Day 20: Free Agent Deadline

at the 23rd hour, team signings:

-Sean Boisvert
-Adam Bober
-Chris Barker
-Chris's GF

and the weekly Nike Free spending occurs again.
7.0s for KOB and gold 5's (at an insane price) for Nikki

Day 18: Rain stops training in Prov

Just awesome:



Sri:
i woke up this morning thinking "i have to go running today" lol
i dont think thats ever happened to me in my life

Day 17: The House Divides

runners:
Knapp (Saucony)
Nikki (Nike)
Sri (NB)

IL:
Tang(Icy Hot)

2.8 miles
Wild Colonial route before the Spring Break split.

our satellite team in Plano collected 3 medals at today's race, 5 medals total in 2 races.
age group finishes:
Mom Tang 2nd
Dad Tang 3rd
Sister Tang 2nd

Day 16: Cliff Walk pt 2

Who needs a changing room when you have Brian's car?

Super winds at 40 degrees in Newport = bad planning on my part.
FYI 40 steps is dangerous.

Runners:
Knapp (Saucony)
Sri (NB)
Brian (NB)
Nikki (Nike)

Injured List:
Tang (IcyHot)

The shoes of choice for a dinner at Zooma on Atwells: Nike Free 5.0.

Day 15: Newport Cliff Walk Run

After a seminar in Newport, the running quadruplets hit the Cliff Walk.




Runners:
Sri
Knapp
Brian
Tang

31:30
3.1 miles





Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

How many Nike Free 5.0 shoes do we have? 4
How many did we awkwardly buy today? 3; white, gray, black.
After going to all 4 shoe stores in the Providence Place Mall, we found only one with the required shoes, Champs Sports.
Astutely, Knapp pointed out the guy helping us wore Frees. With my love of Frees (Nike, feel free to send us some more pairs for this free endorsement) it was bound to happen.
Thanks to my dumbass, we traded Frees in the Providence Mall.

Day 14: The Fish and Karthauser delay training

"DON'T BAREFOOT RUN KEVIN!!!"

I AM happy that some of the religious zeal that I use for promoting Nike Frees and barefoot running is coming across and not falling on deaf ears. In an act of pure faith in what I have been preaching and in an act of pure...Kevin O'Brien...
...
...
barefoot. running. on a treadmill.

After returning from dinner at Nick's on Broadway, I was ecstatic when Kevin said,

"Hey Tang, I listened to your advice and I ..."
[In my head, I'm thinking wtf did I teach this kid?]
"ran barefoot on a treadmill."

...reports less knee pain.

In other news, Harpoon is sponsoring the 5k so if you needed a better reason to run the race, they will be spotting our first beer at the finish line.

Day 13: Rain

Dreadmill for Brian and Knapp. The breaking in of the Saucony Omni 8's return a positive review. (Nike and Apple aren't the only products this blog endorses)


As our brave runners patiently await their debut, the rain has halted training for another day. In the meantime, I wanted to stress a couple race day pointers.

A couple of weeks before:
Most races occur at 8 am, meaning you have to wake up at 6, drive to the race, warm up and be ready to run at 8. Luckily for some of these kids, this race starts at 11:15 am a mile away. Get used to waking up around 9 am on Sunday.

The night before:

You picked up your bag of goodies, shirt, and bib number (right?).

Look at your log. No, not that log. Your running log. If everything went according to plan, you put in the work and will do just fine.

Lay out all your running gear for the am. You don't want to scramble for your lucky socks or shirt and stress out. We already have enough stress of running 3.1 miles.

Set 2 alarms (or have a handful of other runners in your house)

I don't know how reliable my memory is but I remember seeing something about young Native American warriors who would drink a ton of water the night before a battle so that they'd have to wake up to take a #1. I believe I did that for my first race.

The am:
Eat a small breakfast so you are not dying around race time. Don't carbo load like Michael Scott; this is a 5k, not a marathon.

Evacuate all bodily functions; I have been reading about running for the past year and I don't want anyone pulling a Uta Pippig (funny name, serious results). What's "pulling a Uta Pippig" you say? In 1996, this female runner won the Boston Marathon...and had her monthly surprise from mother nature. I know none of us have the gall to:
a) finish first
b) keep going after something like that happened


Race Day:

Make sure to get to the race 30 minutes to an hour before. Again, we want to be stress-free pre-race.

Warm up with a slow jog for 5-10 minutes.

Remember that log you read? Yeah, you put in the work so if you have race day jitters, know you DID run before this.

