Don’t Call It a Comeback…

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After an extremely full race calendar in 2013, I was pretty burnt out on running. Three marathons plus a half marathon in 27 days can do that to a person, no kidding! I was over stressing about the logistics of getting to dozens of packet pickups and then to dozens of starting lines, so I pared my race schedule back a lot to focus on quality performances rather than further straining the screws on my medal rack. This year I crushed my estimated time in the Four Courts Four Miler, ran the Runners Marathon of Reston in March for an age group win, came in first in my age group across both genders at the Big Sur 21 Miler, notched a surprise 11th place in my age group at the Marine Corps Historic Half, and logged a finish at the Marine Corps Marathon. I’ll finish the year out with less than ten total races, but I’m proud of my efforts, especially my most recent run: the JFK 50 Mile Race.

After winning my age group at the Runners Marathon of Reston, on a frigid day complete with sleet, I found that I’d met the A-level qualifying standards for the JFK 50 Mile Race. I’d held third place female for about 21 miles of the RMR and was thinking that actually qualifying for Boston wasn’t out of the question — basically, I was feeling pretty cocky. Cocky enough to dash off a $210 check to the JFK race director (the race is so old school that all entries are done via paper forms) and anxiously await the appearance of my name in the confirmed entrants list.

Fast forward about seven months and reality is hitting me like a ton of bricks. The race starts in view of a cell tower on top of a mountain. We had to run to the top of that mountain, then run back down it again, traversing miles of treacherous rocks and narrow switchbacks. One runner had the misfortune to bash his head badly enough on the rocks to end his race day — he had to be carried out, leaving plenty of blood behind. This was a guy whose name people knew, presumably an experienced ultra runner. I’d never run past 26.2. *Gulp*

Keeping my mental game tight was the most important thing. The human body is indeed fragile, but it can be pushed hard, beyond arbitrary limits we set ourselves. I couldn’t allow myself to get defeated by the staggering number of miles ahead of me, the cold, or the prospect of further pain in my legs/feet/back. I was determined that I was going to finish the race — anything else would be unacceptable — so I put all of my efforts into making it so. And believe me, it took everything I had.

The temperature at the start was a bracing 18 degrees Farenheit. I dressed in two pairs of tights, arm warmers, a long sleeve T shirt, a short sleeve T shirt, and a half-zip pullover. Before the marathon point, I got hot, and had to sit down to take my shoes off and shed one pair of tights. My animal brain said, “Wouldn’t it be better to just sit here? No need to get back up and run any more.” But I got up and kept going. I had to sing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” all of the way through (and then some) to get myself to the next spectator aid station (a HUGE thank you goes out to my friend Kim who came to the start to get my gear bag, distracted me when I was nervous, took great pictures, supported me at each aid station, and made a hilarious sign for me), but I made it. Around the 30 mile point I hit upon the idea of alternating running and walking each quarter mile. My dad works with a guy who recently swam the English Channel (much tougher than a 50 mile ultra!) and he imparted this tip: break it down into sections, and focus on the next section. There were a lot of quarter mile sections in the remaining 20 or so miles, but I didn’t focus on that. I focused on each individual quarter mile as it came. I’m always up for running a quarter mile! A quarter mile isn’t bad, isn’t that long at all! As much as I wanted to follow the advice, “if it hurts to walk, and it also hurts to run, run,” I knew that the prospect of running another 20 miles was too much to grapple with mentally. A quarter mile was a perfectly digestible chunk: so doable that I found myself grinning, chatting with other runners, and offering words of motivation since I was so comfortable in my knowledge that I’d finish the race. That’s when it really became fun. I kept up the alternating cycle until my Garmin died between miles 48 and 49 and I decided to just walk so as to save a little something for the finish line approach.

I’d thought for sure that I’d cry in despair during the race, or cry with joy at the finish. Neither happened. I smiled throughout the race (not faked for the photos below!) and danced at the finish.

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First spectator aid station, near the half marathon point.

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I don’t know where on the course those were shot, either the ~marathon point or 38 mile aid stations. With few exceptions, the tow path miles all looked the same: boring.

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At the mile 46 aid station I refused to stop or slow down for a photo.

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The hardware

I expect this post will spawn a couple others if only due to this one amazing fact: I finished the JFK 50 Mile Race with no blisters and no chafing. You read that right. Perfect outfit, perfect sock + shoe combination, perfect application of anti-chafe cream. Apparently perfect nutrition/preemptive use of Immodium, too, as I had no GI issues either. I showed up at the race with a full gear bag and took nothing from it on the course — I just gave Kim clothes I no longer wanted to wear. I eschewed my stiff, frozen Clif Shot Bloks and Salted Caramel Gu (the only good flavor, as far as I’m concerned) for eight cream-filled cookies and and a PB&J sandwich. I learned some lessons about the Hoka One One Clifton in the Marine Corps Marathon which I carried over into JFK that helped me tremendously in terms of avoiding discomfort, so I think I can write an informed review. So be on the lookout for more posts, but don’t try to hold me accountable, I might go dark for another six months!

FortiFX Crunch Bar Cookies and Cream 30g Protein Bar Review

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I guess that having a signature protein bar makes about as much as having a signature sneaker, but somehow celebrity-endorsed nutrition products seem like even balder money grabs than shoe deals. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and quality of Nogii bars, endorsed by Tim Hasselbeck (of NFL fame) and Elizabeth Hasselbeck (best known for her time on The View, although she was a college softball player). That good experience notwithstanding, I ordered a box of FortiFX Crunch Bars, endorsed by celebrity chef Robert Irvine, with some trepidation. Cookies and Cream is a flavor that is hard to get right. The memory of the creamy, crunchy, indulgent Hershey’s Cookies and Cream white chocolate bars I had every once in a blue moon as a kid keeps my expectations and standards high for this flavor combination.

