Keiko the Runner 1/3/15
Happy New
Year! Year 2014 was a breaking year for
me as an athlete (!), who enters races (!).
This blog is to thank many Spinervals teammates for advice, answers to
my questions, lots of encouragements and guidance and provide updates. We have incredible runners, who offered
generously their expertise in the group.
THANK YOU!
1: Tri
Shorts
As I always
rode with thick padding with cycling, I was very skeptical with thin
padding. Guys and gals came out and said
that would be fine. I haven’t ridden
Hardcore 100 in them, but I have used them to race Du and in training. Now I have quite a collection! Compared to cycling, the gender inequality is
better in multi-sport and running.
Women’s clothing gets enough attention and catalogs are like fashion
catalogs. With Tri Shorts, not only I
can do brick workouts, but most cycling workouts (I have done up to 90 min.
aero as well as short/hard workouts), strength workouts. And what is best is I can wear the shorts
under my work pants and as soon as I come home, I take out one layer, and ta
da, I am ready for a workout!
2: Safety
lights
Because
Flores Training Facility doesn’t have a treadmill, if I don’t feel like making
a trip to a gym to run, I have to run outside.
Here in Texas, most months, it should be done in the dark. I prefer early mornings and that is what I
did during summer months. I had a good
recommendation for Blackdiamond ReVolt Headlamp from mountain biking experts
Mendozas. David Smith
recommended LED Flash light vest. (AmphipodXinglet Flash LED Vest) David Smith
recommended LED Flash light vest. Tony gave
me Nite Ize SlapLit LED Bracelet. Those tools
kept me safe running in the dark.
3: GI
issues, #1 and #2
People can
freely talk about what to take in, but not exactly willing to talk about the
other side. As embarrassed as I am, this
was a HUGE issue to learn for running.
In cycling, I just have to make sure portable bathrooms are my handy
friends, but in running, I faced a few incidents that I could not even tell
Husband. First, #2. If I had good amount of dinner the night
before, I have to make sure I have a good bathroom visit before the run. I usually keep the coffee from the night
before in the fridge and with small amount of food, usually a banana or an
apple, I get a guaranteed good bathroom visit.
But if this is not happening, I found instant Starbucks iced coffee
works wonders. At the same time, I have
to be careful not to overload with liquid. Teammates also commented that before
going out for a long run, they have a few loops around the house.
But my #1
issue remained. Even jumping jacks
during StrEndurance causes “Athletic Leaks”.
I wore extra layer, used panty liner and regular women pads. All helped, but my latest recovery is the
pads just for active women during exercise, JustGoGirl. I only used it once, but it worked as
advertised, so I ordered more.
4. Running
form advice
As an old
start over runner, the ultimate goal is to be injury-free. Tony found numerous running form videos
online (my YouTube channel) and James Bailey loaned us Chi Running video and EvolutionRunning.
There are many things I have to keep in mind, but so far I have kept
running cadence advice. I got a free appfor metronome and I listen to cadence 180 while warming up. This process has been successful keeping
cadence up.
As you may
have noticed, my 2015 goals and plans don’t include Half Marathon, but that
doesn’t mean I am slacking on running. I
believe adding running in 2014 was a very good idea and I will continue. Thank you, Team for cheering and guidance and
keep an eye on updates for 2015!