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On October 30th I will be participating in a fundraiser called “Barbells for Boobs” to raise money for Mammograms in Action at my CrossFit gym.

Mammograms In Action‘s mission is to provide funding for qualified women who need screening and/or diagnostic procedures in the prevention of breast cancer. By supporting MIA you help low-income and uninsured women.

The fundraiser event itself is named Amazing Grace because the main workout is known as “Grace.” The workout is 30 clean and jerks for time. I’ve embedded a youtube video of one of the best performances I’ve seen of Grace performed.

If you are interested in sponsoring me in the fundraiser, get in touch. I don’t know what the easiest method of collecting donations would be, but I’m sure we can work something out.

Counting down to Amazing Grace 2010

So a few months ago I wrote an update about how I wanted to run more. Or at least I think I did. Anyways, I’ve been running more. Around the same time I remembered how I had read on Tim Ferriss’ blog about Vibram five fingers and thought what better time to try a new style of running shoe then when I was going to start running. So a few weekends ago, Stacy and I went over to Zombie Runner to try some on. Before I get into the review of these new model of five fingers, let me just say it’s definitely a good idea to get yourself sized before you purchase a pair of Vibrams. The fit is very important, and one foot is likely bigger than the other, so it’s important to make sure you get the proper size to ensure the best experience.

So at the store I tried on a whole bunch of different models of five fingers. I started with the classics, then moved on to Bikilas and KSOs. The staff was very helpful, and I was close to narrowing down my decision when the guy next to me almost exploded with excitement that a new model was available. He had talked to me about the different pairs he had, and the faults some of them had, and then showed me the Trek Sport model. He pointed out the toe reinforcement (more on that later) and the treads on the bottom. They looked like the perfect model for me, who planned to do mostly running, as opposed to walking, and some off-road/trail as well as road running.

Overview
The Trek Sports are not bulky, but are somewhat more rigid than a classic five finger. They are definitely much more sturdy than a classic model as well, but like I said, they accomplish this without adding “bulk.” Here is a picture of them from the top down:

One of the really nice design decisions that Vibram made on these was to make the top material mesh aka breathable. This is an improvement over the Bikila model which has a solid material across the top of the foot. Another design improvement over the Bikila is the strap, which is a wrap around model that not only goes across the top of the foot but also behind the heel forming a really snug fit between the foot and the shoe.

The Toes

When I was talking to the guy next to me in Zombie Runner one of the flaws he was quick to point out to me with Vibrams was the wear in the area on top of the toe. The classics he was currently wearing showed a hole forming on his big toe, and he told me they were 6 months old with some moderate running. Given that he had multiple pairs of Vibrams, I took that as a warning. He did show me that they realized this problem and improved on it with the Bikila design adding reinforcement to this area. But the Classic and the Trek didn’t have this improvement. I just so happened to be in luck that the newly released Trek Sport model was in stock, had just been released that week and wouldn’t you know it, had the toe reinforcements.

The Sole

Here is what really was impressed with. I ran around the store in most of the models that Zombie Runner had, and I was concerned that going from standard running shoes, so something with such a light sole would really be too drastic of a change for me. Luckily, the Trek Sport has a (somewhat) sturdy sole. It’s definitely not a running shoe like experience, but it also provides some grip and protection when running on trails. While it is sturdy by comparison to other Vibrams, it still allows for much more toe flexibility than a typical running shoe, and completely enables the barefoot running style that I was hoping to learn.

Conclusion
I feel really lucky that I happened to walk into Zombie Runner on the exact day that I did. Considering all of the different models of five fingers that exist now, and how long I’ve been thinking about getting them, it took a fair amount of luck to wait until all of the design improvements and feature sets that I was looking for was available in one model. I’ve probably logged 20-25 miles already in my new Trek Sports and I’m totally satisfied with them. If you are looking for a durable (toe reinforcements!), sturdy (thicker sole than other models), grippy (is that a word?) model of Vibram five fingers, than the Trek Sport definitely wins out over the previous Trek, the Bikila and the Classic.

If you have any questions about the Trek Sport or running with five fingers, feel free to drop me an email or send me an @ message on twitter.

I’ve done a horrible thing to myself. Last year I wrote bunches of posts about how I was exercising, eating right, and losing weight. In about 3 months I lost about 20-25 pounds. People were coming up and telling me that I looked great, looked like I lost weight. My motivation was my upcoming wedding and not wanting to look like a fat slob in my wedding pictures that I would look at the rest of my life.

I achieved that goal and I am happy with the way I looked in my pictures. And then I went on the honeymoon, and then I started grad school, and then my back pains started happening, and one excuse after another caused me to stop exercising.

Fast forward about 9 months, and after just celebrating my one year wedding anniversary, I have put back on all of the weight that I had originally lost. What I worked so hard for in 2-3 months, was lost in 9. I can not contribute everything to not exercising, because my eating habits went down the toilet too. I started drinking the occasional energy drink and soda. Fast food started creeping into the weekend meals. Overall is was everything I wanted to stop doing, and I started right up again.

So here I trying to get back into shape again, and this time come up with a better maintenance plan. The good news is that Stacy is working out with me. We just started this past Sunday, and have been very sore the past few days, but just as of this morning, the soreness has started to fade, and I am hoping that muscle memory kicks in and I will be able to resume what I used to lift in my work outs in a shorter amount of time.

When we went out and got bikes, I found the mapmyride application useful, but after conversing with some co-workers, I think that I will be using RunKeeper going forward. There was some level of fate involved in the decision. MapMyRide requires internet connection for the recording to begin, and the bike shop in Los Altos is in a dead zone, so when we started our ride, I couldn’t record it. I gave Run Keeper a shot, and it started right up.

The advantages don’t stop there though. The runkeeper.com web site is a much nicer presentation of your riding data, with speed and elevation as well as the route presented to you on a google map. There is a free and pay version from the App Store, but I am using the free version right now.

Stacy and I bought bikes this morning, and after some driving around to get a rack for my Jeep, and some other supplies we went for our first ride. Here’s the map of the ride. Thanks to my iPhone with GPS, it mapped the whole thing for us.

iMapMyRide Jul 25, 2009 4:44 PMFind more Bike Rides in Sunnyvale, California

I’ve been doing a lot of serious writing lately and working on higher quality articles for the blog.  I have a few articles that are partially written that I had hoped to finish for this weekend.  They are coming along slower than I had expected, and thought this would be a nice light hearted update for those interested.