These bars are basically Oreo’s answer to sports nutrition. Which is to say, they are awesome. Not remotely disappointing.

Look at that picture and check out the FortiFX website (if you’re me, you’re drooling over peanut butter flavored bars — I don’t care that they’ve been food styled, they look good). When the food in your hand looks that close to what’s pictured on the package, you know you’re in for a good experience. Let me break down for you what’s happening in this bar, from the bottom up:

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  1. The bar itself is a massive 88 grams. This should be considered a meal replacement already because it’s a 380 calorie item with a burly 30 grams of protein, but like it or not, a FortiFX Crunch Cookies and Cream bar will replace a meal because it will fill you up. You’ve got to handle one of these to fully appreciate how substantial it is. I’ve found that the whey protein blend in these bars keeps me fuller longer as well.
  2. The whole bar is enrobed in a chocolatey coating. This isn’t the most flavorful chocolate I’ve had in a protein bar, but it melts normally and isn’t waxy or fake tasting. It’s a reasonable complement to the good stuff on the inside of the bar.
  3. Cookie cream layer – this has a texture similar to Oreo cream, though it’s not as sweet. The bars only contain 6 grams of sugar (the artificial sweetener sorbitol supplies the rest of the sweetness), so that’s to be expected.
  4. A thick chocolate cookie layer is the foundation for this bar, and it mimics some of the experience of eating an Oreo.
  5. The cookie cream flavored nougat is smooth for a protein bar; not too chewy, not gritty, not sticky. Between this and the frosting-like layer, you get a great ratio of cookie cream flavor to chocolate cookie flavor.
  6. Best part of the bar: the chocolate cookie crispies. I think that these are tiny cookies baked into chocolate chip shapes. They really capture the flavor of the cookie part of Oreos. But beware: these crisp pieces of chocolate cookie heaven are messy. Don’t break the bar into pieces with your hands or bite it halfway and they sort of break it off. Either make clean knife cuts through it or bite through it completely or else you can expect crisp cookie bits and nougat to fall all over you and/or the floor. Smaller bites help, too. Unlike Nature Valley crunchy granola bars that are a complete disaster to eat no matter what you do, you can mitigate the mess with these. Don’t eat this bar carelessly in your car! Or really anyplace that you care about. Unless you want rats and bugs. In which case, go for it.

Pros:

-Delicious taste – you won’t mistake this for an Oreo, but you might think that Nabisco has created a protein bar twin for America’s favorite cookie.

-Huge portion will keep the hangries at bay. If you don’t know what the hangries are, consider yourself lucky.

-Mostly whey in the protein blend. I’m not familiar enough with the studies or prevailing opinions about whey and soy to speak authoritatively about that debate, but personally I’ve found that whey protein products keep me fuller longer than soy protein products.

-Low sugar is nice to see here. Bars that have almost as much sugar as they have protein aren’t all that nutritious.

Cons:

-More expensive than other bars that contain a similar amount of protein. A lot of that is probably due to the fact that these use a whey-dominated blend, as opposed to strictly soy protein.

-Flavored with artificial sweetener. I’m used to seeing organic ingredients listed on the back of Clif packages, so seeing chemical names on the FortiFX Crunch Bar ingredient list is disappointing.

-And to that end, there are lots of ingredients, a few of which are unpronounceable.

-Messy to eat if you’re not careful. Seriously. I cannot impress upon you enough how messy these can be.

Overall:

In a perfect world a bar at this price point ($26.58 for a box of 12, shipped free from Amazon for my most recent box) would be all whey protein and contain mostly natural and/or organic ingredients. I really like these bars, but I’d prefer that the protein bar industry (heck, maybe just the celebrity-endorsed protein bar industry, since it seems to be killing it in terms of quality and flavor) not rest on its laurels yet, so I’m going to rate the truly excellent FortiFX Crunch Cookies and Cream Bars 8 out of 10.

Yellow Bananas

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Sorry for my recent absence from WordPress. I’ll get to some running-related material at the end of this post. Bear with me.

My grandmother died about three weeks ago and I haven’t really felt like blogging. I majored in English in college, and I work in communications now, so when faced with a problem, I often have the instinct to solve it with writing. In this case the problem was my sadness at the loss of my grandmother coupled with my relief that her pain and suffering were over. At 105 (yes, really), her quality of life had dropped precipitously in just a few short months, although she only needed one prescription medicine, and it was clear that her time had come. I wanted to write something powerful and profound about my grandmother’s incredibly long life and about how that life and its end affected me. I had lots of feelings about Gran, but I couldn’t come up with anything to do justice to her. If I couldn’t write the one important thing I needed to write, I didn’t really want to write anything at all.

I kept coming back to the following little memory from the day of her passing. It seemed important at the time, though I can’t quite find the words for why that is. It may just merely be too apt, or that I’m searching for profundity in the mundane, but whatever the case may be, it stuck with me:

My grandmother lived so many years past the century mark that my family had long been making cracks about how “Gran doesn’t buy any green bananas.” On the day that she died, my aunt and uncle, my parents, and I took bananas from the bowl in her kitchen without discussing it. None of us thought to check the refrigerator for milk or other perishables, but grabbing the bananas was seemingly automatic. And wouldn’t you know, they were brand new and pure yellow, not a patch of green on them.

Maybe the significance of taking the bananas lies not in their yellow color, but in that the act of taking the bananas acknowledged that my grandmother was truly gone. I’m sure I don’t know, but that memory is indelibly etched in my mind.

In her honor, I’ll add a quote my father found in her address book to my (extra-long, to make up for my long absence) offering of inspirational quotes in this post:

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.”

