healthy-living

Q: When is it time to get new running shoes?

| cheriarmour

First off, can we just clap it up for me and say that I have my finger on the pulse of female running society?  Look what came up yesterday no sooner than I posted that entry featuring all my ladies without makeup.

Tyra Banks Sighting In New York City - September 17, 2012

It’s none other than Miz Tyra, working out and makeup free.  I guess I just rock.

Moving right along however, this is a question I get pretty often.  How do I know when it’s time to change my running shoes out?  So the rule of thumb when it comes to a regular, traditional running shoe, is that you’re going to get, at the absolute MOST, 350-400 miles out of a shoe.  That’s it.  Sometimes less, but definitely not more.

350-400 miles sounds like a lot, but it’s really not as much as you think.  If you’re only wearing your running shoes to run in, and you’re running 15-20 miles a week, you can do the math, and it adds up quickly!

So here’s how you can extend the life of your running shoes: (they’re gonna average you $110 a pair, so you may want to pay attention)

–Alternate between two pairs of running shoes.  When you do this, especially between long runs, you give your shoe a chance to recover.  The foam/cushioning gets a change to regain it’s original shape, and the shoe gets a chance to dry.

– Stop shoving your feet into your shoe when you’re rushing off to the gym. I know you’re guilty of this.  You’re running off to the gym, and you shove your foot in without untying the shoe.  You’re not three years old, there’s no velcro, so take the time out to untie your shoe and put it on.  When you shove your hoof in, or worse yet, when you walk around on the back of your shoes when you go to check the mail, you destroy the back of the shoe, as well as the structure built to support your heel.  So sit down, and take the extra few seconds to tie/untie your shoes.

–Save your running shoes for running only. Don’t go to Whole Foods in your shoe.  Don’t go to cycling in your shoe.  Don’t check the mail in your shoe.  Don’t go to the club in your shoe.  And don’t climb a tree in your shoe.  All these activities put mileage on your shoe.  So if you find you’re going to Zumba or Cycling pretty often as well, buy a special shoe for each of these activities.  Usually Adidas, Reebok, and Nike have a pretty decent selection of “lifestyle” shoes if you’re dancing or doing step, and check with your local cycling shop if you need a pair of cycling shoes.

–Let your shoes air out in your home, not in your car, between runs.  The EVA foam and cushioning in shoes is temperamental, and doesn’t like to sit in your car, where the temperature can go from one extreme to the next.  So between workouts, take a few seconds and let your shoe air out.  Untie the laces, and open up the shoe for a while so it can breathe and retain shape.

So if you’re kind of sick of only figuring you need a new shoe when your knee starts to ache, try documenting your mileage a tad better, and the guessing game should be over.

shoe heaven
Cher’s Shoe Graveyard

Q: Are black toenails just a part of marathon living?

| cheriarmour

I have gotten this question at least once a week from readers and customers combined.

For some unholy reason, folks have been washed into thinking that black toenails, or toenails that fall off are just a part of life when you’re running a marathon.  Or a half.  Or in some freaky cases, every time you do a long run.

So let’s put this thing in reverse.  When is it normal for your toenails to fall off?  The first answer is never.  Second, if you’ve ever slammed your toe in a door, or had it run over by some sort of vehicle before, usually the toenail that takes the biggest impact will turn black and eventually fall off.  It sounds hideous because it actually is.

So why would it make any sense that this should happen when you’re running long distances?

If you’re running in a shoe that’s too small, and a LOT of you are unwittingly doing just that, you may feel fine for a 3, 4, or even 5 mile run.  But do much more than that, and your feet, which will naturally swell as you pound them for miles and miles (increased blood flow to that extremity), will cause the toenail of the longest toe to start hitting the end of that shoe.  It sometimes will start as a toenail just getting a little sore.  And in a longer run situation, say a half-marathon, the toenail, which has repeatedly been slammed into the end of the shoe, will sometimes turn black, and fall off.  I’ve seen it happen to more than one toe, as well.

Bottom line, a lot of you are wearing shoes that are too small, and running around and thinking that it’s normal for your feet to have no breathing room.

The solution?  Next time you’re in for a shoe fitting, or next time you’re in a store with a Brannock device, (one of the foot measurey things), measure your foot.  That is your dress shoe size.  So for driving shoes, heels, wedges, and flats, you may wear that size because you’re not going to run a marathon in a pair of leopard ballet flats.  Then go up a half to a full size for your running shoes.  The way to measure if you’ve done it right?  Strap those running shoes on, and sitting in a chair, firmly tap your heels on the ground.  Then, stand up, bend over, and SHAKE DAT THANG.  Nope, kidding.  Bend over, and feel how much space there is between your longest toe and the end of your shoe.  You should have a thumb to half a thumbs width, and you should be able to easily curl your toes over with no difficulty.  Finally, don’t be dumb and get a shoe that’s like 8 sizes too huge here.  If you’re sloshing all over, the shoe is too large, and you need to reel it in.

