Book Review- “Master Your Core. A Science-Based Guide to Achieve Peak Performance and Resilience to Injury” by Dr. Bohdanna Zazulak

This is without a doubt the most comprehensive book I’ve ever read about the human body’s core. Dr. Zazulak begins by emphasizing how important our core is for the prevention of injuries and this is the premise of the book. Master Your Core is more than just a book with a bunch of core exercises; it’s obvious Dr. Zazulak understands people also need to know why the core is important and how you can improve your core in ways other than physical activity.

The book is logically divided into two parts, with the first part called Core Fundamentals and includes discussions on defining core stability, how to develop awareness and control of our core, neuromuscular imbalances and how they effect the core, a detailed discussion of posture, and a lengthy discussion on sex-based differences. Prior to this book I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything about differences between men and women’s cores but this book goes over everything from how hormones, anatomy, neurological differences, and psychological factors effect men and women’s cores differently.

There is also a section on meditation, mindful breathing exercises, and practicing gratitude, an interesting section on the heart-core connection, discussions on the importance of water, sleep, and self-care, and different breathing techniques designed to tone the core floor. One thing I learned is the connection between your jaw and core floor. When you clench your jaw because you’re stressed, you also clench your pelvic floor. Perhaps not surprisingly, women tend to “internalize emotions more often, which manifests as muscle tension in an unrelaxed core floor.” This can compromise blood flow and deprive the muscles of the oxygen and nutrients they need to function optimally.

Part 2 is called the Core BASE Guide and includes tangible ways to improve your core. Within this part are four sections: breathing, awareness, stability, and empowerment. As you might imagine the section on breathing is a deep dive covering all things breath-related and the importance of deep belly or diaphragmatic breathing.

In all, there are seven tables each with seven core exercises including descriptions for each exercise and a table with diagrams for each group of exercises (for 49 total core exercises). Dr. Zazulak notes that no one should feel obligated to do every single exercise; she acknowledges it would be too much for some people and everyone has different abilities and needs. Meditation is once again discussed in the Awareness section, as are mantras and body awareness. There are some examples of core-empowering activities such as yoga, martial arts as well as some unexpected ones like laughter and nature and readers are told to choose ones that speak to them personally.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is how the book is filled with apropos quotes throughout. A quote I especially liked is the following that is at the beginning of the last section before the conclusion:

“Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you
slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm.
Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately
you have to take responsibility.”—Naval Ravikant

In other words, if you don’t put in the work, it won’t happen. Chapter 13 describes how you can personalize the book and the exercises to fit your body and needs. There’s even a way to calculate your core score, which may especially appeal to competitive people. I like it because it gives you a goal to work your way towards and it gives you a tangible way to measure your progress.

I really enjoyed this book and how in-depth Dr. Zazulak dives into all things core-related. It’s so much more than just a book listing off core exercises. The book shows beautifully how the mind, heart, and musculoskeletal systems all work together with our core. Also unique is the section on women’s core health and how women’s and men’s cores are different and shouldn’t be lumped together.

If you would like to purchase Master Your Core, you may do so at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Core-Science-Based-Performance/dp/163161116X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Master+Your+Core&qid=1622477266&sr=8-1

The author’s website: https://doczaz.com/

More information about Dr. Zazulak from the publisher website: https://www.tckpublishing.com/our-authors/author-bohdanna-zazulak/

******* I’ll be doing a giveaway of Dr. Zazulak’s book on Instagram tomorrow, August 14. Check out my post there if you’d like to enter. If you’re not on Instagram, reply below why you’d like a copy of this book and I’ll mix in your entry with the others on IG when I randomly pick a winner.

https://www.instagram.com/runningtotraveltheworld/

As always, happy running!

Donna

Why I Run- Version 2.0

My very first blog post was titled, “Why I Run,” and you can read it here. It’s a quick read and pretty basic. I recently started thinking about this question more in-depth. Sure, I run because I enjoy it and how I feel when I’m running, but I think running is more complicated than that.

As I mentioned in my first post, I’ve been running pretty much since I was a young child. Unlike my parents and older brother, I loved running, riding my bike, and swimming. Long story short of why I’m not and will probably never be a triathlete, I taught myself to swim as a kid and can actually swim half-decently in the sense of moving from one place to another but my form is terrible.

Still, as much as I enjoy swimming and cycling, these sports aren’t my true loves. Running always has been and probably always will be my first choice of activity. Although I may not always feel in the mood to run when I start, I almost always finish feeling better than when I started.

Running in the Canary Islands

One thing I love about running are all of the health benefits. Contrary to popular belief by non-runners, running is not “bad for your knees.” In multiple studies, they’ve found that the average runner has lower incidence of osteoarthritis in their knees (and other joints). Runners also have lower incidence of a multitude of diseases and other health issues such as obesity, heart disease, multiple types of cancers, stroke, diabetes, dementia, depression, and the list goes on.

Sure, runners sometimes get injured and if enough time isn’t taken off running to let the area fully heal, that can lead to long-term problems like arthritis for example. However, I would argue that it wasn’t simply running that lead to the long-term complications, but the fact that the person was running when they shouldn’t have. This could happen with any sport, such as “tennis elbow” with a tennis player leading to more complications later in life if they don’t let their bodies heal.

