Run for Pedagogy

This morning a dream became reality with the first ever Run for Pedagogy (Pedagogy: art or science of teaching). Two years ago, when the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy was in its second year, I joked about holding a 5K Run for Pedagogy in conjunction with the event. This year, on a whim and with a shiny new conference Facebook page, I issued an invitation to our participants for a Thursday morning run. A group of eight left the conference hotel at 6:30 am for a 4'ish mile run. Probably another ten people later said something along the lines of they intended to come but 6:30 am turned out to be just too early! We had a great time, and as I always tell our Director, I do my best networking while running or cycling.

With nearly 1000 registrants, my goal is to get at least 25 out on the run next year. Maybe we could ask the Office of the Provost to set up an aid station -- coffee and scones? I'm thinking tshirts too. A technical tshirt, but more theoretical than applied-- an academic tshirt that is peer-reviewed and has references.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and I have to say it's been quite the endurance event of solving problems, meeting needs, talking and smiling. It's kind of like a Ragnar Relay for our team.

I plan to start this final conference morning with a Swim for Pedagogy but so far there are no other takers ;-)

Fartlek by Numbers

 

A fartlek appeared on my training schedule today for the first time and frankly, the instructions that accompanied it incited terror in me:

Keep it unstructured.

I am the queen of structure, patterns, order, round numbers, rows, and columns. I am also the queen of just tell me what to do and I'll do it.

I headed bravely to Virginia Tech's grassy South Rec Fields where I would be unconstrained by boundaries of road, trail, or walkway. Off I went. Just me....and the Garmin, the heart rate strap, the foot pod, the iPod....

Almost immediately and without trying, patterns emerged, compulsively.

• 5 light poles; rev it up one gear as you reach each pole so you are sprinting between the last two.
• 4 light poles: build from easy to sprint between each pair, back down again and repeat to next pole and so on.
• 20 steps fast - 20 easy - 19 fast - 19 easy - 18 fast - 18 easy (need I go on?)
• Long embankment? Straight up, down at a diagonal, repeat until hill is gone
• Cooldown serpentine

I did try to tap into my creative side and make a flower pattern - bounding across the straight sides of the petals and jogging the loops. Except on that big grass field I kept forgetting where center was.

I skipped and leaped and walked. It was my version of reckless abandon.

The horse folks among you will recognize similarities to dressage (did I ever tell you about the show weekend where I rode SEVEN different tests from memory?). My fartlek included serpentines, diagonals, tempi changes, extended trot, medium trot, and halt!

Definitely a fun run in spite of a little structure. And maybe because of it!

Incidentally, I think I found my new swim partner. My 11-year-old has found some speed and has decided he likes racing!!

Gym Play with Grant and One-Arm Rocky Style Pull-ups

This afternoon Grant and I went to the gym for some playtime and quality time together. The last two days have been very rough and chaotic and this proved to be the absolute highlight, turning things around and clearing my busy brain. Grant is a great gym partner - he's focused on a quality workout, energetic, and happy! I did back and biceps and he hit all the major body parts and even hit the track.

Lunges

Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns

In the midst of our playing we talked about one arm pullups and on a whim I tried one. To my great surprise, I managed three sets of 3, 2, and 2 reps. They are actually not all that hard because you can use both biceps. I think now that I am over the surprise that I can even do them I think I could get more. How cool would it be to do a TRUE one-arm pullup??

Marathon of Party Planning

Next week I am hosting a three-day party for oh...800 some people. It's actually a conference - the 4th Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy at Virginia Tech. Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching, but when you learn the secret faculty handshake, you also promise to use the word "pedagogy" in everyday conversation.

The last time I hosted an actual party at my house was maybe four years ago (pre-triathlon...coincidence? I think not!).  I'd agonize about whether there were enough places for people to sit and enough food for people to eat.

Little did I know that was only the 5K of party planning and that stressed me out plenty. Now, ironically, I do the marathon of party planning - three days, people from 34 states and 28 countries, 100+ sessions, 120+ posters, three lunches, session schedules, publishing guides and proceedings, organizing shuttles, working with sponsors, and fulfilling a multitude of special requests.

The worry remains the same -- whether there will be enough places for people to sit and enough food for people to eat. I have joked (or not) that we should include deodorant in everyone's participant packets because it could get cozy.

This morning, from 4 am - 5 am I was half-awake in bed obsessing over needing to get a few rolls of masking tape, among a hundred other details. Then at my morning swim, the only thing swimming fast was my brain, certainly not the rest of me. Ugh, I was slow and unmotivated!

The gang stuffing packets!

I'm keeping up with all my workouts and thankfully started the week with a killer swim and killer run that left me very happy so I'm just doing my best and not sweating the workout details right now.

I'm in that final 10K of the conference marathon...anything can happen. A week from now the finish line will be visible. Cheer me on, please. And have the massage table ready!

There's more than one way to lace a shoe

Most runners pay considerable attention to shoe choice but give little regard to the lacing pattern, defaulting to the factory-installed criss-cross lacing. There are alternative ways to lace up to reduce slippage and to improve the coupling between foot and shoe – which is important to make the most of the shoe’s cushioning and support features (Hagen, 2008). You may have noticed that running shoes often have an additional unused eyelet at the top of the shoe. It can be used for Lock Lacing to reduce heel slide and provide a more comfortable fit. A lacing change may also relieve some types of foot stress and pain.

I use lock lacing on some of my shoes. I first learned about it at our local running shop and find it works well even with the stretchy Xtenex laces (see my review here) that I use in nearly all of my athletic shoes.

For a comprehensive guide to lacing options see Ian’s Shoelace Site, and the Functional Considerations chart on the The Lacing Comparison page. It matches shoe fit issues with lacing suggestions. New Balance also provides remedial lacing patterns for issues like heel slip, high arches, top-of-foot pain, and a wide forefoot/narrow heel.


Hagen, M. (2008) The influence of different shoe lacing conditions on plantar pressure distribution, shock attenuation and rearfoot motion in running. Clinical Biomechanics.23(5), 673.