So the final answer?  It is not normal for you to be getting sore black toenails after a long run or a race, and if you are, it’s time to reevaluate what the heck you’re wearing on your feet.

 

 

Q: You’re running a marathon….so why don’t you ever run 26.2 miles in your training?

| cheriarmour

I feel like I’ve been asked this question about a bazillion times since I started this marathon training thing.  I may have even wondered it myself prior to buckling down and doing the training.

But the training involves me running about 4 times a week, one long run, and then 3 others.  The long runs never go over 20 miles, and I just did my 20-miler last week.  And folks seem beyond puzzled.  So we chatted about it at work.  I did my research.  And I bring to you the answer.

I don’t really know.  That’s just what the training told me to do so I did it.

Landreth
Chilly day here in Raleigh! This is the Asics Landreth. Great shoe, right? Well it’s SO great that they’ve decided to discontinue it. ::side eye:: As far as a shoe family, it fits right in with the Brooks Ghost, the Saucony Ride, the Nike Pegasus, and the Adidas Glide as far as feel/shape/the fact that’ it’s neutral. And it’s yellow!

Sike.  So you can search high and low for marathon training programs.  Generally, most will be something like mine.  Some of the more advanced programs, for folks who may be more experienced and more elite may call for you to do maybe two 20-milers in the course of training.  But I’d be surprised if you could find a legitimate training program that would tell you to run over 22 miles.  Here’s why.  For one, there’s no training for 26.2 miles quite like a marathon.  Second, and this is coming from pretty seasoned pros, 20 miles is all well and good.  Much more than that for a simple training run, and you are shredding your body and legs.  And your body will need a long long time to recover from that.  So the deal is, if you’re training along with me for a marathon, follow your training program.  And though it may feel counter intuitive once you begin to taper (OMG, my mileage is decreasing?!), there’s a method to the madness.  On race day, you’re supposed to be rested, refreshed, and raring to go.  And the only way you do that is to get your super long runs out of the way about a month out, and then starting to let your body rest, heal, and hydrate for the big day.  How do you prepare for childbirth?  How do you prepare for your wedding day?  You get ready.  Read the books, do your training, and you talk to people who’ve done it.  Now I hope you guys can deal with the crazy as taper madness begins to descend on my household!

Went to Food Lion today…

| cheriarmour

And you know, no story that begins this way ends well.  (And let’s keep in mind that Food Lion has launched a new brand strategy.  Lower prices, better shopping experience,  and revamped produce are supposed to be a part of this. Well…)

Let me back up.  I skipped my grocery shopping on my usual Sunday because Deb was over, and I waited til today, when I really had no food left, to do it.  I’m not a poor person, it would be a lie to say I was.  But I’m a recent graduate who’s on a fairly tight budget.  I usually do my grocery shopping at Super Target, and I save the special stuff for Harris Teeter and Whole Foods.   I say “special stuff” to mean my vegetarian supplies.  I’ve been a vegetarian for like 5 or 6 years, after I went to Elon and was not at all impressed by the quality of the meat they served in the dining halls.  No shade, Elon was totally great otherwise, but I saw some questionable meat items come through those dining halls.  Anyhoo, I drink a lot of smoothies and eat some tofu-type things that require those special trips.  At any rate, I thought I’d head down to Food Lion to save a few bucks on groceries.  Part of my thing with being a grown-up is actually packing my lunch to save some money.  (Plus it makes lunchtime at work so exciting when you know you cooked something delish that all your coworkers can be jealous of.) I went, armed with a list, and a resolve to get all the stuff I needed for another of my famous crock pot creation of the week.

First mistake?  I didn’t know where the closest Food Lion was, so I GPSed it.  The GPS took me to an unsavory part of town.  No problem, I can blend!

Food Lion

I went straight for the dairy to find my favorite brand of Greek yogurt, Fage (with the total split cup girl!). No Fage. Okay.  My eager attitude is beginning to dwindle.  But my resolve would not be tarnished!

I headed over to the soup aisle to grab some things for my crockpot.  Some coconut gel stuff in particular.  Couldn’t find it, and asked a gentleman in a uniform where to find it.

Me: Excuse me, where could I find the coconut cream canned stuff?

