New Shoes

An easy and fast 2 mile morning run in the new Asics 2120s. The extra room in the toes felt good, but I'm not sure if I prefer them to the 2110s. The shoe felt a bit stiffer, and the cushioning was, well, less cushy. They were noticeably lighter though, and since my feet felt sore even before stepping into them, I'm not sure it was a fair test.

I noticed today that my footstrike seemed to be somewhere between the heel and the midfoot area, rather than fully on the heel like I thought it was. Would that change over time, or was this was my natural strike all along and I just didn't notice or couldn't tell?

Slow 9 Miles

I knew as soon as I started that it wouldn't be an easy run today, which almost made it easier to begin the slow process of settling in. My legs were still tired from Friday, and my mind hadn't fully wrapped itself around the distance. The first half, which is a gradual descent to the ocean, was OK, though the mild downhill definitely helped. I checked my heart rate a few times the old fashioned way (finger on pulse) and it hovered in the 130-140 range. I passed the turnoff for the 8 mile loop and plunged on. It was another beautiful day, almost too warm. After mile 5, I began the gradual climb back through the park. My pace slowed and my heart rate began to climb. Between miles 6 and 7, I probably walked for nearly 3 minutes, trying to run the hills and then rest when they leveled out. Finally, I hit the turn around spot for my 5 mile runs and was able to dig in for the last 2.5. The final two miles where great - steady and easy, and I ended up with an 11:29 average pace for the run.

It hasn't been a problem so far, but with the longer distances recently I realized that I do need to go with a larger shoe size. One black toenail is quite enough, and I noticed some other blisters threatening near the front of my toes. I probably have about 200 miles on my current shoes, and have been thinking that it's time to get another pair to break in and rotate with anyway, so this evening we went down to Sports Basement and tried out the Asics 2120s. I've been running in 2110s, which work well for me, but Andy and I both preferred the feel of the 2120s. The cushioning is firmer and the shoe itself is slimmer and lighter. I'm looking forward to testing them out on my recovery run Tuesday.

Why?

1. The blog has been locked because it "has characteristics of a spam blog." Huh? All those ads for fake meds I've been posting, I guess. If this is posted, however, it means Blogger deemed it "not spam after all."

2. A toenail on my right foot is purple/black and will most certainly fall off in a few months because I'm too chicken to poke a hot drill through the nail. Has anyone really done that? My shoes have always felt pretty roomy, but now I wonder if they're still too small.

3. The Nike+ worked perfectly this morning. I had the most accurate mileage reading ever and still without calibrating it (I have a date with the track tomorrow but I'm a bit intimidated.) Andy thinks the gizmo must like him - as soon as he was running with me again, it worked. Either that, or it thought it was helping me through the race by giving really encouraging splits. Side note: One of my favorite words is resistentialism, the idea that inanimate objects rebel when we need them most.

4. My "easy runs" are so often (like this morning) the least easy of my runs. Maybe because I've been running them mornings for the last month (I've never been much of a morning person)?

Chinese New Year 10k

Despite the night of heavy rains, 6:30am this morning dawned misty and overcast. Our downstairs neighbors had picked the night to pull an all night hang out session, and as a result what sleep we got was punctuated with trance music. They were still at it when we got up - the pitches and rumblings of their voices pressing toward us as we stumbled into our running clothes and shuffled money and sweat shirts into a backpack. Then our friends were outside in the car and we were off to Chinatown.

As soon as the race started, it was clear that Andy wasn't going to wait around for anyone. He had an ambitious goal of finishing in 53 minutes, and a slow start would kill his plans. He wished us good luck and headed out. Juanjo took off after him and Willow and I settled in at good slow pace, around an 11 minute mile. We chatted easily for the first two miles, then began upping our speed and at the end of the third mile, we were tired. I was just under my 5k time from a few weeks ago, and we still had 3+ miles to go. We watched the 5kers peel off toward the finish line, then looked in horror as volunteers pointed us up what looked like one of the steepest hills in San Francisco. I thought for a few seconds, then walked it. Willow followed my lead. It probably saved our time. At the top, we launched back in - up a smaller hill then down steeply for several minutes. "Lean forward as much as you can," I told Willow, "and rest." We passed mile 4. I'm not sure how fast we were going at that point - fast enough for it to be work, but not so fast that it was killing us. We passed mile 5, still feeling OK, and this time stopped for water. I drank a full dixie cup and immediately felt my stomach lurch, threw my second cup, still full, into the trash barrel and continued on.

