Search Results for: runners strip

Runner’s Strip Cartoon Movie Shorts: “Recess Snack Swap”

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Children with runner parents put up with a lot. Mom and Dad head out early for their weekend long runs. Dinnertime table talk could err on the side of TMI compared to other families… “God, I have the WORST chaffage right HERE…” And then there are the runner foods that consume the cupboards. Enter my latest Runner’s Strip Cartoon Movie Shorts: “Recess Snack Swap” Don’t get me wrong, kids that have runner parents are INSANELY lucky. They have role models that show just how much fun exercise and fitness can be, that adopting healthy habits will make you happier and more productive in other areas of life. Kids that watch their parents set and strive for running goals witness first had how powerful hard work and dedication are. But, Mom and Dad, try to keep in mind Chocolate flavored GU’s don’t go for very much on the playground black market. Kids with runner parents are much more likely to become self-motivated and persistent individuals themselves. And hey, if they wind up runners themselves…even better!! #spreadtheaddiction 😉 ——– For more Runner’s Strip Cartoons…go HERE! Posts on runner nutrition…go HERE. ——– 1) What was your favorite snack growing up? Anyone remember Dunkaroos??? 2) what is a go-to snack for you now? 3) If you have kids, do they like any ‘runner foods’?

Runner’s Strip Movie Shorts: Episode 2: ‘Runner’s Right of Way’

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Every runner has been there. They’re just running along, not taking up too much space on the sidewalk, when BAM…they meet the sidewalk hog!!! Walkers going five wide, a dog-owner with about 200 feet of leash slack, packs of people paying no attention to the fact that you, a runner, are in fact trying to pass through. I hope you enjoy my latest Runner’s Strip Cartoon Movie Short: May all your running paths be unimpeded…but if not… —— In case you missed my FIRST Runner’s Strip Cartoon Moving Short, you can find it HERE. Got a race coming up? Race tips HERE. Stuck in a ‘meh’ mood? Get a kick in the running motivation pants HERE. —— 1) Do you try to say something if you’re coming up on people from behind? I try the loud cough first. 2) Ever been full on tripped by some sidewalk hogs? 3) When the tables are turned, if you’re walking your dog or something are you mindful of other runners? Yuppers. 🙂

Runner’s Strip: The ‘J’ Word

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I’m a runner. You can call me every insult in the book and I really won’t care. I will probably even laugh. But the second you call me a JOGGER…all bets are off. ——— Make your running even FASTER…posts HERE, HERE, and HERE. More Runner’s Strip comics and cartoons HERE. ——— 1) What’s something that non-runners say or ask you that may annoy you? 2) Do you use runner and jogger interchangeably or do you definitely keep the adjectives in line? 3) How do you usually react to insults? Usually I do end up laughing.

Runner’s Strip: Racing Fart

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There is an art to simultaneously running and farting. To be properly mastered, it takes an expert combination of selective muscle control and timing with your stride. That said, there are few things more gratifying than running and letting go of that abominable bubble of gas in your intestines. The joy of letting one rip is only exponentially rewarding when you’ve been carrying along a potential GI disaster for miles, painfully holding back, but then realize that rather than a number 2 on your hands, the mounting, monster pain-ball was only…GAS!! Pit stop averted. Go along and keep perfecting your running farts, Runners. Though, what separates the Lukes from the Yodas among is are the ones who can relax/contract/time during races and hard workouts without losing so much of a millisecond off their pace. —— GI issues for runners addressed HERE and HERE. More Runner’s Strip and cartons HERE. —— 1) Worst GI nightmare run? 2) Name a time when you thought it was going to be a nightmare number 2 episode while running but then realized it was just a big ball of gas…you can’t tell me the amount of relief you feel is nearly euphoric. 3) Do you have any shame letting a painful gas ball go while running? Do you hold back during certain times or in certain company?

Distance Runners Getting Their Speed Work On: The multi-level approach to getting faster

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Getting a runner to be faster is an interesting undertaking. It’s actually a concept that coaches and athletes have been trying to perfect for centuries. As science has improved, training has evolved, we’ve created training phases and workouts that push the runner and train their body. Simplistically it’s easy to sum it up like this: if you want to run faster, run faster. This is true of course, doing speed work and improving your base speed, is going to enable a runner to run a faster pace as the distance gets longer. As in, if you improve your mile time you’ll be able to run a 5k and 10k faster. If you don’t do speed work you’ll never improve your speed. Though as I said, that’s overly simplistic, and if a runner is truly wanting to see how fast they can be they need to open their eyes and expand their training logs to include ALL of the factors that make a runner faster. You see, the body is an interconnected machine, you can’t just concentrate on straight running workouts. I’ve been working on a series for Competitor.com tied to speed work and the other techniques that enable a runner to, well, run faster. There are drills, strength work, and a neuromuscular component to getting faster. Check out the series so far: What Distance Runners Can Learn From Sprinters The Neuromuscular Component to Speed Work Distance Runners Staying SHARP During an Injury In reading each of them you’ll see that the first step to getting faster is working on your shorter-repeat speed. You shouldn’t avoid those 200’s even if you’re a 10k and above runner. But that’s ONE step in the process. After that you’ve got to build the synapses and teach the nerves to fire faster; your brain is Continue Reading →

Runner’s Strip: Form

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Please, Runners, if for no other reason than the sake of vanity do what you can to improve your form. 😉 Joking aside, running with proper form will make you more efficient…running more efficient will make you faster. And hey, you won’t look like this poor sap running either…PERK! ——- Posts all about form and how to improve yours HERE, HERE, and HERE. More running cartoons HERE! ——- 1) What’s the craziest looking runner with poor form you’ve seen before? It’s okay if you were looking in the mirror. 😉 2) How has your form improved? What form related work did you do or are you doing? 3) Finish this sentence: I may have poor form but at least I don’t look like… 4) Anyone racing this weekend?

