Team Cross Runs

Running with a Newborn

Running with a newborn in the winter has proven to be a little difficult.  First you have the lack of sleep and continual state of exhaustion.

Then you have the whole timing issue.  I did my first run when she was about 2 weeks old.  My in-laws were hear, Christy was feeding Nadia and on Thanksgiving evening, I just decided to go for a run.  I wasn’t super exhausted and we had extra support.  It was 8pm.   Before Christy went back to work, I could have gotten up in the morning for a run but was tired and 6am was hard enough to get up and get ready for work.  I was able to sneak out on the weekends a little better, but I needed to do my share of the load around here too and that meant letting Christy sleep. Now the alarm goes off around 5am and Christy does her thing and I’m on duty by 6am.  Yuck.  I guess I could get out at 5am, but its been cold.

Yes, the issue is confounded by the Minnesota Winter.  Remember this -15 morning? Not really conducive for pushing the jogging stroller.  Though if it warms up past 30 I might get out there.  Sure we have a wind and waterproof, fleece lined, arctic bundler, but I’m not brave enough to risk having the cops arresting me for child endangerment!

Ah, a perfect solution I thought. Run at the Metrodome. So I asked regular attender @steveinaspeedo if I could bring a jogging stroller.  He found out that I could bring the stroller inside the Dome, but I’d have to leave it at the front table.  I doubted the security guards at the table would take care of Nadia while I ran, so scratch that off the list.

One last chance, our YWCA.  Their baby philosophy can be found here.  And works out for us.

Infants Under 6 Months Old

Children ages 0-6 months are welcome at the YWCA! At 6 months, infants can be added to your family membership; can use the babysitting service and when they get a little older can attend classes with parents! Until that time, there are options for your baby:

• Workout Next to Baby: Infants can be in car seats on the fitness floor next to parents who are using fitness machines. For safety, we ask that infants are not in the free weight areas.

Walk Baby in Climate Control: Stroller walkers are welcomed to walk the Midtown track Mon.- Fri. 5:30 am – 4:00 pm; and Sat-Sun 7:30 am – 12:00 pm. For safety, we ask that infants are not carried on the track in any type of carrier.

We’ve done this once and it worked really well.  But you can only do cardio and during peak times only 30 minutes.  So I’ve made it a few times.  A final confounding factor is that we only have one working car!  So it is quite a pain to haul Nadia in her car seat the several blocks to the bus that will take us to the gym.  I need to suck it up and do it!

Do you have any tips or places we could run together?

Twitter Encouragement

You may recall that the 2010 Get in Gear was held on a rainy (and stormy) morning.  I saw some of my friends on Twitter saying how they were having issues with the rain and running the race.  I wished Jennifer good luck and she asked if I was running.  You can see my response below, but it was in Joe’s response after the race that you can truly see the power of Twitter.  This happens all across the Twitter-sphere with people encouraging each other.  The crazy thing, I’ve never met Joe or Jennifer in real life!

They both completed the race! Jennifer ran a 33:13 and Joe finished in 49:51.

Do you have a story about when Twitter provided the extra bit of encouragement you needed to do something?  Follow me and I’ll try to offer encouragement! And you can offer me some!

Wii Fit Parody

I’m not convinced the Wii Fit is a life changing fitness tool, though for some people it can be a step in the right direction.  That said, this is a funny video:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYBmAVuBns

[tags] Wii, Wii Fit, Nintendo, Parody [/tags]

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Gu Announces 6 New Flavors

This is great:

You probably can’t see it very well so here’s a closer shot and then a copy & paste of the words.

GU Announces New Line of Savory Gels:
GU Energy Labs, known for their delicious and performance-boosting gels, chews and Brews, is proud to introduce a lip-smacking line of Savory Gels, giving the athlete the “main course” that’s been missing from their racing diet.

The first of the savory gels, Liver & Onions: “THE Performance Organ Meat,” will be introduced at retail on April 1st, 2010. Later in 2010, the company will roll out six additional items in the savory line, including:

Limburger Cheesy Squeezy – featuring maximum fermentation
Lard Dart – with proprietary Fatback Tissue
Mushroom Rush – boasting both stems and caps
Pimento Loafer – for the athlete looking for a hint of pickle
Sassy Sardine – your source for calcium, scales and all
Venison Vengeance – hits the bullseye and keeps you in the game

Christian Johnson, GU’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said, “Our new line of Savories is a veritable smorgasbord of fats, salt, organ meat and impactful scents. It’s the sort of “carving table in a pouch” that serious athletes have been looking for. The performance benefits speak for themselves, but if they just want to use it for dinner, we’re not going to stop them.”