As we headed into the smaller part of the enormous hill before the final sprint to the finish, Andy came jogging back toward us. We had just hit the hour mark and he knew I was going to come in near my goal time. He ran with us back up the hill and then Juanjo came up behind us and pulled us both along toward the finish line. Just as I was about to cross, Willow put on speed and passed me - grrr! Then we were walking out and handing our tags to a volunteer and climbing up to the square to get our green tea and sliced oranges. I couldn't see the clock as I crossed the line, but it was somewhere right around 1:03:30, which was exactly the goal I'd set. Since I wasn't really aware of how fast I was going for much of the run, I think I just did a good job of guessing what I would be able to do. The Nike + registered my pace as somewhere between a 5 and a 6 minute mile the whole way, not sure why, oh well . . . Andy came in very close to his goal at just over 54 minutes, and Juanjo came in with us looking very rested.

Now, if I can just do that for 26 miles, I'll have my 4:30 marathon. Eeek!

Here we are after the race. I'm in the Nike hat, Andy's in the black knit hat. Willow and Juanjo are on either side of him.

8 Miles

I missed my long run yesterday and Andy and I ran it today instead since we both had the day off. It's been an amazing week - clear, sunny, and mostly in the high 50s-low 60s during the day. Today we added another mile to make it 8. I iced the shin and took an Advil before we set out, then iced again when we got back. Not sure if it was necessary, but it's continued to bother me a bit, and I was concerned about the longer distance. No problem during the run though, and I felt much better than I did on the 7 miles last Sunday. In fact, I still had a little gas in the tank at the end, despite running at a faster pace today. We completed the run in 1:27:52 for an average of about a 10:58 pace. I still haven't managed to calibrate the Nike +, but it seemed a little more accurate with the miles today and I think the pace is pretty right on.

The run was definitely a confidence booster for the 10k this weekend - I'm setting an ambitious time goal of 1:03:30, a 10:15 mile, which is last weeks 5 mile tempo run speed, but only a little slower than my 5k time. According to my schedule, I should also start adding a short recovery run on Fridays, but I think I may stick to my current schedule this week to give myself two days rest before the race.

I'm already thinking beyond the 12k in March about a training plan for the Marathon in July. I'll be up around 20 miles per week by then, and I'd like to be running 35 a week consistently by late June. Other than that, I'd just like to finish in under about 4.5 hours and feel good enough afterwards that I'm ready to train for the next one.

Testing the Nike +

I took the Nike + for its first test on my run today. In truth, I'm still not sure how accurate it is. At first, it seemed to be tracking the mileage correctly, but over the course of the run, it seemed to be reading miles just a little short, until it announce the completion of the run what seemed like 2 or 3 tenths of a mile too soon. That's pretty far off, but that was the aggregate of each mile being just a little off - probably somewhere around .05 per mile, which doesn't seem so bad, especially before calibration. As far as pace, it definitely works best at a steady speed. It's not great at registering minute alterations, and it seems to recognize foot turnover better than changes in stride length. Sometime this weekend, I'm going to take it up to Kezar Stadium and test it on the track, which should give a much better picture of how well its working.

I will say, it was great for motivation to be able to get instant (if not exact) feedback on my speed. According to the gizmo, I ran three miles in the 9:30-9:45 range, which is definitely my fastest tempo run speed, and which felt fast but very doable. By the time I slowed for my cool-down mile 11:30 felt positively, impossibly, slow. All in all, a fantastic run. We're basking in our traditional February warm spell right now, with temperatures near 60F most days. I was actually looking for the shady side of the street on my run. That, and the left shin seems to have realized that I'm not backing down, because it didn't let out a peep but for some token resistance in the first mile. I iced before and after the run and it feels fine now.

