Run, Karla, Run!

Photo by Phil Hospod

You’ve got questions. I’ll find the answers. Welcome to “Ask the Running Nerd.”

Question:

I’ve been running off and on for about 10 years, and I recently became more serious about my running – I joined a team, set some goals and am becoming more consistent with my workouts. As a result, I’ve been increasing my mileage, and I’ve met some really great like-minded runners. Unfortunately, I’ve also encountered 5 women in the last 2 months who have suffered some type of foot fracture. These women range in age from 23 to 38; some have been running competitively since high school and others are relatively new to the sport. I’m hoping to avoid this seemingly common injury myself. What causes these types of injuries in women and how can I avoid them?

–Cindy, New York City Read the rest of this entry →

The eight-year-old in me is bouncing off the walls. When I read not once, not twice, but three times in Runner’s World that multiple studies have concluded chocolate milk is the perfect recovery drink, I wanted to break out in song, kiss the stranger next to me on the subway and click my heels in the air. And it’s not just Runner’s World covering the evidence stacked in chocolate milk’s favor; Fitness magazine, CBS News and AskMen.com among others have reported chocolate milk’s benefits.  Read the rest of this entry →

The High Line in New York City on Oct. 29. The elevated park is on the city's West Side. Photo by Rob Thurman/Flikr.

Okay, it’s been a full month since I ran the Chicago Marathon and I suppose it’s time—time to run again.

I’m a real stickler when it comes to the rules of training. And perhaps my favorite rule of training is actually the rule of recovery. A common adage says it takes one day per mile of any distanced raced for your body to fully recover. So that means I get 26.2 days off from hard training. I take that seriously. Maybe too seriously. As much as I love to run, I love to take it easy when I feel I’ve earned it.

But after about two and a half weeks of recovery, I started to get antsy. The yoga, stretching and sit-ups I was passing off for workouts just weren’t cutting it. So I finally laced up my shoes and hit the pavement. Read the rest of this entry →