exact moment. Still sweaty, maybe still breathing hard, grab a pen and go. Then tape those words somewhere they’ll be a weapon when you’re in your next a why-even-go-waaah-I-don’t-want-to mood: Maybe it’s the bathroom mirror, maybe it’s your computer screen, maybe it’s the fridge. Then lace up and chase those feelings.
☆ Don’t go, and then see how you feel. Chances are, you’ll be raring to go tomorrow. (I know, I know: that’s a repeat tip from Run Like a Mother, but I love it: It’s little bit snarky and a lot the truth.)
Enough from me: How do you motivate to exercise when you’d rather not?