Fortunately, I haven’t had many major running injuries and only once in my life had to deal with iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). Once I figured out what I needed to do (mainly stretch and use a foam roller regularly), that ugly little problem never reared its head again.

Half marathon in Colorado- one of my toughest because of elevation!

So with no real major running injuries to speak of, I’ve seen multiple benefits to my health. All I have to do is look around at other people my age and hear about all of the health issues they’re going through to know what an advantage running has given me for my health. Most of these people I’m referring to are overweight, so honestly if they would lose the extra weight, many of their health problems would go away and they wouldn’t even have to ever run as long as they lead a healthy active lifestyle. I’m not one of those people that thinks everyone should run; just because I choose to run doesn’t mean I think everyone else should run as well. I always say whatever activity that will get your heart rate up and you enjoy doing is the one that’s best for you.

Running has also shown me and my family many parts of the United States we most likely would never have seen otherwise. By having the goal of running a half marathon in all 50 states in the United States, we’ve traveled to some pretty small towns over the years. While there have been some places that we absolutely fell in love with but might not have gone to if not for the races (Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont), there have been a few places that we were not that enamored by (North Dakota, Oklahoma, Mississippi) but were still happy we got the opportunity to go. Overall, there have been more places we’ve loved or at least liked than ones we didn’t care for.

Outside of races, I feel like I must truly love running just to be able to train for the half marathons that I do run. My current half marathon training plan includes runs 5 days a week. I feel like if I didn’t inherently love to run, I would pretty quickly get tired of running that many times a week. Lately I’ve loved checking out new areas to run both around where I live and near where I work as well.

Checking out new running routes!

Running has shown me some enormous neighborhoods that I drive by every day going to work but never even knew existed until I decided to check out some new running paths. I’ve discovered some greenways and walking trails that go on for several miles in one direction, sometimes connecting with other greenways or trails. Simply by having the attitude of “let’s see where this goes,” I’ve discovered huge areas that I never would have seen if not for running.

It’s no secret I love to travel and whenever possible, I’ll combine my love of travel and exploring new places with running. Over the years some of the most memorable places I’ve run outside the United States were in places like Costa Rica, the Canary Islands, Canada, and Austria. I’ve seen things when running that I would have missed if I would have just driven by it in a car and I’ve often gone back later to explore the area more in-depth.

In summary, I guess I love to run because it helps keep me healthy and it helps show me the world, both near and far.

Why do you run?

Happy running!

Donna

Round Two of My Bout With Anemia

Several years ago I noticed I was getting out of breath pretty easily, not only when I ran but also when I would do other things. The last straw was when I went up a flight of stairs at home and was so dizzy and out of breath I had to grab the wall to steady myself when I reached the top. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor the next day and was told my hemoglobin level was low- I was anemic. This was round one of my battle with anemia. For the record, in the United States, anemia is diagnosed if a blood test finds less than 13.5 g/dL in a man or less than 12 g/dL hemoglobin level in a woman.

After taking a prescribed dose of iron in combination with vitamin C, B12, and folic acid for months, I started feeling somewhat better, but honestly, it was more than a year or so after I was diagnosed with anemia before I felt like I did before the diagnosis. In the midst of all of this, I ran a half marathon in Oklahoma in March of 2011. It was one of the hardest half marathons I ever ran because of my anemia, and not suprisingly, one of my slowest. I ran another half marathon in Montana four months after that and one in Alabama four months after the race in Montana. Finally, in March of 2012 when I ran a half marathon in Virginia did I start to feel like I was getting back to normal, one full year after the race in Oklahoma and more than a year since I was diagnosed with anemia.

Now, I absolutely want to emphasize that I do not think it’s a good idea to run half marathons when you’re anemic. In fact, my doctor flat out told me I shouldn’t be running at all, let alone running half marathons. However, I did run, albeit much slower than I would have otherwise, but I’m stubborn like that.

Me recently after completing a long run, comprised of a whole lot of walking!

Fast forward to present day, well actually more like summer of 2018. I felt very out of breath when I would run, and it seemed to be getting worse. I chalked it up to the extremely hot, humid summer we were having. When it finally cooled off and the humidity dropped, and I was still out of breath on runs, I began to think maybe something was wrong. When I went on a long run and had to stop to catch my breath before I even reached a mile, I knew for sure something was wrong.

I bought some over-the-counter iron supplements and began taking them. Still, it was getting worse. Once again, I was out of breath after just going up one flight of stairs at home. I went in for some blood work at my doctor’s office and the results came back several days later- my hemoglobin count was 6 (normal for women my age is 12-15). This was even worse than the last time I was anemic. I should say too, that the last time I was anemic, I saw three different doctors and after having multiple tests done, all of the doctors just shook their heads and said they had no idea why I was anemic. There was no apparent reason- I’m not vegetarian and I didn’t have a recent large blood loss.

What all of this means is it’s been extremely difficult for me to train for my next half marathon, coming up in two weeks. Since it will be state number 44 for me, I feel a need to still do it, even if it means I have to walk or run/walk the entire 13.1 miles! I’ve set the bar and my expectations low for this next race, with the goal of simply finishing it. Right now, that’s good enough for me.

