Category Archives: My Running

It is Time Again for…

NEW SHOES!!! With 438 miles on my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7, it is time to replace them – actually its is past due. This is almost double the mileage that I had put on the two previous shoes. I wasn’t experiencing any pain which is often an indicator that it is time to switch.

I raced a total of 25 miles in the shoes, racing tends to break down shoes faster than regular running. Since I messed up my knee in April 2006 I haven’t raced in true racing shoes since then. It is feeling better and I might start using racing flats again this year or next.

I last wrote about changing shoes in September, but I was wearing a new pair during the training cycle for the half-marathon which I purchased in December.

I didn’t spend a lot of time shopping around. In the back of my head I went into the Running Room thinking about changing brands of shoes. I’ve heard that it is good to change brands of shoes every once in awhile to give your feet a break and to change things up. I thought this would be a good time for that since I’ve worn the GTS 7 for the last 3 training cycles. The last non-Brooks shoe I wore was the Asics GT-2120. Here is what I think about the major shoe brands:

Brooks – I’ve enjoyed every pair that I’ve owned collegiately and post-collegiate.
New Balance – Wore them once for running and the back part of the shoe wore through and gave me nasty blisters on the heel.
Saucony – I tore my Achilles in a Saucony trail shoe and wore them once more and got plantar fascitis shortly afterwards – coincidence? I think not. Someone told me they have a smaller heel box would could encourage both injuries.
Adidas – Wore them a lot in college but the fabric tended to break down (tear) pretty quickly.
Nike – Never been a big fan, guess I could try them out sometime!
Asics – I’ve liked pretty much every pair that I’ve worn, but switched to Brooks for a more solid shoe.
Mizuno – Never tried it before but I know some people who go way out of their way to get Mizunos.
Reebok – Are you serious?

Did I leave any out? Yea, I guess I left out brands like Vasque and Salomon that focus primarily in the trail market. Never worn them at all, but I know some people like them. There is also a shoe called the Vibram KSO which is a barefooter’s shoe. An oxymoron I know but the “shoe” basically protects the foot from debris and provides a little traction. I tried them on and they are pretty slick, but not for me.

Ok back to my shoe purchase. This was my second trip to the Running Room, primarily because they are the closest specialty store to my house, just over a mile. And because they were having a sidewalk sale for last year’s shoes! Their sale was mostly Mizuno, Nike, another brand I forget right now. They had very limited selection so I was surprised when they had 2 Mizuno shoes in my size and stability level. They were both last year’s models so were nicely discounted!

I tried both on and left with a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 3. The clerk said that the main difference between this and the Brooks is the way the stability is designed and integrated into the shoe. The Mizuno’s are also a few ounces lighter. She highly recommended them and wears Mizuno herself.

I have worn them for 20 miles and feet are adjusting to them. They do fit a little differently than the Brooks. I’m not an expert shoe reviewer but I can feel a difference between the two. It is a little harder to compare since my last memory of the Brooks is in their worn down pre-death stage! I’ll keep you updated on my Mizuno progress!

[tags] Running Shoes, Brooks, Mizuno, Shoes [/tags]

Race Day: TC 1 Mile

5 Replies

As I said last week the mile is a very different distance to race and one I haven’t done in a long time. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the $10,000 time bonus for breaking 4:00 but then again no one else did either! The event was well supported with aid stations every mile!

Ok, seriously though! Thursday was a beautiful day but as it got closer to evening it looked like it might rain and the temperatures dropped. Walking from the car to packet pickup I was chilly in my t-shirt and shorts but once we started warming up I wasn’t cold again until leaving the restaurant on the way home!

We did a couple mile warm-up while watching some of the first waves start. There were 8 waves, starting with a mass wave followed by four 10 year age groups, then the USATF Championship wave, women elite and finally the male elite wave. Since this is a USATF Circuit race I ran with the MDRA team in the USATF Championship Wave.

There isn’t a lot to report in a mile race! The course started alongside Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis on Willow Street before turning left onto 14th Street and finally turning onto Nicollet Ave for the majority of the mile. The quarter mile was marked with duct tape at the corner of 14th and Lasalle Ave with someone yelling this is the quarter. The half mile was marked with a digital clock near the corner of 13th and Nicollet. There may have been a 3/4 mark but I didn’t see it, the mark would have been at about 10th St. The race ended outside of M&I Bank, major race sponsor between 6th and 7th Streets on Nicollet.

For those unfamiliar with Nicollet, after 13th St it becomes a transportation mall with a fairly narrow street lined on either side with downtown restaurants and businesses. Several of the restaurants were designated cheer zones and there was a lot of crowd support in the last half mile.

My Garmin said there was a net elevation gain of 62 ft. I’m not going to bank on its accuracy (look at the map, I’m sure I didn’t zigzag!) But it was more uphill than flat or downhill in my opinion – I don’t think it was noticeable but gradual.

Now to my actual race – not sure what to do I went out hard running almost 100% and was probably in oxygen debt before the 1/4 mile mark. Garmin says I went through in 1:15. I didn’t know my time until the half mile which I thought said 2:33, my Garmin says it was 2:41. The 2nd 1/4 time was 1:26. I was starting to hurt pretty good and was feeling the anaerobic nature of the event and lack of oxygen! But I kept pushing through, people were passing me and I tried not to let them! There were a few women ahead of me and I tried to get them – one past me somewhere in here – which upset me. In this almost sprint race there is less focus on externals as everything seems to flying by and my gaze was straight forward. I went through the 3rd 1/4 in 1:23. Somewhere in here I saw the finish line and put in a final push and as it neared I really kicked it in. I ended up passing a lot people in the last quarter – well maybe 5 or 6, including at least one woman. The final 1/4 was 1:20. My splits add up to 5:25, although officially my time was 5:27. It seems everyone’s times from the team were off by 2 seconds or so as well. It was chip-timed so I’m sure their time is accurate.

