New Kicks!

Ok, so ignoring the fact that Megan and I have been the worst bloggers ever recently (hey, life gets busy!)... 

I got new running shoes!!

But I'm very excited to tell you guys about the process.  I went to a local running store,Pacers Running Store in DC, after talking to a woman about her awesome kicks at the grocery store-totally random, I know, but I love chatting with people.  She gets all of her shoes there, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I had heard other good things about Pacers, actually one of my friends is training for the Marine Corps Marathon with them, but wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money on new shoes.  Let me tell you though, after the whole experience of buying there I won't ever buy athletic shoes from a regular store again.  


So I get to the store after work and walking in I was a bit overwhelmed to say the least.  A few moments after standing looking baffled an associate noticed I needed a ton of help-remember I have "special" feet.  So we started chatting, mentioned that I'm training for a half marathon (Disney Princess 2012!!) and maybe one or two other races before hand.  

I give him the rundown about my feet, what *think* I need, and that I have inserts that I'd like to try on with the shoes.  So we start off with some a pair of Adidas that I'm a big fan of, but I felt like I was swimming in them.  He shows me over to a treadmill that I get on and it has a flat screen in front of it with a camera mounted at the end of the belt.  It records your steps and slows down each stride.  I needed a shoe that was more stable, I over rotate to the inside of my ankle.  

He brings out about 5 more pairs, apparently my heel is pretty narrow- so he's looking for shoes that are wide at the toes, and narrow at the heels.  This guy knows his shoes, very impressive.  We talked about Vibrams, the new barefoot trend in shoes and races.  He knows his stuff.  So I get back on the treadmill with a few more shoes, some of them feel pretty good, others are just alright, some feel plain right huge on me.  I ended up wearing a different shoe on each feet because I have no idea which one I like more.  I hop back on the treadmill and see which I like better.  Between the Brooks and the Saucony, the Saucony won.  I really like the way the were snug and he even tied my laces in some crazy special way to make it tighter around my heel! 

I highly recommend visiting a local running store, if you have one.  These stores know pretty much all there is to know about shoes, sure you may pay a bit more than at a department or sporting goods store, but you're going to get excellent service and leave with the "right" pair of shoes!


~Cassi

Feet Accessories Part 1

Unfortunately, though like many runners, I fall into the special needs category when it comes to my feet.  I have bunions thanks to my loving grandmother, as they are genetic, therefore I have very special feet.  I first noticed my bunions when I was in 6th grade at a lock-in. My friend asked what was wrong with my feet, I had no idea there was anything wrong with them!  Blew my mind.


Obviously your feet are pretty important when it comes to running.  So I recently visited my podiatrist to have him check me out, give me the go ahead to keep running, and see if I needed any surgery.  Luckily my doctor isn't one to slice open his patients!  He said that the decision was completely up to me and that I should think long and hard about it.  While I would love to not be in pain and have to stop running to take care of my toe, I'd rather not be out of commission for almost a year which is how long it'd take to recover after back to back surgeries.

While I was at his office, I also wanted the doctor to make sure that some inserts that I purchased at the Disney Princess expo were a good fit for me.  Turns out they are great!  Which was what I was hoping expecting to hear (The inserts certainly weren't cheap, so I was hoping I made a good purchase).   

During the expo, Megan and I were walking around and found a booth by ALINE, a company that claims to make "The World's Most Advanced Insole", which of course I was skeptical of, but they offered to fit me for free, so I thought I'd try it out.

The man fitting me had me stand on a platform and place my feet in front of 2 lasers.  The purpose of the lasers were to show how you stood, and I had no idea, but I stand bow legged. Good to know, I guess. They then turned off the lasers, gave me a trial pair of inserts in my size to stand on and flipped the switch, my legs were no longer bowed and I was standing straight. My ankles were directly below my knees and my knees were directly below my hips!  They did have to add an extra boost to the one side over the other to get my correctly aligned.  




Now I know you aren't supposed to wear something you've never run in for a race, but these inserts were wonderful! (Thank goodness.  No one wants to chuck expensive gear during a race because it's causing pain.)  I wore them during the race and had no shin splints or any other pains, you know, besides being exhausted after running 13.1 miles.  

I highly recommend visiting a podiatrist  if you're experiencing any foot pain while you run, it's important to get it correctly or at least addresses before it results in an injury.


~Cassi

Recovery starts even before you run!