When lining up, make sure you are not on the starting line; we are NOT that fast (yet). So either ask people what their paces are and line up accordingly or base it on the past year's finish times and estimate how many people should be in front of you.

...3.1 miles happens...

mile 1: SLOW DOWN. Adrenaline will be your worst enemy. Pacing means slowing down this mile. You'll want to be able to give it your all on the last mile so you can pass people and build up confidence at the same time.
In fact, follow a woman since they pace better

(that's right, PubMed used for running)

-there is a photographer on course; if you see him or her, try not to look like death (trust me, I've done it). Flash him the thumbs up. Or depending on how you feel, flash him some other finger.

When you see the finish, you are going to want to stop; don't do that because 10 other runners will run in to your backside.

If they ask, remove your chip for timing ( I think we don't have chips but some paper tag system)

And there you have it, you are done with your first 5k.

Day 12: Bonk day

Runners:
Kevin
Brian
Knapp

1.08 miles, 10:30


Injuries across the board left the group reeling along with the crappy weather.
infirmary:
Brian (calf)
Knapp (leg)
Nikki (sick)
Tang (hamstring)

Day 11 Chipotle Burritos

Coming out of Wrentham Nike Free-less...womp womp.

































Running, meet Chipotle. These burritos are putting the kibosh on 5k training and left arm function. Along with the pizzas, beer, daiquiris ... thank God there are 6 weeks still to train. The team put up the proverbial goose egg.

Day 10 Saturday

Thanks to Nikki's Shuttle Service to Hope Street, the jobless kids run Blackstone, Angell, and back to the west side.
Blackstone + Angell = no stop n go
a multitude of runners = great day.
Accidental parkour on Angell St. = almost not a great day.
Per Knapp's route, ran through Brown's quad but didn't see Hermoine (sp?) but I did see a bevy of co-eds; I miss college so much.

3.9 miles

Runners:
Knapp Saucony TR
Tang NB 903

Checklist:
"Yankees SUCK!" yell at Knapp's Yankees shirt--only in New England
A Rat (only on the west side)
pharmacy student #26 spotted in Providence.

is anyone else having foot numbness while running?

post-run, the March Madness Marathon Meeting took place at Union Station Brewery and has peaked 5k and marathon motivation (thanks to Lauren and Pat saying I ran marathons) at an all time high.
Boston Marathon 2011? The notion of it has been toyed with but this may be the day it sinks in. The bad news? Having to run 3:30 to keep up with Pat. It all depends on:
-sub 7 5k
-a respectable half-marathon time in december
-injuries
-responsibilities (haha, just kidding; I don't have these)

Also, the Nike Frees that I love have been d/c'ed since the 9th apparently (per runblogger)

I know I should be promoting shoes that are probably the most beneficial, but I am all about the looks.



current pair:





new pair mock-up for nike free run + (women):


japanese link

Tomorrow's Wrentham outlet visit could be that much more important.
(if not, Finish Line is offering 10 bucks off...hmmmm)

Circle your calendars ladies and gentlemen, Blackstone Park run on Wednesday, per Sri

Day 9 Friday

Run through Providence today. In my 1+ year of running, I FINALLY got a "Run, Forrest, Run".
28:41, 3.1 miles

Checklist:
1) "Run Forrest Run"
2) learn how to run for 1 minute, wait at a stop light. repeat. for 30 minutes.
3) Wes' Ribs post-run

Lesson learned:
lead a slow pace, direct traffic = better training run
IF I don't take over the pace, everyone will get injured and my hamstring will be gone before the race even starts

Frozen vegetables' value to cost ratios will skyrocket as knees pound the pavement.


Runners:
Kevin-Nike Shox
Tang-Nike Free 5.0 v4
Souksanh- Nike Pegasus
Brian-NBZip 8509
Knapp-Saucony Grid TR
Nikki-Nike Air Tri-D

(apparently we are affiliated heavily with Nike)

Day 8: March Madness

The original three amigos ran back to the scene of the crime from Wednesday--Wild Colonial Tavern.

Runners:

Knapp-New Balance 1011 SPED version

Brian-New Balance Zip 8509

Tang-Nike Free 5.0

Totals: 31:13, 3.31 miles. (Broadway to Wild Colonial)

What did we see on our trek?

-A union strike near the Dunkin Donuts Center (site of the Ohio shellacking on G-Town)

-A Villanova player (?) post-win trying to run faster than us

-news cameras on the Dunk possibly catching us running behind a news guy

-Brian's 1st parkour attempt mid-run. Result? Battle scar.

