How Often to Replace Running Shoes?

We've all read various things about when to replace running shoes.  Some rules of thumb go by the quality of the tread or if there's cracking in the soles.  Another rule of thumb has it that if there are starting to be weird pains in your body where there was never pain before, it's worth considering replacement of the shoes. Most rules of thumb go by miles on the shoes, and usually it's around 500 miles.

Ultimately I had to break up with my friends at Brooks Running because they made this fantastic line of shoes and all the shoes in the line only last 250-300 miles.  (See the last line of the description in the image below.)  You'd think with only 60% of the miles they'd be 60% the price of other running shoes but no.  They're still $100.  Sigh. 

I broke up with Brooks in favor of ASICS whose shoes last a normal amount of miles and bought the ugly black shoes.  They were a bear to break in.  Part of the process involved entirely re-lacing the things so they weren't too tight or pulling in weird places on my arch.  Whatever, these were 50% off the regular price.  (I think I got a lower price because they're so ugly.)

The other conundrum in shoe replacement has to do with marathon race day shoes.  The idea is to have a relatively fresh pair of shoes on race day, but the shoes have to be broken in already.  It's a whole timing issue.  I've had the ugly black shoes long enough they might be over their mileage by race day, or right on the edge.  I needed a second pair of shoes now so I have time to break them in and get to know them before we spend an entire Sunday on a date together.

I headed back to Amazon and looked for another pair of the Lyte-33s, and even hoped to see the updated Lyte-33 2.0.  I did see the newer shoe but the price was still pretty high.  The model that's the same as the ugly black shoes was marked at a deep discount but only for some of the colors.  I didn't think anything could be uglier than the all black.  Wrong!  Honest to goodness, I paid $33 for these shoes and when I clicked "buy" I wasn't sure if it was the right choice because the picture was just so ugly. 

The shoes came in the mail today and I am thrilled to report that they look so much better in real life.  ASICS needs a better photographer, or colorist or photo editor or something.  It's not even the same shade of blue.  I can't explain it. 

Marathon Training: The 20-miler

I did a 20-miler today and all I have to say is: That was ugly. It was so bad I don't really want to write about it, except I know later I'll want a blog post to remember just how god awful it was.

My stomach wouldn't stop: first mistake was trying to eat a Cliff Bar.  I thought my stomach would tolerate them but not today.  Just no.  I finally entered negotiations around mile 9.  This wasn't my normal brand of intestinal distress.   I about puked these things right up.  It would've felt so good too.  I couldn't even drink water for a long time.  I tried around mile 16 or 17 and that was awful.  Finally after mile 17 I had a gel and that seemed to calm my stomach down.  Last thing I'd ever expect to calm my stomach down, but whatever works.

My brain wouldn't work: Or maybe my brain was working too hard.  I got a little freaked out by a slow pace the first couple of miles and that utterly destroyed me.  Then I stopped for a second (part of negotiations) and ended the run instead of pausing it, which is why the route comes in two maps today instead of one.  Convenient so I can leave out the pacing data which is ugly.  It just wasn't a good run.  I'm glad I have a 14 miler and then an easy week before I try another one of these.

Pacing was an absolute disaster: Why the hell am I suddenly running so slow?  I have no explanation.  Ultimately I couldn't pull it back either.  I wound up going with a good interval system for me.  I tried 5:1 early in the run, did that for a mile or two, came back on pace through about mile 11, and then started using a 4:1 interval which is unbelievably much slower than the 5:1, or perhaps I was that bad by then.  Honest to god I gave up after mile 13 but I was so far from home I had to keep going anyways.  I did run the last mile without stopping which felt like a small victory.

Stretching after the run was hilarious and by that I mean 'the grass was all wet from dew'.  I had delusions of not taking an ice bath.  No idea why I thought that would be okay.  I nearly cried when I got in the ice tub.  So cold.  These are not unicorn tears.  Sigh.

Positives from the run include:

• The run is done, only 2 more 20-milers to go
• I learned that the interval system really does calm down my pacing, and sometimes help it a bit
• I kept moving, even after I gave up

Seven Miles with music assistance

Today, getting out the door for a run was the hardest thing ever.  It took me until 4pm to finally get myself off the couch, get geared up and head out.  The plan was to do seven miles.  I'd considered various iterations of ways to make it bearable including only running 4 miles or heading to the gym for an elliptical and track workout.

