You Kids and Your Neon Shoes

They tried to sell me these.

In my recent shopping trip for shoes, I was amazed at the array of rainbow colors that I did not want. It was actually hard to find shoes that didn't look like a night light. Even the shoes I ended up with had green neon lining and accents.

You kids today and your neon shoes! Back in my day shoes came in red, white, or blue, and we liked it.

And stay off my lawn.

Asics GT Lime and Red? No thanks.

Swimmer, biker, runner, and kangaroo silhouettes!

It's Gotta Be the Shoes!

One of these things is not like the others.

After four years of running in the Asics 2100 series (from GT-2140 to GT-2170, and everything in between, including the Trail model), I decided to head to Pacers, go through another analysis, and try something new. I wanted to go a little more minimal and with a little less heel-to-toe drop.

Ended up dropping 1.4 ounces off the newest GT-2000 model, settling on the Saucony ProGrid Guide 6. It's a nice shoe with really good heel to midfoot transition and it seems a bit less clunky than the GT-2000.

We'll see how they roll before I pick up some more.

Snow Day!

I'd love to say something clever like "I run in the snow because my competitors don't," but forget that, I did it because it looked really fun out the window this morning. I wish I was an extra month or two into my base mileage, because it would've been a blast to run a seven-mile loop around Great Falls today. But as it was I just turned a few miles around on the W&OD bridle trail.

Perfect conditions out there, hovering around freezing and no refreeze to cause ice. Some crunchy snow and even a little sun. It looked so nice I packed my ultra compact camera for the run (a first), so I figured I'd share a few photos.

I love snow days.

Running along the paved portion of the W&OD.

Off roading on the bridle trail outside Vienna.

The First Mile of 2013!

After taking four weeks off to get over some inflammation in my left knee, I'm officially on the board for 2013. Ran just one mile on Saturday and two miles on Sunday, and still dealing with tightness and inflammation in my knee. But I'm trying to be as consistent as possible with the ice and see if I can't push through this.

Either way, I'm on the board!

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine set-up, complete
with flywheel, resistance unit, and roller.

Between taking time off running to recover from 2012 and having no time due to the baby, I found this winter to be the time to add an indoor training option to keep up my aerobic fitness. I ended up settling on the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, an indoor cycle trainer that uses "thermodynamically neutral silicone resistance fluid" in a seal chamber with a magnetically coupled drive shaft...; long story short, it's a smooth, quiet ride with automatic resistance that changes as you shift gears and speed. Fluid trainers give consistent resistance at all temperatures, and the 6.25-pound flywheel gives a pretty realistic feel when both hammering and coasting.

Set-up was easy, and had it assembled in no time. I paired it with a Kinetic fixed riser ring for the front wheel, and a generic equipment mat and sweat net.

To avoid boredom spinning in one place, I've been doing Flying 40 intervals. They consist of 40 seconds of hard pedaling (100+ cadence) in a middle gear followed by 20 seconds of recovery, completed 10 times for one set, and repeated for four sets with five minute recovery periods. I end up with a hard one-hour workout that really ramps up my heart rate.

Complete set-up in my "pain cave" corner of the basement.

  

Cranking out some intervals.

Ultra, Ultra, Ultra Marathon 401k?