-different sense than sight but smelled something mighty tasty around Broadway Bistro.

Day 7: St Patrick's Day run

If I was a coach, this would be the day I would have gotten fired. So there must be an addendum to the couch to 5k program, the Nikki addendum.

The alternative couch to 5k program:

While just beginning running, your 5th workout will consist of running downtown to find 2 pints of beer to drink, lose 2 more caucasians in Providence, then run back as a search party and loop back to only find them at home.

runners: Kasey (sans rollerblades), Brian, Kevin, Nikki, Souksanh, and myself. (Knapp ran the Dexter loop)

vintage KOB, forgetting an ID and losing money. and getting (almost) hit by cars

bar: Wild Colonial for some beer

Running, then drinking, then running; only in college.

in the history of my running, most number of cat calls.

Also, two "Are they jogging?" comments from non-sober walkers.

I have two comments:

1) really? Is it A day? Then I'm running. Oh my God, we're NOT drinking today? (although I shouted to one of the groups that we drank, too)

2)Now I understand why runners hate being referred to as 'joggers'. It's such an endearing term. Do you want to know if you are officially a runner? Have someone call you a jogger and gauge your reaction.

Day 6: The storm

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Confucius

Double K (Knapp and Kevin) put up 20 minute efforts.

Brian is the first of the group to hit 5k: 28:05

and I think sub 7 is possible: 22:53

Day 5: The Calm Before the Storm (and literally after a storm)

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?' " - Peter Maher

While this quote begs you to run every day, for the love of God, don't. Better yet, plan your runs out instead. I like the plans Hal Higdon puts out since he, unlike most plans, explains it in lay man's terms. T minus 7 weeks.

And again, the plan does not dictate your life; your life dictates how the plan works around you.

Today, I got a bit of a shock.

Sri: Tang, I'm sorry...

Tang: [in head] oh shit what happened

Sri: I can't run this week.

Tang: [sigh of relief]

One. I am definitely not the coach.

Two. Again, life takes precedent over running.

Day 4

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

The group split with Knapp and Tang taking it to the streets with rain and wind (and carrots in the streets??)hiding next week's (predicted) gorgeous weather while KOB and Nikki take it to the treadmill.

Knapp: 2.2

Tang: 3.1

KOB:

Nikki: 1.5

totals:30.75

and as far as diverging schools of thought go, flat feet can be treated with motion control shoes (aka max amount of cushion) -OR- barefoot/minimalist shoes (like my favorite Nike Free 5.0 shoes). So which one works best?

Day 3

Best news today: Sri doing 2.5 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. Knapp tacked on 2.75 miles.

Explaining to Sri to not have your hands in the knuckle sandwich position stuck with her; Definitely happy she felt like she (paraphrasing) was one of those professional runners on TV.

amassing 23.95 miles in 3 days for the team.

What do flat footed (aka overpronator) runners wear? I didn't know but after perusing Runner's World magazines and the internet, now I know that if it says motion control it's for bigger runners and stability shoes are for flat footed runners.

Brooks Addiction 8 and Asics Gel Foundation are the best pairs I found for 70 bucks. Why is cost a consideration? We're college students.

So how do you determine if you have high arches, flat feet, or normal arches? Easiest test is to get a brown paper bag and lay it on the floor. Dip your feet in water, place your feet on the bag.

If you can see most of your foot print on the bag, you have flat feet.

As for normal, you'll see the typical foot print.

And for high arches? Almost looks like you have two sections to your foot.

Day 2

Training run #2:

location: Dexter Park

KOB 2.5 miles 23 minutes

Ginger 1.7 miles 23 minutes

Tangis 4.0 miles 36 minutes

Towards the end, I thought I had lost two suburban white kids in Providence. The likelihood of me ending up in jail was high so I was happy that Sri's Taxi Service showed up with the two kids in the back.

Future reference, don't leave women running/walking alone in Dexter Park.

team total: 8.2 miles, 18.7 miles in 2 days.

Training Report: Day 1 of Preparing for the Cox Rhode Races 5k on May 2nd, 2010.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift". Steve Prefontaine

The beginning is a good place to start. So the name 'Tang Clan Running Club' was borne out of a cubicle at a certain large headquarter in Rhode Island although it is arbitrary as the real importance of this club is to get the most out of ourselves.

Goal: tackle the Cox Rhode Race 5k on May 2nd, 2010

1 day down, 51 more to go.

