June 7, 2013

Any advice on overpronation?

Ballet shoes, showing the dancer's feet in fif...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Overpronation is when your feet roll inwards too much towards the big toe side of the foot. It happens a lot when dancers try to “fake” their turnout using their knees and ankles instead of their hips (guilty here). It was brought to my attention last class that I should instead be trying to distribute my weight equally among my toes and place it more back on my pink toes as well (people in this dance.net forum recommend the same thing.) I tried to maintain this throughout class, but it was tough–and I feel like the rest of my technique suffered and my arches were crazy sore throughout class. Sigh.

My overpronation is probably the cause of all my ballet-related shin splints which have been really bad as of late and haven’t been much motivation for me to get to ballet class. Since getting new sneakers and running more often, my running shin splints have been reduced to almost nothing (almost).

I know that overpronation can be created by forcing turnout (you can try it and see for yourself) but I also know I overpronate when I stand “naturally”–which I figured was caused by the fact I am one of the most flat-footed people ever–especially since new sneakers have helped. So I took to the Internet to try to get more of a solution…and pretty much came up with a variety of different explanations…and no real answer.

Some say that overpronation is purely a technical problem (sure, I can correct it, but it’s still how I naturally stand and feel like I have for a while). Others say it’s caused by being flat-footed. Others, ankle weakness.  A lot of websites recommended orthotics (which won’t work with ballet) others say if it’s not caused by flat feet, that’s not a solution. My head is spinning.

Advice anyone? I’d appreciate help whether you know about overpronating in runners or dancers.

 

Filed Under: Ballet Class, Blog, Etc., Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , 11 Comments
June 5, 2013

A Crazy #NationalRunningDay

I know, I know. Enough with the running, this is a ballet blog. I promise there will be more ballet things soon, running has just become a big part of my life and has helped get me more and more in shape (which is helping with ballet too).

Today is National Running Day, and although I got a later start than I would have like (it was already starting to warm up a fair amount), HQ–my boyfriend if you don’t already know that–and I set out to run on the Schuylkill River Trail here in Philly instead of the track here at Temple University. While it’s nice to have a nice, soft, flat surface to run on, running in circles kind of drives me crazy. It doesn’t do much for my motivation either–I always want to quit early. Running on a trail means I essentially need to keep going because I have to get home somehow.

On our way there, while waiting for the subway, we heard a cop tell the subway attendant that a building had collapsed in center city and were interested to see if we could see anything of what happened during our run. We stopped in 30th street station (I had to pee as usual) before heading down to the trail and saw how crazy it looked on the news.

Anyway, it was a good run (albeit slower than I would have liked) and we stopped to take some pictures along the way by the river.

HQ by the river!

HQ by the river!

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And Me!

We decided to run around lunchtime because I learned on Twitter in the morning that my favorite lunch truck in Philly, Mac Mart, was going to be at The Porch at 30th Street. I LOVE this truck–and since my favorite mac and cheese was on the menu for today (Bacon, Ranch and Tomato aka BRAT Mac) I knew we just had to make it part of our running trip.

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The most delicious mac and cheese.

We had planned to walk to Ulta to get some things we had planned to pick up before (but we didn’t have coupons with us–hello broke college student/broke college grad status), so we got to cross over by where the building collapse had happened.

How often is it that you find you can just walk straight down the center of the Market Street Bridge?

How often is it that you find you can just walk straight down the center of the Market Street Bridge?

We were then detoured down to Chestnut Street (which was the direction we were headed anyway) on the foot bridge that connects Market and Chestnut (which I sadly never knew existed despite living in Philly for four years). They still had the rode blocked off there.

An empty Chestnut Street near where I used to work.

An empty Chestnut Street near where I used to work.

Finally we made it to Ulta, which I love now that we finally have one in Philly. I even got an extra workout here as it’s three stories and I probably went up and down them 4 times to get different things. Overall, our journey ended up taking us about 5 miles (3 of them running on the trail). I’d say it was a successful National Running Day!

How did you celebrate if you’re a runner?

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June 4, 2013

Weekend Workout Fails

It was ridiculously hot in Philadelphia this past week–but that’s not really the reason for my workout fails–a couple of other things have gotten in the way as well. This week has been:

Monday (Memorial Day): No ballet ’cause of the holiday and I had just ran on Sunday and Saturday so I squeezed in Day 02 of 30 Day Shred before heading back to Philly.

Tuesday: 2 Mile morning run. Seems like I’m on track, right?

