Monday, September 27, 2010

Time to Slow Down?


Like many runners, or athletes in general, we have the mentality that more is better. I have used this approach to my training this past year when getting ready for the Minneapolis marathon and the Chicago marathon in 2 weeks. I do feel that in order for me to further improve I will need to train harder and add more mileage.

I have learned to try and maintain a balance of rest and training. I have found that my recovery days really need to be just that. There is no advantage of pushing yourself on days that are meant to recover, it is completely counter productive. This is a difficult thing for me because again I like most athletes or competitive people liken ourselves to Sharks. If you not moving your dead.

One of the biggest mistakes that most runners make is going to hard on easy days and not hard enough on the hard days. I am planning on eventually doing another ultra marathon and that will be based a lot on big mileage weeks, but still you need to balance rest and recovery to avoid injury.

Here is a link to an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about endurance athletes pushing them too hard.

Enjoy!
Wall Street Journal Article:

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Benefits of Ice Baths from Runner's World:


This recent year I have realized the benefits of icing after some of my hard workouts. In general icing helps to reduce the swelling in the your muscles and helps to promote blood flow, both of which will help in recovery by aiding in muscle recovery.

Here is an article from Runner's World that shows some of the benefits of ice baths.


Enjoy!
Benefits of Ice Baths from Runner's World.com

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Quote of the Day:


"The gun goes off and everything changes... the world changes... and nothing else really matters."
- Patti Sue Plummer

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Product Review: Nike Free 3.0v2

I know that I did an product review for these when I first got them, but I figure now that I have put a few miles on them I am in a better position to give them a thorough review. The Nike Free 3.0 v2 are Nike's latest version of minimalist shoes meant to simulate barefoot running, at least as much as a athletic shoe company will allow. The Nike Frees come in several different versions the 3.0's being the most minimal and most closely simulate barefoot running.

This is an extremely light weight shoe and the sole is extremely flexible to again simulate running barefoot. The top is almost completely made of a light mesh that wraps the foot well and seems to keep everything in place, as long as you are not doing too much lateral movement.

When I asked how many miles I can expect out o the shoes I was given the usual response of 200-300 miles for this type of minimal shoes. However, because I got this from the Nike sales rep, I wasn't too certain of how much that information was influenced by the desire to sell me more shoes. Anyways, now that I have put over 500 miles on my Nike Free's I am now starting to feel some of the wear and tear. The Frees really do not have much to them, very little cushioning, support and padding, so my thought was what is there to really wear out, but alas like all shoes they have yield to the miles.

I did notice that they would definitely help promote a more natural stride and discourage me form over striding and landing on my heals. They also simple felt great to run in, very similar to running in racing flats, you just feel light and fast in them. It did take a while to get used to running in them and I would not recommend most runners to use them as your primary trainer. I took me several months of slowly incorporating them into my workouts before I could use them on a regular basis.

All in all a very good shoe which is very functional for my purposes and feels great to run in. I'll definitely be getting another pair soon.




Check out other reviews of the 3.0's

Now What's On Your iPod:

I think Apple is still working on a this version of the iPod. Here is what is currently on my ipod right now. There are a few more songs on my play list but these are the ones that I listen to mostly while running. Along with the

  1. Empire State of Mind-Jay-Z
  2. Billionaire-Travie McCoy
  3. Crazy Train- Ozzy
  4. Walk This Way-Aerosmith
  5. I'm Not Afraid-Eminem
  6. 4 Minutes-Madonna & JT
  7. Run This Town Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West
  8. How Far We've Come-Matchbox 20
  9. Last Resort-Papa Roach
  10. Numb Encore-Jay-Z, Linkin Park & Paul McCartney
  11. Save Tonight-Eagle Eye Cherry
  12. Closing Time-Semisonic
  13. Lose Yourself-Eminem
  14. The Rockafeller Shank-Fatboy Slim
  15. Young Jay-Z
  16. Reason to Believe-Dashboard Confessional
Audio Book: What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Endurance Planet Podcasts
Ted Talk Podcasts
Running Times Podcast