Burning it off

A few weeks ago, I was laid off from my job. It didn't come as a huge surprise, seeing as I worked for a start-up company in the worst economical times that I can ever remember, but it did give me a swift kick into the realm of jobhunting. Since then, my days (and many of my evenings, too) have been spent interviewing over the phone, flying all over the place for interviews, sending out applications to what feels like a hundred jobs, completing editing tests, tweaking my resume, and networking with everyone I can find.

Jobhunting is really a full-time job in itself. I recently had a friend tell me that I should enjoy this "time off" with "no responsibilities," and I was somewhat torn between laughing and bursting into tears.

So between the stress of suddenly finding the right job to launch the rest of my career and the uncontrollable excitement about the new experiences that are yet to come, running has really become my savior. It's not that I have extra time for it, or that I'm doing nothing all the time and need the exercise--it's just that it keeps things in perspective. When I go out, it's just the pounding of my feet and my own huffing and puffing to keep me company. I do a lot of my best thinking out there on the road, because there are no distractions, no to-do lists, and no assessments.

Last week, I was getting ready to fly the next day to D.C. and spent the whole day putting the finishing touches on my writing portfolio, baking cookies for my generous friends who were letting me crash on their couch for the night, and packing everything I needed to make a great first impression in just a few hours at the interview in a carry on-sized suitcase. At one point as the sun started to draw a bit lower in the sky, I realized that I just needed to get out of the house for a few minutes and work off some of that nervous excitement. I laced up my sneakers and sprinted to the town line, which is about a half a mile away, and then back again, beating my normal average mile time by about a minute and a half. It was a small accomplishment, but I came back home with a smile on my face and a clear head to prepare for my trip.

Feeling the burn

I should have known that there were tools out there like this, but I just discovered Run the Planet's calorie burning calculator, which takes the guesswork out of the workout. Somehow, that five-miler I completed today seems all the sweeter after finding out that I burned 411 calories in the process.

As a sidenote, Boston enjoyed fantastic weather today, with highs up to 57 F. I was out in shorts and a T-shirt for the first time in recent memory--my standard dress code lately has been long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and gloves, plus more layers as necessary. It was great to feel the warm sun again!

New obsession: dailymile.com

My friend Emily invited me to join dailymile.com on Friday morning, and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm already hooked. (She says I'm easily amused; I prefer to call it enthusiasm.) The site is social network-based--think Facebook for athletes--and the idea is to build a network of friends and encourage each other to keep on the move (but my guess is that a little competition never hurt anyone, either). They have an automated motivation system--similar to the poke, for those of you who are Facebook regulars--that lets you pick from predetermined messages such as, "Like U2 blaring through my headphones, you inspire me" to send to your friends as motivation, or you can write your own. It also provides event listings for upcoming races in your area. And for those of us who like to track our achievements, however small, the site tracks your workouts as you enter them and provides reports on how many miles you've run over a certain time period. And let's face it--seeing them all added up like that is going to make you feel pretty darn good.

Review: Gaiam's Total Body Challenge Balance Ball workout

Considering all the snow that has been smothering New England lately, I've been forced to avoid hitting those roads--hence, the writing hiatus. But I've lived here all my life, and I've finally come to terms with the fact that snow dances and hoping for a warm spell usually produce the opposite effect. So rather than fighting Mother Nature, I've been doing a bit of cross-training to fill in the time. One product that's really been useful in getting me through what seems like another Ice Age is Gaiam's Total Body Challenge Balance Ball workout. It's surprising, because the DVD came with my balance ball as a freebie when I bought it, so I didn't expect it to be as good as it is. Tanja Djelevic, the instructor, is calming yet encouraging. She seems like someone you could be friends with, which is a breath of fresh air among a slew of annoying DVD instructors you'll find out there. And she keeps it active and interesting by combining muscle groups during sets--she'll add a lift at the end of a lunge to work the shoulders, or a leg extension during an overhead press to get those legs moving. I'm one of those people who needs to multitask in my workout in order to hold my attention, so her technique definitely does the trick.

FYI: I've been peeking around Gaiam's Web site as I write this, and it's fantastic, so I'll definitely be returning!

Available online at www.gaiam.com for $30, or at your favorite retail location. Mine came from Target.

Cutting down on slips

Just wanted to share this quick article from RunnersWorld.com--I feel like I live on that site these days--about little exercises to improve balance and posture and avoid falling on these icy winter roads. I can't even count the number of slips and slides I've had in the past couple weeks since we've had snow on the ground up here in Boston. And my mom, also an avid runner, ended up on a drift on the side of the road about a month ago after sliding off the road in an area that has particularly bad drainage after storms. I'll be trying these moves over the next couple of weeks to see if I notice an improvement--I know I'm not the most agile person in the world, so it's worth a shot!

Runner's Resolutions

I'm a few days behind the pack on the New Year's Resolution front, but better late than never, right? Here are my running resolutions for 2009.

1. No injuries. This is a biggie, because it's so easy to get hurt without realizing. But now that I know my own limits, there's no reason to ignore those little aches and pains. That said...
2. Gradual improvement. Every two months, I want to see some kind of indication that I'm getting better--whether it's a faster speed, increased distance, or even just more flexibility and better form. I've tried the too-fast-too-furious approach, and it didn't work, so the lesson has been learned.
3. Cross training. At least twice a week, and that's tough for me. Especially when it gets nice outside and I'm just itching to be out on the roads. But my plan is to find other outdoor activities on days off--tennis, biking, basketball, whatever it takes.
4. Run my first race. Even if it's just a 3K. Just to see what it feels like.

Taking the workout in stride

I've had to come to terms with one thing over recent months in my training regimen: I can't overwork my body.

I'm an overachiever by definition, so I tend to feel like the more work I put into something, the better. Over the summer, I was running every day, or close to it. The weather was great and it was light in the morning, so I'd get up super-early and be back before the sun had even risen above the trees. I felt energized and like a completely different person for the rest of the day. Generally, I would run around three miles a day, but as I became more and more addicted to it, I began to sharply increase my distance.

It sounds awful now looking back on it, but I bumped up to between four and five miles a couple times a week and then suddenly jumped up to a couple of eight-milers. I was in my glory--never before had I been able to achieve an eight-mile run, and I felt like I was at the top of my game.

Before I knew it, I developed shin splints. I wasn't all that surprised--I had been working hard. I applied ice and tried to avoid downhill inclines, thinking that would cure it.

One day, I went out and got about a mile away when my shins literally started burning. I'd never felt anything like it, but for once I was scared. I turned around and rested for a good several days.

But then my iliotibial bands became unbearably tight. My hips and knees hurt all the time, and I couldn't seem to give them a good enough stretch to relieve the soreness. For the icing on the cake, my low back was immovably stiff one morning when I woke up. My body was falling apart.

I realized I hadn't been stretching as much as I could or caring for my body in between runs. I was lax about icing and resting injuries, preferring to just run through the pain. But I knew I had to make some lasting changes.

In November, right after I had been researching the IT band injury to figure out how to heal it, I found this article from the New York Times Online. It talked about the benefits of dynamic stretching, which focuses on motion rather than the toe-touching brand that we learned in high school gym class. I felt stupid, but I started crawling around like a spider before heading out for runs when I started up my training routine again. I'd march around kicking my hands with the toes of my sneakers and gently twist my spine around to keep it moving.

And guess what? It worked. I had to learn about the tolls the roads would take on my body and to learn to respect it. It just takes a bit of perspective. I know my limits, and when my body tells me it's had enough, I force myself to stop.

It's the only way to keep a lasting practice.