Operation Move
Online Running Coaching
This week I talk about:
Jen completed Learn to Run in 2014 and is a valued member of Run Club and the Operation Move Community, she originally shared her story in Run Club and it is reprinted here with her permission. Dr Jen also writes a fantastic science blog, Espresso Science
When I was 16, I spent a year as an exchange student in Germany. I had the best time ever and could fill pages with my happy memories. But one of my strongest memories could have happened anywhere. Before that, I had occasionally jogged but living in Germany I started running more often. I think it was good headspace to accompany the thrill and exhaustion that comes with living a whole new life in a different language. In hindsight I must have got pretty fit because in my memory of running on this particular day, I feel like I am literally flying. I can close my eyes and I’m back there in an instant, soaring.
Back in Australia I occasionally jogged but I got busy with finishing high school and all the extra-curricular activities I was involved with. I should point out NONE of these were even vaguely sporty. I had always been the chubby very un-sporty kid from an un-sporty family. At the same time, my scoliosis that had been diagnosed at 14 had progressed and every heath professional I came into contact with insisted running would be TERRIBLE for my back. My parents and I said no to possible scoliosis surgery when I was 14 but it was always on the cards and I was convinced running would make things worse. So I didn’t run at all in my 20s or 30s.
In 2014 I came across Operation Move online. I was turning 40 that year and had two young kids. Even though my scoliosis was really severe by now, I had never forgotten that feeling of joy and freedom I had experienced running in Germany. I tentatively enquired about joining Learn to Run, explaining that I might have to drop out if my back hurt too much. I made it through Learn to Run and my back coped fine. But I still kept hearing the words of the physios and surgeons who insisted running was the WORST thing I could do. So my running stalled. In 2009 I had travelled to the US to learn the gold standard physiotherapy treatment for scoliosis and I still religiously do my physio exercises for 40 minutes almost every day. It’s the only way I keep my pain under control. But despite my dedication, my back continued to get worse. In late 2016 I had appointments with the best adult scoliosis surgeons in Melbourne and we agreed the time for surgery was close. They were willing to ‘give me’ a year, since I still had such high quality-of-life, but I knew time was running out.
So I essentially decided ‘to hell with it’ (that’s the polite version). I figured if I was going to have to have surgery soon anyway, I should do what I love and do a ton of running! I wanted to find out what I was capable of. Once I have surgery (full spinal fusion), I’ll never be able to run again. The real push came from the fact my eldest brother Rob (who is an incredible and experienced ultra runner) was turning 50 last year. My other brother Mike (who already had a marathon and 50k ultra under his belt) and I decided the best way to celebrate his 50th would be to run a race with him. So we agreed on the Brisbane Trail Half Marathon in May 2017. Not such an un-sporty family after all!
At the same time, a girlfriend and I decided to run the Forrest Half Marathon in June together. By the time May arrived I had run half marathon distance twice in training and figured I had nothing to lose. I’m not sure what convinced me 25km with 1,094m elevation gain was a great idea for my first ever running event (no, I had never even done a 5k fun run before!). It took me 4 hours and I could barely walk the next day, but I loved it. My friend Carryn and I adored the Forrest Half and made a fabulous girls weekend out of it. I also got to meet wonderful Op Mover Jane in Forrest. In all, I ran seven races last year, from 10k to half marathons, a mix of road and trail.
Another highlight was the Melbourne half marathon in October. Not only did I get to finally meet Zoey and Kirsten and a bunch of other amazing Op Movers, but my dream goal became reality. A sub-2 hour half marathon had seemed way too hard. But with Zoey’s belief I could manage the pace and my brother Rob reminding me ‘you’ve put in the training’, I made it! With all of 20 seconds to spare ;).
In February this year I went back for new X-rays and to see the surgeon. I 100% expected to find out that my scoliosis had continued to worsen, probably faster because of my age and running. I assumed we would be talking timing and logistics of surgery. I was petrified. Instead, I found out that for the first time in more than a decade, my curves hadn’t progressed at all. I could hardly believe it. The surgeon told me to keep enjoying my life and come back in 2 years.
I still have severe scoliosis. If you look at this ‘S’, that’s not far off what my spine looks like. For those in the know, my Cobb angles are 65 and 49. At some point, age and gravity are going to catch up with me. But right now, I’ve been given the most wonderful reprieve. Most of the people I know of with scoliosis anything like mine are on permanent pain medication, disability pensions and are really struggling.
