Gear Review: The Stick vs. OPTP Foam Roller

 

VS.

  

The Stick and the OPTP Foam Roller are two of the more common massage tools used by athletes. For the purposes of this review, I will be reviewing the Travel Stick and the OPTP AXIS Roller Black.

Running Playlist

The big news today is the new Boston qualifying standards. Kudos to the B.A.A. for taking action so that there's not a repeat of 2010 in the future. I think rolling registration is the fairest way to go. I know a lot of people are upset about the standards being tightened, to which I say, train harder! It'll make you a better runner, I promise. Anyway, I've ranted on marathons enough in my last post, so I'll refrain from commenting any further on the Boston situation.

I feel like I wrote a lot of heavy stuff lately, and I feel like putting up something fun.

Marathon Training and the Long Run

If you're reading this blog, you no doubt know that we're approaching marathon season. The Mardi Gras Marathon and Half was last weekend (Molly Pritz, rockstar that she is, rocked the half in 1:11:05 to take second overall female! And to make me look unbiased, Kim Smith ran the fastest half by a woman on US soil, winning in 1:07:36), and the training for most people who are running a spring marathon is now underway.

Gear Review: P90X Final Thoughts

You may remember that a month ago, I wrote up a review of P90X. Well, I've finished the 90 days, and figured I would give some final thoughts on the program, as well as a few pictures of my results.

Focus

Yesterday, I did a quality two hour trainer workout. As a grad student, I felt obliged to try to get some studying in during the workout. This was no problem during the warmup and some of the early steady state stuff. But as soon as the tempo and power intervals started, I found my focus changing to the workout itself. It was unconscious, and every time I tried to refocus on anatomy, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the rotator cuff and its innervation, within two seconds my mind was back to the workout, either monitoring cues from my body or focusing on my cadence and power.

Gear Review: Cold Weather Gear

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Grad school has started and that means all of my time is now being taken up by working out and just plain working.

The Northeast (and no doubt several other places in the northern hemisphere) was just hit with a crazy cold snap. Today wasn't so bad, but yesterday, the mercury was at -10 degrees Fahrenheit when I walked out to my car. Not a huge deal for me since I'm still trainer-ing it up, but many of you are probably still out there gutting it out. Having lived in the Northeast most of my life, and having spent two years in Colorado, I'm no stranger to cold running conditions (for the record, Northeast Pennsylvania has far worse weather than the Front Range). I'm sure some of you Canucks are laughing at me right now, but whatever, my intentions are not to get into a pissing contest, but rather to give you some ideas of clothes to wear.

How to Choose the Right Running Shoe

NOTE: I will leave this post up for completeness's sake, but there is some outdated material in here (It's from January 2011!). Fair warning. ;)

When you walk into a running store, you're surrounded by walls of shoes. However, not every shoe on that wall is going to work for you and keep you healthy. What shoe you require is dictated by your biomechanics, with the primary determinant being how much you pronate, or how much your foot rolls inward when it is in contact with the ground. Pronation isn't inherently evil, as it's your foot's natural cushioning mechanism. However, overpronation, or excessive inward roll, can cause injury problems if left uncorrected. Many runners display some degree of overpronation, though the degree varies by runner. On the other side of the spectrum is supination, also called under-pronation, which is when the foot doesn't roll enough and is unable to adequately cushion itself, which can stress the foot. Actual supination is fairly uncommon, and only around 10% of runners supinate.

Running shoes fall into three main categories: neutral, stability, and motion control. Neutral shoes are named as such because they have little to no stability features, though they do have good midsole cushioning. Neutral shoes are sometimes just called "cushioned shoes," though this name is misleading, since all three types of shoes provide cushioning. They are best suited for neutral pronators, who pronate ideally and need no stability features built into the shoe to control their foot motion, and for supinators, whose feet do not pronate enough to properly cushion their footstrike and require cushioning without stability features. Stability shoes usually have some type of medial post to provide stability, as well as good midsole cushioning. They are best suited for low to moderate overpronators, who could use some support to keep their foot from rolling inward too soon. The majority of runners do best in a stability shoe. Motion control shoes offer the greatest stability features, with higher density midsoles, extra medial support, and maximum heel counter control, and are often built on straight lasts with wide outsoles. They are best suited for severe overpronators or heavier moderate pronators. Other types of shoes (lightweight trainers, racing flats, etc) exist, but for the purposes of this post, only training shoes will be discussed (and flats and lightweight trainers fall into other categories anyway, e.g. Brooks T6 is a neutral flat while the Brooks Racer ST is a stability flat, and the Asics Speedstar is a neutral performance trainer while the Asics DS Trainer is a stability performance trainer).