Now a short PSA- if any of you female long-distance runners reading this haven’t been feeling quite yourself lately, such as you get out of breath easier than you used to, you feel light-headed or dizzy during or after exercise, or your resting heart rate is higher than it used to be, go to your doctor for a simple blood test to check your iron. They will check your hemoglobin level, which is an easy way to check your iron since most of your body’s iron is in the hemoglobin of your blood. Here’s a good website with some general information from UCSF Health worded in a way I really like:  Hemoglobin and Functions of Iron.

I specifically say female long-distance runners here because in endurance athletes, ‘foot strike damage’ to red blood cells in the feet due to running on hard surfaces can lead to iron loss. Iron is also lost in sweat, so if you sweat heavily (like I do), you have an increased risk of iron deficiency. These two things combined with monthly blood loss through a woman’s period can all add up to significant iron loss. I suspect that’s what happened with me. That and I also had given blood a couple of months ago, which is most likely what caused my iron stores to plummet.

Have any of you ever experienced anemia or know someone who has? Do you think you may need to get your hemoglobin level checked?

Happy running!

Donna

 

Review of “Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life” by Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager

I first heard about this book through the Another Mother Runner podcast several months ago but I only recently borrowed it from the library. Why the long wait? Honestly, I just didn’t really think it could be that good. I’ve read other books written by female athletes, although not a ton, but I just wasn’t that inspired by them. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t anything special either.

“Roar” is not only a book for female runners but for female athletes in general and I can honestly say it’s one of the best books for women that I’ve read. Dr. Sims is not only a nutrition scientist and exercise physiologist but also an athlete herself. One quote I really like from the book is “You are not a small man. Stop eating and training like one.” This sums up the book well.

There are 17 chapters in “Roar,” covering everything from pregnancy to menopause to the female digestive tract, although there is some redundancy in places, but I found the book to be laid out well and easy to follow. “Roar” is filled with scientific information and while I’m a scientist and may be a bit biased, I thought it wasn’t too scientific for most non-scientists to follow. I also liked the “Roar Sound Bites,” brief summaries at the end of each chapter.

Not only does Dr. Sims lay it all out there for women by explaining how hormones effect athletic performance, she gives advice on how to control hormonal effects on our bodies. For example, women should take in protein high in leucine before exercise and within 30 minutes of  exercising to help maintain muscle when hormone levels are high. One thing I learned about myself is I need to be consuming even more protein than I previously thought. Dr. Sims recommends 1 gram of protein per pound per day for athletic women (this is much more than is recommended for non-athletic women).

Dr. Sims also has examples of daily diets for athletes of all kinds including triathletes, cyclists, and runners. She sometimes will give comparisons of their current diet vs. what Dr. Sims recommends they eat. There are also exercises with photos that take up two chapters of the book that she recommends for female athletes. A not-so-fun fact is that women who don’t strength train lose at least 3% muscle mass per decade after age 30.

There are also of course large chunks of the books devoted to diets, sports-specific fueling, and hydration. In addition to specific examples of recommended daily diets for athletes, there are recipes for snacks. Not surprisingly, women’s hydration needs are different from men’s because of hormones. One interesting tidbit is that Dr. Sims partnered with nuun hydration to help re-formulate nuun performance hydration powder in 2016; the partnership was announced shortly after “Roar” hit the publication stands but there are no references to any of this in the book.

There are also sections on how women can deal with extreme temperatures and high elevation including specific ways to cope and a section on recovery after a hard workout. One interesting point is that when men take an ice bath, they can start shivering and get microspasms in their already-fatigued muscles, which leads to more soreness and stalled recovery. Women, however, need help speeding up vasoconstriction after a hard workout, so women can still benefit from ice baths.

The chapter on supplements was interesting to me because it’s part of what my field of study has included for my job. Many women may be surprised to read that the only recommended supplements mentioned in the book include iron, vitamin D, and magnesium. Calcium and antioxidants such as vitamin C are not recommended and in fact can be harmful. Dr. Sims’ opinion on supplements is in agreement with what I’ve also read from other scientists but this information doesn’t seem to have trickled down to the mainstream yet.

Finally, the last couple of chapters are about how men’s and women’s brains are different and how we can use this information. For example, women tend to have a greater ability for social interaction so we would benefit from things like group runs or cycling sessions. Also, positive thinking and mindfulness can be especially important for women who often need help in these areas. The final chapter is about biohacking (looking inside your physiology) and discusses everything from pee sticks to blood testing to the simple but often overlooked question, “How do I feel?”

As I said earlier, I feel like “Roar” is one of the best books geared towards female athletes that I’ve read, and I do recommend picking up a copy. I read a review on Amazon that this book isn’t for the average athlete, but is more for elite athletes, and I disagree. I’m by no means an elite athlete and there was plenty I could take away from this book. OK, now I need to go eat more protein!

Have any of you read “Roar?” If so, what did you think? Are any of you intrigued about the book now and would like to check it out? You can see if you public library has it or Amazon has it for sale here.

Happy running!

Donna

 

 

What to do When You’re Sick or Injured and Traveling

I guess if you travel enough, you’ll inevitably end up sick or injured during your vacation. Over the years, I’ve been sick or injured or someone in my family has been and I’d like to hope I’ve learned a thing or two about what to do. There are of course some things you can do to prevent getting sick or injured but sometimes things just go wrong and there’s not a single thing you could have done to have prevented it.

