Run to Win

Tyson Gay followed up his gold medal in the 100 meters with another gold in the 200 meter race yesterday in Osaka. Usain Bolt of Jamaica came on hard after a bad start, but Tyson Gay was able to keep a lead of about 2-hundredths of a second to win the goal.

Jeremy Wariner took in the gold in the 400 meter race as he led an American sweep despite being the last person off of the line. He ran a personal best 43.46 seconds, which is the fastest on a track so far this year. LaShawn Merritt and Angelo Taylor took the silver and bronze medals.

Run to Win was hacked this evening, but I caught it in less than an hour. I have installed a completely fresh install of the latest version of WordPress, and there does not seem to have been any access to any sensitive information. The site just got defaced. If you notice anything strange over the next couple of days, please let me know so that I can make sure that I update any plugins or fix up anything that isn’t quite right. Otherwise, we seem to be chugging right along as normal.

Tonight was the 16^th Back Cove Weekly 5k. The number of people who ran dropped off a bit from recent weeks, despite excellent running weather, but 58 people got to enjoy the race.

There are only 2 races left in the series, and I recommend getting out there for at least one of them. They will both be on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm over the next two weeks.

It came a bit late, but I finally implemented a feature that will allow you to look up a runner’s race history throughout the series. Just click on their name in the weekly results. I still need to update the series standings to also link to the history pages.

The standings for the race shoes is anything but decided on the men’s side, although Carol Fanning has a full 1 minute lead over Emily Hickey.

For the men, Blaine Moore (your ever-so-modest author!) is currently in the lead and has been for a few weeks now. For the past two weeks I have been running in the high 16-minute range, bringing my cumulative time down by over 3 minutes in the past 4 weeks. Unfortunately, with a 50k in a week and a half, my time is not likely to improve too much.

Scott Gorneau has moved into 2^nd place with his first week on the leader board, and he has a few slow races to drop off from early in the season now that he has the required 6 races under his belt. He is currently only a minute and a half back from taking first place.

Scott will have his work cut out for him, though, because Chris Gatchell is poised right now to win the entire thing despite not appearing on the leader board. He is required to run the last two races in order to be eligible for the year’s supply of shoes from Mizuno, but his average race time is only 1 second behind mine.

Eric Neutz is currently in 3^rd place. He led the leader board for most of the Summer, but he will have his work cut out for him to run fast races over the next two weeks now that his cross country season has started again. In fact, I think that it would be silly of him to try.

So, I hope to see any local readers next week or the week after for a last jaunt around the Boulevard in downtown Portland, Maine. Don’t forget that the Portland Trails “Trail to Ale” 10k is the weekend following the last race, and runs part of the race along the Back Cove 5k course.

Readers have been searching a little more frequently lately for things like running numbness and why does my foot go numb when I run, but the article that they are finding is about a numb hip during a weight lifting workout a few years ago. Here are some more relevant reasons that you may have a numb foot or leg during or after your runs. More importantly, here are some ways to avoid going numb in the first place.

If you are fine when you are running, but get numb legs or feet when you finish, then take note of what you do when you finish your run. When I was in high school, I would often head straight to the rest room when I got done running. The toilets were a little lower than they needed to be, and I was cutting off the circulation in my legs. My problem went away as soon as I started standing around for a few minutes after my run before sitting down anywhere, especially somewhere that involved creating less than a 90 degree angle with my legs.

Photo by CAZASCOIf your legs or feet go numb when you are running, then 90% of the time you will have one of two problems. The first cause for numb feet or legs is that you have your shoes laced too tightly. While it is possible that you are cutting off circulation at the ankle, the more likely problem comes from having the laces pulled too tightly near your toes. There is a blood vessel on the top of your foot that can be easily compressed.

Do not make your shoelaces too loose, though, because you will be more likely to trip or give yourselves blisters. What might be too tight one day may make for a perfect fit the next day, depending upon how swollen your feet are before and during your run. It is normal for your feet to swell up to a slightly larger size throughout the day, especially if you spend a lot of time on your feet. They can also swell up a little during a run.

