Gear Review: Daniels' Running Formula

Say the name "Jack Daniels" to any serious runner, and they'll assume you're talking about the world-renowned coach and exercise physiologist, not the whiskey. While Daniels himself is only able to coach a limited number of athletes, he has written a book to make his training philosophy available to world. I've read a lot of running books, yet one of my absolute favorites is Daniels' Running Formula.

Molly Pritz is the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion!

Molly Pritz, of the Hansons Brooks Distance Project, won the Fifth Third River Bank Run in 1:25:38 to become the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion! And just in case this isn't impressive enough, she just did it at 23 years old. Expect big things from this girl in the future. Check out the interview on Runnerspace.

Sorry for the long deadspace between updates. End of the semester = exam week and other craziness. I have a good one in the works, just have to proofread it.

Carbo-Loading

With marathon season underway, there are surely several nutrition questions running through people's minds. "What should I eat the day before the race?" "What should I eat the morning of the race?" "Should I alter my morning routine at all?" "Should I do a carbo-load?" "What is a carbo-load?" Et cetera. Nutrition is a big topic that's impossible to cover in one blog post (or even one blog!), but in this post, I'll attempt to explain carbohydrate loading.

Inherent Stability in Shoes and the Myth of the Purely Neutral Shoe

I often hear people saying that they are neutral runners, and so they can't tolerate any stability whatsoever in their shoes. Instead, they insist they need a purely neutral shoe with absolutely no stability features. Then they go buy a shoe like the Brooks Ghost 3 and say they bought the most neutral shoe they were able to find. If that shoe's as neutral as you get, I wonder what they would say if they tried on the Saucony Kinvara, Nike Free, or, God forbid, the Vibram FiveFingers (just kidding, VFF fans). Even a shoe like the Nike Pegasus is a small step down in stability. Don't get me wrong, the Ghost is a fine shoe, and it's one of the more neutral trainers in Brooks' line, but it's certainly not the most neutral shoe out there.

Gear Review: Nike Free

I've recently rediscovered a pair of shoes that had made their way to the back of my closet to be ignored and forgotten (and there are quite a few shoes for them to be buried beneath). That would be the Nike Free, more specifically, the Nike Free 5.0 V3. The 5.0 has since been replaced by the Nike Free Run+, and more recently, the Nike Free Run+ 2. A couple changes have been made to the flex grooves to make the Run marginally more flexible, and the upper is actually pretty attractive now, but for all intents and purposes, the 5.0 and the Run are the same shoe.

Crazy times at Boston

Holy s*** Desi Davila second overall in 2:22:38! That's almost a four minute PR from her time in Chicago last year, and is the third best time run by an American woman. Deena Kastor has the AR of 2:19:36 from London '06, and Joan Benoit Samuelson ran 2:21:21 at Chicago '85.

Neutral Pronation vs. Overpronation vs. Supination Explained

In a previous post on running shoe selection, I briefly went over foot mechanics. However, it's come to my attention that a number of people don't truly understand the concept, and it's no wonder given the wealth of bad and/or oversimplified information out there (Runner's World, I'm looking at you). People aren't stupid. They don't want the watered down version that says to do a wet footprint test and buy your shoes based on that, because 90% of the time, the oversimplified version doesn't even work. They want to be able to make an informed decision and buy the right shoes. For example, high arches and a lateral wear pattern (wear on the outside of the shoe) doesn't necessarily equate to supination. High arches can contribute to supination, but they are not the only factor. And lateral wear pattern can be caused by supination...or it can be caused by forcing yourself to run unnaturally on the outside of your feet to minimize pain caused by wearing the wrong shoes (a forced and unnatural gait that will almost certainly result in injury).