‘Running’ Articles at , Page 24

Running Humor: It’s really not funny, but then, again it is

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Cait — 24 Comments ↓

Running can be brutally hard sometimes, that’s why it’s important to make sure you’ve got a sense of humor. Runners can have a sick sense of humor; don’t blame us, it’s kind of like a coping mechanism. Really, sometimes you just have to laugh to keep on going! So in the spirit of taking the edge off the lactic acid burning and other running maladies, I’ve re-captioned a few of my pieces of art…

The butt-clenched shuffle, been there. [Actually serious posts to help with GI Issues: HERE and HERE.]

Ahh, the cover of darkness can at least save you from ruining someone else’s lunch. At least you know you definitely ran hard! [To be noted: when I originally drew this, I had meant for that to be a ponytail dangling over the runner’s shoulder and they were just hunched over. Only now am I realizing that the picture could be put to use in doing grade-school humored barf jokes! GOLD!]

Come on, you know you’re all thinking of that when you see someone’s race shots and they look like it could grace the covers of Runner’s World. I mean it’s certainly not jealousy when you see how crappy your own shots turn out, right?! 😉

I know how important it is to stretch, so WHY is it harder to get myself to go to yoga than it is to do 400 repeats until fail?

Actually, it’s IMPORTANT to step to the line a gamer. Be confident in yourself, and if you have to let your ego take over for a bit…go with it! Just keep the thoughts in your head, you don’t have to turn into a Kanye.

True fact.

Runners, well, we are just better. We laugh an the unlaughable so we can live to get to the next run! 🙂

1) What’s a runner joke you laugh about with your friends? Or a quip you could put to am image?

2) Do you tend to be one of those people who have a really sensitive stomach; either barf-prone of the other end?
Never threw up after a race or workout but plenty of GI issues.

3) Have you ever had a really good racing shot of yourself?
No…I look crazy when I run. When I see pictures of myself I pretend that has to be my crazy twin.

4) You should love a runner because…[finish the sentence]
in running it’s not OCD, it’s quirky and attentive to training details. 😉

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The Race Isn’t Over Until YOU Say It’s Over: How to decisively pass your competitors and come back from being passed

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Cait — 16 Comments ↓

The race isn’t over until the finish line is crossed. Okay, while that sounds like it merits a, “No sh*t, Sherlock,” snarkism…hold off for just a tick and read where I’m going with this. However long the race is you’ve signed up for, there is always time to make a move on your competitor. Don’t give up until you have, in fact, crossed the finish line.

Racing, as with running, isn’t just a test of who is physically superior. It is also a test of who has the mental capacities to FORCE their body to its limits. There is also a test of who is a ‘smarter’ racer, who can put up a poker face the best or who can tell when their competitor is just bluffing. Then you put the hammer down at the moment when your competitor is at their weakest and hopefully crush them mentally. Force them to give up.

How do you crush your competitor mentally? Decisive moves. What’s that mean? It means when you pass them, you don’t just pass them, you blow by them. You gather yourself right before you pass, drop your shoulders, look at relaxed as possible, breath as evenly as possible, hide how tired you are and surge. Run hard and fast straight past them and keep up the pace to immediately put distance on them. PROVE how strong you are feeling, SHOW them you are obviously feeling stronger than they could possible be, and FORCE them to give up right there. DO NOT, ever, look over your shoulder or give them a shadow of hope that they might be able to keep pace with you. Sounds mean, well, racing can be mean. It’s a test of who can get to the finish line the fastest.

The reason you want to surge and instantly put distance on them is because if you weakly pass someone, if they are smart they will just tuck right in behind you. As we know from racing and running, it’s FAR easier to let someone else do the pacing work and just pull you along. If you weakly pass someone you’re potentially just doing them a favor. If they are smart, they will gather their own reserves while you lead and decisively pass you and try to drop you. See why it’s all about decisive passing?

Now, on the flip side, here is how you should handle getting decisively passed yourself. I wouldn’t leave you left hanging without some strategy for the other side of things, because we’ve always got to be prepared for anything.

When someone makes a move on YOU and passes, know that they probably planned this. This is their attempt to CRUSH your mentally. Get mad, do whatever you have to to get fired up and determined to stick with them. Don’t give in and be the person who gives up before the finish line is ever crossed. Like I opened with, unless you’re crossing the line there is still distance left. Stay FOCUSED.