I am grateful beyond words that my life is so different to that. I have a very full-time job I love, amazing kids I get to spend a heap of time with because of my flexible work hours, I talk science on the radio every week, write a blog, sing in a choir and run five times a week. So much joy! These days, when I look in the mirror, instead of seeing the twisted spine that used to make me feel awful, I see a body that is strong and can run a long way. And I love what I’m modeling to my kids (who happily see themselves as very sporty).
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to run for, but every time I head out the door I feel immense gratitude. Regardless of when I have to stop, I never thought I would still be running now. Every single run is a gift. I have to admit to major anxiety about how I’ll cope physically and mentally when running is no longer an option – it’s now 30 years since surgery was first proposed as a possibility. But I’m putting that down as future Jen’s problem for now. In the meantime, I’ve got some goals to smash. At the top of my list is my first full marathon in Melbourne in October. I never dreamed I’d be attempting a marathon and I’m so grateful to Operation Move for getting me here.
The Op Move Sisterhood is extraordinary and brings me so much joy. I love seeing us all achieving our goals, but also sharing candidly the hard runs and tough days. Running, and being part of this community, have changed how I see myself and what I believe I can do. I’m counting on this new self-belief to get me through whatever challenges lie ahead. Thank you Zoey, Kirsten, every Op Mover and my wonderful husband, kids, brothers and parents for being so supportive and encouraging.
Ages ago I was listening to a podcast with someone who highly advocated never checking your email in the morning – and having it be an afternoon activity (and that it should only be a once a day activity – unless you have a specific job that requires you to check more regularly than that). The reason was that if you check your email first thing, then it tends to set everyone else’s priorities for your time for the rest of the day, rather than you pursuing your own priorities first. Often that first part of the day (especially for morning people like me) is my most creative time of the day, so it’s important that I prioritise it for that type of work.
This isn’t strictly about running, but the better organised you can be with your time, the easier it will be to fit the training that you want to do in. So I thought I’d share a little bit about how I structure my priorities and my week to get the most out of it. Because let’s face it, I have a full time job, two kids (thankfully at school, most of the time!) and my personal preference is for a high volume training week, so I need all the productivity I can lay my hands on.
This is what is working for me at the moment.
I don’t like thinking of it as a to do list. To do lists are stressful. Priority lists are about making sure the most important things are the things that get done first. I tend to look at my list from the week before to get in all the things that are weekly things that don’t really change and then I add in anything else that is particular to the week or in preparation for a bigger monthly or quarterly event. Next to each thing, I estimate how many hours it will take me. I also write down training sessions in my priority list, because they are important too and note down how long they will take as well. I like to make sure that everything is written down there. So if I need half an hour a day to respond to emails, that time is not going to come out of thin air, it needs to be on the list. And then I number everything from first priority to last priority.
I find that I like to separate out my different things into sections so I might be working on the website for an hour, then I might have lunch, then I might do a weights session, then I might come back and do an hour of programming. That’s for a few reasons. It keeps my mind nice and fresh by switching between things. It allows me to be pretty focused because I’m only working on one thing at a time for at most an hour and it means I’m not sitting down at a computer for hours at a time. An interesting study found that when you think you are being hyper-productive with multi-tasking you actually end up losing about 40% of your time by switching from task to task, and you are much better off single tasking. So that’s really what I try to do. But make sure you have time in between your slots because you aren’t a machine, you need to create a bit of buffer space between activities which also allows for wiggle room when something comes up unexpectedly.
Before I start adding things into blocks, I add up the total hours and make sure I have enough time through the week. In a typical week I might have about 25 hours on my hands once I take out appointments, stuff for the kids, school pick up and drop off and all the rest of it. So if my number is higher than that, then I’d need to make some adjustments to my priority list and move a few things that are low down the list into next week.
Now it’s time to start adding your priorities into your time slots. I like to put the things that require the most creativity first thing in the morning when I am fresh and the things that are more purely administrative in the afternoon. It’s good to work out what your sleep style is to work out when you work best through the day. As a classic early to bed, early to rise type of person I’m pretty good for anything I need to get done in-between 5 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon but after that I don’t really have the attention for it. If you can, structure your day around what is going to work for you. I also like to put things that I have a high level of resistance to (like rehab) earlier in the day. If I leave it to the afternoon I can get decision fatigue and really struggle to push myself to do it. Whereas if I do it earlier, I find it easier to get going and then I get to feel really smug about it for the rest of the day.
