Hammer Nutrition - Race Caps & Anti-fatigue Caps

So I finally got my first order of Hammer Nutrition supplements!  I've been wanting to try these out because at the DC Half Marathon, George was so kind as to let us try out his supplements that he had brought and I felt like there was a definite difference in my performance! =)

If you are interested in finding out more information about Hammer Nutrition and all of their products, please visit their website:

www.hammernutrition.com

As a surprise, they gave me an additional 15% off of my first purchase and included a welcome to Hammer nutrition kit that includes a myriad of their products line:

• HEED Melon
• Recoverite Strawberry
• Perpetuem Orange-Vanilla
• Hammer Gel Huckleberry
• Hammer Gel Orange
• Endurolytes Fizz Mango, Grapefruit, Lemon Lime and Grape
• Hammer Bar Oatmeal Apple

In addition, they provided a product usage manual (HUGELY helpful, it gives a breakdown of each supplement and their proper dosage), a product usage guide and Endurance News (their magazine they produce every 2 months).  So much information!  I love it!

I've already taken the Race Caps as they are part of their daily essentials trinity.  It came just in time because I plan on a long training run tomorrow, I'd like to see how the Race Caps and Anti-Fatigues caps enhance my performance. =)  I'll be back on tomorrow to let you know how my run goes!

March 15, 2014 - DC Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon

So first run of the year for 2014 and we open up with a HALF MARATHON!!!!!

Couldn't open our running season with something easier ... just had to go balls to the wall! Ha!  So here's our motley running crew!

From left to right:  Crystal Fasano, Ruth Custodio, George Folch, and Me!

I followed a hefty running/training plan that had me running about 30 miles per week.  I don't know if it helped or not but I will tell you that my experience with this half marathon was TERRIBLE.

If I didn't know what a good race was like, I'm certain I would have quit running races on this very day!  I'm not sure where many of these runners trained (under a rock?) or if at all.  Obviously, running etiquette was lacking entirely.  If you are slower, move to the side or the right of the road and let the faster runners pass.  Do NOT in the middle of your run come to a screeching halt to walk!  Slowly move to the side as you slow your pace before stopping to walk.  Do NOT stop to take pictures in the middle of your run (this tags with my last statement). 

My final time was 2:03:05 (9:24 min/mile average pace).  I'm not upset with this time ... I said that I would be happy with anything under 2:10:00 (10min/mile pace) and coming in just shy of 7 minutes under that time is respectable.  My next goal is to run my next half marathon (Fitness Magazine Women's Half on April 13) in under that time. 

Admittedly, I felt like I sprinted this entire race, I ran ... I had to suddenly stop and then sprint to get my pace back ... I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I had to do this.  You waste a lot of energy upfront doing this and by mile 7 i was exhausted.  In the 2 hours I spent running, my ipod was on the whole time and I didn't hear a SINGLE SONG!!!  That is how terribly distracted I was about dodging people throughout the entire race.  I paid a terrible price for that distraction, I didn't check in ONCE with how my feet, legs, knees, and/or back were feeling ... as a result, at mile 7, BOTH of my knees decided to let me know that they were extremely displeased.

I cannot explain to you how excruciating it is to run an additional 6.1 more miles with stabbing knee pain.  Suffice it to say, at mile 10, my ankles decided to tell me that I was without a doubt absolutely abusing my knees and my ankles.  Somehow, I mustered the ability to run through knee and ankle pains to complete the run.  But in the following days, I realized just how beat up my legs were (quads and calves were sore the day after! WTF?!  I have run so many long runs, 12/13 miles, without any knee, ankle, quad or calves issues).  It took a week for my legs to start feeling normal again.  Sunday (3/23) I ran 8 miles in 66 minutes (8:20 average pace).  Better.

Take away advice:  1) Check in with your body no matter how distracting a race and other racers can be.  It's not worth it to suffer the injuries for not checking in with your body.  2) Training is paramount.  There is NO WAY I would have been able to push through that pain and complete that half marathon in the time that I did without training.  My injuries would have been far worse without training (conditioning your body to take tremendous amounts of external stress) and lingered much longer without a doubt.  3) Get the proper gear!  I had my compression pants and wind proof gear on BUT I borrowed a friend's spibelt to carry my gels, shot bloks and cell phone ... and that turned into a bouncy, entirely distracting fanny pack!  Crystal and George swear up and down by Nathan's.  I guess there's really no way of me finding out whether that works or not other than by trying it out ... but that means I have to buy it.  ugh.  I can't believe i'm buying a fanny pack, lol. 

