Alameda Runners – Get After It!

When it comes to grocery shopping, you should never believe the hype!  There once was a time (right before I started running, of course) when I would go to Safeway and purchase whatever food, drinks, and snacks I wanted.  I slowly realized how difficult it is to burn calories and fuel my body properly while eating nothing but junk food.

The hardest part for me was going into Safeway and not purchasing all sorts of sugary, unhealthy drinks every time I went shopping.  Let me clarify:  I’m still eating occasional junk food and soda, but it’s much better than it was one year ago.

This article published by Men’s Health (thanks to David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding) shows the best and worst “health” drinks that you’ll find in your local grocery store.  The authors also include “health” drinks that you should absolutely avoid, and why you shouldn’t drink them.  Instead of just listing a bunch of unhealthy products, they also were kind enough to offer up a few healthy choices we can enjoy.

Worst water:  Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water.
Alternative:  Smartwater

Worst bottled tea:  Sobe Green Tea
Alternative: Honest Tea Green Dragon Tea

Worst meal replacement drink:  Right Size Skini Vanili
Alternative: Slim-Fast! French Vanilla

Worst functional beverage: Arizona Rx Energy
Alternative: Glaceau Vitamin Water 10 Revitalize Green Tea

Worst frozen fruit drink: Krispy Kreme Lemon Sherbet Chiller
Alternative: Very Berry Chiller

Worst “health” drink in America: Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape
Alternative:  High Protein Banana

The article lists why these are the worst drinks – and why the alternatives are better – so I’d urge you to give it a read.

The Oakland Raiders, the NFL team we all love to poke fun at, has stepped up to offer $200,000 that will be used to upgrade East Oakland’s Sobrante Park.  The City of Oakland will match the generous $200,000 offer to ensure the field only undergoes one major construction job to make all necessary changes.

it’s great to see the Raiders organization make an effort to help rejuvenate a community that is seemingly in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

As part of the park upgrade, the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation will oversee installation of a synthetic turf field and upgraded drainage system.

“The Sobrante Park football field restoration symbolizes the 50 year partnership of the Raiders and the Oakland Athletic League,” said Michael Moore, Oakland Athletic League Commissioner, during a recent press event.  “The ‘Commitment to Excellence’ for the youth of Oakland insures that the next generations of young ladies and young men have beautiful places to learn the virtues of ‘Victory with Honor.’ The OAL appreciates the commitment of the Oakland Raiders to student-athletes of the Oakland Unified School District.”

When finished, the new field will cater to an estimated 14,000 city youth — and the Sobrante Park Elementary School and James Madison Middle School — along with organized flag and tackle football teams.

It wasn’t long ago when golf and tennis were the most popular sports among Silicon Valley executives and uber rich snobs.  A recent Reuters article however, notes a continued trend I’ve seen (and fully support) over the past few years: the rise of popularity in endurance sports among executives and snobs.

There is a stereotype that all nerds are out of shape couch potatoes — and that may be true in many cases — but more CEOs and tech executives are turning to cycling, running, and other endurance activities to stay fit.

Image courtesy of mtc.ca.gov

“It is usually not a six- or seven-hour day, so part of it is, you probably want something to keep you mentally and physically in shape,” said Enrique Salem, Symantec COO, in an interview with Reuters.  “You want to do something that is challenging, that isn’t about running a business.”

The rest of the article can be found after the jump. Read more… »

Running is an activity that some people don’t enjoy because of the stress it puts on the body.  Doctors and physical therapists often times recommend the sport of cycling as a healthy, less physically stressful activity that still provides major health benefits.

This recent Women’s Health article (published on Active.com) lists the reasons why riding a bike is a great alternative to driving, running, or walking around town.  A lot of people who haven’t tried commuting around town by bike don’t realize how easy it is to burn calories even if they’re not dropping the hammer down during a tempo ride.

Christine Mattheis lists the following reasons why pedaling is a great way to get in shape and stay healthy:  It burns calories, you can do it “on go, tones riders all over, helps boost energy, save joints, and provides a full body workout.  I agree with the points she makes, and hope the article helps convince a couple of people to spend some time in the saddle.

I’m currently working on developing my base miles for a journey up Mt. Shasta in early August, and enjoy the physical challenges of cycling.  After a couple of hours of riding, I burn calories slowly but without injury – and recovery is much faster than after a hard run.

