Runner Spotlight - Nancy McElwain

For many years, Nancy ran her own triathlon coaching business, Train Smart LLC, in her hometown of Louisville, KY. She also founded the youth triathlon program called Maverick Multisport. Through coaching endurance athletes, Nancy recognized that nutrition is a cornerstone of health and wellness, and wanted to explore how food functioned holistically to support health.

In 2015, Nancy moved from Kentucky to Fort Collins with her husband and their son. At the age of 50, she had the opportunity to pursue her interest in holistic nutrition at the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver. Her eyes opened to the science behind the power of natural, whole foods to influence health. In 2020 and 2021, she furthered her education with Restorative Wellness Solutions, and earned Level 1 Certification in Gastrointestinal Healing and Level 2 Certification in Optimizing Hormones.

As the owner of Renew Nutrition and Fitness LLC, she is passionate about using the power of whole food nutrition to optimize health. By listening to her clients and using the most effective lab testing available, she gets to the root cause of digestive and hormonal issues. Her ambition is to guide you to wellness with her nutrition and lifestyle plans.

Detox to support your liver. The liver is an unsung “hero organ” in the body. Scientists have identified over 500 different functions performed by the liver, including critical roles in digestion, metabolism and detoxification. This is why detoxifying the liver can improve dozens of bothersome symptoms such as gas and bloating, weight loss resistance, hormone imbalance, fatigue, poor sleep quality, and more!

The liver is your primary organ of detoxification; everything you eat, drink and put on your skin reaches your liver. The liver filters more than a quart of blood each minute to remove harmful wastes and toxins. Detoxification converts these harmful wastes to inert substances that can be safely eliminated from the body.

Because toxins are ubiquitous in processed foods, personal care products, cleaning products, and the environment, the liver is easily overwhelmed. Like a bathtub with a clogged drain that eventually overflows and makes a mess, the liver’s filtering system can be overwhelmed and allow toxins back into the bloodstream where they wreak havoc on your health. An overload of toxins affects not only an athlete's ability to train and focus but also the overall health of the athlete.

You can see why it’s critically important to support your liver by doing a detox. Optimizing your body's natural detoxification system is best achieved by consistently practicing healthy habits: consuming nutrient-dense foods, drinking plenty of pure water, managing stress, getting adequate sleep, and exercising regularly.

To read more about Renew Nutrition and Fitness, click here.

Nancy will be conducting a 5 Day Whole Food Detox: March 7-11, 2022 so if you want to give the program a try, this is the perfect time. Click here for more information.

Runner Spotlight - Colleen Davis

Most days, I wake up with a headache. It subsides after a few minutes, but it’s a small, persistent reminder that COVID isn’t done with me yet.

My husband is a dentist. He got COVID in December 2020 at work despite wearing two masks, and I got it a few days later. Some hazards are unavoidable.

For context, the month before, I ran a half marathon in 91 minutes with a risky race strategy that decidedly did not pay off (I was shooting for 88). Two weeks after getting COVID, I tried a 20-minute “easy” run at 12:00 pace – and I thought I was having a heart attack. Literally. I went to the ER. And then to cardiology. They determined, after a couple days and what felt like a million dollars, that I had an autonomic nervous system issue (i.e., my “fight or flight” system was out of whack). This happens to a lot of people post-COVID and after a lot of viruses, though many in the medical community are only now beginning to realize this. (Part of the lag is because dysautonomia is more common in women, and when women complain of nonspecific symptoms like fatigue or palpitations, healthcare providers are statistically more likely to attribute them to malingering or psychosomatic causes, but that’s an article for another day.)

I couldn’t run for six months. During this time, I slept about 13-14 hours a day, and when I was awake, my erratic heart rate was exhausting. It felt like I was exerting myself just sitting on the couch, because I was. In a lot of ways, it was like a “normal” running injury; it demanded patience, listening to my body, and sometimes venting to my family. When I started back up, it was June 2021, and I was going on 10-minute jogs with breaks every two minutes. These runs were a turning point for me. I’m 34, and I’ve always had this anxiety that I need to PR again before age precludes the possibility. But these super-slow 10-minute jogs were shockingly pleasant; the sun and the wind and the trees were all there just as they were six months earlier, and they gave me just as much joy as they did when I was fast. I learned that I will still love running when I’m old and beyond all hope of a PR.

