Packet Day

Blackstone easy day:
Tang (Free 5)
Brian (NB Zip)
Jess (Nike)
Nikki (Free 5)
Knapp (Saucony)
Sri (NB)

New Nike Free Run+ 5.0s are up on nikerunning.com
-from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I'm glad I bought another round of v4

Packet pick up: brings me back to summers before high school; holy crap, that was a decade ago.
Thanks to Jess driving Nikki, Brian, and myself to the mall for packets at Westin aka GI Joe Convention central.
Copied down 16 numbers, passed them to the annoyed volunteers for 16 bibs and shirts.

As we were picking up for a party of 16, a girl asked nicely what our team name was and we embarrassingly mentioned it was Tang Clan. What team was she on? Politely, said a team of 50 ... RISD kids.

Who are our new rivals?
RISD team.


The technical shirts were a bit perplexing to us since it was all black and it is getting warmer. After wearing it though, I think the team agrees technical shirts > shirts, just.

Thankfully, as I believe Brian pointed out, Dick's Sporting Goods did not partner with Cox for this race. That shirt would not be street legal.

And it's apparently National Runner's Month?
http://www.nationalrunnersmonth.com/

What is the definition of family?

Blackstone:
Sri
Brian
Knapp

What is the definition of family?

Webster's dictionary defines family as (boring speech/essay format of defining a word blah blah blah)

Thanks to new blood in to running, Knapp found out family can mean 5 people living on Grant Street. Before you say "awwwwww", this loop hole could get 5 people in to a race for 30 bucks.
(imagine fisher/ a surfer saying this) That is OBSCENE.

The race director may question the different last names...



The team faces another hurdle; Sean needs your help to find someone to cover his CVS shift the day of the race.



I don't usually go in to my own run but if you ever thought that you feel like you can't run(barring injury), just think; when would you have ever associated me with "up at 5 am" and "run"? Since I haven't run before the sun since summer and my VA rotation, I forgot how much you start hallucinating and turning trees in to people.
Also:
-running in the AM is eerie enough but when it's in a city, it is surreal
-without an iPod and dead silence, my breathing pattern sounds like I'm getting shot in Goldeneye for the first mile/ waking up

The rare video game based on a movie that didn't suck:

3 days out

Cox Rhode Races has an odd promotion today; FIND OUT YOUR BIB NUMBER!
This is what happens when you have 1,100 people signed up for the 5k. Bib numbers are now events.

Also, while ctrl + F'ing to find my bib number, I saw another runner that had RN slapped on to the end of their last name. Because of karma and me pointing this out, this person will run faster than me.


With 3 days left, this looks like the plan for the race.

Friday:
Picking up packets/ bibs at 5 and running after.

Saturday:
Walking the course

Sunday:
meeting at our house at 9 am. Talk, go to the bathroom, etc. Maybe eat a small breakfast/ meal of food before? (bananas, bagels, water) Walk down to the race around 10. Warm up around 10:45, race at 11:15.


Seen in Providence:
"Our Box is Open!" sign next to a building
If you want to see any medical team you rounded with on rotation, head to black stone

4 days out

Blackstone
When does it rain? (edited; I have running on the mind since it was 'run' instead of 'rain') The 30 minutes we are outside today.

Conspiracy theory: Brian gave us sore throats.
Fact of the day: Gleeks are fans of Glee, gleeking is spitting the way Bodie does on The Wire.







Two polar opposites.

Runners:
Brian (Free 5)
Tang (NB)
Sri (NB)
Knapp (shin splints) take a day off

I believe packet pick-up will go down Friday around 5 o'clock at the Westin in Providence. Anyone is welcome to join since it'll be tough to carry 18 of these things.

Tentatively, picking packets up 5pm on Friday.

Sunday:
Let's plan on everyone (who wants to NOT pay for parking and meet up with the team) meeting at our house at 9am. Talk, go to the bathroom, etc. Maybe eat a small breakfast/ meal of food before? (I'll brainstorm what I can pick up over the weekend--bananas, bagels, water) Walk down to the race around 10. Warm up around 10:45, race at 11:15.