You remember that interview I published last month with the friendly crew from Athletes HoneyMilk?  If not, here is a link to the interview.  The small company is close to launching several new flavors I hope you’re willing to try out if you’re looking for a recovery drink after a workout.

The “undercover AHM” staff member has struck again — and there is a sneak preview of the new flavors athletes can expect in the immediate future.

I’m especially looking forward to the chocolate flavor, but will try out the Acai-Pom, Coffee, Vanilla, and Honey flavors (for an upcoming HoneyMilk review).

It’s likely you watched some (or all) of the Tour of California cycling coverage on Versus, but didn’t bother visiting the official Amgen Tour of California website.  It’s understandable if you never thought to visit the site, especially with the commentators being so great at updating us viewers with information.

UnitedHealthcare, which had a strong presence during the race with Rory Sutherland and Marc De Maar constantly in the mix, also offered 12 healthy tips for visitors to the ToC site.

Here’s an introduction to the UnitedHealthcare tips:

Adopting healthy habits in your lifestyle may not always be easy, but we’re here to help. That’s where these tips come in, to give you inspiration and to provide you with some of the basics for healthy living, including important information about health and wellness, exercise, fitness and nutrition. And we gladly support your efforts to reach your health goals by providing tips that can help you live a healthier lifestyle.

Most of the tips are nothing new for athletes, but you’ll find various health tips related to “health and wellness” and “exercise and fitness.”  Even if the tips are fairly basic, you may still pick up some useful tidbits of information.

Mike went to the Berkeley Performance Bicycle store, and was able to pick up some goodies.  He did a fine job.  He came home with Clif mini bars.  The big bars are a bit much for me.  When I go on really long runs or bike rides, the gels alone, don’t cut it.  The big Clif bars are too much for me and hinder me from taking in enough gel.  I really like the minis.

When I am doing a long, slow workout, I like to consume nutrients every 30-60 minutes after the first hour.  It is a nice change to slip an extra bar in at 30 minutes then another gel at 30 minutes later.

He also brought home a flavor mix of GU energy gel.  It comes complete with every flavor of GU including the higher-performance Roctane gels.  If you have not tried the Roctane, I recommend it.  We usually take every flavor at random and return the chocolate and espresso.  We wait for a long 20 mile run to eat the chocolate or espresso because at mile 20, anything tastes good.  I am a fan of the mixed packs of products.  When you randomly pack your fanny pack with gels, you never know what you are going to get.  It is always fun to get something different.

Mike’s Note:  I also prefer Roctane over the normal GU gels, even though when he says “we” in the 20-mile run discussion, he really means “me.”

It may seem odd to mention both GU and Clif in the same shout out but they are both great companies with great people.  Their products work very well together as variation is a big thing for proper nutrition during long training days.  The two companies are located about 3 miles away from each other in Berkeley so we get to meet a lot of the people at the local events.  I have never had a bad experience with anyone from either company.  Both companies offer more support to events than they have to.  I think they do it because they love what they do and they care about us athletes who use their products.

Mike’s Note #2:  Unless you’re sponsored by a specific company, don’t feel like you need to show complete loyalty to a single company.  Experiment. I really like Clif and its environmental views, but I’m not afraid to say I prefer the GU Roctane gels over the Clif gel.  (That isn’t to say the Clif gels are bad, but the Roctane brand just has a great boost in it.)

Since I am still in an explaining mood, here are some more thoughts on information provided in the magazine that I mentioned in a previous article.  The two biggest things that all magazines say in a lot of different ways is to just do it and get rid of the high fructose corn syrup.  I am not saying that high fructose corn syrup is bad (I am saying that) but switching to sugar tastes better and you use less.  On to my thoughts.

