Sole Runners Saturday Morning Run

Coach Steve talking about the Palos-Dena Ultra Challenge 52.4 / 26.2

Last Saturday, the Green Girl joined the Sole Runners for her long run.

Coach Steve handed out Palos-Dena Ultra Challenge 52.4 / 26.2 shirts and honored all the Sole Runners who took on the challenge this year.

Runners who registered and completed both the the Palos Verdes Marathon (full or half) and Pasadena Marathon (full or half) which took place on a consecutive Saturday and Sunday in May, were qualified to join the Ultra Challenge Challenger Club.

Kerri at the Sole Runners aide station

I was anxious to see if my faster times at the track could translate into an improved pace on longer runs.

As we headed out for our run, Coach Steve suggested I increase my cadence. He commented that my foot turnover was looking good at the track and I needed to keep that up.

I had left my metronome in the car so another Sole Runner, Katie, loaned me hers. Coach Steve set it to 58.

The cadence was faster than what I'm used to do I struggled to stay on the beat but when I looked down at Mr. Green Garmin and saw I was consistently under a 12 minute mile pace, I was motivated to keep it up.

Sole Runners post-run yoga

I ended up doing 13 miles in 2:37 - a 12:07 minute pace.

When I got back, I decompressed with some post-run yoga and then headed to breakfast with one of the Sole Runners, Michelle, and her boyfriend, Donovan.

Sole Runners Active Recovery Run

Coach Steve talking to the Sole Runners

The Green Girl joined the Sole Runners for a Saturday morning active recovery run yesterday.

Coach Steve builds active recovery weeks with lower intensity and volume into our training schedule to give our bodies a chance to repair and refresh.

Coach Steve leading the ChiRunning body looseners

For my active recovery week, I cut back on my workouts and didn't double up every day. I also made a conscious effort to stretch as much as possible.

After the usual announcements, Coach Steve went through the ChiRunning body looseners.

The order of the body looseners are from the ground up so we always start with the ankle looseners.

Sole Runners heading out for an active recovery run

Before the Sole Runners head out, we always get into our ChiRunning stance by lengthening our posture, leveling our pelvic floor, and then leaning until we fall into a run.

Since it was an active recovery week, we all ran for an hour before we did our post-run yoga.

Following the run, I attended Coach Steve's Advanced ChiRunning Training for Mentors class. The session was extremely helpful and we learned a number of advanced ChiRunning techniques.

When I was first introduced to ChiRunning, I was unable to incorporate the concepts into my running form.

I wasn't until I signed up for a two hour private ChiRunning Workshop with a ChiRunning Certified Instructor, Coach Steve, that it all came together for me.

I can honestly say attending Coach Steve's workshop transformed my entire Running Green Girl life. It inspired me to join the Sole Runners and ChiRunning has significantly reduced my injuries and recovery time.

I would recommend his Southern California ChiRunning Workshops and Retreats without hesitation to anyone who is interested in learning proper form and techniques.

The Green Girl's Fitness Assessment

On SparkPeople, there was an article about do-it-yourself fitness assessments. I decided this would be a great way for me to measure progress for myself.

This do-it-yourself fitness assessment consists of three tests:

• The Pushup Test (measures muscular strength and endurance)
• The Crunch Test (measures abdominal strength and endurance)
• The 3-Minute Step Test (measures aerobic fitness)

I started off with The Push-up Test. I only do fist pushups now because of a bad right wrist. I did full pushups because I didn't realize the women's sexist chart was only for modified pushups. Unfortunately, my hands hurt too much for me to do an entire minute but I did manage to do 40 full pushups in 40 seconds. I spent the last 20 seconds rubbing my fists.

For The Crunch Test, I was able to do 76 crunches in a minute.
For me, the The 3-Minute Step Test was the hardest assessment because I'm not sure if I calculated my results correctly. I had to use Mr. Green Garmin to monitor my heart rate, my 'regular everyday' watch for the timer, and then a metronome for the cadence.

I'm also not sure how accurate Mr. Green Garmin's heart rate monitor is. According to him, my initial heart rate was 57. After three minutes of stepping on my 12" sofa minus the cushion, my heart rate was 112. After exactly one minute, it was 100 and then after another minute, it was 77.

I'm going to repeat these tests from time to time so I can compare my results.

The Green Girl's First Run of 2009

The Green Girl did her very first run of the year on yesterday.

I've been averaging a 15-16 minute mile on my Saturday morning runs. Since this was an 'Active Recovery' week and we would only be running for an hour, I was determined to pick up the pace.

I set Mr. Green Garmin's 'Virtual Partner' to a 12:30 mile. The Virtual Partner appears as a little runner that 'runs' with you.

For the first time since Mr. Green Garmin came into my life, I beat my Virtual Partner! When I saw my little digital body ahead of my Virtual Partner, I got so excited that I had to slow down and take a picture. Ha.

The group I run with trains using the Chirunning technique. Part of Chirunning is maintaining a steady cadence. To achieve this, a number of us carry a Seiko DM-50 Clip-Style Metronomes with us on our runs. I typically set my metronome to 82 but sometimes I will increase the speed to 85.

I found the continuous beeping to be an annoyance at first but I've grown accustomed to it and it really helps me maintain the cadence throughout my run. When I'm feeling tired, it's soothing to just zone out and just keep my feet moving to that beat.

I really pushed myself. I was getting pretty tired after 25 minutes and thought about taking a walk break but for some reason, I kept going. It was exhausting but it was a lot easier for me to push myself than it used to be. I think all the short, fast runs really are helping.

According to Mr. Green Garmin, I did a total of 4.84 miles in 59:01:24. The thing I am most proud of is the fact that I even managed to do negative splits. I did not think I'd be able to pull that off because I had pushed myself so hard going out. I averaged a 12:11 minute mile going out and a 12:09 coming back!

After the run, Coach Steve Mackel modified our usual post-run yoga to a standing-only session because the grass was too damp for us to use our mats.