RRCA coaching certification class Part 2

And I'm back with the second post from my RRCA certification trip in Des Moines, Iowa. We left off with me finishing my first day in Iowa just bike riding around and touring the city. If you didn't read that post please check it out here. This post will talk more about the class and the things that I learned. The third post in this series (you see how I made it a series) will be about the wonderful people I met and the new friendships that I made. So let's get started!

The first day of class was the longest and covered the majority of the course material. We started at 8am and met our three teachers who all coach (or previously coached) high school, college and recreational runners. After each teacher gave a brief overview of their background and experience we dove right into our books. 

You can't tell from the picture but the book is mighty thick

First we discussed the different types of runners and how to anticipate their needs. I was quite excited to discover that I am considered an experienced runner. I'm sure this wouldn't surprise many of you reading this but I still viewed myself as somewhat of a novice (yeah I know, not even close). After we discussed types of runners we delved deep into training plans and the different types of workouts for new, experienced and elite runners. This was the real meat and potatoes of the course and the area that I was looking forward to the most. Intervals seemed to be a very hot topic and though I personally don't like them, I now see that they are an integral part of a training plan if someone wants to get faster. 

We talked a bit about the science or physiology of running. This topic wasn't as long as I thought it would be but still provided some good general knowledge. Then came the topic of nutrition and the way runners need to properly fuel their bodies.The only thing that I didn't like about this part was that some of the teachers kind of minimized certain diets. The three main ones that were discussed were the Paleo, Gluten-free and Vegan diets. Not every diet is for everyone but if someone finds something that works for them (and their doctor is okay with it) then why not go that route? One of the teachers made fun of the Gluten-free diet, not realizing that one of the students in the class has a serious wheat allergy. Not cool.

After that we had a lunch break and started introducing ourselves to our fellow classmates. Since I was in the front row (yes I'm THAT person) I went early. If people didn't remember my name they remembered my introduction when I said that my two daughters have a thirteen year age gap. I got a lot of WOAH sounds from that. :) Once we finished up the nutrition section we ended the first day. After class there was a dinner social for all the people in the convention to mingle and meet one another. You could see the entire city from the windows of the banquet hall. 

The next two days of lecture were a bit of a struggle. Topics ranged from managing injuries to creating a business to dealing with moments of frustration in training. Not that the topics weren't interesting but the way the class was set up kind of made the day drag on. The first day we stayed in class for eight hours with breaks. For the following two days class was broken up into two segments with a longer break for lunch. The longer lunch breaks were so that we could hear all the guest speakers.

Though I did enjoy some of the talks, I would've preferred compiling the sessions all together and getting it done earlier in the day. 

Friday and Saturday morning I joined the morning run group at 6:30am. We ran about 3.5 miles around downtown and came back for a light breakfast and a sweet medal. 

This was Friday when the run was nice and the breeze felt good.

This was Saturday when it was 30 degrees with wind and pouring rain. I took this picture after breakfast on the way back to my hotel. I was drenched to the bone and shivering. Not even the hot cup of coffee that I quickly chugged was able to warm me up. Needless to say I did not take a picture of my medal that morning. 

For the very last part of class we were broken up into groups and had to come up with training plans for three different case studies. My group took quite a while to come up with a plan but not because we didn't get along. I think we were just trying to figure out the best approach for our case study. We all worked really well together and each person had great ideas that we tried to incorporate into a plan. 

By the end of the class my mind was swirling from all the information that I attained in the three days. On the plane ride home I went back over the book and took more notes on things that I thought were important for the test. All in all I thought the class was alright and fairly broad. I knew that we wouldn't be going into too much detail about any one topic but there were things I would've liked to discuss a bit more.

Now comes to studying and taking the test. I've already started working on the test and let me tell you something! This test is no joke! You have to have an 85% to pass, there are 100 questions and it is open book. One of my classmates (and new friend) had already completed the test before I even started and was nice enough to give me fair warning of the craziness that I would encounter. Thankfully she passed! Now I just have to finish the test. Once the test is completed we immediately receive our score so as soon as I click that submit button, I'll know if I'm officially a coach or not. Fingers crossed I should be able to complete the entire test by the end of this weekend.

