Please support this Crusade!

You know the old saying; "Time heals all wounds"? Well, that's not always true....When it comes to diseases like cancer, time is our worst enemy. The time you have the disease without it being diagnosed or the amount of time it takes before getting treatment can both be fatal. And the time it takes for us to find a cure, means more and more people are diagnosed and dying every day.

No my friends, time does not heal this wound....How many people do you know who have blood cancers? Several I'm sure, probably even somebody in your family.....

We have to act now so that we could beat this disease. I'm running marathons until we do!

Please support me in my crusade...my legs will thank you for it but not nearly as much as those who are currently suffering with the disease and the ones who are diagnosed every 35 minutes. Tic toc....

Time is of the essence, so please share this video with your friends, family, mailing lists, you name it. The more people who see this video the better. We want to create awareness and a call to action.

If you can donate, fine, but if not, you still can do your part. Pledge to pass this on, share your story below, blog about it, touch someone's heart to embark on their own crusade, hold a bake sale. It doesn't matter really....Anything you do will bring us one day closer to a cure and that's what matters!

So don't delay, share this video and take action to make a difference today! (if you can make a donation, it is greatly appreciated. http://bit.ly/PatrickTNT)

'Twas the season...

I am so a creature of habit, it's not even funny...After the NYC marathon, I resumed a regular workout routine but I didn't do any runs longer than 10km. It certainly felt refreshing to sleep in on weekends for a change! Then came the holidays...I tried not to eat too much but 10 straight days of parties, rich foods, alcohol...it is not my regular routine so I shouldn't be surprised that I put on a few pounds.

Now that I am back to work, the routine workouts at the gym have resumed. For example today I did an embedded circuit training workout and tried to pick up at the level I left off, but lo and behold...fitness levels reduce amazingly fast. I decided not to push it too much so I did a 1.5 mile warmup run followed by my exercise sets with no rest and then a cool down. I was supposed to do a 2 mile warmup and a 2 mile cooldown, but after the circuit, my legs were really tired so I ended it there.

This winter, I won't be doing my long runs outside as much but I will be snowshoe running - if you haven't tried this, I can assure you that I have never sucked wind so much as I do when I'm running with snowshoes. This is a really intense exercise so I definitely will not be out for 3+ hours on Sunday mornings to get a great workout in.

That said, these are more cardio than endurance workouts so I will have to do a few long runs every now and then and I will resume to more rugular long runs once I've decided what my next marathon will be.

A few years ago, I gave myself a head start on weight loss by doing the first two weeks of the South Beach diet. It really worked but the first week is really restrictive and difficult to prepare meals when there are three other people living in the house - not on the diet. Now that I have a belt notch to tighten, I will be applying some of the principles from the South Beach Diet such as good fats, bad fats, good carbs, bad carbs, and the use of the glycemic index of foods. I came across this eating habits adjustment strategy video and website that pretty much sums it up so I'm sharing it here. I'll report back in exactly 2 weeks with my results.

Training Jiha

While I was in New York enjoying the post-marathon celebrations with friends, Jiha asked me if I would help her train for her first marathon in the spring of 2010. I gladly accepted because this is what I plan to do more frequently.

Jiha has already built up a good mileage base and she is pretty fast from the times she has provided me. I used the FIRST training principles to inspire me to build her program which focuses on increasing her speed and also giving her time for her family, job, and other activities.

Here it is below:




I also asked Jiha if she would be so kind as to report her progress as comments on this post. Let's see how her training develops, and good luck Jiha!

Ultimate cross-training workout

A few years ago, my father-in-law lived in Chicago and we went for a visit. I had just started running and he saw how fit I had become. He was eager to show me a new machine he had bought. I had seen it before on infomercials during those late nights when I had to walk around the house for hours trying to get my daughter to burp after her late-night feeding. Anyway, I am always wary about those infomercials, but I figured if Chuck Norris endorses this product, it had to be good. So when he opened up the box and I helped him put it together (rather easily, I might add) I was anxious to take it for a test ride.

I followed the exercises on the pamphlet and quickly felt the burn in my arms, legs, and abs. This thing was really cool. And we easily folded it up to slide it under his bed afterward. During the 4 days we were there, I used it every day - it was just so simple to use and get a total body workout so quickly.

When we returned home, I thought about buying one, and have had it on my wish list ever since but we so don't have room in our house for a home gym - yet. I will be getting one as soon as we finish our renovations, however. So anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to cross paths with Total Gym recently and can't help but recommend this great product for the ultimate cross-training workout. Check out the video on the right sidebar and please let me know what your experience has been with Total Gym.

Keep on running ;-)

Training recap weeks #41 thru #44

Time to concentrate on the NYC marathon! Getting very excited. I have been somewhat delinquint on my postings so I'll try to sum up what I've been doing. The last weeks of my training plan had a reduction in distance for the long runs but not in the weekly interval sessions but I had to try to finangle my work week and weekends to resemble the plan as much as possible while making sure I got the leaves raked, and celebrated Thanksgiving and a few birthdays...

Anyway, the week starting 3 Oct, I ran 4 days in all (2 of which were 10km runs at race pace and I also did a Q2 training). The following week, I only did my 5 mile Q2 training. During week 43, I did my last long run of 14 miles and my 5 mile Q2 training and for the last days leading up to the marathon, I ran 5 miles at T-pace on the Wednesday and a 1.5 mile run at T-pace on Thursday.

My taper was complete and I was ready to drive down to New York. Next post will be a recap of my race experience in the Big Apple!

Learning to run

I have been spending a fair bit of time scouring the net for references and resources on how to learn to run properly. There are many philosophies on training structure and how to work up to and improve race performance or run faster, but surprisingly, I have found very little on actually "learning how to run" properly. Running form is fundamental to efficiency and injury prevention. This is why I have posted the videos on Chi running and the Pose technique. Which now brings me to wonder how somebody who is just wanting to take up running goes about it. The worst thing they could do is slap on a pair of shoes, head out the door and pound out a couple of miles. Don't get me wrong, they could probably do it, although chances are they will suffer, if not immediately, eventually. They will likely feel the impact on their muscles and joints in short order. If either of these likely outcomes happen, the would be runner will most probably figure running is not for them and that will be the end of it. Or, they may keep at it for a while, and develop some sort of injury and eventually give up running because it is too hard on their body. How many times have we heard people say running is bad for the knees? Did you know there is no real hard proof of this claim, but there is evidence to suggest the opposite is true...There are also studies that confirm that most knee problems are a result of injuries related to running (such as overuse) and not the act of running itself. This further supports my position that new runners need to be informed on how to run properly from the get-go in order to ensure that they don't injure themselves and also so that they could really benefit from all that long-term good running has to offer; freedom, fitness, health, longevity, release, meditation, sense of accomplishment, weight control, and on and on the list goes. So having said that, I have found one e-book by Valik Rudd that starts new runners out from the right place, the beginning. Learning the basics and then progressing. If you would like to learn more, check it out here.. And I also found this video that breaks proper form down from head to toe in an easy to understand way. Enjoy!

Chi running

I was searching on YouTube for a video to better understand what Chi running was all about and came across Kevin Gianni's video spot from the Renegade Health Show. I enjoyed this video because it easily explained visually some of the concepts that I had read about. I will be trying out this form on my next run so I'll post on how that turned out. I also think there is a way to combine Chi running with the Pose technique, so I will be experimenting with that too. In the meantime, check out Kevin's video and website. I think I will see what other gems I can uncover there as well.


Keep on running ;-)