tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post116864026498032717..comments2024-02-11T00:54:20.373-08:00Comments on A Trail Runner's Blog: Van "Pigtails" Phan Does 53 Marathons /Ultras in '06 (Interview)Scott Dunlaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16096284778835123584noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-3312362963733718852007-06-30T06:42:00.000-07:002007-06-30T06:42:00.000-07:00wow! what an inspiration! great attitude.wow! what an inspiration! great attitude.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15145471438386324886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-43977340080340600682007-01-22T10:28:00.000-08:002007-01-22T10:28:00.000-08:00Finally! I get to READ what makes Van tick! :-)
I...Finally! I get to READ what makes Van tick! :-)<br /><br />I had the privilege to attend Van's 52nd run of 2006, which was my first ultra. Still have my one of a kind finisher's medal hanging on my wall.<br /><br />And congrats to Van on getting on with the Montrail Regional Team! I was wondering when Montrail would come knocking at the door! You rock!Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13275664685558526436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-31777426141635423402007-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:002007-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00Wow nice interview! Van's running is pretty impre...Wow nice interview! Van's running is pretty impressive, too ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-17965702961823841562007-01-19T07:13:00.000-08:002007-01-19T07:13:00.000-08:00Thanks Scott! Will check it out for some inspirat...Thanks Scott! Will check it out for some inspiration.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-11045802080656470182007-01-18T14:40:00.000-08:002007-01-18T14:40:00.000-08:00No Web site currently, but you can see her race lo...No Web site currently, but you can see her race log on Marathon Maniacs <a href="http://maniacs.marathonguide.com/MyMarathons.cfm?MID=120">here</a>.<br /><br />Van is definitely very cool!<br /><br />SDScott Dunlaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16096284778835123584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-47102638471246708032007-01-18T14:25:00.000-08:002007-01-18T14:25:00.000-08:00Great interview. Inspiring and upbeat attitude in...Great interview. Inspiring and upbeat attitude in Van. Initially I thought she was probably a plodder with some slow times but her PRS, all from this year, are VERY impressive, especially for someone not even tapering or doing speed training! She mentioned her race logs..does Van have her own website?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-91961498944443507622007-01-17T00:49:00.000-08:002007-01-17T00:49:00.000-08:00Hello, Scott. I am a spanish journalist and blogge...Hello, Scott. I am a spanish journalist and blogger. My blog is www.club42195.net. I usually read your blog. In Spain, we don`t have a lot trail races. It's a pity.<br /><br />I would like contact with Kristin Armstrong to make a interwiew for my magazine Corricolari. Can you help me? Can you give her email?<br /><br />My email is editor@club42195.net.<br /><br />Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-89466236900002410702007-01-16T21:20:00.000-08:002007-01-16T21:20:00.000-08:00What a year!
Scott, this was a great interview of ...What a year!<br />Scott, this was a great interview of a remarkable runner.Ben, aka BadBenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00686400413182985272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-88178755099285050962007-01-15T17:16:00.000-08:002007-01-15T17:16:00.000-08:00Van is awesome! So who pegged the name "pigtails"?...Van is awesome! So who pegged the name "pigtails"? From the pictures I can see why...<br /><br />KarenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-14116477868991936572007-01-15T12:49:00.000-08:002007-01-15T12:49:00.000-08:00Very cool! I didn't know there was a regional Mont...Very cool! I didn't know there was a regional Montrail team. That's a great idea. <br /><br />SDScott Dunlaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16096284778835123584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-4456744149618895402007-01-14T15:22:00.000-08:002007-01-14T15:22:00.000-08:00Scott, Montrail has 2 teams: National (that Sean M...Scott, Montrail has 2 teams: National (that Sean Meissner runs for along with about 25 others) and Regional (that Van and I are in, where the qualifications are softer, race over 8 times a year, place in local races and all what everybody on the team has got to do - promote trail running and sponsor's product, in our case Montrail shoes, Nathan gear, Cliff and a few other). Regional team, I believe, has 45-50 runners around the country, I'd have to check the rooster.Olgahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00493291972954387932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-8351150158792387312007-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:002007-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:00Scott -
Great interview. Thanks. Came across th...Scott -<br /><br />Great interview. Thanks. Came across this article earlier this week about exercising and music, thought you might be interested:<br /><br />TVs, iPods 'break connection'<br />12/01/2007 09:31 - (SA) <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Michael Hill <br /><br /><br />Albany, New York - Researchers are trying to find out if listening to music or watching TV while working out in the gym helps or harms exercisers. <br /><br />"I've got it figured out," said Unruh, who moves to the beat of Van Halen and The Fray on her iPod. "Usually, every song lasts about four minutes. I run a mile in a little over eight. So if I can get through two songs, I know I'm a mile though my run." <br /><br />Gyms are jammed with people like Unruh - the guy on the treadmill watching ESPN, the aerobic class bouncing to Hollaback Girl, the spinner reading Self magazine. Words, images and especially songs can provide inspiration for exercisers, as well as a distraction from tedium and discomfort. <br /><br />Unruh, director of wellness support