“Recovery” has been a physical and emotional ride, having thought in September that I had put post-COVID syndrome behind me only to have it kick me down again in October. But by February 2022 I had gone on some longer runs and done some hard workouts, so I decided to run the Snowman Shuffle 4 Miler as a 15-month rust buster. I like River City Races because they’re always well-run, and they have several races throughout the year of varying distances. My only goals for the 4 Miler were to run smart and have fun. And I did. Maybe they will be my only goals from here on out. (I certainly won’t pretend I’m still not hoping for a PR someday, but at least for now, it’s a stress-free hope.)

My advice after all of this is to remember that everyone is going through something, and my running advice is that you’re not doing it right if you’re not having fun.

Runner Spotlight - Tavi Tichenor

“Why would you run ultras? Do you have some kind of mental illness?”

I’ve been asked this question (and other versions of this question) several times recently. I’ll admit- the first time someone asked me, I was initially offended. Then, after a few seconds, I realized that this may be a good opportunity to de stigmatize mental illness.

The summary of my answer? Yes, I do have a mental illness! I am in recovery from an eating disorder. And I certainly don’t have life all figured out yet. Some days, I feel like I’m stuffed with flaws and stitched together with good intentions 🤣 And yes, most of the ultra runners that I have met over the years struggle with anxiety, depression, and many other mental health issues (who doesn’t?)

I’ve encountered former drug addicts, alcoholics, survivors of trauma/abuse, etc. during ultramarathons. Is this surprising? No, not at all. Because guess what? Extreme people do extreme things. Scars have stories. That being said, I’ve never met a more accepting group. These people are very much ok with getting outside their comfort zones & being their authentic selves. They’ve helped me realize that fueling my body makes me faster, stronger, and happier.

I no longer count calories, and my VO2 Max is at an all time high. Coincidence? I think not. It may not make sense to the general public, but running ultramarathons makes us more happy and peaceful not only the on the trail, but in our daily lives as well. This endurance sport has a positive ripple effect like nothing else I’ve found. And I think that’s a beautiful thing.

Favorite distance: 50k

Do you have any running/walking advice you'd like to offer?: Find a training partner or two that is near your pace and is accountable. Having someone else along for the training journey- especially those long runs- makes it so much more tolerable. (Dare I say… enjoyable?)

Why do you like running River City Races events?: I love seeing how RCR events have become an annual tradition in the Louisville running community. It often feels like a big celebration at the finish line!

Anything else you'd like to share?: I fell in love with yoga as my go to for cross training. I am injury free, recover faster, and it gave a boost to my mental health as well.

I’m on the staff of Yoga6, a new hot yoga franchise opening several locations in Louisville this Spring.

Coming soon to Louisville

Each studio is a locally owned and operated franchise location. We offer 6 different class types from hot and powerful to slow and mindful. We also offer beginner classes and sculpt classes. Our teachers have been trained in the YogaSix methodology to provide a consistent but creative experience for each class type every time. They teach in a way that is easy for everyone to follow and understand. Our expert staff will help you find the right class to help you achieve your goals.

Click here for local locations coming soon.

How To Make Screw Shoes and Running in the Winter Ice, Snow and Cold

Tips & Tricks for Running in the Winter

1. Prevent slipping with screw shoes or Yak Trax

You can purchase or make your own special shoes that are designed to grip the ice and hard packed snow without sacrificing the comfort and stability of your favorite trainer. You can purchase a pair of Yak Trax from your favorite local running store, which clip on easily to the bottom of your shoe and work great.

If you prefer a homemade and cheaper option, you can make yourself a pair of “screw shoes”. See article below on how to do this.

2. The best place to find paved and clear running paths

Colleges and university roads are the places that clear snow the fastest. Why? Colleges and Universities have their own maintenance departments and are not dependent on the city. Plus, their paths are usually more for walking and there is less automobile traffic.

The next fastest paths and roads to clear up are usually maintenance roads, where plows and salt trucks have to go back and forth; they are great if you can find them.

Finally, run near schools (HS and elementary schools) since administrators clear roads quickly to get teachers and students safely to the classroom. These three places will be the quickest and most frequently plowed paths and streets in your city.

3. If you have to run on the roads, be safe

Run against traffic when running on the roads (many times, sidewalks will not be clear enough to run, which may force you onto the road). When you run against traffic, you can see what’s coming at you, assess what the driver is doing or what they’re looking at, and determine if they see you. If worse comes to worse, you can dive into a snow bank.

