Afternoon Therapy Session

I slipped my shoes on and headed out the door without a thought in my mind. Such is the way I like to begin my runs.

Clean slate. Level headed.

Today’s therapy session was in the afternoon. A crisp yet balmy 65 degrees. My car parked, I wasted no time getting down to business.

No pressure today. Just 10-12 easy miles at whatever pace felt right.

Less than 24 hours ago, I had taken a soccer ball to the face during one of our co-ed games. Now as I ran, I could feel the air stinging my still-swollen upper lip. Failing to find my chapstick earlier, I soon realized that licking my wounds only seemed to make it worse. I ignored it and continued on.

I felt the gravel and dirt crunching beneath my feet while the wind gently ushered me along….

Leaning slightly left, I careened onto a trail temporarily devoid of cyclists and couples walking their dogs. And while the trees whispered around me- suddenly, it started to rain…yellow and green at first and then brown, red..shades of gold…

I could feel my heart beginning to catch up to the pace of each step…pounding in my chest, reminding me that I was alive.

Day after day, I slip on my running shoes, heading out there no matter what the weather forecast or time of day.

Running, sprinting, cross training, weight lifting…staying strong…training for that imaginary race day that never comes.

Why bother at all?

Why not?

I’ve beaten myself up a million times with ‘What if’s…’ and ‘I wonder’s..’ Contemplating thoughts of whether I’ve let everyone down by not being the success story in college that I was supposed to naturally assume.

Momentarily reflecting on all of the wonderful and inspiring success stories that former teammates have made of their post-collegiate running careers, I have no doubts that I could still take things further than where they currently are.

But I don’t.

I run for myself now.

It’s taken me years to get to this point. Years to un-learn running as a business; as something dedicated to others.

I don’t want to be anyone’s hero. I am my own hero; my own inspiration. The only difference now is that I don’t need a medal or a prize to tell me that.

How do you define success in your life?

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. -Anon.

The Best Training Partner I’ve Ever Had

It’s 5 in the morning when I hear the racket coming from my alarm clock. I lay there for a moment, suddenly wondering why I haven’t yet chosen to put my alarm clock closer to my bed.

After getting up to turn the alarm off, there is an overwhelming temptation to crawl back into my bed and burrow beneath the warm fluffy concaves of cotton and down feathers, but I know that she is out there waiting for me.

the hardest part is getting started…

the hardest part is getting started…

I quietly repeat this mantra as I tug on two white, ankle socks. Unwittingly, I slip my feet into a pair of running shoes that have refused to be untied for almost two years; and with a final, sleepy glance from my cat, I’m out the door.

Point of no return

Every runner has a ‘point of no return’. For me, this is as soon as I shut the door behind me. I pad up the wooden stairs in my apartment building, and sure enough- she’s standing there waiting for me. She has long, dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail and indefatigable eyes as she glances down at her watch and jogs in place.

Her excitement will eventually become contagious, I know; but for now, I feel languid and unmotivated. I just want to get this run overwith. I take a deep breath, and then we start to run.

I’ve trained with her for years now-ever since college. During our runs, there is no need for small talk or pleasantries. No words are ever exchanged and we’re fine with that. The only thing we do decide ahead of time is how far we will run that day, and once we’ve made the decision, there’s no backing out. The watches have started changing seconds into minutes, and there are still miles in front of us to cover.

The run starts off a little slow, but by the second or third mile in, the blood is circulating throughout my entire body, and I feel alive, refreshed and up for the challenge. Suddenly, I’m happy to be up and running on the quiet roads. On days where I’m tired or feeling lethargic, she is there to push me forward, encouraging me. Sometimes, she’ll run ahead of me- forcing me to try to keep up; and other times, she runs behind me- pressuring me to push the pace faster.

Trees, finely manicured lawns, a child’s toys left scattered on a backyard patio- all of it is a blur of light and color as we run by. The first beads of sweat start to form on my brow just as the faint glow of the sun starts to peek out from sleepy skies.

