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Year: 2006

  • My New Heroes, Or There Ain’t Such Thing as Growin’ Old and Weak

    My New Heroes, Or There Ain’t Such Thing as Growin’ Old and Weak

    Today I pulled out an old issue of USMS Swimmer magazine, issue September-October 2006, which featured the XI Fina World Masters Championships held this year at Stanford University back in early August. Here are some of the folks who competed and how fast they swam: Laura Val, 55, 50 Free 29.59, 100 Free 1:02.63 Richard…

  • First Run with Velocy Shoes

    First Run with Velocy Shoes

    Yesterday morning, I ran for the first time on my Velocy shoes. If you recall, Velocy running shoes are supposed to be designed such that they help you run on the balls of your feet. How interesting a feel these shoes presented! It was early morning and I decided to run on the treadmill with…

  • More Graston Success: Forearms

    More Graston Success: Forearms

    About two months back, I started getting sore in my wrists and forearms when I practiced piano. It was at a time when I was perfecting my stroke and really working hard at strength, having increased my paddle usage and seeing good results. I did not want tendonitis to develop, nor to watch it go…

  • Favorite Books and Resources

    Favorite Books and Resources

    Just recently I’ve been asked many times for what books out there are good for training. Here is a list of my favorites. I tend to keep away from the coaching books as I have a coach and don’t need training programs or advice. I like to find books that help me understand the scientific…

  • High Tech NYC Marathon Expo: Drown My Sorrows in Shopping

    High Tech NYC Marathon Expo: Drown My Sorrows in Shopping

    So pretty much knowing that I wouldn’t be racing this year, I drowned my sorrows in wandering the expo and shopping. When I walk the expo, I notice there are many instances of new technologies being showcased. When it comes to new technology, I can’t help but try it out. Here’s a few of what…

  • Turned in My Timing Chip

    Turned in My Timing Chip

    Alas, I turned in my NYC Marathon timing chip yesterday. I had hoped that some miracle would have happened and my hacking cough would have gone away. But no such luck. I am very disappointed to be brought down by a sickness. 4 months of training, seeing great track times and growing strength on hill…

  • Hack Hack Cough Cough

    Hack Hack Cough Cough

    I’m sitting here in NYC trying to get over this damn cough thing which I’ve had for almost 1.5 weeks now. Nice gurgling phlegm coming up out of my lungs – I tried running last Thursday and it was tough. I had good run times for a distance tempo run, but afterwards I felt as…

  • Redlining it to NYC

    Redlining it to NYC

    These last few weeks have been really interesting from a training perspective. I have experienced true “redlining” of my abilities in many of my workouts. This has really shown up in my track workouts at trying to maintain a super high pace for a given distance, whether it’s 800 meters or distance tempo workouts of…

  • Pulling with Paddles, Swim Training Controversy

    Pulling with Paddles, Swim Training Controversy

    These last few months I’ve been building up my use of paddles while swimming. It was hard in the beginning, as they put a lot of stress on my shoulders. Slowly, over several weeks, I built my endurance to use them to about 400m now. Over the same period, I’ve noticed the pull in my…

  • On the Way to NYC

    On the Way to NYC

    Yesterday, I ran my favorite hill loop, the Coyote Trail, in Rancho San Antonio. Well, favorite is a controversial term. I ran the loop seven times logging in 17 miles, legs burning out on the last two loops as I up my intensity, and feet getting totally abused on the steeper downhill coming down off…

  • What We Should Learn From Our Kids

    What We Should Learn From Our Kids

    I live in this apartment building. When I emerge from the elevator with my kid, she takes off running down the hallway because she wants to hide and then scare the heck out of me when I turn the corner. Just recently, I can’t help but study her running. Her torso is very still and…

  • ARG Asics Why Did You Change?

    ARG Asics Why Did You Change?

    For years I’ve been running in Asics Gel Nimbus running shoes. They are neutral (no motion control) and supposedly have the most cushioning of any running shoe. And they worked great for 3 years. Until now. This year, they decided to make the toe box narrower and the tongue has padding in it. This combination…

  • Crazy New Goal

    Crazy New Goal

    OK so after I found out about Yasso 800s, I told my coach about it and he gave me a workout progression based on 800s. I started running 800s and now I’m doing that at about 3:05-3:19 per 800. My new (CRAZY) goal: run a marathon in 3 hours. YIKES. But given my 800 times,…

  • Breaking Through

    Breaking Through

    This morning I ran hill repeats on my favorite loop at Rancho San Antonio. It takes me about 22 minutes for each loop. The loop consists of a .3 mile steep section and then levels out slightly but still goes uphill for about another .5 miles. After that, it starts going down and back to…

  • Yasso 800s

    Yasso 800s

    Today I traded emails with a buddy of mine who is a sub-3 hour marathoner. If you do the calculation, to run a 3 hour marathon, you’d have to maintain a pace of 6:52/mile the whole way, and that’s not counting dealing with the terrain and environment (ie. if it’s hilly or hot/humid day). That’s…