Runner’s Strip: Racing Weight

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Oh what a difference running crazy amounts of miles in training makes. Come time for that post-race break those racing shorts…errrr, ‘shoes’ may be fitting a little differently! 😉 Sunday morning deserves some running cartoonage! That being said, we can poke fun but one needn’t get TOO would up over some post-race ‘love’ weight, giving the body a chance to recover is incredibly important and your racing will be much better off in the long-term. On the flip side there is a difference between recovery and gluttony…haha. As with most all things in running and in life, it’s all about balance. Now, pass this runner the Pop-Tarts! 😉 ——- POST on fueling for races. POST with tips on runners eating out. POST on the importance of the 30-minute refuel window. POST on timing your fuel to best support your running performance. Get more Running Cartoons HERE! 🙂 ——- 1) When it comes time to break after a race or season, do you eat differently? 2) What are some of the things you do to give your body some TLC to recover after hard races or between seasons? 3) Favorite thing you treat yourself to after a great race?

Runners Managing Emotions: When the human in you is being tested

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Running can be emotional. Ask the injured runner how it feels to be on the elliptical stationed behind the row of treadmills and you’re putting yourself at risk for a major @$$ whooping. 😉 On the contrast, approach the runner who, physically spent after crossing the line after a new PR is miraculously able to overcome full lactic acid overload and jump around like a giddy school girl. Something about all those endorphins coursing through a runner’s veins can sure bring out the emotions. Running just makes everything else feel more ‘real’. ‘Normal people’ can’t quite understand the unique ecstasy experienced after a run that was just ‘on.’ Conversely, ‘normals’ can’t wrap their heads around why a bad run can put you in such a crappy mood. “It’s just a run, right?” they ask scratching their heads. But it’s not…it’s more. At least it FEELS like more. Running isn’t most of our jobs, it doesn’t make us billionaires, it won’t snuggle us late at night (but we can spoon with our Nike running shoes), but dang-it it sure brings a nice sense of purpose to things. Running is black and white. It’s a constant when all other things may feel totally off the wall chaotic. It’s about working towards something, watching progress, seeing hard work PAY OFF. Not in the monetary sense, the worth of miles is, as MasterCard can tell us, ‘Priceless.’ I often say running keeps me sane. It’s reliable. You can always count on the run being there, it’s YOU that has to show up. Injuries are unavoidable, as are set-backs, but eventually the run will be there for you. It’s like the welcome mat that never gets tossed out. Dealing with the emotional side of running is what tests the HUMAN in us. Struggling with an Continue Reading →

Runners, Racing, and Kicking Butt

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For runners the weekends usually mean two things: races and long runs. In honor of the first I’ve brought you a little running cartoon. Okay, okay, I’m not suggesting we all become snarky, “I just kicked your butt” runners…or, well maybe I am. How about I want you all to go out there and kick@$$ but let’s keep the majority of the snarky comments in our heads?? Oh, even better, you can bring all your runner snark here and let it out! 😉 Go, run, kick some butt! 🙂 ———- Racing ultimately comes down to an inward battle, it’s a matter of MENTALLY pushing further than what your body is ‘telling’ you it is capable of. HERE, HERE, and HERE are all posts relating to improving your mental toughness. More cartoons and my Runner’s Strip comic HERE! 🙂 ———- 1) Pick a race distance, and where does the real pain start to set in? I’ll pick a 5k…that first mile really is deceptively ‘easy’…second mile you start to feel it, then BAM if you were ‘stupid’ that first mile, you REALLY feel it that third. The last .12 then is lost in a fog of, “Where is that darn finish line?!” 😉 2) If you have a race on Saturday, do you come back with a long run on Sunday? Or how do you work a long run in, if you do? I suggest, depending on how hard the race was, you either do a longer cool-down and make Saturday the double-duty race/long run day. Or if it’s early in the season long run on Sunday after race. 3) What does your running weekend look like?

Universal Awareness for Runners Yelling, “Track”

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Find me a track runner who doesn’t have Lane One mindless pedestrian stories and I’ll show you a unicorn who poops gold. There really needs to be more universal awareness for the word, “Track!” It seems pretty flipping clear to me, no? As it is, when you’re in the middle of a 5 mile tempo, gut-wrenching 400’s, or dare we even THINK about, a race…having to yell anything seems like a burden. We may say, “Track,” but you know we’re all thinking, “Look, A-hole, wise up and move the eff outta my way…I’m busting my @$$ and you’re walking a 15min mile…clear the heck out of LANE ONE!” If you knew it wouldn’t ruin your split, you know all runners harbor the fantasy of dropping shoulder and just plowing through the oblivious idiot. For all of us who have fruitlessly, wished, go read Mo’s account of an epic Lane One throw-down. I’m only sorry it messed up the runners’ repeat. I’m not heartless, okay, there have been days where little kiddies are weaving in and out of Lane One. I’m not anti-child, but I’m also not going to lie and say that when I’m running and already feel like I’m dying, I really don’t want to have to play Chicken with your child. Parents, please, do all us runners a favor and bolster their love of track in Lanes 6-8. Teenagers who think you’re funny, cackling at us from the infield or on the bleachers ‘kickin’ it’ after school. You’re not funny. But to their credit if they are clear of the inside lanes, by all means go about your business. The world will offer you its slap of reality soon enough. Enjoy thinking you’re the coolest things to ever walk the planet. Or, come down and join us for Continue Reading →