The slip of paper she saved noted the above as an ancient Chinese proverb. In looking it up, I’ve seen it attributed to Confucius and to Benjamin Franklin. Words of wisdom have value regardless of who spoke them, so I’m choosing not to worry about the attribution.

Further words to enlighten and inspire:

“Crawling is acceptable. Falling is acceptable. Puking is acceptable. Crying is acceptable. Blood is acceptable. Pain is acceptable. Quitting is not.”

 

“Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results.”

 

“Fitness is not about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be.”

 

“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and think of what could go right.”

 

“Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.”

 

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”

 

“Bran thought about it. ‘Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?’ ‘That is the only time a man can be brave,’ his father told him.” – George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

 

And finally,

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

In other, running-specific news, I’ve got a couple of cool things to report.

On March 30, 2014, in truly grim conditions (39 degrees with rain and hail), I won my age group (females 20-24) in the Runners Marathon of Reston, posting not only my new personal best in that distance, but my first time under 4:00, with a 3:48:03. After posting (I can’t in good faith call it ‘running’) a 6:18:21 at the 2012 Georgia Publix Marathon, my first-ever marathon, no way did I think I’d run another marathon, let alone break four hours. I’ve now run six marathons. I lucked into the lottery for the Marine Corps Marathon this fall and I’m hoping to run a BQ time there, although it’s not the most favorable course for that lofty goal. The Boston Marathon may have to wait until 2016 or later, depending on when registration opens (as I’d need to have run a qualifying time by then), but I plan to run it someday as a qualified registrant. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would be a possibility for me. I really love racing in the rolling hills of Reston (previously I’d run a 10k and two ten-milers all starting and finishing at the same high school in Reston), so even though I had to endure biting winds, practically frozen fingers, and hailstones abusing my cheeks, I love Reston even more because that marathon opened my eyes to new possibilities.

Last Sunday, April 6, 2014, I ran in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. After the 2013 race I vowed to never run it again, but I signed up for the lottery again for the 2014 edition, and the same issues that bothered me in 2013 bothered me again this year. I put down what I thought was a pretty aggressive time in order to establish my starting corral, and I again found myself stuck behind hoards of people, many of whom were walking early in the race. I have no problems with people who run a race just to finish it or those who employ a walk-run strategy in order to finish comfortably. What I do have a problem with is those people starting in competitive corrals. At one point I found myself behind a woman wearing a shirt that said on the back, “If you’re behind me, you didn’t train for this either.” Real funny. Except that I did train and I’d like to get by! I was weaving in and around major traffic for the first four or so miles of the race, so I had to push pretty hard in the final six miles to keep my overall time to an average sub-8:00/mile pace. I posted a 1:18:42, which is significantly better than my previous best from the Army Ten Miler (1:23:14 in 2013), but I feel like I could’ve run another minute or two faster had there not been so many slower people in front of me on the narrow course. I wound up finishing with people all wearing red bibs – the red wave went off two or more minutes ahead of me as it was for people who had submitted an even faster estimated finish time. That race is all kinds of jacked up, and although it’s a “rite of spring” and pretty reasonably priced, I think I’m going to stick to my guns and really not participate next year.

Perhaps the biggest news of all: I’m running the JFK 50 Miler this fall. My time in the Runners Marathon made me an A-Standard qualifier for the nation’s oldest ultra, so after consulting with Jenny’s ultrarunner friend (I won’t name drop, but he wins these things and has been on the national team and is basically a really big deal while being a dad and a normal, all-around cool dude who is awesome enough to exchange emails with me) about the race, I took the plunge and mailed in my entry form. That’s right, mailed it in, very old school. Last night I checked the confirmed entrants list for my name (after having seen the check clear earlier in the week) and it was there. So this is happening! I lost about 36 pounds between late 2012 and mid-2013 while being very, very low-key about it. I didn’t tell people that I was planning to lose weight, I just did it. I’ve found that’s often the best way to do things: don’t tell people my plans, just show them my results. I don’t think that people make unsupportive, doubting comments to be deliberately cruel, but if they can cut down the validity of my commitments or my effort and watch me fail, that makes it easier for them to be at peace with their own inactivity or untried dreams. This piece of news is only for a supportive audience, and I think that you WordPress runners and running enthusiasts are that kind of audience, so I’m putting my faith in you to be cool as I prepare for this ultra in my own humble, workman-like, unflashy way.

Final thoughts to close out this overlong post (thanks for hanging in!). I’d like to make this blog more personal and more about my experiences. I’m still truly a gear junkie with a wicked shoe habit and a taste for protein bars so you can still expect plenty of product reviews (I’ve got reviews for the New Balance 890v4 and the Salomon X-Scream coming soon, as well as a couple of protein bar reviews), but look forward to a bit more of me in future posts. More often than not, the things in life that matter aren’t things, although things can be really, really cool.

Nogii Gluten-Free Protein Bar Review

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I realize that this picture is msuch less convincing on my computer screen than it was on my iPhone. I’ll confess: I snarfed this bar right down before it even occurred to me to snap a picture of it, so this is only the wrapper. My first impression after randomly buying a Nogii bar at CVS was good enough to convince me to spring for a whole box on Amazon.

The Good:

-Taste: These have a good sweet and salty thing going on with a peanut butter infused soy and whey protein filling and a chocolatey coating. This chocolatey coating (rarely will you get real chocolate in a protein bar) tastes like chocolate, isn’t crumbly, and doesn’t melt in my hands too easily. The caramel is kind of unnecessary, but it tastes like real caramel: soft and sweet, though not complexly sweet.

-30 grams of high-quality whey and soy protein. It’s nice to get some whey protein in a bar. The presence of the whey explains the cost of these bars.

