YoYo’s World

For the past week and a half I have been having knee problems that are progressively getting worse. This probably the first time I’ve decided not to work out because of my knees. I’ve been on my computer for about an hour looking at exercises I could do that wouldn’t really require the use of my knees, but I realized there’s probably something more important to do, align my body first.

A few months ago I read Egoscue’s Method to Health Through Motion, written by Peter Egoscue. It was a physical therapy book that talked about joint alignment and how it is pivotal to have correct alignment in order to avoid injuries. This book says that I have a knee problem because I have misalignment in my hips and I have misalignment in my hips because of my shoulders. Nice. Egoscue goes on to say that the only way to permanenting solve this problem, get it at its source, is to align the shoulders and then ultimately realign your hips.

 The crazy thing is that he said it could take months for real results to pop up. This has got me a little worried and frustrated because that means I’ll be out of commission for a very long time and the worst nightmare of any athlete is to lose their athleticism. To try and solve this problem, I’m going to try and come up with ways to exercise and keep my fitness, while also allowing my knees to rehabilitate and come back into proper alignment. I’ve scoped the internet and found some interesting stretches and exercises and I’m going to begin to outline a training program for myself.

I also plan to talk to my Personal Training professor about this today after class, so before you know it I’ll be posting information on knee pain and rehabilitation. I’ve known many people who have suffered tremendously from knee injury and many can’t participate in their sport like they used to; the second worse nightmare for every athlete.

Within the next few weeks, like I said, I will be compiling any and all information on knee injury and methods and strategies to correct the problem at its source. So stay tuned for that because the information will prove to be invaluable, especially if you are correctly having knee problems or you have a history.

Take it easy and be safe and healthy!

-YoYo

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You get a very good feel for this book when you read what’s written on its cover: “A guide to mastering the body-mind-spirit connection for ultimate training and racing.” I don’t think putting this book in the running section does it enough justice. It was such a spiritual, self-help book that I was taken aback that I didn’t find it in the psychology section of Borders.

I bought this book a week before my Half Marathon and I only wished I found it sooner. I was initially looking for a fitness training book but eventually realized I should be buy this book instead.

After reading this book, which took only a week, I wished that through all of my years of playing sports (Tee-ball to baseball, then to softball onto soccer and tennis and now to cycling and running) that my coaches had talked about this body-mind-spirit idea. I read a bit of it in Thinking body, Dancing Mind, but I was too young to realize the wisdom and truth of it all.

Looking at the table of contents, here’s a list of topics the book covers:

“Building your body-mind-spirit foundation”

“Restructuring attitudes for true success”

“Performing with intent”

“Hurdling obstacles from within”

“Running beyond”

“Bonding with kindred spirits”

Of course this book uses centuries-old techniques to bring you success in running, but you can of course use these same techniques to help with every aspect of your life. That is really where the heart of the matter lies and why I am suggesting this book for personal development. Yes this book can help you with your running but to only look at it from that aspects means you missed on of the most important lessons Lynch and Scott are offering to us; finding happiness and using it as the key to our success.

I’m sure you are familiar with the expression success is the key to happiness. Take this phrase, switch some words around and you have, happiness is the key to success. That is the difference between the master and the student.

I paid $18.95 and it was worth every penny. This book was published by Human Kinetics and this wasn’t the first book I’ve bought from them. If you find you like and/or interested in reading Running Within, then you will surely find other enjoyable titles by those guys.

Add this to your list of summer reading and enjoy!

Take it easy.

-YoYo

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By: YoYo

Well guys, on April 27th 2008 I ran my first ever Half Marathon in Oklahoma City. It was a great experience and I’ve already started training for next year. My primary goal was to finish the race and my secondary goal was to finish the race running under 11:30 min/mi. I did in fact finish the race and I did so in 2:24:43. Thoughts in general:I trained for two months and I hae to say I’m proud of the fact that I held through with all the training. In the past I would start things and never finish them, but this I did finish so I see improvement. I noticed that I didn’t need to train as much as I initially thought. When I thought about running 13.1 miles I would think, ‘oh wow I’m going to have to run six days a week doing all these crazy runs and exercises.’ Afterwards, I realized that even though 13.1 miles sounds like a lot, you don’t need to train as much as you think you do. At this point I see 13.1 miles as not very much, so I can see a shift in perspective.

I did also notice that I began to overtrain and this was really wearing me down. If I hadn’t stopped training as hard as I was I could have suffered an injury big time and maybe not even have been able to run. The main kicker that really old me that I was overtraining was when my menstrual cycle became irregular. Ladies, if this happens, for a heads up in the future, this means you are overtraining.

