Search Results for: stretch

Maggie Vessey: Queen of the homestretch runway

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

Last week may have been New York Fashion Week, but the 2014 track season was Maggie Vessey’s Fashion statement. No need to say more. Vessey took the opportunity of being a ‘free agent’ to prove she’s got the creative talents to match her performance prowess on the track. “I do want to draw attention to the sport and maybe give people who aren’t necessarily interested in track and field a reason to be interested,” Vessey told Runner’s World. “But it is a very authentic expression of who I am, and I now have this opportunity to be able to put that out there, be bold, and take a risk.” To all those eating her fashionably savvy dust, heed the words: look good, feel good. 😉 ——- Related: Excellent read on Maggie Vessey in New York Magazine Oiselle was representing runners at New York Fashion Week, I caught up with Founder and CEO, Sally Bergesen My story on Kate Grace, professional runner for Oiselle. Runner Fashion is All the Rage: Legs to Crush a Runway My own (expanding) line of running apparel: Ezzere

4 Crazy Important Stretches for Runners: Hamstrings, hips, glutes, and psoas

Posted on by — 8 Comments ↓

For once my running cartoons will be used and I’m deathly serious. Stretching, Runners, is no joke. I used to HATE stretching, I’d do it begrudgingly, but ever since my little revelation in Boulder I’ve pulled a total 180. Now it’s good too because I don’t have a little bit of guilt writing about and telling runners just how crucial stretching is. I’m practicing what I preach, yo. Areas that rank most common across the board for running injuries and the areas that runners are notoriously tight in are: the hamstrings, glutes, hips and groin region, and the psoas. I took my cartoons and put together a quick stretching routine that you REALLY should be doing as much as possible. Like daily…I’m doing them daily, so now I can say, fully absolved of any lingering guilt, that you should do the same. 😉 [Click to enlarge so you can read text…but please respect a starving artist’s work, you can always purchase prints, contact: cait@caitchock.com] ———- More posts on flexibility HERE And a post on WHY flexibility will make you faster HERE ———- 1) How often do you stretch? Be honest. 😉 2) What’s one of your tightest areas? Hamstrings and adductors. 3) What’s something you kinda feel a bit of guilt about when you tell others to do it because you don’t always follow that advice yourself?

My New Love Affair With Stretching and How it’s Rocking My Running

Posted on by — 8 Comments ↓

I love running (duh) but you may recall I’m not entirely in a Ménage à trois with stretching AND running. Don’t get be wrong, I KNOW how important regular stretching is to prevent injuries and improve your running performance. Heck, I write about it tons HERE and HERE…oh and I harp on it in my Competitor and Running Time articles. But do I love it? Eh…we’ll say I would choke it down. Then the world shook. You probably felt it actually. Remember THIS post where I talked about the BEST MASSAGE THERAPIST in the world?? Al Kupczak (aka also my BFF…all runners should contact him: 303-817-9961) literally solved a string of 3.5+ years of injuries stemming from my car accident. Side-not, getting hit by a car and almost losing your leg isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Well I mean I was able to run…but it was ugly, it never really felt like it used to, I couldn’t go faster than an easy pace without getting injured to where I couldn’t run at all. I saw lots of docs, tried lots of things…yada yada yada…finally got my butt up to Boulder, CO. “Cait, you’re tight as h*ll.” “I know, Al.” “It’s not all your fault, there’s lots of scar tissue and calcifications stopping you from being able to stretch.” “I’ve been TELLING PEOPLE!!! See, it’s not my fault, stretching doesn’t like me!!” “Well now that I’ve broken all that up you CAN stretch now.” [not verbatim but you got the gist] It was an intense 12 days, saw Al Kup every other day, hours on the table, and then…miracle beyond miracles check this out: First day in CO…I’ve never IN MY LIFE touched my toes before. This is only four days later after 2 treatments. I was able to Continue Reading →

Stretch or Become a Tight@$$ Like Me

Posted on by — 14 Comments ↓

Okay I’m going to have to try and keep this one short today. Why? Procrastination. Yup, I’m the queen of it, but I will say I NEVER miss a deadline and in fact with work type things I tend to be early. I also say I work the best under pressure, I guess forced productivity and all. But this time I’ve procrastinated in getting the whole Father’s Day things in order and two days after that is my bro’s birthday so I’ve got to get cracking on things. Let’s see, so for today I did an easy run after yesterday’s harder workout. Came out to be a little over 8 miles, and again I’d like to note how that whole easy day term gets thrown around way too loosely. Trust me that first mile was a symphony of cracks and pops, and it felt like it. Then, not gonna lie, I was counting down the minutes of those last three miles! But get er done. Finished with core/abs and stick a fork in me. I am also notoriously tight. Not a tight@$$ I’d like to note, although my adductor has been a beast lately and it’s really tight way up north so maybe I am. At any rate I’m HORRIBLE at keeping up with the whole stretching. I know I’m paying for it, I feel it, and running in fact makes you tighter. So I need to start getting better and forcing myself to do it. It seems everyone has their own personal views on stretching: when to do it, how to do it, what kind to do it. I will say this: DON’T stretch cold muscles. You’ll tear something, you always see people doing their little quad stretch before going out for a run, that’s actually not a good Continue Reading →