Ultimately I adopted a 'wait and see' attitude, between doing 4 or 7 and headed out.  The first two miles are the same for either route so I'd have some time to see how I felt.  As always, once I got moving I felt much better and wanted to keep moving.  I opted for 7 miles and went over to Lake Nokomis where I hadn't been in some time.  Everyone else was there today, especially at the main beach, so they must not have missed me too terribly much. 

The only compromise I really let myself stick to was listening to music on this run.  I haven't listened to music on an outdoor run in quite some time.  Even some of my indoor runs have been sans soundtrack.  Never thought I'd see that day.  But today, I definitely needed the music assist.  I needed to look forward to something entertaining for some of the parts of the route I'm not super excited for anymore.  Because it was a busy day at the lake and I'd be on pedestrian trails (there's actual cyclist on the bike path today) I also needed something to distract me from all the walkers. I'd recently added a couple new songs to the workout list but otherwise was perfectly content to listen to Pitbull and Shakira for an hour.

Pace wise I'd also adopted a 'wait and see' type attitude and didn't have any expectations. I kept the run surprisingly right around goal marathon pace, including stop lights, bathroom pause and a walking phone conversation.  And stopping to snap this photo.  Most of the pace was a 'try not to puke, but keep running because it will calm down your stomach' pace.  I'd made an interesting choice for lunch.  By interesting I mean "what the hell was I thinking?!?"  Happily, I did not poop my pants and was up for a 'finisher' at the end of the run.

My 'finisher' for the day had two goals.  Goal one was work the abs.  Goal two was make peace with my legs after all the squats I'd made them do on Friday at Body Pump.  Since one of the best ways to prevent DOMS is to work the muscles more, I decided to more squats.  The finisher was a one legged plank/mountain climber, then squats.  Start at 10 of left leg plank/mountain climber, 10 right leg plank/mountain climber, 10 squats, all the way down to 1 of each.  For more information, this is a One legged plank and this is a mountain climber.  I do them slowly, more for practice holding my core together with the bonus of getting the hip flexors as well.  Honest moment - I don't think this finisher was hard enough.  Maybe I'll stretch and extra long time tonight to make up for it.

Surprisingly Fun 6 Miler - My body is good at running but my brain is not

I had been sort of dreading my little six-miler today.  True story.  The 20-miler next week strikes fear in the heart, but that's a whole other story.

I was feeling really tired today because of all the playing I did yesterdy.  I ran 2 miles on the track and 3 miles with a friend and then she took me to Body Pump to see if I liked that.  I had lunch with said friend and another girl from Zumba.  After that I met the Qat Lady for an afternoon walk and a stop at Grand Old Creamery.

So yeah, today I was toast and not looking forward to the run.  I'd decided that I'd bike up to the gym, and chose there if I was going to run inside on the track or outside on the Greenway.  Turns out we are having the most perfect weather in the world and I couldn't bear to be inside.  I probably would've be alone on the track anyways.  Then I mentally decided I could do any distance I wanted on the Greenway, and finish on the elliptical if I felt like it.  My body is good at running but my brain is not.

This was one of those runs that just got better and better and better the entire time.  I did make it out the full three miles, which is about to Hennepin Ave, and I caught a glimpse of the Uptown Art Fair as I hit the turn around point.  I took a couple pictures while I was running, and then some at the end of the run.  The turn around point was in a weird spot so when I finished I actually had to walk a couple blocks back to the gym.  Best time ever to take pictures.  Total for the run was 6 miles, the 'long run' of my step back week.

After the run I headed into the gym for a long foam roller session.  I'm really proficient at stretching my legs with the foam roller, and my lower back as well.  Yes, really.  I haven't figured out how to stretch out my arms, shoulders or chest with the foam roller so well.  My upper body was really sore from the workout yesterday and wanted some love.  I did my best.  Hilariously, my legs were mostly fine.

Thus a great debate ensued - Blurred Lines

We were having a conversation at the gym today.  Is the following song appropriate to play at the gym in a group workout class?
Blurred Lines - Lyrics.
Blurred Lines - Clean Video.  This is the version that was up for debate.
Blurred Lines - Unedited Video.  There's no debate about this one, between the b-word and the @ss of it all, this won't be playing at the gym. 

Would you be cool with this song playing during a workout?  If you're not the kind of person who goes to the gym I may not know you. 

Pictures from the Weekend

This weekend I had an interesting time.

Friday I ran a little and slept a lot.  It was awesome.  In the evening I went out with Nathan to revisit our neighborhood restaurant, Smoke in the Pit.  I was in the mood for a ton of meat and the evening did not disappoint.