at the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta, uses her songs-per-mile mind games as a way to keep engaged. <br /><br />But are those distractions good or bad for exercisers? <br /><br />Researchers say it cuts both ways. Yes, a dose of video or audio can inspire better workouts. But distractions can also hurt performance. In a way, music can add some static to the mind-body connection. <br /><br />Since the dawn of the Walkman, headphones have been as important as sneakers to many exercisers. Jacqueline Wojtusik, an Albany-area fashion designer who wears headphones for her regular workouts, listens to disco, '80s dance, electronic - anything as long as it has a fast beat. <br /><br />"If it has a higher beat per minute," she said, "then I tend to stay with that beat." <br /><br />Science is on her side. <br /><br />In a 2005 study, British researchers put 18 undergraduates on stationary bicycles to pedal either to silence or to "popular electronic dance music" on headphones. Participants worked about 13% harder to the up-tempo music compared to silence. One of the researchers, Sam Carr, suggested in an e-mail interview that music competes with an exercisers' awareness of how hard they are breathing, or how much their legs ache. <br /><br />'The more dissociation the better'<br /><br />Psychologists sometimes use the phrase "dissociation effect" to describe distractions like music and TV, and they have found it can have other benefits. <br /><br />Dr James Annesi, a health psychologist who works at the same Atlanta YMCA as Unruh, found that novice exercisers given a choice of TV or music were more apt to stick with an exercise programme than those told to focus only on their exertions or people limited to one type of media. If the gyms look like media centres, that is fine by Annesi, as long as it encourages people to exercise. <br /><br />"The more dissociation the better, the more we can distance the people from their discomfort," he said. <br /><br />Still, athletes digging deep for peak performance would do well to ditch the headphones and focus on their bodies. Studies have shown that the more distracted the athlete, the slower the times, said Ohio University psychology professor Benjamin Ogles. <br /><br />"If you want to maintain a high level of intensity, you pretty much have to focus on your body," he said. <br /><br />This is related to the belief that noisy gadgets interfere with the intensely focused mental state many athletes refer to as "flow". For instance, visitors to the Kripalu Centre for Yoga & Health, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, are encouraged to leave the headphones behind. Jennifer Young, director of healthy living programmes, said she wants to keep visitors' mind-body connections strong. <br /><br />Hikers at Kripalu are coached to "scan" their bodies by concentrating sequentially on their ankles, hips, shoulders and so on. Even during weightlifting - an activity linked more to Metallica then meditation - people are asked to visualise what their muscles are doing, or to focus on their breathing. <br /><br />"Don't turn out and turn off," Young said, "because then there's that underlying signal, 'Oh, working out is something I don't want to do. I'm escaping it by doing this."' <br /><br />Even Anna Fyodorova, a triathlete from New York City who calls the iPod one of the "greatest creations made" for training, sees its limits. When other runners wore their ear buds during a recent 60 kilometre race, she decided against it. <br /><br />"When you're racing, you have to concentrate," she said, "you have to be totally in the moment."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168791422967765912007-01-14T08:17:00.000-08:002007-01-14T08:17:00.000-08:00That's great that Van is running for Montrail. She...That's great that Van is running for Montrail. She is certainly a testiment to their product holding up with the miles!<BR/><BR/>Olga, I'm not sure what the Montrail "Regional" Team is - do you have more information on that? Is that the same team you and Sean Messiner run for?<BR/><BR/>Thanks, SDScott Dunlaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16096284778835123584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168725419709051042007-01-13T13:56:00.000-08:002007-01-13T13:56:00.000-08:00Thanks, Van. You are an encouragement. Keepup the ...Thanks, Van. You are an encouragement. Keepup the good work, don't get injured! Run on! (running keeps you young!)katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16683232026985213259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168719543661648882007-01-13T12:19:00.000-08:002007-01-13T12:19:00.000-08:00Kate,I'm 35 and will be 36 in early March. But I g...Kate,<BR/>I'm 35 and will be 36 in early March. But I guess I can pass for about 25, so I've been told. Thanks to everyone for reading my interview. It was fun to relive some of the memories!<BR/><BR/>Hello Olga, my fellow Montrail teammate! I'll see at Bighorn 100!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168706641658539102007-01-13T08:44:00.000-08:002007-01-13T08:44:00.000-08:00Scott, you both forgot to mention Van was invited ...Scott, you both forgot to mention Van was invited to run for Montrail Regional Team in 2007! Way to go, girl! Awesome year (and years past, and years to come)! Van is not only a very strong and competitive runner (by times, finishing places and inner strive), but also a great person and a friend, a trail enthusiast (by clearing local trails and helping at local races) and a cute little bundle of smiles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168705343447319912007-01-13T08:22:00.000-08:002007-01-13T08:22:00.000-08:00Great interview- encouraging! Good job, Van! How o...Great interview- encouraging! Good job, Van! How old are you?katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16683232026985213259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8860166.post-1168665551934999882007-01-12T21:19:00.000-08:002007-01-12T21:19:00.000-08:00Thanks for the great interview, Scott.Congratulati...Thanks for the great interview, Scott.<BR/>Congratulations, Van. <BR/>Very impressive!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com