Presentation Slides

Here are the slides we used to present our wiki to the class

Final Presentation

Well Wiki Followers, we just presented our wiki to our MK 400 class. The seemed to like it and we got a lot of positive feedback. A new page has been added to the wiki titled "Sports After College." This page will be used to help athletes find ways to continue their sport or learn about how to get involved in new sports once they are out of school.

Please go to the wikisport's homepage to see our slide show

Running Without a Watch

This past fall I returned to the sport of running. Over the previous three years I had been running on and off with varying intensity. When I began again this time around I decided to make a significant change to my training: I stopped wearing a watch. This allows me to determine my pace by how well I feel, not how fast I think I should be going. It also forces me to pay attention to my body as I go on runs. When I had worked my way up to 7 and 8 mile runs, I decided to put the watch back on only to discover that my pace was right where I wanted it to be. I hadn't lost anything by training without a watch. Psychologically, it was the change I needed to get excited about the sport again. I now recommend this tactic to anyone who is afraid of being discouraged by the pace of their runs. Thoughts?

WikiSport Podcast

The WikiSport Podcast is up and running! Check out Episode 1, in which I interview marathoner Kevin O'Brien. He had a lot of great advice for anyone who wants to run their first marathon or improve their marathon training. Let me know what you think.

Boston Marathon 2008 Women's Finish

This is amazing, it was the closest finish in the Women's Boston Marathon. Kevin... when is it appropriate to start kicking during a marathon?

Lance Armstrong Boston Marathon 2008

Hey guys,

Check out Lance, he's wearing the yellow "Live Strong" shirt

Rock Climbing Blogs

Hey,

Just thought I'd add some climbing blogs... these will be great for training tips and inspiration.

Eric Horst's Performance Training
David Macleod's Blog
Phil Requist's Blog
Online Climbing Coach

Enjoy!

Rock Climbing

Hey Kevin,

To respond to your rock climbing questions...

There are a couple great places to go rock climbing around the Waltham area. In Quincy, there are the Quincy quarries that have some fun and easy sport climbing. Up in Gloucester there are some fun places to boulder right by the ocean. I would also recommend right behind the Chestnut Hill Mall. If you don't mind a bit of a drive, Rumney and North Conway, NH have some great ledges and longer routes. If the weather isn't so hot I would check out the Boston Rock Gym, Metro Rock Gym or Carabiners. Just make sure you know what you are doing before you put yourself in a risky situation!

Marathon

I want to congratulation Kevin on his second marathon... I would also like to congratulate Lance Armstrong as well. Good job guys!

THE BOSTON MARATHON DAY AFTER

Well I successfully finished the Boston Marathon yesterday in 3 hours 12 minutes and 35 seconds. For all the non runners out there, that is an average of 7:21 mile pace. The race was a blast, it was the most fans I have ever seen in my life. I decided to wear a Bentley jersey and the fans went nuts! Look on the wiki for a podcast later on.

(Getting ready to start running 26.2 miles)



(The start)

Cross Training

I just wanted to share a little information for people who are just starting out in a sport, or are long time veterans. This blog post will hopefully inform people about cross training, and how great it is for the body. When you work out, you should have at least one day of rest per week and set aside at least one day for cross training. The main benefits of cross training are to enhance total conditioning and performance. Cross training also adds variety to your training and decreases the chance of burnout. Another great thing about cross training is that it can serve as an injury prevention measure. It can also increase upper body strength.

Two types of cross training are:

Cycling
Cycling exercises related muscle groups such as the quadriceps and shins, both of which don't develop as rapidly as the calf muscles and hamstrings. Cycling also strengthens the connective tissue of the knee, hip, and ankle regions, thus reducing the risk of injury. After a stressful run, cycling also loosens fatigued leg muscles.

