Week #3, Day #2

Well, another belated post - pesky 'ol "life" got in the way again this week. Thursday I was supposed to run 6, but didn't; so I ran it tonight (Friday). Now I have to do Friday's run (5 miles) Saturday evening after church. That will be followed by my 10 mile run on Sunday - so I've crunched the schedule into the end of the week. It's supposed to be another rainy weekend as well, so that will be another complication. Oh well....

I haven't mentioned the weather a whole bunch lately, but I normally run around 6:00 pm after work. The temp has been hanging around the mid 80's at that time and then when you factor in the humidity, the heat index puts into the high 80's. Still a little better than the "dog days of summer", but I could use a little relief on the weather front!

Let's recap our lessons to-date. BTW, I hope you don't take offense at me calling these "lessons" as opposed to "hints" or "suggestions". Not trying to sound like a know it all by any means!

So far we've talked about 9 lessons:

1. It takes determination
2. It’s a major time commitment
3. You can’t control the weather
4. Have a goal
5. Get motivated
6. Have a reward system
7. Invest in good running shoes
8. Stay healthy
9. Have a support team

So tonight we are up to Lesson #10 which is Don't Chafe Me Dude! The topic of "chaffing" will border on TMI, so you've been duly warned, but it's an important lesson! When you start doing some "serious" mileage, you really need to pay attention to chafing. Trust me, you'll chafe in spots you never knew existed on your body - so an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure in this case.

Invest in some Body Glide, and I'm not talking about buying a few packages, I mean buy stock in the company! If you are not familiar with this product, I'm sure you can get it at your local sporting good store and if not, certainly on line. It goes on like "cake deodorant" but is slightly greasy, thus allowing your skin to glide instead of rub. I use it under my arms, between my legs (TMI zone!) and on really long runs I even use it on my hips. After a long training run last year I had chaffed on my left hip - which was a new one for me. Apparently the tag on my shirt was folder over and after 18-20 miles of running, it caused a strawberry about 3-4 inches long - ouch.

There is another product called, oddly enough, Skin Lube. This is more like Vaseline and I only use this is one area of my body - between my buttocks. Sorry...I warned you earlier! But if you chafe "back there", your post run shower will not be pleasant.

Last but not least, I use band aids on my nipples. If you've ever chaffed your nipples due to a long run, you can relate I'm sure. I use Band Aid Sport Strips and they work great, stay on for an entire marathon. Don't try the little circle ones, they won't last - get a strip. Two years ago after a local 10k I saw a guy in a white, sweat soaked T-shirt, he had blood also soaked into the chest of his shirt coming from his nipples - double ouch! And that was only for a 10K.

Okay - enough TMI for this blog! Tonight I will do 5 and then tomorrow will do 10 - which should be interesting. Last Sunday when I did 8 it was in a light rain, which really helped.

Today's "Song of the Blog" is Katmandu by Bob Seger; good 'ol hard driving rock and roll!