Saturday I had a little run and a little Zumba.  Then it was massively raining when I tried to go to the Farmer's Market and I was totally thrilled I'd made the decision to bike instead of drive.  Sigh.

Sunday was a fun day.  I woke up, biked over to the farmer's market for real and got all kinds of stuff. In the afternoon I had a date with Nathan at the Minnesota Zoo.  It was my first time to the zoo.  It was both bigger and smaller than I'd expected.  I thought they did a nice job of using the space well, and not trying to do more with it than is really possible.  Sunday night Nathan and I took Nancy over to Lake Harriet for the final Minneapolis Pops concert of the season and an early birthday celebration.

Minneapolis: To Rain or Not To Rain.

It was a tale of two cities today.  Almost.  I'd headed over to Lake Nokomis for a 4-miler.  it was a gorgeous day, around 70*, slight breeze and gorgeous sky and clouds.  When I got out of the car I looked behind me and saw Armageddon coming my way.   I couldn't believe it.  See the weather picture below; top two panels are standing in the exact same spot near the lake, one looking west and one looking northeast.

Instead I headed over to the gym for a quick workout.  I didn't bring earphones since I'd planned to be running outside, so I had to make up a workout I could do on the track without earphones and still be okay.  I did an old workout, the 6-5-4 workout that I used to do when I was teaching Nancy to run.  It winds up being 3 miles.  I took a bit of time to do some planks, and then took a long time to stretch and foam roll. 

I headed back outside to go to the store and again, the day just couldn't make up it's mind.  Bottom two pictures are sitting at a stop light (the light was red, calm down) on Lake Street. Storms are looking east and clear skies are looking north. 

Long Run - 18 Miles of Lakes

I had an 18-miler on my calendar this week.  The 18-miler week is an interesting one, because next week is a step back week with no long runs and a chance for my body to recover.  Sounds great.  Right?  After that step back week comes a build up including three 20-mile runs.  It's sort of like "you're done with the easy stuff; after this you're in it for real".  Nonetheless; I was looking forward to the run and a route I hadn't done in a while.

Shoes: I had a bit of a wild hair about my shoes.  I pulled out the old Green Silence pair and took them for another spin.  I wore these last year a lot, including during the marathon.  I like my current shoes just fine, but the old shoes have a much wider toe box.  For some reason, that's just what my brain wanted me feet to have today so I obliged.

Fuel: I'm realizing I need to actually eat breakfast before any of the 20-mile runs.  Fueling was the only major fail for the day.  I ran five miles, then took two gels, one gel at miles 9 and 13 and one more around 15 because I was so hungry and miserable.  That seems like a lot of gels for the run.  I'm thinking the fueling during the run was fine and the pre-run fueling (a banana and chocolate chips) was the fail.  It's probably time to head to the store and get yogurt.

Pacing: I tried a different pacing goal today, instead of trying for sub-marathon pace, I tried for 'in the neighborhood' of the marathon pace.  My splits were all about 10 seconds/mile slower than goal pace, but I was right on track through mile 13.  Then the wheels sort of came off the wagon.  Mile 14 involved a potty stop and a 'calm down stomach' walk; Mile 15 involved stop lights and Gu; Mile 16 involved that hill; Mile 17 involved a stop light, construction zone, and trying to take a picture and failing; then by Mile 18 I just let myself run intervals. What I learned from this pacing adventure and fiasco is that when I was moving I was fine.  Once I started throwing in walks, it all just sort of blew up and I didn't have the mental strength to find that original pace again.

Pictures: I did finally get a couple of good ones, about a mile from home.

Post run stretch: I did that 'collapse on the ground after the run' thing and did some stretches while laying down.  It actually felt about 10 times better than I'd expected. I did the back twist and IT band stretch, stretched my quads, and then the laying ham string stretch while catching my breath.  I should do that more because I didn't really have spasms.  After  stretching I took an ice bath, screaming the whole way in.  I have 10 miles left to run this week, and then I claim a step back week where my goal mileage is 20 miles and the longest run is 6 miles.  I cannot wait.

Stretches for Runners - Part 2

I had a blog post not so long ago with a couple of my favorite videos of stretches designed for runners.  Check it out. Since then I've found some more videos I'll add for your consideration.


Mobility and flexibility exercises for the ankle joints.  My ankles have been making themselves known to me recently.  I find the last one particularly helpful.