So far, I'm picking up for:
Pat
Lauren
J Rad
C Barks & co
Souksanh & co
Sean

In the mean time, if you are continuing your running lives after this race, I recommend runningahead.com

It'll help keep you organized in your training, help keep tabs on how many miles your shoes have logged (since you're supposed to change them every 500 miles), and it'll keep you realistic for your race times.

Just make sure if you create a profile to go to settings>my log preferences>allow everyone to see my running log

and also to tell me the screen name so you can be put up on the site.

example logs:
Sri
Pat
Knapp
Brian
Nikki
Tang

5 Days 'til the 5k

Treadmill:
Knapp

Pre-rain run to Blackstone:
Tang

Race News:
Newport Half-Marathon nabbed another runner from the group, Lauren Serra, making it 4 runners signed up to torture themselves for 13.1 miles. Hey, atleast they can slap one of those cool car decals everyone's got after October 17th.
My only motivation to run a half:

Rainy race simulation

sung to Folgers jingle: "The best part of running/ is seeing my name in Tang's blog"
-Knapp

The only point when it rained today, we decided to run Blackstone.
seen: 3 synchronized clear jacket runners

runners:
Kevin (free 7)
Tang (NB)
Knapp (Saucony)
Nikki (Free 5 + knee brace)

Race News:

June 12, 2010
3 members of the team have signed up for Matty's 5k
http://www.mattyfund.org/events/mattys-memorial-5k.html

Tang's Clan:
Andrew Knapp
Nikki Hilliard
Kevin O'Brien (running to bring Matty back to life apparently)

Half-marathon intentions are heating up.


Oct 17, 2010
Newport Half-Marathon
http://www.amicamarathon.com/

registered runners:
Andrew Knapp
Kevin O'Brien
Pat Henderson

Early December 2010
Dallas Half-Marathon


June 1st sign-up
Aaron Tang

Boston Marathon 2011???

and can Nike throw some lunar elites at us for all this publicity? Or can we get funded aka a job for these shoes?

One week left

Right around now, we'll be finishing this race next week. With one week left, what are some simple tips to get you to the race at your best?

I employ the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

DO:
get enough sleep every night
wear the clothes that you have been running in the most and lay it out the night before
eat the same things you know your stomach is accustomed to; running with stomach pains is not a good idea

DON'T:
break in new shoes
increase mileage this week
carb load
try a new way of running
be that guy at the front of the line who burns out after 1 mile and walks the rest of the way

Remember, for many of us this is our first race so no matter what, your finishing time IS your new PR (Personal Record)
and even though I broke everyone in to groups, the less you think about trying to meet some arbitrary goal, the better; after all, Prefontaine said it best "A lot of people run a race to see who's fastest. I run to see who has the most guts". That's all I care about; if you can tell me you tried your hardest, I'm proud of the effort you put out.

We are all an experiment of one in running. Hopefully everyone will learn a lot from this experience and :crosses fingers: continues to run; if not, there is no pressure to.

oh as a bonus, it would be amazing if the people on this team sent in a race report about this race; it would be really interesting to see the different vantage points of the same race from 18 different pairs of eyes

Line Ups

Doing my own 'corral system' of sorts, I think that our team is roughly broken down in to these ranges (correct me if i am wrong with your range; I'd hate to be in a group that's not in my range so let me know)
I figure these groups can pace each other during the race.

18-20 window: Pat
20-22 window: -
22-25 window: Kevin, Souksanh, Tang, Bober, Chris's GF, Tyler
25-28 window: Lauren, Brian, Jess
28-30 window: Knapp, JRad, Sean, C Barks, Andrea
32-35 window: Nikki, Sri, Lynda

Again, I'll pick up the packets for anyone on the team who can't go to Providence before the race.

To avoid paying for parking, everyone can park at our house.

8 days

Blackstone (east SIDE of Providence, not East Providence)

Walkers:
Nikki (Free 5)

Runners:
Tang (NB 903)
Knapp (Saucony)
Souksanh (Nike)
Sri (NB)

Discussed:
What sound does a moose make?



a) mmmmmmoooo
b) haaawwwww
c) what

http://www.gomoose.com/moosefacts.php
answer-a
ridiculous sounds made in the car: all of us running that day

and apparently, you are not supposed to break for them; keep going full speed in a car.