-Texture: Dense and crispy, without being too crunchy. Imagine a double layer of Luna bar enrobed in chocolate, and you’re probably not too far off from what a bite into a Nogii bar is like.

-Size: This could easily be a meal replacement. At a whopping 3.34 oz, this thing is a monster and doesn’t leave me feeling hungry.

-Calories: Not too bad: 390 calories for 30 grams of protein is a lot more efficient than the 180 calories for 10 grams of protein in my beloved Lemon Zest Luna bars.

-Carbohydrates: 38 grams of carbs — probably could be lower if the overkill caramel weren’t included.

-Gluten-free: I’ve noticed that eating too much gluten, such as an artisanal pizza, gives me serious tummy troubles. Other than allowing me to avoid something that occasionally gives me gas pains, I’m not sure that there’s a real nutritional benefit to this being gluten free, but it’s not a bad thing.

The Bad:

-Fat Content: 120 of the bar’s 390 calories come from fat. There are 14 grams of fat in this Nogii bar, 7 grams of which are saturated fat. This may not be extraordinary for the category, but it’s not desirable for me for a bar I plan to eat almost daily.

-Sugars: 22 grams of sugar — more than I’d like to see, but probably not too, too much considering that this bar can be a meal replacement. And the bar tastes so good, I can kind of look past this.

Overall: 8/10

Brooks Cascadia 7 Review

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I’ve done three trail half marathons and I’m a member of a trail running club, but I still consider myself an aspirational trail runner, a wannabe, rather than the genuine article. Trail runners eschew crowds, finisher medals, and race T-shirts in favor of more camaraderie, better scenery, the sounds of nature, and more dynamic terrain. They can roll with the punches: if their race course is marked too long or too short, they don’t whine about it. Their competitive events are marked by good times, good friends, and good food, rather than throbbing music, interminable bag check lines, and corporate sponsors. Trail racing is a low-key good time, and plain old trail running even more so.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t live within running distance of any major trails and I can’t seem to condition myself to drive somewhere in order to run unless I’m racing. I’m too used to lacing up, grabbing a key, and just heading out the door. I also like to run much earlier in the morning than most parks in this area open.

Not only am I unwilling to mess with my routine to make trail running more of a part of my life, but I’m a little bit of a chicken about running alone on trails. My sense of direction is lousy and I can see getting myself into some trouble if I’m not careful. Having that worry is probably enough to ensure that I won’t get myself into trouble, but it still holds me back.

All of this is to say that I’m not some badass jackrabbit trail running beast. So take the following with a big grain of salt:

I really like the Brooks Cascadia 7. I bought this shoe in 2013 when it was already an old model, but the Cascadia is such an enduring classic that you can surely still find it somewhere for a nice discount.

My first run in the Cascadia 7 started out on pavement, like all of my runs do. And I wasn’t overly impressed: it felt solid and reassuringly firm, but the moderately aggressive tread made it feel as if I were running in cleats or golf spikes.

But then as if attracted by a magnet, my feet started pointing me to the only trail I knew of near my house, just a little bit of woods near a nature center, a place I knew of, but had never run in before.

Everything made sense after that first step on soft earth. The lugs dug into the dirt, and the firm midsole, combined with the natural cushion of the ground made the ride feel perfect: firm enough to be fast and nimble (despite its weight), but soft enough to be comfortable.

Three trail half marathons and a recent 21-mile trail and road run later and I still haven’t looked back. This is a sturdy, grippy shoe that’s a strong performer on moderately technical trails. It’s a bit heavy for short distance or speed work and the lugs are perhaps not aggressive enough for certain terrain, but since I’m a mere dabbler in trail running, it’s adequate for me. I’m not in love with its pavement feel or the attendant hard rubber on pavement noise, but it’s not built for pavement. The Cascadia 7 is built to run trails and run them for as long as you can handle.

Likes:

-The upper: sheds mud and dirt like a champ.

-Fit around the ankle: largely keeps out rocks and other trail detritus without gaiters. Also comfortable without being overbuilt or plush. No blisters, no bloody bites taken out of the skin covering my Achilles.

-Tread: moderately aggressive, plenty of grip for soft dirt, maybe too much for frozen dirt.

Dislikes:

None really. If pressed, I might say the weight since it is practically boot-like compared to some of the road trainers I wear, but I mostly find the weight to be reassuring rather than a hindrance. I don’t have more items in the Likes section because this shoe is a workhorse and kind of unremarkable when deconstructed to its component parts, but good in sum.

Overall rating: 8/10

Remember How I Said I Wanted to Run Sub-32:00 for My 4-Mile Race?

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Well I ran 28:07, good enough for 78th place overall (out of 1508, I think), 15th overall female, and 6th in my age group. Really surprised myself!

The second to last hill was the toughest part of the race, as I knew it would be. I felt gassed and like I was breathing and breathing and getting no oxygen. But I stayed calm and pushed through. That final mile was my slowest of the race by far, but I lost a lot less time on that hill than I’d feared I would.

For almost the entire race I ran with a guy I didn’t know who looked to be about 55 years old, possibly current or former military. If he got a little behind me on a hill, he’d be sure to catch up; if I got a little behind him on a straightaway I’d increase my speed to match his. When we saw the huge crowd of runners on our way back from the turnaround point, he made a friendly comment about that. We paced each other without discussing it. I didn’t look at my watch until after I’d crossed the finish line, so I didn’t know what kind of pace we were maintaining. I knew it was challenging, but I didn’t know if it was sub-8:00, especially given how rough the fourth-mile hill was.

Well, it turns out that randomly latching into someone who wasn’t all freaky competitive worked out pretty well; I suspect we both helped each other.