Bedtime static stretching routine.  The first exercise is the best feeling ever in life, at least after a long run.  I usually skip the second exercise because I've already done it in one of Caroline's videos.  The final exercise is good for the hips but I really feel it in my back and it's a great stretch.


Yoga For Better Sleep.  The dude in the video is a little bit whatever, but I like the stretches in the video and usually feel like a pancake by the time they're all done.

Wordless: Lake Harriet and the Pops

On Sunday My Pooky Bear and I walked around Lake Harriet and then watched a Minneapolis Pops concert.  Her pictures are here.  The pops have one concert left this season.  I've only discovered their outdoor concerts this year.  I've really enjoyed the concerts, the chance to bike a bit more, and the chance to hang out with friends at the lake. And the truffle popcorn which is legit.

Seven Miles - What Does a Runner's High Feel Like?

That phrase "run like someone is chasing you" totally applied to my workout today.  "Run likes clowns are chasing you" and "Run like zombies are chasing you" are also acceptable, but today it was just some dude.

Warm Up: I tried a dynamic warm up that I'd read about over here.  I really liked it and I didn't think I would.  I read the warm up last night and forgot the 'knee to chest' and the 'figure 4' but I did everything else on her list.  My favorite is the 'trail leg' warm up.  It really loosened up the hips nicely.

Run! I had to do seven miles today because it was on my schedule and also I needed to burn enough calories to have Chipotle later on in the day.  I wanted to take it faster than my long runs but didn't have a specific goal in mind other than 'go a little hard'.  When I came on to Lake Nokomis there was a dude running on the bike path, sort of parallel to me running on the pedestrian path.  So, yes, I took it as something of a personal challenge to go faster than the dude.  It took a while to catch and then pass him and then in another half mile or so he'd peeled off the lake but I was flying by then.  I was shocked when my app came on and read some of the mile splits I was running.  I hadn't meant to go that fast because I didn't think it was possible.  But I was all "I'll keep going like this until I want to stop".  Nice to get a runner's high every once in a while.

Don't poop your pants! As is the motto at the end of so many of my runs, I was flying along until the last mile.  Then I slowed down because I had to poo.  So long Runner's High!  I did not poop my pants but my plans for a quick ab session and then a nice cool down and stretch where dashed.  Sigh.

Pictures  Since I kept up such a break neck pace, I did allow a couple of pictures.  The moon was setting over Lake Hiawatha as the sun was coming up and it was pretty amazing.  And then there's the egret fishing.  I think that egret lives at the lake because I see it fishing there all the time.

Wordless - Smile for the day

Stretching and Core Work for Runners

After a bit of excitement with my ankles, I made a few corrections and additions to running. Most notably, I stopped wearing shoes for my cross training workouts.  I'm opting for the Vibram Five Fingers instead.  I'm wearing them a lot now so I'm sure I'll have a follow up post soon.

Stretch! Step two was to be more intentional about stretching.  I tried a few different things.  I looked up some yoga videos online, and some other things.  The yoga videos just weren't quite right for what I wanted.  Then I started sifting through the eight billion 'stretches for runners' videos on You Tube.  There's really a lot of bad videos out there.  I prefer the videos where the leader does the stretching workout for me to follow, times the stretches for me, tells me when to move on.  I've found two videos that I really like.  The first video I've been doing almost every day for a couple weeks and it's really made a big difference in the way my body feels.  The second video I just found while looking for more variety but I find it helpful as well.



Core! Step three will be to add more core workouts.  I went back to Pilates the other day at the gym and found it a useful refresher.  I'm not sure I can make Pilates fit in my regular schedule so I started looking for some core workout videos.  I'm having a harder time finding runner specific videos of any quality.  The runner specific videos tend to teach the proper form but not do the workout with me.  Which means I have to write down the workout and look back for reference.

The runner specific workouts I found are Premier Coaching Runner's Core Routine.  It's a really great explanation of the exercises, but the whole workout is a bit longer than I was looking for.  It takes about 15 minutes to get through it all at the recommended times for holding planks.  I was looking for something shorter I can do at the end of a run.  The second one is The Standard Core Routine which looks interesting, and the right amount of time to take after a run.  I haven't tried it yet.

The rest of the videos I found were more general ab workouts but still quite helpful.  Tip: Google "8 Minute" and then look at all the video hits that come back.  There's some great workout stuff in there for pretty much every muscle system, or whole body or stretching.  This last video is just creepy.
 Eight Minute Abs.
Eight Minute Abs - Core Series
5 Minute Standing Ab Workout
Eight Minutes Abs - Level 2.  Animation should never be used like this again.

