How To Warm Up For Any Sport

My 8 week training program has begun. The countdown to our first race in the North American continent (The Boom Box Mile in Connecticut) is just 7 weeks away on July 4th.

At www.OneMileRunner.com, this is the start of our new video series. We will be sharing videos on how to warm up, how to cool down, and how to train speed and power in our movements. We begin with how to warm up for any sport for the beginner – part 1 and part 2. In these videos you learn the basic and essential moves for muscle and joint mobilization. Whatever sport you participate in, preparation is the first step to a great performance.  We believe that the warm up is not about elongation (stretching), it is about 3 steps: blood flow, mobilization, and then power preparation.

We hope this helps in your training programs. We will be adding a new video every week. So we look forward to hearing how you use these movements in your life and/or in your children’s lives.

LASIK Eye Surgery

I had LASIK Eye Surgery last week in Sarasota’s Center For Sight. Dr. William Lahners performed the state of the art IntraLase LASIK surgery on 2/25/10. It is an all laser, blade-free procedure. The major decision I had before surgery was what I wanted to actually improve. I have been near-sighted and wearing glasses to see the school blackboard since the 5th grade. Contact lenses were my favorite invention as they removed the bulky glasses to play sports. Now that I am approaching 47 in April, the “dreaded” up close vision was vanishing too. Doctors tried to make small corrections with my contact lenses taking away a little distance vision to make the up close vision better with bi/tri focal type lenses. After a while, you seem to compromise in both areas. My new eye doctor, Dr. Altman, suggested I go for a LASIK consultation as he thought I would be a good candidate for LASIK surgery.

Then, Dr. Lahners said I had two choices. Option #1: correct my distance vision to the best of my ability (that is 20/20 in my left eye and 20/15 in my right dominant eye) leaving me without contact lenses and glasses for distance, but still needing “readers,” or Option #2: correct my distance vision in my right eye and correct my left eye for up close vision – thus leaving me without contact lenses and glasses for distance and no readers for up close – sounds attractive right, no glasses at anytime if things go well!?

Dr. Altman’s advice and my initial purpose in having LASIK Eye Surgery was to correct my distance vision to the best of its ability. I would for once not need contact lenses or glasses for distance, and be left to wear readers for everything up close. After further research, I stayed with my initial purpose for the surgery – fix my distance vision. With my outdoor lifestyle as a coach and athlete, I felt that I would greatly compromise my ability for fine motor skills with “mono vision” – one eye for distance and one for up close. Even though it sounds so attractive – no glasses at all – with the brain adapting to see properly through each eye’s role, I did not want to compromise my abilities as an older athlete. I wanted to see the tennis ball better than ever. One of the obstacles for older athletes in hand-eye sports and fine motor skill activities is the diminishing ability to “read” what is coming from a distance. Thus, making  reactions slower. Mono vision would be a good choice for someone who works in an office all day, but in the future another surgery must be performed on the eye for up close vision to remain sharp as the capacity to see up close continues to diminish with age.

I will happily break out the readers to see my iPhone, computer, or read a book knowing that I now can see crystal clear distance. I am no longer a near sighted person. Dr. Lahners has successfully changed me to a far sighted person. A week after the surgery I am continuing to heal. I am finishing up the eye drops. I still have the redness in my eyes from the scarring of the surgery. This will go away over the next week. With the cornea being the fastest healing part of the human body, I was 70% healed by the day after surgery and I should be 100% healed in no time. You can check out more at www.centerforsight.net.

Sports Massage

The end of January took us at www.OneMileRunner.com to Gainesville, Florida and the University of Florida for the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Invitational. It was a special weekend as I had the opportunity to try out my new New Balance spikes with my new orthotic and race against many college runners. Stacie Nevelus, the www.OneMileRunner.com Massage Consultant, traveled up to “gator land” as well for the event. We were glad that she came along and we took advantage of her services for a pre-race and post-race massage. Please check out our informative sports massage video below:

I ran a smooth 4:46 for my first race in 2010. It felt good to race indoors again (last time was 2007) and confirm that my training for The Indoor Nationals in March and for our July event, “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes,” is right on schedule. Please check out Stacie at www.stacienevelus.com for more information on her cupping massage therapies.

