One foot in front of the other.
Sole Dual Layer Performance Socks
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After what has seemed like an eternity for many of us die-hard Newton Running fans, the much heralded trail shoe has finally landed in the Newton store for pre-order! I spoke with Sir Isaac a tiny bit today and got some of the skinny on the shoes:
“Closed mesh, PU frame above the EVA for additional support and
protection, gusseted tongue, more supportive strapping, reinforced toe
cap.”
I can’t WAIT to try out these new shoes and get them nice and dirty on any trail I can find! When I do get some on my feet, you can be certain that I will give those of you on the fence about buying some for yourself a detailed rundown. For those of you that can’t wait, click the picture below!
Continued from: 2010 Ironman Mooseman 70.3: Race Report Part 2 – Race Morning…
Beach starts in triathlon tend to be a full contact affair. This is especially true just behind the front of the pack. If you’ve placed yourself in that spot, there’s a decent chance that you’ll get kicked in the face by the guy in front of you and/or punched in various parts of your body by the guys on either side of you and/or dunked and swum over by the guy behind you who may be faster than you. All accidents, of course.
Since I expect to be one of the faster swimmer in any race I enter, I always place myself at the front of the pack in both water and beach starts. In triathlons I’ve done that have pool swims it is incredibly frustrating to be relegated to swimming behind people who’ve WAY overestimated their speed, and having to pass them. So, for this race I was at the front of the pack when the horn sounded.
The run into the water was fairly smooth with the bottom dropping off to swimming depth in probably about ten feet. The pack broke up quickly and myself and a few others pulled away off the front. The swim course itself was a rectangle (see picture) and was protected from and waves kicked up by wind by the shoreline to the East. As we reached the first turn, quite a few waves appeared, I have to assume because we had come around from the lee side of a point of land, and the wind was now kicking up a bit.
At about the halfway point, I noticed that another swimmer from my wave (I could tell from his powder blue cap like mine) and I seemed to be staying right with each other. Shortly after I noticed this, my opponent disappeared and I assumed that I had dropped him. By this time, I had been swimming through swimmers from waves that had gone off ahead of me from about the 1/4 mark on. Every now and then, either I would accidentally run into one of these swimmers or they would run into me. This is when I noticed that someone kept hitting my heels. I snuck a peek back and saw that the swimmer with whom I had been dueling had taken a comfortable spot in my wake and was now drafting along and taking it easy. While drafting is illegal in the bike leg of a triathlon, there is nothing wrong with drafting in the swim. I guess I didn’t mind so much and I wouldn’t have even known the difference if it weren’t for the fact that my heels were getting tapped every thirty seconds or so. Annoying.
The concern I had coming into this race with regards to my neck never really came to fruition. To be honest, I was being a bit conservative (which is evident by my less than stellar time) and definitely felt fatigued in my shoulders more than I usually would, but true pain never affected me.
Swim time: 27:17
Swim pace: 1:25 per 100 meters (boo)
Age Group Place: 5th
Overall Place: 28th
Most of us are aware of the potential dizziness that comes with standing up too fast. I have even fallen over several times because of this. In a triathlon, the same thing takes place. You’ve been swimming for however long, thus you’ve been essentially laying down. All of a sudden, you ask your body to stand up! This problem can be compounded by the fact that your upper body is doing most of the work on the swim and so most of your blood is hanging out there to supply your muscles. Further, if you’re wearing a wetsuit, there is a bit of compression being applied to your lower extremities which keeps your blood even more focused in your upper body. So, when you then stand up to run out of the water, all that blood suddenly drops, and sometimes you do along with it!
As I stood, I was ready for the dizziness and I was not disappointed. Upon exiting the water, there was about a 20 yard (if I remember correctly) run to the wetsuit strippers. This is not some weird, wetsuit fetish exotic dancing area but rather, a group of race volunteers whose job it is to get you out of your wetsuit as fast as possible. All you have to do as a racer is flop on your back on the ground and they will grab your wetsuit and peel it off of you in a flash. The problem with this is the dizziness thing. You’ve just come out of the water, gotten dizzy and then after a few seconds, you throw your body back to being flat again for a few seconds (legs in the air, mind you) and then pop up AGAIN. This makes for a rather world-spinning few minutes.
