Luckily my Perfect Punch was in my bag and I have my laziness to thank for it.  I never unpacked from my trip two weeks ago so I made myself train as sort of a punishment.  But the truth is that on days off from running, it’s important to do something if only to keep your mental focus.  It’s equally important to make sure you are resting your legs and training your upper body.

When I neglect my upper body workouts, my running suffers.  The first thing to hurt me during a 5K, believe it or not, are my shoulders.  In my opinion this stems from a weak upper body and strength training is the remedy.  Until the perfect punch system came out I was never able to find something that was low impact but would develop my strength.  I happen to love this thing and the video below illustrates how others are using the Perfect Punch as part of their fitness routines. You don’t have to be a fighter to benefit from MMA training but you might just awaken your inner warrior.

The most important thing to remember is to find something low impact that will keep you motivated on rainy days.  The Perfect Punch might just be thing keeps you running Orlando!

House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5k presented by Florida Hospital

Date & Time
Saturday, February 19, 2011
7:30 a.m.: 5.2k Start
8:45 a.m.: Healthy 100 Kids’ Run

Location
Showalter Field
2535 Cady Way
Winter Park, FL 32792

View Course Map »

Register online thru Thursday, February 17, 2011.

“Pass the Pineapple” Challenge
Bahama Breeze Island Grille is giving runners an incentive to run faster around the Pines! On race day, be sure to keep an eye out for runners dressed as Bahama Breeze pineapples. For each runner that passes the pineapples and finishes before them, Bahama Breeze will donate $1 to the Track Shack Foundation.

Florida Hospital Medical Assessment Pavilion
-Orthopedic and Sports Medicine team on site
-Interactive sports injury assessments
-Licensed Massage Therapists
-Physician to answer questions

FreshPoint Fruit of the Race: Pears
Pears are an excellent source of water-soluble fiber. They also contain high levels of pectin, which helps lower cholesterol, as well as boron, which helps the body retain calcium.

Go Green Shoe Drive
Help us as we reach out to the community during this earth friendly event. By bringing gently used running shoes (youth and adult) to the race, you’re helping to support local needs. You’ll feel good about participating in Track Shack’s own brand of an eco-friendly race! Shoes will be collected on race day at the site.

Beneficiary
The House of Hope is a non-denominational, not-for-profit organization established to serve as a Christian residential program for troubled boys and girls ages 14-17, across the country.

Join us for the 6th Annual Valencia 5K event.  This year we are putting a new twist on the event by offering a twilight evening event fun for the entire family!

Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011
Time: 6:00pm Start (Twilight Event)
Location: Valencia Community College (West Campus)
1800 South Kirkman Road, Orlando, FL 32811 - Map It
www.valenciacc.edu/aboutus/locations

FREE KIDS DASH (ages 10 and under) following the race.  Register day of race only.

Entry Fees: (all fees are non-refundable/non-transferable)
$22 Through April 2
$27 April 3 - April 8
$30 Day of Race (cash or check only)
online registration service fee will apply

Campus Discounts:
$15 Valencia Student Discount (must show Student ID at packet pick up)
$18 Valencia Alumni Association Member
$18 Valencia Retiree Connection Member
$18 Wellness Program Team Valencia Members
$20 - Cannot attend Phantom Supporter
Day of race pricing still applies. Discounts are for early registration only.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW
Online registration closes midnight 4/7/2011

Download Registration Form:
5K 2011 Registration Form Final PDF.pdf

Fund raise for the Valencia Community College 5K
Click here to get your online fund raising tool

Mail in and Walk In Registration
Friday 4/8/2011 is the deadline to receive any mailed in registration forms.
Send entry with check or money order payable to Valencia Alumni Association to:

Valencia Alumni Association
1800 South Kirkman Road
Orlando, Florida 32811

Friday 4/8/2011 is the deadline for early walk-in registrations at:
Alumni Relations Office
West Campus - Building 8, Room 107

Packet Pick-up
Early packet pick-up will be on Friday 4/8/2011 at Valencia’s West Campus, University Center (Bldg 11), Room 106, from 3pm - 6pm.  Also on race day starting at 5pm at the same location.

Awards:
Overall Top Male / Female, Overall Masters Male/Female, 3 deep age groups male/female 10 and under, 11-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70 and Over.

Top Finishers male/female in the following sub categories:
Military
Wheelchair
Valencia Alumni Wellness Program Team Valencia
Valencia Retiree Connection
Valencia Student
Walker

Timing and Scoring
This event will be timed and scored using the RFID chip timing systems.  All participants wishing to appear in results will need to wear your designated timing chip for the event.  Chips will be distributed and collected the day of the event.

Beneficiary
Funds raised through this community event will help open doors for students through scholarships and other assistance.

Restrictions
For safety reasons, baby joggers/strollers, skateboards, inline skates, headphones, and pets will not be allowed on the course.

