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This post is all about my review of Phiten necklace which I’ve worn last Sunday for the Mizuno Infinity Race.

As mentioned from my previous post I’ve seen this Phiten necklace on all road races I’ve joined. After seeing these necklaces being worn by a ton of Major League Baseball players I decided to give one of these a try. Elite runners Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliff also uses one. My curiousity lead me to research more on this product and I was surprised to learn that Phiten not only applies titanium to the necklace but to other products as well like compression shorts, tapes, lotion, gloves via Phild Process .  According to their website, the thing works by stabilizing the flow of electrical energy through the body through balancing the body’s positive and negative ions. When they are balanced, body muscles are more relaxed.

For the sake of testing this product, I wore it only on the day of the race itself including application of Phiten tapes on my legs (you could check pictures over my post about Mizuno Infinity Post Race Report and notice tapes attached on my legs!) and lotion to identify any  noticeable difference on my body. The reason why I did this is because from my experience, my recovery period usually takes 3 to 4 days after the race day. I would usually encounter pains on my legs,back and knees. However, upon using this necklace, I realize that my muscles (especially the legs) were so relaxed that I was able to run for 10km at the oval the following day. I was honestly skeptical about this product at first as I haven’t seen any scientific research done by a reputable third party medical universities to check the claims of the product. However, my findings reveal that it works well for me for this particular test. While I cannot discount the fact that my mind might play a role on the result (placebo effect), I’m seriously considering another test. What if I just create a dummy necklace, coat it with Phiten logos, give two Phiten necklaces to a runner, one with the real product and the other the dummy one and wait for the result. Now that would be the ultimate test!

But for now, I’m happy to say it works fine on my test as it promises. Whether this is just a mental thing or reality is all for you to test. Any Phiten users out there? Please let us know your experience by commenting on this post.

Its been raining for the past couple of days and because of that, I haven’t run for the last 5 days of my existence. Tomorrow, I’ll be running at Bonifacio High Street, maybe just 5km comfy pace to “wake-up” my feet muscle. With lack of training for Sunday’s race, doom is nigh.

Anyway, my strategy this time will be different from my previous race where I ended up doing positive split. I’m still in testing mode as to which one best fits me. So come on Sunday, I will ‘try’ to do negative split. I’ll be dividing the 15k race into 3 and here’s what’s gonna happen which I’m gonna keep in my mind:

1st- 5th km : Comfy pace, ignore speedsters. If speedsters look down at you while they speed away, have a mental shot of their faces and bib number, get back at them on the 6th - 10 km. Seriously!
6th to 10th km: Run faster. Don’t be an idiot trying to look at race bibs of each runner you overtake. Just run faster!

The 3rd part will vary depending on my energy level and mental alertness. But if these two variables are OK, this is what’s gonna happen:
11th to 13thkm: Try speed work-out. 2 minutes hard run and 4 minute recovery run.
14th km-15th km: Run like its the end of the world!

Phiten Stuffs to test: necklace, lotion and titan tape

For the first time in this race, I’ll be wearing a Phiten necklace which in theory will help regulate and balance the flow of energy throughout my body. I’ve seen many people wear this, baseball players in U.S swear by this and Ria mentioned that Elite runners Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe also wear this.  I also saw a couple of runners in races I’ve joined wearing this. I’m going to test if this is just voodoo science in the name of profit or this thing actually works. I will post the result by next week. Additionally, I’ll also be trying Phiten lotion and Phiten tapes on my legs and back to achieve the same result as of that necklace. Now I understand why some male runners shave their legs. It’s gonna be a painful experience once I start removing these tapes!

Phiten Titan Tapes on my hairy legs! Any idea how I can remove these as painless as possible?

For my hydration, I’ll stick with Gatorade as Plus 100 gave me weird feeling on my stomach the last time I used it. For my attire, I’ll be using same as before and for my shoes, the ever dependable Nike LunarGlide+.

See you guys on Sunday at Mizuni Infinity Run 2009!

Oh my suggested finish time is anywhere between 1:30-1:40. Conservative di ba? Hehehehe!