• Whey Protein – When we exercise, our bodies burn fuel that is stored from food, fat and muscle.  Proteins feed the muscles.  Feeding strained muscles helps to build strength and aid in recovery.  The older you get, the more you care about recovery.
• Nuts and trail mix – It is amazing what your body burns during a long workout.  Trail mix is loaded with salt, sugars, chocolate and lots of other stuff that makes it taste great during a long day on the road.
• Equipment advertisements – When it comes time to purchase exercise equipment, you can never have enough information.  The stuff is expensive and it is hard to get something that is just right.  Most companies wind up adding as many things as financially feasible in an attempt to suit our variable desires.  It is common to like things that you did not want in the first place.  Sometimes, our attitudes can make it very difficult for manufacturers.
• Tips – We all need tips for our daily lives.  I tend to forget to slow down on my long runs.  I seem to have a hard time accepting the fact that long, slow run means to run slowly.  As I get older, I realize most of my injuries are from excess, wasted harder efforts.
• Organics – I have been gravitating towards organic food for a few years now.  I notice that it has a better taste.  In some cases, I just notice the taste.
• Injury prevention and treatment – It is amazing how many little things can go wrong when you exercise a lot.  Marathon training causes all sorts of injuries from road rash (falls) to a plain old rash under your arms.  Who thought up the idea to use diaper rash cream on a body rash?  I like to swim in the bay.  Drinking coffee is better than water after a long swim because it helps combat hypothermia.  The water zealots will come after me for that comment but they have never had to deal with limbs that refuse to work after a long, cold swim.
• Fitness – We tend to think one sport will give us complete fitness.  One sport is great for getting into shape and possibly staying there.  If you want to move on to bigger things, you will need to cross train.  If you look at my calendar, it is full of cross training.  Of course, my main event for any given year is probably going to be a triathlon.

So there you have it.  More explanations on things that are simple, after you know them.

I don’t pick up sports magazines anymore for a variety of reasons.  Now that Michael has started running, he signed up for a subscription to Runners World.

I picked up a copy and was quite surprised by the amount of information in one magazine for athletes of all levels.  I am going to comment on a few of the things I noticed in the magazine.

• GNC – Good vitamin store.  Whey protein – Muscle and recovery supplement.
• Nuts – I love my nuts for long work outs.
• View points – We all see things from a different perspective.
• Success stories – Help for motivation.
• Q&A – See what other people are asking.
• Equipment ads – One way to find what is available.
• General tips – Like my running and happiness post.
• Performance tips – Help you improve your performance.
• Organics – I have been gravitating to organic food for a few years.
• Injury prevention – See what have other people tried for similar injuries.
• Injury prevention – See exercises to prevent injuries.
• Overall fitness – What is your overall fitness?
• Overall fitness exercises – It is more than just running.
• Shoes – It is nice to get information about different shoes.  Your feet will take a pounding.
• Garmin 110 advertisement – I love my Garmin 405 but it is complicated.
• Calendar of events with reviews – Some events are just awesome.

I am not plugging any one magazine.  Runners World was the magazine I picked up.  I am fairly certain that any exercise magazine will be full of information too.  Runners World has been around for a long time and there must be a reason why.

If you are new to running, it is nice to see what others are doing.  It can be hard to listen to one or two sources when things don’t seem natural.  A magazine is one more source to help you decide if you want to try something or not.

Brad Ziegler is a relief pitcher for the Oakland A’s baseball team who I follow on Twitter.  Don’t ask me how I started following him as I usually follow less than 20 people and I am no fan of sports.  I am usually busy doing my own thing, such as writing this shout out.  Brad usually lets you know how he feels at the moment he is posting on Twitter.  He sometimes gets into trouble for not being politically correct but I wonder how many of the politically correct complainers spend time in the schools reading to children or go help out at the local hospital.

A lot of times, it only takes a little bit of time or effort to make someone’s life a little better and we often let the opportunity slip by.

Brad Ziegler is the first role model for Alameda Runners.  The following section is a list of quotes from bradziegler on Twitter.  I have arranged some of the paragraphs together as they get posted on Twitter out of order.  I don’t have a journalistic handbook but I assume it is proper to put quotes around the whole page and call it good.

“But first, going w/ a couple other guys to visit some oncology & rehab patients at Oakland Children’s Hospital – can’t WAIT to see the kids!  Around 20 guys showed up today for Oakland Children’s Hospital visit…and, man, did those kids touch our lives… Appendix-removal patient, Jocelin – with (R to L) me, Powell, Cahill, and Anderson, Dallas: brain surgery patient,  Gerald – 15 months old

Ziegler winds up for Pastime for Patriots

Reading to 170 4th and 5th graders at Lydiksen Elementary in Pleasanton

Not that I’m looking ahead at all, but just a reminder: Saturday we have a 1:00 game against the Rays and it is our Armed Forces Day.  The A’s are graciously letting me use that day to officially launch Pastime For Patriots (PFP). I’m SO excited! Hope you can come out and help me get PFP off to a great start! There will be a couple donation tables on the concourse, and all donations would be appreciated no matter how big or how small. & spreading the word would be appreciated, too! It’s also Andrew Bailey bobblehead day! So more incentive!! Read more… »