Plan: couch 2 5k

Who ran today?

Sri-V S (1.5 mi)

Bobby Jenks aka Robert Jenks aka Jesus BBQ (1.5 mi)

Gosu Ginger (2.2 mi)

Biney (2.2 mi)

Tangis Khan (3.1 mi)

location: Dexter Training Grounds.

To give you an idea of what it looks like, I guess at some point it looked like this.

We've got varying distances of 2.2 miles and 1.5 miles among the TCRC. All in all, I'd say we covered 10.5 miles total today. It's encouraging that no one has killed me since I barely call what I do teaching or coaching. It didn't all go without a hitch; some ankle tweaks on the inside of the ankle (what is that caused by?) and some not wanting to log miles.

Despite that, running logs have started popping up on runningahead.com which hopefully means that this is a long term goal.

Also, I think that the natives of Dexter Park have never seen 5 adults run together before. Well, this group can only increase at this point.

Questions to ponder:

What type of running shoe would a flat footed person get? Stability, according to googling it

Is it worth getting Nike Frees at a discount if they come in purple?

Aaron Tang's Running Guidelines after 1 year (ATR I)

Looking through older posts that were on 'draft' settings, I forgot I typed this during my guidelines reading phase of pharmacy rotations:

Introduction:

Congratulations on starting your first steps towards a better you. There are some pointers that I have listed; I've only run consistently for over one year so I only know a little bit in the grand scheme of things but in that year, I have learned a lot as will you. This is quite the list and took me a year to implement, so don't get shell-shocked and expect to pick it up all in one day. I hated running for 23 years so if I can change my mindset, so can you.

Aaron Tang's Running Guidelines after 1 year (ATR I)

Mindset:

Keep your chest out, shoulders relaxed, hands relaxed, head up, and think about running lightly. Run until you can't, walk until your bored. Keep your posture straight up. Keep a positive attitude; this sentence will be a joke if you continue running as you'll figure out the secret to why I ran so much; it helps to make you feel great and you can clear your mind all while getting naturally high (the "runner's high”). In fact if you keep going, you’ll get to a point where you want to run every day. I mean I just spent time to type this out not as a chore but in hopes that you too will find running to be just as great. That should say something to the power of running considering I haven’t written a paper this long since high school.

Run SLOW. Once you think you're at a slow pace, go even slower. The thing about running is it doesn't matter how fast or slow you are; people who run respect the fact that you are going out there and doing the same thing they love. Wave at a runner coming at you; 8 times out of 10 you'll be greeted by a smile and a wave. The 2 out of 10 have a stick up their butts and are running at the same time so it’s difficult.

Running like it's a race every day = injuries. That's what kept me out of running for months (and it felt like years). You should feel comfortable while running and not be on a ridiculous pace; the goal is to get to the point where you can run comfortably AND be faster; being faster comes with the miles you pile up. Patience is a trait you'll learn; you're not running JUST to run a race (hopefully), but running for a while to come. That's some big picture stuff right there.

Homework:

Yes, there is homework for running. Keeping a log of your workouts and runs will help you keep track of mileage on your shoes, what works/what doesn't work, max heart rate/ resting heart rate, keeps you motivated, and lets you know you are not overdoing it too quickly. I recommend runningahead.com (b/c I'm on that site as well so I can answer most of your questions) to help log your information online and it is free as well. It'll help me "coach" you as well as you being able to see what other runners do; there are forums on the site that have helped explain a ton of stuff to me and you’ll probably see some of the info I have re-iterated there.

Training:

There is a program that I see people who are running their first 5k called C25k, or Couch to 5k program that is a 9 week program: (coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml)

There is also this program that I used; I’m pretty sure his explanations are where I get most of my knowledge from:

(http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm)

Take rest days. Do NOT try and run every day; that also contributed to me getting hurt. Don't increase mileage too quickly. The general rule of thumb is to increase mileage by 10% maximum a week. It will take some time for your body to adjust. In fact, your muscles/body take longer to adjust than your heart. Patience is HUGE. I wanted to do too much, too soon and that led to injury.

So do what fits your schedule. Run in the morning, at night, whenever you can. Generally, 3-4 days a week should be good. As far as scheduling, there is always time to run; 20-30 minutes in a day? I definitely spend that much time with my mouth open watching mindless tv or perusing facebook so I can replace that with a quick run.