Wish me luck!


Stay tuned for part three...

RRCA coaching certification class Part 1

Well this past week (and weekend) have been quite busy for me. If you happen to follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter then you know that I was in Des Moines, Iowa for the Road Runners Club of America convention getting me coaching certification. I didn't have any posts specifically talking about it beforehand but I did mention that I was going to get my certification in a couple of posts . The last two weeks leading up to the convention were very hectic and honestly, I was looking forward to a little break. So, let's just get down to the nitty gritty shall we? Instead of giving you all of the information in one post, I'm breaking it up. That way I can make sure you keep coming back. *evil laugh inserted here*

The convention was from Thursday until Saturday. I arrived in Des Moines midday on Wednesday to make sure I had enough time to get settled before the class started. 

My layover in Chicago

I was leaving 90 degree weather in Florida and entering breezy 30 degree weather in Des Moines. I had never been to Iowa and was excited to see it. Any place that I've never been to is exciting to me. The cab ride from the airport to my hotel was only twenty minutes and we passed a major park that had people doing all sorts of outdoor activities. I remembered the name of the park and decided that if I had enough time I would try and run there. 

The hotel I was staying at was the Residence Inn Des Moines Downtown. It wasn't the host hotel for the convention because that one was sold out, but it was close enough that I could walk to the convention in under fifteen minutes. My room was GREAT! 

I had a small suite with a king size bed. The room was clean and very comfortable. If I didn't have so much stuff to do I would've spent more time there (cause after one day touring downtown Des Moines, there isn't much else to do). Once I got settled in I wanted to take a tour of the city, so I headed out in search of bikes to rent. 

The bike station closest to me was out of service but lucky for me there was another one not too far away. There are places around Miami and Fort Lauderdale that you can rent bikes and check out the city. Since I live here I've never used them but always wondered how the bikes were. Well if these bikes were any sign of the overall condition of city bikes then I'm glad I never used them. The bike was pretty run down but it got me from point A to point B quicker than I would have been able to on foot. 

Downton Des Moines is rather small and is overlooked by the capitol building. 

The capitol building

Downtown Des Moines viewed from the steps of the capitol

Surrounding the capitol building were some nice statues and monuments honoring various important figures. 

For lunch I went to this place called Zombie Burger in the East Village.




I had a veggie burger patty that was absolutely delicious! If you happen to be in Des Moines for anything, I highly recommend going to this place for a good burger. I had planned to go back and have a specialty burger along with a desert. They had some crazy ice cream and cereal combinations that I was dying to try. Just so you know, I didn't go back. Bummer.

Once I ate and finished my tour of the city (which didn't take long) I decided to run to the park that I saw on the way to my hotel. Turns out that it was only two miles away from my hotel and there was a walking trail that I could take directly to it. So I went back to the hotel, changed my clothes and headed to the trail. Before I went on my run there was a pole vaulting event going on right outside my hotel that I had to take a peek at. 

Drake is the name of the local university that holds the Drake relays every year for the past hundred years or so. The relays are a big deal and bring out athletes from elementary school all the way up to elites and masters to come out and compete in various races and events. It's one of the top track and field events in the United States. This event was a good way of promoting the relays. I stayed for about ten to fifteen minutes then started my run.

I'll end it there since this post is a bit lengthy. I'll pick it up with the first day of the convention and my first day of class. Stay tuned!

DTR volunteer recap

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to volunteer for the first time at a race. 

The Down To Run endurance race is a fairly new endurance and tail race in Martin county Florida. I found out that it's been around for only four years but in that time it has grown and developed a devoted following. I was so excited that I could hardly sleep. I should have been less excited because I had to get up at 3:45am in order to make sure I got there in enough time. 

All the volunteers

As soon as I arrived I dove right in to whatever tasks I could get my hands on. I cut oranges, stuffed the goodie bags and helped out with race day packet pick-up. 

