Tuesday 28 August 2012

The "dirty" side of running

Uh oh... yes that topic... With the big news in the Lance Armstrong case, the suspicions in the Olympics (including a few confirmed cases), its time to discuss the dirty side of running....laundry! 

This is probably less than a week of actual clothes!

It's amazing how many pairs of shorts I can go through in a week. Admittedly I'll go through a few more changes of clothes now that I'm married.   Marci will even submit a few pieces of running laundry herself, so quite quickly, it adds up.

There's some advantages to this though.  Since I have a few choice outfits, I said, well why not get a second one? This opened up a new realm that I never considered.  Now even days when I think it's a bit much can I have a fresh pair of my favourite shorts.   

For shorts I've become a big fan over the years of Sugoi's Piston Tri shorts.  They make running versions too, but the tri shorts come with elastic pockets, and while they have a bike chamois, its more subtle.  The pockets make the shorts.  From keys, to money and gels, those side elastic ones are great. 

Now suddenly Nike comes out with something similar! Their new shorts with as they call it "bike style" pockets are in my opinion better.  It doesn't have the thin chamois, is a little looser, and the pockets are a little lower, which with a fuel belt adds more access to getting in there.   Might have more of a chance to loose something but not so far.  Trust me, side elastic pockets are KEY.

For tops, I've really enjoyed Goodlife marathon's Karbon made shirts.  Karbon's shirts seem to chaff less, feel lighter, and fit better.  Somehow I've ended up with 3-4 of them over the years in different colours, so they work out well.    I have some good Solomon trail cutoff tanks that are feather light too.   The Canada Running Series shirts are too heavy and awkward in my opinion, save for the Zoo run shirt last year. 

Well I enjoy Adidas shoes, but to each their own.  I like them because the backs in the heel from the Adizero line are thinner than everyone else, and for some reason I've worn them out fast and received blisters in Asics, New Balance, amongst others. 

Since were' talking dirty... these aren't my dirtiest but these shoes used to glow neon yellow...


If I told you they were a week and half old would you believe me?  What if I said I had about 200kms on them?  They're the Boston 3's.  My 2nd pair of them.  I also use the better looking Adios, but no pictures today.

Since I'm on the topic of gear, my other favs are a sugoi hat, fuel belt 4 bottle holder, oakley easy lens changers, and of course body glide!   I have an ipod shuffle, but as I mentioned I don't bring it much.   I brought it Sun for my 20miler (32k) but of course, I left it "on" so I had batt good enough for the first 5km.  Serves me right!

Friday 17 August 2012

An easy breazy day in August

The past few weeks have afforded me little rest running wise.   I've run 235kms in the month so far.. or 100k per week! It's by far a good solid chunk of training and I'm feeling a lot better in form.  It does feel tiring though.  Do you ever get to the point where you need to run a few miles just to loosen up?  That's about how I feel these days.

With last night's speed session no exception, it started as a 4.5k jog around a 4:45-5:00/k pace, followed by drills, then 5 x 1mi (1600m) w 300m jog recoveries and a 2min break in between sets 2 and 3, and an easy few km home.  Not that complicated.  It still took me the first 2 sets of repeats to really feel my legs though, at 6:26, 6:26, it's nothing 'fast' but it isn't all that slow either.   After the break I was stiff so 6:27, but then found my rhythm a bit and nailed a 6:19, and 6:22.    Again, not my best by far, but as a measure of how I felt, this came across strong.

It's tough to do this many miles yet reflect back to Feb when I could nail 5 x mile w 30s rest @ 5:50-5:52 pace.   I was golden then.  It was also a LOT cooler.  For those who forgot, we had the best winter ever.  This summer is still too humid for great running so I'll take what I can get.


Today was what I needed.  My watch couldn't get a signal so I just left it at home.  I decided on a 10k route and just ran.  The weather was nice, no humidity in the air, so I was able to relax and really enjoy it.   I waved to all the runners I passed as I like to do when I'm relaxed and got some waves back.  I'm surprised that I feel like I'm the only one who does this anymore.  If I didn't initiate, people would ignore.  This was one of the things that really got me onto running back in the day - how friendly total strangers were.   Not to say running in a club you don't get the same camaraderie, but it's the chance encounters with your neighbours that bring it all back.    PS I rarely run with headphones.

So with that, it's time to grind it out some more.  Only about 7 weeks left til Chicago.   Will have some great company for that - very much looking forward to it!