Some things I learned at my runners clinic

A year ago, I went to a runners clinic hosted by Intermountain at the Utah Valley Hospital. This was a clinic that was free to the public for anyone who has an interest in running as a hobby or for sport. They taught some helpful hints that have improved my running. As I said before, I am an amateur runner and since I am the lone wolf in my family with any interest in running, I have to really search for whatever help I can find. At the clinic a gift card was given out to all in attendance and was good for a training session with one of their sport trainers at the Utah Valley Sports Performance Sports Training center. I finally booked a session earlier last month and this how it went.

My athletic trainer's name is Dan. He first wanted to know what my struggles and concerns with running were. I told him hydration and cool downs. He sympathized with my concern about hydration. In reference to my earlier blog post in training for a half marathon, you are supposed to keep yourself hydrated constantly, especially on long distant runs. I was told to drink a few ounces every three miles or so. Electrolytes are encouraged. Whenever I drank a ton on the run I would have to urinate more often. Have you ever drunk a Powerade or any similar sport drink? They seem to immediately run right through you! Dan said that instead of gorging myself while on the run with water and electrolytes to try focusing more on hydrating myself prior to the race, lightly during the race and frequently for the rest of the day. After gathering my size and weight he estimated that I would need at least 72 ounces of water daily. He also said that when I am feeling dehydrated to try running with a stick of gum in my mouth. Something that would keep you salivating. I am still trying out these new recommendations and I will let you know how they turn out for me.   

As for stretching, for warm ups and cool downs he emphasized the recommendation to only do dynamic stretches for warm ups and static stretches for cool downs.

What is dynamic and static stretching? I’m glad you asked.

Dynamic stretching is more like getting your legs and body moving really fast. Check out this video for a good example of dynamic stretching.

Static stretching is the more famous one when you are not moving but stretch your legs and body like so:

He then filmed me running on the treadmill so I could see my posture and how I was laying my feet down in order to make adjustments.

He gave me some other helpful workout tips for my time in the gym as well. 

I am supposed to follow up with Dan 6 weeks from now to see if my running form has improved.

Hopefully with all of this new knowledge I can have better results in my next race.

Do you have any helpful advice for me as well since I am an amateur runner?

Musicals are stupid

Riverton High School's production of Guys and Dolls

Musicals are stupid. This is an odd statement coming from a person who grew up loving the arts and even lettering in theatre in high school. But I guess people change. I can’t really put my finger on the moment this changed for me but I do know some incidences that occurred that helped this along.

While I was changing my major for the fourth time in college, I became a theatre major for two semesters. Why only two semesters? Because when I asked the academic adviser over the theatre department and the counselor at the career center at UVU about how I could make a living as a theater major, they both said, “I don’t know.” Another reason was it was mandatory that all theatre majors at UVU had to watch all of UVU’s productions and critique them for all the theatre classes. One musical that I was forced to see was called Chess. 

Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA), and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves two chess grandmasters, an American and a Soviet, fighting over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other all in the context of a politically-driven, Cold War-era tournament between the two men. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any real individuals, the character of the American grandmaster was loosely based on Bobby Fischer.

I’m not surprised that Chess premiered on Broadway in 1988, but only lasted for two months. Yes, it’s that bad.

Here is a quote from the critique I turned in to my theater classes for that particular production.

“This is the seventh UVU production I’ve had the opportunity to see and I’ve finally realized two things: 1. I hate musicals, and 2. They have (the not so popular) scripts tucked away in the theater archives never to be put on production ever again for a reason. I think I would rather passionately make out with a diseased warthog than to have to sit through a second production of Chess.”

I still passed my classes regardless of my blunt critique. Here are a few points I have come up with to pinpoint what bugs me about musicals and how they are being performed among us.

1.      “We need another pointless musical number!” I believe that a musical number in a production is intended to accentuate critical points of the plot. Some writers do this, and some, I think, are just adding musical numbers into their play for the heck of it. If that is the case, then they are just wasting the audience’s time. I don’t have to be familiar with the play to feel that a musical number is about to start. If the musical number is actually relevant to the plot then the second challenge is trying to understand what is being sung by the amateur performer and /or the bad microphones and sound system. If no one can hear or understand the lyrics the performer is singing, then this also is a waste of the audience’s time.

2.       Overdone productions: Rodgers and Hamerstein material needs to go away. You might have seen one of their famous productions on video. South Pacific, Cinderella, The King and I, Oklahoma... they are all long, and have been circulating through arts councils and other theaters in Utah for decades, and are, in my opinion, beaten beyond the life of a dead horse. Fiddler on the Roof and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, although not written by R and H, are also overdone and need to go away.

3.       Amateur performers: The state of Utah has a small pocket of people who are passionate about theatre. Most performers around the valley are nowhere near as talented as what you would find on Broadway in New York City. So when you have lead performer who is tone deaf, and can’t sing or dance, you are stuck with the amateur for the next two to three hours.

4.       Awkwardly exiting the theater: Hale Center Theatre is big on this and other smaller arts councils mimic them. When a musical has concluded and you are exiting the theater you have to make your way through the horde of the performers you just saw because they are all at the door as you exit. This stupid Utah tradition is highly unprofessional; I was told that it is never proper etiquette to wear your costume off the stage. It is awkward as well. If you are indifferent to the performers and were not impressed with their performance you feel obligated to say something to them anyway before you can pass by them because it is only polite to cheaply compliment them. To me this is a pathetic way for amateur performers to desperately fish for praise and adulation.

These are the four points I could come up with. Do you have anything to add to it? How do you feel about the performing arts and the undying musical trend?