Nike Human RaceTraining

Some of my friends are attempting their first 10k so I made something for them. You can say I am wrong or whatever. But this is better than them going out and do their own thing.

What are you doing? Finish your first 10K!

So, I am not a coach. Don’t kill me if you end up injuring yourself =P. But I did ran 5 marathons, a bunch of half, and an Ironman (swim 2.4mi, bike 112mi, and run a marathon) so I have ideas to help you to reach your first 10k.

For those of you who are doing your first 10K. I can’t stress this enough. You are training to complete your first 10K. Don’t worry about how fast or how slow you run. Our goal is to get you to the finish line and injury free. This is especially true with first timers. They worry about running too slow, over-train, run too fast, and injury themselves.

Clothes and Shoe

I don’t want you guys to spend a lot of money (unless you want to LOL). But in general you don’t want to wear cotton. You want stuff made with polyester.

The only polyester thing I suggest you to get it’s polyester socks. They help you so you are less likely to get blister (and this time is real… not beach chair LOL)

For shoe, I guess you can continue to use what you have. But if you want a pair of running shoe, you talk to me or Josephine (if you know who she is). Don’t go out to Nike outlet and buy a pair of running shoe =)

Interval Training

Most people who does marathon don’t run the whole thing. A lot of people do Interval. You’ll hear me say 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1. What does that mean? The first number is the number of minute you run and the second number is the number of minute you walk.

So when I say 2-1… that means run 2 mins, then walk for 1 min… then run for 2, walk for 1, run for 2, walk for 1…

I suggest people with no running experience to try 1-1, 1:30-1, or 2-1. You should be able to do this for your whole workout. If you do 2-1 for 30 min and you got very tired half way thru… then you should lower to 1:30-1.

If you think you need extra break, you can do 1-2. But try to keep walking for 1 min and see what happen first.

How to keep track of your Interval

Well I don’t want you to spend a lot of money on running unless you are going to keep doing it. For starter any digital watch with a stop watch will do. You just do the interval with the time. (it’s tougher if you are doing half min like 1:30). People can’t do math while they run, it’s true!

But if you want to spend the money, you can buy a digital watch with a dual interval timers (nowadays some watches have multi timers). How it works: say you do 2-1. It beeps every 2 min (tell you to stop running and start walking), then beep again after 1 min (tell you to run). It will do the same thing if you do like 1:30-1… 2:30-1:25. You don’t have to count and it has a countdown to how much you need to run/walk.

Not all watches have this funny. Sorry, your Baby-G probably don’t have this feature (but you can use your Baby G and just keep track of the interval yourself).

Timex is usually the brand of choice. Something like below will do.

http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpage-TISLK50PK.html

I strongly suggest you to get your watch at an actual running shoe store. They know which watch you need and they will teach you how to use it. (I have a timex and I don’t really know how to set mine up… I use my Garmin watch for Interval). It may costs a bit more, but save you a lot of trouble. They sell Timex at target but you really need to look for the right model… and the staff is probably not that useful.

Local Running Shoe Store

Run With Us (Pasadena)

Snail Pace (Pasadena)

A Runner’s Circle (Los Feliz)

Nutrition

Remember to drink during your training. Eat something an hour before if you were to run in the morning.

Schedule:

I gave it some thoughts and came up with the following schedule for people who never ran before. ALL TIME/DISTANCE are supposed to be easy pace. REMEMBER, YOU ARE TRAINING FOR YOUR FIRST 10K (6.1 MI RACE) AND YOUR GOAL IS TO FINISH. You can worry about your time on your second 10K.

Here is the breakdown.

When I say 30mins, just jog 30 min easy pace (with run/walk interval). If you can’t do the run walk interval. Just walk (but try to walk fast).

When I say 3mi, just go 3 miles EASY PACE (You should be able to sustain this pace and even talk whil you jog). Again please do the run/walk interval. On 10/17 you will I have 4.5mi/1hr10min. You stop whenever one of those comes first. If you ran 4.5 mi, then stop. If you ran for 1hr 10min but you haven’t reach 4.5mi, STOP!

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
10/04 REST	10/05 30mins Or Almansor Park at 7:30PM	10/06 REST	10/07 Arcadia Track: 6:30pm	10/08 Walk 40mins	10/09 REST	10/10 3mi (Don’t go to Rosebowl, football game)
10/11 REST	10/12 40mins	10/13 REST	10/14 35mins	10/15 Walk 40mins	10/16 REST	10/17 4.5mi/1hr10min
10/18 REST	10/19 30mins	10/20 REST	10/21 Very Easy 30min or Walk	10/22 REST	10/23 Nike Human Race Fri Night	10/24 Gun starts at 12:00am

My LA Triathlon Race Report (DQ)

LA triathlon starts at Venice Beach and it ends at downtown LA. I got to downtown at 4:30am this morning and I spent 15 minutes looking for a parking spot because none of the parking lot appears to be opened. I ended up parking on one of the meter parking and bike my car to the shuttle.

I got to the transition area and setup all my stuff. I walked around and bumped into a few of my Ironteammates. We did warm up and the water is very choppy. I am concerned because I get motion sickness. Whatever, we'll see what happen.

So the Gun start and we all headed to the first buoy. I decided to walk a little bit and the wave is very strong. As I was walking I can feel the water retrieving to feed the wave... I was like oh god. The wave itself wasn't really that big of a problem. But you get these double waves where you dive under one and you will get hit by the second one. Which is also ok. But then you also get wave from different direction... well actually 2 directions. I get wave coming straight at me and I also get wave that come at a 45 degree angle... and did I say the water was very choppy.

Usually I just need to dive under a few waves to get to calmer water. This time I lost track. I am concerned because it seems like every time I swim 1 feet forward the wave will push me 2 feet back. After I don't know how long I made it to the first buoy.

I then focus to swim to the second buoy. As much as I try, I need to take a breather every few minutes because I wasn't sure where I was going. I try to swim straight but I am just getting beat up by the choppy water. Then I wanted to vomit. Since I didn't want to waste time I actually try to vomit while I swim. That did not work out because there is nothing in my stomach!!!

I didn't want to give up just yet so I continue to swim. Eventually I swim to one of the lifeguard and rest on his board. That was half way between the first and second buoy. I know it's kind of nasty but I try to vomit while resting on his board (my desperate attempt to feel better). Again nothing. I thanks him and continue to push forward.

The choppy water did not improve and I continue to swim off course. When I got to the next buoy I again took sometime to rest on this lifeguard's board. Again, I use this time to rest and vomit.

I moved on.... for a short period of time. I was thinking this is very bad. Physically I am totally capable of swimming the distance (even though I haven't been swimming). Mentally I am good. But this whole motion sickness thing sucks. The turn buoy is still a good distance away. I then have to swim close to the shore (more choppy), then I have to swim against the current.

I can continue with this thing and I am sure I'll get to the finish line eventually. But given that I wasn't really going anywhere and that I need to stop every 20-30ft to take a breather because the water is so choppy.

I raised my hand to have the lifeguard come to me so I can rest. I rest a little and told her I am calling it a day... I am maybe 30 meters from the half way point. There was a lifeguard boat around the area so I got up and tell them I want to go back to the shore. The guy radio my number to the med tent, then I jump back to the water and climb on a board attached to a jet ski.

I was kind of glad that I made the decision because even the time I spent on the jet ski seems like FOREVER!!! Eventually he told me to get back on to the water and just walk back to the shore. Geez I even have problem with that!

Fine, my first disqualification. I was ready to surrender my timing chip and take the shuttle back to downtown LA. When I got to the finish line I don't see any race official. I went to the Med tent to let them know that I am ok. I continued to the transition area. No Race Official there, so I was like screw this I am doing the bike and the run too. I jumped on my bike and start riding.

My fear was realized. I still want to vomit and I am physically tired from battling the waves. I did not go very fast on the bike. And yes, there wasn't any porta potty. I was going to try peeing on my bike but I couldn't get myself to do it. I will wait until I hit transition area in Downtown. I did my good deed by giving away one of my tube. So that's 1 tube for Vineman and 1 tube for LA Triathlon.

I got into T2, did a quick change and head out. What the heck... no porta potty. Right then I know this is my last LA Triathlon.

The run was uneventful. I took a few pictures of Carlos and Tom. When I see TNT people I will say Go Team. When I see WB people I will say Go WB. When I see KP people who are struggling I offer a high five to them and tell them to give me a big smile.

Toward the end of the race a KP girl was walking so I tag her shoulder and told her to run with me. We finished together.

Overall it's a bad day for me.
-lack of direction for parking
-lack of porta potty during BOTH THE RUN AND THE BIKE COURSE (ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME)
- and of course the choppy water... but that no one has control of.

P.S. My friend was listening to the podcast and he said the official were actually consider to cancel the swim. But this doesn't give me an excuse to quit.

There you have it, my bad tri day.

Good Job for all my teammates that were able to conquer the Pacific Ocean.