Swimming
Swimming is one of the best cross-training activities for several reasons. Swimming enables one to build muscular strength and endurance while improving flexibility. It is especially recommended for those who want to prevent injury, are pregnant, are recovering from an injury, are suffering from joint or bone conditions, or are overweight and want to exercise in a weightless environment. For the compulsive runner who has a hard time taking a rest day, swimming gives those fatigued leg muscles a breather while at the same time, provides an excellent upper body workout. Additionally, water is considered a healing medium, providing a therapeutic effect for all muscle groups.

Overall cross training allows you to rest the muscles that you use every day you workout and still keeps your cardio up. It is a no brainier to start incorporating cross training into your schedules.

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_crosst.html

The Boston Marathon

I just posted my training schedule that I have been following for the Boston Marathon, which is in 6 day!! I guess we will see how it works out shortly. In the meantime, check it out and start running!

Rock Climbing

I was thinking about getting into rock climbing, because I hear that it is a great workout. People have told me that it really works your core and is better for your joints then lifting in the gym. Does anyone know some places around the Waltham area?

Also what is a good amount of time a beginner should be climbing his first week or so? Should I go every other day for an hour?

I also saw this really cool video on YouTube that sparked my interest:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TR8HoG_cVQc&feature=related

Fartlek Response

That is a really good thing to post Andrew.
The type of fartlek you do really depends on what you are training for. If you are running a shorter race, you want to do really fast bursts with a short time off. Back in high school when we were getting ready for XC Championships, we would do 2 mins on 1 min off, 1 min on 30 secs off, 30 secs on 2 mins off, and repeat that 7 times with a 10 min warm-up and cool-down. The reason for the short bursts and short rests was to have a fast turnover so your legs would get use to the fast pace of a 5k without getting tired.

In longer races, such as a marathon, you want to build your endurance because 26.2 miles is a lot further then 3.1 miles.
Currently I am running these fartleks:

week 1- 8x(3min ON/90sec OFF)

week 2- 6x(4min ON/2min OFF)

week 3- 5x(5min ON/2.5min OFF)

week 4- 4x(6min ON/3min OFF)

week 5- 3x(8min ON/4min OFF)

week 6- 2x(10min ON/4min OFF)

week 7- 3x(8min ON/3min OFF)

week 8- 4x(6min ON/2min OFF)

week 9- 5x(5min ON/1:45 OFF)

week 10- 6x(4min ON/90sec OFF)

week 11- 7x(3min ON/90sec OFF)

week 12- 8x(2min ON/2min OFF)

I hope this helps and answers some questions people may have.

now get out there and go run!!

London Marathon

Interesting news from London this morning. Ryan Hall ran an impressive 2:06:17 in the London Marathon making him the second fastest American marathoner of all time. Hall, who recently won the US Olympic trials with a 2:09, is leading the revival of competitive American marathoning and giving us hope for an American gold in Beijing.

Despite his impressive race, however, Hall finished 5th at London. While American's are finally getting their act together, the rest of the world is obviously running very fast. If you are a runner, or running fan, and you aren't paying attention to world of professional marathons I highly recommend you start.


For more info on the Marathon check out this article from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/sports/othersports/14marathon.html?ref=sports

fartlek question

Attention runners,

I am adding to the Running section of our wiki and would like to provide readers with a few tips on how to design their own fartlek. I typically take my mid-distance run (in minutes) and do a one minute surge after every three minutes of easy running. I know a lot of people do 4 or 5 minutes...what are everyone's thoughts?

Welcome to the WikiSport!

Hello New WikiSporters,

Welcome to the official blog of the WikiSport Training Guide. We are going to use this space for communications regarding the progress being made on our Wiki and for any other sport or training related post. If you are a contributor to the Training Guide and would like to announce or publicize an athletic event, this is the place to do it.

Feel free to use this space as an informal place to discuss athletic training. If you have a new workout which you would like to discuss before putting it on the Wiki, this is the perfect place to do it.

Thanks to everyone who has already contributed. Hopefully this blog will help us to make a better, more engaging Wiki!

Andrew