Goodie bags

The race has four distances; a 5k, 10k, half marathon and 50k. 

Course markers

A couple of people from my running club were there and said that the course (though challenging) was amazing. We're all so used to running on the road that running on a trail is a nice change. 

Let me share some of the pictures that I took.

Setting up the food for the runners.

Mmmmm.... bagels and coffe.

Champagne for the winners.

A mom and her son approaching the finish line.

The end of the course, rounding to the finish line.

Fresh coconut water was served to the finishers.

The finisher medals. Different color ribbons for the different distances. 

Nice day!

The day was a blast! Once the packet pick-up was over I had some down time (hence the picture taking) and I found a spot towards the end of the course and cheered people on. I stayed until I could see the top three male and female runners for the 50k cross the finish line. The guy that was in second place collapsed as soon as he crossed the finish line. He was pale and very weak but somehow still wanted to walk by himself after he was carried to a chair to get some medical attention. The second place female runner is fourteen years old and crossed the finish line at 4 hours and 54 minutes. You could tell she has such a passion for running and was glowing when it was all over. 

I didn't get a chance to see a runner who was given a special medal. This guy has participated in every race since the beginning and has done every distance. Yesterday he was doing the 50k. Not only has he been a repeat runner to these races but he's also managed to lose 60 pounds in the process. The story that the announcer told was so touching and inspiring. I wanted to see him finish but was so tired that I couldn't wait any longer.

I stayed for a total of seven hours. The day was long to say the least. Fortunately for everyone the heat didn't really start kicking in until 10am, which was surprising considering the weather we've been having lately. DTR has a moonlight 10k run in August that I think I want to do. As far as my first volunteering experience it was a total success. There were a couple of runners who complimented us on how helpful and nice we were. I will most definitely be looking to volunteer again at DTR and any other race that I can lend a helping hand to.

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours

I am very excited about this coming Saturday! Why am I so excited? I'll be volunteering for the Down To Run endurance challenge in Florida. I planned on running in the race but after waiting so long to register I came to the realization that I wasn't going to run. I could still enter but the fact that I didn't do it already clearly means I don't want to run it. Plus I will be going out of town three days later and my thoughts were more focused on that. I was a bit upset with myself for a moment for not even entering. I have been chomping at the bit to do a trail run and here was my opportunity. 

Then it dawned on me... why don't I volunteer! This was one of my goals for the new year any way! So I checked the website to see if there was a volunteer registration page. No volunteer information was posted so I sent an email to a DTR representative. I got a reply within hours telling me that they needed volunteers for the race day packet pickup. I said, "Put my name on the list and I will see you there!"

After doing a couple of races I really wanted to be able to volunteer. For all the times that someone has helped me get organized, direct me to where I need to be, encourage me when I was struggling or just smile on race day, I wanted to be one of the people giving back. You know I will be taking pictures and documenting this so I can share it with you. Only two more days to go!!!

You got plans? Well I laugh at your plans! HA! HA!

I go into every weekend with new and exciting plans or things that I need to get done that weren't completed during the week. Then Sunday afternoon creeps up and I find I've accomplished only two of the five tasks that were on my weekend to-do list. Where did the weekend go? Though I didn't do half of the things I planned on doing, this past weekend was still a busy one. 

Saturday my family and I went to the mall to get some clothes. My wife and I went through our closet after noticing that there were many items we were no longer wearing due to our weight loss. Great reason for getting new clothes, right!

We packed up three full bags of clothes to give to Goodwill. The closet looks so much cleaner now and not like it's about to burst at the seams with clothes spilling everywhere. I didn't purchase a ton of clothes. All I need are a good pair of jeans and some t-shirts and I'm good to go. I have to admit that I still can't get over the sizes that I'm wearing now.

Got this beauty on sale at H&M for $10!

New shirt and new jeans!

I also got a pair of running socks because my old ones had holes in them and were giving me blisters. 

Colorful!

