Mizuno Wave Elixir Toe Box – Shoe Review

This is a continuation of my earlier review of the Mizuno Wave Elixir and it’s comparison to the Mizuno Wave Precision. It feels like (I haven’t made any measurements) that the tow box in the Elixir is a little more tapered than the Precision. I only experience this in my right foot, which is a little bigger than the left (more room up front in right foot). The outer most toe seems to get pinched a litle in the Elixir but not in the Precision. If I don’t pay attention to it then it seems to have a chain effect to the other toes where the middle toe kind of is over the second toe and that can cause some issues. The fix for me has been pretty easy, when running just focus on the spreading the feet out and that seems to solve the “pinching”. So, it’s probably not really pinching but my feet feel a little more constricted and so the toe just is makings its own adjustment … which seems to be easily re-trainable.

As I finish writing this post I’m getting a little worried about my sanity and turning into a hypochondriac. Need to find something else to think about when I’m running soon.

Steady state on a new course

A couple of firsts today. First steady state run of this season and a new course (from where we ran steady states last season). As it was our first steady state the instruction from Steve was to run comfortably hard. Last year we ended up running our steady states on town lake trail instead of the roads and they were more progressive so the last couple of miles ended up being a little fast. I found the combination of lack of traction on the loose dirt on the trail and the faster paces difficult to handle as they quickly pointed out leg and foot strength issues. An example was the foot sprain training for CIM. I really liked the course today which included Windsor, Enfield and Lake Austin Blvd, it had rolling hills which kept the effort honest. Steve also asked us to run today by feel, and if we had to look at our geek-o-meters to just keep our effort slower than marathon goal pace (MGP). The reason for this is to allow our soft tissues to adjust to the change from running Easy during our base phase to the strains of faster paces.

I don’t really know what my goal time is. I’m hoping somewhere in the 2h 50min to 3h range for Boston. For Sacramento Portland my goal is to get to the Marathon injury free, that’s it. I’ve struggled with injury since the end of last year and just some consistent training will help me more than anything else. Today my steady state miles were mostly at a 6:50 pace with a couple of faster miles. The effort, except for the steeper uphills, didn’t feel too hard but as I would exert any more effort I could tell my form was changing. I used my form to control my effort and pace today. The two things I was using to guage when I was collapsing or changing my form were the loudness of my foot-strike and if my strike was changing from mid foot to more flat footed. I’ll keep this approach of good running form as the “control” for my pace for a few weeks with the hope that as I increase my effort and speed my legs are ready to handle the addition stress that comes with faster paces.

Effects of mileage adding up

Sunday ended my first week at my base target of 80 miles. As I stated earlier that is my ideal target but I may need to back off based on what’s going on with training and life in general. The overall week went pretty well. I was off from work, I was able to get all my runs in, maintain a reasonable pace and keep a reasonable diet. Saturday was the longest run of the week at 24 miles and overall I think it went well for me. It was 80 degrees and the humidity was 80% when we started so it was warm and not ideal running weather. I didn’t really push the run, it was very warm and humid but I was able to get through it and glad for the company throughout the run with Damon and Andrew.

The cumulative effect of the week seemed to take hold on Sunday. It was a 10 mile recovery run and as soon as it started I knew it was going to be a very slow and easy run if I was going to finish the run. I had two water bottles with me and ran without stopping. It was the first time I’ve run on the road in a long time where I never got under an 8 minute per mile pace (overall run was 8:20 pace) but that’s what I needed to recover. I could have skipped the run but part of getting all the distance in is to get the legs tired and then recover and I chalk it up to that. During the run I could tell that my running form was not quite right, much more flat footed and trying to focus on form was a challenge with the legs being so tiered. That’s something I’ll need to pay attention to when I’m fatigued in the future since a collapsing form can increase the risk of some tweaks and minor strains.