For additional race questions please email info@frontrunningsports.com or visit Front Running Sports

Courtesy: Running Orlando

A copy of Jay Glazer’s Total Body Workout comes with every Perfect Punch MMA training routine purchased online.   This is not only an MMA training routine but it contains exercises that are great for runners.  One of the things I like best are the knee strikes because I find my quads and hips are one of my weaknesses.

I get hip pain from my running and I’m sure I’m not alone.  It is one of the perils of running and anything we can do strengthen them is a plus.  Especially if it is low impact.  Glazer shows us exactly how to do this in his video and I’ve included a clip in this post.  You’ll notice that you do not need to buy Perfect Punch in order to do this exercise.  But if you are interested in upper body fitness you might want to seriously look into this MMA training routine because it’s a killer and very very low impact.

Now Billy Blanks has launched a product that uses gloves and resistance bands and claims he was the first.  I know this to be false because glazer is an mma trainer and has been using the perfect punch for years. Blanks is kind of a exerciser and would have no need to put on gloves to workout.  The idea is a great one but it was first utilized by Glazer’s development team and not only is it a better thought out product, it takes advantage of the tight stances and body control within the sport to better hone your skills and efficiently train your body.  This is not necessarily the same result you will get if you go dancizing with Billy Blanks.  Yes he has gloves and he connects them to chords, but in his videos he demonstrates how to use them in a way that is not conducive to strengthening the shoulder and arms.  The arms raise from below and behind while in real MMA training the arms rest and strike from a different direction.

The Perfect Punch is the real deal, while Billy Blanks PT 24/7 is marketing to woman.  Since NFL’s Best Linebacker, Clay Matthews has gone on record saying that Glazer’s off season program is why he has improved his game so much this year, I gotta take that is an endorsement of his methods.

2009 Results
Women took top 3 Overall spots
2010 Results
Women 1st Place, Men 2nd and 3rd Place

Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011.
Time: 8:00am start (8:03am start for the men)
Distance: 5K (3.1 miles)
Location: Ft. Melon Park, Sanford, FL

FREE Kids Dash for ages 10 and Under following the 5K.  Registration is day of event only.

Parking/Directions:
From Orlando take I-4 EAST to Sanford (St. Rd 46) Exit.  Travel East on 46 which becomes 1st street as you enter into Downtown Sanford.  At the 17/92 (French Ave) intersection take a Right and then take a Left onto 3rd Street.  Take 3rd Street to Palmetto.  Take a Left onto Palmetto back to 1st Street.  You may park on 1st Street at Ft. Mellon Park or the Chamber of Commerce or the Courthouse parking lot on Sanford and Hood off Seminole Blvd.  Parking is also available at Sanford City Hall and the Courthouse off Park Ave.

From Daytona - only difference is traveling WEST on I-4

Course Map: coming soon.  Slight changes from 2010

Entry:
$22 through March 5th
$27 March 6 - March 11
$30 Day of Race - cash or check only
All race fees are non-refundable/non transferable.  Online fees will apply.
Online registration closes as of  Thursday, March 10 at 11:00pm.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW

Download Registration form:
Race Reg Catch Me 2011.pdf

Mail Completed Entry Forms to:
Front Running Sports
1061 S. Sun Drive, Unit 1017
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
Make all checks payable to Allied Race Management

T-shirts
All registered participants will receive an event t-shirt.  Sizes not guaranteed for day of race registration.

Pre-race Packet Pick-up:
Pre race pick up will begin on Thursday, March 10 and Friday, March 11 from 10am to 7pm at Front Running Sports in Lake Mary.  Packets will also be available for pick up day of race starting at 7:00am.

Timing:
This is a chip timed race using the RFID Race Timing Systems.  Only participants wearing the designated timing chips will appear in results.

Awards: (remember no gender separated groups for this event)
Awards will go to the Overall Top 3 finishers, and Overall Masters, and 3 deep in the following age groups; 10 and under, 11-14, 15-18, 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70 and over.

Restrictions:
For safety reasons baby joggers, strollers, skateboard, in-line skates, bikes and dogs will not be allowed on the race course.

For additional questions or information email info@frontrunningsports.com

Courtesy of Running Orlando

I know building a strong core and upper body help your running but until recently I hadn’t found anything that I really liked to do.  I saw the Perfect Punch on TV and thought it was pretty cool, but I didn’t make the connection to running for quite some time. The perfect punch is simply a Boxing or MMA Punching system designed to increase speed, strength, and technique.  When you think about it, that’s the same point of the speed training I like to do to increase my race times.

If you have not seen the commercial on TV I will explain a little more about the product since I’ve used it for about 3 weeks now.  It comes already assembled and contains a pair of MMA training gloves attached together with a special progressive resistance band and a training video.  The premiss is more or less a shadow boxing workout with a ton of positive side effects.  Mostly, a great low impact workout.  Besides the training benefits for fighters, the rest of us can take advantage of the Perfect Punch to improve our core and really workout our arms and shoulders.  The routines are exhausting but quick.