Up next:  More/Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon (stay tuned!)

Beginner's Half Marathon Training Plans

Hey all - these are for people who are beginner runners!  Please do not move into intermediate training plans unless you really are an intermediate runner!

This is from marathonrookie.com

10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
9	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

And of course we couldn't forget runner's world!

http://www.runnersworld.com/beginners/the-8-week-beginners-program?page=single

It was actually really long and I didn't want to post the WHOLE thing.  Do take a note out of the runner's world page.  Do NOT rush the running!  It (speed and distance) will come with time and impatience and hurrying will ONLY lead you to certain injury.  Remember core, form and stability are the foundations of running.  If you don't know what proper form is and how to increase your core and stability, make sure you find someone (ie, trainer, or a friend who is an experienced runner) to teach you.  It's not impossible to correct bad form, but if you start off with the right form you will be much better off (and probably avoid a multitude of injuries you could have sustained otherwise)!

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to send me a message, I have trained my friends and would be happy to send you any pointers!

8-week Half Marathon Training Schedule (Shape Magazine)

Hi y'all,

This first 8-week schedule Half Marathon Training schedule is from Shape Magazine.

8 Week Half Marathon Training Program

Week	LSD	Recovery	Track	Cross Train	Tempo	Rest	Cross Train	Total
	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Total
Week 1	4	4	2	X-Train	3	REST	X-Train	13
Week 2	6	4	2	X-Train	3	REST	X-Train	15
Week 3	7	4	3	X-Train	3	REST	X-Train	17
Week 4	7	4	3	X-Train	5	REST	X-Train	19
Week 5	8	4	4	X-Train	5	REST	X-Train	21
Week 6	8	6	4	X-Train	5	REST	X-Train	23
Week 7	10	6	4	X-Train	5	REST	X-Train	25
Week 8	6	4	2	X-Train	3	REST	REST	15
Race Wk	RACE

I'm already 1-week into my training, so for me I will be starting at the 2-week training program.  Huzzah!  Oooorraaaahhhh! Arooooooo!

ps - these are intermediate runner training plans ... i will post beginners training plans shortly.

2014 Races

Hi All -

So as you know I took a break from writing about my training ... oh wait i just took a break from writing for the holiday season, haaa!

Well it's a new year, a new season, new goals, a new haircut, a new job!!!!!  So let's get started with the current 2014 racing schedule:

January & February - TRAINING

March

• DC Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon (March 15)
• Poland Spring 15K Meltdown (March 30)

April

• More/Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon (April 13)

May

• Brooklyn Half Marathon (May 17)
• NY Tri-State Spartan Sprint (May 31)

June

• Queens 10K (June 22)

July

• PA Spartan Sprint (July 12)

August

• Percy Sutton Harlem 5K (August 23)

September

• NJ Super Spartan (September 6)
• Bronx Half Marathon (September 21)
• VT Spartan Beast (September 27)

October

• Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon (October 5)
• Staten Island Half Marathon (October 12) 

November

• Puerto Rico Diva Half Marathon (November 9)

I have to fill in 2 more marathon qualifiers they will probably be no more than 4/5 mile races and if you leave it to me, I'm going to try and schedule 5Ks!  It's a disgusting schedule especially going into September.  I'm doing a half, the beast, a half and another half all one week apart from each other ... I don't know if I will survive, but I'm going to give it my best shot.  I have to complete these because the goal is to achieve guaranteed entry into the 2015 NYC Half Marathon and Marathon.   I will say that it is the most intense racing schedule I have EVER had.  I started doing races in 2012 ... though I will admit I mostly did 5Ks and scavenger hunts, haha!  2013 saw the addition of spartans, more 5Ks, 10Ks and randomly one half marathon.  2014 has 4 spartan races and 7 half marathons (if you count the spartan beast, that would make 8 unofficially). 