I made my way into the transition area and found my belongings in fairly short order. By this time, it had been raining for about thirty minutes and everything was wet. I removed my socks from their dry sanctuary inside my cycling shoe, inside that grocery bag I spoke about. Now let me paint you a picture of what I was doing. I was trying not balance on one foot at a time, while my head was spinning, putting dry socks onto wet feet (try putting on sock directly out of the shower some time), while desperately trying not to step into the mud and puddles that now surrounded me. All this time, my head refused to stop spinning. Good times. I eventually got my crap together, even having to literally DUMP water out of my helmet, and was on my way out of transition. Slow.
Transition 1 time: 4:14 (Dear LORD, that’s awful)
To be completely honest, a lot of the bike portion of the race is a blur. It rained the entire time, often very hard. For the beginning six or so miles on the bike, I let my legs warm up well, pushing, but not pushing to the point of exhaustion. At about mile seven or so, the climbing began.
Leading up to this race, I had checked elevation charts and was not prepared for what I encountered. The first, largest and longest of the hills that we encountered was awful. First, we were climbing this hill in the rain, which gave you the appearance in spots of riding upstream in a river with an asphalt bottom. Second, this hill went to gradients of 16% for large sections at a time. To give you an idea of what a 16% grade is, the famous Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France has an average gradient of “only” 8.9%. Many people were forced to walk this hill and I must admit that I glanced at them with envy, but I stayed on my steed.
Several of the descents on the course were long and sweeping and gave you time to rest your legs. Other descents were so dangerous even without the rain that the officials had told us the day before that they would be strictly enforcing a 35 mph speed limit.
Apart from the 16% S.O.B. hill, there were a couple other climbs in excess of 10% as well as some deceptively “flat” sections that seemed to sap energy from the legs. The road conditions were only OK. You were forced to stay constantly aware of the pavement in front of you due to the fact that for 99% of the course there was a large crack (hastily patched but still pitted) meandering across both sides of the road.
Somewhere around halfway through the bike, my Garmin 305 went haywire. I went to take a peek at my heart rate and the screen was flashing from display to display, and not making any sense. I tried to turn it off and couldn’t. So I took it off and put it in my jersey. Now, for the rest of the race, I would have no idea where my pace of my heart rate were. I would be running purely on feel and perceived effort.
The toughest part of this bike course was grinding through it the first time and knowing you had to come back and hit it again. 16%’er and all. My nutrition, which if you know me, you know I have struggled in the past with this, was perfect. I had three hours worth of my “blend” from Infinit Nutrition in my Speedfil and rotated water bottles from aid stations in my one bottle cage. I finished my Infinit blend with about six miles to go on the bike, so, just to be safe, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade Endurance Formula and dropped a bottle of water into my Speedfil. I also grabbed a banana at some point during the bike (can’t remember when) just because I knew it wouldn’t affect me adversely and it just looked good.
I didn’t do exactly what I wanted to do on the bike, in terms of speed, but I was consistent and I think that is just as important. I also learned a lot of what I need to do moving forward.
Bike time: 2:57:16
Bike pace: 19 mph
Age Group Place: 44th
Overall Place: 217th
By the time I hit T2, my feet had been soaked for over three and a half hours, but were holding up fine (I actually have a lot to say about my Sole insoles on the bike that I’ll write about later). However, I though it would behoove me to put on dry socks. This was frickin’ stupid. It was still raining and I was still surrounded by mud and puddles. I have no idea why I thought that changing my socks would make a single bit of difference, bu I did anyway, and again, I had a terribly slow transition.
I grabbed all my gear, which wasn’t that much after I got my shoes and dry (dumb, dumb, dumb) socks on. This included my new Fuel Belt H2O, which was holding two bottles of my Infinit blend, each with an hours worth of nutrition. As I ran out of transition, my shoes were wet and muddy within thirty seconds.
Transition 2 time: 3:26 (Oy to the vey)
I was really looking forward to this run. I have been running really well off the bike and I planned to make no exceptions on this run. The course itself was quite beautiful, albeit seen under cloudy skies that were still ridding themselves of any moisture they held, much to our detriment. It was fairly flat to rolling. The biggest obstacle(s) came in the form of a nasty little hill that was about 1/3 of a mile long at about mile 2 or so and again at about mile 8.5.
Because my nutrition and hydration had been so good on the bike, I had to pee almost as soon as I began to run. I waited until the first aid station at mile one and stopped to answer nature’s call. I actually ended up having to pee twice, and it bears mentioning that it went well (it bears mentioning due to my previous experiences during races when I’ve stopped to pee).
The course was two loops of an out and back that had as it’s outside turn around point, about a half mile of dirt (read: mud) road that ended in a cul-de-sac. On this stretch of “road” there were some incredibly nice and supportive volunteers and even a barbershop quartet in one of the driveways serenading the runners as we went by.
