2ndSkin

Thursday, 28 February 2013

Project CARES : Dignity For Children Foundation

Education is the basic and fundamental right of every child in this world, regardless of nationality, race, gender or status. We at Team 2ndskin believe that every child should be granted equal opportunity and rights to at least basic education so that they will be able to survive in this world and have a better and brighter future. This is also the basis to why we have chosen Dignity for Children Foundation (DIGNITY) as the beneficiary of our pilot campaign under Project CARES.

DIGNITY provides education to the underprivileged and urban poor children in an effort to break the poverty cycle that will keep rotating if not intervention is made. A more in depth understanding of DIGNITY and their vision and mission can be found at their official page - http://dignityforchildren.org/home/visionmission

What is Team 2ndskin doing for Project DIGNITY CARES?

LimEe-Van and Roy Yeow, 2 athletes who race under the Team 2ndskin umbrella together with team principal Eugene Teoh will put their physical and mental capacities to the test at the tail-end of March 2013 in a bid to raise funds for Dignity for Children Foundation.

Ee-Van will fly to Sabah to participate in the Sabah Adventure Challenge 2013, a 3-day endurance race (from 29th – 31st March) across the Kinabalu Crocker Range. He will cover 75km on foot over 3 days and will need to be self-sustaining and to navigate his way through the adventure challenge. The level of challenge will be extreme as he will have to face Mother Nature in her own backyard, rough terrains, unpredictable weather and the fear of the unknown in the remote rainforests of Sabah. Ee-Van is expected to race for up to 8 hours a day while carrying his own supplies and equipment required to work his way through checkpoints.

On the same weekend, Roy and Eugene will head down south to our neighbor country Singapore to participate in the Twilight 16 Hours Ultra Challenge. This event is a 16 hour run from 7pm 30th March right up to 11am 31st March. Both their mental and physical conditions will be put to the test as they battle tiredness, fatigue and sleepiness to complete this grueling event. While most of Malaysians and Singaporeans will be sleeping, these 2 guys will be pounding the tarmac in a bid to create awareness and hopefully benefit DIGNITY.

How can you help?

Team 2ndskin has linked up with People Giving Foundation (http://www.peoplegiving.org/about-us) to create this campaign Project DIGNITY CARES which will benefit Dignity for Children Foundation. This campaign will be hosted on People Giving’s online portal at http://www.peoplegiving.org/campaign-page?campId=32 Note that all funds and donations raised will be channelled to DIGNITY and that People Giving and Team 2ndskin do not take any fee from this campaign.

You can make this a success by going to our Project DIGNITY CARES campaign page http://www.peoplegiving.org/campaign-page?campId=32 and help by donating (any amount will do) to our campaign and benefitting the underprivileged children with hopes for some level of education. On top of that, please help us to share our campaign on your own Facebook page, Twitter, blog or email correspondents so as to create awareness of Project DIGNITY CARES to a wider audience. Your goodwill and kind gestures will truly be appreciated by these children; help bridge the disparity in education opportunities and give hope and a glimmer of light to the future generation.

(L-R) Ee-Van, Eugene and Roy

What Team 2ndskin Athletes Say

How do you juggle your workload, family commitments and find the time to train for such an event?

Lim Ee-Van:

Life-Work Balance. Keep work at working hours and spend the rest on life. We sleep 8hours (ideally, but we hardly do), work 8hours, and spend the balance 8 on other priorities such as family and passion we have (i.e. sports).

On average, we need only 90mins max to train/day and a proper plan is essential. Discipline ensures that the plan goes through. Determination to see it executed to plan. 90mins is just 6.25% of our day, we likely spend more time eating than exercising ;)

Most people find that running for 30 mins is already very tiring. What inspires you to run non-stop for 16 hours?

Roy Yeow:

Human physiology is made for endurance running. The thought of our ancestors chasing down their meals through hours and hours of running has given me the inspiration to simulate the gruelling task.

Have a question?

Talk to us at – info@2ndskin.asia

Feel free to ask us anything about the campaign and we will endeavour to answer all your questions with as much information as we can. Last but not least, thank you for taking the time to read through our campaign and help us to share the awareness.

Team 2ndskin is powered by 2ndskin Clothing, SkechersPerformance Malaysia, Garmin Malaysia and Hammer Nutrition Malaysia.

For more information about Team 2ndskin's Project CARES, please go to http://www.team2ndskin.blogspot.com/p/project-cares.html

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Motivation. Rule Your Mind.

Ask yourself this; have you ever thought about giving up when your muscles are screaming, your lungs are heavy and your breathing is labored towards the end of your long run/race? Have you ever been injured / had to layoff and found it difficult to get back into your stride? Having trouble waking up in the morning for your training sessions and rather just sleep in? Ever wanted to run 5 laps but ended up with only 3 cos you just didn’t feel like continuing?

If you answered yes to one or more (or even all) of the questions above, read on.

The mind is a very complex subject, and I do not claim to be an expert motivator, but I have experienced many of such episodes over the years of running / training and I would like to share some of the methods to overcome the mental barrier.

