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Tag: Running Trails
21May

Posted on
in Articles, Journal

As you know, part of the Where do I Run team competed in the Paris Marathon last April. It was the 1st marathon for all of us and we were excited in having finished it (we will provide highlights of the race in another post). Following experts recommendations, we all took a week off after the race, with no real exercising; however, some of us got a common cold or sore throat symptoms, which is not uncommon since your immune system is affected due to the physical (and mental) effort your body is put on in completing a marathon.

In my case, I decided to pick up my running routine 10 days after the race. I hit the road with my new shoes and after finishing 7K, my right leg was really sore. I thought the pain will go away, but it didn’t. I opted to cut the running altogether and focus on cycling and going to the gym to lift some weights for the upper body until I could run again. Then, I got a cold, with nasal and sinus congestion, plus a sore throat. I had signed up for a 15K (the race was 6 weeks after the marathon), which forced me to start building up my miles again. Thus, each time I went out for a run, I got frustrated, since due to the congestion I hardly could keep up with my normal pace, this on top of still some pain in my leg. So I decided to completely stop any physical exercise till I fully recover. After 10 days with the cold (this is almost 5 weeks after the marathon), I went for a 5K; more than the distance itself, it was tough to wake up early and be motivated to go out. The leg didn’t hurt, but I will probably “take a rain check” on the 15K, since I don’t feel my body is ready yet.

Runners

My takeaways from this experience are the following:

  • A marathon stresses a lot your muscles and your body (the effects on the muscular-skeletal system are tremendous, with muscles experiencing micro-traumas); getting sick, taking longer to recover and feeling soreness and pain in your legs is normal after the race.
  • Don’t push yourself to get back into a running routine; take as much time as you need it to fully recover (some websites mention taking about a day off per every kilometer you ran, that’s 42 days).
  • Try cross-training during your non-running period; spinning and swimming are great ways to stay in shape, without over-stressing your muscles.
  • Don’t sign up for a race until you are back into your running routine, feeling strong and motivated (like in my case, you might end unnecessarily stressing yourself up).
  • If you feel you have lost your motivation to train again, try new running trails, add new songs to your IPod/MP3 player, and/or just run for the fun of it without any particular goal/race in mind.
  • Finishing a marathon is a great achievement, so indulge yourself; eat what you want, spend more time with friends and family, and enjoy non-athletic activities; eventually, in no time your body will tell you when you are ready to hit the road again.

 

26Aug

Posted on
in Articles

One of the collateral effects of the globalization of the economy is that we find more people traveling as part of their work routine. This puts a lot of pressure in trying to maintain a healthy life style and for our purposes sticking to a training plan. Nonetheless, as we runners know, it is pretty much about discipline and flexibility that allows us to reach our goals, being this completing a 5K, 10K, half marathon or a marathon.

A couple of large hotel chains have become conscious of this strive for a more balanced life style and have improved their gyms and incorporated healthier choices into their menus.

Recently, I had the chance to stay at the Westin Tampa Bay Hotel. My trip was for leisure, thus I always bring with me my running gear and try to accommodate at least a short run in the morning. I have read before about their RunWestin program in association with New Balance, so I decided to give it a try. The program basically offers you for $5 the chance of getting a New Balance short, shirt (and appropriate clothes for women), shoes and socks; basically, all that you need to hit the gym or the road.

The first thing that came to my mind (and maybe better said to my wife’s mind) was about cleanness and how comfortable I was in using sport’s gear that might have been used several times by different people (by the way the socks are for you to keep!). I got the gear the night before my early run (you call guest services and you get your stuff in approximately 10 minutes), all running oriented. Shirts and shorts looked fairly new and shoes were brand new. I asked if they had a recommend running trail and they gave me a small map with a 2 miler and a 3 miler path. The trails were average, since you run through a park, but then headed by a parking lot, and there was hardly anybody else running there; nonetheless,  it is nice at least to have an idea where to go and of the distance (bear in mind that this hotel is nearby the airport, so probably not the best location to find local runners). After my run, I hit the gym, which was nicely equipped. I was happy with my morning workout.

After running in Florida’s summer conditions (hot & humid), the cleanness factor struck back to me; I had to ask the hotel staff how they handle this. They told me that they wash the clothes (which is obvious, but I have to tell that there was no trace of any odor whatsoever; it passed my wife’s smell test) and the shoes’ insole is replaced every time someone uses it, which gave me assurance that it should be OK not to bring my own gear next time I think in staying at a Westin. At the end of the day, it is not different to the clothes you get at a gym.