It's a lot of running.  It's going to require a lot of training.  Will I be ready?  Will I rise to the challenge?  I plan on it.  Just like my new position.  I feel a little bit like a fish out of water, right now.  I know that with time and once I'm completely transitioned out, I will know what I want to do, I will be able to assert my authority as a manager and no longer as a project administrator.  I need to finish my use cases.  I need to get started on really becoming prolific on Palantir, becoming an advanced user.  I have to spend alot of time working on it, getting better, stronger!

Matthew 7:7-8
Luke 11:9-10
James 1:5-6

I hope you all join me on this journey through training, running, learning, growing .... living. =)

Voices Against Brain Cancer 5-Mile Run

Hi All!

I am running my final race this year on Sunday, November 17, 2013 for a cause that is particularly close to my heart.  I have had a few friends and family members of friends who have been afflicted by brain cancer.  This debilitating disease can strike without warning and without symptom for years and is often diagnosed far too late in the game.  Still, we never lose hope that we will find the right cure that will help us detect this disease sooner and perhaps help cure it!

I am running a 5-Mile race with Voices Against Brain Cancer, a non-profit organization that helps families and patients who are afflicted with this terrible disease and also with funding studies for finding a cure:

http://www.voicesinmotion.org/site/TR/JoinTheVoicesWalk/General?pg=informational&fr_id=1151&type=fr_informational&sid=1011

If you are interested in participating (run with us!!!), please join my team, "Friends of Harry & Ronnie" and run for a good cause! =)

Or, if running isn't your thing (you can walk too!) but you still want to help out, you can donate on the team page:

http://www.voicesinmotion.org/site/TR/JoinTheVoicesWalk/JoinTheVoicesRunWalk?team_id=4810&pg=team&fr_id=1151

Have a great day!

Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon - October 6, 2013

Hi All!

I realized I never got the chance to post my scores ... I had gotten sick immediately after and am only starting to feel better today!

So my friend and I finished the 13.1 miles in 2:19:44, which gives me an average pace of 10:39.  Not terrible, not good, plenty of room for improvement!  But I think for my first half marathon and with only 2 weeks of training, I did all right!  =)

I plan on running Brooklyn and NYC half marathons next year for sure.  I may re-run Grete's Great Gallop, of course, just to see if my time changes!  I would definitely say that Grete's Great Gallop is not a beginner half marathon, it's definitely a moderately difficult one, especially with all of the hills that we encountered and there were MANY!  If you have ever had the pleasure and pain of running Central Park, then you are aware that it is riddled with hills.  Of course the uptick to suffering through an uphill is, of course, the downhill afterwards! =)  Which, if used correctly, can be quite beneficial!

I would like to also try running the Atlantic City Half Marathon, as I heard that it's considered a beginner's half marathon because virtually the entire course is flat (dream!).  We'll see ... a little bit about the race:

Miles 1-6:  I was definitely good through here, felt good, legs felt good.  Still talking and yapping with Nelly.

Miles 7-10:  I was SURE I was going to be ROADKILL!  LOL!  There was no talking to be had during this section, it was head down, concentrate, keep talking to yourself ... "don't give up now Chang!  You're almost there!"

Miles 11-13.1:  Found my second wind!  The last 1.1 miles I actually really picked up the pace, I was definitely running a 8:30-8:45 pace for the last mile.  I had motivation, the FINISH LINE. LOL.

I'll be honest, I think i'm good with 13.1 miles ... I don't see myself running much more than that ... my knees had ALOT of nasty words for me following the race and up to a week after the race, all of it well deserved. Haaaaa!

I have one last race scheduled for this year ... Join the Voices Against Brain Cancer 5-Mile Run.  I'll put up another post for that specifically, but I think 2014's race schedule is stacking up to be pretty intimidating, here's a sneak peek:

RUNS:
Color Run 5K
9/11 Memorial 5K
Run 10 Feed 10 - 10K
Brooklyn Half Marathon
NYC Half Marathon
Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon
Atlantic City Half Marathon
Puerto Rico Half Marathon (maybe???)
Hamptons Half Marathon (maybe???)
Voices Against Brain Cancer 5Mile Run
Revlon Cancer 5K

RACES:
NY Tri-State Spartan Sprint
PA Spartan Sprint
NJ Super Spartan
Spartan Beast (not sure of location yet)

So far ... I've planned 15 Races/Runs ... that's a pretty intense schedule ... lots of training to be had. =)  I'm excited.  I hope you'll follow along with me on these journeys!  See you at the finish line!

Sher!