May | 2013 | Laura Kline – Multisport Athlete

peanut-butter-loves-jelly
We all have things in life that go great together. Some of my favorites are: peanut butter & jelly, chocolate & cherries, Craig & I, compression & ice. I could go on, but you get the picture. Perfect pairs make us happy. They make us smile. Put a little spring in our step and make our day just a bit brighter. You could even say that sometimes they save the day.

Then there are the things that don’t go well together and have the opposite effect on our mental state. For example, body symmetry issues and running. Most of us have experienced this at some point. Through trial and error, triumph and heartache we struggle when find these limiters. They may not be performance inhibiting, and they may not be causing a great deal of pain. But they’re present, they can be annoying, and just down-right concerning. They remind us that we need to pay extra special attention to our bodies or we may face greater consequences down the road.

As you know, I love to run. I mean love it! For those of you who have been around me when I cannot run, you understand. Through lessons learned over the years my goal is to keep myself running as long as I can. And that means lots of attention paid to my body – training, strengthening, nutrition, recovery – the whole shebang. I try my hardest to look into my crystal ball and find exactly what I need to do, but it sure isn’t easy.

My right adductor has been a constant sore spot for me after having the stress fractures in my pelvis. It’s one of those nagging pains that requires my constant attention. A few months ago I went to see “Magic Mike” Walters, who is THE man to see for body work and massage. As usual I give him my laundry list of problem areas, which always includes my right adductor, and he works his magic to make me feel like a million bucks when I walk out the door. This time he had a new suggestion for me in an attempt to alleviate the annoyance in my right adductor. He told me to wrap an ace bandage nice and tight around the problem area when I run, as the compression would help keep the muscle lengthened. That’s when the lightbulb went off – what a perfect match! I told him that I had just become a 110% Playmaker, and that their Kick Back Quad Sleeve would provide compression over the exact area I needed to target. “Even better!” he said.

110% Kick Back Quad Sleeve

Since that day I’ve been doing all of my runs wearing a quad sleeve on my right leg, and oh what a difference it has made! My adductor feels secure, less-fatigued, and keeping the muscle lengthened takes the stress off the surrounding muscles. I’ve been extremely happy with how my running has been progressing so far this season, and I’m sure the Kick Back Quad Sleeve is contributing to it!

Thank you to 110% for your support, and for making the quad sleeve, which just so happens to be a perfect match for my issue! And of course thank you to Mike Walters for making the connection that I didn’t notice was right in front of me 😉

Happy Training!

3 finger

2013 is off to a great start! I’ve done 3 road races in 3 months at 3 different distances and have 3 new PR’s! 🙂 It started with the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in March, followed by the Valley Forge Revolutionary 5 mile run in April, and this past weekend was the Turkey Hill Country Classic 10k.

Although hitting a PR is always a goal when I race, I didn’t have a goal time in mind going into this. I was more excited to run my race, and then watch Craig race afterwards. During this time of year it is rare that we get to spend a lot of time together on the weekends. And…I had a feeling the course was going to have some hills, so why worry about time?

The course did not disappoint! The first half was fairly easy – I hit the 1 mile mark at 5:52 and was happy with this split. When I went through mile 3 feeling strong at 17:41, I thought I was well on my to a PR. And then we turned off River Road… Mile 4 was by far my slowest. We’d get to the top of 1 roller just to see the next one ahead. It seemed like a never-ending stretch, and I was happy to turn off that road and work my way to the finish. The hills did slow me down, but I was able to cross the line at 37:54 to take 1st place for the females. I was happy with my time and especially with how I felt.

Women’s 10k Podium

Hitting these PR’s early in the season is a great sign for my upcoming races. It’s also great reassurance that my coach (yep, that’s me) is leading me in the right direction. Although I know that coaching myself is the best fit for me, getting results lets me know that I am on track.

After receiving my award in front of a very large cow I resisted the urge to devour hot dogs & ice cream and frolic in the bouncy houses. It was time to cheer Craig on as he raced on the same course (only his with multiple loops and a nice steep climb added). He’s been having a great season and it’s always exciting when I have the chance to watch him race. Today was no exception, as he took 8th overall in the Men’s 1/2 race – way to go Craig!!