My Tree of Life

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Wednesday, Nov. 24th

Started with a .34 mile barefoot warm-up on the treadmill, then headed out for my run. I decided this would be a pure "run by feel," so I left the Garmin at home and just ran. It was a nice easy 1 hr. run in the Evo's. Total run was 6.27 miles, mostly on packed dirt.

I will say there's definitely a "sharpness" difference running in the Evo's vs. Nike XC's, Katana's or any racing shoe. I can't fully explain but but I believe it has to do with "sensory feedback," and "muscle pre-activation." How that relates to potential injuries, I have no idea but I can feel slight tension in my knees if I run too many days in racing shoes and I have no tension when I run barefoot or in Evo's. I can also feel the engagement of the Achilles in Evo's vs. less engagement in racing shoes.

It's clear that your gait does change to accommodate running in shoes as the body is highly adaptive but you do lose something. Several studies report that there's a 45% energy return in the Achilles and 15% in the arch but with a build up heel as is the case with most running shoes, the Achilles shortens and you lose that advantage and with arch support, you negate the other advantage. I can tell the difference when I run in the Evo's with no arch support and totally flat on the ground.

HHH

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My Shoe Collection

[click on photo to enlarge]

The first row is my primary running shoes, the Terra Plana Evo's (Evo I and Evo II). My second choice is the Nike Zoom Streak XC (second row to the far left as you look at the photo). After that, I occasionally use the Nike Katana, Inov-8 F-Lite 195, and Mizuno Wave Universe 3.

HHH

Tuesday, Nov. 23rd - Intervals

After my regular morning foam roller stretching, I ran .35 miles barefoot on the treadmill. I do this several times each week as it wakes up my feet and keeps the muscles in my feet eager.

Then, I headed out the door and warmed up for 30 minutes at a nice casual pace then when I felt I was loose enough, I moved into 6 interval sets of 3 minutes hard/1 minute easy. The 3 minute interval paces were at 10k pace, 6:57, 6:37, 6:35, 6:23, 6:26 and 6:18. I felt good and strong.

The next 2 days will be easy runs with the goal of not running faster than 8:30 pace, and I'd prefer to run in the 9:00 pace range. I've found the key to injury free running is to run hard on the hard days, but very easy on the easy days (the easy days are actually recovery days).

I've also been thinking about my goal for 2011, and I'm leaning toward the sub 18:00 minute 5k (my current 5k PR is 18:24).

HHH

Monday, November 22, 2010

Monday, Nov. 22nd - Day Off

This is my day off after the 5k race yesterday. I feel fine but I generally always take a day off after a Sunday race. This conservative approach generally pays off and has worked pretty well considering I haven't been injured in over 1 year. When you are running 5k paces, you think you are fine but in reality, your body is still recovering from all the micro-tears from running at that pace. The injuries that result from overdoing it don't hit right away as they build and slap you later so I've learned to be conservative on the front end in order to stay injury free on the back end.

I'm not sure which workout I will do tomorrow, either a hard interval road run or an easy run. It will be a game time decision as I will see how my body feels tomorrow morning. In fact, I may not decide which workout until after I warm-up so I can truly understand how my body feels.

Harry

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sunday, 5k race . . . 5th overall

I just finished my final 5k of the year, and finished 5th overall in 18:59. That’s a bit off my 18:24 PR but I didn’t enter the race intending to set a PR, plus this is a hilly 5k course compared to the flatter course when I set my PR. My goal was to run a hard even split 5k and I was pretty successful as my mile pace splits were 6:03, 6:06, and 6:08. I finished the first 800 meters at a 5:40 pace and I felt great but I decided to pull back because I didn’t come into the race mentally prepared to maintain that pace, as I did in my previous 5k. So I pulled back for the next 800 meters and finished the first mile in 6:03. After the first mile, I felt great and decided to maintain that pace for the race and it felt like a good hard tempo run.

I opted to run in my Nike Air Zoom Streak XC’x instead of my Evo’s for two reasons. First, I’ve never raced in the XC’s so I wanted to experience it. Second, this course is quite hilly with about eight hills ranging from 400-800 meters, one after the other, and, for me, the additional cushion takes some load of my quads on the hills. This course is also a very boring course so it’s not inspirational in the least bit. My previous PR on this specific course was 19:41 so that’s was a good: 42 second improvement.

