Shoe fetish

L to R: Asics (X 2), Saucony Fastwitch 2, Newton Gravity, VVibram KSO and Hoka One One Bondi.B

Over the last year I have been testing out strange shoes and enjoying each pair more than the last. When I started running several years ago, I had a simple fit and was told that I pronate, so supportive shoes are my best option. Unfortunately, in a running store, it is usually difficult to get more than ~10 strides in, so I never really noticed that I was in the wrong shoes. While supportive shoes may be the answer for a heel striker, I have a natural tendency to run mid to forefoot. Until about a year ago, I've suffered lots of pain and discomfort after either long or challenging runs, even leading to injury with lots of downtime on more than one occasion. 

Enter Newtons. The lugs under the ball of the foot are supposed to encourage forefoot running and often increase the cadence of the wearer. As someone that selects forefoot as my natural stride, these were immediately comfy and I found that the lugs were actually causing my cadence to become too high, so I had to focus on dialing it back a little. My current pair of Newtons still have some life left in them, and I'd certainly buy another pair.

Next up, Vibram Five Fingers KSOs. Marsha and I bought these for our trip to Hawaii as shoes that we could use for running, snorkeling and just generally exploring the islands. These were amazing for day to day use and even for a few shorter runs. I never really got over the blisters caused by the seams inside the shoes, so a little bodyglide and avoiding humid conditions are both important when I want to run in my Vibrams. I'll try a pair of Injinji socks with these someday. An awesome pair of shoes that are fun for short runs and exploring. Not sure if I could manage these for the bulk of my training though.

Finally, my brand new Hoka One One Bondi.Bs. If you laughed at my Vibrams, wait until you see me in these! Hilarious looking? Yes. Hopefully the ride is worth it, because I laugh at myself every time that I have put these on. Tomorrow will be the first run in these shoes, which have become popular among ultra distance runners and long course triathletes. Supposedly they reduce the amount of stress transmitted to your leg and make the suffering easier. Also, they are deceivingly light - about the same weight as my Newtons. I'll follow up after a few long runs with a review of these shoes. For now, just have a good laugh at them.

HAHAHAHAHA - Keep in mind that these are a Men's size 11. Yes, the soles are THAT thick.

Running plan for the next week: 20-40-20-40-20-60

Running progress

Until today, my legs have been handling the new running program very well. After my all-out TT effort on the bike last night, I woke up really sore. This is a result of my stupidity and poor planning, not an issue with my run training plan. Luckily what I missed was a 15 min recovery run and not something more important. I achieved the same objective by biking to the train station this morning.

As far as my run training goes, I feel that I am ready to add 10% to last week. Since 10% amounts to a total volume increase of a whopping 15 minutes, it isn't really practical to spread it across all 6 run days. This 15 goes to my long run, effectively making it 1 hour. The next increase will be distributed among the other 5 weekday runs. I'll evaluate how I feel again at the start of next week.

Heat wave!

This morning was a rough one and Tesla didn't handle our run very well. She will be limited to 20 minutes max in this weather from now on.

Remember to stay hydrated today or weekend ride may suck.

Thinking of switching workout log to Twitter and linking through blog so that I can update more easily from phone.

Run workout

Just a workout.

Daily workouts:

1. 15 min morning run with Tesla

Fall Marathon Training

On my way to Ironman, I feel like I need to suffer through a marathon at least once, to see what it is like to cover 26.2 miles (42.2 km) on foot. My reasons for a fall marathon are 1) a good way to get back to training with a purpose prior to starting my IM training in December and 2) build up my run frequency to reduce my chance of injury while completing IM training.

Since my goal is simply to finish a marathon this fall, I've chosen the latest available race in my area: Niagara International Marathon on October 23 Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon on November 6! This gives me 2 more weeks than I thought, which I will definitely (try to) make good use of. This also nicely accommodates the Oakville Half Marathon on September 25 as training/race prep.

