Confessions of an iPod Noob

I have to admit it...up until just this past month, I've never owned an iPod. Shocking, I know. I never ran with music and rarely found myself in situations where one would be useful, except for the gym, but they have tv and music stations on all of the treadmills to help there. Rebecca, on the other hand, is the proud owner of 3! But, I never had any interest in one, so I never bothered to borrow one of hers. So I just continued on with my life as a non-iPod user.

But then came along my team at work's holiday party in December. We had a raffle, with the top prize being an iPod Touch. Sure enough (even though I wasn't even paying much attention during the drawing), I won it! I was now faced with the task of figuring out what to do with it. Of course, Rebecca being the master iPod queen, helped set everything up and I was good to go chock full of music and podcasts.

After a couple of runs with it, I can see why people like to run with music. However, I keep the volume very low and just use it as background noise. I can still hear my breathing and footsteps. So when I am out there running solo, the company of something else on long, quiet runs is kind of nice.

But that is not what this post is about. If you've made it this far, there is a story to tell about my run at the gym last week. Due to some terrible wind, I had to move my normal weekly tempo run indoors. When on a treadmill, one needs some type of alternative distraction, otherwise the monotony is just brutal. So I set out for about an hour or so of running varied paces with the my new running buddy, my iPod.

After about 15 minutes of warm up running at an easy pace, I jumped into my main set and began picking up the speed. Shortly into the set, I glanced down at my watch to check my rising HR and make sure it matched where I should be.

(A quick side note about the treadmills at the several gyms I've been to - they are all calibrated differently and are usually WAY off, which each one reading out differently. For example, a 9:00/mile pace on one I frequently use is usually about the equivalent of an 8:20/mile and it trickles down the faster you go. So I usually use HR as a back up to help self-calibrate the treadmill to find my proper paces. At this point, I know what my different running paces feel like, so it isn't really difficult. It's just a matter of using my HR as a secondary guide to make sure it matches my feel. Just make sure you either use a properly calibrated footpod or a HRM to find your pace. Don't rely on the treadmill. Otherwise, you may not get the intended benefit of your workout if you are running faster intervals!)

As I was putting my arm back down toward my side, it slightly caught the headphone wires. And you probably know what happened next. Unfortunately, it wasn't my headphones in my ear that popped out. Oh no, those stayed secure (which on any other occasion is a great thing). My brand new iPod took a nice little bunny hop off the treadmill pocket it was sitting in and onto the treadmill belt. And because I was running at about 6:30/mile pace at the time, the belt flung it nicely off the treadmill about 5 feet behind me! In an immediate reaction that I am still trying to figure out how I managed to do without hurting myself badly, I turned to my side and jumped off the mill as I neared the edge of the belt while it still ran and picked up my helpless iPod. In the same motion, I jumped back on the mill and tried to continue on as if nothing happened. Luckily, there were no casualties...except my ego as I'm sure others looked on to see the highlight of their day.

I've been told this happens to everyone at some point. Anyone else have that happen before?

So the lesson of the day is to watch out for those pesky headphone wires! Actually, I did learn a valuable lesson that is practical to maintaining running form. The key to not snagging your headphones is by completely eliminating your arm crossover. For me, this tends to happen most often during harder running sets when I get tired and my form starts to falter. So it gives me another thing to focus on...gotta look at the brighter side of things!

Increasing Flexibility

One of the keys to not only racing faster but also staying healthy is maintaining a flexible body. For most people (including myself), this is a challenging thing to achieve. Most people who sit in chairs all day, or cycle a lot, find that they have very limited mobility in the lower and upper body. This is primarily due to the hip flexors being in a shortened state (bent) and also the shoulders being rolled in (due to poor posture). I have always struggled with this, but I am here to say that I have come across a resource that has significantly helped me improve my flexibility over the past 1-2 months. I came across this resource, while taking one of the training courses for becoming a running coach. And let me just say, that resource alone, has significantly improved my flexibility. But before I get to that, let me first tell a personal story of my struggles with flexibility.

I've always prided myself on the fact that I am the least flexible person in the world. It's one thing to not be very flexible, but it is another to be truly inflexible. How inflexible?

Well, when I was growing up, we had to do the "sit and reach" test in PE class (anyone else remember that?). It was a simple test where they put a box at the end of your feet with your legs extended, while you reach as far toward your toes as possible. The box contains a measuring stick, where you get a score based on how far you can reach. We were always told that a score of around 30 was normal, which was essentially the distance of reaching your ankles. I sat there and watched some people in my class reach past the box, where they actually had to grab an extra ruler to measure how much further. Well I knew I wasn't going to be doing that! So i sat down, extended my legs and began to stretch. And then our PE teacher told me to actually stretch. I was! How far did I get? I couldn't even touch the box and barely made it past my knees! They had to take that same ruler and measure it the other way from the box to get my score, which turned out to be a score of 12....worst in my class. Ever since then, I have always maintained that same lack of flexibility. I've tried yoga and had some limited success, but the 30-60 minute routines typically proved too time intensive for me to consistently fit into my schedule. I can typically go past my knees, but it is still horribly inflexible when compared to others.

So when I found something I could do that takes only 10 minutes, I was instantly hooked. While doing something similar to this routine 3-5 times a week (sometimes every day), I have achieved far more noticeable gains than anything else I have ever tried. In fact, he was the one who taught us in the training class! If you are having a difficult time with flexibility, I strongly recommend this simple routine - watch each of the videos here to help best understand exactly how to do each stretch.

As a frame of reference, I have about 20% more mobility in my hips and in a straight leg stretch on a good day, I can nearly get to my toes. This helps me every day with my running and ensuring proper form doesn't break down. If it can improve my flexibility, it can definitely do the same for you! There is still hope for the inflexible people of the world!