One of the most memorable examples was when my husband and I were in Costa Rica many years ago and toward the end of our vacation we decided to take one of the resort’s ocean kayaks out for a paddle. We were having a grand time when suddenly the tide changed and our kayak began to get pushed into the nearby coral reef. After being thrown out of the kayak we were tossed around by the waves and struggled just to hold onto the kayak. Neither of us were wearing water shoes or any shoes at all and both of us got some deep cuts on our feet from the coral.

Suddenly my husband screamed out in agony and let go of the kayak. I held onto the kayak and fought against the churning waves to get back to shore as my husband told me what happened. He felt a sharp pain in the heel of his foot and thought he might have stepped on something other than coral. His foot was gushing with blood and he said he was beginning to see stars. We knew we had to get back to our resort quickly and hoped there was someone that could help us.

My husband and me in Costa Rica before our kayaking adventure

Fortunately the resort had an on-site doctor and nurse so we immediately made our way there. Although the doctor spoke no English, the nurse spoke a little English so along with my limited Spanish we were able to communicate. The nurse told me the doctor suspected my husband stepped on the barb of a stingray and she said the poison released is typically very painful. They administered morphine to my husband for the pain and cleaned up both his and my cuts from the coral. The lesson from all of this? Wear water shoes when ocean kayaking where there is coral? Sure, that would have helped. Make sure you know the language of the country where you’re going on vacation? Well, that certainly was helpful but maybe more importantly, make sure your health insurance covers you when you’re away from home. Call your health insurance company before you go out of town, even if it’s just to another state within the United States, to make sure you will have coverage if you’re injured or hurt. Ask what your limitations are as well. Fortunately for us my husband’s health insurance paid for all of the charges for this.

Depending on your personal health insurance plan, or lack thereof, you might want to purchase travel insurance. Travel insurance is more than just health insurance; your airfare, hotel, baggage fees, and other travel-related expenses will also be covered in the event of an emergency, with varying levels of coverage depending on the plan you purchase. I know a lot of people that travel internationally are big fans of Travel Guard, an American travel insurance company. They provide three levels of coverage called Silver, Gold, and Platinum Plans.

Several years ago my husband, daughter, and I were going on vacation to Hawaii with my in-laws who were older and in poor health and I purchased travel insurance in advance of this trip. This was a two-week expensive vacation and I didn’t want to potentially lose all of the money spent on our airfare and other costs if one or both of my husband’s parents fell ill and we had to cancel the vacation. The money I spent on travel insurance gave me peace of mind so I didn’t have to worry about cancellation fees, so it was money well-spent, although fortunately no one had to cancel the vacation.

Fortunately everyone was able to enjoy our family vacation in Hawaii

A good thing to do before you travel internationally is to check online to see if you need any specific vaccinations. The CDC website is a good source for recommendations in each country. Some vaccines require multiple shots spread out over time, so do this in the early stages of planning your vacation. I’ve heard some people say they just asked their doctor what shots they needed before traveling to a specific place, only to be told, “Oh you don’t need anything to go there,” which was incorrect information, so always check online to be sure. Depending on where you’re going you might want to get hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines to protect against contaminated food or water.

If malaria is a risk where you’ll be traveling, you can take a prescription medication before and during your trip. When you arrive at your destination be sure to cover up exposed skin and use insect repellent with DEET to protect against mosquitoes.

Not drinking the tap water is easy enough but there are some additional steps you need to do to avoid getting diarrhea from the local water. Only drink bottled water that you personally open yourself. Don’t worry about seeming rude by refusing water from a bottle that is already opened. Your health is more important. Also don’t eat any uncooked vegetables or fruit that have been freshly washed, including salads. Finally don’t forget to skip the ice cubes in drinks.

In the event you do end up with “Montezuma’s Revenge,” despite all your best intentions there are things you can do to feel better faster. Pack some Immodium in your carry-on so you don’t have to worry about finding a pharmacy when you can barely get off the toilet. Activated charcoal tablets can be taken for gas from GI distress and can be found at most major drug stores as well.

This kind of “Montezuma’s Revenge” is fun; the other kind, not so much!

I also like to pack pain reliever such as ibuprofen, allergy pills, band-aids, and even a thermometer is good to have if you’re traveling. Most of these things can easily be purchased at drug stores in the US, but if you’re overseas it might not be so easy to buy them, especially if the language is different and the packaging won’t be in English. Also, it’s much easier to just pull out the needed medication from your carry-on bag than find a pharmacy and buy the medicine then get back to your hotel to take the medicine and rest. When we were in Oregon, our daughter was so sick with a cold she was vomiting phlegm. I had forgotten to pack some tested and true Mucinex so we had to schlep to a drug store to buy some for her. After that she began to feel much better but it would have been so much easier and quicker if we would have already had it with us.

Over the years I’ve also experienced food poisoning, migraines, bizarre rashes, and cuts and blisters but thankfully nothing life-threatening. Sickness and injuries are bound to happen at some point when you’re traveling but there are some things you can do ahead of time to give you peace of mind and you can arm yourself with a few things that will make you feel better quicker.