2 more miles to go…

1 more mile to go…

Sprint it to that last stop sign…

Seven miles later, I have made it back to my apartment alone. Exhausted but filled with exuberance, I have gotten through another run, and I am thankful for my training partner. She is what keeps me going on days when I don’t think I can do it, and I am forever grateful to have the opportunity to train with someone so dedicated and driven.

I have met my hero, and he is me. – George Sheehan

The ‘not so hip’ problem

Ever since I started up my soccer season and completed a grand total of 2 games, my left hip flexor has been bothering me. I’ve started to notice a slightly alarming, yet recurring pattern with this problem, and I’ve managed to conclude that the pain in my left hip flexor is possibly due to the fact that I have a career in which 90 percent of my work day is spent sitting in front of computer. Combine that with the quick, sudden movements involved in kicking a ball and sprinting on a soccer field and voila!

Hip flexor issues.

I’ve been doing a little research on how to *hopefully rectify my hip flexor issues, and I figured I’d share some of my findings below.

What are your hip flexors?

Your hip flexors consist of a group of skeletal muscles that allow your hip to bend and flex. This group of muscles are often referred to as the following:

Iliopsoas (Inner hip muscles):

  • Psoas major
  • Psoas minor
  • Iliacus muscle

Anteriror (outer thigh):

  • Rectus femoris
  • Sartorius
  • Tensor fasciae latae (gluteal muscle)

Medial (middle thigh):

  • Pectineus
  • Adductor longus
  • Adductor brevis
  • Gracilis

Causes of injury

Contrary to popular belief, most problems that occur with your hip flexors aren’t due to a lack of strength but are due, instead, to a lack of flexibility (which is definitely a problem for me). For example, if you have a desk job in which you are sitting for hours on end, day after day, your hip flexors will begin to shorten and shrink, limiting your ability to fully extend your hip. The result is an increase in pressure on the joints of your lower spine, which can lead to all sorts of other problems in the long term. Other everyday examples of things that might cause you to injure or strain your hip flexors include (but are not limited to):

  • Sedentary lifestyle
  • Desk job and/or too much prolonged sitting
  • Explosive movement (i.e. sprinting, kicking a ball, etc.)

Symptoms

The most common symptoms associated with hip flexor strains is a sort of shooting pain that starts in the front of your hip and may travel down the front of your thigh. It will hurt or feel incredibly uncomfortable to try to lift your knee to your chest, run, jump or possibly walk. In some cases, you may experience a small amount of swelling, depending on the severity of your strain.

Treatment

Depending on how awful you feel, it may be a wise decision to make an appointment with your doctor just to make sure that you haven’t caused  further injury to the area. However, most care that you do yourself will involve REST, ICE, and FLEXIBILITY.

Hip flexor strains are often a problem for athletes, especially soccer players (unfortunately for me) because there are a lot of forceful contractions during the course of just one game. Between powerful kicks associated with crossing passes, corner kicks and shots on goal, these kinds of explosive movements can cause “micro traumas”, which are tiny tears in your muscle that accumulate over time and can eventually result in strain and pain- especially if you’ve returned to a sport or activity too soon and/or have failed to address flexibility problems. By the way, did I mention that I returned to my first game of the soccer season after having (literally) just gotten back from a 12 hour drive from New York the day before; and also after I had just taken like 2 weeks off from working out?

Yeah….

Exercises

The best solution to hip flexor strain is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. This is done through improved flexibility.

Take the time to warm up your muscles before you engage in any physical activity, and if you haven’t done so already, try to have a routine of stretches that you perform before any exercise as this will help reduce your risk for injury. If you work long hours at a desk, schedule “breaks” in which you get up, walk around and maybe perform a couple of stretches. You may also want to look into a more ergonomic chair or accessories to help your posture while working.

In the meantime, below is a demonstration of three different types of hip flexor stretches that, if performed consistently, will aid you in improving flexibility in your hips, thus preventing injury.