Monday was a little better, easy effort averaged 8 min/mile and today’s Medium Long Run (MLR) of 16 miles I felt fresh again and easy effort was back in the 7:20 to 7:40 pace range. Today was also my longest run without Gu. Getting 16 miles in without Gu didn’t feel very different than with Gu today so I’ll keep trying this on MLRs … I’ll take a Gu with me in case I don’t feel good on a run and need to take it but will try and avoid using it.

This Thursday will be our first Steady State run and that’ll push the pace for a good chunk of the run under 6:50 or so min/mile and I hope my legs feel like they did today. Next week is a down week again (two up one down cycle) and I’ll be glad for it to recover again.

Weaning off the Gu

Steve got on our case a few weeks ago about being “Crack Adicts”. Gu, Carboom, Cliff Shots … whatever you call it. He wants us to try and not take as many of them as we have been (varies by person) to get our bodies to be better at processing fats instead of glycogen in our bodies. I went through something similar a few years ago. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to have less and less Gu. On long runs waiting an hour initially, now an hour and a half. At the same time I have been much better about making sure I eat and hydrate well throughout the week.

On today’s 24 mile run it was a little warm and I wasn’t too sure about how I would handle not eating much. I ended up taking my first Gu right after an hour and a half of running (more if you could stopping for water). I’d normally then lock into just taking one every 40 minutes. At an hour and a half I was starting to feel a little lethargic but not bad but I figured I might as well. Then we kept running and it was around 2 and a half hours that I had another Gu. I don’t think I’ve run 24 miles with 2 Gu’s in quite a while. Two of the water stops (one we hit twice) did have gatorade so I can’t discount that. I did take six thermolytes (2 for every hour) and those seem to make a huge difference. During the week unless I was running over 2 hours I wasn’t taking any Gu either and it was fine. As long as I can keep my nutrition going the long run may be the only time I need a Gu, but we’ll see. I can’t afford to be zonked out at work so a Gu towards the end of a run may be useful just to keep my energy level up.

Some new things to work into the training

Working anything new into a training routine can be tricky. Working too many in can be outright dangerous for endurance events like marathons. I have a few things starting up over the next week, some a little riskier than others. I feel comfortable working them in because I think I’ve built a good base and been very careful up to now to get the kinks out of my body. Yesterday I had my massage with Lisa and apart from a minor twinge in my right hamstring my upper legs and lower legs are better than they have in over two years.

So what’s changing:

Crazy Times at Work
Yes this needs to be factored in as well. July is going to be an extremely busy time at work. NI holds it’s annual user conference, NI Week, every year in August. My team is holding some meetings with lead users for features and products we’re developing and also has demo’s for the keynote that previews future products and features. Let’s just say it’ll be a crazy few weeks. Based on how things at work are going I may need to adjust all of the things below as well as my mileage goals. I think Steve refers to this overall balance as “global load”.

Steady State and Tempo Runs
Starting next week we move into the next phase of training with more steady state and tempo runs. Till now we’ve been running Easy and building our base. The added strain from increased speed can be pretty significant. I’ll likely ease into the paces and do it by feel. In theory I should be able to plug in my goal into some calculators and see what I “should” be running at these paces but that doesn’t seem wise. Let’s say I feel like I’m looking for a 2:55 marathon, that would make my tempo or half marathon pace a 6:20 min/mile pace. I’ve been running 7:40 average paces and even one run during the week getting close to 6:20 paces is going to be tough, both from turnover and stress on the muscles in the body. I may be there cardio wise but I’m not sure about if physically my legs and body are ready. I’ll see how I feel on the first run on Thursday and pay close attention to any soreness, making sure I control my paces more based on my physical conditioning and not necessarily on “if I can hold the paces”.

Strides
We were doing Strides during our runs on Tuesdays but now with Tuesdays being our medium long runs Steve wants us to get strides in two other days. I think I’ll try for Sunday and Wednesday and see how that goes.