FOCUS on their back. Burn a hole into their shirt with your eyes.
RELAX, shake your arms if you have to, control your breathing and do a form check.
DECIDE if you need to make up any lost distance to match their pace NOW or if there is still a long ways to go, hold off and gradually reel them in. Here is where you need to check in with yourself, see how you’re feeling, assess your pre-race game plan, and make a choice.
SURGE if it’s late in the race and you haven’t got time to reel them in. Make up the distance you can and make it your goal to be able to tuck right in behind them.
MOVE. Make a move of your own if you are able to get to them; and remember you want it to be DECISIVE. If they ‘spent’ themselves the first time they passed you, it might be easier to crush them mentally; they probably didn’t expect you to come back.

Back and Forth: Passing is a two-way street and you can get into a back and forth sort of game; which can be fun, infuriating and incredibly mentally taxing in addition to the physical. Here, just keep thinking, “It’s not over until I say it’s over,” and don’t let any of their passes crush you mentally. Far easier said than done, I know, but that’s just how running is. Sometimes you do wind up being the one who got passed and dropped. But each time that happens you get a little bit stronger, physically and mentally, and hopefully it ignites a fire in you to keep training. That way you’ll be the one doing the decisive passing and crushing your competitors.

The race isn’t over until you cross the finish line.
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In case you missed it, check out: ‘5 Ways to Make Sure Your Race Doesn’t Suck’

After all that passing, if you’re a runnerchick, be sure to get yourself my Get Chicking shirt! 😉
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1) How would you describe a DECISIVE pass versus just merely passing someone?

2) How do you handle getting passed and how do you stay mentally focused and not give up?

3) Do you have a good story of a back and forth passing situation? Do share!

4) Who raced this weekend?? Who ran?? 🙂

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The Blister Atop My Runner Toe: Getting the RIGHT socks and shoes to spare your feet extra suffering (Injinji Giveaway)

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Cait — 35 Comments ↓

Let’s talk runner feet. Don’t worry, by now you’ve realized I’m more of the art visuals and will spare you any actual photographs because runner feet tend to be gnarly feet! To be honest though, it’s almost like a little badge of honor…how gnarly can you go?

20% Off Your Next Shoe Order if You’re Blister Free! Jk. 😛

Runners put a beating to those ten little piggies and if a couple toe nails go, we’ll cite it as collateral damage. Blisters? That’s what extra race-bib safety pins are for, right? We do all we can to avoid blisters and whacked out toe nails but even that will only take you so far.

For blisters though, the right socks and the right sized shoes make a WORLD of difference. Actually the shoe sized issue can account for an appalling number of runner woes; and often times newer runners are unintentionally setting themselves up for far more torture than running alone is, just because their shoes are too small. Or they lace their shoes too tight.

Quick tips for shoe sizing: you want to have a thumb’s width between the tip of the shoe and your longest toe. (Ohh, is that your second one, or Big Mama toe? lol.) Also, your feet swell when you run, so make sure you are trying them on later in the day when your feet have expanded.

For blisters, that rests highly upon the kind of socks you are running in. Blisters are caused by heat and friction; the more rubbing, the more heat and the more chances you’ll get blisters if all of that rubbing is done between the sock and your foot. Moisture build-up also can result in blisters…umm, we are heading into winter and I’m pretty sure that drippy stuff is wet.

That’s why you want a technical material for those socks. Just like with tech material running shirts and other apparel, this will wick away excess moisture, be breathable to air those puppies out AND certain socks are with dual layer technology. That last one is just fancy talk for their being two thin layers in the sock; so all that that rubbing is done BETWEEN the layers of the sock rather than letting that friction occur between the sock and your foot.

So yay for socks and the right sized shoes, right? Well, it’s also getting colder this time of year (unless you’re a southern hemi-reader!) and I don’t know about you but I’m a weather wimp and can’t say I enjoy heading out when I know I’ll be seeing my breath. Those extremities have to bite the bullet and keeping them warm is important and makes running more comfortable too.
Injinji toe socks
Source
Well, friends, the kind folks over at Injinji contacted me about these toe socks they’ve got going. Toe socks?! Yes, it’s okay, you know how I am not a fan of the Vibrams BUT socks aren’t going to mess up with your biomechanics so I was willing to check these guys out. Maybe even try to peel a banana with my feet? No, I didn’t, don’t worry.