After our time at the mall and after little one's nap, we all played outside for a bit. That's when everything went downhill. Little one was running, tripped over her own foot and face planted right on the concrete busting her top lip. Oh if you could've seen it and heard her cries you would've freaked out like the rest of us did. Fortunately she's doing fine now. Once we got her some ice, cleaned her up and gave her some children's Tylenol she calmed down. Although we thoroughly examined her and didn't find anything severely wrong, we wanted to err on the side of caution so we took her to the emergency room.

The doctor checked her out and said he didn't find anything severe. Her lip is swollen and she has a bruise on the area between her nose and her lip but other than that he couldn't find anything else wrong. Phew! Little one has to take it easy for the next couple of days and stay out of the sun because of the cream for her bruise. We were at the hospital for about an hour and got the thumbs up to go home. We were happy when she went to sleep and stayed asleep with no problems. 

Sunday we were all exhausted. Little one was rested but was very irritable so we all took it easy. We went grocery shopping and came home. My wife had to run some small errands and little one tagged along. On the weekends she's extra clingy when it comes to my wife because she works during the week. Of course after the accident my wife couldn't take two steps without little one suctioned to her leg. All she wanted was to stay up under her mommy, momma and sister.

By the end of the night I was way too frazzled to watch the Game of Thrones season premier. I figured I would watch it on the HBO app today once I had a moment to decompress. So all the things that I wasn't able to do this weekend will get added to the to-do list for next weekend. Let's just hope that I'll be able to get through THAT list. 

What is cadence and why should I care?

Many watches have a cadence meter on them. Cadence simply means how many times your feet hit the ground in one minute. You also may have heard or read about stride and turning over your feet quicker. You may not have paid attention to it but it's something that can make a huge difference in your running and help prevent getting any serious injuries. 

For my first year of running I was constantly heel striking and trying to elongate my stride. I thought that having a wider stride meant that I would cover more ground faster. Of course I was wrong. Fortunately for me, I didn't have any major injuries that stopped me from running. I did, however, have some minor knee problems and my body would always take hours to recover from a run. Walking up the stairs was never fun. 

It wasn't until I was on Youtube one day looking for running drills that I saw a video highlighting the mistakes of newbies. The main mistake that was addressed was heel striking. What!? You mean to tell me that I've been running with incorrect form this entire time!? I had to fix it. So I gave myself an entire month to work on my form and essentially "teach" myself how to run.

An ideal cadence should be 180 which means that both feet hit the ground 180 times in one minute. Most elite athletes have this cadence. I haven't been dead on or over that number but it's a good reference point to shoot for when I'm running. Non-elite runners can shoot for somewhere between 160 and 170. Of course my height, weight and leg length are factors for the cadence I should have. My numbers were originally in the lower 150's and even upper 140's. Ouch! That simply means I was not efficiently running and put more strain on my legs than was necessary. 

Just imagine though that my foot hit the ground much further out in front of me.

Extending my leading foot out far in front of me caused my body to work against itself in trying to move forward. I was essentially breaking every time my foot hit the ground which meant my body had to work harder to run. I didn't notice how counterproductive this was until I changed up my stride.

Disregard my back leg, that's not how it looks when I'm actually running.

Now with my foot under my center or gravity and the weight being more on the front to middle of my foot my body naturally propelled itself forward. I mean just look at the above picture and you'll notice that my calf muscle is in full action. By shortening my stride and placing my weight in the front of my foot I put much less strain on my legs, enabling me to keep a faster pace without burning out quicker. 

When I first started running this way I felt like those cartoons where the character starts running in place and then takes off. It took a while to adjust but once I did my knees no longer bothered me and my recovery time went down to mere minutes rather than hours. My average cadence now is somewhere between 167 and 172. There have been a couple of magical days when I hit 177! I was in a groove on those days.

There are so many things that you don't realize can affect your running until you actually start running. 

What are some things that have affected your running? 

Did you correct it?

Were you better off than you were before or was your old way better?