My final breakdown is 126th place with a 5:27 mile. 1:15, 1:26, 1:23, and 1:20. My slowest pace was 6:02 while I dropped into 4:30’s in the final kick! Team MDRA finished 6th with a combined time of 25:05 in the USATF results. I should have actually scored for the team but it looks like they made an error.

They had water bottles available at the finish area and I guess treats inside the M&I Building but we were more interested in watching the elites race than anything else. Kenyans Josephat Kithii and Rose Kosgei won the elite divisions, neither getting the bonus. Both did set new course records though! Check out Down the Backstretch or The Final Sprint for all the details!

Congrads to fellow teammates for their performances Kirk, Nate, Mike, and Colin.

[tags] TC Mile, Mile, Minnesota, USATF, Nicollet Mall [/tags]

One mile – $25,000

Race Day: Get in Gear 10K

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This race is billed as the annual rite into the spring racing season. Well it definitely wasn’t spring out there. I awoke to a car completely covered in snow and snow covering most of the grass. It wasn’t sticking to the roads but the air temperature was about 30 with the wind chill of around 18. It was pretty windy and intermittent light snow. YUCK! Why did we move to Minnesota??

I’ll start out by saying that I was pleased with my time after the race given the conditions. When I got home I became even happier when I realized that I was only 2 seconds from a PR. That happiness was tempered with the thought that I should have found a few more seconds and actually PRed but oh well.

Packet Pick-up went pretty smoothly. I went down on Friday because Minnehaha Falls (check out this older pic of the falls) is only about a mile from work. The packets were full of goodies including a box of Minute rice! I opted for the cotton t-shirt instead of paying more for the tech shirt – it has a pretty good design.

Race morning was biting cold. I wasn’t 100% sure what to wear but opted for a long sleeve tech shirt underneath the jersey with tights. And of course gloves and a hat! At the start it was a little chilly but I’m glad that was all I wore because it got warm on parts of the course. We had to wait around for awhile before the gun went off but this is the largest 10K in Minnesota and the 15th in the nation. This year there were almost 3,500 finishers and I’m sure some people didn’t even show up. We settled into our spot in the chute and shuffled to the line. It was then that we realized we started to far back in the chute. Within the first few hundred yards we were dodging people left and right some who were almost walking. I tried not to zig-zag too much but had to fight the crowd for at least the first mile. The course was pretty scenic running along the Mississippi Byways right next to the Mississippi River. The overall course was mostly flat with a net elevation loss and only one hill worth mentioning (right after halfway). I came through the first mile in 6:34. I felt like I was working a little bit but it didn’t seem strenuous. I was definitely a little tight.

We continued along the river for the second mile. At this point I let teammates Kirk and Chris pull away a bit. Nothing too exciting was happening. We were mostly protected from the wind during this stretch. It was generally from the West but was blowing pretty much every direction at some point! I came through the second mile in 6:27. The third mile continued on the West bank before making a jump onto the Lake Street bridge. I caught back up to Kirk and Chris as we got to the middle of the bridge and ran with them for awhile again. It was really during this mile that it finally seemed like the crowd had dispersed on the course. After crossing the bridge we headed down the East Bank of the Mississippi, now in Saint Paul. I came through the third mile in 6:36. I came through the 5K in 20:22.

Right after the third mile we climbed up the hill to the University of St Thomas area before turning into the wind and going back to the river. When we made the turn and headed West again, it was spitting snow and had some powerful wind gusts during this short section. With the hill I let Kirk and Chris go but started finding other people to run with. As in most races I would pick it up for awhile with the occasional runner who was passing me. I went with one guy wearing an IU Little 500 hoodie for awhile and he helped me catch onto another group of guys that I’d run with for awhile. I came through mile four in 6:46. Mile 5 was more of the same trying to hang on and push through the tiredness. Going back and forth with runners and staying tough. I came through the mile in 6:40. Mile 6 seemed pretty long but it was a difficult mile. We continued along the river before making a quick loop to get onto the Ford Parkway bridge. In my mind this meant we were pretty much done, but in reality we had almost 3/4 of a mile to go from when we actually got on the bridge. The bridge was brutal because we were running right back into the wind. I tried to draft off of some people but it wasn’t really effective and actually slowed me down a bit (maybe my 2 seconds for a PR!). A small group of us went back and forth for the rest of the race. After I crossed the bridge I kept thinking – we have to be almost done. Finally we came to the 6 mile mark and I ran it in 6:52. The last .2 went by pretty quickly as we left the main roads and down into the park (the last half mile was pretty much all downhill). Somewhere in there we merged with the 5K runners so the final sprints to the finish was a mix of 5Kers and 10Kers which made it a little frustrating since you didn’t know who you were trying to outkick! I did manage to kick in the last 0.2 miles in 1:32. My last 5K was 20:50 my Garmin measured the total course 0.09 long so officially the last 5K was 21:08.

My overall 10K time was 41:30.

I think this would be a good race if it hadn’t been so cold! April is so unpredictable that you never know for sure what you are going to get. I would say that crowd support was pretty good for how cold it was! What did you think of the race?

[tags] 10K, Get in Gear, Race Review [/tags]

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