New Strength Training Routine
After working for two months focusing on alignment and balance issues with my body I’ll now be working on some strength work. No crazy weights but one of the weekly workouts will push my body quite a bit. I’ve been doing my heavier gym work on Sundays and Wednesdays till now. Wednesdays may become iffy given Thursday is when we’ll have the faster steady state/tempo pace work so the positioning of my gym work may need to change. I’ll also error initially on the lighter side of the weights and lower number of sets and build up to the normal amount over 3 weeks. There’s no point straining something by going crazy the first week.

Nutrition Plan
New nutrition plan that I need to work in over the next two weeks. This shouldn’t really add any risk of injury, it’s more of a time management challenge. Overall I think being better about planning my meals out will be useful given the increased stress at work. This should help me get each week planned out up front and be able to have the right food ready on days with long work hours and time a the gym. I’ll be trying to cook a little more and in general reduce sugar and fat … but I do need to eat more during a couple of meals than I have been … who doesn’t like to have that problem!?!?

Drills
This is the one I’m most uncertain about. I have been meaning to work in some of the drills I used to do into my easier and shorter runs on Mondays but haven’t so far. They do help with my range of motion and running form so I’m hoping to get them in once a week, maybe Mondays since Sunday and Wednesday will be strides. There are videos of the different drills on the Rogue Running  youtube page or you can view them below.

Seeing improved hip alignment from strength training

One of the simplest exercises I’ve been doing the last few months (based on the program from Mark) is a step up with a knee lift. An issue Mark found was a very slight hip drop. This would generally be more pronounced on one side. I had a number of imbalances that have gotten much better over the last two months of regular exercise and this exercise has helped improve the issue and provide a way to gauge my progress.

Hip Drop

You can see an example of what the drop looks like in this image on the right. There are a number of exercises as part of the routine that helped fix this but one that was very simple and relatively relaxing was a step up with a knee lift. I used a 1.5 to 2 foot step instead of the smaller one shown here. The part of the workout is 3 sets of 15 to 20 hanging knee raises with an arm sling and 10 set ups with knee lifts on each side.

The step ups are done slowly and controlled, not what you’d do in an aerobics class. If I can do them in front of a mirror to keep an eye on my form. I’ll keep my arms at 90 degrees on my sides, I haven’t been able to work in running arm motion yet. During the exercise one of the important things has been to really focus on how each muscle is engaged in the process, seeing any dips, bending or leaning and adjusting the motion. The weight bearing side should be straight, the knee shouldn’t bow in or out. The hips should be straight and not stick out.  The upper body upright and the shoulders level.

When I started doing these exercises I could tell that when I stood on my right leg my left hip would dip down and my shoulders would do the opposite to compensate. My right hip would dip down when standing on the left foot but not as much. After two months I can keep things pretty much aligned at most speeds … unless I go very slowly. It isn’t this exercise alone that has helped with the alignment but this one has been a good way to see my progress and get some mental checks for my running form that help me remember what good running posture should feel like.

Give it a try, it’s very simple, provides some good mental queues on form and is a relaxing exercise towards the end of a gym workout.

June 2009

• 267 miles and countless hours with friends on the roads
• Average pace in the 7:40 per mile range and some controlled pick-ups
• A few trail runs mixed in for variety
• Two pairs of shoes now in the 225 miles each range so time to break in some new ones
• 3 months till Portland

New phase for strength training

Next week our new phase of training for running begins with some steady state and tempo runs, this week I also met up with Mark from South Congress Athletic Club for my next phase of strength training. The last two months were geared primarily towards creating some balance in my upper and lower body where one side was weaker or stronger than the other. I think that has had it’s intended result. I’m basing this primarily on the evenness in soreness in both my legs and other signs like my hips staying relatively stable with high knee exercises etc.

Yesterday Mark started laying out my next phase of strength training, well it’s a lot more strength work than the previous session. Hopefully the last two months have been a good base in getting my body ready for the more dynamic and intense strength work to come.

Too early for my mid-life crisis

I apparently have too much time on my hands with this time off. I’ve been looking at cars for a month or so and for some obvious reasons really enjoyed driving a couple of Porsche’s. My first round test driving was with Katie when we tried out a Porsche Cayman and a Carerra. The handling and feel of these cars is amazing, great acceleration, hug the roads on turns and extremely responsive. I was taking turns I would normally take at 25 or 30 miles an our in my Acura TSX at 50 miles an hour without even feeling like I’m pushing it.