Do NOT be afraid to take walk breaks; this is actually good as it keeps you in the cardio zone of training for a longer period of time. It took me a long time to realize this and I had to listen to my body instead of trying to look tough and try and finish every scheduled run as fast as I could.

Have one day (usually during the weekend) as your "long run" (how long? longer than the normal ones during the week but usually around half your total distance for that week or less (so if I just ran 10 miles in a week, my long run would be 5 miles or less)). This is usually scheduled on the weekend so you can rest and recuperate as well as not feel stressed about trying to squeeze in a longer time commitment during the week.

Pains:

Listen to your body; if ANYTHING hurts, stop immediately. I tried to push through injuries and that was dumb. Do NOT try and run off an injury. I repeat, do NOT try and run off an injury. Being a hero is great in movies, but in movies, it ends after 2 hours. Running through an injury can keep you sidelined for 2 months.

RICE is not only a food I enjoy, but it will help keep your legs fresh. Frozen peas serve two purposes for me; I get a serving of vegetables AND my knees feel a lot better when I put the bag on top of my knees after a run. Cold showers for your legs feel pretty good once you start consistently running. Sounds crazy but trust me, feels decent.

Warming up/ stretching:

Runnersworld.com has great videos on stretching. Basically, stretch only if you've warmed up by running for 5 minutes or if you finished running. As far as warming up, run slowly the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes of your run. Stay warm with multiple layers; if it gets too hot, remove layers and voila, you will be less warm. Layers are key in the winter; I go 7 layers deep at the worst.

Shoes/gear:

General rule of thumb is 500 miles on the running shoes then get a new pair. Make sure to keep your last pair with you and go to a running store where they can analyze where the shoe wore out and what shoe is best for your feet. Certain shoes help more depending upon the way you run.

As far as clothing, look for things that wick moisture; that'll keep sweat off of your skin to help you stay dry and feeling better. I personally don't have any shirts yet that are wicking, I just use cotton t-shirts, a skullcap, and wicking shorts. Wicking also means this cloth is susceptible to snagging with just about anything.

Oh yeah, expensive gear and shoes do not mean better; I think Target has Champion wicking shirts that are decently priced and the higher end shoes are for elitists. As long as you get the right type of shoe, I'd say you can find deals online at amazon.com.

High-traffic areas in the city require the one earbud look for your mp3 player; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost gotten squashed with two earbuds in.

Working out:

A lot of these are on the runnersworld.com video library but I'm just sharing what I usually do. These directions are horrible so I can explain further if you need it.

Core, glutes, hips, thighs, ankles. Work these out. These will help your running form and keep you from getting injured. I tried to run without working out and that was dumb as this contributed to injury.

Hip exercises are basically doing clamshells (lying on your side and lifting your leg that's not on the ground and moving it up and down, with different variations ie knees bent, legs are straight, or knees are together, and you bend your lower leg up), and another exercise is moving your legs out in a bicycle movement while lying down with your back on the floor.

For glutes, lay with your back down on the floor with your feet on the ground and your knees up. Drive your pelvis up with your feet planted and then come back down. There's also one where you lay on your side, have the leg out that's not on the ground and stick it out perpendicular to your body. Turn the foot slightly towards the floor and lift your leg up and down. This works your gluteus medius, which helps keep you balanced.

Diet:

Ah, the other part of training that no one talks about. Some say this is more important than the exercise itself. Either way, know that both this and running will help you reach your full potential.

The key is that with lifestyle changes, it takes roughly 3 months to change according to those boring guidelines we read for school. I, on the other hand, took 2 years. I personally like the abs diet power plan (abs diet power is an acronym with each letter representing a type of food) http://www.absdiet.com/uof/absdiet/noemail/power12.html. It's simple foods that you can prepare; I mean, if I can do it, you can. I took one thing in the 12 food groups and tried to incorporate it for like a week, and saw how my body adjusted to it. Add another and another and you’re on the other end of this lifestyle change. Basically, do what you can and indulge every once in a while because we are not robots; if you remember, I did eat a ton of food on the cruise without thinking. Know that with your running you don’t feel as bad indulging but just keep it all in balance.

ANY questions at all, don't hesitate to ask. I am more than happy to answer a running question because I really really like it and hope that you catch the running bug; I almost feel like one of those Christian missionary dudes trying to convert door to door. No question is off limits since that's the only way you'll learn without having to suffer. This is kind of a rough copy of all the knowledge I have so don't take it as comprehensive.

websites:

runnersworld.com

runningahead.com

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm

coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml