Year End Meetings

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!

Acupuncture

One of the ways I have been helping my recovery process is to have acupuncture sessions with Dr. Qinghong Han.

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Since our knee cartilage has poor blood flow, I have been using acupuncture to stimulate energy or “chi” in my knees and throughout my body. I am hoping that with the improved circulation in my knees that it will aid in the complete healing of my knee joints during this off-season and will bring my entire body to a more balanced state.

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Perhaps you can try acupuncture to reduce inflammation, relieve pain, or optimize your overall heath. To find out more information about Dr. Han and the benefits of acupuncture, please visit www.doctorhan.com.

Off Season Training

The second stop on our recovery tour is seeing your trainer to add to your off season workouts. My themes for this fall was to increase my flexibility and to bring balance back to my body after our world tour. The www.OneMileRunner.com Training Consultant, Juan Ruiz-Tagle, gave me new 3-D stretches that I perform at the conclusion of my workouts. Juan is very knowledgeable and has revamped my recovery. We train movements, not muscles. The western world is into isolating muscles in a stretch. However, isolation does not transfer to your chosen sport or activity. When moving, we use groups of muscles. If you look at the body, there are our layers of muscles in action in every exercise. Muscles are not one-dimensional, but multi-dimensional. That is why the 3-D effect works so great.


I wish you the best with adding to your off season program to ensure that you are not only recovered fully before your new training program begins, but also that you have made improvements in your areas of weakness. You can check out Juan’s blog entries at backtofunction.blogspot.com.

Recovery

The cool weather finally hit Florida last week. Local races are beginning their competitive season and runners are preparing for their Thanksgiving Day race. I, on the other hand, am treating these couple of months with recovery and balance. I begin my speed training on February 1st for the Chinese race in May. I have not had a few months away from running, training, and speed work for a few years, so it important for my longevity and health to take these short couple of months and recover properly. At www.OneMileRunner.com, we will begin a series of blog articles sharing some of the ways I will be recovering over the next couple of months. I hope you can find some of these methods useful in your training periodization programs.

Finding body balance is crucial before the speed work begins again. With my hips and pelvis being the platform of power, I am going through a series training exercises to increase my range of motion and my overall strength. Our first stop will be at Wellness Concepts (www.wellnessconcepts.com) located in Bradenton, Florida. A friend recommended I meet Dr. Greg Kotlarczyk to see if he could help me find the recovery I was looking for after our world tour this summer. Dr. Kotlarczyk, fondly referred to as “Dr. K,” has been instrumental in bringing my entire body back into balance. With his numerous PNF stretches, neuromuscular massages, and chiropractic adjustments, my body is beginning to hold onto some of the corrections.

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As we age and continue our hard training, more and more body work must be done to improve performances, avoid injuries, and optimize efforts. I spend many hours a week doing strength exercises and flexibility exercises, as well as hitting the tables for massage and other rehab work. In our upcoming series, we will show our all our stops on the recovery tour. Please treat this like a buffet – you can choose what you want to add to your plate of overall body balance.

2011 Event: “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes”

We are very excited at www.OneMileRunner.com to announce our 2011 event entitled, “5 Wonders Under 25 Minutes.” I asked permission to race a mile down the Great Wall of China last year, but my request  was denied. However, after completing “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes,” I was granted access to race a mile on the Great Wall. This is one of my dream miles and probably the coolest mile that I will ever race.

Our 2011 event will span over a 5-month period with one race per month – very different than the last 3 years. We will race one Wonder of the World each month starting in China in May. There are a few “Wonders of the Worlds” lists: ancient, medieval, natural, and new. We tried to take a mix of all the lists. (It is difficult to use the ancient wonders of the world listing as only one, The Great Pyramid of Giza, still stands today). Also, these one-mile races will be “adventure” miles that are mixed with different elevations, challenging surfaces, and various climates – all with a “Wonderful” backdrop.

Here are our selections for our 2011 event:

  1. Great Wall (China) (New and Medieval list of wonders) 5/21
  2. Stonehenge (England) (Medieval list of wonders) 6/25
  3. Taj Mahal (India) (New list of wonders) 7/23
  4. Grand Canyon (USA) (Natural wonders list) 8/20
  5. Petra (Jordan) (New list of wonders) 9/9

With not having a race until next May, I will have one of my first extended breaks from speed training in the last three years. The speed training for my 2011 event will begin in February. I am looking forward to this time away from running to increase my flexibility and add more strength. I have already begun my biking, swimming, and active rest program. At the end of September, I will be meeting with my trainer and consultant, Juan Ruiz-Tagle, to formulate my 4 month fitness regime to improve my performances and prepare me for the unusual racing in 2011.

Tour of Trust

Sekyen and I took a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard when we returned to the USA followed by a hike up Mount Moosilauke in the White Mountains. I am back on regular sleep patterns and ready to begin my coaching and speaking commitments.

I had the opportunity when I got back to Florida to catch up with our “mental preparation” consultant at www.OneMileRunner.com, Jacqueline Moore, who traveled to our first leg of the “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes” in Connecticut, US. Please check out our new video that tells how the tour began with “faith” and transformed to “trust.”

We have just received confirmation for our 2011 event. I will be announcing the details of our tour next week. We are anxious to share the exciting news with you!