The Det’s: Think gloves in the sock form. They are made with technical materials, CoolMax, Lycra and Nylon, to wick moisture and be breathable. There are rather thin and light-weight. I got the no-show kind but they offer other styles and even compression socks.

The Toe Feel: I will be honest, I am sort of weird and don’t like ‘feeling’ things on my feet, if that makes sense. I don’t like flip-flops because they bug me having that prong between my big toe. So I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about these; I will say that the longer I had them on the more I did get used to the extra material between my toes. But to be totally honest I could still feel it and given the choice I’d probably still stick with a normal styled sock, especially if I were out running when the last thing I want on my mind is something clothing or hair in my face related.

Warmth: I think the major draw for me would be a little extra warmth by way of sock; I’d venture to say that the casing around my toes probably helped keep them a little warmer. Not a huge amount, but then again I wouldn’t want a fat, thick sock out running anyways! I really do love the material on these guys and they do a good job of the moisture wicking.

Pilates/Trail/Yogi Peeps: A big thing for Injinji is the draw from trail runners and those doing things like yoga or pilates. For trail running you’re putting yourself out in more extreme environments and you want gear and socks that will keep you warm and dry. For yoga and other times you’d want to be able to have a firm grasp on one toe or specific ones, I could see these as being really great for that. I know there are some models that have grippers on the bottom, again, that would be a definite perk for yoga or mat work.

Overall: I respect the creativity of Injinji and can appreciate where they are coming from, their tech material is comfy and I like it. I think if you’re into trails and yoga stuff you should give them a shot. For me, personally, because of my weird detest for feeling anything on my feet, I can’t say I’d go running in them. Maybe just every-day sorts of things or if I were doing pilates.

Well, do you want to try some Injinji socks out yourself?! The kind folks didn’t just give me some pairs to test out but gave me some extra socks to giveaway too. Yay for you…so to enter leave a separate comment below for doing any of the following:

1) Tell me what you’d do with your feet if you could use them like hands. [ie: peel a banana]
2) Go to the Injinji website and tell me which is your favorite sock
3) Follow me on Twitter
4) Like me on Facebook

This giveaway will end on Wednesday!

With that my friends, I hope you’re having a wonderfully blister-free Friday!

5 Ways to Make Sure Your Race Doesn’t Suck

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Cait — 35 Comments ↓

Ah, the thrill of race day is what some runners live for. Take all that adrenaline and exited-nervousness and it’s a schmorgesborg of energy. With race day comes the (hopefully mostly) self-imposed pressure, expectations and hopes to run your best. You’ve got big goals you want to achieve and you hope that by the time you cross the finish line you’ve hit those. Here are 5 ways you can stack the odds in your favor to step away from the line satisfied.

1) Game Plan: You need to go into any race with a concrete idea of how you’re going to run and the goals you want to achieve. You don’t want to have to try and make decisions on the fly; in the middle of a race you don’t want to be wasting mental energy on wondering what to do. Plan how you’re going to run, the splits you want to hit, how you are going to react if someone surges or your competitors make a move. Go in knowing if YOU plan to make those moves and what you will do if someone covers them. With race plans you need a few because you don’t know what others may do; you don’t want to be surprised in the middle of a race and freeze-up. You also don’t want to mess up your entire race by poor pacing. When you’ve got your race plans it’s even better if you’re able to use mental visualization to ‘practice’ them.

2) Consider Conditions: If you’re running amidst a hurricane you should obviously be drafting off of people! Not funny, I know. But when you show up to a race you need to check the conditions and adjust your race plan if need be. If it’s really hot and humid you may have to chuck the times you had planned and race off of effort. If it’s really windy you may want to hold off on taking the lead until later so that you can tuck in and conserve energy. The race day weather and conditions don’t DEFINE the race and you can’t let less than ideal conditions be an excuse for you to still not put the effort in; it just means you may have to adjust your goals and plans.

That girl’s drafting! 😉

3) Use Your Competition: Don’t ever be afraid of your competitors, embrace them because they will force you to step up your own game and race your best. Always be looking for that person faster than you, key off of them, sit behind them, focus on their back and don’t let a gap develop. Pick people off; if that back you’re focusing on is slowing down or you feel better then blow by that sucker and move onto the next person in front of you…always keep looking for that next person.

