Part of that discipline is saving up for race entry fees... so I bought a 'new' pair of shoes from the thrift store yesterday. A pair of Brooks Adrenaline for $6.99. I ran the first 60 miles of Leadville in a pair of Asics that I bought from the Salvation Army for $6.99. The Brooks seem pretty bomb proof and should get me through to the Spring. Shoes are shoes...
Last night about 7pm my neighbor called and told me to meet him in the road for beers. He brought Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and I brought Ranger and we did a Christmas gift exchange. White out blizzard and we each put away a six pack celebrating the arrival of true Winter. I've been anxious for the first big snow fall and I anticipate my motivation to jog to be ten fold now. Two years ago we bought our house and remained true to our love of the mountains. One of the bigger snow storms came rolling through and Jo (my wife) was due with our second son any day. We had about 40 inches of snow and I knew that if she went in to labor we would have a 1 hour drive to the hospital and every minute might count. So every few hours I would get up and head out and shovel the driveway. If I heard the snow plow come by I got out of bed and shoveled the drive clear.
A couple of pics.
It was during that time that my neighbor came over and handed me a beer and introduced himself. In a way last night was just carrying on a tradition and I suspect that every year from here on will be the same. I really appreciated last night. It made me see that our choice was absolutely correct. The pictures above don't show hardship, but a love for the mountains and all that comes with them. We live in an amazing community of like minded folk. No ones complains about the cold or the snow, we embrace it and appreciate the lessons of what is taught from a challenge. I see old ladies out walking EVERY single morning and they always smile big and wave even when it's 5 degrees and blowing snow. I love it.
11 comments:
I saw the snow coming down over there. Weird, we've not had one flake of snow. It was cooler today (40s maybe) and my run this morning was 25 to start but close to 40 by the time I was done and I was over dressed fo sure.
Do you have any athletes with abnormally high heart rates? A friend who is fit just did a 3 mile track test (warmed up for a mile) running steady at "easy" perceived effort at 8:20 pace. His hr was between 153-165. His 5k effort hr is in the 190s! He's your age. He's training for his first 100 in march with his goal 100 in Leadville.
I think I'm ready for a run with you now without having you bored and waiting for me constantly (just most the time).
8:20 pace at HR 160? He may have a naturally high HR but he is also lacking muscular economy (coordination)and is aerobically weak. With his goal being 100 miles he needs to spend a majority (like 99%)of his time running with his HR <155. March isn't very far out.
Definitely lets run. I was thinking Thursday 3 laps on Walker? White Ranch is awesome too with some monster long climbs.
Thanks, that's what he's going to work on with 5 of his 6 runs per week being sub 155 bpm and on the 7th day he's walking 30 mins at 14 min pace.
His economy/efficiency will get refined solely by doing long runs. I've always felt I have an efficient gait (though odd looking) but it's been refined over the last two years with the 5-10 hour runs, including races.
His hr is crazy. He said it would be well over 200 while racing road crits.
Thurs would be super but do you have to pick the boys up? I wouldn't get to walker until 130-2pm.
I have two new athlete interviews at 3:00 and then 4:00pm on Thursday so I need to be here with my wits about me by 3...
I've been reading your blog for a while now and noticed that you seem to be pretty darn injury free for someone who wears thrift store shoes. Is this due to your body type or is it more a function of your running form?
As a college student I'm always looking to save money, but don't want to risk injury.
Linda- Injury is caused from weakness, not from shoes. The people that sell shoes might tell you otherwise though. I can't tell you what you 'need' in shoes... but I have worked on lower leg strength and run form and can run in anything because of it. Sort of vague sorry.
I've been reading this blog for a while and I just want to follow up what you said about shoes...
I'm one of those people that sells shoes (manage a running specialty shop) and you couldn't be more accurate. In general, shoes do not cause or fix injuries. I say in general because an uncomfortable pair of shoes can potentially change your gait and cause an issue.
When it comes to shoes, comfort is king!
Hope you don't mind my 2 cents. I love the blog and the pics you post.
Thanks for letting some of us live vicariously through you, when we've got beaches instead of snow.
Thank you for the good word PJ! I do believe that there are a lot of people out there that can benefit from the help (guidance) that some shoes provide. With this subject there is never a rule of thumb for the masses as we are all different. I try to get my athletes to find the cause of the injury before assuming that it's the shoes though. And biomechanics are a VERY workable thing. With patience and knowledge anyone can change their foot plant to a more healthful one. Lower leg strength is a huge key for this and the one thing I have done over my many years is to make sure that I strengthen my lower legs and feet. Single leg jump rope is the king for this. I also massage my lower legs very regularly to keep them healthy. A lot of foot injuries happen from a weak chain. Plantar fascitis can be caused by muscle tightness in the calves for instance. I also try to switch up between light flats and heavier trainers to prevent my feet and biomechanics from settling in to a rut.
And to be clear, if I was making a ton of money I would buy new shoes every month! I was sponsored by Saucony for years and I loved being able to throw out my shoes every month. For me right now I buy the thrift store shoes partly out of necessity.
Cheers man.
Couldn't agree more! I love being able to change the shoes constantly to get a different feel when I'm running.
And like you, the only reason I can do this is b/c of my job. Otherwise it would be one pair until they fell off my feet haha.
I've been thinking about incorporating jumping rope in to my routine...I may have to pick one up on the way home today.
PJ- A word of caution- start the jump rope more conservative than you want to. I usually round out my runs with it, so if I finish a run in 58:00 I will jump rope for 2:00 to round up to the hour. Start with 1:00 of double legs. Then once you see how your calves react, switch to single leg jumps. Just ~20"-30" to start then add just 10"-20" at a time. The single leg jumps can destroy your calves and soleus... but that's also why it's so useful! Single leg jump rope will improve your run form and also increase your strength and durability.
Thanks! I'll definitely be cautious with it.
This has been the year of caution after a stress fracture in the spring.
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