Coaching Session and Refuel with Eggnog

Haven't blogged in the past little bit. Doesn't mean that nothing has been going on, on the contrary it seems like too much has been going on. That's life with 7 kids I guess. :) Finally found some time to write up about our coaching session with Toegirl Tina. We met up with her on November 25th at the Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane. We met with her for a 1 on 2 coaching session. Tina is a VIVOBAREFOOT certified coach, training under Lee Saxby. I know barefoot coaching certification is a touchy thing in the barefoot running world but we certainly see the value in it. You don't need a coach to learn good form, however doing it yourself can take a long time. We feel that having a coach can help jumpstart better form and reduce the chance of injuries. Take it as you will.

Tina videoed our form, gave us pointers on what we were doing wrong and exercises to work on correcting how we are running. I went into the session thinking that there would be tons wrong with my form and that I would have lots to work on. Turns out I was doing pretty good already. My posture was good and my cadence was about 180 bpm. I was overstriding just a little and landing a little on the outside of my feet. The biggest surprise that I had was that I was using my Hip flexors instead of my hamstrings when I run. As Tina explained, the hip flexors are small muscles in the front of your leg whereas the hamstrings are large muscles that stretch across the back of your legs. I was driving my legs up using the hip flexors. Using the larger hamstrings would be better with less chance of stressing the muscles out.

All in all the coaching session was great. I felt that I learned lots and it was cool for Robbie and I to get to sit and talk with Tina about all sorts of things. Our 1 hour session stretched to 3 hours just because we got to talking.

Anyways on to today's run. I usually have my runs on Thursday but as I have a work Christmas party tomorrow I decided to run today instead. It wasn't too cold out but it had just snowed a couple of centimeters. It was a little slushy and there was enough snow that my shoe of choice was my Deep See Beach Walkers. They did the trick. 5 miles through lots of snow, a couple of very slushy spots and my feet stayed warm and dry. I know that with my Vibrams my feet would have easily gotten wet and cold, and the same would have happened with the Neos although they would last a little longer. I could stand in a puddle of water with the water shoes on and I would stay dry. Plus the soles are super flexible and let all of the sensation through. I still want to see the difference between the water shoes and the Neo Trails. Soon I will get a pair of Neo Trails and then I will definitely put them through the paces.

I have heard lots about the Refuel with Chocolate Milk promotion going on. I very much enjoy having chocolate milk after a long run. However in this season I vote that we change it to Refuel with Eggnog. Probably my favorite drink ever. If only it was calorie free and available all year round. I remember when I was younger my mom found an eggnog drink mix from Costco. I was in heaven when we had that as it extended my eggnog drinking season for a much longer time. I'm sure that Eggnog probably doesn't have the right ratios of carb/protein/fat like chocolate milk (or regular milk) has but I don't care. Any excuse to drink eggnog is good with me.