Alameda Runners – Get After 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.

I woke up early last Saturday morning with sore feet and tired legs from a hard week of work outs.  I thought to myself “Ughh, I want to stay in bed.”  I got up anyway for a 7-10 mile run followed by a 30-mile bike ride in Fremont.

When I went out for a run on Monday, people were telling me to wait for the rain to stop.  It was 60 degrees and raining.  I don’t think I will melt.  When it is time to go, I just go.  Sometimes, when I feel really sore or have a little injury, I will slow down, cut my routine short or do a different workout.  I always find a way to get out and do it.  It does not matter what “it” is, just do it.

People always come up to me with their plans and excuses for not following their plans.  You don’t get into shape or meet your goals by just planning.  Start slowly, there is no need to be in a hurry.  Do the best you can.  Pick something you can do and do it.  I have a lot of gadgets at home that I don’t use.  I tried them and they just did not work out.

After you get home from work, go to YouTube and type in the keyword “exercise”.  Pick an easy exercise at first.  Something that takes about 5 minutes to do.  It will be at hard first but it gets easier after time.  Do not give up before you start.  Find a reason to do something.  Then find a reason to progress.  You may not be carrying a sign at a marathon but you may be running a 10K one day.

Start now.  Just get out and do it!

Xood is advertised as an all “natural healthy endurance drink.”  I went out for a hard run on a warm day last week and had a hard time choking the green tea-lemon flavored drink down immediately following the run (One package to 24 oz water).  I was a bit dehydrated and could feel the sweat building up and releasing from my body immediately.

I told myself:  “Yes, this new drink is going to be great.”  After eating lunch and drank some water, I found myself heading to the coffee pot.  That was odd, coffee on a warm afternoon.

I was not about to try Xood on a long training day so I waited until Monday to try again.  Today was a cold, rainy day that beat me up pretty good.  This time I mixed the packet to 16 ounces of water.  It tasted a little better but it was still a battle to drink the whole shaker.  Just like Friday, I hit the coffee pot again this afternoon.

I am torn on Xood.  They are a small company that works hard to present a quality product for the masses.  I can choke down the drink and not feel sick afterward.  I felt like I just ate a piece of chalk but other than that, I feel no ill effects.  When I drink Xood, I think of my wife when she is putting on the anti-aging cream.  I hit the wall hard one day.  I am not comfortable using Xood to stand between me and that wall.

I don’t like to leave a small, hard working company a bad review.  Xood sent us a  sample supply to test.  I am going pass out the remaining samples to some readers to see what they have to say about the products.  Hopefully, I will get some prompt feedback from them.

Please keep in mind that my reviews are not scientific.  I am just an athlete, like you, who just happens to do a little more than most people.

Mike’s Note:  I’m going to test the Xood product myself, and have recruited a couple of friends to also help out.  Check back

Ultima Replenisher comes in little packages that look like Kool-Aid packages.  They are advertised as “the balanced electrolyte drink” with no artificial flavors or sweeteners.

I was pretty sure that I was going to try one package, go “Meh” and give the rest of the box away.  I tried one package, went “Meh” and drank two packages a day for the rest of the week.  It has been pretty warm here in the Bay Area for the past two weeks and I have not had any problems with cramping while I have been drinking the Ultima Replenisher.

The replenisher comes with less supplements than I get with my daily multivitamin but I drink it anyway.  I don’t know how, why or if it works but I assume that if it helps me drink more water before a run and it does not make me sick it is a good thing.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, when you do not consume enough electrolytes before and during a run, you lose the ability to absorb water.

It is a nice light drink that you can have before a run and it’s not so loaded with electrolytes that you have to burn it off after consumption.  Ultima Replenisher is something I plan on keeping around as a morning drink to keep in my system before my lunchtime workouts.

That is a hell of a compliment considering the fact that I go for weekly 9-11 mile tempo runs at lunch while carrying no water.  I am on the edge on these long runs and every bit of water I can absorb before I leave is a big plus.

It seems auto makers enjoy supporting the endurance community with sponsored professional athletes and events.  To learn more about this mutual partnership, I reached out to Subaru to learn more about the company’s sponsorship.

Perhaps you or someone you know own a vehicle made by Subaru — the brand is extremely popular among athletes.  It’s not uncommon to go to a triathlon or ski town and find many cars made by the Japanese car maker.

“The Subaru brand is known as the brand for people with active lifestyles. The reason is that Subaru vehicles provide their owners with the capability, durability and dependability to get them where they want to go,” Subaru recently told Alameda Runners.  “As more people realized that they too, are adventure seekers, they also recognized that Subaru is the right vehicle brand for them.”

Subaru has extended its efforts in the sports community with a partnership with the Gary Fisher bike manufacturer to team the Subaru-Gary Fisher Mountain Bike Team.

“Subaru is a perfect fit for the Gary Fisher brand as our vehicles come standard with All-Wheel Drive technology, providing the team with go-anywhere capabilities and the team likes to go on challenging rides.”

Subaru also disclosed how this helps cater to the right people interested in purchasing a car:

” (It) provides an outlet that allows us to introduce our vehicles to like-minded, outdoorsy and adventure-seeking people. That is why you will see Subaru vehicles at trail heads, snowy mountain tops and sandy areas in the sunbelt region where traction is essential to getting around safely.”

Expect Subaru to continue catering to its selective group of customers in the future by using sponsorships, advertising, and  similar measures in the future.  The company has seen growing sales last year, and hopes to keep that momentum going forward.

“We are consistent in our approach to marketing and about who we are as a brand and it has really paid off for us. In 2009, Subaru had its best sales year in the history of the company and we were the only manufacturer with a sales increase in 2008.”

