August 8, 2013

SLS3 Compression Sock Review and Giveaway

I was given two pairs of compression socks in exchange for this review, one for myself, and one for a giveaway. All opinions are my own, not SLS3’s.

A while ago, Sebastian from SLS3 e-mailed me after realizing I was a lover of all things compression because of this blog. And I do. My obsession with compression started after I picked up a pair from City Sports and now I have about 4-5 pairs, all from various brands. I’ve mentioned before that I love them both post-ballet class (as well as rocking compression sleeves during ballet class) as well as during and post-run. As you’ve probably noticed, I’m a big fan of everything pink as well! Almost all of my compression socks are pink or purple, so I loved it when SLS3 sent me a pair of bright pink compression socks with butterflies on them!

photo (15)

They’re pretty cute!

I was slightly worried about the sizing when it came to these compression socks. I unfortunately have pretty tiny feet (size 6) but relatively large calves, so it’s a problem when compression socks are sized only by shoe size. Fortunately, SLS3 gives both sizes for their products and I was sent a small/medium pair which fit pretty snuggly. Although they fit pretty tight at the start, they’ve loosened up a little bit to better fit my ginormous calves (without stretching out too much).

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Ready for a run!

I love how these compression socks fit and stretch compared to some other brands and the graduated compression these offer seem to work really well for recovery for me, whether it be from a tough run or a painful ballet class. One of my favorite things to do post-run is to throw these on and apply an ice pack directly over the sock.

Interested in your own pair? Adult Ballerina Project is giving a way one pair of SLS3 compression socks, matching mine in a women’s small/medium (sorry men!) in the pink butterfly pattern! Enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest is open to US readers only. (Sorry guys–this broke recent graduate can’t afford international shipping!)

 

Can’t wait? Order your own with the coupon code TRI15 at checkout when ordering through SLS3.

SLS3coupom

 

I was given two pairs of compression socks in exchange for this review, one for myself, and one for a giveaway. All opinions are my own, not SLS3′s.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , 15 Comments
June 27, 2013

Calf Stretches for Ballet and Running

This one applies to you runner’s out there too: calf stretches. Both ballet and running cause me to get horribly tight calves and shin splints, but they’re getting slightly more manageable. Here’s some of my favorites:

Downward-facing cat

Downward facing cat

 Downward Facing Dog:

Arms should be shoulder width apart, legs hip width apart, balancing your legs equally. Knees can be bent if you’re a beginner. I like to alternate between keeping one knee straight and the other bent to feel a full stretch.

Runner’s Stretch:

This one’s really popular. Stand at a wall with your hands placed straight in front of you, with one leg bent in a lunge and the other extended behind you. Sometimes I have to bend my back knee ever so slightly to get a good stretch in this one as well ( I have hyper-extended knees).

 Wall or stair stretch:

I don’t have any stairs in my apartment, so I often do this one just on a wall or on the foot of a ballet barre if I’m in class. Stand by a wall with one foot pressed up again the wall at an angle; or stretch one heel down off a stair while the other remains of the step.

Towel Stretch:

The same basic stretch you used to do in high school gym class with some help. Sitting on the floor, extend both legs out straight in front of you and wrap a towel or theraband around your feet and pull yourself down to your toes. While I can reach my toes, I like the extra stability this gives me. Another variation is to start by gripping the towel with a straight back and then lean back slightly to stretch the calves.

Foam Rolling:

The foam roller is my frenemy. It hurts but also helps so much. For calf tightness I like to roll both by shins and my calves. I roll my shins both at the same time which is pretty easy; I roll my calves individually by holding myself up with my arms with one leg crossed over the other.

I know there are lot more great stretches out there, so let’s hear them! What are your favorite ways to stretch out your calves?

Filed Under: Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment
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
May 15, 2013

Say what–I’m graduating???

This is only been my second post this week because I’ve been busy finishing up my college career. I took my last final yesterday from the comfort of my own bed at nine in the morning (I got an A-) and then had my Honor’s College Graduation last night. I had a job interview this afternoon for a part-time job to go with my internship with Campus Philly over the summer (keep your fingers crossed for me!) so that I don’t go completely broke.

Tomorrow is my last TWO graduations. Since Temple University is so huge, we have one ceremony in the morning with everyone university wide who is graduating and then one in the afternoon for our college. Woohoo!

So another reason I’ve not posted very much this week is I’ve decided to take the week off ballet AND running. Saturday and Sunday I had a pretty severe case of shin splints (I rocked my KT Tape at the interview and had everyone asking me what was up with my leg) so I decided between everything else that was going on, I should probably take this week off. I also pulled/strained/did something wacky to my lower right back in yoga (either in the studio or at home…I’m so busy that I can’t remember) so I’ve been taking it super easy. I should be okay to go for a short run this weekend while I’m back at home and then back to ballet on Monday when I get back to Philly to start at Campus Philly.

So I apologize if I don’t get the ballerina profile that usually goes up on Friday but I promise that it’ll be up as soon as I can get to it!

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , , , , 6 Comments
May 8, 2013

A Huge Accomplishment–I Completed a 5k!

Well, for me at least, given all the troubles I’ve had with my legs/ankles.

photo.

 

I’ve written here multiple times about how I’ve dealt with horrible shin splints. I attempted to run a 5k back at the beginning of April and didn’t even get a mile in before giving up because it just hurt THAT bad. It was embarrassing.

So I’ve been working on doing a Couch to 5k Program for the past few weeks, and recently I’ve gotten frustrated with the set of intervals I’ve been on (as well as treadmill running–which I DETEST because I can’t seem to move fast at all), so today my boyfriend and I decided to run on the indoor track at my college’s gym. I decided that we’d be doing a two minute walk/two minute run interval kind of arbitrarily (knowing that the previous intervals of 1:30 were too easy and 3:00 was slightly rough on my shins)–BUT it worked. After doing about a mile and a half (which has been our normal distance without warm up or cool down walks with C25k, I decided we should keep going and try to complete a 5k and I did it, in around 34:00 (the GPS was slightly off between our two iPhones, 34:00 is the average).

I just feel so happy to have been able to come back after what felt like such a failure over a month ago.

What exciting goals have you accomplished lately?

Filed Under: Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , 4 Comments