Lake Nokomis and Ft Snelling - an ugly ugly marathon training run

It all started yesterday when I lost my mind and thought I was going to do marathon training inside.  I ran a 6 mile track workout and then got on the treadmill for a 5K.  That was stupid.  By the time I got on the elliptical I was dead.  I decided to give up and try again the next day.  Lesson 1: the point of marathon training is to keep a constant heart rate.  A 6 mile interval track workout is a stupid way to do that.

The dilema got even bigger today when my choices were:

• Go to Zumba at 945a and squeeze the run in either before (so early) or after (not likely)
• Go to Pilates at 1pm, run must be done before hand and there must be time to cool down after. That timing sucks more than you'd think.
• Skip both classes and just go for a run.  I will never get out of bed to run if I don't have a class to aim for later.

Ultimately I picked Zumba and run before hand which lead to a 5am wake up call. No joke.

I knew my legs were shredded from the workout yesterday so I didn't have a specific goal for the workout.  Lesson 2: have a specific goal for the workout.  It minimizes blow ups.  I was all "I'll run, at least a mile or two, probably around Lake Nokomis, then probably keep running along the falls and down the hill, and then my usual up the hill,  then I'll probably start doing intervals but I don't know which interval ratio I'd like to use"  And so on.  I should have said "run this far at this pace, then switch to this interval".  It would have been easier to focus my mind that way.

Some of the pacing and what appears to blow ups were not actual problems.  I had a stop light around Lake Nokomis.  I stopped for two gus instead of one (may need to introduce that into the fueling program) then there was the hill, then there was an emergency bushes stop, then I had to stop twice to get a rock out of the same shoe (apparently I didn't do it right the first time), then somewhere after mile 10 I started doing intervals of 90 seconds walking and 30 seconds running.  That's actually a good interval even though I was super slow.

I was right that my legs were shredded, as was my brain and ability to concentrate.  Ultimately this run sort of chipped away at my confidence since exactly none of the mile splits were at my desired marathon pace.  It also in some ways encouraged my confidence because it helped me see I can keep running and I can move tired.  I also found an interval pace I liked for the end of the marathon, should I suffer any blow ups before then.
A couple more pics for the road.  One from my good side (the ground is apparently my good side today), and one of my collapsed on the ground after the run.

Linkfest - July Edition

• Hee hee - I could watch this for hours.  Yes, it's that easy to entertain me.
• Go run a marathon!  'Nuff said.
• New Yorkers React Badly to Citi Bike.  I couldn't quite follow the 'cheaters' logic of the article but I did find it interesting.  Twin Cities has it's own bike share program, Nice Ride and it's been quite successful.
• Politicians finally agree: Ethanol sucks.  Thank goodness.
• The next frontier in GLBT rights: Gay Blood Drive.  There's a whole issue I didn't even know existed until I read the article.
• For the locals, Seward Co-op is going to expand into the food desert of South Minneapolis.  Sadly, they are failing at race relations.  We shall see.
• Not gonna lie.   This looks like the best idea in the world.  All my shampoo bottles are green.  That won't be weird will it?

Nike+ App Can't Do Intervals: A Review Update

I've talked about the Nike+ Ipod App lots and lots on this blog, mostly because it's what I use for running inside.  Apparently I've mentioned it enough times that search engines are finally pointing to those blog posts when people search for "Nike+ App can't do intervals".  I'm saying.  The website doesn't even display interval data correctly for the workouts I do now.  

I'm sure there's a programming reason why my computer screen with it's excellent resolution and 13" of real estate can't find the pixels to make this line go up and down any more accurately.  How can I blame a computer person for this? Strangely, the Nike+ app on my phone is far superior when it comes to displaying interval workout data correctly.  Here's some side by side comparisons for a couple recent interval workouts.  Screen grabs from the Nike+ Site are on the left, screen grabs from the Nike+ iPhone app are on the right. Having been there, I assure you that the iPhone app is displaying the data much more accurately than the website.  The only way to get good data is to look at a four-inch screen.  Awesome.  I'm hoping the Nike+ app will eventually support some kinds of interval workouts.  I'm really hoping as the app gets better, someone remembers to improve the website as well. 

**Interval workouts are workouts that involve running, then walking for fixed periods of time; advanced runners will do hard running and then slow jogging for fixed periods of time.  An example of an interval workout is 30 seconds of hard running followed by 90 seconds of jogging, repeated 10 times.**