by ·Comments Off on 100-day Marathon Training Plan

100 Day Marathon PlanI found an interesting marathon training plan.  The plan looks very promising and is called the 100 Day Marathon Plan.  Note that the link is an affiliate link.  It will not cost you anything to click it.  But it will take you to the author’s web site explaining exactly what you will get with the training plan.  Here are the highlights:

  • 8 different marathon training schedules based on your finishing time goal
  • Workouts based on your heart rate and specific running times
  • 15 instructional videos where he walks you step-by-step through the schedules
  • 10 additional videos covering important things like how to pick the right training shoes, running form, strength training
  • 120 pages that “walk you through” the whole marathon preparation process…

I could probably use this for the 2012 NYC Marathon—the marathon I’m training for after the upcoming California International Marathon.  And if things workout, then maybe, I can make it to the Boston Marathon.  I have to get fast though; have to eventually break 4 hours, then get down to 3:30.

Anyway, the offerings, information, and endorsements on the web site look very compelling.  When I get it, I’ll let you guys know how it works out.

If you’ve tried it before, let me know what you think.  They do have a 60-day money back guarantee, which is always a good thing, if you decide you want to purchase it today.

by ·Comments Off on Official 2011 Bridge to Bridge Time and Place

This is just for my own record keeping because I seem to always misplace prior years stats.  So I can’t recall if I’m getting better, worse, or the same.  This is the official 2011 Bridge to Bridge race results:

  • chip time: 1:07:28
  • gun time: 1:08:34
  • overall place:  630 out of 2242
  • age group place:  51 out of 149
  • average page:  9:03/M
  • time back from #1:  23:26
  • bib number: 2833
  • age group:  50-59
  • weather:  warmer than normal
  • thoughts:  My average pace from last years half marathon was faster; feels like I’m at a plateau; need interval training.

I’ll post all run times on this blog from here on.

by ·Comments Off on Less Corporate Sponsorship of 2011 Bridge to Bridge

In my younger years I would go to the Bridge to Bridge run and do the 12K, every year like clock work.  Back then I think they used to support the Big Brothers/Big Sister charity program.

There is the one thing that I (and I’m sure many others) looked forward to when I crossed the finish line—all the goodies you can stash in your plastic bag.

I recall Raley’s used to be one of the sponsors, and they gave a lot (little boxes of cereal, bananas, and even yogurt).  There were other companies there too; I can’t recall their names (getting old I guess), but they gave away sports drinks, sports bar, little trinkets, and many others.  I would always find my bag full of stuff!

This year is so different.  First of all, there weren’t as many booths with give-away goodies.  This tells you right away that there isn’t that many corporate sponsorship for these worthwhile runs anymore; and it seems to be less and less every year.

When I left the Bridge to Bridge expo today, this is what I had in my goody bag:

  • three half pint chocolate milk drinks
  • a handful of Glide Floss single use floss samples
  • a couple of 0.635 oz of almond nuts packets
  • the run t-shirt
  • a couple of bags to put all these goodies in

I wonder if the economy has something to do with it.  I hope more companies would sponsor this worthwhile event; it definitely adds to the after run festive atmosphere.  They do still have the main events:

  • concert (from some band I’m not too familiar with; of course I’m not really a heavy music listener)
  • massage area
  • various booths encouraging fitness/health club sign ups

Anyway, next year I’ll be back again to support this event; maybe we’ll be out of this economic drought and more corporations will sponsor the run.

Have anyone of you run this event?  If so, what do you think?

by ·Comments Off on Sleep Overrides Cross Training

Today is supposed to be my easy run or cross training day.  Unfortunately, when my alarm went off, I still felt I needed more sleep.

When this happens, I go into multiple alarm snooze mode.  I give my self 2 additional alarms—one that is 15 minutes later, and another that is 30 minutes later.  The second is a back up alarm, just in case I enter REM level sleep that is way too deep for an alarm to get through.

Anyway, after getting through the two alarms, I decided to just totally skip the morning cross training.  Instead, I will do my 30 minute to 1 hour cross training workout at my Taekwondo school.  There our teen and adult class warm up lasts almost 30 minutes.  That should suffice.

Regardless, the purpose of today is to still train, without stressing out the legs, thus giving it time to recover from yesterday’s track run.

by ·Comments Off on Treating Plantar Fasciitis

Below is how I treat my sore foot after a long run.

Treating Plantar Fasciitis

Here’s my sore foot rolling a frozen bottle of water. It works great for treating plantar fas

[updated entry] Long runs for me are 10Ks or longer, but I start feeling sore once I do 10 miles or more. To treat my sore foot, I use ice in a water bottle which I’ve kept frozen in my fridge. To use it, I simply put the bottle on the floor and roll my sore foot on it for 15 minutes. It works very well.

by ·Comments Off on Long Runs–Things to Consider

I just finished running my long run for the week.  The run spanned over 13.5 miles, and my legs and feet are tired—no, sore to be more exact.  As I type this, I am rolling my feet over a narrow cylindrical bottle of frozen water to help reduce soreness under my feet; and it feels good.

