07.23.08

“Strength” Training

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:09 am by Diana

I must admit, I have been hesitant to post given all the thought-provoking and insightful posts of late. I haven’t had any deep thoughts about running lately. Perhaps this is due to the fact that what started out as a great trajectory of summer training was interrupted by a wedding and then a nasty cold. The recent heat wave certainly didn’t help my motivation to get back at it!

But, on to my thoughts about my new-found love for “strength” training. I started consistenly doing yoga this summer. I have always loved yoga, but it can get pricey and can be intimidating (have you ever seen someone do the Bird of Paradise pose?!). But, I can’t lie — the real precipitant was actually my wedding — who wants to have bad posture in a strapless dress? The strength and flexibility gained beyond that was just going to be icing on the cake.

I’ve discovered that although my legs are strong and my hips relatively open, there are back and shoulder muscles I didn’t know existed. I also realized I have a flexible lower back, which makes it all the more important to have a strong core (I need to find a way to make crunchies fun…). After yoga, I consistently wake up the morning after feeling like pulled taffy, which is much less comfortable to me than being really sore from a hard workout. But, overall I end up feeling stronger, more flexible, more centered.

I’m loving yoga as my “strength” training — and since I hate going to the gym, this is a step in the right direction! Hopefully my finances will allow me to continue my newfound love (second, of course, to running).

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07.14.08

Rarified air (Part 3)

Posted in Jeuland's Musings at 10:15 am by Marc

Greetings all, from Addis Ababa! What a relief it is to be back here again and out of the polluted air of Cairo. It is hard to run at altitude, but I think it’s even harder to run in the chaotic Egyptian metropolis. I was dragging myself out of bed at 5 am just to be able to breathe on the streets of Cairo, wondering what it was about running that I had ever liked. There are no soft surfaces in Cairo, the cars move along recklessly, and there is almost no greenery. And what greenery exists is all in private clubs or gardens. The largest of these has an annual membership fee of US$1000. Can you imagine living in a city where you had to pay that kind of money just to go into a park?

Since arriving here on Saturday, my mindset has completely changed. Running here is natural and part of the rhythm of life. Again, I go for a run first thing in the morning (though here it’s more like 6:15), and set off into the hills behind where I will stay for the week. The climbing is steep at times, but it is also possible to zig and zag one’s way up the slopes. During my first run, a slender, agile Ethiopian young man joined me and we began a pleasant conversation. Gudisa claims he’s 16 (though he looks older); he has PRs at altitude of 15:01 in the 5k and 31 and change in the 10k.

About 10 minutes into our run together,  he started using one of those lines I often hear: “I have an American friend. Do you know….” This always annoys me because it’s expected that I would know every American who ever comes to Addis. But then he said the name; turns out he was a cross country runner at Swarthmore, my alma mater. We did not overlap at school, but he started the year after I graduated, and so I met him in alumni races and knew of him because I keep track of Swarthmore running. I almost tripped when he said that. It’s a funny coincidence.

In any case, he has joined me each morning since for my runs; we head off together up into the hills or to nearby forested areas. He tells me stories about people who have gotten eaten by hyenas in these hills and takes me to breathtaking views. We see loads of other runners also enjoying the morning air. It’s nice to not have to pay attention to where I am going, since he knows the area very well I can just focus on trying to keep up. He darts up the slopes, and has this incredible second gear that he likes to end the runs with. I am either way too old, or way too slow.

But there is also a sad side to this story. Gudisa is an orphan; his parents died in a car crash three years ago, leaving him and three sisters behind. Two of the sisters were adopted by an NGO and the third has been sponsored to go to Italy with an adoptive family, but Gudisa lives in a two-person rented apartment. His school fees are paid by the NGO and he dreams of better opportunities, mostly hoping that running will give him a future. He washes dishes in the hotel I am staying in in exchange for dinners twice a week. I think he does well in running competitions against other school kids and has won medals, but there are many 15 minute 5k guys her, even at the high school level.

Here’s a picture of Gudisa.

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07.09.08

“Hearts that make cardiologists gasp in awe”…

Posted in Jeuland's Musings at 6:47 am by Marc

Greetings from Cairo everyone! I am looking forward to being back in Carrboro soon (July 18) after a short visit to Addis Ababa , but in the meantime, I thought this recent article from the New York Times was very interesting. Here’s my favorite quote from it:

“These athletes have hearts that make cardiologists gasp in awe, hearts that are among the biggest ever seen in healthy people. They are enormous, elongated, torpedo-shaped hearts, twice the mass of a normal heart, that draw blood in like a suction pump and push it out like a piston.”

I am a sorry I missed the Olympic Trials fun, but I did check the results periodically online. Looks like there were some interesting races and some expected and unexpected outcomes.