I'm using a training method made famous by Slowtwitch member BarryP. This method appeals to me because the run frequency is very high, duration of each run is relatively short (excellent for us ADD folk) and I have had success with high frequency running in the past.

During phase 1 of my training, I'll be slowly building my mileage and getting my run legs back. This phase consists of 6 runs per week using a 1:2:3 ratio; 3 short runs of duration x, 2 medium runs of duration 2x and 1 long run of duration 3x. As recommended, I've extracted my paces using the McMillan running calculator for recovery (6:26 - 6:45 min/km), long runs (5:49 - 6:26 min/km) and easy runs (5:49 - 6:08 min/km). These paces sound really slow, and that is the whole point. BarryP emphasizes training to run more, not to run faster during training, leading to more efficient training overall and faster racing.

As I've experienced the switch to high frequency running (2-3 days to every single day), I'm aware of the adjustment period required upfront, so I'm starting with the rather unambitious 'x' value of 15 minutes (therefore 2x = 30 min and 3x = 45 min for any recent business graduates reading my blog). Once I've reset the habit of high frequency running, I'll begin to increase my total running time by 10% per week, as is often suggested.

I'm doing this training based on feel. Typically, I've used some sort of data in the past to guide me, but I think I've overlooked the importance of listening to how my body responds to the stresses of training. Thus my training volume for each week will be determined by how I'm feeling going into that week (i.e. maintain volume, cut back or add up to 10%).

If you made it this far, you have more patience than I. This was a rather self indulgent post to help justify my madness to myself. I'll update along the way and re-evaluate how smart this idea actually was once the marathon is over.

Daily workouts

1. 30 min run with Tesla @ 6 min pace. Extremely humid; this was ridiculous. Poor dog had a tough time with this one.
2. 1 h ride on the Slice, avg pace of 34 km/h over a gently rolling course. I have had some ongoing saddle discomfort which I attempted to address after the ride, but that is for another post!

Booze fueled weekend mechanic extravaganza!

As almost everyone that knows me is aware, I am often very anal picky about seemingly minor details. I like to think that it is just the engineer in me trying to be awesome. Enter my booze fueled weekend mechanic extravaganza! AKA a loser's Saturday night at home.

I have a problem with "entry level" $2000+ TT bikes. Several bikes in this range that boast internal cable routing in the frame (almost any TT bike nowadays) simply slap on a base bar and aerobars suitable for a bike circa 1995, with cables strewn in all directions. My complaint has absolutely nothing to do with aerodynamics and everything to do with how awesome (or not) my bike looks. Yes, I am super materialistic and way too slow to worry about the extra drag of exposed cables.

I recently purchased some snazzy Dura-ace brake levers to replace my sub-par 1995 Tektro levers (again, not appropriate) that were less than confidence inspiring when descending a hill of any size. This is the main reason for my weekend workshop.

OK, done crying about it. Here is a breakdown of what went down:

1. Remove Aerodrink bottle. Replace with wine glass.
2. Remove old Tektro brake levers, cables and bar tape.
3. Refill wine.
4. Install new brake levers. Seriously sweet, definitely worth the trouble of installation.
5. Drill out caps at back of Profile Design aerobars to allow cables to pass through.
6. Refill wine?
7. Run all cables through bars and frame.
8. Install my absolute favourite (because of looks, of course) white Fizik Microtex bar tape.

Before. Gross!

This is my new favourite use for my Aerodrink bracket.

 After. Cables running through the bars and zipped in close.

Nice brake levers, tape and bike. Gross picture.

(Planned!) Recovery Day

What a long week. This weekend we're heading home for a little reception. My training goals for the weekend are: 1) long(ish) run Saturday morning and a 3+ hour ride around the Kawartha Lakes area (yet to be mapped out).

Today, my recovery time was used to:

• Prepare bike gear for weekend and slightly adjust saddle (up) to level. The Slice may have the worst saddle clamp I have ever seen.
• Put bike rack on car.
• Enjoy a Peroni. Quite possibly one of the tastiest brews I've ever had.