The second cause for numb feet or legs has to do with your shoes. Do your shoes fit properly? Are they a half size or full size too small or too large? Are they new shoes or do they have a few miles on them? When you bought your shoes, did you have running socks with you and wait until later in the day to try the shoes on? Did you seek the help of an expert at a specialty running store?

Improperly fitting shoes can easily lead to numbness. They can cut off circulation and/or apply pressure at points on your foot that does not really work well with your specific biomechanics. You may not even feel any problems with your feet; biomechanical problems caused by your shoes can travel up your leg and manifest in your ankles, calves, or knees. Your biomechanics can change as you get into better (or worse) shape throughout an exercise program, especially if you experience a large weight change or change in body composition.

A third problem with numb legs may be related to trauma, but these reasons are far less likely than tight shoelaces or improperly fitting shoes. Jim Manatel had to stop running after he damaged a nerve during a run after overtraining his body and not stretching enough after his runs.

If numbness persists anywhere in your body for any length of time, you should visit your doctor and get the problem diagnosed. Like many illnesses or injuries, early treatment (or prevention) can save you a lot of pain and grief in the future.

Have you ever had any problems with numbness during your workouts? Has it only happened in isolated incidents, or have you had recurring problems? How did you solve your problems with numbness, or are you still suffering from them? Share your stories in the comments.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about training and media influences throughout the month of August. Scott writes about infomercials this week to finish the series.

Informercials are big business. There needs to be a very high sales ratio with an average cost of $500,000 to produce a product on top of marketing expenses. As such, there are often some less than ideal advertising claims that are made that are pretty ridiculous and which are not validated by any central authority. Scott includes a snippet from one such advertisement in the article.

Scott would like some changes made to make informercials a little more honest. He would like to see kids better educated about fitness at the primary school level so that they can better ascertain between a worthless product and one that will actually be worth using, he would like to see an end to payment plans for cheap products (which can increase the price that you pay by 30% or more) and he would like to see some sort of support for any medical claims made in the infomercials.

Of course, most infomercials that I have watched have a small disclaimer that states that the product works well when combined with diet and exercise. Just about anything that is not self-destructive will work well with diet and exercise no matter what your goals are, since you need the diet and exercise to reach those goals.

If you have any other suggestions for how to improve infomercials so that they are actually worth something, then leave a comment on the original article over at Straight to the Bar.

This morning got warm quite quickly with the humidity rising fast for the start of the Lewiston/Auburn 5k Bridge Run. 353 people decided that it would be a good idea to get out and run first thing in the morning, which is almost 60 people more than last year. The race begins on Riverside Street past the Rolodome on the Auburn side of the river, and loops back and forth over the bridges between Lewiston and Back.

The lead pack took the first mile between 5:00 and 5:05; the second mile was not accurately marked.

Ethan Hemphill (15:14) repeated his performance with last year’s win, although he was a good 38 seconds shy of last year’s record setting time. The former women’s record holder, Tina Meserve (18:19) captured first place but couldn’t regain her record in the heat.

I managed to finish in a respectable 16:38 for a 3^rd place finish.

(Full Results - Photos: Set 1 - Set 2 - Set 3 - set 1 not yet available)

The men’s marathon World Cup, run along with the World Championships in Osaka, began tomorrow morning at 7:00 am (6:00 pm this evening Eastern Time). In very hot and humid conditions, Luke Kibet of Kenya stuck with the lead pack early and managed to pull away for the win. 85 runners started the race of the 87 slated to compete, and only 9 runners managed to break the 2 hour and 20 minute marker. Kibet won in 215:59, followed by Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar in 2:17:18 and Viktor Röthlin of Switzerland in 2:17:25.

(Full Results [pdf])

Last night, Ian Parlin and Jamie Anderson spoke for an hour or so at Peak Performance Sports about trail running, providing an introduction to the local trail options and a primer for those who are first making the migration to trails from the roads.

They described the popularity of the sport and defined some technical terms that any new trail runner will need to know. After offering advice on how to running on trails differs from running on roads, they offered some tips on running safely and being able to enjoy the trails. They finished off the night by describing some of the different gear that they have used (and stopped using) in their training and racing.

They put together a short PowerPoint presentation (download here) that they projected onto a wall at the store. There are quite a few pictures and diagrams that are worth taking a look at.
(Click here to continue reading…)