Raisin Bran w/ Skim Milk

On today’s menu:

  • Hot, green tea
  • 1/2 grapefruit
  • Handful of organic cherries (washed)
  • 10 oz. bowl of Raisin Bran with skim milk

*Tip: To help with portions, I purchased a package of (5) 12 oz., colorful children’s bowls from Walmart. Not only are the bowls environmentally-friendly (with no BPAs), but at $2.98 for one package, I can fill up a bowl without necessarily worrying about going overboard. This is great for portioning!

Is Vitamin Water as Nutritious as We Think?

I have a little theory that I have carried with me for quite some time, and it is based on the fact that if something tastes really, really good, then it probably isn’t so great for you.

Since Glacéau came out with VitaminWater Zero, it seems too good to be true: a tasty beverage that is not only packed with vitamins and electrolytes to help replenish your body,  but tastes halfway decent AND has NO calories? I can’t help but have doubts, but first thing’s first….

Ingredients

The particular VitaminWater Zero (pictured above) that I’ve been sipping on recently contains the following ingredients:

  • reverse osmosis water
  • less than 1% of: rebiana (stevia extract) & crystalline fructose and erythritol (natural sweeteners)
  • magnesium lactate
  • calcium lactate
  • potassium phosphate (electrolyte sources)
  • natural flavors
  • citric acid
  • vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
  • vitamin B5 (calcium pantothenate)
  • vitamin B3 (niacinamide)
  • vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrocholoride)
  • vitamin B12
  • beta carotene

Click to Enlarge

Labeling Issues

One of the main problems with people’s diets is that they seldom take the time to really look at the labels on certain products. This is America, so we want the quickest fix to everything; and if there is a product out there that comes in a neat looking package and claims to be healthy, then who are we to question it? So what if it has a couple of things on the label that we can’t pronounce- the vast majority of the other nutritional ingredients are recognizable, right?

Wrong.

As it turns out, there are a couple of ingredients on the label that have brought up recent debates over whether or not VitaminWater Zero is as healthy as it claims to be. The ingredients in question are highlighted above in red and are:

Erythritol- This is a type of sugar alcohol. However, contrary to it’s name, it is comprised of neither sugar nor alcohol. Some of you may already recognize the warning here when you realize that this is a sugar alcohol.  Sugar alcohols are usually combined with low-cal or artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin and crystalline fructose (to name a few) and provide fewer calories than actual sugar because they are not totally absorbed by your body. This usually results in adverse symptoms such as diarrhea, headaches and stomachaches. It is also the reason why companies are supposed to label their products with a warning.

Crystalline Fructose– To the average person who is trying to eat healthier, grabbing a bottle of VitaminWater may seem like a dream come true. If anything, it’s just some flavored water with some extra vitamins and minerals thrown in, right? In actuality though, there is more than 6 teaspoons of sugar in one bottle. Digest that for a minute. Based on recent research, if you see a beverage containing the word “fructose” in it, it’s probably best to avoid it. Especially where crystalline fructose in VitaminWater is concerned, Dr. Mercola reveals:

Whereas regular high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contains 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose, crystalline fructose is at minimum 99 percent fructose, which could only mean that all the health problems associated with fructose may be even more pronounced with this product [source]

What’s the Solution?

Labels are produced with one focus in mind: to get a product sold. Each year, companies dump millions of dollars into advertising campaigns, pulling in the best graphic designers and marketing gurus to create an “image” for a product that looks really great, but this doesn’t always mean that it is going to be good for you.

While it would be great if there was a ‘magic beverage’ that promised to make us skinnier or reduce our risk for chronic desease, there is no substitute for a naturally healthy diet. When you shop at the supermarket, shop the perimeter of the store- you know- the areas where you pick up products and automatically know how to pronounce all of the ingredients. Shop fresh; shop local and shy away from unprocessed foods. And if you’re thirsty after an intense workout and you’re thinking that a beverage “packed with vitamins” is going to cut it, think again. Instead, grab a couple of glasses of water and make sure you eat something that is nutritionally packed with the vitamins you need. Your body will thank you.

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