As I’m spending more and more time on blogs I sometimes find some really nice blog posts that I’d like to share with you all.
Most of them are running related, some of them are not…
You’ll see that this month’s edition is from recent posts as I’ve had some “downtime” from the blogosphere in March-begin april (busy busy busy…)
Marathon Training, is it fair to your family?
Tips for the marathon above, some food for thought in here.
Being the father of a 1-year-old I often find it difficult to start a 3+h run in the weekend…
Lexi & Jones writes this down nice.
Morning Light Can Help You Lose Weight
New (running related) studies always interest me. I’m a bit sceptical about this one, but it may be a nice-to-know for runners who try to maximize their weight loss!
I stand with my pro’s and cons from then, but what I wanted to share is the difference between then and now.
Feet in the sea
Back in November it was dark, cold and lonesome on the beach.
Yesterday was a very different story.
It was sunny, it was warm and it’s easter break in Belgium, so the beach was full of families playing, some even in the sea.
Time for shorts again, yay
Clear sky, a lot of people
How awesome is a sunny day!
Tourists, tourists…
First time going out in shorts, t-shirt only and no cap on the head.
Awesome birthday run (yes, yesterday was my birthday :-))
Not even a week after writing down I keep track of my Training PB’s, I get to adjust one.
My previous record in 2015 of 90 minutes in Zone 1 dates to only 2 weeks back, which made it my all time training PB as well.
It was the same pace as the previous one, but my heart rate was a tad lower.
Now, my avg heart rate was the same, my percentage in zone 2 is higher (8vs13%), but I crushed my PB with 12s/km.
That’s amazing if I may say so myself. (Endomondo / Strava)
I started running and couldn’t believe my Garmin.
First 3km were fast (<5min/km), but usually my pace drops a bit after that distance. But now I managed to keep up with it all the way through.
The weather was perfect though: sunny, but not too hot. Wind to cool down, but not interfering with my speed. And since it’s a vacation period in Belgium, there were a lot of tourists at the dike near the sea (my usual running spot), which caused enough diversion to keep me mentally occupied.
My race schedule is fairly empty most of the times.
I run 2-3 big races a year and all my other races usually get decided very close to when they take place (and seldom are consider a “giving-it-all” thing). So in order to keep myself motivated I started taking note of my training PB’s.
It’s handy to see at a glance what my “All Time Training PB”, “2014 Training PB” or “2015 Training PB” is.
At times I don’t really feel fast or strong in the legs and it’s always good to have a reference at those times.
That’s why I choose to have a ‘all time’ but also ‘this year’. It’s not really motivating with a super day of training.
Training PB’s Evernote
I use Evernote for this, in a separate notebook. Keeps it clean and easy accessible.
It’s always fun if I break a training PB. Gives me a small runner’s high 😀
Do you keep your training PB’s? Helps it motivate you as well?
As the general rule states a shoe can only go for 800-1000km (500-620mi) I’m constantly looking for nice promotions of my regular shoes.
On Facebook however I saw suddenly that Pearl Izumi provided some free shoes if you were willing to evaluate them after a couple of months.
A local sports store was looking for people via Facebook and had an overwhelming response, among them myself 🙂
I did not “win” the free shoes, but due to popular demand all those who had applied could get a 50% discount on the shoes.
This was more than a fair discount and seeing that the fitting proved promising I bought them.
Specs
Weight: 258g gram (=9.1 oz)
Drop from heel to forefoot: Dynamic Offset: 4mm at initial contact to 7.5mm at mid-stance
Price: I bought it at €70, so that would bring it at €140
First off, note that is a neutral shoe, which may differ with your own feet. Over- or underpronation require different shoes!
Ever since the first fitting at the store the shoe slid on my feet like a glove. So in very general terms, it’s a very comfortable shoe.
It felt like coming home and putting on my slippers.
This automatically made me sceptical for long runs, but more on that below.
The shoe, as you can see in the specs has ‘dynamic offset’, which means the drop differs from stance to stance and energy input.
At a 4-7.5mm drop, this is lower than the average running shoe, which makes it nice shoe if you’re trying to go towards minimalism running.
Automatically this means less cushioning than the average shoe. I have a decent mid-heel landing, which doesn’t make this an all to big problem for me, but if you’re a full-blown heel lander I wouldn’t immediately recommend it, unless you’re coming from another shoe with less cushioning and are happy with it.
The site says it’s a 1:1 Shock Absorption, but my Brooks for example absorb more than these.
The sole’s stiffness seems below average. It’s rather bendable, Pearl Izumi says it’s a 1:1 Energy input-output which I’m inclined to believe.
They are not waterproof at all, but this means it is a very breathable shoe.
Especially during hot summer days this is my go-to shoe. The air flows through them in a way that seems to limit sweating.
The breathability along with the general comfortable feel makes it a nice shoe for the long runs. Bear in mind, yet again, that the drop is somewhat below average, so I would not be surprised that some people’s achilles heel would hurt after +16km (+10mi).
Depending on what week I had I take these out or my Brooks with some extra cushioning. I prefer my PI’s now, but sometimes you just need the cushioning…
With their low weight and nice breathability, they make a more than decent racing shoe. In very wet conditions the sole can get somewhat slippery, so try to check your terrain beforehand.
In terms of durability I’m somewhat dissapointed. I’m at about 800km (500miles) with these shoes and I feel that it’s time for a new pair. Shorter runs no problem, but with the long run I start to feel it more in my knees than usual.
In summary:
I recommend this shoe for every runner who wants a smaller drop and has at least 1-2years experience in running. They need some experience when you go and fit them to know if this is the shoe for you. They really fit like a glove from day one, so this will be a standard pair in my closet from now on!
