Training for Transrockies 2015

My week is filled with physical activities between soccer, yoga, trail running and surfing. But this year I took a new challenge; participate in the PepsiCo Transrockies Run3, a 3 day trail run in Colorado, 58 miles, 8,600 feet elevation gain. I decided to take this challenge upon myself to promote my non profit, Supportersize which organizes physical activities for people with Caner.



To prepare for this event I retained a coach, Jacob Puzey of McMillan Running which hopefully can help me prepare for this unusual event. I am very excited, about the training and about the event itself, and hopefully the attention I can get for Supportersize, it is so important to get people who live with Cancer active.

How Exercise May Aid Cancer Treatment

I registered to participate in the Transrockies 2015 as a way to draw attention to a very important (to me) cause - promoting exercise to people impacted by Cancer.
This article in the New York Times is a great story with some facts about what I know from personal experience.

Getty images

Running for Life

Ariella Gintzler wrote a great article at #Trailrunnermag. It's great not because it is about me, but because it really captures what my family and I are going through, living with cancer and trying to build a momentum behind the non profit I founded #Supportersize that provides free outdoor and exercise events and physical activities for people living with cancer.

5 ways to measure your running success – beyond the PR

I just realized that I started running around the age of 13, that is 37 years of running! Initially it was a way to stay in shape for another sport I was focused on; until the age of 21 I played volleyball semi professionally and running was part of training. Later I just ran on regular basis to stay in shape until I was 38 when I picked up Triathlon, at which point running was the sport.

Now, again, running is a way to stay in shape and support my battle with cancer.  Ashley Marcin lists in this article few other ways to measure your running success.


Photo credit: João Lavinha / Foter / CC BY

Running Gear and 5 unusual suggestions...

One of my favorite things about running is that it is cheap, and very simple to execute - get dressed and go... but I also love the gadgets! I love the data: how many miles I ran this week, elevation gains, how many hours I trained last week and so on. I started recording data on Mapmyrun.com shortly after I was diagnosed with cancer and went through surgery and chemo therapy. I wanted to follow my progress towards recovery and regaining my fitness. 

JASON FITZGERALD wrote a cool article here about the topic.

Photo credit: Ran Yaniv Hartstein / Foter / CC BY

What makes a trail runner?

I started running trails several years ago, after I stopped competing in Triathlons and before I was diagnosed with Cancer. Trail running is a great way to stay in shape, get a whole body work out and get in touch with nature. I am now training for The PepsiCo TransRockies 3 Day Run, a multi-day point-to-point trail running race which allows athletes to access and traverse wild and fantastic scenery.

I decided to do this to build awareness to the non profit I founded which helps people with Cancer get active and stay in shape. This article is a great review of what is so great about trail running.

Photo credit: spyjournal / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Marijuana, Cannabis, and Weed - what does it have to do with trail running?

I became quite familiar with the benefits of Marijuana while going through Chemotherapy. None of the medications prescribed by the Dr. were as effective as weed in fighting the nasty side effects.

Now I learned that it has great impact on Trail Runners, read more in Scott Dunlap's great post on Cannabis and Trail Running. There is a running club called "Run on Grass" great name....

Training, Radiation and a great Indoor Cycling for People with Cancer

Image by Alex Vachon

The past few weeks started with radiation to my brain to eliminate few stubborn lesion and ended with a great Indoor Cycling event, organized by the non profit I started after my diagnosis - Supportersize. The event was awesome, we had about 40 people in the room and the instructor, Kristen James served the perfect combination of inspiration, motivation and hard work.

Image by Roni Chastain

The idea behind Supportersize is to organize outdoor (and indoor when weather is too much for most folks) physical activities for people affected by Cancer and their families. I decided to participate in the 2015 Transrockies Trail Run to build awareness to Supportersize and motivate people with the disease to go out and be active, "Get busy living..." I am telling my story in this blog.

So far, two months into my training, I was challenged quite a bit: started with a nasty calf muscle injury that took three months to heal, and as I was getting better I had to undergo targeted radiation to my brain which added another layer of fatigue, but I am over these two set backs and hopefully moving full steam ahead, just need the trails to get uncovered from 2ft of snow.

Fitness Benefits of Snowshoeing

Weather in NY has been horrific lately with all the snow and freezing temperatures but I wanted to keep training for the 2015 Transrockies event, which meant I had to find ways to get out and continue my outdoor trail running. 

I picked up a pair of snow shows that my wife purchased last year and went out on the trail, it was an awesome day. Just for the kick I looked for some data on the benefits of snow showing, and loved what I found, check this out

5 Tips To Keep Hiking In The Winter

Winter this past two months has been brutal, I never stopped exercising outdoors but going on a trail with that much snow and ice is too much.

I like Casey Schreiner's ideas, although it is probably a lot easier for him writing from South Cal... Read More Here.

Paleo snacks for hikers and trail runners

My stomach went crazy after four rounds of chemo therapy last year, and I was looking for a natural solution before getting on another medicine that was proposed by my Dr.

I adopted the Paleo diet and am on it for about 9 months, with great results. In a nutshell the Paleo diet is “a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit, and excluding dairy or grain products and processed food.”

Photo credit: swanksalot / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

I was worried that being a very active athlete I might be missing nutrients and especially on-the-go snack while on long runs/hikes. Brian Green gives a great review of few options Here

Photo credit: espinr / Foter / CC BY

3 things you will be surprised to learn about hiking!

I am training for the #Transrockies multi day trail event, covering 59 miles and 9,0000 ft elevation gain in three days. I plan on doing lots of hiking during the event, and I'm training for it.

The post at Cascadegear was very informative as far as the energy and efforts used on a trail hike Read More Here










Photo credit: Jeppe Olsen / Foter / CC BY-NC

Ultrarunning: What You Should Know About Multiday Races

Two months ago I started training for Transrockies 2015, a three day trail run covering 58 miles and 9,000 elevation gain. Big challenge especially in light of the fact that the longest event I ever participated in was Half Ironman races, the altitude and the fact that I was recently diagnosed with Lung Cancer.

The challenge in typical ultra-marathons like 50 or 100 milers is obviously how to conquer the distance and reach the finish line. Now imagine having to strive for that goal for two or more consecutive days.

That’s basically what multi-day races are and successfully completing one certainly earns you bragging rights. Few tips and advise at Endurance Planet.






Photo credit: Julia Baykova / Foter / CC BY

10 Weird and Wacky Things Runners Do

We runners are bizarre.  It’s a fact.  Mark Kennedy compiled a list of 10 of his running idiosyncrasies. I can empathize. For the full list Read Here

Read through them and when you’re done, please leave one of yours in the comments. Let’s see what kind of a list we can get going!

What Counting Your Steps Will Teach You About the Value of Running

Now that nearly everyone wears a gadget that counts steps I was curious what running means for step counting. Matt mentions in his post few ways that paying attention to steps has helped him as a runner, and might just help you too.

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