Food Lion Guy: ::finishes his text conversation:: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Finally, I headed over to produce.  Saw some tumbleweeds blowing through, some floppy looking potatoes, and some sad-looking apples.  I poked down the snack aisle to see what the Oreo aisle is looking like, however?  And there were so many varieties of Oreo, one called a “mega-stuf”, that I was stunned that I’d never heard of!  But to find 5 non-rotting Russet Potatoes was a task?! Wth?!

Okay. ::deep breath:: Just because someone is poor, doesn’t mean they need to be relegated to stores that aren’t clean, with poor lighting, poor customer service, and with a wider variety of Pop-Tart and Oreo, than of apple.  The disparity between the poor and the wealthy as far as obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension, Type II Diabetes, and heart disease is concerned is staggering.  And part of the issue is that it seems like folks with a lower socio-economic status aren’t afforded choices.  Check out the produce section of a Harris Teeter, a Whole Foods, or a Trader Joes. There are choices!  And the choices are between fresh, fresher, and maybe, once in a blue moon, a little too ripe.  My point is, folks like me, folks who want to save a few bucks, still deserve a choice when it comes to what we put in our mouths.  I don’t think I will be returning to that Food Lion, however, in the next few days, I will be drafting some constructive comments to the manager, and I hope that my obnoxious letter will even raise some awareness about the fact that people in my tax bracket deserve better as it pertains to our sustenance.

Music to Move By (Monster Post)

| cheriarmour

As I was driving home from my parents’ post-Christmas, NPR featured a story on the best songs of 2012.  I was interested because it kinda tied in to this post, on the music that moves you.

Let me disclaim this post by saying when you run or lift, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT under any circumstance, work with your headphones on full blast.  There are creeps running around who look for folks who aren’t paying attention who would gladly hurt you.  It’s also a good way to get injured – sometimes when you’re listening to your favorite song, it’s easy to miss the first twinge that could signify the start of a worse injury.  When you put your earbuds in, lower it a few notches so you can pay attention to what’s going on around you, kay?

Also, I alphabetized this list for you.  SO MAKE IT WORTH MY WHILE AND READ IT!  That said, this monster post is a compilation of the best songs of 2012, the suggestions of some runner friends, and what I have on my playlist that makes you want to get up and move!

James Brown – Living in America
80s Music – General genre
ACDC – Thunderstruck
Anything by Muse or Girl Talk
Anything from Space Jam
Beastie Boys – Sabatoge
Beyonce – Get me Bodied
Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Diddy Dirty Money – Last Train to Paris
Duran Duran – The Wild Boys
Dyland y Lenny – Pegate Mas
Eminem – Lose Yourself by (The version featuring the Selected of God chorus)
Eminem – Til I Collapse
Eric Prydz – Call on Me
Imagine Dragons – It’s Time
Kanye West – Power
Karmin – Brokenhearted
Ke$ha – General genre
Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Lecrae – Hands High
Lil Mama – Lip Gloss
Major Lazer – Anything Goes
Muse – Uprising
N.E.R.D – Rock Star
P!nk – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
POP – French Montana
Public Enemy  – Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
R. Kelly  – The Worlds Greatest
Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade
Rich Boy – Throw Some D’s on It
Robyn– Show me Love
Sean Paul – Birthday Suit
Soulja Boy – Speakers Going Hammer
T.I – Top Back Remix
Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The E.N.D. (entire album) – Black Eyed Peas
The first Wu-Tang Album
The Roots & John Legend – The Fire
Timbaland – Carry Out
Wale  – Slight Work, Legendary
Ying Yang Twins – Dangerous

Muse and Eminem are trends.  Get on that, man, apparently these guys fuel a lot of workouts.

One Direction gets their own section on here.  Live While We’re Young is the kind of tune that will take you from 5-15 miles in a matter of minutes.

**As an aside, if you find yourself horrifically bored, try this!

Get the free Pandora app.  The only annoying thing about it is that there are some ads, but when you’re running for like two hours, SafeLite ads don’t seem so crazy.

Set the app to the Katy Perry Station.  You will be entertained for DAYS.  Not kidding, it’s the best!  Kimmy (my dear sister) also says the Big Sean Station is poppin.  Whatever gets you moving, hopefully you’ve added a few new tunes to your list!**

This is what I do in my secret life….

| cheriarmour

When I’m not raising funds for Haiti, or working at the local running specialty shop, I teach Zumba.

I stumbled upon it when I was like 16, and I was hooked (thank you, Koh Herlong!)

I think I’m pretty good at it…my classes seem to like me, anyways. Anyhoo, this past weekend was our Holiday party, so the antlers got another workout.

Zumba!These are my Zumba friends, whom I love SO dearly. Nora, Erin, Me, Adis, and Kathy! (Nora is a fellow runner – hopefully she’ll make a repeat appearance in this blog – as long as I’ve been running, she’s been my total inspiration)