Back to Spin Class!

My ankles have finally been feeling so good that I decided to give my gym's spin class another try on Tuesday night, even after having already swam a mile.

For those of you who aren't familiar with spinning, it has nothing to do with sewing or knitting. What is does involve is cycling on a stationary bike at varying speeds and positions, typically to blasting fast-tempo music. The main difference between stationary biking and spinning, at least in my opinion, is that spinning involves a lot of cycling with your butt off of the seat, which spin instructors refer to as running. For me, about a month ago, this kind of running had been just as painful as actual running.  But not on Tuesday night!

The last time I tried the spin class was about a week before I began receiving physical therapy for my right and left ankles at Professional Physical Therapy in Parsippany, NJ. I tried to push through that class in late October. Unfortunately, sharp pain radiated through my ankles each time I forced my legs to bear most of my weight through "running". Feeling defeated, I completed most of the class in a seated position, constantly glaring at my classmates with jealousy.

Fortunately, I was able to get through about half of Tuesday's class without any pain. About mid-way through the hour-long workout, the front of my left ankle did hurt during the "running" parts of the class. Trying to prevent the sharp pain that haunted me before from returning, I decided to stay seated for the last 15 minutes of class. Don't worry though! I still sweat every drop of chlorine out of my hair from swimming just minutes before spinning. 

In fact, the class gave me such a rush of endorphins that I remained at my gym for another half-hour to strength-train.

Here is what that involved:

100 back extensions, broken up into sets of 20-15;

36 reps on the hip abduction machine, broken up into 3 sets; 

Heel raises with one-legged eccentric lowering, 40 on each side;

A combination of variations of the crunch that targeted the obliques, the lower abs and the upper abs;

A ton of reps, aiming for sets of 10, of this killer exercise from my physical therapist, which involves balancing on one leg, while holding a dumbbell in the hand of the opposite side of the body. You begin the exercise by hinging forward at the hip as you unlock the knee of the leg you are balancing on. Then you extend the leg on the side of the body with the dumbbell, keeping abs tight and letting the dumbbell hang down.

and

As many pull-ups as I had left in me, which ended up being about ten. 

Czech Petra Fast

Bloomfield College's number one female runner Petra Semelova completed her first cross-country season as an NCAA athlete on Saturday. Semelova's successful season included two race victories and a second place finish during her last race of the regular season.

What made Semelova's standout performances particularly thrilling for her is that they occurred during a season that she almost missed to return to her country, the Czech Republic.

Semelova had been planning to leave the U.S. after earning her Associate's Degree from Union County College. Then Semelova broke the school's record in the 1500m and won silver medals in the 10k and 5k at the 2013 NJCAA Div. III Spring Track National Championship. Such success on the track led her to consider staying to earn her Bachelor's Degree and continue running in college. All she would need was a significantly-sized scholarship, which her former UCC coaches told her a couple of New Jersey colleges wanted to grant her.

By the time July came around, however, Petra had not been awarded any such scholarship. Before she booked a plane ticket out of the U.S., however, Semelova learned of an academic scholarship being offered by Bloomfield College. The money they gave her was evidently enough to keep her here to complete a season that Semelova described as so much fun.

Upon reflecting on her favorite moments of racing this fall, Semelova said she is most proud of the second place finish, which occurred at the 15th Annual St. Joseph's College Invitational in Kings Park, NY. That race was held at Sunken Meadow Park, which includes the infamous Cardiac Hill.

"You had to get out fast, if you didn't want to get squished," Semelova explained. "I was in front with three other girls, then one girl stayed behind and the first girl went faster. I just kept trying to work. There were two hills. One was really steep but short, and the other one, called Cardiac Hill, was steep and long."

Finishing with a time of 20:34:48, Semelova left Kings Park with a giant 2nd place trophy. (See picture above.) An added bonus for her was that her team also took 2nd in the meet of 29 teams and 230 women runners.

Another highlight of Semelova's season was her victory at the NJIT Classic Collegiate Cross Country Invitational, where she ran 19:27 - her PR on a 5k cross-country course. Again, her team's success made Semelova's win even sweeter. Bloomfield College took the top four places as well as seventh place, making them the clear victors of the meet.