Last week my local running store held a free recovery clinic to try out some products geared solely for helping you to recover from your long runs/races faster.  I have some knee issues and I'm usually sufficiently sore after my long runs, so I figured this would be right up my alley.  I personally think the best thing you can do is to educate yourself, never assume you know everything, because you probably don't.  I also plan to run as long as I can and a way to insure that is to learn how I can stay injury free and recover faster.

I was pretty surprised that there were only a handful of us in attendance.  There were mostly guys and the only two women.  Maybe the date/time wasn't convenient for most?  Who knows.  Anywho, there were three vendor representatives there: Arctic Ease, CEP, and Skins - I'll give you a quick rundown (oh yeah, pun intended) on each.

Arctic Ease - This is a completely new product to the market that aims to solve the mobility and safety issues that result from icing post-run.

(Okay, let me backup just a second to cover why you need to ice, because this was new to me too, though complete common sense.  When you run, or exercise in general, you're creating microscopic tears in your muscles which usually results in soreness and/or swelling.  If you ice post-run you reduce the amount of swelling and soreness.)



Where Arctic Ease differs is that the product, basically a cold ace bandage stays at 59 degrees, cold enough to promote the same benefits as icing, not cold enough to induce frostbite (if you do ice with actual ice, please please follow the 20 on/off guidelines!)  What's really cool about Arctic Ease is that you don't have to refrigerate it, it's cold right out of the bag and it's reusable you just add a little bit of water and reseal the bag.  (I'm already thinking about Disney Princess Half for 2012 and this is a travel-friendly product for sure!)  I scored a couple of free samples from the vendor rep and will definitely be picking some full-size product up during the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo next month.


CEP Compression - Next up was compression socks and no these aren't your grandmother's medical compression socks, though they are made by a company with experience in medical-grade compression. The fit is something you have to get used to: the foot is like a standard sock (only there's one specifically made for each of your feet so pay attention to the L and R when putting them on!), only compression starts at the ankle, where it's the tightest and loosens up as it goes up the calf.  CEP sizes based on your calf size, rather than shoe size, to ensure the proper amount of compression.  It's kind of like Golidlocks, too much and too little are not going to be beneficial, you really need it "just right" to get the full benefits.

(Okay, time for another interjection on the benefits of compression.  Thanks to gravity, when you're upright, either standing or sitting, blood tends to pool more towards your feet and ankles.  When you're running you're breaking lots of red blood cells in your feet and with poor circulation, that waste stays in your legs and feet. Sounds pleasant, right? Compression socks help to aid the blood flow and move that waste out of your legs faster, helping to alleviate or minimize soreness.)

Compression socks (well all compression apparel, really) can be worn before, during, and after a running event.  The CEP rep recommended wearing these socks before your run especially if you're traveling a long distance to your race by car or by air.  Wearing these during a race is a matter of preference, apparently.  Some people like the added muscle support that they provide, while others find them too warm to run in.  After the race, it is really recommended that you slip into these and wear them for a few hours to help your circulation.
 
The CEP socks are extremely lightweight and comfortable.  I couldn't help myself but to buy a pair of the super bright pink ones!  I absolutely love them;, I put them on after a run in my FiveFingers that really worked my calves and I had no soreness at all the next day.  Now, these socks aren't exactly cheap, but they really are worth it.  If you wear them every day you can expect them to last around 6 months, I'm hoping to get about a year out of them, but will probably pick up another pair, maybe the sleeves to wear with my FF!, at the Pitt Marathon Expo.


Skins - Continuing with the compression theme, skins produces compression apparel, including shirts, capris and tights.  This company makes both an active (during the race) and a recovery (after the race) line.  Now, I had a hard time imagining slipping in a full head-to-toe compression outfit after running a race.  Personally, all I want to do is take a shower and get into the baggiest clothes I can find.  Right now, Skins are a little out of my price range, but after trying compression socks I can see how they could be very beneficial.  Maybe I'll try them in the future.


I definitely thought the clinic was a worthwhile investment of time and I highly recommend that any runner attend one near you or at least do some more research on running recovery. I certainly learned a lot and I'm going to try the icing trick after my next long run/race, though I'm shivering just thinking about it!

~Megan

FiveFingers Friday: Things. Are. Going. Slow.

(Okay, so it's Saturday... things were a bit busy yesterday, so please forgive me!)

First of all, if you know me, you know that I struggle with both my patience and my stubbornness.  I always want to push further, faster, harder, than I probably should; sometimes it gets me into trouble and I end up with an injury.

