Shopping for Shoes

So, I've been a bit of an absentee blogger lately.  Partly because I've been a bit injured lately and my running hasn't gone much above 10 miles per week for the last few months, which is sad.  But sort of improving, so that's good.  Part of managing the injury was retiring the shoes I ran the marathon in last fall after I realized that somewhere along the way, I lost a huge chunk of rubber from the heel...  Maybe little by little... Maybe that contributed to the injury in the first place.  Either way, it's shoe shopping time.

Last year I mostly rotated between a pair of New Balance 760s (those are the ones with the missing heel rubber) and Asics Gel Cumulus's.

Now, the New Balance shoes were my favorites, but now that they have to be replaced, I can't figure out which shoe to buy.  There are no more 760's in a 6.5 to be found, so I have to upgrade to the new versions, which are all 800s and above.  Apparently the 860's correspond to 760's, but have slightly firmer rubber in the middle, and the 870's are supposed to have less stability than the 860's.  But honestly, I just want exactly the same shoe again.  And it's a paradox because I don't figure out if a shoe is perfect until I've been running on it for a few months, and by that time, it's out of production.  There's even an ehow article that states that the object of the historical New Balance numbering scheme is to never repeat the same number twice.  For what purpose, I ask you!?!  Years ago, I had a wonderful 803 New Balance trail shoe which was perfect for trails and rain, and which I've never found a replacement for.  This thread from about 6 months ago says they're going to stick with the same numbers from now on, but that really won't do me any good until I find the next perfect shoe.

Even when shoe companies do stick to the same naming scheme they still change the shoes.  My current Asics Gel Cumulus 12's replaced some Gel Cumulus 11's, and I liked the 11's better.  The heel was a little lower or wider or something.

Speaking of shoe shopping, how about Amazon as a shoe marketplace?  New Balance 870's are $80 on Amazon, vs. $100 on the New Balance website.  The cons of Amazon: there are fewer colors to choose from, and the Amazon ones may or may not be an older version of 870s (now that we're doing v2's instead of a random new number).  Also, the shoe somehow looks less stylish on Amazon.  I'm not sure why - maybe the oblique angle or all the white space.  But overall, I think a 20% discount (plus free shipping if you're on prime) is enough for me to overlook these deficiencies.

I'm reminded of that Forrest Gump quote: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get".  Trying to replace a shoe is like that sometimes.

Gridiron Classic 4M Race Recap

yum, a super bowl of chili!

I ran the Gridiron Classic 4 mile race yesterday.  Halfway through we got to choose left or right to vote for the Giants vs. the Patriots.  I'm not a huge football fan, but UT-Knoxville was my alma mater for undergrad.  Therefore I am a fan of Peyton Manning, and therefore Eli Manning, and therefore the Giants.   I've also lived in New York for a number of years now, as I'd guess have most of the others who were in the race yesterday.  So it was no surprise who won the vote.  Personally, I think it would be awesome next year if instead of a race number and t-shirt we all got jerseys with our race numbers on them.

My knee was a little iffy in the morning, but I clocked the fastest race pace that I've managed in over a year, 8:35 minutes/mile.  My knee didn't feel great, but it didn't hurt terribly, and I'll be taking it easy this week.  One thing I've definitely learned to do over the last year when I trained for the marathon is continue on through fatigue.  There's a moment, even in a shorter race, yesterday for me it was just before the mile 3 marker, where I'm tired and it doesn't necessarily feel good to keep running, but I tell myself "this is nothing, you can keep going for another hour".  And I picture mile 16 or so from the marathon in my head.  So I keep going and eventually the moment passes and then my mind's on something else.  It's not that I'm in better condition, I haven't actually ran more than 9 miles since last November.  It's just that fatigue is a tiny bit easier to ignore.  I use my marathon mindset in yoga too when I'm trying to hold a challenging pose.

After the race, I enjoyed a day filled with nachos, chili and football.  It was a veg chili made with sweet potatoes, zucchini, and bulgur in addition to all of the usual chili stuff, and seasoned with beer.

The Ice Bath

I used to think that only insane people would do this, but I've been converted, so I'm now one of the insane people egging you on to try it.  Because it's amazing.  Really amazing.  I literally feel blood pumping into my legs afterwards.  And all the cool kids are doing it.

Here's how I do it:

Ingredients:
bathtub
sweatshirt or jacket
warm hat
hot drink, like tea
reading material

Directions:
Get suited up so that whatever's out of the water will stay warm(er).  The water should cover your legs, so if you're wearing a sweatshirt roll it up above your belly button.  Keep the hot drink and reading material within handy reach and sit down in the tub.  Turn the water on cold with a high pressure so it fills up as quickly as possible.  The first 3 minutes are the worst.  Use the tea and reading materials to distract yourself.  Or shout curse words.  Whatever keeps you in the water.  Then you'll get used to the temperature, and it's not so bad.  Chill out :) for 10 minutes.  That's it!  If water from the tap isn't cold enough, you can add ice too.

According to my MT, it's not good to stay longer than 10 minutes.  At first your body will rush blood to the cold appendages, but after a while it gives up on them and sends blood back to the core.  Blood helps joints and muscles recover.  If you're just back from a run outside where it was cold, shower off first to warm up. It's all about getting the blood circulating.  I like to shower off after too to warm up, but I'm not sure if it's better to do that or to warm up slowly.  In Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning, there is a section about hot/cold contrast therapy, so I think it makes sense.

Disclaimer: I am not a health professional in any way, so don't substitute this advice for that of your doctor.  But I personally found ice baths as described above really helpful in recovery.

Pool Etiquette Angst

I recently joined a local gym.  One if its key perks is a large swimming pool, which was one of the main reasons we joined.  I was a little bit nervous about going for the first time.  I know how to swim, freestyle and a few other strokes, but I haven't swam that much in a long time.  I've never really swam for fitness.

And it seems like there is a lot of pent up anger on the web about people who don't follow the right procedure, especially with lane sharing stuff.  So I felt really hesitant to go for my first swim.  I delayed by needing to first buy a new swim suit (this one :)), and then I was too tired in the evening, etc.

But my daughter *loves* to swim.  And as soon as we had the gym membership she was asking to go a lot.  I think she would go every day if we could.  So I couldn't make too many excuses, and yesterday was my first trip to the gym pool.  (My daughter already dragged my husband there before me).

And it was really crowded.  At one point there were 6 people in our lane so I got over my anxiety about sharing a lane really fast.  We stuck to the slow lane, but a lot of people wanted to be in that one too -- there were a couple people who were only just learning how to swim and there were also a few older folks (who really weren't that slow).  I think one lady was annoyed with us because 10-year-olds like to mess around a bit, and she was trying to swim laps, but after all, it was designated a "family" lane (and we were there before her, so...)

I love my daughter's confidence.  She didn't care if she was being slow.  She was trying out the kickboards and practicing her butterfly kick.  I guess that's how you have to be in a crowded pool.  Do your own thing and let other people go around if you're in their way.