4. Stay warm in the wind

Run with the wind in your face on the way out and wind at your back the second half of the route. If you run with the wind at your back the first half of a run, you’ll get hot and sweaty and when you turn around, the wind will get very cold.

Use Vaseline on exposed parts of your skin, such as your face, to help protect from the cold and wind. Vaseline is naturally waterproof and quite windproof. It will help keep your face from “falling off” in bitter winds.

5. Consider a mask if you have allergies or are prone to coughing fits and dry lungs allergy mask cold weather

The cold, dry winter air can cause bronchial spasms, which restricts air from filling the lungs. Running in a light mask can help warm-up the air before it hits your lungs. You don’t want or need a beefy scarf, but a light mask can help filter the air just enough if you tend to have breathing issues, especially when you try to run hard.

6. Don’t be afraid to adjust your workout

If you’re training for an important race, it is crucial that a snow day remains a small inconvenience, not a month long injury from slipping and sliding.

It is much better to move a workout to a different day than end up tweaking a muscle you never knew you had, and ruining your entire season.

Waiting a day can sometimes be the difference between a Winter of consistent and healthy training and a slew of injuries that lasts until Spring.

7. Keep your shoes dry the right way

If you run in slushy or wet conditions, put newspaper in your shoes immediately after your run. The newspaper will soak up the water and help your shoes maintain their structure. Do not put shoes in the dryer or the oven – it will shrink the material and lessen their shelf life.

Also, be aware that the cushioning in your running shoes changes as it gets colder. Cold temperatures will stiffen the foam in the midsole and insole of your running shoes, changing their cushioning properties. Because your shoes are stiffer when running outside in the winter, they cause more localized pressure on the sole of your foot. In many ways, cold shoes are similar to shoes with a lot of miles on them: as shoes age, they also get stiffer as their EVA foam wears out.

8. Hydrate like it’s the Summer

It may be cold and dry outside, and you might not think that you’re sweating, but you could be losing just as much fluid in the Winter as you do in the Summer. It’s important that you rehydrate after each run and stay hydrated throughout the day. You can measure exactly how much sweat you lose on your run with our handy sweat loss calculator for runners.

9. Racing in the cold

Racing in the cold definitely impacts your performance. If you’re interested in the exact data, we looked at all the research in our post on how running in the cold impacts race performance. Some of the findings conclude that:

Your body relies more heavily on carbohydrates and less on fats for its energy.

Your lactate production is higher for a given intensity, indicating that you’re going deeper into “oxygen debt” to produce the necessary energy to maintain a given pace (as evidenced by a higher oxygen consumption rate in colder temperatures).

Your muscle contractions are less powerful, which demands an increase in fast-twitch muscle fiber usage, perhaps explaining the higher lactate production.

The Screw Shoe For Running on Packed Snow and Ice!

By Matt Carpenter, www.skyrunner.com

Do you run on packed snow and ice? Are you tired of slipping and falling? The Screw Shoe is one solution to the problem! By inserting some screws into the bottom of your shoes you will be able to run in the worst conditions. The process is quick, easy and costs next to nothing:-)

I did not invent this concept—it is something that has been passed around from runner to runner. My goal is just to show you how easy it is to make your own Screw Shoes.

Selecting Screws

Sheet metal screws with hex heads are awesome because the head on them has a lip that really grips well on ice. This is important because the screws are inserted from the outside into the bottom of the shoe and it is the head of the screw that provides the traction—not the point! #8 1/2" long screws work fine in most shoes because they do not go through the shoe yet they are long enough that they don’t come out too easily. #8 3/8" screws might be a little safer in the fronts of some shoes. If you have a very thin shoe, or you are just paranoid about how thin the front of your shoe looks, then you can use #6 1/4" long screws. However, they are harder to find and they come out rather easily. No matter what, do not use the screw pictured below right!!!

Where to Buy

Most hardware stores have hex head sheet metal screws. However, if you can’t find them in your area I recommend:

Amazon.com - 100 pack of #8 3/8" Sheet Metal Screws - Good for thinner shoes

Amazon.com - 100 pack of #8 1/2" Sheet Metal Screws - Good for most shoes

Tools

A screwdriver will work but the “fun factor” disappears after about two screws. Further, using a screwdriver to start a screw into rubber may have you using your entire four-letter-word vocabulary!!! A ratchet screwdriver with a 1/4" socket will at least ease the task of starting the screws.