The only part of cross country this year that Semelova found disappointing was how she raced during the championship part of her season,which included the NCAA Div. II East Regional Cross Country Championships. A sudden hip adductor injury, unfortunately, slowed Semelova down.

But the upbeat distance runner says she is glad to have given those final races a try.

"It definitely was a good experience, so if I get there next year, I’ll know what to do," she said.

Another athletic feat Semelova accomplished this fall was finishing fifth in her age group in the IRONMAN 70.3 in Princeton, NJ.

Czech out Semelova on the indoor track this winter as she speeds past you. 

Boot Camp

Whenever I hear the term "boot camp", my sister Elizabeth always comes to mind. That's because this extremely talented athlete is the first person to ever describe to me the horrors of what such an exercise program entailed, and even worse, how her body felt afterwards.

"I can't move my legs, I can't lift my arms," she complained after completing some week-long boot camp in New York City that she bravely enlisted in through Groupon. Don't think for a second that Elizabeth is a wimp, however! That same year she went on to finish first of all of the women in a Men's Health Urbanathalon (Think Tough Mudder in the middle of a city.) in Barcelona, Spain.  In fact, here is a picture of her cutting the tape at that race, which required her to leap over cars.

Last night, I participated in my first ever boot camp, technically called "Boot Camp Conditioning", at LA Fitness in Parsippany, NJ. My legs aren't trembling. . .ANYMORE.

 There were so many moments, during that one-hour class, when I was physically unable to follow my instructor's commands. One moment that stands out was when she yelled for 20 push-ups immediately following a 3-minute sprint. Then right after that, she asked us to hold a push-up position with one arm, then switch sides.

Despite my struggle, I am pumped to have gotten through a class that involved running, jumping and a variety of agility moves with minimal pain in my ankles! My experience with this class, fortunately, starkly contrasts with how I felt during an aerobics class I tried this summer.

What a sad day that was! I was at least 20 years younger than every single person in the workout studio, even the teacher; and the average age in the room was somewhere between 70 and 75. At that time, I was feeling especially frustrated about my injury (just the right ankle was bothering me then), because I had just completed two months of physical therapy (at a different place than I am currently going) and still couldn't walk for more than a quarter-mile without pain. But when I saw the demographics of the room, I thought, "at least, I should be able to handle this". (Please don't be offended if you are over 50! I had simply been noting the pathological changes that occur as we age and hoping my younger age would give me some sort of advantage.) Boy, was I wrong! Just minutes into the class, which involved a lot of one-legged hops onto a step and lateral walking with feet-crossing, my ankle felt like it had been stabbed.

But enough focusing on the negative, let's get back to the good.

Here are some of my favorite exercises from last night:

• Squat way down and touch the floor. As soon as your hands hit the floor, jump up, raising yours arms above your head. Try 20 in a row!
• Good-old push-ups, but as I mentioned before, in the middle of your 20th push-up, lift one-arm off of the ground and hold that pose for 15-30 seconds. Then do 20 more push-ups and switch sides. 
• Crunches with a weight held in arms outstretched behind you or just crunch however you please for 1 minute.
• Then do more push-ups, but get into a side-plank after completing 20. Then, you guessed it, do 20 more push-ups and side-plank to the other side.
• Dynamic squats: Do 20 squats in a row. 
• Run around for a few minutes, then repeat this routine.
• Run around one more time and try it all again! 

Holy CALories!

I was just reading the classic, Runner's World Complete Book of Running, and was shocked to hear the author of one of its chapters suggest a DAY-OF-RACE meal should contain about 800 calories worth of carbohydrates. The chapter's author, Liz Applegate, Ph.D., who  didn't specify for what race distance she advised such a feast, recommended consuming the carbs about 4 hours before the gun.

Maybe it's because I am much more of a 5k racer than a marathon runner, but I hardly eat anything the day of a race. My experience has generally been that the less I consume, the better I feel and the faster I race. Angela Colarusso, one of my runner friends with much more experience racing 26.2 miles than me, seems to agree with Applegate's suggestion, however.

Colarusso is a true weekend warrior when it comes to long-distance racing. With a marathon PR of 3:11:56 and half-marathon PR of 1:28:52, Colarusso is clearly someone worth taking advice from on how to eat on the morning of a big race!

“I eat as soon as I wake up (bagel, banana) and will top it off with a Clif Bar about an hour before the race. I also have to have coffee in the morning before I race,” writes Colarusso.