Well, my goal with FiveFinger training has been to. take. it. sloooooooooooooow.  (I think I've gotten somewhat wiser with age...) But, it hasn't been easy, let me tell you.  Vibram recommends not running on two consecutive days and starting with just 10% of your mileage.  Since I've been back from Disney, I've been running 3-5 miles for my workouts- 10% of that is a half a mile!  It's frustrating to think of driving to the trail to run half a mile only to either drive back home or run back to the car to change shoes, so I've been getting most of my runs in on the dreadmill.  (Yes, mine is by far a dreadmill.  It's in a small room in the basement with no windows and nothing to look at other than taupe walls!!! I seriously need a tv down there or something!) I wanted so badly to just put them on an run like normal!  I know that taking it slow is better in the long run, especially if I want to continue running in general. 

Last night the weather was beautiful so I took the invitation to get out on the trail and really break in my new kicks.  I ran a 10 minute mile in the FiveFingers, without too much issue, but decided not to push it too much, so I ran another half a mile before walking for a bit.  I finished running a short sprint and I'll admit, i've never run sprints on my forefeet before, but it felt great.

I came home and slipped into my new CEP compression socks (in bright pink!).  The compression is supposed to help with circulation and lactic acid build-up.  Since the FiveFingers work your calf muscles a lot, especially during sprints, I thought it would be a good idea to try and ward off any pain in advance. I can honestly say that my legs feel great this morning! So it looks like the CEP socks were a great investment (they aren't cheap, that's for sure!)

It's still slow going with my training but I'm sure it will get better. I have a four mile run next weekend in preparation for the Pittsburgh Marathon.  I'm currently slated for the 1st leg of our 5 person relay team, but one of our members injured her knee and may not be able to run, so who actually knows what I'll end up running. I'm also running a 5k with my boyfriend the morning before the marathon, maybe I'll be up to 3 miles in my FiveFingers by then.  Time will tell...

~Megan

FiveFingers Friday: Training begins!

Yes, I bought a pair of those creepy feet gloves, the Vibram FiveFingers - Bikila LS model to be exact.  You may or may not have seen them, and although they’ve been around for years they’ve only recently become mainstream popular.  Well, every Friday (at least I’ll attempt every Friday) I will update you on my FiveFinger training progress in a fun feature called, you guessed it, FiveFinger Friday!  

So, I had looked into these shoes for a while before buying them and the last push really came from running at Disney, there were quite a number of people using them.  Not only that, but when you’re wearing your medal home on the plane it sparks quite a few conversations, yes that was partially intentional.  While waiting to pick up our bags plane-side after the flight from DC to Pitt, I was talking with two runners who swear by FiveFingers.  The one guy said he had nothing but knee pain and plantar fasciitis when he would run, until he switched to these funky shoes.  That was really all I needed to hear- I have sometimes severe knee pain, the result of many years of dancing.   So, I picked up my pair at REI during their 20% off member's sale, yay!

I couldn't get home fast enough, I just had to try them out.  The moment I got in the door I put them on and started up the treadmill.  I didn't run very long, I was just curious to see how they felt. These shoes force you to change your running form, stride and all, which makes your body work different muscles.  Instead of heel striking you land more forward on your foot, which limits the impact to your knees, definitely a plus for me!  When you push off you end up rolling through the ball of your foot and using your toes more.  It’s a change that you’ll notice when you’re running, but it feels more natural and fluid.  

I’ve been told by several people to use these shoes as a training aid and not a full replacement for my regular running shoes, so I plan to heed that advice.  You also need to work into them slowly.  Vibram recommends not running 2 days back to back when you're starting out and to run only 10% of your normal mileage, if that.  I decided that on Wednesday I'd wear them for a portion of my run and then switch shoes.  I ran for about 10 minutes in the Bikilas, I didn't want to push it and risk any injury.  I was over-thinking my form for a few minutes, granted on a treadmill your form is skewed anyway, so I took a few deep breaths and just ran as my body intended. My form self-corrected and everything felt great, despite the minimal footbed, the Bikila LS has great support for my high arches.

I plan to put some more mileage on them this weekend hopefully outside if the weather continues to cooperate (we went from torrential rain mid 40's, the low 30's and snow, to mid 50's this week, Mother Nature has a serious problem with her sense of humor!).  Check back next week to see how it goes!

~Megan