I felt great on this run. I did struggle a bit with not being able to tell my pace of heart rate. Because of this, I laid off a little on the third quarter of the run, before picking it back up a bit on the home stretch. I didn’t want to wind up completely gassed for the run in. I passed a lot of people wh had passed me on the bike and that was quite good for my morale. The rain never really let up, but I felt solid nonetheless. I truly think I would have been able to do more on the run had I known where I was in terms of pace.
Run time: 1:35:08 (1/2 marathon PR by 12 seconds)
Run pace: 7:15 per mile
Age Group Place: 22nd
Overall Place: 104th
(more detailed splits to come once they are available)
Overall Time: 5:07:21
Age Group Place: 34th
Overall Place: 132nd
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Nytro Complete Triathlon Package
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For a second year in a row, Newton Running shoes were rewarded for their outstanding products in the prestigious 220 Triathlon awards held on 13th February at Sandown Park.
Following their 2009 win for ‘Innovative Product of the Year’ the popular ‘Newton Gravity’ training shoe was awarded the 2010 ‘Run Shoe of the Year’ award, beating Asics Noosa and Saucony Fastwitch 3 to the title.
Mike Trees, managing director of Triathlon Consultants (Newton Running’s UK distributor) accepted the award and said “It is a great honour to receive this award on behalf of Newton Running, who have put so much research and development into producing what is now recognised at possibly the greatest running shoe in the world for forefoot and mid foot runners. We at TCL have the relatively easy job of selling the Newton Running shoes the eagerly awaiting public.”
The attached image shows Mike Trees standing with his long time hero in sport Dave Scott, 6 times winner of the Hawaii Ironman and arguably the greatest triathlete to date presenting Newton’s award for Run Shoe of the Year.
Date: 2/26/09
Consecutive Days Run: 57
Runner: Brandon Wood
Shoes: La Sportiva Wildcat GTX
Location: New York, NY
Type of Run: Quickie
Time of Day: 7:10 PM EST
Distance Run: 1.73 miles
Time Run: 00:14:15
Average Pace: 8:15 per mile
Weather Conditions: Snow and Ice, Cold (32 degrees Fahrenheit)
Disposition: Good
Link to Run Detail: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25601025
About the Run: Today’s sn-urricane left us with a bunch of snow on the highways and byways of New York City. Since I didn’t have an assigned run (swim day) this gave me the perfect opportunity to get out and play in the snow on a short run. I wore my La Sportiva Wildcat GTX’s because I knew that I’d be contending with quite a bit of ice on the road and the actuator lugs on my Newton AW‘s tend to act like little skis on ice!
So, off I went into the elements for my run. A lot of the primary sidewalk was clear, but when I got in Inwood Hill Park, the paths had been plowed but a layer of ice lay covering the ground. As I was cam to a certain point where the path takes a VERY slight down grade, my feet went out and I found myself rolling, military style across the ground, though probably not as gracefully as I picture it in my head! I didn’t hurt anything and more importantly, I didn’t further destroy my clothes supply! I continued on, even getting to run a good stretch of my run on an awesome packed snow path.
All in all a great run. That hill that I want to conquer remains unconquered due to the fact that it was quite treacherous with snow and ice. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s run brings!
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La Sportiva N.A., makers of technical climbing, mountaineering, Mountain Running® and hiking footwear, announces its Mountain Running® team roster and associate sponsors for 2010.
“Supporting the La Sportiva Mountain Running® team is one of many ways in which we aim to improve the vitality of the sport,” says Laura Fryer, La Sportiva’s Marketing Manager. “Ever since our Mountain Running® team’s inception in 2003, our goal has been to provide a network of support to regional race directors, volunteers, talented athletes and quality races throughout North America. We are very grateful for the assistance that our associate sponsors will be providing in 2010, as this mission would be impossible without their help.” La Sportiva’s running team roster includes over 25 athletes from around North America and includes such ultrarunning notables as Karl Meltzer, Luke Nelson, Leor Pantilat as well as the 2009 La Sportiva Mountain Cup Champions Matthew Byrne and Megan Kimmel. New additions to the La Sportiva team for 2010 include Andy Jones-Wilkins of Ketchum, Idaho, Nathan Yanko of San Francisco, CA, Ellen Parker of Seattle, WA, and Natalie Simms of Chattanooga, TN.
Associate sponsors for the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Running® team are Greenlayer Sports and First Endurance with support from Ultimate Direction and Petzl. Additional sponsors include Julbo, Headsweats and DeFeet.