Porsche Cayman S

I drove a few other cars but nothing compared so I decided to go ahead and get a Porsche Cayman S. I was supposed to sign the final paperwork on Saturday but the loan officer was out so it ended up being Monday. I luckily had the car over the weekend and ended up not liking … let’s be clearer I like the car, it’s just not for me. And this I’m sure shocks many, it shocked me, I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d be able to buy a Porsche and it never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t want it.

And the reasons for this:

• I live downtown and the roads really aren’t that great, the hard suspension and road feel of the Cayman is great for speed and turns but the rattling in my neighborhood is a little too much.
• It’s a really small car. It is a two seater which I can probably get away with but given all the running gear and crap I normally have to deal with not the best situation.
• I live in East Austin and this car is just way too out of place for 5th and Comal, I need to move to Westlake or Stiner Ranch. That’ll help with the roads too.
• The car is a little too much “look at me” for my personality.
• I’m not 40 yet so maybe in a few years when I’m going through my mid-life crisis a Porsche will be more appealing.

I did see Keith with his new Beemer today … the search continues for me. Next on the list are all the new hard top convertibles that have come out.

Garmin 405: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly (Product Review)

I’ve gone for years without wearing a Garmin or other gps device to track my paces or distances. Earlier this year I finally took the plunge and bought a geek-o-meter, more specifically a Garmin 405. This post is about two things, one what it’s like to run with a geek-o-meter and then more specifically the Garmin 405.

Running with a Geek-o-Meter
I’ve dreaded buying a gps watch, mainly because I don’t want to become a slave to the watch on what paces I’m running. As you may have guessed from the title of my blog I have a reputation for being able to lock into paces. My reason for getting the Garmin was to run more varying paces and not get locked into my comfortable paces. I wanted to be able to know if I was really getting out of my comfort zone … yes not a normal reason.

I have the Garmin configured to show me my lap paces (each mile), and then the current lap and overall pace. I don’t have it show me my immediate pace since I think I can manage how I feel. I have decided that I won’t wear one on races though or during track workouts.  Even with my attempts at not relying on the Garmin I have to say that I do rely on it now more to know what pace or effort I’m running, something I used to be able to do without needing a GPS before.

The Garmin 405
The 405 looks like a regular watch. That’s a definite highlight. Now for the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

• Size like a regular watch
• Lots of settings and customization options to change what information is displayed on the screen and options to have upto three screens you can go between … you should be able to have whatever you want show up
• Good integreation with a website to log your runs (includes, mileage, splits, map) (see an example)
• Transfer of data to you computer wirelessly (mac and pc)

The Bad

• The placement of the button to lap versus start/stop seems to be the opposite of other stop watches.
• Getting all the settings correct can take some time, especially if you’re not into gadgets
• Digits on the screen when you have two or more things displayed can be a little small. Stop watches for running seem to have better sized numbers.
• Turning on the back-light makes use of the bezel. The bezel with it’s touch feature is how lots of navigation is done.
• Locking the bezel  requires pressing both buttons, but that for me ends up stopping the watch … annoying

The Ugly

• The watch fritzes out when it gets wet, pretty much when you sweat. After about an hour, the bezel stops working at times and a few times it’ll just start beeping and switching screens on it’s own
• The getting sweaty wet on some recent runs at the end of the run the button to stop the watch hasn’t been working immediately

Even though it looks like there are more “Bad” then “Good”, that’s me being picky and the Good items out weight the Bad … BUT and it’s a BIG BUT  … the Ugly is too much to ignore.  If I had it to do again I wouldn’t buy the Garmin 405 until they figure out the issues with the sweat and the bezel freaking out.  But for now since I have it I’ll keep wearing it on easy runs, but not on track workouts and definitely not during races where that last thing I need is to worry about my watch freaking out on me.