I was bowled over by how fast I ran, especially considering how unsure I was that I’d meet my sub-32:00 goal. I dropped nearly 8:00 from my 2013 time of 36:01. Very proud of my effort and very appreciative of my dedication to my 50k training. This really motivates me to get out of bed each morning and hit my workouts hard so they continue to pay dividends.

I’ll sign off with a quote from the US President who I thought was hunkiest when I was a kid, Calvin Coolidge, that I think speaks to the importance of training:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrehearsed genius is almost a proverb… Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The Hotspot, or How I Picked My Shoes for Today’s Race

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I like to get on my soapbox about not using new gear or nutrition items on or immediately prior to race day. I’ve seen far too many dudes clad in shirts red with blood where their nipples used to be. The shirt they’re wearing? Usually it’s the race shirt that was distributed at packet pickup the day before. Using new stuff during or just before a race is just asking for trouble. Go with what you know.

But going with what you know entails getting to know your gear, and that testing period during training comes with its own risks.

A few weeks ago I hauled off and ran 21 miles after only planning to run 14 miles that day. I left the house with 14 miles still firmly in mind, but everything felt right: I’d managed to lock in at a zippy pace and I was more than keeping up with the folks from my trail running club, so I extended the run.

Unfortunately for me, I was wearing a previously untried shoe-sock combination. I’d run comfortably in this model sock with other shoes, and I’d put about 40 miles in the shoe without issue, but for some reason these two didn’t play well together over the 21-mile distance. When I peeled off my sweaty socks at the end of the day, I found the hotspot.

I’ve had blisters before, and I even got two blisters that healed up almost overnight from this run, but I’ve never had anything like this hotspot. Located on my left pinky toe, this hotspot became the axis of pain in my life. It hurt when it was touching something. It hurt when it wasn’t touching anything, or wasn’t touching anything more than it had been but a moment before when it was just fine. It would randomly send shooting, fiery pains up my leg that made me struggle to hide my winces in public. I began to hope that it would turn into a regular blister so it could finally heal. This thing was a monster. Taping it and applying bandaids just seemed to make it angry.

So I did what any good crazy runner would do: I ran on it.

Running with a blister, or a blister-type injury is not for the faint of heart. Every step is guaranteed to hurt, it’s just a matter of how much it will hurt. A sane person would rest and let a friction injury heal. I like to put myself in simulated race conditions during my training so I’m both mentally and physically prepared for what may lie ahead. Running with what could plausibly be a race-induced blister is valuable preparation, just as running without water to simulate the dry miles in between aid stations is critically important to establish what it feels like to struggle and how I’ll handle that.

In my extensive shoe collection I found a shoe that supports my feet comfortably without squeezing my blister or bothering it with any heavy overlays: the great New Balance 890v4.  So if you’re looking for a moral to this story, such as, ‘don’t run with a blister,’ I’m sorry to have to disappoint you, because my hotspot healed through my running on it. Long days stuffed into boots will still make it cranky, but I can run pain-free and the seemingly random searing pains have stopped.

For my four-mile race this morning, (and probably for my marathon at the end of the month, stay tuned) I’m going with what I know will protect my feet best: the New Balance 890v4 aka the Hotspot Healer.

I’m excited to get back into the racing mix, so my A goal (Have fun!) is already working out. Can’t wait to lean into my B (Finish) and C goals (finish sub-32:00) as well. Happy running!

Pre-Race Pi Day Friday Musings and Inspiration

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Four pieces of of un-attributed inspiration to carry us all through the weekend:

Fear of failure is only for those arrogant enough to think that somehow they can achieve success without paying the price.

Don’t pursue happiness — create it.

A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power, but its persistence.

Never forget why you started.

This weekend I’m running the Four Courts Four Miler for the fourth time. I wish I’d been part of the inaugural event so I could have a really special streak going, but I’m happy to have found this whimsical local race. The start is filled with Irish cloggers, green everything (especially tutus), and lots of smiles. Partway through the race, an elite runner associated with the local running store that puts the race on will start dressed as a leprechaun, and for each runner the leprechaun leaps, $1 will be donated to charity. Those who finish before the leprechaun will receive a prize item. The first two years I ran this race I beat the leprechaun with times of 36:32.3 (2011) and 37:50.1 (2012). In 2013, after losing much of the weight I gained in 2012, I posted a 36:01, but the leprechaun got on the course merely 10 minutes after the initial starting gun, much sooner than in previous years, so I didn’t beat him that year. That was pretty disappointing, but the race itself was still fun.

This year I’m going into the race in even better shape and much better prepared to excel in the short distance due to all of the fast treadmill running I’ve been doing. I genuinely hate the treadmill, but I respect it and appreciate it for all that it’s done to improve my speed, determination (it’s so easy to quit when I don’t have to run back home, so each moment I continue on the treadmill past the point of wanting to stop is a victory), and mechanics.

I looked up the leprechaun’s 2013 finish time: 24:51, which is 34:51 by the gun. In order to match his 2013 time, I’d have to run 8:42.75/mile on average. I consistently run around 7:45/mile on the treadmill and in the 8:00-8:15/mile range outdoors while wearing a pack and/or my cell phone. Phone free and otherwise unencumbered, I can probably run sub-8:00 miles. I’m very familiar with this course having run it three times previously, so I know how tough it is, particularly the steep finish hill, so although I’m confident that I can log a strong performance, I’m not sure how realistic my time goal is.