What about you all- have any tips or stories to share?

Happy travels!

Donna

 

 

 

How to Stay Sane on a Long Flight

The mere wording “long flight” is a subjective one, I’ll admit. For one person, a long flight might be anything more than 2 hours, and for another it might be anything longer than 6 hours. For me, a long flight would be anything more than 5 or 6 hours, so for the purpose of the rest of this post, we’ll go with that length of time.

The longest flight I’ve ever taken was when I flew to New Zealand, which was really two consecutive long flights. I flew from North Carolina to San Francisco, California, then from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand. The flight to San Francisco was 6 hours and from San Francisco to Auckland is a 13 hour flight. These were both long flights, but surprisingly, they didn’t seem that long. I’ve also flown across the United States many times including going from the east coast to Hawaii twice, flown from the US to Europe multiple times, and from the US to Chile. What are my secrets for surviving on long flights?

12 hour flight time to get to Chile but we got views like this in return!

I always try to book direct flights whenever possible. Stay with me here. I realize this makes for longer flights than if you have a couple of shorter flights with layover(s) in between, but you get to your destination quicker with less layovers, and that’s the ultimate goal for me. If I have to pay less than $50 per person more for a direct flight versus one with a stop, it’s a no-brainer that I’ll take the direct flight. When it’s more expensive than that, it gets a little trickier. I will say that very rarely have I ever had more than two stops on a flight to anywhere I’ve flown. I avoid flights with four or (god forbid) more stops like the plague. I’d rather have one stop (or less) on a plane and drive for 4 hours in the car than two stops on a flight and not have to drive when I got there. Maybe that’s just me, but that’s how I roll.

11 hours flight time to get to Hawaii- so worth it!

In my smaller carry-on (I never check my bags) I pack my tablet, a paperback book (I’m old-school and prefer paper to electronic books), and a magazine or two. By the end of my vacation, the magazine will be finished and recycled, and if I finish reading the book, that will either be recycled or donated before I return home (less to carry back). Between all of this I always have plenty of reading material for the plane and rest of my vacation. I always watch a movie on the plane as well, but usually one is plenty for me unless it’s a really long flight.

OK so reading material and the in-flight movie should come as no surprise. I also adjust my watch to the time zone I am flying to as soon as I get on the plane and have found this to be extremely helpful. When I flew to New Zealand I ate when it would have been dinnertime in New Zealand (versus Pacific time where I flew out of), and I slept when it would have been my bedtime in New Zealand. That way when I landed I had already given my body a head start on the new time zone.

19 hours flight time to New Zealand!  Worth it?  YES!

I swear by my eye mask and wear it not only on long flights but every night at home as well. Ear plugs, ear buds, or noise-canceling headphones are all great for long flights as well. I’ve tried various travel pillows and none of them have really worked for me, but they are an option as they do work for many other people. I usually just crumple up my jacket and use that as a pillow. A window seat is great for leaning your head against too. All this being said, I think I’m going to try an inflatable travel pillow again since it’s been a while since I’ve used one and I’d like to see how it goes.

My daughter and I have also passed the time on long flights by playing card games, coloring when she was younger, playing Pictionary, and just goofing off being silly. My husband is a much better sleeper on an airplane than either my daughter or me so it helps that she and I can help entertain each other.

Photo taken from the plane somewhere over the midwest en route to Colorado

I limit alcohol consumption on a plane to one small glass of wine with dinner at the most. Your body doesn’t process alcohol as quickly on a plane as on the ground so you feel the effects more profoundly and I have no intention of getting drunk on a flight. I also limit the use of sleep-aids on flights and only use Benadryl when I’m exhausted but just can’t sleep at all. Most of all, I have low expectations for sleeping on a long flight. If I get a couple of hours of sleep, that’s good for me.

Another thing to pack in your carry-on is plenty of snacks. I like to pack nuts, Kind bars, and dried fruit for just about every vacation I go on. Depending on the regulations of the country you’re flying to, dried fruit may not be allowed into a foreign country so if you bring it just be sure you finish it before you get off the plane.

Wearing comfortable clothes is also a must-do for long flights. Since airplanes are usually freezing cold, I’ll wear comfy pants and a short-sleeve shirt with a nice, soft hoodie or sweater so I can adjust if I get too warm. Compression socks are also great to have for long flights to help with circulation in your feet and lower legs. I personally like CEP compression socks and have found them to be some of the best ones out there.

The final thing that helps me survive a long flight is actually what I do when I get off the plane. As soon as I get off the airplane I adjust completely to my new time zone. If it’s time for breakfast at my destination, I will eat even if I’m not that hungry.  I don’t drink coffee but a cup of tea helps me stay alert. One of the worst things you can do is check-in your hotel and sleep for a few hours. A 20 minutes nap would be fine but any longer is just going to make it harder to adjust. If it’s nighttime then of course go to bed and try to sleep until it’s as close to your usual wake-up time as possible.

Las Vegas is one of our “shorter” cross-country flights at 5 1/2 hours

What about you all? What tips for surviving a long flight do you have? I love to hear tips like this from fellow travelers so please share.