Wednesday: Day 03 of 30 Day Shred, which starts to get a little bit easier. My boyfriend and I avoid running outside cause of the heat.

Thursday: Ballet in like 100 degree weather. Tough, but doable. I still wore my legwarmers, but for the first time in months I wore just my leotard. My instructor actually STOPPED class to ask if I’ve lost weight. I feel like I have (and I think that I have) even though the scale hasn’t shown much of a difference (5 lbs, maybe, and it fluctuates a LOT). I definitely look toner.

Friday: We got a late start, so a 1 and half mile is super painful. I was dehydrated and HQ was having leg problems, so we decided to call it quits.

Then over the weekend…I failed. I did nothing. It was a super rest weekend I guess. I was supposed to go to ballet Saturday morning–then I slept in because of lack of sleep. So to make up for it I had planned a 3 mile solo run for Sunday, and I didn’t go again because of lack of sleep.

Monday: Supposed to wake up for #MondayRunday (haha). I woke up at 6:45 to thunderstorms. It only kind of clears up throughout the day (so the track we run on probably stayed wet). I did fit Day 04 of 30 Day Shred in though–but I need to look for cardio alternatives to do during the cardio segments (The video has you doing 3 sets of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minutes ABs). My legs HATE jumping jacks and things on my hardwood floors (it was fine at my parents on a cushioned carpeted basement floor). So I’ve kind of come with a substitute list thanks to Google: walking planks, diver push-ups (aka Hindu push-ups), steps (I’ve just got to find something to step up onto–I live in a studio apartment), swimming (on the floor) and punches (which are already featured in the video). If you’ve got alternative leg-easy cardio recommendations, lets hear ’em.

Plan for the rest of the week: two more 30 day shreds (probably Wednesday and Friday), an easy 2 mile run Tuesday, a 3-4 mile run with Philadelphia Runner to Rita’s for National Running Day, ballet on Thursday, 3 miles Friday, ballet again Saturday but no pointe…because of 5k race on Saturday. AND lots and lots of stretching and foam rolling. Hopefully HQ and I can stick to this schedule…we’re so bad at making a plan to get things done.

What is your weekly exercise plan? How do you plan out your workouts?

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May 29, 2013

June Challenges (#RWRunStreak Alternative)

Life always likes to get in the way of my monthly challenges. See: College graduations, job interviews, and a back muscle strain/pull. But, here I am again, trying to plan one for June. Unlike the other challenges I’ve planned, this one is just going to include my personal goals for developing my overall fitness.

I’m finding myself desperately wishing I could handle Runner World’s #RWRunStreak, where the goal is to run at least a mile a day between Memorial Day and Fourth of July. No matter how badly I want to do it, I know I shouldn’t attempt it because of how injury-prone I am. So instead, my #RWRunStreak alternative is:

  • Have a decent run at least three days a week (by setting a goal of at least 30 minutes a day, instead of a distance goal, so I don’t push myself too hard)
  • Complete 3 days worth of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred a week
  • Attend at least 2 ballet classes a week (there are 3 offered at my studio)
  • Stretch everyday for at least 10 minutes (baby steps, since previous goals have just led me to give up).
  • Have a dedicated rest day.

I’ve planned my goals at like this so I can try to get in better general shape and fit in some sort of cross-training in now that I’m gym-less (not that I really ever did much at the gym either). I might try to squeeze in some swimming as well, since I (probably) still have access to the school’s pool.

What are your June goals? Are you attempting #RWRunStreak?

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May 23, 2013

Post-Graduate Life

I spent last weekend at home relaxing and getting a few freelance stories done. I also got some running in as well in my new running shoes. It was nice to finally feel like I had some time to myself.

I got back to Philly late afternoon Monday and I had planned to go to ballet–but my left leg really started to ache again (out of nowhere) and I decided it was best to stay home, even though I really wanted to go. I kept having a nagging pain in it while I was working all day Tuesday, and knew I’d have to put off running for a little while longer.

Yesterday, I got a different brand of Kinesio Tape in the mail that I had ordered (KT and I occasionally don’t get along–plus I ordered tape that wasn’t precut so I could cut it to the length I wanted). My leg seems to be doing better today. My boyfriend and I were supposed to get some running in this morning–but neither of us really moved from bed (and I wasn’t sure what time the track opened at my college since everything is on reduced summer hours). But, I’ll be trekking to ballet tonight in the lovely thunderstorms they’re expecting after over a week off.

 

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