Dreadmill

Runners:
Knapp
Sri

Dexter Day

6 laps, 3.325 miles

Runners:
Tang (Free 5.0)
Brian (NB Zip 8509)

If you need to find even pacing for this race, Brian will be under 30.
For pacing under 35, go with Nikki

Blackstone prep

Spotted at Blackstone:
the gorilla arm / rock em sock em robots runners.

runners:
3.3 miles
Tang (NB 903) 26:17
Brian (Free 5.0) 30
Sri (NB) 35
Knapp (Saucony) shin splints

Someone asked how you could get faster (besides adding on miles):cough: Sri :cough:

Is there something to prevent injuries AND get faster? go on...

side note: this person's undbridled enthusiasm is insane; pacing by the mile, shaving 2 minutes off of race time in 2 weeks. Someone needs to pump the brakes and spread the enthusiasm over a year (or years)

These are the exercises that I have found helpful. I only have a year of running experiences, so this is not all-encompassing.

Gluteus medius:
http://www.bodyresults.com/e2gluteusmedius.asp

http://thebuffgeek.com/blog/exercise-highlight-the-glute-bridge/

strengthening hips:
http://tangclanrunningclub.blogspot.com/2010/03/injury-prevention-hips.html

abs
alphabet plank
http://www.runnersworld.com/video/1,8052,s6-6-0-2,00.html?bcpid=2884340001&bclid=59729784001&bctid=58125407001

reverse crunch
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1129

crunches on a stability ball

"Behind every successful man is a woman."

The runners from the house were of the XX version.

course: Dreadmill

Runners:
Sri 32:44
Nikki 32:50
3.1 miles

editor's note, Knapp ran Blackstone

T minus 2 weeks

Aside from the shin splints and rain that thankfully stopped enough for a run, the team is looking good. The trail near Ashton Mills is only 9 miles from Mass and is on the border of Lincoln and Cumberland.

Runners:
Kevin (Free 7)
Tang (NB 903)
Nikki (Free 5)
Knapp (Saucony Omnis)
Sri(NBs)

Well, I still like the last versions better.
Nike Free Viral Ad

"Champions are made when no one is watching"

Thanks to the appropriately named runner's knee(s) that I've developed, I couldn't run today to mentor.

Blackstone shuttle
runners:
Sri (NB)
Knapp (Nike)

and we may have IT band issues. The team is getting rickety.

Speaking of IT band issues, this was a particular demon of my running for quite some time.

What does it feel like? The outer part of your thigh to the top of your knee should feel like crap. When walking down stairs, it hurts like hell to bend at the knee and you have to Frankenstein your way down by swinging your leg down to the next step.

What causes it? Running on uneven surfaces aka all of Providence. For me, it was also heel striking; after switching to mid-foot, problems were gone. Downhill running (this is why I tell people to walk down hills) also caused them.

Treatment is... the short term treatment is to stop running ASAP. Running through this injury only makes it worse. We are all science experiments of one since what works for you may not work on me but what I found that helped was to basically roll the affected outer thigh on a cylinder-like object (wine bottle) and move it up and down the thigh. And I mean you are laying on top of it. It hurts no matter what, but after 2-3 days of this, it'll feel a lot better. If you wanna look like a real runner, buy a foam roller instead of using a wine bottle.

Stretching also helps. Standing up straight, place the affected leg behind the other leg and place your hand that is on the same side as the affected leg on a wall. After that, move the affected leg further in the opposite direction and you should feel the it band stretch.

For the last stretch, sit down on the floor and have the unaffected leg behind you The affected leg should be in front of you and in the indian style position. Lean forward. And that should stretch the it band.

And since this is a blog, I thought I'd share that Nike is doing a promotion where they are looking for a correspondent to write for them; definitely entering that contest and the results come out June 1st.

Blackstone with 2 Shuttles

what did we learn today?
-blackstone smells less like salmon
-grant st team is ready for 3.1 miles
-stop watches may or may not work to count time
-hot chicks run more on the weekend
-stopping short aka pulling a Costanza doesn't make sense on me unless you like flat chests
-being a pacer for a random soccer ref dude makes you run faster

4.61
Tang (NB 903)
Brian (NB)
Jess (Nike)

3.2
Nikki (Nike)
Knapp (Saucony)
Sri (NB)

Project Playlist: Music for Running

Miley Cyrus AND Jay-Z?