4) Avoid Mind Mutiny: There are SO many sub-topics here, for the sake of brevity I’ll give pointers here and direct you to other posts. Getting stuck in no-man’s land in a race stinks, but there are ways to salvage the race; don’t let feeling like it’s just you on the course be an excuse to give up…hey, the clock is always there! The middle of a race is the hardest, don’t let your mind check-out here…this, 99% of the time, leads to your pace slacking. Keep applying the pressure and focus. Do NOT focus on, “dang, this really hurts.” Duh, running hurts…that’s a reality, you knew that going in. So stop the self-defeatist thoughts and focus on what you CAN control (form, breathing, stride count, etc.) as a means of distraction.

5) Not Your Day, So What: Does that sound heinously tough love-esque? Well so be it…but the truth is we ALL have races where the legs just don’t show up that day. If the gun goes off and you feel like you’re pulling bricks, don’t automatically throw in the towel and give up. You NEED those mentally grueling races and workouts because getting through them makes you mentally tougher; then the days when your legs SO show up, you’ll be able to apply that toughness and you’ll be running faster. Overcoming the crappy runs are a huge mental test; give up too often and you set up a really bat habit that is tough to break out of. So if it’s not your day, yes, you may need to adjust your goals and plan but STILL put in the effort. Also, you’d be amazed at how your race can be salvaged even with ‘dead’ legs; that and miraculously your legs could show up mid-race…it’s happened.

So there you go…five ways to make sure that race you’ve been running your butt off for doesn’t suck. Of course there are many more…but I guess you’ll just have to keep reading (and running) to get more. 😉

1) What’s one way you make sure your races don’t suck? Or a tip you’d like to share?

2) What has been a time you had to adjust your plans due to weather conditions?

3) When has been a time that your legs really didn’t show up that day; how did you react and still put in the effort? Or, if you gave up, what did you learn from that experience and try to make sure you did better next time?

Downing Donuts and Crunching Carrots: Runners balancing their nutrition

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Cait — 21 Comments ↓

In case you needed an excuse to hit up Krispy Kreme, today is National Buy a Donut Day; please runners, by all means indulge, let’s just make sure it’s of the 100% whole wheat vareity. 😉

Let’s talk runner eats. I’m the first person to shout from the rooftops, “I run so I can eat like a Sumo-(wo)man and not look like one!” As runners we do carry license to do some damage when it comes to the grinding; but, at the same time we recognize that we are fueling those miles. If we want quality miles, then we should do our body the justice of giving it QUALITY fuel, right?

It all comes back to balance and moderation, isn’t it the truth with everything? Enter easy days and hard workout days. So while we can wolf down a pizza the size of our head, polish off the Entemenn’s coffee cake, that’s not ALL we eat, and we most of us don’t do that every day. Though no judgement if you do, trust me I’ve got runner friends who eat cleaner than a pro-body builder competing for a show and then I’ve got friends who eat their weight in Big Macs.

I’ve done a couple article on various nutrition topics for runners:
Going Gluten Free
Setting a Pre-Race Eating Plan
When to Eat High and Low on the Glycemic Index
Running and GI Issues
Post-Run 30 Minute Refuel Window

That last one is probably the one I’d force down all of your throats…it’s SUPER important for your muscle recovery to get that food into you system and start the refuel RIGHT after you run.

Today let’s talk about balance here. Food should be enjoyed, it should be loved, you can spoon with your Pop-Tarts at night if you need to. BUT I like this quote from one of my favorite sports nutritionists, Krista Austin, Ph.D., “Eating for performance.” Used in context she was referencing how Dathan Ritzenhein’s go-to pre-race meal is plain, white rice. It’s bland, but he knows it sits well in his stomach and because it is a non-complex carb it gets broken down quickly and is energy readily on tap for when he goes out to race.

Is it his favorite, most taste-bud tantalizing meal? Probably not, but he’s eating for PERFORMANCE. There are times and places when taste isn’t the prime objective; it CAN be the second you cross the finish line and take yourself out to a celebratory dinner, right?

The point is this, every runner is different and how much ‘junk’ they can get away with really varies. Krista Austin notes, “We can hope that going back to the old adage of ‘what you put in the fuel tank of the car is what you put out’, comes into play and if we put a higher quality of food in the body we should be supporting training better and enhancing the ability to create training adaptations…[but], I know many an Olympic athlete etc, in the sport of running that eat horribly and still get the job done (although yet to medal so maybe this is why?)-in fact they are the guys on top!”

As a personal observation I would say that the people on top are the ones who know WHEN to indulge and when to ratchet down and be a little more strict in what goes in. The periods when they are in really heavy training they make sure to get in the QUALITY foods first (fruits, veggies, whole grains, adequate protein) but then if they need to make up for all their expenditure they will dig into the higher calorie ‘fun’ foods because, let’s be honest, if you run 20+ miles you freaking earned the right to! Conversely, when they are tapering and getting close to race day, they make a conscious effort to make sure they aren’t eating like they are running 3-times more miles per week.

The ‘junk’ food, and that’s not the best term but the foods that we logically know aren’t the ‘best’ options, are hard-earned and one of (I think) the perks of being a distance runner. The thing is though, those foods are not to be eating INSTEAD of the good stuff. Think of a house, set the foundation as the QUALITY eats and then if you’ve got room for an attic, by all means fill it with pizza, Pop-Tarts, and yes, donuts. 😉

1) What are some of the ways you ensure you get in enough QUALITY into your runner diet?

2) What are some of the foods that you fill your ‘attic’ with? Do you probably fill more than just the attic, maybe the second story too?? 😉

3) In ‘eating for performance’, what are some pre-race day foods that work for you?
I’ve done oatmeal, Powerbars, but will admit to some Pop-Tarts too. 😛

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Runner-Speak: A runner’s unsaid language defined

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Cait — 21 Comments ↓

Runners, we really have our own language. True there are the actual words: fartlek, tempo, IT band, nip-guards, chaffage, etc. that we toss around. But there is the running BODY language that sometimes emotes much more than anything that could possibly be vocalized. Enter Runner-Speak…

I hope you enjoy my little Sunday Runner Cartoon. Get some giggles, then go make sure your Garmin is charged and able to pick up a signal. 😉
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If you want some more cartoonage you can see some of my other Runner’s Strip cartoons HERE, HERE, and HERE!! 🙂
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1) Any of those Runner-Speak pictures look familiar? Which one was the last you expressed?

2) What’s another Runner-Speak body tell that’s not pictured?

3) What are you doing with your fine runner self this Sunday? Runs, races, workouts, let’s hear it! 🙂

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Quick Tips to Improve Your Running in 10 Minutes or Less

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Cait — 20 Comments ↓

I cringe slightly because that headline sounds borderline Runner’s World, but I’m NOT going to say that by eating such-and-such you’ll drop your running PR’s by 2 minutes. Rather that with running there are SO many little, ‘extra’ things that supplement your running workouts that will improve your performances. Get more flexible, have better range of motion, improve your stride, fix your form and there’s a direct correlation to running efficiency. These things also reduce your risk for injury.

That said we live in some manic paced times and it’s easy to use the excuse you just don’t have time. Well, I’ve made a fun little chart to help dispute that. C’mon, are you really going to argue you don’t have an extra 40 seconds to spare from your day?

The last one, visualization touches on the MENTAL side of training. Don’t ever poo-poo how much of a difference the sports psyche makes. You can read the full visualization post HERE.

So, will you give me at LEAST the 40 seconds?? 😉

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Shout out to the AWESOME Katie @ Peace, Love and Oats for giving my running shirts some love on her Friday Fav’s list!! Everyone go check her out!

Also, in case you missed it on my Facebook Wall…Active.com named my running shirts among their Top Ten Holiday Gift Guide for Runners!! Yay again…hit up slide number 5 to see it. 🙂
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1) Will you be brave enough to promise to do one of these things on a regular basis? Or do you do some already?

2) What are quick ways you sneak in a running ‘extra’ through the course of your day.
Stretch while I’m waiting for the micro do cook my food. 😉

3) What’s a bit of running mental training advice you have to share?

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Runners Deserve Equipment Managers: Because attending to our needs is just that important

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Cait — 20 Comments ↓

Running is different from most other sports, namely it’s better. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think I deserve to have an equipment manager around here attending to my needs like the football and basketball players get. What about MY needs?

Dear My Running Equipment Manager,

I bestow upon you the great honor of lining up my running shoes each and every night, laces loose enough so that all I have to do upon waking is slip my feet in. It’s brutal enough waking up earlier than most, I shouldn’t be expected to function until I’ve gotten at least a 1/2 mile into my run. The task of tying my shoes is implied, I’ll be too busy trying to strap my Garmin on my wrist. (I’ll let you off the hook on that one.)