I am comfortable now with calling myslf a runner and want to continue this in the future. I plan to spend the summer training so I can try out for the OU Cross Country team; I’m hoping I can get a scholarship = ). I also want to some time int he future do an Iron Man, which is a triathlon. You swim 2.5 mi, bike 112.4 mi and run 26.6 mi.

I have noticed myself really grow after running this race and I feel that doing these endurance sports will continue to help me grow. This won’t be the last you hear of running and biking = )

Take it easy!

-YoYo

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Nike + iPod Nano : Image from mp3Buzz.net

Today I made a bit of an impulse buy. I recently just purchased an iPod Nano so I can enjoy the Nike + accelometer sensor that you can buy. I started doing some accelometer research today and I just fell in love with the Nike + Nano. I did a bit of reading on it and other users have said it’s pretty accurate and faithful.

I do have some experience with the old iPod shuffle, so working with the pod won’t be tough. It comes with software that tracks and logs each session with the sensor. You can do online programs and challenges where you compete with other fellow users; that sounds like it will be fun = )

Apple tells me that the shuffle will come in around 3-5 business days-shipping was free- and I’m starting to get a little impatient. I just bought it about five hours ago and I really want to enjoy its accelometer-ness…. = P Can you tell I’m excited?

I will start posting updates on the Nano as soon as I get it.

On a side note, I won’t be exercising today. I’ve decided I need a break because I’m feeling it in my calves.

Until tomorrow!

-YoYo

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“The thing that is overlooked the most when it comes to exercising is rest.”

I know it probably seems like I’ve been M.I.A. I haven’t been posting because I’ve been busy and sick. Today is the start of week four and I missed three days of conditioning last week due to cold and illness. I am taking Human Physiology and I just learned in class that the hormones cortisol and epinephrine because it “prevents proliferation of T-cells” (physiology notes). This means that it keeps T-cells from being produced and as you may know, T-cells are an integral part of your immune system.

Essentially, exercising while sick theoretically causes you to become more sick; depending on intensity of training. I didn’t want to take a risk and I felt pretty crappy, so I decided to take those few days to heal. I find it better to take rest for three days, rather than exercise ineffectively for a week and stay sick for an extra four days.

NOTE: The thing that is overlooked the most when it comes to exercising is rest.

Today was my first day back and my day strength training. Here’s today’s workout:

Seated Dip: 2 sets, 50 reps; 20 lbs
Back Extension: 50 reps 35 lbs; 50 reps 40 lbs; 100 reps 45 lbs
Biceps: 35 reps, 15 reps; 20 lbs
Overhead: 25 reps, 10 reps; 20 lbs
Abs: 55 reps, 40 reps; 35 lbs
Calves: 3 sets of 20 reps, 100 reps; 120 lbs
Plank: 75 secs, 55 secs
Side Plank: 30 secs; Variation #1: 6 reps; Variation #2: 15 reps
Birdog: 30 secs; Variation #1: 15 reps

If you compare these numbers with workouts in the past, you will notice an increase in either weight or repetitions. I was shocked and proud of myself to have come back with such a fury after three days of unscheduled rest. I even added another exercise, the calf. I realized that I needed to work on my plantar flexion if I wanted to build my running edurance. I decided to get on a leg press, put my toes on the bottom edge-the balls of my feet weren’t on the machines- and pushed my toes forward to work on all of my plantar flexion muscles; gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis m and others. This exercise not only strengthened my calf muscles, but it also strengthened my hamstrings-biceps femoris long and short heads, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles- which are very important for flexing your legs as well.

I am also going to start on a modified training program. I will be running three times a week and strength training three times a week with one day of rest. The other program I feel was a very good one, but I am taking the advice from a few of my professors; they say it’s unecessary to be training as hard as I am for a half marathon. I also decided to put rest to the test.

This is of course not a true test of rest but since this will be a different kind of rest, compared to my last program, I’m just going to call it that = P. I’ve decided I will run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while strength training Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. My day of rest will be on Sundays.

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Today was my strength training and conditioning workout. I’m still researching and trying to find ways to get the most out of this workout, so it’s still under the works in a sense. I wanted to spend two hours in the gym, but I decided since I’ve got an exam tomorrow, I’ll only stay for one = P

So, today I did the following:

Planks - 75 seconds, 55 seconds
Side Planks - 30 seconds  (all for each side)
  Variation #1 - 6 reps
  Variation #2 - 15 reps
Birddog - 30 seconds (all for each side)
  Variation - 15 reps
Seated Dip - 2 sets of 50 reps @ 35 lbs
Bicep Curl - 30 reps, 10 reps @ 20 lbs
Back extention - 4 sets 50 reps @ 35 lbs
Abdominals - 45 reps, 30 reps @ 35 lbs
Overhead - 20 reps, 10 reps @ 20 lbs

I feel there is definite room for improvement. This is also the first day I recorded everything I did. In the past usually what I would do is just the planks-birddog in addition to doing supermans and its variations. Other days I also did some plyometrics as well. Today I was at the Huston Huffman working out so I figured I ‘d take advantage of the machines. My next strength training day is Thursday, but I think I’m going to do it Wednesday instead.

