Check it out!
http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/towns/index.ssf/2011/04/former_rowan_cross-country_tea.html
Coach Jason
Monday, May 9, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
2 Years Later
It’s been exactly 2 years since one of my best friends Nick Desantis donated a kidney to me. For a few years leading up to the date of the transplant I struggled with polycystic kidney disease (PKD). PKD is a genetic and degenerative disease that took its toll on my health during my mid twenties. Throughout 2008 and early 2009 the worst of my illness set in causing me to come very close to dying twice. Thankfully this is all in the past! Since Nick has donated his kidney I have never felt better! Nick and I are celebrating the 2 year anniversary this weekend with over 70 of our closest family and friends. I know the main question that people will be asking, and a question I always get is how my training for running and triathlons is going and will I be competing soon. I tried to make a comeback 6 months ago which unfortunately resulted in injury. The injury had nothing to do with my previous kidney dilemmas. I have my sights set on a new goal in 2013, but that is honestly not what keeps me going.
Coaching has always been a passion of mine and I absolutely live vicariously through my athletes. Whether one of my athletes is looking to complete in their first 5k or qualify for the Hawaii Ironman Championships it makes me proud and excited! Providing them with the individual attention and support to compete in these events is why I love waking up and going to work every day. This feeling was amplified last Friday at the Sam Howell Memorial Invitation track meet at Princeton University.
To be honest going to a track meet can sometimes be difficult because I miss racing! This track meet was a little different. For the past 6 months I have been coaching my friend and kidney donor, Nick, to race in 5000 meter (5k) events. Nick is a very talented runner, and has been since college. While Nick was in college his fastest time for the 5k was 15:28, and he has not bested this since 2006; his senior year in college. Here we are 5 years later and after months of hard training and racing Nick was ready to give it another shot at breaking his personal record. Nick had raced a 5k a few weeks earlier on the road and ran 15:30, but we did not have our sights set on this race, therefore did not taper or rest as much for that race. But for the Princeton race Nick was rested and ready to go. Deep down I had a feeling this was going to be a good race. Nick had been crushing his workouts and following his training schedule to a ‘T’. Once the race got on its way and after a few laps I knew Nick was going to set a personal record. He was running slightly faster than we had anticipated, but I could tell in his face he was comfortable and on cruise control consistently hitting even splits. When Nick crossed the finished line I could hardly contain myself to show him his time on my watch. As Nick was bent over in pain running the fastest race he had ever run and he could barely breathe I was like a kid shoving my watch in his face to show him his finishing time of 15:17! Nick’s reply was, “I never want to do that again, that hurt so much”!
As Nick now trains for the Chicago marathon and has his sight set on setting another personal record, it is these moments that I live for. And if there is anyone in the world that deserves to be able to continue and run fast, it’s Nick Desantis. Obviously Nick’s accomplishment means the world to me for many reasons, but every athlete that I coach and consult is what keeps me going. Who knows if I will be able to train like I once could, but even if I can’t I will always have my ETA Coach athletes!
Coach Jason
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Curing Childhood Cancer through Endurance Athletics
"If you want to lift yourself up lift up someone else"
In December of 2008, I was in the midst of fighting kidney disease. During that period I spent a lot of time on dialysis. I will never forget one time when I was on dialysis at University of Penn Hosp when I made friends with a 9 year old girl that was on dialysis as well. In fact, I met her while we were both having our treatments. She was miserable, scared, and frustrated; so was I. I told myself that there was no way I could "feel sorry" for myself when she was next to me. For the next 2.5 hours we watched cartoons, played eye spy, and just talked. For that few hours, she forgot she was on dialysis and so did I.
Ever since that day, I knew that when I was healthy, I would do whatever I could to help children with chronic illnesses. A few months ago, Jennifer Kelly, an employee of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), attended one of my seminars at The Running Place in Newtown Sq. She then told me about a program that ALFS has called Team Lemon. Participants that sign up for Team Lemon raise money for ALFS while training for a specific endurance event. This event could be a running or triathlon based race. Well I'm very excited to announce that I will be the head coach for ALFS Team Lemon in the 2011 season. I'm thrilled to be helping athletes of all shapes and sizes with their training for their specific endurance events in honor of ALFS.
To learn more about ALFS and Team Lemon you can go here: http://www.alexslemonade.org/campaign/team-lemon
Maybe you can be a part of curing childhood cancer?!
Coach Jason
Backpacking and MRIs
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of backpacking in North New Jersey. The trip itself was indeed an experience between the cold and lugging around a 30lb back pack. Although I only hiked a few miles my knees and hips were killing me. Granted i did have a 30lb back pack on, but we really did not hike that much! After telling my doctor about all this he thought it would be a good idea to get some more recent MRIs to see what is going on.
Another fork in the road, but lets hope this is one step closer to figuring out everything and being able to race soon!
Coach Jason
Another fork in the road, but lets hope this is one step closer to figuring out everything and being able to race soon!
Coach Jason
Monday, March 21, 2011
Bike Fit Experience at Elite Bicycles
I had the pleasure of being fit by David Greenfeild owner ELITE bicycles today and it was the best bike fit experience I have ever had. I have had my fair share of hip and knee injuries and David’s approach is unlike know other. Having a background in exercise physiology and biomechanics I was very impressed with his knowledge of biomechanical and muscoskeletal concepts and how they pertain to bike fit. I honestly have been to bike fitters throughout the East coast, and his approach was hands down the most detailed and quantitative. I personally feel the only way you can get more quantitative is being assessed in a wind tunnel facility. David incorporates his knowledge of biomechanics, power based training, and physical therapy to enhance the cyclists fit and performance.
Just as take my athletes individual physiological needs into account when coaching, David does the same his clients biomechanics and as they pertain to the bike. As David says "everyone is like a snowflake". No one size fits all approaches here!
Train Smart!
Coach Jason
www.etacoach.com
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Active Warm Up Revisted
Dr Steve Young was kind enough to re shoot the active warm up video. This time you can hear the specific goal behind this warm up and how it can benefit you.
Active Warm Up Video by Dr Steve Young
Enjoy!
Coach Jason
Active Warm Up Video by Dr Steve Young
Enjoy!
Coach Jason
Visual Thought for the Week
I think the key note behind this chat is that large, human, randomized placebo-controlled trials were used in the data scrape – wherever possible. No animal trials. No cell studies. Many of the health claims made by the $23 billion supplements industry are based on non-human trials.
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