That’s were the A-B-C goal principle comes in. With three goals, ranked in order of importance, it’s a lot harder to completely fail at a race and have a horrible day. Here are my goals for the Four Courts Four Miler:

A Goal: Have fun

B Goal: Finish

C Goal: Finish in 32:00 or less

I celebrated Pi Day (March 4 = 3.14) with my customary Friday muffin from a coworker (life lesson: be nice to people and help them and they will sometimes bring you blueberry muffins). My treadmill jaunt was a tough 4.02 miles (7:43.93/mile), rather than a festive 3.14 miles, but I was glad to have given my legs a moderate test. After the nine-hour flight back from Amsterdam on Sunday, my legs were swollen for a few days. On both Monday and Tuesday I was awoken not by my alarm, but by  agonizing leg cramps. I doubled up on bananas and took a day off from running on Thursday and the lingering tightness has finally abated.

I don’t really throw myself wholeheartedly into short distance races. I’ve got a lot of respect for short distances and those who run short distances well, but I’m not one of those people and I like training for long distances too much to probably ever become one of those people, but you never know. I keep saying I have no interest in a triathlon (multiple people have pressed me about attempting a tri), but ask me about that again in a decade. But since I’m coming at this race with a desire to do well, but an admitted lack of genuine seriousness, I’m not planning a quiet, carbohydrate-filled night in to prepare mentally and lay out my gear. On the contrary, after packet pickup I intend to busy myself celebrating a couple of family birthdays then visiting a friend who has bravely shaved her head in support of St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a charity aiding the fight against cancer.

I’m very excited for the first race of the spring season. I have to qualify “season” as “spring season” since there really isn’t seasonality to running. Even when it’s miserable out, there are still races to be found and outdoor training/fun to be had. My cancelled 50k was supposed to be in the dead of winter in February. So there are seasons when the elements are more favorable towards running, but running is always fun and always in season.

Brilliant, but Flawed: Adidas Adios Boost Review

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It’s fitting that the Adios Boost boasts a sole made of Continental tire rubber because a car often comes to mind when I think of this shoe. It’s what I imagine it’s like to be in a Corvette stuck in traffic: it’s frustrating.

I don’t know what sort of shoe company Adidas wants to be. Do they want to make solid performance shoes, or do they want to sell gimmicks? In 2013 they gave us Boost midsole foam which is good, maybe even great (more on that later), but they also gave us the Springblade, which looks like a joke and a serious dog turd trap for incautious sidewalk runners. The Adios Boost could have been a really impressive shoe, and it certainly managed to be one of the buzziest and most sought-after shoes of 2013, but to me it feels like it was rushed to market to showcase the Boost midsole foam.

My Runs in the Adidas Adios Boost

I like to get at least 60 miles on a shoe before reviewing it. So you can get a sense of how I run/at least how I ran in these shoes, here’s a list of the runs:

Thursday, January 9, 2014
8.08 miles
1:03:54
7:54.50/mile average pace
6:00/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Wednesday, January 29, 2014, 6:35 am
4.08 miles
32:12
7:53.53/mile average pace
6:40/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Thursday, January 30, 2014, 6:11 am
6.28 miles
48:26
7:42.74/mile average pace
6:00/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Friday, January 31, 2014
3.34 miles
25:31
7:38.38/mile average pace
6:00/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Saturday, February 1, 2014, 5:18 pm
3.13 miles
25:30.38
8:08/mile average pace
Terrain: Mostly hilly sidewalks

Sunday, February 2, 2014, 4:21 pm
5.05 miles
45:55.29
9:06/mile average pace
Terrain: Paved trail and mostly hilly sidewalks

Tuesday, February 4, 2014, 6:21 pm
3.16 miles
26:31.08
8:23/mile average pace
Terrain: Mostly hilly sidewalks

Thursday, February 6, 2014, 7:00 am
2.28 miles
17:44
7:46.67/mile average pace
6:00/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Thursday, February 6, 2014, 6:14 pm
3.10 miles
25:52.66
8:20/mile average pace
Terrain: Mostly hilly sidewalks

Saturday, February 8, 2014, 6:57 am
5.03 miles
41:20.67
8:14/mile average pace
Terrain: Paved trail and mostly hilly sidewalks

Sunday, February 16, 2014, 8:01 am
2.18 miles
24:12.59
11:06/mile average pace
Terrain: Thickly iced sidewalks

Monday, February 17, 2014, 9:57 am
1.76 miles
18:55.16
10:45/mile average pace
Terrain: Thickly iced sidewalks

Tuesday, February 25, 2014, 6:49 am
4.07 miles
32:29
7:58.87/mile average pace
6:40/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Thursday, February 27, 2014, 6:04 am
9.07 miles
1:12:17
7:58.17/mile average pace
6:00/mile max pace
Terrain: Treadmill

Total: 60.61 miles

The Good

The best thing about the Adios Boost is the Boost foam. I’m coming around to the idea that simpler is often better. That’s not to say that new technology and innovative design doesn’t still turn my head, but at its core a shoe should be simply a slab of foam, a slab of rubber to protect the foam and add traction, and a step-in, lace up upper to secure my foot  to the foam + rubber. Improve the upper, the midsole foam, and/or the sole in this formula and you might have a winner. I don’t need plastic plates or tabi toes or arch wraps or bomb-proof toe caps or any of that goop. Just the basics.

Boost foam is an improvement on the industry standard EVA foam midsole. It’s bouncier. I’m not sure it offers the 1% energy return that Adidas claims, but it’s impressively springy and lends the shoe a fast feel. I ran outdoors in cold weather and the Boost material didn’t stiffen up like some other midsoles do in frigid temperatures. If only I were as unaffected by the cold as Boost foam!

The Bad

There’s a lot of bad.

