It is a little over one month into my training program for our upcoming event, “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes.” I thought it was time for you to see a portion of our workouts. So last Saturday we shot a short video of our speed workout. I was doing a 100 meters 16 times. This workout was to work on my running form, stride efficiency, and turnover.
Next week I move up to repeating 200 meters a little faster than race pace. After a few weeks of feeling the power muscles being engaged, then it will be 1/4 mile repeats and then 1/2 mile repeats in April. Finally, I will do a 3/4 mile time trial at the beginning of May before I race on May 29th.
I feel it is important that I incorporate fast running twice a week as a mile runner. I will increase the number of my repetitions each week as I build my racing form and my body. I do not want to jump into doing 1/4 mile repeats at the beginning of my training program. I want to establish not only an aerobic base, but also a speed base. That is why I spend time going from 100 meters, then 200, 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4.
The sprints and intervals will prepare me for the speed necessary for the mile. The tempo, long runs, and recovery runs will prepare me for the strength necessary for the mile. This is why I like the mile race so much – you need speed and strength.
Enjoy the video below and most of all, enjoy your speed workouts for your race preparation as well!
We spent Saturday at The Disney Princess Half Marathon – Fit For A Princess Expo with Melissa Gwozdz, The Marketing Communications Coordinator for Sigvaris North America and Courtney Hyer, Professional Sales Representative for Sigvaris in Florida. It was a great day sharing and educating participants about the value of wearing the graduated compression socks from Sigvaris www.athleticrecoverysock.com.
At the Sigvaris booth, we had the opportunity to meet a large number of people. From participants to their supporters, it was fun to meet, greet, and hear their stories. Many were so excited about the event that they dressed up in their costumes before coming out to the expo:
We hope everyone who ran the half marathon race on Sunday enjoyed the beautiful weather in Florida and the great hospitality at Disney. Please visit www.athleticrecovery.wordpress.com to learn more about Sigvaris at the event.
Next week we will be shooting video of our track workout. We have completed the first month of training, so we thought it was time to bring you to one of our Saturday morning speed workouts.
This past week marked my third week of training for our event “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes.” It was the first week that I ran 6 out of 7 days, even with 40 hours of coaching on the tennis court. It was a very solid week of establishing a base with my fitness level and working on my speed form. The weather was perfect this week in Sarasota – 70s during the day with low humidity and 50s at night. It does not get any better than that…
Monday: 5 miles easy followed by strength work.
Tuesday: 6 miles medium with the 10 seconds all out sprints up the steepest portion of the Ringling Bridge. Hurdles, medicine ball, and bands with Wayne.
Wednesday: 4 miles easy, stationary bike, core work, followed by a full body massage.
Thursday: Ran a recovery 5 miles with the Sarasota High track team.
Friday: no running, but 8 hours of hitting tennis balls.
Saturday: 6 miles total with Wayne – my first all out 12 x 100 yard sprints working on my form and feel. Hurdles, medicine ball, and bands with various strength work.
Sunday: 5 miles recovery with 8 hours of tennis.
This coming week will be set up a little differently as we will be traveling to Orlando on Saturday the 26th for Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo on behalf of my compression sock sponsor, Sigavris. I will be speaking about the value of graduated compression socks from Sigvaris (I heard that Sigvaris made a special purple Performance Sock for this women’s event). Please stop by the Sigvaris booth between 10-4 on Saturday at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The half marathon takes place on Sunday.
My second week of training had a small bump in the road, but overall it went well.
Monday began with a 6 mile run followed by strength and power training. On Tuesday, Wayne Johnson and I ran a 6 mile run with fartleks thrown in for two miles on the grassy grounds of GT Bray fields in Bradenton. After the final speed work, I felt my right knee was tender and I stretched it out after our medicine ball, band, and hurdle work.
However, I still felt a bit of pain on my easy run on Wednesday after my 8 hours on the tennis court. Fortunately, I had a massage with Stacie Nevelus on Wednesday evening. She was able to alleviate the referring pain to my right knee (as it was coming from my lateral quad), but on Thursday it was still not 100% yet. After my tennis and easy run on Thursday, I saw Dr. K (Kotlarczyk) at Wellness Concepts in Bradenton. He does various manual therapies (massage, PNF, laser, chiro etc.) and fully addressed the knee. I walked away from the therapy pain-free.