Running Outside the Individual: How training partners make you faster

Posted on by — 5 Comments ↓

This weekend they will be running the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The pinnacle of excitement for college cross country, I’ve done a few pieces highlighting a few of the front runners vying for the individual title: Shelby Houlihan, Crystal Nelson, and Patrick Tiernan. Whether you ran cross country in college, or even went to college, or not I urge you to read them because among all of there runs a similar theme: cross country is unique because it blends the individual component of running with the team aspect. As every runner knows, ultimately, a race is against beating yourself, and while track does have a team scoring element, it is in no way like cross country’s. Here, there is a team of seven, five runners score but don’t think the sixth and seventh man (or runner woman) don’t count. You need all seven because: 1) You never know: We’ve all had days where the gun goes off and it’s clearly not your day. If you’ve got one of your ‘usual’ top five runners amidst a horrible race, you better hope you can rely on your sixth or seventh to step up. 2) The tie: There are classic stories where it comes down to a tie breaker and a win was decided on the number sixth runner…you can bet that runner who proved a win for their team was celebrated that night! Most importantly, while running is a test against yourself, there is an incredible bond that is formed between training partners. We’ll call is a bond build on suffering, and when you ‘click’ with certain training partners or groups that’s where the magic happens. A partner, or team, can pull you to YOUR best. Through the training season, time miles, the work you put in, if alongside a person/team, therein Continue Reading →

Ask Me: HELP! I’m stressed…

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

Here’s an excellent question I got from a reader recently. If you’ve got any running related questions for me, feel free to drop me a line: cait@caitchock.com Q: Hi, I came upon your page regarding running and could not help but be very impressed. I am a 23 year old dental student in my final year and the stress of exams has got my anxiety to higher than average levels. I am writing to you regarding advice and techniques on how to relieve such stress/anxiety through the sport of running. I previously ran 5km a day, however due to recent time constraints I have been unable to match this goal. What would you suggest in terms of distance to ensure I do not spend too much time on recreational running? What intensity do you recommend I perform? And finally what supplementation would you suggest to help me improve and relieve said anxiety. Regards, Dr. To Be A: Hi Dr. To be, Thank you very much for your kind words and I’m happy to hear you’ve enjoyed my site! I’m doubly excited to hear that you’ve experienced just how much of a rush, escape, and release running can be. So much more to running than just the physical benefits it gives us! Wow, I’m stressed just thinking about all the school and exams you’ve got going over there, congrats on pursuing your degree and making it to the final stretch! Now on to your questions. It sounds like you were able to become rather consistent and felt comfortable with the 5k a day, but I understand that your schedule is becoming more busy. I’ll offer some tips on ‘finding’ that extra time but in regards to you wondering what the ‘right’ amount of time spent running is, there is not ‘right’ Continue Reading →

The Running Grinder and the Recovery Champ

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

Within every runner live the Yin Yang twins…the grinder and the ice-cream loving, sloth who lives to watch cartoons. We’ll call the latter the ‘recovery champ’. While I jest, because it’s not just ice cream they love but pizza, donuts, burritos, french toast [insert runger fantasies here], there is truth to it. In order to run hard you’ve got to allow your body to recover just as ‘hard.’ It often takes runners awhile to learn this, often the hard way. Typically everyone goes through the stage where they race every run, a run doesn’t count unless you’ve maxed out, right?! 😉 While this usually leads to improvement in the short term, eventually going hard every day will lead down the road of an injured, over-trained, mess. Without adequate recovery you’ll be too tired to actually run fast. Easy days are important, as are other ways to speed up your recovery. In order to NAIL the days that count, your hard workouts and races, you’ve got to ensure your muscles are able to rebuild and repair themselves between hard sessions. So there IS an excuse to laze around in your sweats and hit up a Netflix marathon. 😉 Recovery is more than just an easy day too, for most mortal runners of the world running isn’t your job so lifestyle choices and how you spend the non-running hours of your day will play a big role in your ability to recover. Even for the elite runners, they are continually looking for ways to improve their recovery…because chances are there is ALWAYS room for improvement somewhere. Take a look at your own habits and look for areas you know you could be better at. I’ve made a handy little checklist to give you some ideas of where to start: * Make sure Continue Reading →