I really enjoyed meeting the person that finished 4th and out-sprinted me in the final 300 meters. I met him after the race and it turns out he is 51 years old and finished in 18:49. These are the runners that give me inspiration. Being 41 yrs. old myself, I look at someone like that and I know I have plenty more years of being able to maintain this performance level. I get so excited when I meet someone older than me that beats me . . . I love it.

This was the first race this year that I didn’t see any runners in minimalist footwear. However, now that I’ve run 5k’s in just about every type of footwear, I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s not about finding footwear that can help your performance as they don’t exist but it’s about finding footwear that doesn’t interfere with your ability to perform (the performance comes from your body, training and commitment level). For me, it depends on the course and terrain. I prefer in the Evo’s on flat courses or the track. I prefer the Nike Air Zoom Streak XC or Nike Katana on hilly courses as I believe the additional cushion takes a little load off my quads on the hills (of course, I train in the Evo’s on hills to build strength). Of course, that’s only a portion of the analysis as there are just too many other factors that go into a specific level of performance on a specific day including how you feel that day mentally and physically as well as the weather and the course/terrain.

After the race, my body felt just awesome. No pain, injury or discomfort. In fact, I didn’t feel like I even pushed that hard so I went home and ran another comfortably hard 6 miles. The best part of the day was watching my 12 yr. old son finish the 5k in under 30 minutes and he rarely runs with me. . . just seeing the enjoyment on his face and how proud he was to finish outweighs everything else.

HHH

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Close to 1,000 mile Evo's

Pictures of my Evo's with close to 1,000 miles on them. You can't do this in regular running shoes (click image to enlarge).

Friday, November 19, 2010

Friday, Nov. 19th Run

I've had several folks ask about my running program so I've decided to post (short) daily updates on my running starting with today's run.

I ran 5.23 miles in 47 minutes. It was a nice easy run with 6, 200 meter strides as I prepare for this Sunday's 5k race. My 200 meters strides were at the following paces: 6:59, 6:42, 6:50, 6:27 and 6:26. I did the strides on roads as Sunday's 5k is a road race. I do 95% of my running on dirt but I do get in some road running the week of races, if I'm racing on hard surface. The strides were meant to be comfortably hard and "not" race pace. My 5k race pace is around a 5:50 pace, so when I do comfortably hard strides, I try to get within :30 - :40 seconds of race pace for the last few strides . . . goal accomplished today. Basically, this drill is to do strides at 10k race pace, which is about a 6:25 pace for me.

I continue to focus on slightly shortening my stride while remaining comfortable and focusing on my landing to maintain a good center of gravity.

I ran in my Nike Zoom Streak XC's which I'll probably race in Sunday. For tomorrow, it's a nice very easy 30 minute run, which I'll do in my Evo's. I've pretty much settled in on a 3 shoe rotation: Terra Plana Evo's, Nike Air Zoom Streak XC's, and Nike Katana's.

HHH

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Is increasing stride rate better to decrease injuries?

Speed is achieved through stride rate and stride frequency. The goal is to optimize the both forces but there is a trade off as the stride length is increased resulting in increased air time . . . what goes up, must come down. Both factors are critical but I've diving into studies comparing the 2 forces as they may relate to injury prevention.

As I think back to when I started barefoot running, I listened to Barefoot Ken Bob, BFT and others talk about shorter strides and it occurs naturally when barefoot. You can still have a good stride length barefoot but generally you can't fly through the air and over- stride the way you can do in shoes.

Here's one of many studies I'm reading:

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to characterize the biomechanical effects of step rate modification during running on the hip, knee and ankle joints, so as to evaluate a potential strategy to reduce lower extremity loading and risk for injury.

Methods: Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were recorded from 45 healthy recreational runners during treadmill running at constant speed under various step rate conditions (preferred, +/- 5% and +/- 10%). We tested our primary hypothesis that a reduction in energy absorption by the lower extremity joints during the loading response would occur, primarily at the knee, when step rate was increased.
Results: Less mechanical energy was absorbed at the knee (p<0.01) during the +5% and +10% step rate conditions, while the hip (p<0.01) absorbed less energy during the +10% condition only. All joints displayed substantially (p<0.01) more energy absorption when preferred step rate was reduced by 10. Step length (p<0.01), center of mass vertical excursion (p<0.01), breaking impulse (p<0.01) and peak knee flexion angle (p<0.01) were observed to decrease with increasing step rate. When step rate was increased 10% above preferred, peak hip adduction angle (p<0.01), as well as peak hip adduction (p<0.01) and internal rotation (p<0.01) moments, were found to decrease.

