I’d like to apologize for waiting a week before choosing a winner. I’ve got a great project in the works that is just about finished and ready to be announced that has consumed all of my time over the past couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’d like to award the final 2 sets of IceSpikes to some deserving winners. If you took part in either of the previous two contests, you are already entered, but you are welcome to get a bonus entry into this contest now if you like by just leaving a comment below.

I will choose 2 winners at random on Sunday night at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time so you have until then to leave a comment below.

Update: Rather than make yet another post on these contests, since this is the final one I am going to just announce the winners of the last 2 sets!

This time, there were 91 entries, and #13 and #69 were chosen, which are Jim in Wells and Marcel.

Congrats, guys, I’ll be contacting you for a mailing address!

I’d also like to announce another contest for another free set! This one will run a little longer. You have from now until Friday, December 9th at noon Eastern Time to leave a comment below. Also, for those that entered this weekend’s contest – you’ll get an automatic entry from yesterday’s or this morning’s entry and can have a bonus entry by leaving a comment on this post. (This only applies for those that entered before the deadline – future comments won’t be considered on that post, only on this one.)

If you win one of these sets of Ice Spikes, then you aren’t eligible to win again. Sorry – one set per person!

So, who did win the first set? Let’s see:

Contest Winner

The 45th comment (out of 46) was left by LaNeta Roth at 11:27 am this morning! Great job getting your entry in right under the wire, LaNeta! I’ll be contacting you for where to send your free set of Ice Spikes.

And don’t forget, until midnight tonight (Sunday, December 4th) you can get a 15% discount off of any order from their website. Just go to www.icespike.com and enter coupon code: stocking stuffer

And if you want to enter this week’s contest for the next free set of Ice Spikes, all you need to do is leave a comment below.

There are other solutions that I’ve reviewed before, such as Stabilicers and Yak Trax, but until I heard about Ice Spikes my favorite solution was to just drill sheet metal screws into the bottom of my shoes. They’re both cheaper and more effective than anything else I’d tried.

Having used Ice Spikes for a couple of Winters now, my conclusions from 2010 still hold true. Sheet metal screws aren’t as effective as Ice Spikes and they don’t last nearly as long. However, they are a lot cheaper.

How much you run and how much traction you want will determine which solution is better for you, and if you’d like to see all the pros and cons of both solutions then click here to see my full summary.

There is one thing for sure, however, and that’s that if you can get your Ice Spikes on sale or for free, then there’s no contest about which is a better option! Ice Spikes has been kind enough to sponsor quite a few races here in Southern Maine, one of which I direct and a few put on by my trail running friends.

How To Win a Free Set of Ice Spikes

They’ve also been kind enough to provide some of their product for me to give away right here at Run to Win! I’ll be giving them away throughout the month, starting today. If you are paying attention, then this weekend you can just leave a comment here on this page and you’ll be entered into a random drawing. Be sure to leave a valid email address (it won’t appear on the site) so that I can get in touch with you if you win.

As I type this, it is Saturday morning on December 3rd, 2011. This contest will stay open until noon on Sunday, December 4th (Eastern Time.) One fast acting commenter is going to get a free set of Ice Spikes to use this Winter, and you’ll still have time after the contest to buy a set with a 15% discount from their website.

If you buy anything on their website by midnight tomorrow, use coupon code stocking stuffer and you’ll get 15% off of your order. Just go to: www.icespike.com

To enter the contest: Just leave a comment below.

Rather than relying on opinions, she decided to get to the truth of the matter…

Okay, I had to prove it to myself. If it was just a matter of high humidity that gave me a super soaked shirt, then I didn’t want to continue to speak negatively about the Atayne shirt’s wicking properties, SO…

I did a little experiment with the help of my bachelors-in-chemical-engineering husband, Casey. Thanks, Brock, for the idea.

The Experiment

I took 5 different brands of shirts, and ran on the treadmill in each one for exactly 5 minutes after a 10 minute warm up. I weighed the shirts in grams before the run, immediately after the 5 minute run, 5 minutes after the run, and 10 minutes after the run.

The Data

My Analysis

The New Balance and Atayne shirts had 2g of sweat evaporate out, with Brooks at 1g, and the others not at all – after 10 minutes of ‘air time’.

One big difference I saw while running is that the Atayne shirt is quite heavy and definitely felt hotter – I almost felt like I was putting on a jacket (compared to the others), especially when compared to running in the lightest, the Nike shirt, in spite of the fact that Nike didn’t wick/dry as well.