After a long day of tennis on Friday, I ran 6 miles on Saturday with 10 x 100 meters in 15 seconds each repetition. The pain was totally gone and my stride felt long and powerful.
The importance of recovery sessions during the week is vital to building a base of fitness in training over a 4-month period. The sooner you seek attention to any training ailment, the better chance you have to fix the problem.
I thought I would try something new this year before our 2011 event begins in May. I am going to share with you my weekly workout regime and then you can give me some feedback on the program.
My first week of training began with a 9 mile run on Siesta Key beach with Wayne Lee Johnson (he and I meet every Tuesday and Saturday for workouts). Sunday I did not run because I had 9 hours of tennis to teach on court.
Then, I ran 5 miles on Monday with my beautiful wife, Sekyen, followed by a full body strength endurance workout. Another 6 miles with Wayne on Tuesday followed by our 10-second sprints (all out) up the Ringling Bridge. We walk down the steepest portion of the bridge and then race up for 10 repetitions. We will be doing the bridge workout every other week.
Wednesday was another long 8 hour tennis day (this is the season) and I topped the day off with a massage by Stacie Nevelus in the evening. Thursday I met Sarasota High track coach, Kim Sheffield, and the distance track runners from Sarasota High at Payne Park (a city park with a 1/2 mile undulating, dirt track). I had a 2 mile tempo run with the 3 best male runners, Nick, David, and Courtland. The boys led the first mile in 5:55 and I led the second mile in 5:45. It was great to run with these students again.
Friday was a full body fitness day – strength training every part of my body with my new Body Protection program. So my 2011 training began with about 25 miles of running at various speeds and distances and a 40 hour work week on the tennis court. It feels good that my intense training has begun…
As we embark on our 4th event, many people have been asking me about how my training will be different than other years.
First, I will be expanding the exercise program that I have been using over the past few years. Not only will I be incorporating the mobilization, strength, and flexibility movements in my training, but also I will need to add even more advanced plyometric training in order to deal with the challenging terrains, elevations, and conditions unique to this tour. I will be sharing my entire training program (from beginner to advanced) in a full-length DVD fitness program at the beginning of 2012. This movement based program will be the key element to keep me injury-free as I train for 3 months and race over a 5-month period.
Second, I will be adapting my speed training to only one time a week on the track and conduct most of my speed workouts on the road or off-road conditions to match the surface I will be racing on each month. There is not much I can do about the 6000 feet elevation at the Grand Canyon in May here in Florida, but I can find places that are close to the other conditions that I will be presented with in each race.
Third, my running regimen will be slightly different as well. I will perform a weekly mix of a long run (6-9 miles), a tempo run (2-3 miles), an interval workout (varied each week), 2 recovery runs (in between the faster days), and a sprint workout (my favorite). This mix of workouts each week should provide me the speed for the mile and the strength to race the mile over and over from May to September.
Lastly, I will add another recovery session after my training with my chiropractor/massage therapist. With my heavy training and turning 48 in April, a little more time “on the table” will be beneficial to create a successful training program.
At our year-end meetings in Phoenix, www.OneMileRunner.com made some changes to our upcoming event beginning in May, 2011. “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes” will now begin at The Grand Canyon instead of The Great Wall of China in Beijing. After numerous phone calls to race officials, we realized that we would not be able to sprint on the Great Wall. We discovered that parts of the Wall are so severe that you need to hold onto a rope to descend and climb up small steps to reach elevations. With 8000km of Wall to run, very little of the Great Wall can actually be sprinted on – maybe there is a spot where you can open up for 2/10ths of a mile. The race director recommended that we run the first mile of the 10K course which ran through a parking lot up to the foot of the Great Wall. As our marketing director said, “It is a long way to go to run through a parking lot…”
So with this new found awareness, our quest of running a fast mile ON the Wall was put to rest. We replaced the Great Wall with The Golden Gate Bridge. And here is our updated schedule for 2011:
Grand Canyon (USA) – Natural Wonder of The World – May 29th
Stonehenge (England) – Medieval Wonder of The World – June 25th
Golden Gate Bridge (USA) – Modern Wonder of The World – July 16th
Taj Mahal (India) – New Wonder of The World – August 20th
Petra (Jordan) – New Wonder of The World – September 10th
We begin training for our May start on February 1st.