She adds that she avoids peanut butter on her bagel due to a bad experience (I hear you on that one, Angela! PB killed my stomach the one time I ran the Boston Marathon.).

Similarly, Mike Anderson, who has completed 20 marathons and myriad of other races, enjoys a cup of joe, bagel and Clif Bar before a race. But Anderson's prerace eating regimen differs from Colarusso's in that he says YES to PB!

If Anderson is racing somewhere between a 5k and 10k, he will consume less. Before competing at such shorter distances, Anderson says, he will eat a Clif Bar or Kind bar with no peanut butter, or just the peanut butter, 45 min to one hour prior.

Prerace Dinner

 As for the night before, Colarusso always eats pasta, ideally with a non-meat protein, like shrimp or fish, she writes.

Anderson enjoys something like pasta with bolognese, focusing on not overeating.

“I drink a lot of water and will indulge in a glass of wine (sometimes 2) since I enjoy wine with a pasta meal (good to stick to routine!) and it keeps the jitters down,” writes Anderson.

Post-workout Snack

Today I did some easy cardio because, tomorrow, I expect to face my most challenging day of physical therapy ever. It will be the second day of my fifth week of treatment. So far, my  physical therapist has gradually been increasing the difficulty level of a series of strengthening exercises targeting the glutes, hip abductors and abs. At the end of last week, he added a one-mile brisk-walk, warm-up to my routine. Tomorrow, he is likely to supplement my program with some agility exercises.

As part of my preparation for tomorrow, I consumed several cups of the low-calorie, cancer-fighting food collard greens. Eating this vegetable has been shown to increase energy and lower weight in several studies, according to Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/277957.php

Collard greens, which is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables,  may be even better for you than the highly revered kale, suggests whfoods.org: 
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=138

I prepared the collard greens in the same gooey, garlicy way that I cook spinach, using the following recipe:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spinach/

Enjoy!

Work that Core Fast!

Shape posted a killer, quick core workout last week that calls for incorporating a Bosu ball or "squishy disc" into traditionally-practiced strengthening exercises like v-sits, squats and reverse lunges.

The workout involves resting part of the body on the squishy disc to add a balance element to each exercise.

Kim Truman, the designer of the workout, explains its benefits in the Shape article by Jeanine Detz: "Each move recruits large muscle groups like your glutes. But because you're doing the exercises on a squishy disc, your core and smaller stabilizing muscles also engage to keep you steady."

I am off to give the workout another try. To join me, just click on the following link:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/15-minute-total-body-stability-workout/disc-exercise-v-sit

Water Workout Success!

To prevent my ankle from regressing back to a swollen and painful state, I tried some lighter workouts during the past few days. On Thursday, I strapped on my water-running belt and grabbed my foam dumbbells to "run" in my gym's pool.

After "running" (in the pool) for just two minutes with the foam dumbbells in-hand, my arms were burning and my heart rate was up. In fact, the dumbbells made the workout so tough that I had to alternate between water-running with and without the dumbbells.

Just a half-hour of this workout left me feeling tired, accomplished and pain-free at the ankles.

Today, I switched things up a little by water-running for 15 minutes, then swimming freestyle as hard as I could for 15 minutes afterwards.

By the way, on Friday, I performed most of the glute, ab, and hip abductor strengthening exercises I have described in previous entries. An exciting addition to this workout was a mile power-walk, warm-up on the treadmill.

Still dying to run, but happy to consistently be working up a sweat!

Run More to Hurt Less?

According to a recent article in Active, multiple studies show that among two groups of runners, the group that ran more got injured less. The research subjects range from marathon runners to high school cross country team members. The story also claims that strength-training does not prevent running injuries, citing research performed at the University of Groningen, in 2012. That study, which compared a group of novice runners who participated in a four-week program "designed to reduce injury risk" before beginning a running program to a group that just ran, showed equal injury rates in each group.

I am skeptical that these findings can be applied to seasoned and elite runners, however. My main source of doubt is that none of the four studies mentioned in the article described their populations as elite or highly trained runners. Additionally, I, who have flirted with elitism in the 5K thanks to an 18:40 cross country PR, have acquired nearly all of my running injuries at times when I was running my most mileage per week and doing very little, if any, strength-training.