Ask Me: Solving Calf Injuries

Posted on by — Leave a reply

I always love getting mail from readers and I often get questions which, because I could talk/write/draw about running all day, I’m always happy to answer. The other awesome thing about bloggy-land and our cyber-culture is constantly making new friends. I enjoy hearing updates back from the runners I’ve ‘met’ after they’ve sent questions and it’s always cool to watch them go on to run healthy and set new PR’s. Well because great minds think alike, or at least I’m certain questions I’m emailed are ones others probably have, I decided to share a few. If you’ve got a questions feel free to email me at: cait@caitchock.com Without further adieu: Q: Hi! Do you do your calf strengthening exercises before or after running or on days off? Just curious… I am 45 and returning after a 2 month hiatus. After a 14 day streak (7 @ 20 min and the 7 @ 30 min, my calfs are starting to get cranky) Do you think everyday is good for us over 40 runners or should I be taking days off? Thank you so much. Your pages are very helpful? ~ Dan in Portland, OR A: Hi Dan! Thanks so much for your readership! First off, CONGRATS on finally getting back to running!! As for your questions: I’d suggest doing the strengthening exercises every other day, but do lots of stretching every day. Always post-run on both of those, for the stretches do the standing wall stretch both standing with your leg straight and and then with a slight bend in the knee, that will work both calf muscles. Also do one with a heel drop, so stand on a stair and just let your heel drop, slowly working deep into that achilles stretch. As for your running, every single person is Continue Reading →

All About the Climb

Posted on by — 6 Comments ↓

Runners are constantly climbing. It’s in our nature to always have a goal we’re working towards, always wanting to push ourselves to do better. Whether it be chasing new PR’s, challenging yourself to expand your race distance range, or even after we’re past our ‘PR-PR’ years, redefining the times and bests (weekly, yearly, masters, etc.) bests. Diversity. Fitting as it is now cross country season that we talk about diversifying your running and climbs. Cross country thrives on both. I’ve done posts on just how awesome hills are at improving your strength and power, which translates to speed. What I haven’t talked too much on are prolonged hill climbs. The long climb, yup. We’re talking taking your tempo runs to the trail, or inclined treadmill if you don’t have a stretch long enough outside. I’ve previously featured the man-beast that is Michael Wardian and he’s no stranger to treadmill running. While he’s one of the World’s best ultra and trail runners, a major chunk of his miles are done on the treadmill so he can fit his runs in around his family’s (namely his kids’!) schedules. Wardian loves a good, long climb. He makes sure to do hill work a few times a week and, “for me that means hours of running up vertical inclines, sometimes fast, sometimes just a long grind, but always pushing to get better.” Wardian is an ultra runner after all. Another big fan of prolonged uphill runs is Sage Canaday, a staple workout for him is an uphill tempo run. Canaday is another World leading ultra runner [check out my feature on him HERE], residing in Boulder, CO he has no shortage of trails to mountain goat up. Even if you’re not one of the best in the World, taking advantage of prolonged hill climbs Continue Reading →

Waiting Can Suck, But the Patient Runners Win Out

Posted on by — 8 Comments ↓

Being patient sucks. Waiting for what we want isn’t fun, but the reality is that often times we are forced to wait. Even more often is it that rushing things will ultimately leave us more frustrated in the long term. As runners, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could just lace up and make our next race/workout/run a PR? If only, right?! The natural tendency to want those faster times and better fitness TODAY is the breeding ground for injuries, overtraining, and slowed progress. Beautiful irony there, right? Every runner has been guilty of it, and hey, some things you just have to learn yourself the hard way. (Sometimes a few times to really NAIL that lesson home.) Being patient sucks…but we need to learn to embrace it. Yikes. Where’s the spoonful of sugar to wash that down? Well that comes when you actually ARE patient and watch your goals materialize…eventually. The sweetest victories only come after enough struggle and work, after all. Convincing yourself to wait it out and be patient is tough and often an on-going battle. Incidentally a large part of being able to stay patient comes from confidence. How so? Being patient means BELIEVING in yourself, what you’re doing, and the process. A runner who lacks confidence is the one who tends to rush things, an example of that is going out way too fast in a race. It takes MORE confidence and patience to go out controlled and then pick up the pace, and close fast. A runner who tries to ‘make a buffer’ by going out too fast is subconsciously affirming they are going to slow down. See how that’s not a good way to think? It takes more confidence to be patience, wait, and then respond to your competitors (or go faster) as Continue Reading →