The air quality here in Cairo is lousy, especially at this time of year, so I have been finding it difficult to run. I will be looking to get back into it in a real way soon.

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07.03.08

Olympic Dreams

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:50 pm by Victor

One of the hardest things to do in any sport is to earn the right to represent your country in the Olympics. Over the past couple of days I’ve been glued to the races on TV. Watching my former Tar Heel teammate’s punching their tickets to Beijing! Watching athletes dreams come true after years and years of training. Incredibly talented and determined humans like my very own coach. It is an incredible feeling to watch. Better than any Superbowl, NBA finals, or Euro 2008. This means more to me. My dream is to one day be amongst those fighting for a spot. A dream that all of us on CAC share with each other.

I can’t explain how jealous I am of those watching in person from the stands at Hayward Field! It’s been two days of rest for the athletes and spectators. Now I’m 10 min away from watching some more sweet races from Eugene!

GO USA!

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07.02.08

a skink’s tale

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:02 pm by Joan

While digging in the garden, I happened upon the perfect visualization/metaphor for when you know your racing season has come to an end. I was using a sharp, pointed shovel to really turn the earth and on one fierce downward thrust, I unintentionally chopped off the tail of a blue skink (lizard). The tail-less lizard skittered off, while - to my utter surprise and disgust (?) - the lizard’s tail squirmed a flopped around of its own volition for quite some time. Now, what does this have to do with the season’s end? As I was watching this grisly scene, I thought of Asher at his high school nationals race and of Brent tacking on his marathon at the end of track season. Both runners were like the tail still going after the season had been cut off. Asher managed to eek out an 800m and a 400m PR at the local all-comers meets, well after his regular high school season had finished up, but hanging onto intensity for a mile against the best freshmen in the nation was a too-tall order. And Brent, bravely jacking his mileage up for 5 weeks after his 10,000m PR at Penn Relays way back in April, must have known it was a long-shot to race a fast marathon. He went for it though, as did Asher, and THAT is what each of these athletes should take away from this season. Yeah, they flopped around in the end - like the skink’s tail - but they were still going, still striving, still fighting for their dreams.

Now, here’s my question … will that tail ever grow back?

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06.29.08

New Shoes :D

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:15 am by Tori

So, I finally found time and broke down (my body has been breaking down waaayyy before this!) and got NEW SHOES!!! the glory of a new pair of running shoes.

I find this is a significant purchase each and every single time.  It’s always new when you get there because the company’s are coming out with new and different styles and it’s always a wonderful experience.

I went with the newest version of the Asics Gel-Cumulus with the new lace-up, in hopes that this will help my too big toe-box issue I constantly run into with shoes [after about two weeks i'm having to pull the toe-box so tight to keep my foot from moving around that there is folding - it's just too wide].

The past two weeks my body has been aching and hating me - sure signs of needed new shoes.  I had intentions to get them last week and failed with late work hours never making it up to Chapel Hill. In a weird way, I was thankfully a little ill this past week and so did not run much, but Friday - ugh for the shoes and the run.

HOwever, as I write this post late out the door for church, I have my new running shoes on (I thought to just break them in a bit) and now am DYING to just get out and hit some ground.  I love the springy and cushion-y inspiring new feeling of brand new running shoes and just had to post about it.

Anyone else get this feeling?

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06.26.08

itchin!

Posted in Uncategorized at 6:35 pm by Brent

well, i still have another week of down time, but i am already reading, thinking and plotting about how to get faster. I went for a three mile run, and let’s just say the mind recovers more quickly than the body. i realize that my last post was a little negative, but rest assured that i am over the slight disappointment of the marathon and looking toward my next training block. though it has not been announced yet, i have read and heard rumors that the 2012 qualifying window will open in 2009, meaning i can try for a qualifier pre-residency. it might mean not running track (or at least not being track focused), so I will have to think hard about it. anyway, i am itching to get back, but i will enjoy another few days of fat week.

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06.23.08

getting the beat-down.

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:14 am by Brent

Another marathon, another disappointment. I guess 7 weeks (really 5 weeks before the taper) is not enough time to train for a fast marathon. I did run a decent 19 miles (1:44:35), but had nothing over the last 7 miles. This time, ambitious pacing was not to blame, rather dehydration and near-cramping legs (probably due to the dehydration). I ran overly conservative in the early going and at about 14 miles felt like a million bucks because of it. My breathing was always very steady and not too hard. Then slowly the monkey climbed on and I went 5:50, 5:53, 5:56 to mile 22. During mile 22 was a steep hill, which I felt like I crawled up, and I was starting to unravel. The “wall” in a marathon is unlike any torture I have ever experienced. Slowly you lose focus, you veer inexplicably, going downhill hurts worse than uphill…and on this day I started to get chills. Chills are not a good sign in such hot, dry conditions and they scared me. At mile 24, I stopped and walked for 20 seconds (my third such walking break of the day), fearing I was about to go down. I chugged down two cups of water and poured another on my head. I felt good enough to go 2 more miles and the crowds were loud and raucous enough to keep me going. I have never wanted not to be running more in my life than those last two miles of the race. It must have been a sad homestretch to watch as another guy, who was hurting even more, and I shuffled into finish not wanting any part of silly competition - this was survival, far more important. A sprint who have sent my quivering left hamstring into an inexorable cramping spasm.