Anyway, when doing long runs (anything in the 10 plus miles range) , you need to take into account the following:

  1. Hydration:  For my long runs, I use a hydration belt with two 8-10 oz. canisters.  This seemed to be just enough for my 13.5 mile run.
  2. Energy Gel:  At my 12.5 mile mark, I started to get that weird feeling of weakness.  Generally this can happen if your body’s glycogen (stored energy) is depleted.  Most runners hit this at around the 18-20 mile mark.  I probably hit it early because I haven’t eaten anything since last night.  An alternative to using energy gel is just to use fluids that provide some calories for the run.  I generally use Powerade for that.   It has 80 calories per 12 fl. oz., and so every sip introduces some calories into the run.
  3. Proper Socks:  When you run long distance, it is best to make sure you have comfortable socks—the type that doesn’t cause pressure points between your feet and your shoes.  When you run long distance, any minor irritant, can become an injury—blister to be more exact.
  4. Audio:  Long runs can last for as much as two and a half hours.  I typically listen to the news, an eBook, or a podcast so that I can learn something at the same time.  Some say you shouldn’t distract yourself with such things, and to just listen to your body; but everyone is different, so do what works for you.  This definitely works for me.

That is it.  Hopefully this is useful for anyone wishing to conquer a half-marathon or full marathon someday.

by ·Comments Off on Hydration: Why It’s Important

As most people know, the human body is mostly made up of water. It just makes sense that we must keep it hydrated. As such, there is a known general rule that one must drink so many cups of water—depending on your size—every day. The average person loses up to 10 cups of water a day (up to 6 cups through urine and up to 4 through breathing, sweating, and bowel movement). So just to keep up with that, the average adult has to drink 8 cups of water a day. This is known as the 8×8 rule (8 ounces of water 8 times in a day).

When you run, your body needs more water primarily because it has to sweat and breath a lot of it out to keep the body temperature cool. When it doesn’t get enough, several things can happen. I’ll list some of the most common ones below, most of which I’ve peronally experienced:

1. Thirst
2. Dizziness
3. Dark urine (blood in urine)
4. Thirst
5. Lower level of alertness
6. Chills

There are different levels of dehydration. You might hit mild dehydration (2% fluid loss) once in a while, but hitting severe or extreme dehydration isn’t where you want to be, as you can put your life in danger.

Besides failure to hydrate can severely impact your running performance. So drinking is a must, unless you simply want to pass out or don’t care how you’ll perform.

The distances I run range anywhere from three or more miles. I use a hydration belt pack that can hold 2 bottles of water or Gatorade. Each bottle holds 8 to 10 ounces. One bottle suffices for runs below six miles. I use two bottles for anything beyond six miles.

Before running, I take several big gulps of gatorade or water. Then when I run, I take good sips of water at about the one to two mile intervals. This seems to work out for me (weight: 155 lbs., height: 5’7”).

by ·Comments Off on Warm up and cool down, part 2

After a run, regardless of the type of run, I do several stretching exercises designed to help minimize soreness.  At least that’s the idea behind it and it seems to help.

  • Hamstring stretch, 2 sets (20 sec per set per leg); I do this by putting my heel on the ground and keeping my toes high (works better if you use a wall or curb to prop up your foot.  At the same time leaning forward (in the same direction as the leg with the heel on the ground) while keeping the leg being stretched straight.  The leg that isn’t being stretched can be bent to help maintain balance.  
  • Standing straddle stretch, 2 sets (20 sec long each set)
  • Lateral stretches, 2 sets (20 sec long each set).  This might look and feel awkward.  This stretch is designed to stretch the IT (Iliotibial) band.  When you start feeling pain on the outside of your knees, it is because your IT band is getting strained or is rubbing against parts of your leg, causing it to get irritated.  The lateral stretch helps reduce the soreness and keeps the IT band from getting tight.  To do this stretch on your right leg, you would have to find a wall or something to hold on to on your right side; then you would cross your left leg in over your right leg that is stretch out resting on the outside of the foot.  The left leg is then carrying most of the weight.  As you bend the left leg and go lower, you are stretching the IT band.
  • Quad stretches, 2 sets (20 sec each set).  To do this on your right quadriceps, stand on your left leg while you hold on to something with your left; then bring your right heel up to your butt and pull it up with your right hand.

On a side note, keep hydrated before, during, and after a run.  Drink water or something like gatorade to keep your body hydrated.

In my next post, I’ll explain to you my own experience with hydration and its importance to running and daily life.

by ·Comments Off on Warm up and cool down, part 1

When you get to your late 20s, warming up becomes very important.  For running, I’ve found that doing a little bit of light stretching helps a lot, although in several running magazines, they have noted that stretching before running have no correlation to how better or how worse you perform on a run.

The bottom line is, do what works for you.

When I started getting into running in preparation for the Chicago Marathon over 2 years ago, I made sure to do the following things before the start of any of my runs, be it short, long, intervals, or tempo runs:

  1. 16 lunges
  2. 8 each forward and back leg swings
  3. 8 each lateral leg swings
  4. 2 sets of 10-sec hamstring stretch by pushing against a wall (do 2 sets per leg)
  5. 2 sets of hip rotations (8 repetitions in each direction)
  6. 2 sets of knee rotations (8 repetitions per direction)

After I finished all the above, then I started my running exercise. 

The set of cool down exercises I do at the end of a run is totally different and serves a different purpose.  I will enumerate them on my next posting.