The Gadget Search: First Try

I bought a Nike + running system on my lunch break today. Kurt suggested I try it when I posted about running watches last week, (though I noticed that he's been complaining about the sensor in his last few posts). It's nothing like the more expensive systems. From what I read, its accuracy runs in the low 90 percents, and it doesn't monitor heart rate, or make pretty graphs, or have a GPS device. But since I already have an ipod nano (OK, technically it belongs to Andy, but I got it for him, and I mostly use it, just like the guitar), the total cost was only $37 dollars - $29 for the system, and $8 bucks for a little shoe wallet to put the sensor in. If I can calibrate it to somewhere near 95% accuracy, it might be all I need for now. Anyway, it's certain to be more accurate than than the combination of Google mapping and a cell phone I've been using thus far.

Even if I do like it, I'll probably buy a Forerunner eventually. I'm enough of a geek to want the higher accuracy and better tricks, even if I'm not yet enough of a runner to really justify it. I know I said I didn't like the look of the Forerunner, but after seeing the size and look of some of the other ones, including Nike, I think I actually prefer something that's clearly a "device," rather than a watch. But that's for some other day. First, I'm going to give the little Nike pebble a day in court.

Wanted: Running Watch

Remember all that stuff I wrote about simplicity, about running when I want, where I want, for free? Throw that all out the window. I want a fancy running watch with heart rate monitor, and pace calculator and everything else. But which one? At something over $300 regardless of brand, I'm feeling some trepidation. I'd prefer to spend somewhere around $150, but it seems that in order to monitor speed, I'll have to spring for the more expensive version. If there's a good less expensive speed tracker, please tell me. i-run links to an excellent blog story explaining the technology of pace tracking. The story also evaluates most of the main contenders.

I'm turned off by the size and look of the Garmin Forerunners - I just don't like the idea of going out with a big clunky GPS device strapped to my wrist. And since I have an Apple Powerbook rather than a PC, I won't be able to interface with the thing anyway. If you are thinking about a Forerunner, however, there's currently a $50 rebate on the 205s and 305s - get it before May 15th.

So on to the Nike Triax Elite and Polar 625X models, both equally expensive and with similar technology (neither brand seems to use GPS). They're both ugly, but Nike seems a bit sleeker, with an S shaped band and face for easier viewing. Since I'm not an elite runner, or even an elite blogger, I don't have the luxury of testing each out. But I can go to the store and try them on and push their buttons, which is what I have planned for tomorrow - after my run.

Simplicity

I leave work early on Tuesdays, but somehow I didn't manage to get out and run until about 6:30pm. When I finally did go out, it promptly started raining and I had forgotten my gloves, so my hands were freezing when I started. I did find a headband yesterday after looking at the New Balance, Nike, and finally, Adidas, stores. It wasn't the thick, cozy, kind I had in mind, with the extra flap for the ears, but it did the trick last night. At this rate, by the time I get all of my winter running gear together, it will be spring.

Not that I don't want all the stuff - I do, but I'm kind of resistant to spending a lot of money on something as simple as running. In fact, the simplicity is part of what draws me. No costs, no classes, no gyms, no special tools - just lace up a good pair of shoes and run out the front door. I like that. I like feeling like running is something I can do anywhere, that I don't have to pack an extra duffel bag of gear, or load a car with supplies, when I take a weekend trip. So I guess I'm waiting to find out what I really need before going out and buying a bunch of stuff that I'll never use. The first thing was shoes, then socks, now a headband. That's about the way I like it.

Looking for a jacket

The one problem with the IllumiNITE jacket I like is that it doesn't have a hood, and in the heavy rain, I'd prefer to have something over my head, preferably with a brim. So on my lunch break today, I walked over to the New Balance store on Sutter Street to look at their running clothes. I found one excellent option -- this "Nemo" jacket (at left) with a brimmed hood you can zip into the collar. My store offered the jacket in teal only, though black and purple are available on line. Maybe a little expensive at $124, but lightweight and mostly well designed. I was concerned only about visibility: though the jacket has ample reflective piping on the front and sleeves, there is only one line of piping on the back. Presumably, one should be running facing traffic, so perhaps the front reflection is most important, but I don't see why they couldn't add another line or two along the back for extra safety. I decided to look further before deciding. Does anyone have a favorite rain repellent jacket to recommend?

Wanted

The new Asics 2120s

Aspira Softshell Jacket by IllumiNITE