Maybe not shake it off but certainly shake it up

I don't have a major race coming up in another seven months. There's a 10k I'm running next month and probably some other smaller races throughout the summer. But as far as the race that I'm focused on the most, that won't happen till November. Since I have a bit more time before I get back into training mode I have to find ways of staying on track with running and trying to build a base. So how do I do that?

1. Throw in some curve balls for my runs. I just started doing some speed work this year. I never did any intervals or hill repeats because I was terrified. Terrified of what? Change. Once I get used to routine I tend to stick with it. This is not a good thing when it comes to running. Even though it took me a couple of weeks, I finally started to get the hang of intervals. I'm still not a big fan but they certainly help the easy runs go much faster. 
2. Ditch the watch. This was a bit difficult to do at first because I've gotten so used to wearing my watch for every single run. This past week I left my watch at home except for Saturday when I ran on the beach and Sunday for my long run. I had no idea how good it would feel to run without my watch. I even caught myself cracking a smile a couple of times.
3. Change the scenery. All my life I've lived less than thirty minutes away from a beach and I can count on one hand how many times I've actually run on the beach. Make that half of a hand. Beach for me means relaxing, not running. Plus I know how much work goes into running in the sand so I never entertained the thought. But Saturday, when my family and I were packing up the car to head to the beach, I decided to log as many miles as I could. I took it easy in the sand and kept a pace that was comfortable. Four miles later and I I figured I could make this a regular thing. Though next time I should wear a sports bra and not a bikini top. Nothing popped out but it's good to have some extra support.
4. Run with other people. I never thought I would be able to run with other people because I never thought I would want to talk for an entire run. What would I have to talk about? My thoughts are so disjointed during a run and I'm mostly thinking about frivolous stuff. Occasionally I'll get some deep thoughts but mostly it's about what I'm going to cook for dinner that night. But for my long runs I started running with a running group and let me tell you, it is so great! Turns out I can talk during a run... about anything! And even the times when I'm not running with someone and chit chatting, it's still nice to know there are other people on the course with me. Plus running with other people on my long runs has helped increase my speed. I'll be marathon ready in no time!
5. Create stories or scenarios to turn a boring route into something new. A while back, my oldest daughter asked me what are some of the things I think about during a run. Without hesitation I said, "If I could out run a mob of zombies chasing me during an apocalypse." She laughed and then stopped laughing when she realized I was serious. Being a somewhat knowledgeable person on all things zombies I know that the likelihood of out running one is next to impossible (depending on the type of zombie), but I would like to think that if given the chance I could. I've also imagined myself running in a race and being the lead runner trying to maintain first place. Both scenarios keep me going when I'm running the same route over and over again.

Within the past three to four months all of these things have helped me stay on top of running and not fall into a slump. If I want to run for the rest of my life I realize that I'm going to have to do things to keep it interesting. 

What are some things you do to change up your daily routine?

21 day challenge completed

Yesterday marked the end of my 21 day no sugar challenge. Why didn't I share it with you when I started? Well while I certainly believe in online support, I wanted to get through this without too much fanfare. If I happened to slip (which I didn't) I couldn't bear telling you that so I just decided to keep it hush, hush.

Many of you may, or may not, know my struggles with sugar. If you don't, you can read about it here. I love all things sugary and I have since I was a kid. Though I have been much better about my sugar consumption overall, it's still a struggle to keep the sugar monster at bay. So what are my weaknesses? 

Cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, gelato, pastries, Nerds candy (hands down my favorite of all which is just crystallized sugar), and recently chocolate. I mean if you look at this list alone you can see why I needed a break from the stuff. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't eating all of this on a regular basis. I showed some restraint on many occasions but since I run and work out, I always figured I could treat myself to a cookie or a cupcake after lunch... and dinner... and in between lunch and dinner.






So on the 15th of March my wife and I decided to eliminate as much sugar from our diet as possible. While the withdrawal was unbearable for the first week and a half, pretty soon we were able to coast through the remainder of our challenge. We even decided on a reward for ourselves if and when we completed the challenge. Stay tuned to find out what the reward is. 