Happy April Fools.

- and no in the first screen shot the 71 degrees is not an April Fools Joke.  It was actually 71 at 1pm on April 1st in Minneapolis.

Thanks to Steve in a Speedo for the heads up on this great new product line via Twitter.

[tags] April Fools Joke, Gu [/tags]

Twin Cities Running Stores

	Run N Fun – St Paul, Burnsville If you were to ask most of the guys I run with, they would say this is the only running store to visit. The Burnsville store just opened last year and their St Paul store was in the news due to a robbery.  Their staff is extremely knowledgeable and experienced.  The St Paul store, which I’ve been to a few times, covers 3 or 4 store fronts and offers quite a range of merchandise. Like most of the other stores they offer a great discount for local running clubs (I know the MDRA and USATF-MN).  They have a Facebook group that shares photos, upcoming events, and information.  Finally, Run N’ Fun is the choice of most of the local college teams.
	Marathon Sports – Minneapolis This is probably the running store I’ve been in the most.  The MDRA training groups have had special discounted events there.  Most recently I won a gift certificate from the MDRA Annual Party.  They are known for having a doctor in the store twice a month.  They are also located a block from Lake Harriet. I’ve always been impressed with the staff and the products they offer.  The last event hosted there included post-run bagels and drinks plus a special discount (larger than the normal MDRA).
	Running Room – Minneapolis, Burnsville, Woodbury, St Paul, Rochester, and Maple Grove This is the closest store to our house and I’ve been there a few times.  They are the most “corporate” of the specialty stores.  Running Room is a chain of stores in Minnesota, Iowa, and Canada.  I was not overly impressed with their staff the few times I’ve been there.  But they have some amazing sales.  One thing that sets the Running Room apart is their marketing machine.  It helps to have the large corporate backing (i.e. not being family owned) but they have a monthly newsletter and sales.
	Gear – Edina I’ve never actually been into this store.  Some friends of mine really love it and say it is one of the best running stores.  Here is their Facebook Fan Page.  It is actually very close to Marathon Sports.
	TC Running Company – Eden Prairie We visited this store one night for a Team USA-Minnesota event.  Nothing really stands out to me about that brief experience.  They sponsor a team and have an RV that makes appearances at races. Their Athlinks page has some great info.

7 Christmas Gift Ideas

As the gift-giving season of Christmas approaches here are seven ideas for the runner in your life.  Oh wait, that is probably you.  Let your gift giving friend see this list!  The following links are to my reviews of the product so you can see what I thought before you add it to your list.

• I really enjoyed the Spirit of the Marathon movie.
• I continue to wear my Pearl Izumi Go Shorts.
• Hopefully you don’t need it, but if you have Plantar Fasciitis then I recommend the Strassburg Sock.
• I have really enjoyed my Garmin 205 and would recommend any Garmin watch that is 205 or higher.
• If you prefer to read I highly recommend Once a Runner by John Parker,
• for those with a sense of the spiritual side, Running the Sacred Art by Warren Kay,
• and don’t forget Blaine Moore’s book about Marathon Preparation and Recovery.

If you really like to read I’ve created an Amazon collection of recommended running books.

Whenever possible the posts contain links to my Amazon Affiliate account where I earn a very small % of each sale (which will hopefully help make my Christmas that much better – but probably not since I haven’t earned very much to date.)

If you wanna buy me a gift check out my Amazon Wish List!! hint, hint.

Guest Post: Tune-up Races

Coach Mike Nawrocki with MDRA’s 2009 Fall Marathon Training Class had some good words to say about tune-up racing for the marathon.

You may be asking, what is a tune-up race?  It is a race you run between now and Labor Day weekend to simulate the race day environment of a marathon.  I recommend some of the bigger races with fast fields, because that will be closest to what you will experience when the marathon comes around.

Why do a tune-up race?
a. Fourteen weeks is a long time to train without racing.  A tune-up race helps break your training up into smaller pieces, so this training process won’t feel like such a grind.

c. No races after Labor Day.  It breaks my heart to not recommend the MDRA City of Lakes 25k to everyone, because I serve on the MDRA board and have MDRA pride.  But it’s just a tad too close to the marathon.  Talk to Marty or me if you are interested in the City of Lakes race and we can decide together if it is a good idea.  If your competitive streak is such that you are prone to racing hard no matter what, City of Lakes or any post-Labor Day race is just too close to the target marathon, as you may put wear and tear on your legs without enough time to fully recover.

Thanks Mike!