Melissa O’Kelley, Greenlayer Sports Marketing Director, states “Sponsoring the La Sportiva Mountain Running® team is a perfect fit for us, not only because of the high caliber of athletes on their team, but also because of pro-environmental philosophies that exist between our brands and the loyal following of active enthusiasts we both share. We hope that our inaugural partnership with La Sportiva will raise awareness about the environment and help shape a better world where we all live and run, locally and globally.” Greenlayer will serve as the official apparel sponsor of the La Sportiva team.
“At Ultimate Direction, we sponsor only the most passionate running teams and dedicated athletes. La Sportiva’s team roster for 2010 includes some of the best endurance athletes in the world,” states Sue Edmiston, Ultimate Direction’s Marketing Manager. “Water is an essential element for peak training, racing and performance. With our innovative array of hydration products we plan to keep Team Sportiva running fast in 2010.”
Go to http://mountainrunning.com for a complete list of the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Running® team roster, associate sponsors and calendar of racing events.
SOLE, the manufacturer of premium footbeds, socks and sandals, announces its partnership with ReCORK America™, a US-based wine cork recycling program sponsored by Amorim of Portugal, the world’s largest producer of natural cork. SOLE will use a blend of recycled cork wine bottle closures in its line of 2010 footwear products.
“We have been working with ReCORK for over eight months,” states Mike Baker, president of SOLE. “They provided us with thousands of used corks and we did the R&D necessary to successfully develop a cork blend that enhances the material properties of our products. This is the kind of sustainable effort that benefits everyone.”
ReCORK and SOLE have an agreement to find sustainably optimized ways to reuse and recycle as many corks as can be collected. Roger Archey, a spokesman for Amorim’s ReCORK, says the timing is perfect. “We have collected nearly four million corks since the program started in 2007 – that’s without promotion or fanfare. The SOLE partnership will give us the opportunity to dramatically expand our collection efforts and better serve our current and future collection partners.”
ReCORK’s recycling partners include many familiar names in the wine, hospitality and retail markets, including: American Airlines/Sodexo, The Wine Tasting Network, Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Rodney Strong Wine Estates, Cakebread Cellars, Whole Foods Markets in Northern California, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, Rutherford Wine Co. and PlumpJack.
About ReCORK and Amorim
ReCORK America is a natural cork recycling program sponsored by Amorim of Portugal and its US affiliates, Portocork America and Amorim Cork America. For additional information, visit www.recorkamerica.com or www.savemiguel.com.
Tracing its root to the 19th century, Amorim has become the largest cork and cork-derived company in the world, generating over Euro 450 million in sales throughout more than 100 countries. Amorim and its subsidiaries are an integral part of a conservation effort to guarantee the survival of hundreds of thousands of cork oak trees throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Amorim is proud of its contributions to the correct utilization of these important forests that represent a key role in CO2 retention, preserving biodiversity and preventing desertification. Information about Amorim of Portugal can be found at www.amorim.com/en and www.corkfacts.com.
Barefoot running was clearly one of the most talked about trends in the running industry last year. From the bestselling book Born To Run, to the explosive growth of the Vibram Five Fingers, runners everywhere seem to be talking about barefoot running.
Well, the buzz about barefoot running is about to hit a fever pitch. As we’ve talked about in previous posts, Harvard anthropologist Dan Lieberman has been studying the evolution of human running for several years. Dr. Lieberman has just published the results of his study in the journal Nature and the mainstream media is running (cough) with the story. For those of you who listen to NPR on the drive home, you might have heard this story on “All Things Considered” today. The story is also available on NPR.org and features a pretty interesting video:
Not surprisingly, Vibram Five Fingers are also getting a lot of attention from the media (Vibram sponsored Lieberman’s study). The Five Fingers clearly help people to try barefoot running, while providing some protection from rocks, glass, etc. As we talked about in the previous post, Newton’s are built for Natural Running but some of you may be wondering how Newtons compare to Vibrams. Amanda Brooks asked just that on her blog, Run to the Finish, and Newton Running’s Director of Education and Research, Ian Adamson, had this response:
Running Newton Shoes and Vibram Five Fingers have many similarities, at least from a form perspective. The primary difference is the cushioning and energy return provided by Newtons, which is largely absent in Vibrams.
Both Newton Performance Racers and Vibrams have a 2 mm heel lift, or toe drop depending on how you look at it. This translates into a 1.3% down grade in the shoe, also referred to as ramp angle or drop. Newton Performance Trainers have a 2% gradient, which although very small, can be felt by aware runners. Regular running shoes have a much steeper angle, up to 15% depending on the shoe.