Hope you are all enjoying your year-end festivities. We here at www.OneMileRunner.com will be gathering next week in Phoenix to plan our 2011 schedule. We look forward to updating you on the changes to our 2011 event, “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes,” in early January.
Have a great holiday season and thanks for your continued support!
The last “stop” on our www.OneMileRunner.com recovery tour is Meilus Precision Therapy with Dave Wallwork. Dave uses his robotic machines to lengthen my muscle tissue. We use this therapy not only for treatment of injury or stiffness, but also as a regular program for body maintenance and injury prevention.
Here is Dave’s story on scoliosis and his treatment.
There are many causes for scoliosis. About 80%-85% of people with scoliosis have a type called IDIOPATHIC scoliosis. This means “no known cause”. Idiopathic scoliosis often runs in families and appears to be due to genetic or hereditary factors. It is not known what “triggers” the development of the curve, or why some curves progress more than others. Scoliosis may occur in children who are otherwise perfectly healthy. Meilus Muscular Therapy Method works on the theory that the muscles on one side of the spine are shorter than the other and therefore pull the spine towards the shortened side, causing the curving and in some cases the rotation of the spine.
According to the Scoliosis Research Society, about 10% of the adolescent population has some degree of scoliosis. This means that about 1,000,000 children just in the United States have scoliosis. About one fourth of these children, or 2%-3%, will require medical attention which may consist of observation for further progression of the curve, bracing or surgery, depending upon the degree of the curvature at the time of its detection. Some scoliosis may be so mild that treatment may never be necessary.
During adolescence scoliosis usually produces no pain and may be difficult to detect. Mild scoliosis may be present for several years before it is seen. One of the easiest ways to detect it is by using the forward bending examination. Most importantly, the physician should check the child’s spine regularly until growth is complete since scoliosis may appear at any time during adolescence. The curvature may progress considerably during the last major growth spurt. The Meilus Muscular Therapy Method can help limit the amount of curvature and in many cases of young adolescents reduce the curvature in just a few visits. The primary Muscle involved in scoliosis is the Psoas. The Psoas originates on the Transverse Processes of all Lumbar Vertebrae and the side bodies of the last Thoracic and all Lumbar Vertebrae. It inserts on the Lesser Trochanter of the Femur. If the Psoas is shorter on one side than the other it can cause the spine to bend to the shorter side. Lengthening the shorter Psoas can provide significant improvement.
Can Scoliosis Be Cured?
There are currently no medications to treat scoliosis, nor can its onset be prevented. When scoliosis is detected, the doctor may refer the patient to an orthopedic spinal specialist for evaluation and treatment. This may consist of periodic examinations, including standing X-rays as needed to determine if the curve is increasing in size. If scoliosis is identified early, The Meilus Muscular Therapy Method can help to limit the curve as the child continues to grow through adolescence. The X-rays below show a 10 year old female who came to me with a nine degree double curve. She was treated five days in a row. Treatments lasted for two hours per day. The pre and post X-rays show the reduction in the curve. This girl returned a year later with increased pain and a mild lumbar curve. She had had a growth spurt of 3 inches. All complaints were resolved in four treatments. Her parents will continue to monitor her back and she will be seen as needed.
Before therapy After therapy
Severe curves may require surgical treatment. Early detection and treatment is the best way to avoid surgery.
Simple Home Test For The Early Detection Of Scoliosis:
Is one shoulder higher than the other?
Is one scapula (shoulder blade) more prominent than the other?
Does one hip seem higher or more prominent than the other?
Is there a greater distance between the arm and the body on one side than on the other when the arms are hanging down loosely at the sides?
