Coach MK livestreams question and answer sessions each week on the Fitness Protection Program Facebook Page, The Fitness Protection, and Program YouTube Channel simultaneously. Join us! They are a lot of fun, super informative, and anyone may ask follow-up questions during the live broadcast!

This week, Coach MK answers questions about Toe Yoga, Dedicated AF, and Ramp Rates.

#WeeklyWins - 11:39

Runner Interrupted

• Char Gore, I should be done with all chemo and radiation mid-September. I have set my "feel like a normal human" day as OCTOBER 1st. That is the day I hope all side effects are gone (specifically nausea, neuropathy, and fatigue) and I can safely start running again. Living for October 1st!
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Build

• JJ Jensen has been hitting her strength goals all month in July

ReBuild

• Dr. Amanda Bailey completed her 90 min of avocado toast while on call.  She managed to talk to worried parents while still completing her run.
• Kristen Frazier is really proud of all of the work her family did on their home this month. She said it “Feels like I'm finally comfortable in the house that we've lived in for almost 20 years. Amazing what some paint, junk purging, rearranging, and minor upgrades can do!”
• Christine Lancaster completed Lane 2, the whole month. This September makes 3 years from when she stopped running due to injury and it has been a long slow road back to hear. She said “The hardest part of Lane 2 was really all mental and the idea that I could run in blocks on time without walking. Anyway, I'm so pleased and proud of how the month has gone”. 

Maintain

• Corina Terry is  Proud that she has stuck to her running & it’s paying off. She posted a picture of a hill she ran on vacation that is a real butt-kicker  & has been her nemesis since I started running almost 20 years ago. She has only been able to run it once before. The altitude up there is about 8,600 feet. She lives in Vegas at about 1,000 feet & runs in her flat neighborhood. (There is a decent hill about a mile away I hit every Saturday.) She went slow & steady & did it! 
• Brenda Haskill completed her first month in Maintain. To do that it meant she had to take good care of myself amidst all the stuff going on. She completed most runs according to plan.
• Susan DiLeo feels like she’s finally acclimated to the heat. She still detests it, mind you, but can hack it. Sometimes she doesn't call her run a run, though: She tells herself  “I'm "listening to an audiobook" or "catching up on a podcast". 
• Nicole Wood celebrated her daughter’s 13th birthday.
• Emily Sorenson finished her solo half marathon. She opted not to “race” it because of high heat and humidity forecasted but she managed her pace and made it through! She reports that “Running a half in July is HARD, but I did it! This was probably the hardest half I’ve run, but I’m so proud I hung in there and was smart about my expectations” and the very next week she managed to, complete all her runs, walked on Thursday, and not only did I do all her strength this week but actually did it on the scheduled day! And added in some extra loop work to boot! When she left for my run this Saturday her hubs asked how long she would be gone. “I told him for almost 2 hours, and he goes for 2 hours?! What are you training for now?! I said nothing, I’m maintaining” 
• Alicia Budd is proud of how diligent she’s been with running and strength amid all the craziness of life these days.

Questions - 23:16

Build - 23:32

• My question is about breathing. When I'm going about my run and I get a bit distracted, my heart rate seems to be at its lowest. But then I notice I feel like I am shallow breathing. When I start to breath more intentionally, HR goes up. Is this normal?

ReBuild - 25:26

• Toe Yoga - I can't do it, I try nothing happens, I look at my legs/toes/feet command the muscles to move, touch the muscles to try and activate them.  I don't know what else to do.I have scrapped, rolled, massaged to no avail (both feet and calves) Anything else you can think of??
• I had a hysterectomy on July 28. Had my post-op appointment today and my doc gave me the ok to start walking for exercise. She suggested I hold off on running for 2 more weeks which is fine with me because the thought of bouncing around right now does not sound good. Pre-surgery I had been doing a hybrid of Maintain and rebuild - running with heart rate <140 for the times specified in Re-build, alternating lane 1 and 2 depending on how I felt any given day. To get started again I was thinking of walking the rebuild lane 1 time for the next 2 weeks and then start introducing running as tolerated, following the workouts as written for the first few weeks of August and jumping in full on for rebuild in September. All this while of course listening to my body and adjusting down if things don’t feel good. Does that sound like a good plan? I’m open to any suggestions. Thanks for the continued coaching and loving through all phases of life and exercise!!!   Alicia Budd

Maintain 30:47

• I was lucky enough to spend some downtime, really spend downtime, on vacation last week. I was also able to get 4 deep tissue massages. Now however I feel every niggle and twinge that I am sure my over-stressed body was keeping tight in my shoulders, back, and hips, which I am sure is just because I am finally a bit more relaxed. What types of mobility work can I do (and of course I need to restart foam rolling) to keep some of the tension at bay? THANKS!  Kristy
• Thanks for the tip on the Maurten Hydrogel it really helped. As to the texture, I'd just like to give shout out to all the partners of men. Thank you.
• Ok now that I got the umm, goo comment out of the way, a question about heart rate. I'm on week 6 of the Dedicated AF plan, the 20/4: 00-hour run. I kept my HR avg at 145 up to 1:45. After that, I gradually averaged out at about 160 which I'm finding is normal for me. Around 3:30 my knee felt a little wonky so I stopped to stretch it out. I got back on the horse and felt fine but the HR went to 180. Since my goal here was to really keep the average below 150, I called it at 3:50 and finished up with an average of 157. As you've taught us here, listen to the body. But I'm not sure what my body was telling me here. Was my body telling me I'm close to being in danger here? Though I felt good, is this perhaps a sign I went a bit too hard, or long? Going from 140 to 160 I'm not too worried but 160 to 180 and climbing seemed to be a "Danger Will Robinson Danger moment." If I straight up walked at that point I'm sure I could have gotten it down but I decided to bag it then. I'd rather be at the pool wishing I was on the trail, then in the ER wishing, I backed off.

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Coach MK Fleming is the founder of Fitness Protection, LLC. Click HERE to download her most popular training plan, Tenacious AF, free!