Women's Running

embracing change

I WAS ON A TRAIL RUN THE OTHER DAY from my new home in Boulder, Colorado. The altitude, combined with being up way too late working the night before, was kicking my butt. But in between the hard-fought breaths, I just kept thinking: Wow, I am so lucky right now. Trail running is such a refreshing change of pace, and every time I get out there I’m reminded why I should get out there more. No one’s checking their watch or fighting to hold a certain pace. The group I was with that morning routinely stopped at forks in the path to make sure we were all together. We’d chat a little, snap some photos of the stunning mountain views, and be back on our way. On the trail, I’m learning,…

women's running

Editor-in-Chief Jen Ator Senior Editor Erin Strout ART & PHOTO Art Director David Allen CONTRIBUTORS Contributing Writers Lauren Bedosky, Caitlin Carlson, Kiera Carter, Amy Goodson, Heather Irvine, Matthew Kadey, Hillary Kigar, Susan Lacke, Emily Long, Bethany Mavis, Natalie Niemczyk, Gabrielle Porcaro, Nicole Radziszewski, Sarah Wassner Flynn Contributing Artists and Photographers Mark Compton, Hannah DeWitt, Brad Kaminski, Jason Schneider, Julia Vandenoever MEDIA Director of Production & Circulation Heather Arnold Director of Marketing & Audience Development Dave Trendler Digital Director, Strategy & Operations Anna Horsch Manager of Operations & Human Resources Ilana Coenen ADVERTISING Sales Director Shannon Standefer, sstandefer@pocketoutdoormedia.com ACCOUNT SERVICES Account Manager Erin Hays CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ANDY PEMBERTON CHAIRMAN FELIX MAGOWAN EDITORIAL DIRECTOR ERIN BERESINI CONTROLLER GREG ABRAHAMSON STAFF ACCOUNTANT SUSANNE MIDDLETON OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR ILANA COENEN…

womensrunning.com/mag

FEATURE Amy Cragg Is Trusting Her Team IN 2018, AMY CRAGG TOOK A MISSTEP while training in Mammoth Lakes, California, and tweaked her hamstring. She recovered fairly quickly, but it was enough to put a crushing end to her goal of lining up for the 2018 Chicago Marathon. We all can relate to how difficult it is when you work so hard toward something big and then it’s taken away. Her advice? Trust your squad. “Surround yourself with people who are going to have your best interests at heart, who aren’t afraid to tell you when it’s not the right thing—and trust them,” she says. “I wouldn’t have been the one to pull the plug. But they knew that long term, it would hurt me.” Cragg, 35, is a member of the Bowerman Track Club,…

recalibrate your counters

SCIENCE, SAYS: Speaking in the second person could boost your results A new study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences compared the effectiveness of self-talk using first-person or second-person pronouns (e.g., telling yourself “I can do this!” vs. “You can do this!”). The results were pretty impressive: 13 of the 16 subjects did better during a 10K cycling time trial while using second-person rather than first-person pronouns. This finding builds on previous research that has suggested that second-person self-talk boosts public speaking performance and reduces the associated stress, possibly because it enhances “self-distancing.” Stepping outside your immediate experiences and emotions, and viewing them instead from the detached perspective of a supportive onlooker, allows you to take the fear of failure less personally and to make better decisions. The New Science on…

when in doubt, walk it out

If you’re someone who lies sleepless in bed for hours at night, don’t. “I hear this from patients all the time: ‘I’m falling asleep watching television on the couch and then I get into bed and I’m wide-awake and I don’t know why,’” says Walker. “And it’s because the bedroom has become a trigger for wakefulness.” The analogy he gives: You would never sit at the dinner table waiting to get hungry, so why would you lie in bed waiting to get sleepy? “Our brains are incredibly associative devices, and if you lie there in bed awake, very quickly your brain—night after night, week after week—starts to learn the association between your bed being the place where you are away, not asleep.” What you need to do is break that negative association,…

ending the taboo around periods

Fun fact you may know: Rose Lavelle scored the goal that locked the United States’ Women’s World Cup victory this past July. Fun fact you may not know: The next day, she got her period. How (and why) do we know this insanely personal detail? Because it's a well-established fact that the menstrual cycle is a limiting factor on sports performance. And the USWNT want us all to finally start talking about it. Working with a leading sports consultant, the team was able to monitor their cycles and adjust diets, sleep habits, and training loads for each player to minimize the impact leading up to the big game. Download the same period tracker they used to better understand your cycle and get simple, evidence-based tips to help you better train with your…