1. Too firm forefoot. The Adios Boost seems like it was designed with heel strikers in mind. The 10.5 mm drop flies in the face of the 4-8 mm drops that are becoming more and more common. Not only is the heel stack height much higher than that of the forefoot, but the Boost foam gets awfully thin at the forefoot and there is absolutely no Boost foam at the front inch of the toe of the shoe. How exactly are we supposed to get energy return from this magical midsole flubber at toe off if there’s none of the material in the toe area? Land on your heel and the Boost foam can do its job, but land anywhere north of there and you’re on your own. During the time I was putting the initial 60 miles in on this shoe I was doing a lot of treadmill running due to extreme cold and that treadmill running caused me to develop a shorter stride and more of a midfoot/forefoot strike, so the firm forefoot was particularly noticeable to me. I grant that some of that firm feel may be desirable in a performance shoe/racing flat, which the Adios Boost reasonably could be considered, but the firm feel isn’t consistent throughout the shoe since the heel is so bouncy so I tend to think that a firm feel wasn’t what the shoes designers were going for.

2. The lacing system is a nightmare. Okay, maybe I’m being dramatic here, but this lacing system sucks. I always double knot my running shoes since I don’t want to have to stop to retie my shoes during a run, especially during a race (I once ran the last five or so miles of a half marathon with one shoe untied because I was that determined to not stop to tie it). I’ve never found it so inconvenient to take the extra moment to untie a double knot to get my shoes off that I’ll complain about laces that don’t stay tied with single knots. Some people do that. I’m not one of those people. My gripe with the laces here isn’t that they’re too long (they are) or that they don’t stay tied (like I said, I do double knots so this isn’t an issue for me — come undone from double knots and we’ll have a problem), but that they get caught in the notches in between the eyelets. Every. Single. Time. The laces are supposed to lay over the eyelet tabs, that’s the only way they’ll pull tighter/looser as you adjust the shoe when you step into it. However, invariably the lace loops slide between each eyelet tab into the notch of no return, from which they have to be individually plucked out in order to adjust the shoe. This is a pain and seems like it could’ve been avoided by eliminating the tab+notch design of the lacing system.

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3. Sloppy fit. The lacing system is really a pain because I always have to adjust the fit of the shoe when I put it on because I can’t seem to get a decent lockdown. I’ll pull the laces so tight that the upper puckers at the toe and I’ll still feel like I’m not locked in enough. Not only is the toe pucker a bad look, but feeling loosey goosey in the forefoot in a performance-oriented shoe is unacceptable. The upper puckering started after about 30 miles in these shoes, so I have to wonder if I somehow stretched out the upper which then forced me to have to lace the shoes tighter and tighter.

4. Not flexible enough. I found that I was able to bend the forefoot of the Adios Boost manually, but it only bends in one place and it feels like I’m breaking the shoe when I do it. The layer of firm midsole material that sits above the Boost foam (or directly above the Continental rubber outsole if we’re talking about the toe area) coupled with the lack of flex grooves in the forefoot make this shoe very inflexible. That inflexibility along with the swim my forefoot actually led me to stumble and catch my toes on uneven surfaces while walking. Not even running. Walking. Not a great choice for confident outdoor running on anything but the smoothest of roads.

5. Only built to go fast. Here’s where I got the Corvette simile. I took the Adios Boost out for a couple of runs on snowy, icy sidewalks in DC. There is a statute on the books requiring residents to shovel their sidewalks within a reasonable amount of time (either 24 or 48 hours), but that doesn’t mean that people do it. I had to slow way down to traverse some particularly treacherous sidewalks and these shoes made what was already turning into a bummer of a run feel like a slog. 9:00/mile is about as slow as these shoes are willing to go happily. Any slower than that and they just start to magnify that slowness and make it feel like a death march. Exactly how they do this is hard to explain, but trust me when I say that you don’t want to find out what I mean.

6. Ugly. I can deal with the purple and pink of the upper even though it looks like a box of Nerds exploded all over my shoes on Valentines Day, but why exactly did the classic Adidas stripes have to be silver? The silver doesn’t match, doesn’t even go, and it doesn’t look good.

By the Numbers

Fit: 4/10 (At least my heel didn’t slide around)

Performance: 7/10 (They are indeed fast and the Boost is bouncy.)

Feel: 7/10 (Pretty comfy, but nothing to write home about.)

Looks: 5/10 (They’re loud, I’ll give them that.)

Overall: 6/10

I like the Boost foam enough that I’d consider trying it in a different model, maybe the Glide Boost at some point, but despite being the the shoe of choice for the top finisher at the 2013 New York Marathon, the Adios Boost is not a winner for me.

Clif Shot Bloks Review

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I discovered Clif Shot Bloks by accident. At packet pickup for the 2013 Flying Pig Marathon attendees were herded through the entire expo before being allowed to exit. Like the little sheep that we all turn into in a crowd, I did what those in front of me did, so when people popped energy chew samples into their mouths, I popped energy chew samples into their mouths. (Don’t do this the day before your race. Especially if it’s a marathon. Just as you shouldn’t mess with new clothing *cough* like the race t-shirt *cough* immediately prior to or during an event, you shouldn’t try new food if you can possibly help it. I have kind of delicate digestion on a good day, so this was particularly not smart of me. Do as I say not as I do!) I particularly enjoyed some large (maybe 75% of the size of a standard domino), dark chews that had a non-sticky feel to them in addition to good texture and taste. After the race I took the plunge and bought a box of Black Cherry Clif Shot Bloks from Amazon. Well, whatever those chews were at the expo, they weren’t Clif Shot Bloks. If I can find those, cool, but I’m really not too worried about it, since Clif Shot Bloks are freaking great. How’s that for serendipity?

I’ve tried three flavors of Clif Shot Bloks: Tropical Punch, Cran-Razz, and Black Cherry. They all taste delicious, and not in a ‘maybe I can choke this down with a lot of water so I don’t keel over during my race’ way. More like a ‘somebody should probably hide these so I stop eating them’ way. These mostly organic chews have the texture of fresh gummy bears and a mildly sweet taste – no punch of sugar here. You’ll still feel like you’re eating candy, but you know, healthy mostly organic candy. With caffeine.