Does the child have excessive “swayback” (lordosis)?
Does the child have excessive “round shoulder” or “roundback” (Kyphosis)?
Is there a larger “crease” at one side of the waist than the other side?
Does the child seem to “list” or lean to one side?
When you examine the child, have her bend forward with her arms hanging down loosely with the hands even and the palms touching each other at about the level of the knees.
When in this position:
Is there a prominence or hump in the rib area?
Is there asymmetry in the hips or waist?
If you have any “yes” answers or if the child has a brother, sister, parent or other close relative with scoliosis, consult your family doctor or orthopedist.
If you want to learn more about Dave Wallwork’s work and therapy please visit his website at www.SarasotameilusTherapy.com
“Yeah David” the onlookers would yell in languages he didn’t even understand, but that’s not where this adventure begins. This adventure begins in Sarasota, FL where David visits me weekly for therapeutic and sports massage. My job is to keep him ready for high performance and injury free. This makes for a difficult task as he sets out around the world to accomplish his feats of speed. The adventure, Around the World In Under 30 Minutes. This entails running 6 one mile races in 6 weeks in 6 continents in under 30 minutes. My challenge was to bring David the therapeutic and recovery effects of massage as he jet sets around the globe. How would I do that when I’m here in Sarasota, FL and he is abroad? That answer became apparently easy. As a practioner and educator of Massage Cupping Therapy, I would instruct David on the many uses of a single silicone cup. He would use this cup in the shower with soap before and after his events and training. The true testament would be how his body felt when he got back and on my table. David set out on a feat of speed Around the World in Under 30 Minutes with one cup, 6 continents and a multitude of uses. This would be my contribution to this running endeavor of speed.
Pre-race massage usually consists of some gentle rocking and/or shaking to loosen up the muscle and get some blood flow to the tissue. What I would ask David to do pre-event is done in the shower. The tool I had David use is a Russian-made bell shaped silicone cup that measures 3 inches at the opening. While in the shower before each event or training, David would lather up the areas of focus with soap. For David, this would consist of the gluteal area and the legs. Taking the bell shaped silicone cup in hand, gently squeeze and release once on the lathered skin and begin gliding. This creates a vacuum that lifts the tissue and penetrates deep into the muscle as it glides over the soapy skin. Starting in the gluteal area, begin working in a circular motion. The cup can be moved in any direction or parked for a few minutes over a particularly tight area. For a runner, it is usually the piriformis and the gluteus minimus. Then follow with the same suction glides over the thigh then lower leg and finishing with strokes towards the groin area. The purpose of doing Massage Cupping before the event is to bring blood flow to the muscle tissue. With this method, you can feel it warming the tissue as it brings the oxygenated blood into the tissue. This blood flow is evident by the pink hue found in the skin. This is particularly important prior to a one mile event. When running at such speed, it is vital that the muscle be properly warmed up. Using the silicone cup prior to such speed will effectively warm the muscle and prevent it from seizing up during the race.
After an event of this speed, the tissue is flooded with lactic acid, and very fatigued. I find that using Massage Cupping with the silicone cup post event will effectively flush this out. This simple process will clear out old debris and lactic acid that occurred during the race. This allows for quicker recovery and the ability to get back to training sooner by decreasing the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Once again, in the shower, repeating the same area and stokes to achieve the flushing of the muscle tissue. With the function of the vacuum effect created by the cup, water is pulled from the cellular level into the muscle tissue helps to hydrate the tissue. It is because of this that it is important to drink healthy amounts of water. This is the same as in any post event recovery.
As six weeks had passed, I am sure for David the flying, car rides, remote locations and time zones made for one great adventure! David was successful in completing his 6 miles in 6 weeks in 6 continents in under 30 minutes . . . injury free! Once back in Sarasota and on the massage table, I was amazed at how well his body held up. David truly went the distance. With one cup, six continents and a cup with a multitude of uses. I know what will be in his travel bag when traveling far from home. For David will be traveling the miles while going the mile. I can’t wait for what adventure lies ahead . . . to be continued!
You can find out more information on Stacie Nevelus and her work at www.stacienevelus.com
