Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Sport specific training takes practice on the specific sport you are training for.  Cross training is great for the rest of the body.  I spent six months training for a Half Ironman triathlon this year.  I took a couple of weeks off, and then started training for a marathon.  I took it easy on my marathon training because of my knee issues that started to scare me on the second to last long run in my marathon training. 

Since I had a scare, I started tapering a week early.  Since I had all of this extra time on my hands, I went out and did a 90-minute Vinyasa yoga session.  I struggled to make it through the session and I was sore for 5 days.  All of the pain led to the realization that, I am getting out of shape.  I spent most of the year training for endurance with little time spent on strength and speed.  I jumped on the scale and saw that I weighed in at 153 pounds.  Not fat for a guy who is 5’ 7” tall but certainly not lean.

If you are reading this, you are probably not a couch potato.  If you are a couch potato, you are thinking about changing.  Here are some thoughts:

• Athletes are in better shape than most people.
• Athletes tend to develop sport specific muscles.
• Sport specific muscle growth causes muscle imbalances.
• Muscle imbalances lead to injuries.
• Being an injured athlete with imbalanced muscles is better than being a couch potato.

I found that I am in a rut.  I can see how I got into the rut.  Things in life happened and I let things happen.  As soon as I realized these things were happening, I set about changing them.  I could have easily told myself to wait until after the marathon to change things up.  I did not do that.  I took charge and started changing things that were in my control. 

I looked at my life and told myself that I was in a rut and I had to get out of it.  Because of the upcoming marathon, I am not making big changes but I have already changed my routine and started doing light workouts just to break up the routine. 

Life is full of people who tell you not to do something or you can’t do something.  Those people are followers.  We must all lead our own lives.  Do not worry about other people.  Get out and lead the way.

This post is a list of things on my desk as I clean up.  First thing on my desk is my cool Vineman 70.3 medal.  Since I am so proud of it, I had Jasmin at Brazen Racing engrave the medal.

It took a lot of work to complete a half ironman triathlon.  I am proud of that medal.  Brazen racing charges $10 to engrave a medal at the race and $15 to engrave a special medal.  The price difference is because the machine is set up to engrave all of the race medals on race day.  Different medals require a different machine setup.  It also cost about $2 to mail the medal out.

Most of my medals wind up in a drawer.  Special medals make it to the wall.  Really special medals get engraved.

Strutz Sole Angel arch wrap with cushion support.  I am not reviewing these for an article but I love them.  I have high arches that can be protected with orthotics but it is really hard to get something for the metatarsal area up by the ball of the foot.  These things wrap around the foot and stay where you put them.  There is something about the feet that can cause the whole leg to ache.  These supports help alleviate that pain a little.

Arctic Ease.  Another one of those cool gadgets that work.  It is basically a gauze pad that you wrap around a sore part of the body and it magically cools it off.  I don’t know how it works but I know that it does.

When the wrap starts to dry out, you add a teaspoon of water and return it to service.  I don’t use it very often but it is nice to have in my work locker for when I get sore during my morning or lunch time workouts.  If you use seran wrap to hold it in place, your clothes won’t get wet.

Earbuds.  I had enough ear buds on my desk to fill up a zip lock bag and have some left over.  I only write about the stuff I like.  If I’m not a big fan, I simply tell the company and move on with life.  Mike’s Note:  I have some neat earbuds and audio products that should get some attention sometime here in the near future (hopefully).

Chap Stick Classic.  All people who spend a lot of time outdoors should protect their skin.  Soft lips and soft skin are important if you want to get a hug and a kiss.

Moving up from international (Olympic) distance to half Ironman distance triathlons is a big leap.  It can sometimes mean going from 2 ½ to 3 hours for the event up to 6 to 7 hours for the event.

When you are training for a half Ironman or 70.3, you can do an international distance triathlon on Saturday and still have to go do a long training day on Sunday.   To maintain a happy family life, I had to make a deal with my wife that Saturdays would be my training day and Sunday would be my day for her.

The time commitment is huge.  I had to invest a lot of time and effort to finish in 6 ½ hours.  If I want to finish in 5 ½ hours, I would have to make another huge time investment.  Make sure your significant other and family understand the time and dedication required to successfully complete a 70.3 event.

Finishing in 6.5 hours was a big success for me.  I started serious training six months before the triathlon.  When I started training, I could do all of the events individually.  I could not do them back-to-back but I could do them.  I started out by building for three weeks and resting for one week.  The rest week would be about 50% of the total workout time of the training week.

Swimming – A typical week would entail of mornings swims four or five times a week varying between distance and speed work for a total of four swim miles per week.  I would occasionally add a weekend long swim in the bay to keep the open water swimming skills up.