It's only natural that I report on two things that I like; music and running. Thanks to Apple, this group of runners has been issued iPod Shuffles and Nanos for training (with a small donation to Steve Jobs). Music definitely helps pass the time and even gives some a mental boost. Since these mp3 players aren't boomboxes, what actually is under the hood of the ear buds of these runners is a mystery that I'll uncover (What's on your playlist? Send your playlists and commentary in).

I'll go first.

Aaron Tang

I am always on a quest to: a) find music and b) run better which leads me to 8 (yes, eight (8)) different run playlists in a little over a year, I started with:

Nike commercial staple songs with links to the commercials:
OK Go - "Here It Goes Again",
Saul Williams - "List of Demands"
Ennio Morricone -"L'Estasi Dell'Oro" (Bandini Remix)
The New Rags- "Your Room"

Over 100s of miles, the lesson is to run slower and longer on easy days instead of trying to pass EVERY runner I see. So I begin with slower BPMs then finish with faster BPMs because I lose gas after 30 minutes.

songs in the list:

Dance/electronic music.

Rap with a good beat.

Indie songs with a good beat.

Pop.

Explosions in the Sky-"Your Hand in Mine" (Friday Light Nights song)

Fashawn-"Samsonite Man"

Miley Cyrus-"Party In The U.S.A." (can't help but laugh and be relaxed)

Phoenix-"1901" (Virginia Beach playlist)

Tigercity-"Darkwater" (Virginia Beach playlist)

Memoryhouse-"To The Lighthouse (Millionyoung Remix)"

Phantogram-"Running From the Cops"

the xx-"Intro" (Apollo Anton Ohno commercial)

the xx-"Crystalised"

Blockhead-"It's raining clouds"

Ennio Morricone -"L'Estasi Dell'Oro" (Bandini Remix)

David Guetta-"Sexy Bitch"

Justice-"Genesis"

Justice-"Phantom"

The Heavy-"How You Like Me Now" (Kia commercial)

The Soft Pack-"Answer To Yourself"

Jay-Z-"On To The Next One"

The Cool Kids-"Oscar the Grouch"

Deadmau5-"Ghosts 'N' Stuff"

Lil Wayne-"A Milli"

Kid Cudi-"I Get It In"

T.I.-"Live Your Life"

Digitalism-"I Want I Want"

Death From Above 1979 "Little Girl"

Dorrough-"Ice Cream Paint Job"

After the Andy Birthday celebration

What did Kevin do this week? Who won Runner of the Week honors?

Blackstone to Rhode Runner to Home

Runners:

Blackstone has a distinct, pungent salmon/semen (protamine sulfate if I may) smell.

shorter course:

Kevin (Free 7.0)

Nikki (Free 5.0)

long course:

Knapp (Sauconys)

Sri (NB)

Tang (NB)

Blackstone has a resident blazing fast hottie. This'll add more miles due to the carrot on the stick phenomenon. Running, where fast women are acceptable. Kara Goucher has been replaced as the woman I'd marry if I had a running career by the sports bra-wearing runner at Blackstone. Who is she? You'd know if you saw her.

Sorry, bottled water-toting 2009 Lisbon Half Marathon winner Kara Goucher

With the biggest leap in mileage/week, questioning why we aren't running, wondering where the next run is, dragging me out at 10:30 to run 5 miles and dominate hills, it's no secret that Sri made a huge leap and takes the Runner of the Week award.

Knapp, doing the same as Sri and being the winner last week, can't win two weeks in a row similar to coach of the year honors in the NBA. Why? Just because.

The number of thumbs up and honks from cars has escalated. Whether mocking or actually a pat on the back, who knows? I'm hoping we are all too enthralled with our iPods and not paying attention.

This isn't violating any privacy laws (I hope), but as far as the forms that you guys fill out to register, Kevin O'Brien goes vintage for the best answer:

Question 5: Why did you select this event?
Answer 5: Because Tang said to

These kids even have spitting while running down after a month; these kids are quick learners.

After the Avery

Marking our territory around Providence. 3 hills.

up to Hope HS, down Congdon, stop at Rhode Runner for water, thru Weybosset, and back.