I really LOVE my Garmin, like love him, but those satellites get iffy every so often and for tempo runs and intervals I have to go with actual markers. You can old school wheel-off the mile markers for all my tempo runs. I’ll direct you to a fun hill and have you mark off 200 and 400 meter markers for when I do hill repeats. Gotta build the power and speed…wait, is it fair to demand THAT much from the single fast twitch muscle fiber I have in my body? 😉

I’ll get back from my run nice and sweat, it’s imperative for my recovery that I eat straight away…like the second my feet stop moving I expect you to wield me the refuel of carbs and protein. I REALLY like doughy carby goodness, so don’t you try and pass off those stale bagels that’s not what I keep you around for. And duh, we’re talking whole grains and wheat variety, none of that white crap. #healthyrunnereats

Actually food is a constant theme of the runner life. So you’re also a glorified short order chef; be close by because you never know when the runner black hole stomach gremlin may rear its ugly head.

Speaking of ugly heads, injuries are bound to spring up. No they kind of sneak attack and they are going to leave me uglier than that thing that crawled up out of The Ring. Your job will be to make sure I don’t wind up getting myself into too much trouble, if the judge isn’t a runner he may not sympathize with a not guilty plea if my excuse is that my state of mind was impaired and the outlash was because of miles withdrawals.

I LOVE me my running clothes. Especially THESE shirts and my tempo shorts. Do the laundry and don’t go losing all my left socks either.

Runners may not have the crazy fans that the soccer (sorry, futbol/football) fans get in Brazil, even though we deserve it lots more. You can also function as my entourage; I’d like feeling like I’m more important than I am every now and again.

I really am happy to have you around My Running Equipment Manager. You can do all the things I’d rather not have to think about. I’d rather just run. Oh wait, I forgot, just a couple other small tasks: massage me, freeze my ice cups, track the miles on my shoes, buy me new shoes, fold my running shirts, inform me of running news and results, foam roll for me, stretch for me, lay out my free weights, keep away leashless dogs, move absent-minded pedestrians from my path, pace me for my 400’s, call out my mile splits, pay my race entry fees, make sure I get VIP status to port-a-potties, pace me for 800’s, update my running log nightly and read bedtime stories to my treadmill.

What an AWESOME job you’ve got! XOXO Arty Runnerchick

1) What would you employ your running equipment manager for?

2) What are some things you do to make it easier/faster for you to get up and get out for you run?
Lay my running clothes and shoes out the night before.

3) What is your go-to post-run refuel?
English muffin and tuna…talk about eating on a budget! #dirtcheap 😉

Running Consistency: It’s a sum of all the miles between the PR’s

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Cait — 22 Comments ↓

With running, those shining races, performances worth remembering and runs where everything clicks are more just a representation of all the crappy runs, slog-fests, and uneventful miles before them. The highlights are always outnumbered by the runs done where no one else is watching, probably wouldn’t even know if you did them or not.

If you checked out my Facebook wall yesterday (and you should definitely ‘like’ me! hehe) you saw a sneak peek of a collage type of project I’m working on. It has various women, different eras and poses but it’s an example of a piece of art that can’t stand alone, it needs all the smaller pieces to work. Right now I’m not done and it’s still needing more artwork clips, just like in running. You’re constantly ‘adding’ to your project with every mile, every workout, each race and all the steps forward.

Running hinges on consistency probably more-so than anything else. Built into that is self-motivation and determination because it takes those two qualities to MAKE yourself consistent. After that is probably fortitude, or maybe more correctly the inability to stop, because the honest to goodness truth is that for the most part running hurts. There, said it, and even on those ‘easy’ runs you have to hurt to a degree because otherwise you’d just be jogging or racewalking, right?

Wow, what a pep-talk, right? But let me finish because I’m still explaining here and the point is that you can’t expect to feel like you’re running on rainbows most of the time; you have to expect and anticipate the fatigue and ‘meh’ days because they will be there. They make you a runner because runners get THROUGH those days and move onto the next workout, be it a slog-fest of one of those workouts where you feel everything clicking and you’re just ON.

Art: Cait Chock (early stuff!) lol

Your running is made up of each and every mile, it’s not just the glowing PR’s or the runs where you swear you saw a unicorn shi##ing rainbows and a leprechaun bathing in his gold. (Sorry, sort of an inside joke there…that’s my reference to where everything is ‘perfect’.) Now, there WILL be those days where you spy that unicorn, the runs where you feel like you’re outside watching yourself achieve something you didn’t know your legs were capable and you think, “Am I REALLY running this fast…by gosh, I AM!”

I also wanted to touch on the fact that you can’t let a single run define you. You can’t let a single really heinous race, workout or run get to you so much so that you DEFINE it as yourself or an indicator of your fitness. For these runs here is where it’s really helpful to remember that running is representative of the whole, and that crappy workouts come with the territory; you need them to build mental strength and also take them as learning opportunities. See if there is a REASON why you sucked so hard (sometimes there isn’t a reason either), try and learn, and then shower off and move forward.

Though, those unicorn runs only come BECAUSE of the regular old miles before them, and the miles that will come after them. Get through the slog-fests because they make it all worth it. And to be honest, us sick and twisted little glutton for punishment runners wouldn’t have it any other way.

I get back to the inability to stop…

1) What would you say is the ratio to slog-runs to ‘just regular feeling’ runs then to unicorn and rainbow runs?
I’d say most are just usual runs, the ‘real’ unicorn runs come maybe three or four times total?

2) How do you keep perspective after really bad races or workouts?
Remember the good ones I had, chances are they were right on the heels of your epic fail.

3) Name one of your unicorn and rainbow running experiences…go!

Run Your Fortune Shirts

Get Chicking Shirts

Running All Over the Place: Humor, Shirts and Ultra Running Gluttony

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Cait — 19 Comments ↓

I think my brain’s been running in a million more directions than my feet could keep pace with as of late. So today’s post is going to be a bit of Arty Runnerchick updates, link loving, and randomness. It’s getting closer to what actually meeting me in real life is like, I’m the queen of talking tangents…

Humor is awes-tastic and running humor is ever BETTER! With Halloween coming up we all know the best costumes are pulling from our favorite running superstars, right? Well, check out the cartoon I’ve starting running over at Skinny Runner. This month she’s rocking the Kara Goucher bunhugger look…and looks like she’s talking Jaymo into pulling off a Shalane Flanagan doppleganger…YIKES! You can also check out the first Skinny Runner cartoon I did HERE.

The pizza is hiding my chest there, but trust me it’s not hiding much.

It’s all about the ultra marathon! Da-daaang, if you thought your long run was long be ready to have some runner envy. Add to that some food envy (ummm, pretty sure the only reason I’d be able to talk myself into an ultra marathon is so I could go full-on glutton!!) I did an article for Active.com: Transition to Ultra Running: What You Need to Know AND I’m also super proud of the amazing Julia loved reading her article published for Active: How I Became an Ultrarunner as well. Check both of those out.

Speaking of Active; there will be a few of my posts breathing new life over there. So in case you missed them here you now have two placesto check them out. Are you seeing double yet??

Yay! Hey, at least I spared you the post-run sweaty face! 😉

Running shirt news!!! I’m super excited to share that there is a special, limited edition White Shirt Version of the Get Chicking running shirt. You can check out both the white and black styles of them over at my STORE. I’ve got a new batch of my Run Your Fortune Shirts just hot off the presses too, so do run yourself over to my store. Don’t jog or race-walk though…those words aren’t allowed on this blog.

Ba-dang-da-dang…Spoiler Alert: there is soon to be another edition to the shirt line as well, so stay tuned. I know, I’m bursting with running shirt related fodder today.

Let’s end on a humorous note because we opened on one. Halloween IS coming up and if you really want to scare your friends here is what you can dress up as:

* The dirty, doper Christian Hesch. Make the costume complete and sport the board shorts and needles. Seriously, you’ll get boo’ed out of any runner party.

* The GI distressed runner post-long run. Costume musts: missing one sock, questionable brown stains. You do the math.

* The disgruntled injured runner. It’s imperative to wear a warning sign with this costume stating that you may, in fact, bite.

Happy Saturday, my running friends! May you be off getting your miles on!

1) Do you have a running related random tangent for me?

2) Would you ever attempt and ultra marathon? Or what’s the longest race you could envision yourself doing?

3) Pick a bad Halloween costume idea and share away!