Footcare

I have ugly feet. I have big ass big toes and an itty-bitty little toes. Teaching Pilates, I spend a great deal of time barefoot; I also have claustrophobic feet (long story) and tend to only wear socks when I have to. My feet get a lot of exposure, and take a huge beating in my runners as well, so I take care of them. Just like colouring my hair, whether I need it or not, every six weeks I get a pedicure.

Extravagant, unnecessary? Think what you want. I know that you can do similar treatments at home yourself, but would you and who wants to clean up the mess after, and did I mention the massage chair?

You don’t have to break the bank every time you get a pedicure, but I do suggest that you have the full meal deal at the spa at least once every six months (music, massage, ambiance, dim lighting, maybe a paraffin dip…ahh bliss), but for those in between where you only have 30 minutes, $25 to spare, and don’t really care about the pampering, there are plenty of nail bars around that will have your feet looking scrubbed, buffed and polished in no time at all.

Proper foot care should not just occur in the spring and summer months and is not restricted to only females. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a man who takes care of himself, especially when it comes to personal hygiene and grooming, and unless you are into the whole cross dressing thing, no polish will ever be applied. I do however draw the line at getting a pedicure from a male esthetician (have only been there once), massage yes please, pedicure no. If a man is going to rub my feet it should involve candles and wine.

If I haven’t sold you yet, maintaining your feet will help to prevent ingrown and black toenails (yellow too), cracked, scaly heels and general foot yuck.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Stay away from the blade, it may sound like a good idea at the time, but try running for a hour with feet as smooth as a baby’s bottom.  Runners need their natural calluses.  Invest in a good paddle and use it between pedis.
• Cut your own toenails before you go. I always get in crap for this, but runners know how short their toenails need to be.
• Schedule pedicures a week to 10 days before a race and on a day where you can spend the rest of the day barefoot.
• Hussy red is the perfect shade to hide a black toenail.
• Don’t forget to take your flip flops with you.  It never fails that you will have at least one errand to run after and you look ridiculous in those yellow spa slippers.

Yeah baby, yeah

When I hear the word ‘jog’ I think Austin Powers, I don’t know why. To me it sounds like a word that he would totally use, like shag. So when someone asks me if I went for a jog this morning, or if I am jogging later today, it makes me snicker a bit, but it also makes me want to correct them…I don’t jog, I RUN.

Jogging is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

1. to run or ride at a slow trot
2. to go at a slow, leisurely, or monotonous pace : trudge

Doesn’t sound like you would be getting anywhere quickly, especially if you are trudging, that to me sounds like something ogres or monsters do. I also found a great ‘jogging tip’ that said “avoid jogging on hilly terrain to prevent injury. Running downhill, you can tumble down injuring yourself”, I’m not kidding, this was not from a how to book from the late 70′s either, it was on a website updated in 2009.

Jogging just sounds silly, you certainly wouldn’t write a song about it …”Jogging With the Devil”, “Born To Jog”, “Jogging Down a Dream”, “Jogging on Empty”, “Jog To You”, “The Long Jog”, ok last one “Jog Around Sue”.

I feel that I am speaking for the vast majority of the running population when I say, even if we are running at a slow monotonous pace, or a trot, we are running, we are runners, we wear running shoes, we suffer from runner’s knee, we read Runner’s World, we get a runner’s high and we are in the year 2010.

Tuesday trail run

Now that curling season is over, the possibilities are almost endless for double cardio Tuesday. Skiers and boarders please do not hate me when I say how disappointed I was about the fresh snow that recently fell on the mountains, I was really anticipating an early opening of the Grouse Grind, and I know that I am not alone. (For those who are not familiar with the Grouse Grind, shame on you! It is a 2.9km/1.8 mile hike up the face of Grouse Mountain, are you ready for this…2830 stairs, that’s why we call it Mother Nature’s Stair Master.)

With the Grind not an option, Conny and I headed up to Hayward Lake to run one of my (I think Conny’s as well) favourite trails, we call Canoe Landing. The weather was cool and drizzly this morning, so instead of walking up the hill to the trail entrance I picked Conny and we drove, I know I was being a bit of a puss. They say great minds think alike (my Mum likes to add “fools seldom differ”, thanks Mum), as we parked Betty (not really Betty, she likes to remain nameless, but not faceless this time) and Shannon pulled up. The last time that I ran with Betty and Shannon on the trails was the last day of school last year and we had champy and OJ (I think cheese and crackers as well) to celebrate. Betty apologized for not bringing the hooch…maybe next time.

No need for bear bells this morning, with all of our laughing and antics, we scared off any wildlife that may have been in the area! Same time next week?

Must run

The ‘unwritten code of conduct for runners’ clearly states that on days like today, you must run. If you don’t you will spend the rest of the day wishing that you had…everywhere you look people will be running, it will be all that you see, in slow motion..smiling…running…enjoying…running…happiness…running…laughing…running. No regrets right?

I was pretty tough on our legs in class this morning, but wasn’t about to let a bit of fatigue keep me indoors. Rocking my new Lulu tank (it says “breathe deeply, appreciate the moment”), clam diggers and of course my running glasses I hit the road for a lunchtime run. I am happy to say that spring has finally hit the West Coast, the breeze was warm, my hands were even warm!