Conclusion: We conclude that subtle increases in step rate can substantially reduce the loading to the hip and knee joints during running and may prove beneficial in the prevention and treatment of common running-related injuries.

HHH

Running, Politics and Corruption Collide

First of all, thanks to Luis for posting the following:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/sports/16runner.html?_r=1
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/30122
http://www.letsrun.com/2010/gebrselassie-newyorktimes-1117.php

We often forget about the "ugly" side of sports and when sports and politics collide. This reminds me of the genocidal war that prevented some runners from making it out of the Rift valley to race. It reminds me of the political turmoil in some countries and how very lucky we are in some countries. To even think about the possibility of Haile being pressured or intimidated by the Woyane lead governmentis crazy but entirely possible and, personally I believe it's likely true (sure, Haile and Hermens have no choice but to deny it).

Just think about what Haile has at risk . . . the safety of his family and his business interests, and his obvious love for his country. Haile is a easy target for a corrupt government in Ethiopia. I'm sure there's more going on than we could ever realize.

We humans are great at poisoning the purest things in life!!!! I hope this isn't true but history would support a different conclusion.

HHH

Monday, November 15, 2010

Quote of the Day

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves.

Sir Roger Bannister

Friday, November 12, 2010

There's More than Just the Marathon

I read an interesting article in Running Times by Pete Magill about the fascination with the marathon and the lack of respect for the shorter distances (it’s worth noting that Pete ran a sub 15:00 5k at the age of 47). I’ve provided a link below to the full article and used parts of the article in writing this short article as this is a discussion I’ve had with many beginning and advanced runners about the focus on the marathon distance as opposed to the shorter distances like the 5k and 10k. It’s interesting how many runners disregard the shorter distances.

“What I find is disrespect across the running community for the short to medium distances,” says Sam Kinkaid, a former college runner who shed 115 pounds in order to compete again as a masters athlete. “I get this general feeling that if you don’t run a marathon, or at least a half marathon, you’re not a distance runner!”

This follows many of the discussions I’ve had with runners who act as if you are not considered a real runner until you finish a marathon. I know for many, the marathon represents Mount Everest, however, all distances and just running in general should garner equal respect and both are great accomplishments. I feel like some beginning runners feel as if they are forced to run a marathon to be considered a runner and that’s flat out wrong. In fact, the greatest distance runner of all said the following:

It’s worth noting that there isn’t much difference in the quality of runners who excel at both distances (5k and marathon). Haile Gebrselassie was the 5,000m world record-holder long before he claimed the world mark for the marathon.

There isn’t much difference in training either. Both races require a base of volume, tempo and VO2 max work. The marathon demands a few longer long runs. And the 5K adds some sessions for “speed.” But most of the training is the same.

When it comes down to it, we choose the race that works for us. For Tuttle, it’s the “fast and furious” nature of the 5K. Empey prefers the race that best suits her talent. As for me, 5Ks and 10Ks throughout the year provide my anchor to a healthier, happier lifestyle.

I will concede that I’ve run all the distances from 5k to the marathon and I find the 5k every bit as challenging as the marathon, of course if different ways, but equally challenging. Running near VO2 max levels is an experience and challenge in of itself, as is running for 26.2 miles and the level of endurance required. Both require incredible mental fortitude especially as you increase your performance. As with many others, I call the mile 20-24 mark in the marathon “The Wall,” however, I also refer to “The Wall,” in a 5k around the 2.2-2.6 mile mark when you are at or have entered the world of “oxygen debt.” Both require mental fortitude to push through.

Now, it’s noting that when I’m fortunate enough to discuss this topic will elite runners, they have absolute equal respect to any runner, at any distance from the 100 meter sprint to the marathon and every distance in-between. This is because they understand the training and commitment required to excel at “any distance.” I think we recreational runners should take notice.

I think this is an important topic because the issue isn’t whether you have run one block, one mile, a 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon or ultra distance. As the article stated, “The question is whether we’re training, racing and making fitness a part of our lives, and that’s the long and short of it.” As I tell everybody, “Just Run.”