Running – I would run at lunch from Monday to Thursday varying the distances from four-to-eight miles per day.  Some weeks, I would forgo the long run and do a faster tempo run instead.  On Saturdays, I would do a long run of 6-10 miles followed by a short bike ride of less than 50 miles.  Some weeks, I would do a half marathon with no bike ride after.

Cycling – I am a reluctant cyclist, so I always looked for an excuse to get out of riding but I forced myself to do a long bike ride on Saturdays.  I usually did 50-100 miles per week on the bike.  I never did speed work.  I just got on the thing and rode.

There is a lot to training for a half Ironman.  I woke up before 6:00 AM, almost every day of the week.  Some Saturdays, I would leave my house at 8:00 AM and get home at 8:00 PM.  During the week, I was in bed before 10:00 PM.

To learn how to train for a long triathlon, I read a lot of books on training and nutrition.  My physiology likes to stop eating while I am doing long distance training.  Poor nutrition on long training days has bad side effects.

Alameda Runners and Alameda Tech are both fun sites to write for, but I’ve had previous tech stories shared on major news sites. As such, I like to mix it up and want to share a new publication where you can find my sometimes witty comments on technology.

I recently started to write articles for The Inq, a well-established tech news website.

I’ll hopefully cover a variety of different topics, but my first two articles have been related to online file sharing. My first article focused on new BitTorrent research being done that could help uploaders receive a speed boost, and about a recent agreement between ISPs and copyright groups that is bad for file sharers.

I’ll always want to continue writing for Alameda Runners and Alameda Tech — but it’s fun to branch out and try something new again.

Bike commuting is a popular mode of transportation for many of us in the Bay Area, though trying to use public transportation with your bike can be difficult. BART (the SF Bay Area train/subway system) is in a constant struggle to accommodate bikes while also keeping passengers safe.

Learn more about bikes on BART by visiting the BART website.

To help learn more about its passengers, BART hopes bike passengers will take a survey to help plan future improvements.

The survey can be found here.

Here is what BART had to say regarding the survey:

We want to hear from both riders who use their bikes as part of their BART trip and those who don’t bike but share the train with bicyclists. Please take a few minutes to complete the BART Bicycle Survey so we can better understand your thoughts and opinions about bikes and BART.

The survey is 35 questions and should only take a couple of minutes of your time. Remember, it’s important to do your part, especially if you’re a BART bike commuter — if they want to make changes, we have to give them feedback.

(Thanks to BikeLink for informing me about the BART survey.)

Many active people are looking forward to a summer of fun in the sun, but I’ve seen a lot of tweets and Internet chatter about what to do this fall.  For those in Northern California, a chance to hit the roads and trails of South Lake Tahoe could be appropriate just one more time, before ski and snowboard season begins.

Here is what Alameda Runners was able to learn about the Tahoe Marathon:

Run, walk, swim, paddle, peddle or golf during one of the many Lake Tahoe Marathon events, Sept. 23-25. All of the runs are point-to-point and scenic from start to finish. Both the half and full marathons are along the west shore of Lake Tahoe and feature challenging hills around Emerald Bay. The 10K, which begins at Inspiration Point above Emerald Bay, is 99% downhill and covers the most spectacular portion of the route. Complementing the traditional runs is an Extreme Golf competition and a kayak-bike-marathon triathlon.

South Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite destinations — and it’s an athlete’s playground year-round — with running, cycling, and excellent skiing available.

I greatly enjoyed riding the 72-mile journey around the Lake, which includes some challenging (and rewarding!) climbs available to participants.  (A full list of bike rides hosted by BikeTheWest.com can be found on their website.)

A new report from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission indicates the City of Alameda has roads that need to be repaired after scoring a “fair” rating in 2010.

Our island was given a fair rating when it scored 66 out of 100 — the same rating given to the overall Bay Area — on the 2010 pavement condition index (PCI) charts, which indicated we have roads in need of repair.

The city normally does a decent job of fixing major road issues in Alameda, but there are plenty of roads and bike lanes that can provide a rather bumpy ride for us. At a time when local, regional, state, and national governments face budget issues and political scandals, some roads aren’t going to be changed any time soon.

As someone that has ridden a decent amount around the Bay Area, I still find Alameda’s roads suitable for leisurely rides — and hard training rides around the island. Instead of worrying about roads, I tend to be more concerned about the large number of reckless drivers not paying attention to pedestrians and cyclists.

Editors note:  Some roads are worse than others and some of the jogging trails are in rough shape.  I have no complaints because we have all of the trails with flowers and plants along the way.

Mike’s Followup:  Agreed about some of the jogging trails being in rough shape.  You should always pay attention when running or riding, but the trails help enforce this mentality.