Think about boxing rounds, they are only 3 minutes long but the fighters have to be in incredible shape to make it through.  Shadow boxing is a small part of their training but a very important one. The Perfect Punch takes it a step further and creates an opportunity to use shadow boxing to work on speed and strength in a very low impact way.

The low impact is what drew me in initially but I can certainly appreciate the way my arms and shoulders look and feel but it is the quick cardio workout that keeps me using it when I can’t run.  It is easy and fun which helps motivate me more than a trip to the gym.

Take A look at the perfect punch commercial and keep running Orlando.

Dateline” San Francisco Chronicle October 21st 2008

There were over 20,000 competitors in Sunday’s Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. And 24-year-old Arien O’Connell, a fifth-grade teacher from New York City, ran the fastest time of any of the women.

But she didn’t win.

It doesn’t get much simpler than a footrace. All it takes is a starting line, a finish line and a clock. You fire the gun and the first person to the end of the course is the winner.

However, as the marathon officials said to O’Connell - not so fast.

While O’Connell had the greatest run of her life and covered the course faster than any woman, she was told she couldn’t be declared the winner because she didn’t run with the “elite” group who were given a 20-minute head start.

So what could have been a lovely Cinderella story about a young woman rising above her expectations in a race that bills itself as all about empowering women turned into a strict the-rules-are-the-rules edict. That’s not the image we’re trying to promote here.

San Francisco has become one of those destination locations for the new breed of distance runner. Between the San Francisco Marathon in July and the Nike race - billed as the largest women’s marathon in the world - over 40,000 runners will visit this year.

It is great that these events are held here, but they are also representing the city. What we are hoping is that they leave town talking about the terrific location, the great restaurants and the perfectly organized event. Instead, we look like we don’t know how to operate a stopwatch.

“That’s pretty weak,” said Jon Hendershott, associate editor of the authoritative Track and Field News magazine, based in Mountain View. “Think of the PR they could have had with this girl coming out of nowhere. It sounds like they got caught totally off guard.”

O’Connell, who describes herself as “a pretty good runner,” had never managed to break three hours in five previous marathons. But as soon as she started at 7 a.m. Sunday, she knew it was her day. In fact, when she crossed the finish line 26.2 miles later, her time of 2:55:11 was so unexpectedly fast that she burst into tears.

“I ran my best time by like 12 minutes, which is insane,” she said.

At the awards ceremony, the O’Connell clan looked on as the top times were announced and the “elite” female runners stepped forward to accept their trophies.

“They called out the third-place time and I thought, ‘I was faster than that,’ ” she said. “Then they called out the second-place time and I was faster than that. And then they called out the first-place time (3:06), and I said, ‘Heck, I’m faster than her first-place time, too.’ ”

Just to make sure, O’Connell strolled over to a results station and asked a race official to call up her time on the computer. There it was, some 11 minutes faster than the official winner.

“They were just flabbergasted,” O’Connell said. “I don’t think it ever crossed their minds.”

No one seemed exactly sure what to do. The trophies had already been handed out and the official results announced. Now organizers seem to be hoping it will all go away.

“At this point,” Nike media relations manager Tanya Lopez said Monday, “we’ve declared our winner.”

O’Connell said some race officials actually implied she’d messed up the seeding by not declaring herself an “elite” runner.

“If you’re feeling like you’re going to be a leader,” race producer Dan Hirsch said Monday, “you should be in the elite pack.”

So this is her fault? O’Connell was just being modest.

“I’m a good, solid runner,” she said. “I never considered myself elite.”

Jim Estes, associate director of the long-distance running program for USA Track and Field, did his best to explain the ruling. He’s had some practice with the issue. The Sunday before last, at the Chicago Marathon, a Kenyan named Wesley Korir pulled off a similar surprise, finishing fourth even though he wasn’t in the elite group and started five minutes after the top runners.

In that situation, and in this one, Estes made the same ruling: It didn’t count. O’Connell wasn’t declared the winner and Korir didn’t collect fourth-place prize money.

“The theory is that, because they had separate starts, they weren’t in the same race,” Estes said. “The woman who is winning the elite field doesn’t have the opportunity to know she was racing someone else.”

Estes admits that giving the elite runners a sizable head start may not be the best policy.

“These are things this race and other races need to look at,” Estes said. “It comes down to what a race is, and who is racing who.”

Nonsense, said Track and Field News’ Hendershott. He said O’Connell took her best shot, ran the fastest and should have won.

“What’s she supposed to do, lay back because she’s not an elite runner?” he asked. “If the elites are going to lay back, that’s their fault.”

As for O’Connell, she’s not bitter. After all, she got her best time ever, had a nice weekend in San Francisco and comes home with a story.

But she didn’t win. Maybe the best way to explain that is to say it is just another case of the elites in San Francisco giving the city a bad name.

C.W. Nevius’ column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.

Using a Pace Calculator is a great tool for any runner. Just Enter Distance & Time to Calculate Your Pace.  Active.com has a very easy to use pace calculator. In fact the site has several Fitness Calculators you may find helpful.