Barefoot running forces you to run efficiently and preventatively with respect to injury. Vibram’s allow people to experience barefoot running with an added layer of protection from harsh surfaces, while Newton’s go one step further, adding forefoot cushioning and a significant energy return component.
Newton shoes are much kinder to the body’s structure and musculature when transitioning from a traditional running shoe to barefoot, and allow you to perfect a natural (barefoot) form while providing protection and cushioning. Newton’s active membrane technology has been carefully designed to facilitate afferent feedback, which means the nerves in your forefoot feel the ground very quickly through the shoe. This is achieved through the outer lugs and internal semi-rigid chamber that is connected to the bio-mechanical top plate adjacent to your foot inside the shoe.
Traditional shoe cushioning mechanisms dampens afferent feedback, hampering proprioception and thus hindering your ability to self-regulate the impact of your foot strike. Studies show that runners strike much harder in shoes that dampen afferent feedback, one of the causes of injury. Barefoot runners and runners in shoes that allow you to sense the ground encourage you to run protectively, as if barefoot.
Bottom line is that both Vibrams and Newtons encourage a barefoot or natural running style, but Newtons make it much easier for runners to transition from typical running shoes.
Racers Against Childhood Cancer
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Date: 1/17/09
Consecutive Days Run: 17
Runner: Brandon Wood
Shoes: La Sportiva Wildcat GTX
Location: New York, NY
Type of Run: Steady, Zone 2 run with 3 min increases
Time of Day: 7:32 PM EST
Distance Run: 8.0 miles
Time Run: 01:05:56
Average Pace: 8:14 per mile
Weather Conditions: Cold (37 degrees Fahrenheit), light rain
Disposition: Good
Link to Run Detail: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22626895
About the Run: Right off the bat, I’d like to talk about my shoes. It was raining today, all day, and there was more than a little water pooled all over the ground. I know from past experience that, while my Newton AW’s are water resistant, they are far from water PROOF which is what today’s weather called for. So, I ran in a pair of shoes from the folks at La Sportiva. The model I was running in was the Wildcat GTX, which is technically a mountain running shoe. It has a Gore-tex upper that kept dry all the way through my hour long run, even when I ran through several puddles by accident (and I do mean THROUGH these puddles). They sole is far stiffer than the sole of my Newtons, especially behind the meta-tarsals and have a much larger heel to toe drop (12 mm). I noticed that my footfall was extremely flat in these shoes, which would account fr the difference in drop from my Newtons. Overall, weighing in 3.5 ounces heavier than my Newton AW’s, they felt very fast and agile. I look forward to trying these out a few times on some gnarly trail runs.
My assigned run was: Nice steady zone 2 pace with some hard surges for 3 minutes every 20 minutes. I headed out with a distinct wind at my back. his is great on the way out, but the thought of it being in my face on the way back is always present. Another thing about the wind being at my back is, I was wearing my headlamp and my breath, rather than being blow away from me, moved right along with me, illuminated by the intense LED. Still, better than the alternative of running into things!
The way back was just as harrowing as I thought it would be. The precipitation had changed from a ‘heavy mist’ into a ‘light sprinkle” and the wind blowing this stinging stuff into my face was not helping any. Regardless, I felt quick and focused on my technique and a quick turnover. Overall, a great run that felt like it could have kept going on and on!
Black Diamond Sprinter Headlamp
Racers Against Childhood Cancer (RACC)
Carved by God, Cursed by the Devil by Ted Archer
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Thanks so much for visiting my site! My name is Brandon Wood and I am an opera singer living and trying to make it in New York City. This site and podcast follow my adventures on the way to competing in and training for all kinds of endurance events, especially triathlon and running. Click the "About Me" tab for more info!
Who: This contest is open to anyone and everyone in the U.S. and Canada (also APO)! Tell your friends!
What: Stuffitts! I have spoken about these simple yet awesome shoe savers in the past. Click here to read more about them. I cannot say enough how great they are!
When: Starting NOW! This is an ongoing contest that will be every month, or until every person on the planet has nice, fresh smelling shoes!
Why: Because Stuffitts are awesome! The folks at Stuffitts are being SUPER generous and I also want to give you guys something that I think is a great addition to any athletes arsenal!
How: On the last podcast episode post of each month (example: Episode 99 on June 28 HERE) entrants should leave a comment (however long you'd like). On the following week's show (the first show of each month) I will draw, by random number generator, one winner! That's it!
Good luck!