HHH

Here’s the link to the full article: http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=21201.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Dead Zone

As I continue to narrow in my ideal shoe rotation, I'm currently down to 2 shoes. The Evo is my primary running shoe and my other shoe is the Nike Air Zoom Streak XC. Of course, I own many other shoes, and many more than I care to reference. In fact, my wife told me I have more shoes than her, which isn't a good sign. In any event, there are a lot of shoe options that fall between the Evo and the Nike XC's but I've found that the closer I get to the Evo, I just opt to run in the Evo. Conversely, the closer I get to the XC, I find other shoes lack either the protection I need on trails or lack the range to be used on both hard and soft surfaces, so I end up back in the Nike XC's as they have great range and function well on concrete, asphalt, packed dirt trails and roads, and more difficult rocky trails.

I call the zone between the Evo and the Nike XC, the "dead zone." If a shoe falls in the dead zone, they generally don't provide much worth to me other than to be used as specialty shoes. For example, I own the Inov-8 F-Lite 195's and they are great on more difficult trials but do not perform well on hard surfaces so that puts them at a disadvantage to the Nike XC which can function on both surfaces, and cost half that of the F-Lite 195 with the Nike XC only costing $49.95.

It goes without saying that the Evo is the best minimalist shoe in my opinion. It's an incredible shoe and works well on any surface, until you start running on more difficult trials but the Evo wasn't designed for difficult trails. Hint, hint, Terra Plana, you may want to consider designing a trial shoe.

HHH

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Nike Zoom Streak XC insole

I ripped out the glued insoles from my Nike Zoom Streak XC's and it was pretty astonishing how much better they felt as a result. I've liked the XC anyway and I didn't think the insoles could be removed but over the weekend, I felt a little crease so I started to pull and sure enough they came out.

I measured the insoles with my digital calipers and they are almost 3mm with a 1mm heel differential formed like a heel cup. After removal, the XC's felt even better.

Of course, they aren't the Evo's but in comparing the XC's with the F- Lite 195's is a complete tie right now. I'm not sure which one is better but I'm sure time will tell.

HHH

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Great One Retires

As I'm sure many of you know, Haile was unable to finish today's NYC marathon. He pulled out around mile 16 because of issues with his right knee.

I just read that, "He later announced he was retiring after an illustrious career which included two Olympic 10,000 metres gold medals and 27 world records."
For me, it's a sad day but we all knew this day was coming for Haile. At 37 yrs. of age, it's difficult to maintain that level of performance against the new crop of youngsters that are tearing it up. But what a career and what a person.

Very few transcend their sport, and Haile was one of the few to do it. I wish him the best and I wouldn't be surprised to see him play a key political role in Ethiopia's future.

HHH

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mizuno Wave Universe 3 - The Real Heel Differential

For those of you that use or are interested in the Mizuno Wave Universe 3, you may find this interesting. Long story short, the reported 9mm heel differential is really only 3mm. For the full story, link here: http://edwardedmonds.com/.

Update October 8, 2010: A few weeks ago I started wearing size 9’s in the MWU3’s, up a half size. I think this is great evidence to support the idea that if you have a generous toe box your foot will widen when unconfined. More importantly though, a new discovery. A new discovery I had been suspicious about for a long time. The Running Warehouse website gives a heel-to-toe ratio of 15mm in the heel and 6mm in the forefoot. For a long time I've been suspicious about this measurement because it seemed wrong. But at almost $100 bucks a pop and plenty of miles still left in even my old est ones I didn't want to slice them up to see. Now that I've sized up, taking my beloved flats to the chop shop was justified. I sliced them in half from front to back and measured the real heel-to-toe ratio. Surprise, surprise: <= 3-4mm of difference. That’s a big difference from the original. I thought for a moment… “well maybe I've worn them for so long that I've flattened them out”… nope, if that was the case the difference between the heel and toe would have increased with the forefoot portion becoming more compressed and the heel staying the same as my heels never touch the ground… so not possible.

The reason why the measurements are different is because the outside of the mid-sole is built up around the edges to support the upper in other words the mid-sole is concave. If you measure the outside then yes you get a big difference. But when you cut them in half and measure where your foot actually sits–bingo–big difference. So once again another testament to what I think is the best flat out there. My wife is in Spain right now with the cam era so no pictures yet, but I did buy a brand new translucent ruler just to give ya’ll some tangible proof.