In the 21 days I managed to lose about two pounds and noticed some more "cuts" in my muscles. Now that we're finished we talked about what we intend to do from this point on. My wife has a bit more restraint when it comes to passing on cookies than me so our plans will be more individualized. I'm thinking about having some reward treats either every two weeks or once a month. I haven't decided yet. 

But to celebrate the end of our challenge we had to have some sweet treats! So for dinner I made vegan carrot cake pancakes with a vegan cream cheese sauce. I didn't take pictures of them cause as soon as they were done cooking, we devoured them! Ahhhh sugar. How I missed you.

It's all about the kids.

I listen to NPR in the car and for the past two weeks on a show called "On Point with Tom Ashbrook", there have been two topics that really caught my attention. Last week the topic was about the need to have kids play outside more and nature being used as a classroom. Yesterday the topic was about infants and toddlers spending time in front of screens and what kind of effect it has on them. Screens as in television, computer, iPad, telephones and so on. Both of these topics really made me think about the things that I'm doing as a parent. How am I engaging with my kids?

My wife always says that it's because of me that the family is more active and healthy. Aside from the fact that I'm the main cook in the house, I didn't think that I was the catalyst for such a transition. But when I took a closer look I realized that she was right. Yes, she is always right and I need to simply admit that more often. Committing to a healthy lifestyle may have started out as a selfish one but it soon became a family mission. And when I say a healthy lifestyle I'm talking about so many aspects outside of just eating healthy foods and getting the heart rate going. 

I LOVE the outdoors, always have. My childhood was spent predominantly outside climbing trees, making mud pies and frolicking. Let me tell you, frolicking is a lost art. Even as an adult I still love climbing trees and just being in an open field. I wanted to pass along those same experiences to my children. While my oldest isn't much of a nature person she would prefer being outside with the family rather than inside doing nothing (though she is at the teenage stage and Instagram seems to be taking over her life). My toddler can't get enough of the outdoors and if we had a treehouse or a tent in the backyard I'm certain she would live outside. 

Butterfly sanctuary with my youngest

It's only been recently that I've made the conscious effort to use the outdoors as a classroom for my toddler to learn about things like animals, colors, plants and even numbers.

At a state park in California with my oldest when she was  five.

But when I think about it I've always used nature as a teaching tool even when I thought it was just a way to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

As far as screen time goes I will admit that some attention needs to be paid to that. My goal was to have my little one watch no television at all for as long as possible. I know that sounds like an impossible task but we were making it work for a while. When she was up, the television was never on and no one was on their devices. The only time the television was on was when she was sleeping. 

But that all changed when everyone in the house got sick. The cold circulated through everyone and stayed in the house for over a week. The only person who didn't get the worst of it with a stuffy nose and sneezing was the little one. The television became the need to detach and an escape for the little one and whoever the main caregiver was at the time. Although we do try and make sure that someone is actively watching Mickey Mouse and Doc McStuffins, it's not always the case. 

I'm slowly working on limiting her TV time by simply not turning it on when she wants it. Of course tantrums get thrown initially but I distract her attention with coloring, puzzles and toys. Soon she forgets that she's missing the newest adventures in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Now there are certainly days when we are getting on each other's nerves and we both could use a break. We did the outside thing, we colored, we played with blocks, we read stories and our patience is wearing thin with one another. Those days I look forward to Jake and the Neverland Pirates to help us decompress and reset our emotions. 

Not all TV is bad and having it on doesn't necessarily mean that you will turn out to be a bad or less attentive person. My wife pointed out that she grew up with the TV constantly on in the background during her childhood and she is one of the most driven and intelligent people I know. 

Parenting doesn't come with a handbook or set of rules to follow as you go along. You do what you feel is best for that moment and hope that things will come out alright. And don't judge other parents for the things that they do because you never know what their situation could be. In my soon-to-be fifteen year of parenting I've learned that I know nothing. Everyday brings about a new set of challenges or failed attempts of tried and true tactics. All you can do is keep trying. Don't take yourself (or your kids) too seriously, find friends who can share your pain, laugh more often and have a glass of wine.