Still love my 1994 Subaru Legacy with almost 200,000 miles, even though it’s now showing its age.

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… »

Marketed as a “whey protein with purpose,” I decided to try the BiPro whey protein isolate after a six-mile jog around Bay Farm Island today.  I’m used to trying different whey protein products, but have always stuck with flavored whey protein (and now I remember why).

I don’t recall how we stumbled upon these BiPro samples, but we both ended up with a sample packet of the Original BiPro (natural unflavored) whey protein mix.  Before I mention the nutritional benefits of BiPro, I want to be perfectly clear here:  unflavored whey protein mix is bad!  I think it’s disgusting, foul, and rather gross … and I’m not going to drink it again.

The BiPro packet we received is to be mixed with 8 ounces of water, skim milk, or whatever else you need.  A single 22-gram serving has 80 calories, 0 calories from fat, 20g protein, 28mg calcium, 170 mg sodium, and 15mg potassium.

The sample pack has the following printed on the back:

“Pure, natural BiPro is the ultimate whey protein isolate for athletes who want to build or maintain muscle mass.  Unlike other products, BiPro contains no protein blends or unwanted ingredients.  Purified through a selective ion exchange process, BiPro contains all of the essential amino acids, and is rich in branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are metabolized directly and absorbed quickly into muscle tissue.  No carbs, no fat, no sugar, no lactose, no artificial flavors.  BiPro is the original whey protein isolate — the only choice for serious athletes.”

A 2-lb. jug is available for $34.99.

I’m a firm believer in drinking some kind of recovery drink, especially after hard workouts.  To put it in perspective, a 55 gram scoop of Optimum Nutrition 2:1:1 Recovery formula has 210 calories, 0 calories from fat, 18grams sugar, and 17 grams of protein.

I just can’t drink unflavored whey protein — I have a hard enough time drinking vanilla, chocolate, or rocky road.  They are hard to get down when mixed with milk.  I like the ingredients (and the amount of ingredients) in the BiPro packet, but the unflavored whey protein is just downright disgusting.

If you mix whey protein into your smoothies, milkshakes, or don’t mind the taste of unflavored whey, I’d recommend checking out BiPro.  The BiPro FAQ page is available here, so I recommend reading it over and deciding for yourself.

The ability to connect with professional athletes to learn about their training methods and habits can be extremely beneficial.  Ultrarunner Josh Cox is well known on Twitter and Facebook, as he maintains a very strong Web 2.0 following that includes thousands of endurance athletes.

For all triathletes out there, I’d recommend stopping by the official Team Timex Blog, which can be found here.  The company invites readers to briefly enter the lives of professional triathletes who blog about race preparation, workouts, post-race reports, and other interesting reading material.  (Recent race reports include Tim Hola’s Wildflower Double and Bruce Gennari’s St. Anthony’s Tri report.)

I think it’s great to see pro athletes share their experiences, as very few people know what it’s like to compete at their level.  It’s also neat to see what kind of training they do before events, so we can borrow certain workout ideas and techniques.

Enjoy!

As you regulars know, I am well into my base training routine right now doing multiple workouts each day, 2-3 days a week and one long day per week.  These double workout days build strength that help prepare my body for the hard workouts expected this summer.  The long day builds endurance to prepare my body for a long exerted effort of a triathlon.

I ease into these hard base training weeks as they can be very painful.  I don’t have enough ice packs to cover all of my sore muscles.  When you get to be as old as me, a lot of pain means the edge of injury.  I don’t want to get injured so I go into things slowly.

One of the ways I ease into strength training is by using P90X.  The P90X routines generally run 60 minutes with 15 minutes of warmup and cool down.  That leaves you with a 45 minute workout in addition to your 30-60 minute daily run.  If you want to lose weight, try my schedule using P90X for core and plyometrics.  It is not likely that you will make it through a whole routine the first few times you try.  That is fine, you just need to do your best every time you do it.  You will get better with time.

The routines that I do in the order of quantity:
Core – synergestics, My favorite workout of them all.  A real calorie burner.
Plyometrics – Plyometrics is a new word for pain.  It builds leg strength and makes you sweat!
Cardio X – A great low impact workout when you want to take it easy.
Kempo X – The most fun workout that I do.  You get to kick and punch like a nut.
Yoga X – We all need yoga.  Don’t be shy, just do it.
Ab Ripper X – 16 minutes of pure hell.  They make it look easy, but it is not.
X stretch – I never stretch enough.  I know I should but I don’t.

I schedule core and plyometrics one day a week.  The other workouts, I slip in when I can.  I also go to the weight room one day a week.  You can use P90X to your benefit but you have to do it.  You don’t have to do all of the workouts.  They have a 90 day plan to get you ripped.  I am not on a 90-day plan but I am a firm believer of variety.  These workouts work.  I am sure there are other videos that work well.  This is just the best one that I have tried.

The website sells the DVD set (13 DVD’s) for $139 plus $20 for shipping and handling.  They break the payments up into “3 easy payments” of $39.95 (Typical infomercial).  I did not want to pay 3 easy payments so I went to one of those “As seen on TV” stores and picked it up for $100.  I also saw it on eBay for around $100.  I chatted with one of the reps on Twitter but I lost his account information.  Maybe he will see this and send a link.  He was very nice and said I could order without sending “3 easy payments”.

I am a fan of building strength through cross training.  If you pay attention, you can find all sorts of tips on the local news or on YouTube and build your own routines.  If you want to lose weight, add 2 or 3 of these routines into your week and you will losing pounds in no time.  If you keep up the routine of 10-15 hours of exercise per week, you will be drinking weight gainer protein shakes.