A cordless drill with a magnetic tip and a 1/4" socket can do a shoe in less than a minute and makes the project almost fun! A neat trick here is that most magnetic tips are 1/4" so you won’t even need to track down the 1/4" socket. This setup is so slick it may be worth a trip to the neighbors to borrow theirs if you don’t have one. Or, since most shoe screwing is done in the winter, this could be the perfect x-mas gift for that special crazy runner!

However you go about it, do not over tighten the screws! Stop screwing when the head of the screw touches the rubber so it will stay in longer. I have also heard the claim that pre-drilling a small pilot hole for the screw will help it stay in longer. I tested this theory by pre-drilling one shoe and not the other. Both sets of screws seemed to stay in equally well and the occasional screw that did come out did so randomly from either shoe so I really don’t think this step is worth the extra effort. Now one could argue that pre-drilling would make starting the screws with a screwdriver easier but I would question why anyone who has access to a drill would not simply use it to insert the screws!?

Screw Placement

Pretty much anything goes unless you have “air” or “gel” shoes in which case you will need to be more selective when placing the screws. I have 18 screws in each shoe just because someone else had 17. They had 17 just because someone else had 16, etc. The shoe on the right is my wife Yvonne’s. She has 19—we runners are a competitive lot! As you can see she placed the screws on the treads because placing screws in-between them would be pointless. If you look closely you can see the lip on the screw that was referred to above.

For me the screws in the heel are more important than the ones in the front because I hate falling on my butt when coming down a hill. On really nasty days the Incline Club has been known to bring a box full of screws and a cordless drill to the club runs. The assembly line looks something like this:

Conclusion

That is all there is to the Screw Shoe! I use them mostly in the spring when the warmer days melt the snow and then the water turns to ice during the colder nights. This seems to happen a lot on trails that get a lot of use like the Barr Trail on Pikes Peak. Others use them all winter long on ice covered roads.

Oh, speaking of roads, I usually have to run a mile or so on the roads to get to/from the trails. Other than a hearing a “click, click, click” Screw Shoes work just fine on roads. Yes, it does wear the screw heads out a little faster but again, the screws are cheap:-)

Once winter is over you will not need to buy new shoes because you can just remove the screws. Unless of course you put a bunch of miles on your Screw Shoes—they wear out just like all running shoes!

Runner Spotlight - Mike Purvis

This month's spotlight is featuring Mike Purvis. Mike may be someone you recognize as he isbheavily involved in the running community. At our races you have probably seen him setting up cones, making sure our courses are ready for you to set out to accomplish your goal. Well not only does Mike have race equipment to help with our races but he also owns a race management company himself. He founded Kentuckiana Race Management (KRM) in 2015 and his first race was the Derby City TRIfecta (a triathlon at Waterfront Park).

But before we get into that let’s learn more about Mike’s background in sport. Mike grew up running and competed at both Butler High School and the University of Louisville. Upon graduation he decided to take a break from running and began bike racing. He rode everything from motorcycles, mountain bikes, road bikes and everything in between. One thing is for sure Mike cannot sit still and eventually decided to take on a new challenge, triathlon. Both bike racing and triathlon gave him the opportunity to travel and accomplish his athletic goals. Triathlon brought him back to running and after an 11 year break. Now he can’t imagine life without it!

Mike also owns WORKitOUT Sports Massage where he focuses on helping athletes reach their goals. Because of this business he has been able to connect with athletes all over the city and beyond. What he has gathered from all of these athletes has helped him host races participants can’t wait to be part of. His desire to host one of a kind events is what has prompted his latest transition from hosting triathlons to road running races.

Mike’s company, KRM, will be hosting its first annual SummerFest 10k on June 11, 2022 at Iroquois Park. The course will take you on a scenic loop throughout Iroquois Park. The start/finish line will be near the Iroquois Amphitheater, which will be an amazing venue for pre and post race entertainment. He is bringing back the 70’s and 80’s vibes so be prepared to have a good time. This is a race you do not want to miss out on. There will also be a team competition so grab 2-4 friends to help you cross the finish line. Details and registration are at Races — Kentuckiana Race Management (kyrace.com)

We are lucky to have Mike at our races and are excited for him in his new race venture. SummerFest sounds like it is going to be a race you won’t want to miss!.

Click here for more details and to register for the SummerFest 10k.