Mum, you will be happy to know that I had no close calls or near death experiences today, it was as peaceful and relaxing as ripping it up on the country roads could be.

Feeling the speed

Had a fantastic morning on the track. It’s only been 3 weeks and the group has already improved on their original 1.5 mile times by as much as 63 seconds! Congratulations gang, keep up the good work.

5 Peaks Training Clinic

50 crazy trail runners joined me this morning at Golden Ears Park for the first session of my 5 Peaks Training Clinic (officially my largest group ever, woo-hoo)! It was great to see some new faces as well as some that I hadn’t seen since my last trail running session. Once all of the paperwork and pleasantries were out of way, we split into 3 speed groups, each running a variation of the Golden Ears ‘Sport Course’.

Most of us got our feet wet right away, holy crap that mountain water is cold, and by the end of the run even Murray had one wet shoe (Murray doesn’t like to get his piggies wet). He told me on the trail that one of the run leaders splashed him and was off his Christmas list, I thought that he said that she flashed him and was off his Christmas list, I was a bit shocked (she doesn’t seem like the flashing kind) and confused why he had taken her off his list… it was extremely funny but possibly one of those situations that you had to be there for to appreciate.

Even with all of the wind that we had last week, the trails were in pretty good shape, a couple of trees down here and there and one missing bridge, oops, and the creeks were just high enough to keep our shoes clean!

Great job today everyone

Ageless Pilates

I am a hat person, love hats, and seem to change them often, although I do have my favourites. The new hat that I am wearing is ‘book reviewer’. A few weeks ago I was asked to review the book “Ageless Pilates” and really liked it. The concepts were explained well and were easy to follow, lots of pictures using real bodies (not a 15 year old anorexic dancer with ginormous boobs), and some challenging workouts. I gave it two thumbs up, check it out for yourself.

1.5 mile test, take 2

For the last nine weeks I have been diligently completing my Lifestyle Logbook for my KPE class. I have to be honest, at times it has been a struggle, it just requires too much information (the time I eat, a list of foods that I eat, food groups, servings, waking heart rate, hours of sleep, activity, duration of activity, heart rate while doing activity, the weather, notes, and overall mood…TMI). So now it is time to put this baby to bed with graphs, charts, summaries, but not before reassessing my overall fitness, including my 1.5 mile test.

Six laps around the track should really not be an issue for a runner such as myself, but sometimes I have been known to put a bit of pressure on myself, today was one of those occasions, as was January 20th (the original 1.5 mile test). After Body Camp I changed into my fastest running outfit (running tights and what I like to call my speed skater top, it is tight and has one of those hoods like the Olympic speed skaters wear, all very cute, all very Lululemon) and drove to the track. Half way there I realized that I had forgotten my mp3 player, there was also a break in the rain, I love my tunes, not a fan of the rain, wanted to beat my time from January, the dilemma…I went with no rain and no tunes, I hoped that I wouldn’t regret it.

My track of choice is at a high school and as luck would have it, several PE classes were also using the track for frisbee football, sitting down and chatting, backpack storage, and there were a few new to walking (not kidding, daycare field trip, I mean track trip) as well. I started my warm-up on the inside lane, it only took a couple of laps of extremely close passes and the fierce look in my eyes (practicing once again for my cover shot on Runners World) before I had claimed my obvious ownership of the inside lane. I stopped for a quick slurp of water, reset my chrono, and I was off. I kept my pace fairly consistent, I knew what I had to do and how it would feel. The only lap that I struggled on was lap four which could have been because I had to dodge the frisbee and three or four slow moving players, come on, what the hell people! I pushed right to the end running so fast that one of my pony tails fell out, that must have been a omen or something because that has never happened before.

So how did I do…I bettered my previous time by 24 seconds (translates into slightly over a 3% improvement) which isn’t bad considering that I have shortened up my long runs since running my 1/2 marathon in March and might be slightly heavier (blaming Easter). Did I miss my music…absolutely!

Sharing my lunch

I love to cook, always have, but don’t do it enough, especially when it is just for me. I eat lunch at home three days a week, when I do it is either left overs from the night before, my Mum’s manicotti that she makes and freezes into lunch size portions for me or a can of soup.

As I recently rekindled my overseas romance with Jamie Oliver and have been reading a lot of food blogs lately, I felt inspired to cook myself a little bit of somethin’ somethin’ for lunch. I don’t do omelets very well (this is my Dad’s specialty and they are not for the faint of heart or anyone with food allergies. He won’t tell you what he puts in them, it’s probably better that way, but they totally rock), so my omelets are more of a scramble. So here is my masterpiece, egg white scramble (onions, green pepper, spinach and goat cheese), it was unfreaking believable and I felt compelled to share.

Back to the grind

Well it is all systems a go around here after my Easter hiatus. Outdoor Body Camps and 5 Peaks Trail Running start this week and Pilates by the Lake next week.

I spent part of this afternoon at one of the local high schools teaching Pilates to an alternative PE class. There are always a few non-believers in the group (usually the boys at the back of the class), I always get a kick out of teaching Pilates style push-ups, oh and I make sure that group in the back has correct form  Pilates style push-ups = pipes of steal, baby!

Tonight is ‘double cardio’ Tuesday, but I think that I may need ‘double cardio until next Tuesday to work off all of my Easter indulgences, maybe I will see you there.

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