Webb Visits Our Practice Session In Sarasota

Escaping the cold of the northeast, Tom Webb and his girlfriend Betsy Suda came to Sarasota to visit our good friends, Kim and Mark Sheffield. Tom came out to our track practice last Saturday morning. He was nice to pull me through my 3/4 mile time trial and workout with everyone who attended that day. Tom (no relation to Alan) is currently finishing off his senior year as a captain of the Providence College track team. He has been searching across the country for the best location to train after his graduation. On his trip to Florida, Tom visited Gainesville (home of University of Florida and The Florida Track Club). Tom aspires to become an Olympian in 2012 and beyond focusing on the 5K and 10K. Tom currently holds a personal best of 14:12 for the 5K and looks to break the 14:00 minute barrier in a meet this spring. If any of our readers know a place Tom should make his home base for training after his May graduation, please let me know and I will pass on the news so he can make a visit there soon. It would be wonderful for Tom to find the “right” place to maximize his potential and accomplish his aspirations. Combining the geographical location, an inspiring coach/mentor, and a great group of training partners creates an invaluable base for his pursuit of excellence.

To my right (in order) is Tom, Betsy, Lauren Lumely, Kim, and Wayne Johnson.

We travel to University of Florida to race an indoor mile at the 3rd Annual Jimmy Carnes Invitational on January 31st. Stacie Nevelus, the www.OneMileRunner.com Massage Consultant, will be in attendance. After the race, the next blog will feature the role of massage therapy in post race recovery.

Faklis Orthotics

Happy 2010!

I just was fitted for my new indoor race orthotics and I thought I would share what takes place at Faklis Orthotics (www.faklis.com). The process of finding the right pedorthist, getting evaluated properly, and learning the value of professional foot care is important step for every over-30 athlete.

I want to especially thank one of my consultants, Mike Forgrave, who is responsible for making my orthotics in 2009 and 2010. Vasile and Mike work together to make sure my biomechanics are optimal. Thanks to them I am injury free.

I am planning to participate in an indoor meet at the end of January to try out my new spikes and new indoor race orthotics. After indoor nationals in March, it will be back to the roads as I prepare for our 2010 event – Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.

6 Host Cities Chosen For 2010 Event

Today we finalized the 6 host cities for our 2010 event – “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” It has taken us the last couple of months to complete the selection process for the cities representing their respective continents. We might not have chosen the easiest places to race, or the most well-known, but we did choose cities that will welcome us for our one-mile race and fitness presentation with open arms and make the 2010 world tour an absolute running adventure. Here are the selections and the order of our tour stops:

  1. July 4th – Willimantic, Connecticut, USA www.thelastmileracing.com
  2. July 10th – Buenos Aires, Argentina www.urbanrunningtours.com.ar
  3. July 17th – Symi Island, Dodecanese, Greece www.hotelfiona.com
  4. July 24th – Jos, Nigeria www.athleticsnigeria.org
  5. July 31st – Chennai, India www.o2healthstudio.com
  6. August 8th – Townsville, Queensland, Australia www.townsvilleroadrunners.com

We will begin our world tour with The Boom Box Mile on America’s independence day. The Boom Box Mile was the USA representative thanks to race director, Charlie Olbrias, who was an integral part of the 20/20/20<5@45 event in 2008 and The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time in 2009. Due to the interest of Juan Lapadula from Urban Running Tours, Argentina rose to the top for representing South America. One of the sister cities of Tarpon Springs, Florida (my host city for the 20/20/20<5@45 event) is the beautiful and remote Greek island of Symi. Nikos Halkitis from The Symi Visitor and Fiona Hotel will be our host on our long trip (by plane and then boat). I met Nikos at a Tarpon Springs dinner in 2008, we discussed racing in Symi at that time – so it is exciting to see our talks come to fruition.

From Greece, we visit the most populated African country – Nigeria. Thanks to their Athletic Association and television interest, we are looking forward to making this stop in Jos a memorable time. Then we travel to a place I still call “Madras.” Since my time in India coaching the national junior Davis Cup team from the mid-80s to the early-90s, India has resumed their Indian names and now it is called Chennai. Due to the efforts of Nina Reddy with O2 Health Studios and Savera Hotels and Ranjini Manian from Global Adjustments, I am looking forward to returning to the city where I began my coaching career. We conclude our world tour in northeast Australia at the Townsville Running Festival on August 8th in Townsville, Queensland. Thanks to the President of the Townsville Road Runners, Anthony Hockings, we will try to break the 30 minute mark at his event.

We will keep you updated now that the selection has taken place as we prepare for the event coming in 7 short months.

Fitness Video Coming in 2010

I met with my trainer and One Mile Runner Consultant, Juan Ruiz-Tagle, this morning as we planned the details of our upcoming fitness program. In February 2010, we are shooting a video for You Tube as we share part of our upcoming Fitness DVD. We will take this DVD opportunity to teach our unique methodology. During our 2010 event, “Around The World In Less 30 Minutes,” we will be giving a free fitness seminar in every host city on our world tour. It will be a wonderful chance to share our message with the public across the globe.

