How we get to most marathons. I’ve tried telling Angie that two 26.2 stickers is redundant.
We’ve literally driven from one coast to another (and seemingly everywhere in between).
Most of our trips are by car and include the whole family. Here’s how we stay healthy (and sane) while traveling across the country with our kids. Continue Reading →
The term shin splints, also known as an anterior compartment syndrome, refers to pain along the shinbone (tibia), the large bone in the front of your lower leg.
Shin splints can be excruciatingly painful to the point that you may struggle to walk or run. They are typically caused by inflammation in the anterior muscle of the lower leg known as the anterior tibialis muscle.
This is the primary muscle needed to lift your foot. Shin splints are often considered an over use injury and unfortunately, are relatively common in runners.
Discover the common causes for shin splints and implement these strategies to prevent and self-treat shin splints. Continue Reading →
Pat Flynn does it. Barack Obama has a tumblr page dedicated to it and Oprah has even been known to dabble.
They know the secret to running a successful business and it’s not just dominant thought, connections and amazing sales copy.
You can mastermind all you like and have the best social media presence in the world, but if you want to stay on top of your A game, you need to look after number one.
Running, whether it’s for just 15 minutes a day or endurance training for a marathon, will give you more benefits than you think. Continue Reading →
Muscle cramping and spasming can significantly derail your best intentioned race plans.
A muscle cramp or spasm is a sudden, involuntary, and typically severe muscle contraction.
Thankfully, it’s very rare for a muscle spasm or cramp to permanently damage the muscle. However, the cramp or spasm can produce mild to excruciating pain. The pain can be very short lived or linger for days after a severe episode.
Unfortunately, muscle cramping can affect your performance. Common causes of muscle cramping include overexertion, prolonged immobility, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalances. Continue Reading →
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent medical conditions treated in the United States and throughout the western world.
It is also the most common source of pain for runners. Runners often suffer from low back pain due to prolonged sitting and weak core muscles.
LBP can be safely self-treated if you handle your pain and symptoms quickly. In this post you will learn how to implement prevention strategies during exercise in order to avoid episodes of LBP. Continue Reading →
photo credit: Michael Hollander; Flickr Creative Commons
This is a very important question and I’ve thought about dedicating a whole podcast episode to this topic.
Well, lo and behold I was recently invited to speak about this on the Run Run Live podcast. A big thanks to Chris Russell for having me on the show! You can hear me on episode 4-308.
Chris sent over 10 really great questions about pregnancy and running that he wanted me to tackle during the interview.
Here are the answers I gave based on my own experience of running through two pregnancies and the science I’ve read on this topic. Continue Reading →
A cold race day in Indianapolis gave way to a series of heart-warming moments for Louisville man and his girlfriend.
By Henry Howard
When Alex Johnson arrived in Indianapolis for the Monumental Marathon on Nov. 1 of last year, he was greeted by an unusually cool fall evening. Race-time wind chills were around 20 degrees for Johnson, who was running his first half marathon, and his girlfriend, Taryn Scampoli, who was running the full.
“I’m not a cold weather runner, or cold weather anything, so I was not in a great mood the morning of the race,” admits Johnson, who lives in Louisville, Ky. “However, I also kept in mind that the previous three months had all led to this morning, and that there was one goal to the day, and that being to cross the finish line. As the race started, I turned my music up loud, latched on to each next fastest runner I could find in the pack, and leaned forward.”
While Johnson trained three months for his first 13.1-mile race, his quest was actually years in the making. Continue Reading →
Here’s a question from our Academy Facebook group:
“Ran my first marathon yesterday at the Dallas Marathon. One thought I had often “how the heck does Angie do back to back marathons without falling apart?!” –Ashley
First of all a big congratulations goes out to Ashley for running her first marathon! I certainly wasn’t thinking about running multiple marathons before or during my first marathon in 2008. It was just one of those big challenges that I had to do.