Running During My Off-Season

I’m in-between half marathons currently, which means I haven’t been doing a whole lot of running. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been active, though. My last half marathon was in New Jersey and was my 40th state. Given that my next half marathon isn’t until November, that leaves a big chunk of the summer with no training plan. I’ll start training for my next race in a couple of weeks.

Now that I’m down to the final 10 states on my quest for a half marathon in all 50 states, I’ve gone from running a race every season to a race in three out of four seasons. After my race in November, I won’t have another race until May, which means my off-season will be during the winter months for the most part. Last year, I was training during the winter for my race in Utah in February. I was cursing my decision when I had to run my long runs in the cold last January and February, but I’m sure next summer when I’m training for a half marathon in August and have to do my long runs in the heat and humidity I’ll be cursing my decision to do a summer race.  Oh well!

Although I haven’t been running a ton, I’ve been having fun biking with my family- here’s my daughter on a recent family ride

OK.  Back to my point, which is it’s kind of different having such a long break off of serious miles. Sure, I’ve still been running here and there, but the longest run I’ve gone on since the race in May is 4 miles. I’ll run 5 miles this weekend, but still, this is what many of you runners are doing for your mid-week runs. I’ve been working on strength training and some other things as well during this time off of race training, so it’s been a good time to do some other things like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which I’ll ease off of when I’m in the double digits for my long runs.

There’s also a mental aspect of taking a break from half marathon training. Running is such a big part of my life, when I’m not doing so much of it, I have kind of mixed feelings. I’m enjoying having extra time in my day but I also miss my time out on the roads and trails. I’ve been running my long runs on the same trail for the past couple of years and it’s quite scenic and not crowded, so I feel a sense of peace when I’m running. Even though parts of the trail are close to neighborhoods, there are enough trees and wooded areas that you feel miles away from everything at times.

I haven’t missed this hill from my long runs!

Until recently I didn’t really have an “off-season” from training. I’ve always taken a solid two week break from every half marathon I run, sometimes a little more if I feel like I need it, but my next race was never more than 2 or 3 months away usually. I suppose I could have ran shorter distance races this summer, but honestly the idea of running a race in the heat and humidity we have here in North Carolina doesn’t appeal to me. That could be an option for next spring during my long break between races, though. I haven’t ran a 5k by myself (I ran one with my daughter a couple of years ago) since I first started running races so it would be interesting to see how I’d do.

How about you guys? Most of the running blogs I follow make me look like a slacker when it comes to running races! Do you guys ever take an off-season from running and/or racing?

Rio los Cipreses Nacional Reserva (National Park in Chile)

The Rio los Cipreses Nacional Reserva is in the Bernardo O’Higgins region but good luck finding it on your own unless you’re from the region! You will be unable to find directions using Google maps. The best you can do is what we did, find the closest town and hope you see signs from there. We drove to Coya and from there you can easily follow the signs to the park. Fortunately for us, the signs for the park are well-marked and plentiful so once we found the first sign, we had no problems getting to the entrance. There was a tourism office in Coya but no one was there when we tried.

Admission to the park is $5000 Chilean pesos, or about $7.50 US for adults and $2500 Chilean pesos per child, valid for one day. There are six trails, from the best I can tell. A portion of the main access road through the park was closed (no idea why) the day we visited so we couldn’t get to some of the trails but we went on all  of the ones we could access.

Trail is “sendero” in Spanish. We went on Sendero La Hacienda, Sendero Las Arpas, Sendero Los Tricahues, and Sendero Los Puemos, but Sendero Puente La Leona was closed. All of the trails have a unique aspect to them from one another. There is a waterfall along the Sendero Los Puemos, Sendero Los Tricahues has an almost fairytale like feeling, and Sendero Las Arpas has what seemed like a resident fox that followed us around the trail curiously watching us, but was truly the most friendly fox I’ve ever seen. It must be used to seeing people, some of which probably feed it.

All along the park, we had views of the Andes Mountains towering above grandly. There are also picnic areas so you can have lunch with views of the mountains, which makes for one scenic lunch. Although they didn’t appear to be open when we were there, there are camping areas available. In addition to the friendly fox, there are pumas in the area. We never saw one, but there was the pungent odor of cat urine by one of the water crossings, which could have been from a puma. We also came across a very large wooden crate that looked like one used for capture and release. I probably don’t want to know what that was used for. There are also many types of birds, trees, and flowers native to the area.

Translation: I do not love man less, but nature more. Quote by Lord Byron.

There’s a funny story that happened to us. We were on our last trail for the day, Sendero La Hacienda, and saw hoof prints again. We had seen them on other trails and had followed them when in doubt of where to go if the trail became not so well marked, thinking they were from horses with riders. Then my daughter said, “Hey, there are actually other people on this trail too!” We hadn’t seen a soul on any of the previous trails we had been on all day. As we got closer, she realized what she had thought were people were cows. We also realized what we had thought were horse hoof prints had really been cow hoof prints. No wonder we got pretty far off the trail at times!

We didn’t expect to see cows at this national park!

Although this park isn’t the easiest to get to, I highly recommend spending a day here. Parking is pretty scarce, so it would be best if you arrive relatively early to make sure you can find a parking spot. Also, there is a place that advertised having food right by the administration office, but it didn’t look like it was open when we were there. We always like to pack a picnic lunch when we go on all-day hikes, so it wasn’t a problem for us. You should also bring sunscreen and plenty of water. There are bathrooms along several areas in the park. They close just before sunset so if you arrive in the morning you’ll have plenty of time to go on all of the trails (or at least most of them) and have a nice picnic lunch.