Finally Back On East Coast Time

We have finally made it back full circle to Florida and E.S.T. After finishing our last race in Townsville, Australia, Sekyen and I flew to Sydney, Australia to celebrate for a few days. Here is a photo from the Sydney Bridge:


Then we flew from Sydney to Los Angeles, CA to meet with one of my sponsors, HeadBlade based in Culver City. Here I met with CEO Todd Greene and Marketing Director Eric Romer. After running around the world in less than 30 minutes, Eric set up a “David Letterman” event and made me run around the Headblade building in less than 30 seconds. It was great fun and the video is posted at www.headblade.com. Here is the direct link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov5M35pkuGo


Then we flew from LA to Phoenix to meet my marketing director and some of my family. And then it was onto to Atlanta to stop into my sponsor, Sigvaris,(www.athleticrecoverysock.com) who is the global leader in the area of compression therapy. Sigvaris was with me on this tour literally every step of the way as I used their Athletic Recovery Socks on every airplane ride and the Sigvaris Performance Sock in every training, recovery run, and race. Their socks are absolutely the best and I thank them for being part of the www.OneMileRunner.com team. I had the opportunity to speak to their management team, take a tour of their operations, and have in interview with their marketing and communications coordinator, Melissa Gwozdz. Here is a photo with Melissa:


After our stop at the Sigvaris headquarters at Peachtree City, GA, Sekyen and I boarded our final flight to Sarasota, Florida. It was an emotional landing as we finally completed our world tour. We are going to spend a few days decompressing at Martha’s Vineyard, MA then onto a hike in NH/Maine. We will stay in the east coast standard time zone for a bit of recovery.

Australian Race

As discussed and instructed before race time, I stayed upright and injury-free during my final leg of “Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes.” Due to my previous five races we thought we had enough time accumulated to enjoy this last continental mile race, so I went out in the first half of the race at about 2:28 and then just cruised into the finish enjoying the sights and sounds of the final 1/2 mile in 5:13.92. With 3 elevated sidewalks to cross over and 5 roundabouts to run through, this flat course had a few obstacles to be careful of as I raced.

The sixth and last race of our world tour took us to the Townsville Running Festival in Townsville, Australia. Townsville is a beautiful spot in northeast Australia that is about a three hour boat ride to The Great Barrier Reef. Here is a photo of Townsville behind me (with majestic Castle Hill in the background of Townsville) on our way snorkeling to The Great Barrier Reef.

The McDonald’s Townsville Running Festival has a marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10K, and a 5K. President of the Townsville Road Runners, Anthony Hockings (in photo above with sign), and Race Director, Brian Armit, were kind enough to stage a special one mile course for me. We were happy to complete our world tour in Townsville, Australia. As you can see in the video, we had trouble with my start of the race, but we finely got things right.

“Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes” was successfully completed in 29 minutes and 25 seconds (34 seconds ahead of our target goal) on August 8, 2010. I know many of you have been asking me about 2011. We are in the planning stages of another world event and we will announce the 2011 event very soon as we confirm locations. For right now, Sekyen and I will enjoy a few days in Sydney before flying back to the States. We stop in to see our HeadBlade sponsor in LA, marketing director in Phoenix, Sigvaris sponsor in Atlanta, and then finally back into Sarasota for a few days of rest on August 18th. Thank you all for your constant support. It has been an unbelievable event that we will always remember.

At www.OneMileRunner.com this fall, we are going to have many interesting blog posts from our Consultants and others as we look forward to sharing new ideas on keeping you “accelerating at any age.”

Asian Race

India was a magical week for us at www.OneMileRunner.com. Seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and giving two speaking presentations, we were busy from start to finish. It was a pleasure to see the boom of Chennai. Construction, business, and development is seen throughout the city. It has changed so much since my days when I lived in Chennai (Madras then) from 1986-91, before the days of the internet, cell phones, and email. I remember it took me two years to get a land line phone in my apartment. Now cell phones connect the country and IT businesses are all over the lands of India.

Our hosts for the week, Savera Hotel, www.saverahotel.com, and O2 Health Studio, www.o2healthstudio.com, both directed by Nina Reddy made our stay for our Asian Race very special. My race took place along Bay of Bengal as it is the second longest beach line in the world. I used to run with my tennis proteges in the deep sands of Marina beach in Chennai. After running up and down the beach for 4.5 years, I was suddenly chased by a crazy bull a few months before I was to leave for the USA. Luckily, I barely got away. The location of this run did bring back memories of me screaming at the top of my lungs back in 1991. This race in 2010, I escaped without disturbing any animals and actually felt in the best race form during our tour of Around The World In Less Than 30 Minutes. This is actually the best I can race on a flat, straight course recording 4:35.75 for race #5.

Please check out this video of our Asian stop, I think you will enjoy the warmth of India:

Sekyen and I are currently in Singapore on our way to Brisbane, Australia tomorrow afternoon. Then we fly to Townsville on the 4th of August as we prepare for our final leg of our around the world event. I race on Sunday, August 8th.

I had the great fortune of running tonight with Christy Guna Desa, the friendly concierge manager at the Singapore Marriott Hotel where we are staying. Christy is into marathon running and triathlons and I appreciate his Singaporean hospitality showing me around this wonderful city. Singapore is soon to be hosting the first ever Youth Olympics from August 12-26th. I am sure that the city of Singapore will do a fantastic job in hosting the youths of the world.

O2 Health Studio in Chennai, India

My second speaking presentation took place on August 30th at the Hotel Savera, www.saverahotel.com. This was a fitness talk sharing our new ideas for injury prevention with the audience from Chennai. Not only was Savera Hotel our sponsor for the week, but also the O2 Health Studio, www.o2healthstudio.com.

Nina Reddy, Executive Director of Savera and O2, was an exceptional host. She is a progressive leader seeing the boom of fitness in India before it happened. Below is a photo with Nina and two members of her fitness staff – Dinesh Vallavan and Earnest Vijay.

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It was a wonderful evening as the audience was eager to learn new ways to exercise without creating injuries.

Then it was time to race on Saturday morning…race #5 in Chennai, India representing the continent of Asia.