Next month, we will announce the 6 host cities for the “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” We are trying to find the best locations to handle our fitness presentation and one-mile event. We will be going to a few hot climates for these races, but the people and companies involved in each of these cities will do a fabulous job with this unusual event.

Please check out a few of the You Tube videos that Juan and I shot in early 2009 at www.OneMileRunner.com. This will give you a head start on the new material coming with our step-by-step program in 2010.

The Humidity Is Still On

Residents of southwest Florida converse about the break in the humidity not coming in until mid-October. In 2009, it will be a welcome entry. With many parts of the country feeling the cooler temperatures of autumn, we are still feeling high humidity here in Sarasota. We hope by next weekend that exercising outdoors will be a more enjoyable.

At The Bath and Racquet Fitness Club www.bathandracquet.com (my training base and headquarters for my coaching), we just finished hosting the 50’s National Clay Court Tennis Championships. There was no surprise that the ambulance had to come by yesterday afternoon because players were experiencing heat induced problems. I was on the court teaching this morning and it looked like I jumped into the pool and then went on court.  That is how wet I was in October!

One of the new products I will be testing this month is the Vega Sport – the natural plant based performance optimizer. I am looking for this product to replace the other energy drinks I use and assist me in restoring the electrolytes that I lose during exercise. The other product that I am using daily in this heat is the Khepra Botanical Foot Mist that provides a cooling burst for my active feet. I have been using the incredible Khepra lotions in my training and races for massages and skin treatments. All these products can be found on the “online shopping” page at www.OneMileRunner.com.

Back In Sarasota

In 1997, I traveled about 35 weeks that year coaching on the professional tennis tour. When I came back home, I actually had forgotten where we kept the plates. This year I had a little deja vu…when we returned home to our Sarasota home, I actually went to the wrong cabinet to get a glass for water. I love being on tour for an event, but it is nice to be back in our home after racing so much this summer. I am being careful on my return to the tennis court. Last year after completing 20/20/20<5@45, I tried a new pair of tennis shoes and this brought on plantar fasciitis for 5 months. This year I was a bit smarter…

We returned to Florida just before Labor Day. 13,000 total miles on my car from the end of June until early September. We went all over New England and enjoyed visiting and racing in so many cool towns and cities. Sekyen and I took off to Dublin, Ireland for a little getaway before I started coaching. It gave me time to decompress after finishing the event. I am in the midst of preparing my body for the toll in 2010. I have increased my strength workouts and I am only doing easy running every other day. My speed workouts will begin in mid-December to prepare for the Masters Indoor National Championships in Boston on March 27th.

To my surprise in 2009, I had no injuries throughout The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time. I think this is a testament to my new training program, the recovery products that I endorse, and to the dedication of Sandra Bello (my massage therapist in Tyngsboro, MA) and Dr. Brian Bigelow (the Chiropractic Consultant to the www.OneMileRunner.com based in Nashua, NH).

I will be announcing in November the six host cities for our 2010 event, “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” In December, we hope to have my new book, Creating Amazement, released and ready for the public. And in early 2010, we will be shooting our new One Mile Fitness video.

I will keep you up to date on all that is happening every week throughout the end of the year.

2010 Event – Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes

After successfully completing the 20/20/20<5@45 event in 2008 and The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time in 2009, many doors have opened up for us. In 2010, www.OneMileRunner.com is going international. The 2010 event is called “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” That is 6 one-mile races, on 6 continents (no interest in Antarctica), in 6 weeks. The tour will begin in North America on July 4th and finish in Australia.

I also have committed to participate in the National Masters Indoor Championships in Boston at the end of March. I have only run indoors twice, but I look forward to trying to break my mark of 4:37 which I ran in Boston at the 2007 Indoor Championships.

I wanted to thank everyone who supported me during my long summer of racing. It seemed that I was racing all the time. The theme of the summer was recovery and we put it to the test. To my surprise, I did not have a race where I could not “go.” Even when I felt tired or my legs felt “heavy,” I was able to muster up some speed for each race. That is a testament to my new training regime, the recovery products that I endorse, and to the dedication of my massage therapist, Sandra Bello, and my chiropractor, Dr. Brian Bigelow.

I will begin my speed work for the Indoor Championships in mid-December. Until then, I will work on my strength and aerobic base.

Here’s wishing you all a great autumn race season – enjoy the cooler temps and the speed that can go with it!