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hips don’t lie

koribarnum

Still struggling with right hip pain, going on 16 months. Been doing PT regularly since August 2020, focusing on gluteal, hamstring, and adductor strength – basically lots of hard work on strengthening the muscles that contribute to pelvic stability. I met recently with an orthopedist and got a hip MRI with contrast in order to see how that joint looks, after determining by x-ray that the there weren’t any skeletal/hard tissue issues. Verdict: fraying of the labrum, the cartilage that lines the hip socket.

“Fraying” to me is a super grey term.

“Frayed” like a pair of acid-washed jean shorts from the 80s? This would seem really bad from what I recall from surviving the fashion of the 80s.

“Frayed” like the ends of my ponytail because I refuse to cut my hair? Maybe could use a little work, but nothing to be overly concerned about.

After reviewing the MRI images with the doctor, he thankfully indicated I’m on the ends of the ponytail side of the spectrum. No need for surgical intervention, and no need to modify my current workout intensity (which is unbelievably good news).

The last few weeks going into this imaging appointment have led to a lot of deep thoughts about how I want to spend my workout time and what my priorities should be, and I keep coming back again and again to two things:

  1. Strength = EVERYTHING

    I know this as an athlete, as a scientist, and as someone getting older every day. That said, strength work is my least favorite part of being active. It’s. So. Boring.
    I’ve committed to my PT routine 3x per week and have been very consistent in hitting those workouts, but I know it’s not enough. So I’m adding one Pilates class a week (nothing like 60 minutes of core work + multi-plane movement) and one Recharge strength class (because I need the structure of a group class to actually do a strength workout and not just give up and take a nap on the floor with the kitties).

  2. Trail runs should be fun

    Red flags have been popping up for me left and right on my trail runs for the last few weeks, most notably at the Mt Hood 50K. I’m just not having fun running long on the trails. It’s so hard to say that out loud, and has been even harder for me to recognize. I love the trails, I will always run trail miles every week, but what is making me HAPPY at the moment is (gasp) road miles and (shock and awe) track workouts. It feels wrong to even type that, but it’s true. My name is Kori, and I like track workouts. So instead of putting my head down and continuing to follow my training plan and hating it and feeling my soul die, I’m going to change course and have some goddamn fun. I’m going to run trail on my easy days, and run road/track for the hard workouts and start following my Chicago Marathon training plan a few weeks earlier than originally planned. And I’m not going to run the Haulin’ Aspen trail marathon in 2 weeks, because I just don’t want to. For the first time in weeks, I feel free and I feel excited to train.
Blog

tunes to run by

koribarnum

What songs get you fired up to run? Who’s your go-to artist for track sessions?

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (image:Bing)

My playlist is woefully outdated – I haven’t downloaded new music in (gulp) three years. I don’t listen to music ever on the trails or roads, so this hasn’t seemed like a big deal until I started a new marathon training block several weeks ago and realized I needed some fresh tunes to fire up my speedwork.

Here are my current (as in what I’m listening to, but definitely not “current” LOL) favs:

“Bad Reputation” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

“Can’t Hold Us” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

“I Disappear” – Metallica

“I Want You To Want Me” – Chris Isaak

“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” – R.E.M.

“The Middle” – Jimmy Eat World

“Raise Your Glass” – Pink

“‘Till I Collapse” – Eminem

“Supafunkadholic” – Delhi 2 Dublin

“The Walker” – Fitz And The Tantrums

“Best Of You” – Foo Fighter

“Sabotage” – Beastie Boys

Book and Product Reviews

2021 best of recommendations

koribarnum

I know the beginning of February may seem early…but if I could only recommend one book and one thing to watch this entire year, here they are [seriously, they are that good]:

George really thinks you should read Bravey


What to read: Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas by Alexi Pappas (2021)

Pappas is a threat in so many areas I can’t even count them all: world-class distance runner, filmmaker, writer, actor, warm and brave life ambassador. She has survived devastating personal loss, mental and physical injuries, and courageously shares what she has learned from those experiences. I was continually impressed by her candor, humor, and formidable intelligence. I would really like to have a beer with her, tell her about my day, discuss her fashion aesthetic and current training plan, and marvel together in the wonder that is this life.

We all struggle sometimes. We all feel like we are the only one who hasn’t figured out adulting, feels constantly overwhelmed, feels constantly down or anxious or both. We feel shame that we feel this way and struggle to keep it secret. Even as I type this I think “maybe I shouldn’t say that. Maybe no one else feels this way. Maybe everyone else really does Have. It. Figured. Out.” Pappas shares her journey with depression with profound generosity – it is a love letter to us all, and an invitation for us to do the same – celebrate ourselves in all our wondrous and unique complexity.

In her own words: “you can be one thing – or two or three – you can be – the beauty and the beast”.

image: IMDb.com


What to watch: Rising Phoenix (Netflix 2020)

This fabulous documentary follows several athletes training for the Paralympic Games, reviews the creation and history of the Paralympic Games, and chronicles some of the funding and publicity challenges faced in recent years.

As Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman is credited with saying, “if you have a body, you’re an athlete”. If you are currently training for something or you once trained for something or you just walked to the mailbox – you are an athlete and this documentary is for you. I strongly believe that watching athletes train at the elite level holds more for us “recreational” types than just inspiration. Every day, each of us has to move with the body we have at that moment, and dance the delicate line between challenge and strength and pushing too far. Sometimes the tango works out, and sometimes you fall on your face. But you keep trying.

Every damn day.

Blog

here we go…2021

koribarnum
first, hire a personal trainer

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I do use the turning of the calendar page to look ahead for 12 months and sketch out some fitness goals and priorities. I always feel a little antsy if I don’t have anything on the horizon; the structure of a training plan and the sweet march of the journey towards an event add soul to my life. Here are the races I’m gunning for (so far, hopefully more to come):

April: Salmon Run trail half marathon

July: birthday self-supported trail 50K

August: Haulin’ Aspen trail marathon

October: Chicago Marathon (reschedule from 2020)

One of my go-to trail race training guides

I’ll be following Krissy Moehl’s 50K training plan for the August trail marathon (26 vs 31 miles is basically apples to apples when you’re talking trail events). 24 weeks long, I start in mid-February, and the mileage/intensity build-up is gentle enough that it will be compatible with skiing at least 2 days most weeks and continuing to crush the strength work.

Although I’ve run several 50K and marathon events, I am essentially starting over due to the “hip blip” of 2020 (it’s all about the marketing, and “hip blip” sounds kind of minor, maybe a little fun, and not nearly as scary as “injury”). The next several weeks before the plan starts will entail mostly easy trail and road runs with weekly mileage around 15-30 miles.

Training Log

december 2020 training log

koribarnum
Mt Bachelor…ski ski ski…repeat

December marked my official focus change from all the running to all the skiing. This is my fourth year as a downhill skier, something I never thought I was capable of doing and have been surprised and even overjoyed to learn that I can! And it’s another way to be outside a ton of time in the winter in a magical wintry environment!! The 19/20 resort season was cut brutally short in March with pandemic-related closures, so this year I am making the most of every trip up the mountain. I want to develop as a strong intermediate skier and start venturing off the groomers with more confidence.

With the exception of one week deliberately taken off, I have been diligent with my PT strength exercises, and am transitioning into a maintenance mode, which means 45-60 minutes 3x a week of intense gluteal and hamstring strength work. I want to be running when I’m 80, so now is the time to put in the work and invest in my running future with lots of targeted weight work.

Oh, and I’ve gone on a couple runs, obvi. Not a whole lot though – wanted to take a little breather and a few more rest days this month.

Training Log

training logs february – april 2021

koribarnum

For the last four years, winter for me has been the tale of balancing as much skiing as possible with as much running as possible and praying that all that time on feet is making me a stronger endurance athlete. This year an additional priority was getting lots of volunteer sessions in with Oregon Adaptive Sports, an amazing organization that works tirelessly to make wilderness activities accessible to all.

February:

  • 8 ski days
  • 6 month marathon training plan started Feb 22 – the couple of weeks before this involved a break from running and generally lower activity to get psyched up mentally and physically
  • continued PT strength work focusing on gluteals and hamstrings

March:

  • 11 ski days
  • weekly run mileage: 25; 31; 17; 31 – endurance building block. Generally, this plan entails 3 tough/building weeks followed by 1 recovery week (low mileage, all easy) – which I love. It’s easier to put in the focused, demanding work knowing that you get a mini-vacation every fourth week. I’m having to move the weeks around a little at times to accommodate my race schedule, but that’s a small price to pay considering I’M GETTING TO RACE!!!
  • PT strength work

April:

  • 2 ski days [insert sad face]
  • weekly run mileage: 37; 45; 14; 34 – speed building block. Hitting the same track times I did during my Boston qualifying training 3 years ago (and my legs are actually feeling stronger, likely due to all that PT work).
  • PT strength work + adding in more upper body/back/arms. Not sure when climbing will come back into my life, so I need to really work to gain back some of that strength.
Training Log

training log january 2021

koribarnum
image: koribarnum

January was all about the skiing and consistent strength training, with easy base running miles sprinkled in to maintain fitness. I continue to be encouraged by how strong my legs and core feel from the consistent PT work I’ve been doing – I was originally concerned that all the work on the hamstrings, inner thighs, and gluts wouldn’t translate into strength for skiing, but I have been very pleasantly surprised. I can hold control going much faster now, my legs don’t get tired, and I don’t get gripped (with the exception of when the ski terrain is really bumped out, that technique is still requiring some coordination I don’t quite have yet, but I’m working on it!).

Training Log

november 2020 training log

koribarnum

Almost a year into blogging, and I’m finding that publishing training logs on a weekly basis has been fun, but I think with this weird free-flow year of pandemic and injury and crime scenes and not following a specific plan lends itself, in the near future at least, to a monthly training recap.

Big running news this month: my only IRL race this year (Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half Marathon) and completed registration for the 2021 Chicago Marathon next October (deferred entry due to this year’s event being canceled).

