Needles: It does a body good? I sure hope so.

Acupuncture needles!  They're super tiny.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Workout Type(s): Recovery running, strength training (core workout); and lots of sweating in the sauna.
Miles ran: 7
Where: The Gym, in Englewood, New Jersey.
Temperature: Room temperature.
What I wore: Honolulu Marathon Finisher tech shirt, Addidas tights, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band headband
Sneakers: Brooks Ghost 5.
How I Felt: My legs were still shot from yesterday's squats/lunge-lovefest, but I after I warmed up for a few minutes, it was NBD.
What I thought about while running: Coming up with Choose Your Own Adventure stories that involve running.
Food consumed: A banana.  And Spam lite.
Notes: I need to read more Wasatch 100 race reports.

Friday, January 18, 2013

No workout yet.

I have a plan for my Grand Slam attempt, I really do.  Most of it involves hitting the trails every weekend, making sure I get my climbs and descents in.  Speaking of which, this weekend I'll be hanging out with my buddy Ray Schwartz, who I met at the Delaware Water Gap Fatt Ass 50K back in 2010.  He did this really nifty run about a year (year and a half?) ago in Jersey City that starts from the Journal Square PATH station and ends at the top of Laurel Hill (also known as Snake Hill) in the Meadowlands.  It's a nice run, about 8 miles or so, and after I saw his pictures, I really, really wanted to do it.  We made plans to run it last summer, but apparently the mosquitoes were really fierce and then Ray got injured, so we decided to give it a rain check.  Anyway, Ray organized a group of us to go check it out tomorrow morning.  If you would like to come, comment below or check out the Facebook invite.  I'll probably do it a couple of times and then head home.

Okay, back to the original subject, my Grand Slam training plan.  So, I have my long runs scheduled, but what do I do during the week?  Well, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday involve tempo runs, steep hill repeats, stair climbs, and strength training, all totally fun stuff but nothing unusual.  And Friday is all about the cross training.

So what shall I do on Monday?  I have decided that on Monday, I will do yoga/meditation in the morning and then spend my evenings at the Paramus Medical and Sports Rehabilitation Center where I will get my body thoroughly poked and prodded by their awesome physical and massage therapists, chiropractors, and acupuncturists.  Even though I have never experienced running injuries, I think it is because I have never really pushed myself to the next level.  I have always been extremely conservative with my training and my races.  

However, now that my training load has increased significantly, my body is more susceptible to injury.  Each week is absolutely precious to me and I do not want to be sidelined by something that I could have prevented, so to be on the absolutely safe side, I am getting myself checked out every week.  And that includes meeting with an acupuncturist.  I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes, but you know what?  I will do anything to make sure that this Grand Slam finish becomes a reality and if there is any possibility that acupuncture actually works for injury prevention, then I am adding it to my Grand Slam training plan.  The article that sold me on trying acupuncture is here.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Anyone else here a fan of acupuncture?