More details on the trails:

Sendero La Hacienda is 5000 meters, highly difficult, is about 1 kilometer from the administration building, and takes approximately 1 ½ hours.

Sendero Las Arpas is 1000 meters, easy, approximately 3 kilometers from the administration building, and takes approximately 30 minutes.

Sendero Los Tricahues is 200 meters, minimally difficult, approximately 5. 5 meters from the administration building, and takes approximately 20 minutes.

Sendero Los Tricahues

Sendero Los Puemos is 1700 meters, is medium in difficulty, approximately 6 kilometers from the administration building, and takes approximately 45 minutes.

Caminata a Maltenes is 6000 meters, is highly difficult, approximately 6 kilometers from the administration building, and takes approximately 2 hours.

Sendero Puente La Leona is 7000 meters, is highly difficult, and takes approximately 3 hours.

Find (slightly) more information here. And the official site (in Spanish) here.

How to Raise an Active Child

I have to admit it makes me cringe when I hear parents say things like, “My child isn’t active.  She doesn’t have any interest in sports,” or, “My child doesn’t play sports.  He’d rather do other things.” When I come back with questions like, what activities have they tried, the parent will usually only give one activity. WHAT? Over the years, my eleven-year-old daughter has been in ballet, gymnastics, on multiple soccer teams, volleyball camps, a running camp and after-school running group, and swimming teams. She’s also had tennis lessons and snow skiing lessons. My husband and I decided when she was 4 or 5 that she would be involved in some sort of activity and if we had to try them all until we found one that stuck, then so be it.

So of all of the activities above listed, which one(s) stuck with my daughter? She’s now an avid swimmer and runner but all of the other activities fell to the wayside. My daughter has been on a year-round swim team for several years now and is going to try out for her school track and field team as soon as she is able next spring. That being said, our road to her being an avid runner has not always been easy.

My daughter’s first experience with running came when I signed her up for the kids’ dash at the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure. She was three years old and ran 50 yards.

Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure

After the Kids’ Dash at the Race for the Cure, her next major running event didn’t happen for several years later. When she was 8, she ran in a kids’ marathon where she ran with a running group at her school, tracking her miles up to 25.2 and ran the final mile on the adult marathon course. A year later, I ran a half marathon in Branson, Missouri, the Roller Coaster Half Marathon and they offered a one mile run for kids. She ended up finishing in 8:25, despite the extremely hilly course during a cold, rainy morning and she had just turned 9 years old then. Sounds pretty good so far, right? Fast forward a bit from there and things went downhill quickly.

Gymnastics is really hard if you’re a super-tall kid, like mine is

I am a runner with a goal of running a half marathon in all 50 states. So far I’m up to my 40th state and I’ve been doing this since before my daughter was born. I currently run three races a year, so I’m out running quite a lot throughout the year. A few years ago she asked if she could run with me, to which I replied sure, thinking it would be a great way for us to bond. Then the whining and complaining started. She would say, “This is too hard!” and complain that she was too hot or too thirsty or too tired, and on and on. I told her before we even left the house that she would be setting our pace and if she wanted to take walk breaks that was fine. Quickly, however, I realized it just wasn’t working. She’d only last a few minutes before she was ready to walk and the whole time she would be complaining and whining. I couldn’t take it any longer.

Running the last mile of the kids’ marathon

Instead of giving up, however, I tried a different approach. I signed her up with Girls on the run, an after-school running group meant to encourage girls to live a healthy active life and help them build up their confidence in themselves over a 10 week period that culminates in a 5k event. This worked even better than I could have imagined.. Not only did she see that she was indeed a good runner but she began to gradually build a love for running. Since that Girls on the Run 5k, she’s gone on to run three other 5k races, one of which she won second place in her age group.

Not only is my daughter a runner, she’s also an avid swimmer, her true love. At a pretty young age (two), I had put her in swimming lessons and she had always taken to the water well. So after ballet and gymnastics didn’t work out, I decided to put her on a swim team during the school months when she was in the second grade. This was the activity for her! She loved her coach and even enjoyed participating in swim meets. Since then she has had multiple coaches and has been on two different swim teams and if anything her love for swimming has only increased.

First swim meet at the young age of 7

What is the biggest take-away from all of this? Don’t give up! If you put your child in a sports camp and it goes horribly, try another sport. If gymnastics isn’t for your child, try tennis, or basketball, or running, or ice hockey, or volleyball, or pick another sport. Keep trying until something sticks with your child. There are so many activities offered in most areas of the US that surely your child will enjoy one of them. Most of all, though, don’t wait. The younger you get your child active, the more it will become a normal part of their life.

Another piece of advice, don’t push your child too hard. Coaches are there to do their job so don’t try to coach your child or you risk turning your child away from the sport completely because it’s too much pressure. Simply encourage your child and tell them often how proud you are of them no matter what.

