Here is the Intermediate version of the Power Preparation. The intermediate version adds a few more difficult drills to the basic bounding moves. I hope you can add these speed drills to your warm-up program.
We will be posting the parts of the Advanced Warm-up Program over the next couple of weeks. You will be able to have some fun preparing your body for your best summer performances.
Here is the video of the Intermediate Warm-Up. The intermediate level takes you deeper into the squat, lunge, and balance reach warm-up. Before you begin the intermediate level, please be proficient in all the essential movements showcased in the beginner video. I hope you can use it to warm up for your next event.
Have a great week of training!
We posted the first phase of the www.OneMileRunner.com warm-up program last week featuring how to mobilize your joints and muscles. This week we share another part of the warm-up: Power Preparation. The Power Preparation follows your mobilization and gets you ready for speed for any sport. The beginner version is in the video below and we will add the intermediate and advanced videos in the weeks to come.
Every injury I have had I have done to myself. When I get injured from an exercise, it is due to bad form or bad habits – unknowingly. When my orthopedic doctor reviewed my MRI, he said that I did something to cause trauma to my left leg. I did not accidently fall or trip in any of my various workouts. So I was wondering how did I traumatize my leg? We felt if I remove the trauma – I would remove the source of my injury. So I searched in every workout I did. I did not come up with the answer until my return to the track this past week since I strained my left knee and right hip flexor in March. Whenever we begin our track practice we warm-up in the opposite direction of our speed training. Most athletes who use the track go counter clockwise with the left leg on the inside to practice their speed training as every race takes place in this direction. I decided to switch it up a bit this week as I was trying to find how I traumatized my body as seen in the MRI. And I found the answer. The trauma occurred on repetitive workouts with my left leg taking a pounding on every turn. I felt a huge difference when I practiced my speed in the opposite direction (clockwise) with my right leg on the inside – no pain.
After years of training my speed in only one direction. It was only a matter of time that my left leg would break down. It felt strange at first to run speed with my right leg on the inside, but my body loved it. I thought warming up in the opposite direction was enough, but it was not. Please learn from my experience and be mindful of your workouts in whatever sport you do. Repetitive habits must be good ones to build your body, form, power, and speed properly. The best way to train speed is straight ahead without any turns at all.
This is the ideal way to keep your body in balance.
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.
We travel out west to film our new website photographs and video at the beginning of May. This new video will give every athlete the proper exercises for injury prevention in their chosen sport. We are excited to share this with our growing audience. You should understand how to warm-up, cool down, and prepare yourself for peak performance. We hope to be able to post this video by the end of May. Also, we will be shooting new photos for our home page and other web pages as we launch our 2010 event, “Around the World In Less Than 30 Minutes” beginning on July 4th in America.
My running portion of my training begins on my return on May 8th. We will be providing weekly reports on the training for our world tour and video and written articles to help you with your speed training. I am looking forward to 8 weeks of training in the Florida heat!
SIGVARIS PRESS RELEASE
Medically endorsed SIGVARIS, the global leader in graduated compression socks & stockings, proudly announces its partnership with David O’Meara – The One Mile Runner and world-renowned coach, speaker, author and athlete.
Atlanta, GA: SIGVARIS continues its quest to inform and educate patients, medical professionals and consumers about the benefits of graduated compression socks and stockings. This time around it’s by bringing on board a well known coach, speaker, author and athlete by the name of David O’Meara, also known as the “One Mile Runner” www.OneMileRunner.com.
David, on behalf of SIGVARIS, will undertake various speaking engagements, attend sporting events and other athletic forums, wearing and actively demonstrating and educating his audiences about the real benefits of the SIGVARIS line of true graduated compression socks.
The One Mile Runner – David O’Meara wearing the new performance socks from SIGVARIS
“I have been wearing compression socks for better athletic performance and improved recovery over the last couple of years. The new Performance and Athletic Recovery socks from SIGVARIS are absolutely amazing! The socks have helped me increase my running speed and decrease my recovery time. I will be wearing my new SIGVARIS socks exclusively during my worldwide event this summer called “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” From the airplane to the race, SIGVARIS will be an essential piece of equipment for me to succeed in difficult conditions.”
A growing trend among competitive athletes and weekend warriors is the use of compression therapy socks to help improve athletic performance and speed up recovery. Compression therapy is a hot topic in sports media right now as a growing number of triathletes, marathon runners and professional sports athletes are using compression socks during and after performances to improve their results. Whether it’s during the actual event, after the event, or even while traveling, athletes are making graduated compression socks part of their everyday attire. Wearing compression during and after strenuous exercise or competition can help flush out lactic acid and also provide symptomatic relief of delayed onset leg muscle soreness. Graduated compression socks can also be worn to help support, by stimulating blood circulation, recovery from sports injuries.
SIGVARIS created www.AthleticRecoverySock.com to provide athletes and weekend warriors with information on sports compression socks, as well as a forum for athletes to discuss their compression therapy experiences and results. SIGVARIS has other high-visibility partnerships in place with, among others, the Indianapolis Colts, NFL’S “Winningest Team” from 1999-2009; www.colts.com, and LPGA’s Brittany Lincicome; www.brittanylincicome.net
SIGVARIS, through the Athletic Recovery line of socks, also has strategic partnerships in place with established endurance sports organizations in North America, such as: Road Runner’s Club of America (RRCA), USProTri, Southern Crescent Cycling Club, and Cross Country Canada (CCC-skiing).
About SIGVARIS
SIGVARIS® North America is part of an internationally active medical device group headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland that focuses on the development, production and distribution of medical compression garments, including hosiery and socks. With distribution in more than 50 countries on six continents, SIGVARIS is recognized as a global industry leader in the area of compression therapy for the management of venous and lymphatic disorders. Our US manufacturing plant is located in Peachtree City, GA. For more information, please visit www.sigvarisusa.com.
SIGVARIS, LIFE FOR LEGS and the leg icon are registered trademarks of Ganzoni & Cie AG, St.Gallen/Switzerland and in many countries worldwide.
It has been a busy couple of weeks. In my last practice in Florida, I pulled a hip flexor. I still traveled to Boston in an attempt to run at Indoor Nationals. After seeing my Chiropractic Consultant in NH, Dr. Brian Bigelow, he taped my injured areas with kinesiology tape, an amazing tool (see photo), and said to give it a shot. I ran a couple of laps, but felt the hip was tearing more so I stepped off the track. It was the right move as I have a big event to prepare for starting with our heavy training in May. I have not had many injuries in my life. It is tough to get me to slow down, but I will let things mend over the next couple of weeks.
On my return to Florida, Brendan Brazier, who formulated the vegan products that I use everyday called Vega, was in Sarasota speaking about his new book, Thrive Fitness. I am sponsored by Vega and appreciate Brendan’s work in creating great products for all of us to benefit from in our nutritional intake. The Vega Optimizer is a complete whole food meal replacement made exclusively from natural, plant-based ingredients, Vega is an ideal meal for people on the go, providing high quality convenient nutrition without compromises. Vega features 25g of complete protein, essential fatty acids, fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, probiotics, enzymes and a full dose of ChlorEssence and MacaSure in every serving.
I had three talks scheduled after the race in New England on my new book, Creating Amazement. I had the chance to speak to 1000 kids at my old middle school in NH on the topic of short-term and long-term goal setting. It was a great experience sharing our message.
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.
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.
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.