Now I have a little more idea of what I’m doing and what I need to be doing to make my Wednesday workout better. I’ll probably incorporate supermans, abductor and adductor work (legs) and set my goal to do everything I did today. I’m trying to gain a bit of muscle weight so I’ll burn a bit more fat and trim down. I can imagine with all the core work I’ve been doing I’ll be able to run more effectively since I’m getting better at stabilizing my torso.

I’m thinking about one day writing a post that contains the exercises I do with pictures and explanations. I know a few of you out there may not know what some of the exercises I mentioned are, so I will soon enlighten you. If you want to find out now, just google the exercises and I’m sure you can find those exercises elsewhere.

Till then, take it easy

-YoYo

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All in all I’m satisfied with my workout. I still can’t believe I’ve just started my third week!! I’m pretty excited to say the least. Well, I’ve got my strength and conditioning tomorrow. Until then, take it easy.

-YoYo

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The past two days have been great to workout outside. It’s been so beautiful outside the last few days. I’ve definitely been taking the opportunity to exercise outside whenever I get the chance.

Yesterday I ran 2.1 miles in 22 minutes. I ran a whole minute faster than what I’ll need to do for the half marathon. I am pretty content for my speed since I felt like I was going at a crawling pace. I also did some strength training. I did my usual strength training exercises like planks, side planks and their variations. I also did some supermans and birdogs, as well as some jumping jacks and plyometrics.

Today was my 30 min cross training day. I went on a cardio bike at the gym and did strength training and conditioning afterwards. I went on a few of the machines working mainly my core and upper body. I also worked on my hip abductors and adductors. Afterwards I ended up walking about 2.5 miles while talking to my mom on the phone. I spent about one hour on the phone, so it was a nice and wasy walk. It also made for good conversation.

I went a little ahead of my training schedule by walking those 2.5 miles but like I said it was an easy walk so I don’t think I’ll be paying for it later. Other than that, I can’t believe I just finished two weeks of my training schedule. That means I have ten more weeks to go! It feels like a long time, but I also feel like I’ve been working out for a long time. I’ve been able to discipline myself and keep myself on track. I’m beginning to prove to myself that I can really get down and dirty and achieve my goals. I’ve been doing for two weeks and I’m confident that I’ll be able to continue for the next ten weeks.

I’m excited to find out what I’ll be able to do next!

Take it easy!

-YoYo

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Today consists of a two-day update; today’s and yesterday’s. To explain a little bit, I had a technical mishap and couldn’t update = (  So here it is!!!!

Yesterday I decided to take a run to the library. It was my three mile run but due to some random circumstances, it didn’t workout. Instead I ran an easy job for about 30 times. I ran around 2.27 miles total, so I ran roughly 13 minutes and 13 seconds per mile. It was around 30F yesterday so I’m glad I was able to get through the weather without stopping.

Now for today. The temperature has been around 37-30 F so it was another cold run. I ran two separate times; the first I ran 2.15 miles in about 30 mintes and my second one I ran one mile in nine minutes and 20 seconds.

I feel I’m beginning to push my abilities more and more each day. During my second run today, I felt like I was moving at a creeping pace. It turns out that I was running at a descent pace, so I know running is getting easier for me. I’m also proud of the fact that I’ve been running in 30 F weather. It’s something I’ve never done before so I have to give myself props.

I’m learning more about myself each day and it’s giving me much more confidence and willpower to thread on. I definitely like where running has been taking me and I know I will continue to run even after the Half Marathon.

Take it easy!

-YoYo

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Today was my four mile. It was much harder than I thought. This was actually the first day I went out to run. Usually I’m on the elliptical or one of the cardio bikes because of the weather. Since today, here in Norman, the temperature is at around 70F. It is a great day to go outside and it was a good run, just hard = )

So I ran this baby in 52 minutes and 42 seconds. that means I ran each mile in roughly 13 minutes. It’s not my best, but it’s a start. This week I’m going to start running outside as often as possible so I can get used to actually running rather than hitting the eliptical.

Well that’s all I’ve got for you today! Tomorrow is my stretch and strength day so for the most part, it’ll be an easier day than today.

Take care!

-YoYo

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