Nov 2-8: W & S PT strength exercises. W gym climb

W: 5 miles easy on road, 10:03 pace

Sa: Trail Half!!

can I get you some trees? Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half

Total run miles 18

Nov 9-15: Tu & Su PT strength exercises

W: 5 miles easy on road

Th: 10 mile trail hike

F: 11 mile trail hike

Sa: 5 miles easy on trail

Total run miles 31

Nov 16-22: PT strength exercises W, F, Su

Tu: 8 miles easy on road 10:15 pace, w/6x 20 seconds hard hills & 2 minute recovery

Th: 4 miles easy on road 10:24 pace. R hip creaky for the first time in weeks, so opted to not do as many miles as I originally planned. Wasn’t easy to stop early, but trying not to be a jackass. With typical runner goggles, I assumed the hip creakiness was due to wearing new shoes on Tuesday, but now realize it’s far more likely it was due to speed work for the first time in months. Duh.

Sa: 7 miles easy trail, 10:27 pace. Felt AMAZING. Wow, what a difference 48 hours can make. Also this run was AFTER ski touring for the first time this year. Shrug.

Su: 11 miles easy trail, 10:38 pace. 8 x 20 seconds hills hard w/2 minute recovery.

Total run miles: 30

Nov 23-29: PT strength exercises Tu, Th & Sa; Ski tour Th & Sa.

Tu: 8 miles easy on road, 10:17 pace w/ 8 x 30 seconds hills hard w/1 minute rest. After this workout, realized that yeah, it’s probably this speedwork that is making the hip creaky. Going to step back from the speed. I’ve been able to run up to 3 hours comfortably and maintain my PT strength exercises without issue, so I think my body is just not yet ready to add the speedwork back in.

W: 6 miles easy trail, 10:54 pace. Legs felt good but low on fuel

F: 4 miles easy road, not feeling it.

Total run miles: 18

Blog

RMOH

koribarnum

My favorite self-elected, very semi-part-time profession is to be a RMOH. For the uninitiated, this stands for “Running Maid of Honor”. I’ve only done it twice, but it makes me silly happy and my services are available for anyone who needs an enthusiastic but not super fast pacer and can tolerate my “yapping”, as my better half so diplomatically calls it.

Devin: Major Crusher of His First Road Marathon

My first go/run as RMOH was the 2019 Pac Crest Marathon with Devin, my work brother. This two-loop marathon conveniently used the same course as the half marathon, so I registered for the half and ran it with Devin as his second loop of the marathon. A life-long endurance athlete, Dev was a total champ at the distance and placed 2nd in his age group. My main duties were trying to keep up with him for the first half of the half, then helping him stay on a competitive pace for the second half of the half, which sadly for him was much harder as it was the final quarter of his marathon. I also (oh pre-COVID, such an innocent time) cajoled the many, many civilians we passed on the route to cheer for him as we went by. As Dan always says, “you scare people”, which comes in handy when you need perfect strangers to root for your tired buddy.

Heather: she’s got soup, she’s got a blanket, and now she’s got a half marathon under her belt!!!

I had the great privilege of donning the RMOH cap again a few weeks ago for Heather’s first half marathon, the super scenic Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half. Heather trained like fearless warrior through cold winter/spring conditions and hot summer days, often while pushing a lot of pounds of children IN A STROLLER ON TRAIL (if that doesn’t make you a strength badass, nothing will), and went from not running at all only mere months ago to running 13.1 miles on trail. Which is a pretty impressive progression and inspired me many days to get my own butt out there, because I knew Heather was getting her miles in. For this event I worked my friendly paparazzi skills and got lots of action shots of my runner on the course:

ya know, Heather just making it look easy
the heavens shining down and highlighting how cute Heather’s hairstyle is
one of the many gorgeous views on course

So…if you’re looking for a supportive racing buddy who resembles the love child of Tigger and Chris Traeger from “Parks and Recreation”…call me.

Trust me, it’s way more fun than a wedding.

Training Log

10.25.20 – 10.31.20 training log

koribarnum
Horse Butte trail system, Bend

WEEK OF 10.19 – 10.25: M, Th, Sa: PT strength exercises

T: 3 mile easy road run, 10:05 pace + gym climbing

W: REST

Th: 3 mile easy road run, 9:51 pace

F: 12 mile trail run at Horse Butte, 12:38 pace. I will be running my buddy Heather’s first half marathon with her in two weeks, so today I practiced her interval system (run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute). It was SUPER FUN – you get excited every time you get to run, then chilled out and relaxed every time you get to walk, and both just keep rolling around. Cool way to organize a workout!

Su: 5 mile road run w/2 half mile hiking hill repeats

Total running miles: 23 Meditated 3 days

WEEK OF 10.26 – 11.01: Tu, F, Su: PT strength exercises

M & W: gym climbing

Tu: 3 miles easy on road, 10:26 pace

Sa: 11 miles trail on my favorite loop near our house, practicing “Heather Intervals” of 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking in preparation for running her first trail half next Saturday.

Su: 7 miles trail, easy out and back to keep the legs moving

Total running miles: 21 Meditated 7 out of 7 days