Each six-chew pack contains two 100-calorie servings. The packs aren’t re-sealable, so the two serving gimmick is probably just to calm the squawking of dieters or food regulators. Make no mistake: if you’re fueling up for a run, you probably shouldn’t be trying to cut calories. Calories are fuel. Cut sugar or fat (or don’t cut fat, if you’re into that Vespa stuff, you hardcore ultrarunner/paleo dieter, you), but certainly don’t look to cut calories when you’re after fuel.

The tea-derived caffeine concentration varies across the flavors of Clif Shot Bloks. Some varieties contain extra sodium and no caffeine. Here’s the breakdown of the flavors I’ve tried:

Black Cherry: 50 mg caffeine/serving (equivalent to ~1 cup of coffee), 70 mg sodium/serving, 20 mg potassium/serving (3 chews); 100 mg caffeine/package (equivalent to ~2 cups of coffee), 140 mg sodium/package, 40 mg potassium/package (6 chews)

Tropical Punch: 25 mg caffeine/serving (equivalent to ~0.5 cup of coffee), 70 mg sodium/serving, 20 mg potassium/serving (3 chews); 50 mg caffeine/package (equivalent to ~1 cup of coffee), 140 mg sodium/package, 40 mg potassium/package (6 chews)

Cran-Razz: 0 mg caffeine/serving, 70 mg sodium/serving, 20 mg potassium/serving (3 chews); 0 mg caffeine/package, 140 mg sodium/package, 40 mg potassium/package (6 chews)

Of these flavors, I’ve only had multiple boxes of the Black Cherry flavor, probably four or five boxes at this point. One box each of the Tropical Punch and the Cran-Razz. The Tropical Punch flavor tastes a lot like Gushers to me, a nostalgic plus and a far cry from the vaguely medicinal taste of a lot of other fruit punch flavored products out there. I tried it since I was seeking a lower caffeinated option that still contained some caffeine. I was thrilled with the taste, and really pleased that the chews aren’t blue! Despite the blue packaging, the chews are red, phew. They’re currently my favorite, with the Black Cherry a close second. Cran-Razz is tasty and tangy, but doesn’t really pack a caffeine punch.

How I Use Clif Shot Bloks:

Most week days I’ll wake up sometime between 3:00 am and 6:00 am to run. I like to have a snack, let my stomach settle, hydrate, read a book a bit, do some chin-ups and push-ups, and use the bathroom before I lace up. Clif Shot Bloks have become my go-to pre-run snack at that time since they help me shake off the morning cobwebs. I eat the whole package even if I’m only planning to run four miles. (I try to run no fewer than four miles. When it’s cold, if I’m going to bother taking the 15+ minutes necessary to bundle up, I’ve got to run for a while. Ditto with the treadmill — if I’m going to suffer, I might as well suffer a lot.)

During a weekend long run (10-20+ miles) I’ll carry two packs with me and eat them during the run for a boost of energy. The packages are easy to open while running, so it’s not necessary to stop, however I haven’t mastered the technique of opening only the top of the package and squeezing out one Shot Blok at a time that’s recommended on the box. Too advanced for me. As long as I can run with the product without dropping it everywhere while trying to open it, then I’m happy.

I don’t need to take a swig of water to wash down a Shot Blok – they easy to chew and don’t get stuck in my teeth since they aren’t overly sticky or too soft. Word to the wise: they are heat/cold sensitive in that they’ll firm up in the cold and they’ll get softer if carried close to the body during a run, but they have never once melted or lost their shape for me. I don’t really have the patience to suck on a Shot Blok until it dissolves, so if you like keeping a chew in your mouth for moisture during a run, these will last plenty long enough for you. It’s easy to run with the slim package in one hand if you don’t want to eat them quickly or risk putting the non-re-sealable package back in your pocket.

Two Caveats:

1. I’m not a coffee drinker and I’ve gone from being a daily soda drinker to an almost-never soda drinker, so the caffeine has a noticeable effect for me. When I first started with Black Cherry Clif Shot Bloks I noticed a diuretic effect from the caffeine. That’s gone away with time, but keep in mind your caffeine tolerance and overall caffeine intake when considering these.

2. Occasionally when I bite down on a Shot Blok I feel like I’ve bitten down on a piece of grit, sand, or a seed particle. I don’t know if this is some artifact from all of the natural goodness that goes in to Clif Shot Bloks, but biting down on something that makes a crunch sound when I’m expecting pure gummy texture is unnerving, not unlike finding a bit of shell in scrambled eggs or in a crabcake. Kind of ruins the experience. The funny thing is that I’ve never been able to isolate the gritty bit in my mouth, so it may be a piece of undissolved sugar that quickly dissolves once in my mouth. Smaller, slower bites seem to mitigate this occasional issue.

By the Numbers:

Black Cherry Clif Shot Bloks

Taste: 10/10

Texture: 9/10

Packaging: 7/10 (I’d love 3-piece packs or re-sealable packaging)

Energy Boost: 10/10 (Sometimes I feel like a Fast & Furious car with the nitro engaged – the boost can be a bit much for me if I do something stupid like eat a whole pack and follow it up with a Clif Bar that also contains caffeine, but it is as advertised, so I can’t in good faith dock any points here.)

Overall: 9/10

Tropical Punch Clif Shot Bloks

Taste: 10/10

Texture: 9/10

Packaging: 7/10

Energy Boost: 10/10 (half-caffeine is enough for me)

Overall: 9/10

Cran-Razz Clif Shot Bloks

Taste: 10/10

Texture: 9/10

Packaging: 7/10

Energy Boost: 6/10 (I prefer some caffeine)

Overall: 8/10