So, what did I learn? Like I said, I am not sure I trained very effectively for this race, which I knew was a possibility beforehand. A longer build-up and higher mileage are necessary. Also, I think that during a marathon training phase, you must run at marathon pace as much as possible and not spend time running much faster than half marathon pace. The difficulty is not in the pace, rather the distance, and covering distance at pace is critical. I also learned that I might not be as good a marathoner as I am 5k-half-marathon, and I am ok with that if it is true.

Before I make this determination. I just want one more shot with proper build-up, better training, and could somebody give me some decent race day weather(75 degrees at finish - pretty hot for a marathon) and some people to run with (alone after 3 miles) for once!

The facts - there was a stiff headwind out of the west. the is course is point to point and heads WSW, so the head wind was pretty constant. temps around 70-75 for the race, sunny and dry. 5:30. 5:29(10:59), 5:24 (16:24), 5:32(21:56), 5:23 (27:19 5 miles), 5:25(32:44), next 2 in 11:19(44:04 8 miles) (during the 7th mile I had to stop bc I started to feel light headed and couldn’t catch my breath, a worrisome thing. I recovered and started running again), 5:28(49:32), 5:22(54:54 at 10), 5:34(1:00:29), 5:23(1:05:52), 5:30 (1:11:22), 5:22(1:16:45), 5:30(1:22:15), 5:31(1:27:47), 5:32(1:33:19), 5:41(1:39:01), 5:34 (1:44:35), 5:50(1:50:26 at 20 miles/5:31 pace), 5:53(1:56:20), 5:56(2:02:16), 6:08(2:08:24), 6:41(2:15:06), 6:14(2:21:21), last 1.2 7:32 - 2:28:53, 5:40 pace, 21st overall, a 3 minute PR but a 5-8 minute disappointment. ah well.

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06.21.08

On the treadmill in Cairo

Posted in Jeuland's Musings at 1:40 pm by Marc

Greetings from the sprawling city of Cairo! I have been relegated to running on the treadmill here as it is impossible to do so in the streets. If you have ever been to this city, you’ll understand. Crossing the street walking is hard enough! It’s like a real life version of frogger, which you can imagine is slightly more harrowing than a computer game. Alas, the treadmill’s not my favorite, but I think I will stick to it for a few more days.  There is something awful about having your pace be dictated by a brainless machine. You can never slow down or surge, unless you play with the speed and tilt, which I am way too lazy to do.

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06.18.08

more “why do you run?”

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:02 am by Joan

We’re having an organizational meeting in early July where we will chart our plans for the 2008 fall season (hopefully,  returning to Club XC nationals in December); we’ll also meet some prospective new members.  Here are two answers to my “Why do you run?” question on the CAC application … posted with permission:

from, Kevin Crosby:

As I mentioned previously, I am competitive. I love to compete. If it wasn’t for racing, I probably would not run near as much as I do. Almost as much as the competition, I have found some of my best friends through running, and I love the bonding that occurs on the easy days, the long days, and the days where you are running so hard you can’t speak a word to each other. Lastly, I love being outside. Running is a great excuse to be out for 2 hrs each day.

from Rebekah Potts:

The reason for my running depends on the day that this question is asked. Some days, I run because I need 45 min of time alone, or an hour to let the days events and problems slowly percolate through my head, thinking over them as I feel inclined. Some days, I run because I simply want to go where and when and however fast I want to, under the power of my own legs. Other days, I run because I want to feel the dirt of my favorite trail; I want to watch the trees blow by; I want to catch sight of deer running away from the sound of my running shoes; I want to fill my lungs with air that has not been re-circulated by enormous compressors and artificially chilled to 68 F. Often times, when I need motivation to go for a run on a rainy and cold day (or a hot, humid one), I run because I know that running will give me a sense of accomplishment, will satisfy my competitive drive, and will leave me feeling thankful and happy that I was able to complete the distance I set out to cover. I love the simple sensation of running, the people I get to run with, the strength and physical fitness that running provides.

To condense my reasons into one, overly-simplified sentence: I run both for what I gain from it, and for the joy of the actual run. And even more simply: I love to run.

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