 Peroni Nastro Azzurro. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Back to it

OK, after an extended and unexcusable rest from training, I finally got some exercise today! Hopefully I can keep on track, or I might end up with a 'motivation for babies' type book.

Daily workouts

1. Morning run with Tesla. Short warm up followed by 5 sets of 20 strides in flat, grassy park at moderate intensity. Return home at low intensity. 
2. 10 min warm up followed by 30 min TT at high intensity over flat but windy course. Quads were burning at end of TT but cardio felt good. Saddle discomfort was pretty bad wearing cycling shorts instead of tri shorts. Will focus on getting comfortable in saddle before finding a replacement.

Preliminary IM Training Plan

Week	Date	Phase	Swim	Bike	Run	Total	Race
1	18-Dec-11	Orientation	2:30	3:20	2:15	8:05
2	25-Dec-11	Orientation	2:30	3:20	2:15	8:05
3	01-Jan-12	Pre-Season	2:30	3:45	1:55	8:10
4	08-Jan-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:30	2:20	9:20
5	15-Jan-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:30	2:50	10:50
6	22-Jan-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:15	2:10	8:55
7	29-Jan-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:25	2:35	9:30
8	05-Feb-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:40	3:05	10:15
9	12-Feb-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:40	3:45	11:55
10	19-Feb-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:25	2:55	9:50
11	26-Feb-12	Pre-Season	2:30	6:25	4:15	13:10
12	04-Mar-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:15	3:30	11:15
13	11-Mar-12	Pre-Season	2:30	4:25	3:00	9:55
14	18-Mar-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:00	3:20	10:50
15	25-Mar-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:00	3:20	10:50
16	01-Apr-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:55	4:05	12:30
17	08-Apr-12	Pre-Season	2:30	7:05	4:45	14:20
18	15-Apr-12	Pre-Season	2:30	5:45	3:45	12:00
19	22-Apr-12	Pre-Season	2:30	6:05	3:35	12:10
20	29-Apr-12	Pre-Season	2:30	8:30	5:00	16:00
21	06-May-12	Pre-Season	2:30	7:05	4:10	13:45
22	13-May-12	Pre-Season	2:30	6:45	4:00	13:15
23	20-May-12	Competitive	3:00	6:10	4:20	13:30
24	27-May-12	Competitive	3:00	7:15	5:05	15:20
25	03-Jun-12	Competitive	3:00	7:15	4:30	14:45
26	10-Jun-12	Competitive	3:00	7:30	4:45	15:15
27	17-Jun-12	Competitive	2:30	6:00	3:30	12:00
28	24-Jun-12	Competitive	3:00	9:50	5:10	17:00	Tupper Lake Tinman?
29	01-Jul-12	Competitive	3:00	9:20	6:00	18:20
30	08-Jul-12	Competitive	3:00	8:45	5:15	17:00
31	15-Jul-12	Competitive	3:00	10:00	6:00	19:00
32	22-Jul-12	Competitive	3:00	8:00	4:30	15:30
33	29-Jul-12	Competitive	3:00	8:00	4:30	15:30
34	05-Aug-12	Competitive	3:00	8:00	4:30	15:30
35	12-Aug-12	Taper	2:00	5:30	3:25	10:55
36	19-Aug-12	Taper	1:20	1:20	1:20	4:00 (+ race)	IM Mont Tremblant

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/

Whoa!

This week got pretty crazy and I didn't get a chance to post any of my daily workouts. Please ignore the retroactive posts for Tuesday-Thursday that I've just added to make sure that I'm capturing my efforts.

Daily workouts

1. 80 km steady ride on the Slice. This was a pretty rough ride in some old tri shorts and I certainly felt the discomfort. My limiters were most definitely my saddle discomfort and some neck pain. Nutrition: 2 bottles of water, 1 bottle of concentrated Gatorade (5 scoops) and 1 Cliff bar. After this ride, my legs and lungs were in great shape. No signs of cramping at all.