You may have noticed a guest blog written by Yoon recently posted on Alameda Runners, and I wanted to share some more information. Trails Edge is a new blog I recently started writing for, and I wanted to highlight my first three posts for the site.

My first article for the Trails Edge blog featured some of my favorite fitness energy supplements, and can be found here.

If you’re looking for hydration pack advice, I recently wrote a quick story about different choices for trail runners and regular hikers. You can find the story here.

For people still debating whether or not they need a heart rate monitor, I also put together a basic story about the topic. (We already know that readers here seem to love gadgets and technology, so we’re sure you all have high-tech gizmos already.)

I’m writing for Trails Edge every week and look forward to contributing new and exciting stories that I will also share here. More importantly, Alameda Runners now has a new resource for enthusiasts, as I look forward to publishing more guest blogs.

This is a guest post from Yoon (my editor @ TrailsEdge ) about a new book focusing on ultramarathons that has received good reviews.

As a non-marathon runner, Relentless Forward Progress opened my eyes to a whole new level of strategy, planning, and race preparation. From the start, I knew I didn’t meet the qualifications to run an ultra because I’ve never even come close to attempting a regular marathon, but dove into this book as recommended by a friend. I may have just added an item to the bucket list. Running marathons demand respect. Running ultra marathons makes you a superhero, and if there’s anything I’ve wanted in my life since I was a kid, it is to be a super human.

As mentioned by Byron Powell, the author and Editor of iRunFar.com, the book is about as evergreen as a book gets; the content will never go out of date. Relentless Forward Progress is a confident authority that covers every aspect of ultra’s from prepare your quadricepts for down-hill running, to solving race day logistics like support crews and drop bags, and selecting the right runner’s pack to avoid chaffing.

If you’re able to glaze over fine details (schedules, plans, etc.), it’s a fairly quick read. I had it done in about 6 hours and was inspired to hit the trail for a short run (let’s just say the book’s impact on my running habits is long term). It’s an encyclopedia on ultra’s that if read in its entirety, will have you chock full of information that can be applied immediately, even on short runs.
The advice comes from many seasoned experts who have run hundreds and maybe even thousands of ultra’s and have different opinions on how to train. For instance, some of the commentators swear that speed work is important, while others say it’ll slow you down. That’s the beauty of this book; it’s the foundations of an ultra, but the fine tuning has to be done by you.

You’ll realize that ultra’s are on a whole ‘nother level from marathons. Because anyone can run a marathon, given enough time and resources; but an ultra requires that you plan out every minute of every detail; otherwise, you might not finish before the sun goes down.

We haven’t explored guest posts too much on Alameda Runners, but the feature is a definite possibility in the future. Since it’s obviously impossible for us to review, test, interview, and interact with all companies involved in endurance sports, we hope these guest posts help share even more knowledge with all of you.

I’m taking a trip to Colorado early next month to get a rare chance to play in the snow, after major snow withdrawal from living in California for so long. As someone currently living just a few feet above sea level, the thought of visiting a location that is above 8,000 ft. in elevation sounds like an adventure.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the mountains, and a few people have warned me about possible acute mountain sickness (AMS). I’m not overly concerned, but wanted to share a few tips and recommendations how to avoid feeling down during vacation.

If you want to learn more about AMS, here is some reading material at Altitude.org and the NIH.

To help reduce the likelihood of suffering from the effects of high altitude, the Breckenridge Medical Clinic has a few recommendations:

• Increase fluid intake
• Decrease salt intake
• Avoid alcohol and minimize caffeine
• Eat frequent small meals
• Moderate physical activity and get rest
• Medications and oxygen can help you feel much better

The excellent people at Breckenridge helped share their experiences, with one especially helpful PR person noting she stuck with a slower pace “to compensate for heavier breathing.”

Of note: “Since most people traveling to Breckenridge do arrive through Denver, the BMC’s advice on spending a day or two down there is quite good and I’ve definitely advised family members to do so.”

I’m going to spend almost two nights in Boulder before heading up to Breckenridge, and have been told by locals that should be plenty of time to adjust to the higher altitude.

In addition to the altitude, residents from climates like the Bay Area need to be fully prepared for the weather.

Here is basic winter weather information about Breckenridge:

Breckenridge enjoys a high-alpine climate with an average annual snowfall of 300 inches. The average winter high temperature is 28 degrees Fahrenheit and Breckenridge enjoys on average 300 days of sunshine per year. It is estimated that the valley basin has only 30 frost-free days a year.

Since the weather temperature remains mild throughout the year around here in the SF bay area, it can be hard to remember what it’s like to experience multiple seasons. I’ve checked the Breckenridge weather forecast every day, and have noticed dramatic changes in the weather.

Unpredictable weather means additional time packing and preparing for the trip to ensure I don’t lose any fingers or toes to frost bite.