Shoes, shoes and more shoes

Since starting this blog I haven’t had the time to give my opinion on some of the products that I use or have used in the past, but in the future I hope to have time to write about everything from bikes, apparel, and race day nutrition, but today I want to focus on footwear.

A shoe is a shoe right? For the once a week jogger or the occasional 5k race this might hold true, but when you combine intense training with highly competitive races the need for proper footwear becomes critical. My background is in basketball and if someone were to tell me that all basketball shoes are the same I would laugh them out of the gym. After years of spending a tremendous amount of time on the basketball court wearing the right basketball shoe was a necessity. I tried every brand you could think of and then even within a certain brand I tried several different models before I decided what worked best for me. So it should come as a surprise that when I started training and competing in triathlons I thought that a running shoe was a running shoe. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

When I first started training I made several mistakes in preparing for the run portions of a race. First on that list was over training and not listening to my body. The second mistake was running in a $150 pair of Nike’s that must have been designed for looking good in a music video and not for putting 30-40 miles a week on. After several painful months that completely drained my will from wanting to run I went into Up and Running, a local running store, for some help. After speaking with them about what I was doing and what I wanted to do I was guided toward a pair of New Balance 1225s. I use this shoe to both train and race in and since purchase have put roughly 650 miles on them. I have since replaced them with the newer version the 1226s and couldn’t be happier. Both shoes weigh 12.7oz and have great stability. I wear a size 13 and have a narrow foot with long orangutan toes. I have always had trouble finding a pair of shoes that would fit length wise and not allow my foot to shift from side to side. The New Balance have been great, but after watching more and more top performers I started to believe that I needed not only great training shoes, but a separate pair of racing shoes. How I came to this conclusion was simple….experience.

After competing in a full season of triathlons and reading everything from magazines to blogs it became apparent that a lighter pair of race shoes could dramatically make a difference in how fast I could run on race day. Race day shoes are typically light weight with limited cushion and stability and usually don’t last for more than a couple hundred miles if you are lucky. (For those of you out there that are just starting out a good pair of high mileage running shoes can be used for both training and racing no problem. But if you have reached a fitness level that has you looking to shave seconds instead of minutes off your race time, it is probably time to get that pair of race day shoes.) I did my due diligence and purchased a pair of KSWISS Kwickey Blade-Lights. They weigh 9ozs and I can really tell the difference between them and my training shoes. I have used them for several runs and have seen a 15-20 second improvement on my mile splits, but have to admit that they are too wide. I haven’t used them in a race yet, but look for that to change in the next couple weeks.

So that brings me to my next shoe that I’m super excited about trying on and using for races, the Spira Stinger XLT. Spira is the revolutionary shoe company from El Paso that developed Wave Spring technology and has made incredible shoes for over a decade. The Stinger XLT comes in at 9.2ozs and is supposed to have the durability to last a couple hundred miles. I have worn Spira shoes before and I’m always amazed at how comfortable they are and can’t wait to use the Stinger XLT for competition. You can find more information about Spira and the Stinger XLT at http://www.spirafootwear.com/index.php

Well that’s all I have for today, but let me know what shoes you race and train in. Also, as soon as I get my new Stinger XLT’s I’ll let you know how they perform.

Devastated..................................

 

Devastated, crushed, and embarrassed beyond belief. That pretty much describes my race today in Lubbock. So far this season I have made some pretty big strides in both speed and endurance and I had been training for today super hard for the past four weeks. I wanted to have a strong showing against a tough group of racers and get an idea of where I stand in the Tri community. Well if today was any indication I stand somewhere between the tile on the floor and the grout! The weather in Lubbock today was brutal! Water temperature started out at about 55 degrees and peaked at 57. Combine that with the 49-51 degree air temperature and you can get an idea how bad it was, but the good thing about tri’s is that everyone has to battle the elements and you can’t be a baby about it. I put on my wetsuit and eagerly awaited the start.

I made a few mistakes to begin with and one of them was not warming up in the water soon enough. Everyone was freezing and no one stepped into the water until about 15 minutes before the race started. I swam out and back about 100 meters and then spent the rest of the time messing around with my goggles which totally SUCK by the way! As soon as the gun sounded to start the race I entered the lake and began with a nice easy stroke. I didn’t want to get the heart pumping to fast, too soon. After about 50 meters I was having some trouble spotting and was probably 100 meters away from everyone else. Yep, I was the idiot that looked like he was competing in his on race off to the side! Once I corrected course I felt an incredible pain in my right calf. At first I thought I snapped my Achilles, but soon realized it was cramps. I tried to keep swimming, but my entire right leg was just dragging in the water and wasn’t getting any better. I made it to the side of the lake about 150 meters into the swim and tried to work out the cramp, but nothing was working. I told myself to take your time and just work the cramp out and then finish the swim in what ever time it took, but the cramp just didn’t go away. So my $400 weekend race (race fee, rental car, gas, hotel, food) lasted 5 minutes!!!!!!

To add insult to injury as I was limping back to the start, one of the race officials thought I was part of the sprint race that was about to start and began telling me that I need to hurry up and get ready for the swim L Oh ya that’s just what I needed.

One positive was that I did get to see Cody and John race and they both did a great job! Cody is getting faster every week and it reminds me why I need to work hard everyday. Not sure I will end up doing the 70.3 in June now. I just don’t have the confidence to get back in that lake. I have to admit that lake swims can be a little nerve racking and then when you have an experience where you can’t swim and you are struggling, it makes you not want to do it again.

Up Coming Race

I haven’t had a chance to blog much lately, but it has more to do with time than will. For the past three weeks I have been ramping up the training to get ready for the Buffman & Squeaky this weekend in Lubbock. Training has been going well and my body feels great. Ultimately, my training routine is to get me ready for the 70.3 in Lubbock at the end of June, but I’m at a point where the mileage that I’m doing is perfect preparation for the intermediate distance of Buffman & Squeaky.

One thing about endurance racing that I still have trouble accepting is the fact that you really can’t speed up the building of a base in your fitness level. A strong fitness base truly comes from several years of training. For someone like me that is just starting year two it can be very frustrating. There is nothing like someone telling you that if you keep it up in a few years you’ll be really fast! A couple years? Really? As I have slowly started to accept this fact it has made training more enjoyable and focused. I no longer train for the immediate results of this year’s races, but instead focus on how this base will allow me to start next year that much stronger. I must say though that I have made HUGE gains in speed this year over last year. Of course, a ton of credit goes to my new bike, but I have shaved more or less 12 minutes off my typical sprint times of a year ago. Twelve minutes is roughly a 20-30% improvement. I fully expect the gains to be smaller in the future, but it is very rewarding to improve by minutes and not seconds!

This weekend should be an interesting race and if I can make it out of the water under 25 minutes I should be able to finish with a strong bike and run. Speaking of the swim, I tried on my wetsuit last night and just think Halle Berry as cat women! I don’t get it, I am at least 5 pounds lighter than last year but the suit fits like it was painted on! I kept trying to get out of it as if I was racing and could not manage to do it without my tri shorts being pulled down every time! Hopefully the shorts don’t come down this weekend or I’ll be blogging from jail for indecent exposure!