Rating
Weight: 4.5/5
Cushioning: 3.5/5
Stiffness: 4/5
General feeling: 4.5/5
Short run (sub 15k) rating: 4/5
Long run rating: 4/5
My Pearl Izumi’s in current condition. Not bad after this mileage eh? 🙂
I really want to run more a week, but between work and family I don’t see it happening soon.
My work lies about 3-3.5km (~2miles) away from my house, so I take the bike to reach it.
Some time ago we were informed that showers are now available to encourage biking to work.
I do not need them, but it gave me the idea to run to work.
It’s not that I’m soaking wet after a So starting this Tuesday (Monday is a day off, hooray) I’ll run to work.
Starting with the most direct route and maybe after some time I’ll add a loop to my route.
But this means a daily workout to my body from now on, which worries me a bit.
It will be low intensity (I’ll jog, not sprint), but a workout none the less.
Which makes me quite curious what effect this will have. I surely hope it won’t get me injured, so wish me luck 😀
Does anyone else run/bike to commute?
Does it strain your body or is it just enough to be a healthy start to the day?
Happy April!
We’re three months in 2015, so it seemed time for a first evaluation of my goals for 2015.
I already know it’s somewhat disappointing, but seeing I got nine months to catch up I’m not all that worried, especially because summer is coming, yaay 😀
2 ultra distances Nope, not even one ultra yet.
Furthest I’ve run this year is about 32km (~20mi), so I’ve got some work to go. One will be no problem (see below), second I’ll need to think about.
+2500km of running
Nope, but I think this is very normal at this point.
However, I’m behind on schedule as well.
2500/4 = 625 Current status: 451
This means an addition of roughly 20km per month on average from now on.
Sounds tough, but I think I just make it.
Break distance record (currently ~57km)
Nope, but I am aiming at a 6h run start of July, so that should be covered then. Once it’s final you will surely read about it here 😉
Break duration record (currently 5:51) See above 🙂
Nice-to-haves:
PB on the 5k
PB on the 10k
Marathon under 3:20
Run a nice trail just to enjoy the scenery (chance is, I’ll already get this at the end of January)
I did the last one with Trail Du Mont and will do it again with Trail Des Fantomes in August.
Funny thing is that ‘PB on HM’ is not included above, but I did achieve this last Sunday...
So how are your Goals going for 2015? Will you make it or do they need some adjusting?
My second half marathon ever and first half marathon as a pacer. As written before, my brother wanted to run a 90min half marathon and asked me to pace him.
Weather conditions weren’t a great help, actually far from it…
Hour by hour forecast Past Sunday
The Half marathon consisted of 2 laps.
With wind from the southwest this meant we would get strong headwind halfway through the lap, make a turn of about 180° and have the wind in our backs.
The route of the half marathon
So after a 1.5 hour drive, a 20min wait and a 15min warm-up we felt ready to start.
With around 500 contestants it wasn’t a “fighting-for-your-spot” situation at the starting line, but after one round at the track we bottlenecked into twists and turns in Lier center, which meant watching out for other runners’ heels etc.
All in all not the best route they could lay out in my opinion, but we made the best off it.
We needed a 4:16min/km pace on average, but with all the turns it was hard to run consistent.
After about 3km we noticed we set out too fast, but with a 4:12 average we surely did not burn ourselves out at the start.
After the city centre came the feared part with head wind.
It was brutal… I tried to catch as much wind as possible, so my brother could keep fresh, but our timing dropped to about 4:30. Luckily it was only 2 kilometers.
After that we made the turn (up a small hill D:) and had the wind in our backs.
Time to breath, fill the longs, take a sip of water, recuperate and make up for lost seconds.
All the way to the half way point the wind didn’t really bother us anymore, so high hopes to finish strong later.
Second lap went the same way. First part “too fast”, but I knew we would need the seconds later on, so it was no luxury.
The windy part was worse than the first time, strong gusts were added and a heavy pouring as well, so I was really glad when we could leave it behind.
Once we had the wind in our backs it was time to recuperate again, but I could see that my brother’s energy was draining.
It was time to get everything out of him that I could get out of him!
The last kilometer he was struggling a lot, so I kept motivating him, because I knew it would be a close call.
Breathing heavily we went over the finish line in 1:30:19 according to official timing.
Our watch said 1:29:58 so my brother was happy. And he happy = me happy.
I had some juice left, which makes me really happy with my current form.
Pacing at “high velocity” isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but it was fun!
So in preparation of my Half Marathon this Sunday I’m carb loading.
Nothing as serious as with my marathons and ultra’s, but carb loading none the less.
Usually I do this with some plain pasta during the day, but I found a recipe on the Alpro site that looked very interesting.
The Recipe for the oatmeal pie, link later
In dutch it was called (roughly) oatmeal pie, but I sure like the English name a whole lot better! Choc’ Chip Triffin
I had everything I needed except for the peanut butter and I used Chocolate Soy Milk instead of Regular Soy Milk.
It makes it some heavier, but the taste is the best 😀
So this is my snack for today and tomorrow, if you like it, don’t be shy to let me know.
Do you carb load with some baked goodness? Have some nice recipes to share?
I’d appreciate it if you’d leave them in the comments!
Whew … What a crazy last month.
Between being abroad, being busy at work, going away for a ski trip I got sick. Throat hurted too much to control my breathing.
This all resulted in skipping more runs than I wanted to, but everything for the health right.
Past week I got a decent week in with 3 runs and a week total of ~64km(~40mi).
Seeing that Sunday the pacing half marathon is planned and in the past weeks I wasn’t able to hold a 4:30 pace for more than 4km, I’ll try to take it somehow easy.
I’ll do my distance, but at a low intensity.
Happy I’ve got something to blog about again!
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