The good thing about this system is you can put in all of your appointments or meetings so you can see from the outset whether you have a fair amount of time through the week or if it’s a week that is jam packed and you are only going to be able to get the necessary things done through the week. I do tend to stack things a bit more at the beginning of the week so that Friday can be a bit more of a relaxing day or a day to do errands.
If you are able to: alternate between sedentary and active things and it will make a huge difference to what you are able to get done through the week.
Planning is all about giving yourself the maximum opportunity to get things done. But life has a way of not going according to plan, regularly! I do find it’s often necessary to move things around through the week or if something comes up get rid of things that aren’t absolutely necessary from my schedule. Remember it’s there to make your decisions easier through the day, structure the day so it’s the most enjoyable and help you to get through what you want to get through, but don’t let it become an albatross around your neck either. If a friend comes over for coffee, or if you need to just not be doing stuff for a day, don’t sweat it. It’s a priority list, not a to do list.
In the beginning they might be your favourite thing, but after awhile rest days can sometimes seem harder than run days! So this week I’m talking about:
The theory goes that people are either dedicated to one particular pair of shoes, or they have more than they can count, but for most people you are probably somewhere on the spectrum of that. When you find something that works for you, there is the tendency to stick to that thing like glue – but there are some benefits to getting a rotation happening and having specific shoes for specific jobs.
Before you jump into buying something new because it’s SO PRETTY (I know, the struggle is real), there are a couple things that you should look at first.
Neutral just means that your foot doesn’t roll either in or out when you run. If it does, you might like a shoe with a bit more support to stop that happening – which is known as a stability shoe. The cool thing is that most websites now will allow you to search exclusively for neutral or stability shoes so it makes it easier to look at the right shoes for you. One thing to be aware of is that often a pronation might be to do with a strength imbalance – so rather than treating the symptom – it could be worth your while to check it out with your treatment professional. By far the easiest way to tell if you need neutral or stability shoes is just to go find your favourite and most comfortable running shoe and search online to see what type of shoe it is.
This is the difference between the height of the heel and the height of the toe. You’ll find some shoes are zero drop (popular with minimalist running shoes) or low drop (Hoka is famously high cushion but low drop and most of their shoes have about a 4mm drop) and then you’ll have shoes which are more standard with a higher drop (standard is around 10-12mm usually). There’s no right or wrong here, it’s just about what you personally find comfortable. The argument for a low drop is that it is a more natural motion and discourages heel striking, thus engaging your body’s natural suspension system. However, if you are prone to plantar fasciitis, the higher drop can help to take the pressure off your calves. Again, the imporant thing here is not to replace a shoe for actually getting to the source of your issue – but it can help to know the benefits of each.
Research indicates that despite all the jargon used to sell shoes, it all actually comes down to what you find comfortable. So don’t worry too much about the marketing and go with things that feel good for you and your body.
In your week you’ll probably have long runs and easy runs and interval runs and sprint runs and tempo runs and probably a whole bunch of other types of sessions too. There are a few benefits to having different shoes for different purposes. One is longevity. If you think about the fact that shoes need to be replaced every 600km or every 12 months (whichever comes first) then spreading out your distance across a few shoes will tend to make them last a bit longer and you will have to break in new shoes a bit less regularly. The other benefit is that there is evidence to show that running in different shoes can reduce your risk of injury. This is mainly to do with the fact that introducing variety into your running movement (which tends to lack variety by design) is a good thing. But the main reason is that different sessions will have different goals. For long runs and easy runs where you have not pace goals a super comfortable shoe with a nice amount of cushion makes sense. But for sprint work, where it’s all about the power you apply to the ground, a larger sole and a bulkier shoe are counter productive. You want something that is as close to the ground as possible. And for tempo runs you probably want something in between. It has to be comfortable, but you want it to be lighter and more responsive as the pace demands.
You’ll notice in descriptions things might be described as a daily trainer (easy running shoe), racing flat (sprints or races) or an uptempo shoe (faster paced sessions like tempo runs) and that can help you find something that’s going to be appropriate for you.
Chances are you already have an easy running shoe that is working well for you, so take a look at your training and decide which type of shoe you would get the most value out of and start there. Often, a safe bet is going with the shoe brand you already like because there’s a much higher chance their lightweight and responsive shoes are going to be good for your feet too.