Runners:

Brian (NB Zip)

Tang (NB 903)

Knapp (Free 5)

Sri (non-blood inducing NB)

51:00

~5 miles

forgive my un-pc ness but I could dub Sri the Slave Driver for asking why we weren't running for the umpteenth time

Mr. Hill aka Knapp

Brian booked it for the last 1/4 mile

The Day after The 92 degree day

Blackstone shuttle

Runners:

Knapp-led group

Blackstone

Kevin (Nike Free 7.0)

Knapp (Sauconys)

Brian (Zips)

Sri (Pink blood-inducing NBs)

Nikki (Asics)

long run to Blackstone

(for future (and max 2 months for me) reference, Angell St. is RIGHT behind the 1st baptist chucrch, the straight one not the winding road.)

Runner:

Tang (NB 903)

1:00:00

I realize I have to cool it with pushing people to run; I probably come across as a religious zealot.

90 degrees

The team grew by 2. Who are the 2 new runners? Jess and "I almost beat the 22-0 team" Andrea

Oh hey, making a blog about the trials and tribulations of the cox rhode races, that's original:

92.3 Pro FM

HOT 106.3 FM

Dexter Park, with about the most amount of runners ever thanks to our 7 and a handful of others.

1 for 1 on the runner's wave.

I have long legs?

Runners:

Brian 31:xx over 3.3+ miles

Nikki

Tang (thanks to Marty McFly syndrome, tried to push the pace)

Knapp

Sri

Souksanh

Jess

3.1 miles

Injury Prevention: The Hips

The main muscles that I never thought were part of my run (or were not worth working out because I thought running alone would strengthen these muscles) were my hips, glutes, and core. There are a million other running rules that I tried to challenge along the way and this was no exception to the rule; post-injury, working these muscles out definitely helped me and I hope you start before you do what I did.

The Hips:
I found myself often having my hips move up and down way too much while running which caused an imbalance in my running, leading to my leg injury last year. In an effort to correct that, I found these exercises to be the most helpful:

Clamshells
(from SeeJessRun website)

Runner's World videos
Supine March
Supine Drive
Side Lift

Blackstone Shuttle

thanks to CVS, shuttle service to Hope St. = Blackstone training with probably 1/2 of the 700+ race participants.

Runners:
Brian (NB Zip)
Knapp (Free 5.0)
Sri (NB)
Tang (Free 5.0)

distance:3.8 miles, roughly 38:00

and for the record, we did NOT lose Sri despite worrying about the complicated directions on Blackstone; turn right and go.

2 hills ain't no thang; and to the team's memory, they remember struggling to walk this far a year ago.

on a personal note, I'm glad my preceptor understands me; hated running before, discovered it near the end of college, now promotes it.

Dexter Day

Runners:
Kevin (Free 7.0) (25:35)
Tang (NB) (25:50) (ham)
Knapp (Free 5.0) (back spasms)
Nikki (Asics) (34:15) (foot)
Sri (NB) (34:55)

3.1 miles roughly.
Paraphrasing, Sri wants to get better (mileage) and asked how to get faster (mileage). Great attitude for sure.

T minus 4 weeks

With the gang all back, the trail was this: go up broadway, go up washington, hit blackstone (the actual park), hit the blackstone trail, past 44's house, down hope st, up congdon to check out the statue, and back.


Runners:
Knapp (Saucony)
Nikki (Nike)
Sri (New Balance)
Tang (Nike)

2.5 hrs.
roughly 3.4 miles was running.

what did we find out?
-put money in your bra
-mouth wash is imperative for running in a group
-if there is a cute chick, speed up even if you are injured. scratch that, because you are injured.
-if someone says "I woke up in the morning feeling..." you have to finish with" like p diddy"



and the first ever Pre Award of the Week goes to Knapp for dominating the Providence hills, surpassing Brian's mileage, and showing a huge leap in improvement; what's in the Maine water? Back to back double digit mileage weeks. (Logs don't lie) Seriously though, I hope the huge secret he let out of the bag catches on; running is mostly mental.

Runner-up (pun not intended) goes to Sri and her Prefontaine-esque lack of compassion for her sickness and willingness to run through it.

Boston

ZigTech
NOT Nike Frees.
FAIL.

and post deadline team members:
Lynda