At the time I didn’t have any friends who were runners and didn’t know anyone personally who’d ever run a marathon. Despite making lots of mistakes in training I crossed the finish line in 4:10 and knew that I’d run another marathon.
However, ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome) forced me to lay off running for the next several months. But I knew that I’d learn from my mistakes and come back stronger. I recovered properly, trained smarter and ran a marathon in 2009 breaking four hours. From there it was a process of learning more, setting bigger goals and running more marathons.
Now I’ve run 29 marathons and know that there are many, many more in my future. Here are my tips for running more and recovering more quickly whether your goal is to run more 5ks or marathons: Continue Reading →
Rhonda Lee Foulds
I met Rhonda Foulds at the starting line of the A2A Marathon in Ardmore, Oklahoma, earlier this this year. We later became Facebook friends and she has become one of my biggest sources of inspiration.
In this podcast episode you will hear how Rhonda, a mother of three boys, witnessed her health and fitness deteriorate due to early onset Parkinson’s Disease and was forced to stop running and doing other things she loved.
In the years that followed she became very tired and depressed, gained weight, and needed wheelchair assistance.
In 2003 Rhonda underwent a procedure called “DBS” (Deep Brain Stimulation) which places electrodes in certain areas of the brain to block the signals of Parkinson’s.
The surgery was a success and she began to reclaim her health and fitness one mile at a time. She has lost close to 100 pounds, gone from thirty-three medications to zero and has now completed over eighty half marathons, eighteen full marathons and two ultras.
Rhonda is proof that you really do have what it takes to run a marathon and change your life!
Editor’s note: On Dec. 11, 2016, Darrell Henry passed away. This ended a three-year struggle that was harder for the cancer than for Henry. “Cancer will have no victory here,” says his sister, Misty Henry.
Darrell Henry has no colon. But he has a heart, the heart of a champion.
Henry’s colon was removed in June 2013 “because of hundreds of polyps and a large cancerous tumor brought on because of familial adenomatous polyposis, a genetic disorder which causes polyps in basically any part of the body. With hundreds of colon polyps it’s inevitable some will become cancerous.”
The biggest drawback to being colon-less: Hydration. “Most of the body’s hydration occurs in the colon. I drink 150-200 ounces per day to stay properly hydrated,” he says.
Doctors used a section of small intestine to build a replacement (called a j-pouch) for the colon and followed up by 12 rounds of chemo. Henry endured one round of chemo every other week for six months.
Henry decided to enjoy the experience as much as possible and dedicate himself to running.
“My intention was to fight as hard as I could, take any treatment necessary and beat cancer but also to gain as much positive from the experience as I could,”
says Henry, who tries to run 50 to 70 miles a week, even during chemo. Continue Reading →
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I envision myself running my whole life but I’d never really thought about how the “mechanics” of aging would affect my running.
Hopefully by digging into this topic now those of us who are younger can be mentally prepared and able to gracefully adjust to the natural slow-down that comes with age.
This should also be a help and encouragement to those runners who are noticing an age related slow-down in their running.
Continue Reading →
Pittsburgh resident dropped the cigarette habit for greater rewards, including a BQ and dozens of finishes in half and full marathons.
By Henry Howard
Kristy Brown’s running journey has come a long way.
The Pittsburgh resident has reformed herself from a pack-a-day smoker to a Boston qualifier. She has run 16 full marathons and 27 halfs. And she’s not stopping there.
But to know Brown’s full story one must go back to the first days when she laced up the running shoes, back in late 2007. She had been a gymnast while growing up, but running was something she took up in adulthood. And not just running but setting and achieving goal after goal. Up first: Brown knew she wanted to finish a marathon by the time she was 30 so she started training.
She accomplished that feat on May 18, 2008, as a smoker. In fact, she did another half-dozen marathons as a smoker. But she wasn’t satisfied with her performances. Eventually she quit smoking on June 8, 2010, “because I wanted to be able to run faster, so I could qualify for Boston.” She took Chantix for two weeks. “It made me feel weird, so I quit taking it, but never smoked again.” Continue Reading →