For resources in your area, try searching Eventbrite. Among other things such as music, they have a link specifically for sports and wellness and one for classes; both links include activities for children as well as adults. You can even search for specific events or categories or search by dates. I’ve found it to be a great resource for finding things going on in my area and when I’m traveling as well. Check out this tool to help you find events in your area.

How many of you are like me and are proud to have active kids? What activities are your kids involved in? Have you found it to always be easy to keep your kids active or has it also been a struggle at times for you?

Happy running!

Donna

Las Cabras in the O’Higgins Region, Chile- A Test of Resilience

When we drove into Las Cabras in the O’Higgins region from Vina del Mar  and went to check in at the small resort where we were staying, we felt like we were in an episode from ‘The Twilight Zone.” Although we were staying in a golf resort area, there was no front desk, no reception area, no one to greet us and give us our key. The people at the front gate noted our names on a sheet of paper they had, so we were pretty sure we were at least in the right place.

After driving around the property and finding condos and houses, we stopped at the only thing resembling a building for check-in. We later found out that was where golfers check in before they play a round of golf. The woman working there spoke no English but with our limited Spanish we were able to get her to call someone else who spoke a small amount of English. This man arrived in a few minutes and was very kind and helpful. He got us in touch with the woman I can only assume is responsible for checking in guests in at the resort, and thankfully she spoke some English. Her name was Claudia.

Claudia handed us a folder containing the resort rules (all in Spanish), and said “Make yourselves at home. Treat this place as if it was your home.” With that, she handed us the keys to the apartment, wrote down her phone number (although we had no cell phone coverage in Chile, and we had told her that), and she left. Claudia told us while there was no Wi-Fi in the condos, there was Wi-Fi in the restaurant for the property, which was just across the street from the front gate. No big deal. When we recently stayed at one of the hotels in the Grand Canyon , it was the same thing and we would just check emails and get maps, etc. when we were at the restaurant there.

View from a hilltop in our resort

After getting settled in, we drove to the restaurant and were told there was no Wi-Fi at the restaurant or anywhere in town for that matter, for the next three days (or at least that’s how we interpreted it since the person at the restaurant spoke no English). WHAT? No Wi-Fi for three days?! We hadn’t planned ahead very well and hadn’t downloaded maps for the area or things to do.

We drove into town, searching for cafes or restaurants that had signs for Wi-Fi, gave up, and went to a few different mini-markets (we found they were all different inside even many of them looked similar from the outside), bought groceries, went back to the condo, made dinner, then relaxed for the rest of the evening. It looked like we would be spending the next few days off-line.

Using my tablet in off-line mode in our sunroom overlooking the pool area

The next day, we decided to go back to the restaurant at the resort for an exorbitantly over-priced lunch, where we were told again that there was no Wi-Fi, and decided to go to plan b. We drove to the biggest town we could find, which was about 25 minutes away, walked around, again looking for Wi-Fi. None of the few cafes and restaurants that were even open had Wi-Fi.

Resorting to just trying to find an open hotspot, we kept searching. Finally! We found a signal that didn’t require a password. It just happened to be by a bench, so we sat down and downloaded maps of a national park where we could hike, some wineries, and of the area in general. We checked email and replied to the ones that we could.

After leaving this town, we decided it was so late in the afternoon pretty much all we had time to do was go to a winery. We went to MontGras, a “new winery, at only 22 years old,” in the words of our tasting guide. The grounds were lovely and it was a beautiful day out. From the comfort of a sitting area in the open-air patio, we had a tasting of 3 wines and appetizers to accompany the wines. First we had a Chardonnay from their Amaral line that was easily one of the best Chardonnays I’ve ever had and some cheese on a cracker with a touch of palm honey to begin. Next we had a Carmenere from their Intriga line that reminded me of Zinfandels (please don’t mistake me to mean White Zinfandels, which are nothing like red Zins) from California, paired with chorizo. Finally we had a Syrah from their Antu line paired with date and ham.

Our guide was very informative, gave us much history and information about the winery and different varieties of wines, and spoke perfect English. We bought a bottle of Carmenere using the 30% discount we were given for doing the tasting. Our tasting guide even gave us a bottle opener with the MontGras label on it for free when we mentioned we didn’t have a bottle opener in our condo where we were staying. We figured we’d take a chance coming back to the States and hoped it wouldn’t get confiscated (spoiler- it didn’t so we have a nice souvenir now!).

This was only the beginning of our week-long adventure in Las Cabras. The restaurant at our resort never did have Wi-Fi available while we were there. We learned there was a problem in the entire town with the internet that week. We only had Wi-Fi for about 30 minutes twice that week plus the roughly 10 minutes where we found the open spot, but each time we were relying on other people’s mobile phone hotspots. Twice at restaurants we were allowed to use data from the phones of extremely generous people working there when we inquired about Wi-Fi.

Other than going with almost no internet access for a week, we learned to be resilient in other ways during this week. In stores and restaurants no one spoke English so it was up to us to figure things out. How my husband figured out directions and how to get us to some of the places we went to is beyond me but I’m forever grateful. As a family we played card games and watched movies like “Madagascar” in Spanish. I’m sure given the choice any one of us would have gladly have chosen having internet access in our apartment, but I think not having it brought us a bit closer together. I know that week in Las Cabras is a week I will never forget.

Relaxing with mud masks

Just another beautiful sunset in Chile