The article is interesting nonetheless. Check it out at the following address:

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/A-Surprising-Way-to-Reduce-Your-Risk-of-Running-Injuries.htm?cmp=291&memberid=117160840&lyrisid=44383478

Ouch!

My left ankle is killing me, today! Unfortunately, I think the eliptical is the culprit. If this is true, I am feeling discouraged, since I only did ten minutes on that goofy machine yesterday. If my ankle can't take the eliptical, I am sure running is STILL out of the question for me.

I injured my left ankle much more recently than my right ankle, by the way. I think I sprained my left ankle in late September and muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones take about three months to heal. Therefore, it is possible (crossing my fingers!), that in a month or so my left ankle will be in much better shape.
Now for the good news. My right ankle, which has been plaguing me since late April 2013, feels okay today.
Unfortunately, I held off on working out today due to a little bit of tiredness and a little bit of laziness. I can't blame the pain, because there is stuff I can do that does not utilize my ankle in any way whatsoever.
Hope to have a new workout to share with you tomorrow!

So far so good

Good morning! I have got some news to report, which is also good. Yesterday and today I stuck to my promise of working out in ways that don't increase my ankle pain. Today, I used an eliptical (not sure which type) for only ten minutes. I was thinking about staying with it for another five, but stopped because my left ankle was hurting a little during my last three minutes. Then I hopped on the bike for a pain-free ten minutes, followed by 20 on a rowing machine. To finish the workout off, I did a few pull-ups and my newest ab exercise, courtesy of my physical therapist.

The ab move is essentially a high plank with leg curls.

• To begin, rest shins on the top of a stability ball, then straighten your legs as you walk your hands out to push-up starting position. 
• Once you are stable, curl your knees in towards your chest, maintaining the same arm placement. 
• Try to keep your chest, stomach and arms as tight and still as possible.  

I did 3 sets of 15 reps, but found that my form was better during my first ten reps of each set. 

As for yesterday, I focused on strengthening my glute max, glute med, hamstrings and abs. I performed most of the same exercises I did the day before, with a few extras, such as:

Balancing on a bosu, alternating legs for a total of five minutes;

Hip Abduction machine, 3 sets of 10 reps;

Calf raise/ heel raises with eccentric lowering on one leg;

Side walks with a green band at the ankles;

Ice-skating motion walks with a band at the ankles and

Balancing on eight-in step with one leg, while flexing hip of other leg with flexed knee, then slow lowering of leg to lunge. (I did 3 sets of 15 reps on each leg and held seven pound weights at my side, while I performed this exercise.)

Hope I have time to do a little swimming or water-running this evening!

Trying something new

Hi, I'm Katie a running-obsessed human, who has been unable to do the thing she loves so much for a year, because of severe ankle pain . I am certain that all of my fellow runners understand exactly how badly not being able to run for so long has made me feel. To make matters worse, performing my second and third favorite workout activities - swimming and biking - have been nearly as painful as running during the past 12 months. Since I got myself into this predicament, I have basically been moping around, complaining about how not being able to run, swim or bike has made it impossible for me to remain fit. It has also been my excuse for gaining 15 pounds. Instead of committing to exercising in ways that did not bother my ankle, like doing kettle bell swings and other kinds of strength-training exercises, I would bike, run or swim through the pain, then spend a week groaning about how much worse my ankle felt instead of trying an alternative means of exercise. Finally, I have decided that I am ready to suck it up and regularly push myself through doing exercises that I frankly don't enjoy doing. My motivations are that I want to get my blood pressure and weight down and I want to just be healthy. Today, was my first day of trying out my new workout plan.

Here is what I did:

• Only ten minutes on a stationary bike (NO STANDING UP!)
• Only ten minutes on the rowing machine
• Leg press sled, 3 sets of 15 reps
• Stability ball squats against the wall with bicep curls, 3 sets of 15 reps
• Planks with leg extensions, alternating legs, 3 sets with 15 leg extensions on each leg
• Standing squats with floor reaches (I will talk more about these later.) 3 sets of 15 reps on each leg
• 1-legged bridges with 5 sec holds, 3 sets of 10 reps on each leg
• Hamstring curls with hips lifted, curling stability ball towards lifted hips, 3 sets 15 reps
• Side-lying hip abduction, 30 times on each side