Tag Archives: running

What’s on your feet? Inov-8 195

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This Christmas I was lucky enough to get some new running shoes.  Maybe luck didn’t have that much to do with it, so much as my communication skills to my wife Stacy.  Back in August I bought a pair of the Vibram Five Fingers, and while I initially enjoyed them, I couldn’t get past the foot pain I would get from running in them.  I think I might give them another chance this spring if I start running again, but my knees have been very thankful that I stopped running a weekly 5K.  Maybe monthly is a better frequency.

Anyways, here is what my new Inov-8 195s look like from above.  Technically, the full name of the shoes is the F-Lite 195, but most people just refer to Inov-8′s by their number.  The 195s are known for being light, and flat.  I think I have worn them to every single workout I’ve done since Christmas.  I know lots of people that like to rotate their shoes, but I just don’t ever want to wear anything else.

The shoes are incredibly comfortable and lightweight.  The most I have run in them at once is a mile, so I can’t really speak to them from an endurance running perspective, but my knees and shins have really been feeling great over the past few months.

I guess it makes sense that given how thin the soles are and the rest of the material that the shoes are made of that these shoes are so incredibly lightweight, but I really want to drive the point home.  Your feet feel like you are wearing a running shoe, but your body feels like you are barefoot. I noticed the biggest benefit from this while doing box jumps.  The shoes allow me the comfort to keep jumping repeatedly, but are so light that I feel unburdened and can get more reps in faster.

I do have a slight complaint, and it is very slight because superficial looks of my workout shoes is not something that keeps me up at night.  The red soles are painted on and the paint has already begin to flake off after just a few weeks.  You can see what I am talking about in the picture to the right.  It’s not the end of the world by any means, just a little disappointing.

Overall there really isn’t that much else to say about these shoes other than how much I love them. If you are looking for a flat, lightweight shoe to run in then these are the ones you are looking for.

I’ll include one more photo of the shoes waiting to go for a run on my chair.  They are good looking shoes, although I noticed in the photo that I seem to have an problem lacing them properly.




See larger image

Inov-8 F-Lite 195 Lightweight Racing Shoe (Apparel)

List Price:$115.00 USD

One big working out weekend recap

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So this past weekend was one that I had been looking forward to and training for quite a while.  On Saturday, Crossfit Santa Clara held our Barbells for Boobs fundraiser.  The event was one that I had been raising money for here. I’ll be sending a check to Mammograms in Action at the end of the week, so this is your last chance to donate to a great cause.

The event itself was a Crossfit benchmark workout called “Grace” which is 30 clean and jerks for time.  The men’s weight for this workout is supposed to be 135 pounds, but I don’t have the strength to clean 135 pounds 30 times, so I did it at 115 pounds.  Here is a video of me at the event.  If you look closely you can see 2008 Crossfit games champion Jason Khalipa in the background doing his set.

After the barbells for boobs event, I went home and rested up because Sunday I ran in the Silicon Valley 5K.  I had the idea of running in this race back at the end of August, so I started running a 5K around my neighborhood every Sunday morning.  My first time was around 33 minutes.  The next week I did it in 30 minutes.  Then I started to plateau around 29 minutes.  I really didn’t know what to expect for the race.  I set a goal of 27 minutes.  Here’s a little video that Stacy got of me crossing the finish line with my official time of 24:56.  I knew I would be able to run faster in a race environment, but I had no idea just how much faster.

I owe all of this progress to Crossfit and my paleo diet.  Next up is the Turkey Trot!

 

Paleo diet – 30 day review

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So it is now November, which means my 30 days of the paleo diet have passed and I am pleased to be able to share my findings with you.  As I did with the 14 day progress report, here is a chart showing my daily weights(blue line) and 7-day average weights(red line) going back to this summer before I started crossfit and then when I started paleo (October 1).

 

 

Paleo diet 30 day progress

Paleo diet 30 day progress

  • The Good

As you can see, my weight continues to decline, and because of all of the exercise that I am getting from crossfit and some other things I’m doing, my strength and conditioning are at arguably the best of my life.  While I still weigh about 6 pounds more than I did last May when I got married, I would say that I am in better condition and health now than I was then.

I still continue to feel much better in the mornings when it comes to my knees and joints.  I am hungry much less often during the day, and enjoy being able to eat lunch when I want to or when I need to based on my work schedule, and not based on when my stomach pains begin at around 11 a.m.

This all led me to do things like I did this past weekend.

  • The Bad

It was definitely difficult to eat paleo when traveling.  Airports are not designed for cavemen to eat, so it’s best to be prepared and bring food.  Unfortunately, the paleo kits that I ordered hasn’t arrived before I went to L.A., so I had to make due with what I could forage for myself.  To make matters worse, I was traveling on business, and a lot of the meals were pre-arranged for a group of a few hundred people.  Luckily this means there was lots of food, but most of it I had to pick thru and fight off temptations to the best of my ability.  My saving grace was breakfast.  You can always count on a large portion of eggs, sausage and bacon on group breakfasts.

Then there was going out to a restaurant that your friend recommends.  When you go to a place like Animal and see what their menu offers, it’s hard not to cheat at least a little bit.  Overall I think I did alright at that meal.

  • The Ugly

The best part is there is no ugly.  I won’t lie, this past weekend my wife Stacy and I went out to a Mexican restaurant and got nachos and burritos.  And I treated myself to an ice cream sandwich.  But on Monday it was back to business. Eggs for breakfast, oops another burrito for lunch, and steak for dinner.  So it looks like I need to make sure to rope in those burritos.

  • What’s next

I’ve focused a lot on weight loss and conditioning since I started crossfit this summer, and since starting paleo things have really kicked into high gear.  I think that I want to shift gears a little bit and concentrate on strength for a while.  With winter coming, it’s probably a good idea anyway.  So I am going to continue with a modified paleo diet including dairy.    Over the past month I have been replacing milk with either almond milk or coconut milk.  I enjoy both of these, so they may remain in my diet to an extent, but I will be re-introducing milk to my diet, and probably a casein shake before bed as well.  I haven’t decided yet if I am going to jump back into the world of post-workout whey protein shakes or not.  I may evaluate that on a day by day basis.

I am however going to continue to keep corn and other grains out of my diet as much as I can.

The key for Stacy and I has been RECIPES! I tend to cook by just throwing ingredients together and seeing what works.  Stacy is the opposite, she wants a recipe to follow.  The more variety we can get from finding new paleo recipes the better.  That’s why we ordered this paleo recipe book.  There are also lots of great sites on the web like primal-palate.com, and others.  Please post links to comments for us to share!

 

Product Review: Vibram Five Fingers Trek Sport

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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:

Trek Sport black

 

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.

Trek Sport toe close up

 

The Sole

Trek Sport 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 started running. Let’s see if I can keep it up.

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So I have been thinking about starting running recently. This summer the Wellness team at Apple is sponsoring a “Cardio challenge” at work, where people that walk or run a certain distance within certain dates will win T-shirts. Now a T-shirt isn’t that much motivation, but why not use it as a reason to go out and get that new pair of running shoes that I was looking at, and start running anyway.

So now I have:

  • New Nike Everydays with a Nike + iPod sensor
  • My iPod nano from last year
  • Stuart — My dog who loves to run
  • The Apple Fitness center cardio machines all support Nike+ so my workouts will count
  • An account on nikeplus.com to track all of my progess, I can even map my runs on google maps.

And yesterday was my first run. If you notice in the right hand nav bar, there is a little cartoon version of me that has my running statistics. As of today it shows 1 run, and a little over a mile. Let’s see what it shows by the time you read this.