I bet many of you have run a long distance race and mid or 3-quarter way through, your mind tells you that you are suffering badly, you cannot go on at this pace anymore, you need to stop and walk, you are on the verge of collapse. It feels like you are at the very edge of your physical limits already. And then, a miracle happens. 300meters from the finish line, with supporters and bystanders clapping and cheering, and photographers snapping away, you manage to pull out a sprint for the finish, hitting a pace where just moments ago you thought was humanely impossible. How does that happen?

The mind has a built in “safety first” mechanism, telling you that you should shutdown before you overload yourself. Now this is a double –edged sword, there are times when you should heed the warning signs and engage a safety first decision and not be all gung-ho as there could be severe repercussions. However, at other times (and most times), your mind will tell you that this is the limit of your capabilities, that you are tired, and you should stop. This is when you should start to persevere. Fight your mind games with positive mental notes of your own. Find ways to counter those thoughts.

When I hit a rut, mid-run, I try to get my mind off the run, off the number of kilometers I still have to go. What I do is, I think about other things. I think about business, about strategy, about new designs, catchy phrases, about short term plans and what is needed to execute these plans. Bottomline is, to get your mind off the monotony of the current run. Other times, if I find that I am not in the mood to work those grey cells, I pick out runners in front of me who have a pace that’s close to mine. I try to reel them in, try to close the gap and pass them. What I’m essentially doing is making short term goals and trying to achieve them. It helps in breaking up the long run into shorter ones and making it more manageable. Another way is to count lamp posts or the number of runners wearing yellow shoes (for example).

One method I use for my long training runs is to do an out and back run instead of multiple loops. If I plan a 30km run, I make sure that I run 15kms out before I make a turn and (even if there are other routes/ways to get home, they are at least 15kms long. With that in place, I can’t “chicken out” of the run and I’ll have to cover the 30kms even if it means walking home. I call it forced motivation in that I have no other choice but to “motivate” myself to finish the run and get home.

I also find that external factors (not within ourselves) can be a very strong source of motivation for us to achieve our goals. Some people run for a cause, for someone or something they believe in. I have a friend who helps out at an orphanage and when the going gets tough for her on a marathon, she starts counting down the kilometers with names of the orphans she works with. “Km32, this one is for Jay…. Km33, this one is for Kim…” It gives her the strength and resolve to finish; thinking of the hardship the orphans go through is motivation for her.

There are other times when you find yourself down with an injury or setback with a layoff from your sport. After recovery / rehab, you find that you do not have the motivation to get back into stride. You feel listless, you can’t wake up in the mornings, you trudge through your day, not missing the adrenaline you get from working out. It becomes a vicious cycle, the longer you stay off your training / racing routine, the lazier you get. It is true of what they say; a body in motion, tends to stay in motion; a body at rest, tends to stay at rest. How do you address this? Keep it in mind that even when you are injured, there are other forms of cross-training you can do that does not affect your injury. Stay active for as long as you can and work other muscle groups or incorporate other forms of activity into your routine. If you are currently on recovery mode, start by slowly increasing your activity levels. The more frequent you start working out again, the faster you will be back to your fitness levels pre-injury. How then do you give yourself the kick to push yourself back into racing mode? Try one or some of these few options here: Get a training buddy; join a sports group; socialize more with other members of the sporting community; look at old photos of yourself in races / events; get a new pair of shoes (for your sport) or a new piece of gear / equipment; sign up for a race.

Remember one thing. Mental strength is an important tool that most of us don’t work at hard enough. Winning the battle with your mind is just as important a victory as the run past the finish line.

“A strong mind will carry a weak body” – Unknown.

Written by : Eugene Teoh, Team 2ndSkin Asia

Friday, 22 February 2013

2 Months To Train For A Marathon

The "running your first marathon" by Roy was a popular post. We received an email from a reader asking for advise on running his first one - within the next two months. While we would not recommend preparing for a marathon in less than 6 months, we sense the urgency and the drive by the reader to attempt his/her first 42km (Marathon). We have replied to the reader last week and thought this could be a good sharing for all of us here.

You Asked:
Is it possible to run a marathon (42km) with two months of training?

The Team says:

We presume you are going for the Langkawi Marathon?

That would be mid April, which is about two months from now

Based on your information provided about your current running regime and weekly mileage about 30km, we find that it is not very adequate to run a marathon strongly. However, if you are looking at finishing and completing your very first marathon, it should be enough, provided you put in some extra training from now on.

We have made the assumption that your average half-marathon time is between 2:15 - 2:30, which gives you about 6:45min/km pace for 21km. What you may want to look at is to complete the 1st 21km of your marathon in about 2hrs 30mins (if you can do it in a shorter time, the better) and look at the remaining 21km in about 3:30 to 4:00 for an under 6:30 finish.

With an 8 weeks plan, you should be looking at tapering the last 2 weeks before the marathon, therefore you have essentially 6 weeks to kick in your training.

Week 1:

- 8km tempo run

- 1 session hillwork + easy run (Total 5 - 7km) *easy run is at your half marathon pace

- 8km tempo run

- LSD: 15km