In any case, that was enough for me feel that with all the other plusses about the Atayne company (green, Maine company, community service) and shirt (design, odorless, colors, softness), I can give my full support towards Atayne for this project and any other race that we put on!

…I can admit when I’m wrong!

By the way, I lost 69 grams or 2½ ounces of sweat in just the shirts in 25 minutes — drink up!

…and now I have lots of laundry to do…

Sandy

(Photo Sources: Sandra Walton – Sasha Wolff)

They are a more effective way to get some traction in slick conditions and cost a lot less than some other solutions such as Stabilicers or Yak Trax.

Can there be anything better?

Well, maybe.

The folks that make Ice Spikes sent some trial packages over to a friend of mine so I got to test some out (and they were nice enough to give a few sets away during my 1 More Mile for Sunshine Challenge) so myself and the other Trail Monsters have been testing them out for the past month and a half.

Here is the claim:

ICESPIKE™ is a simple, effective and lightweight solution to inadequate traction devices. ICESPIKE™ ends frustration with clumsy and cumbersome strap-on attachments. ICESPIKE™ ice spikes are easily installed on the sole of any shoe or boot. Each ice spike provides outstanding traction and is unsurpassed in hardness and durability. The ICESPIKE™ system includes thirty-two patented ice spikes and one precision ICESPIKE™ tool for installation. ICESPIKE™ is a semi-permanent non-slip grip shoe system that can’t fall off, break, get lost or left behind. Outfitted with ICESPIKE™, any footwear can be winterized into ice safety shoes or ice safety boots. Don’t be discouraged by winter ice and snow – with ICESPIKE™ you are always ready and able to navigate any conditions with confidence.

Click here to skip straight to my comparison of the two options.

To give the Ice Spikes a good and fair test, I wanted to compare them directly against a normal pair of screw shoes.

Since I had recently purchased 2 new pairs of my favorite trail shoes, I outfitted one pair with screws and one with the Ice Spikes.

The Ice Spikes come with a “precision ICESPIKE™ tool for installation”, which is basically just a screwdriver with a hex head.

A cordless drill is much easier and faster than using the screwdriver that comes with them, but I got to test both methods since the battery in my cordless dies after about 3 minutes of use and I made the screw shoes first.

A screwdriver is much more time consuming than using the drill. But, it works fine.

So, the next question is, how good is the grip of the ice spikes? They look much more aggressive than the standard #6 hex head screws that I normally use, but how much better grip can it give you?

Running Conditions

On dry pavement, they clicked and clacked the same as the sheet metal screws, but weren’t really noticeable under my feet. This is no different than the sheet metal screws.
Advantage: Both

In powdery snow conditions, both the sheet metal screws and the Ice Spikes provided plenty of grip and I had no trouble running through those conditions.
Advantage: Both

In sheer ice conditions, the real beauty of the Ice Spikes came through. While running next to friends using normal screw shoes during 1 More Fat Ass for Sunshine (a 50k run I organized at the end of the challenge) I had no trouble while they were still slipping and sliding around. Conditions were very slick. I also found I had no trouble lake running a few weeks ago despite the slick conditions, and have done quite a bit of slipping and sliding on the occasions that I’ve gone out with the normal screw shoes now that the ice is only patchy.
Advantage: Ice Spike

On non-snow covered trails, the sheet metal screws and the Ice Spikes seem to both dig up the ground; I’m guessing that the sheet metal screws are causing less of an impact but I didn’t look to closely on the few times I’ve run through open fields that weren’t frozen solid with either pair.
Advantage: Neither

Cost

When considering the cost, sheet metal screws are certainly much cheaper. If you buy screws by the hundred (which I do since I provide screws to the folks I coach when the roads are slick) then it costs about 50 cents to a dollar per shoe. If you go and just buy the individual screws, then it won’t cost more than $2 per shoe unless you are really getting ripped off. Ice Spikes cost $25 for an intro pack with 32 spikes and the screwdriver, or $15 for a refill pack of spikes, which comes to about $5 per shoe.
Advantage: Sheet Metal Screws

Mileage

Now, that isn’t the whole story, of course…Ice Spikes are supposed to last longer than sheet metal screws, so depending upon how many you lose and how many miles you run, the effective price may actually be less.

During this test, I did not lose any Ice Spikes and only lost 1 sheet metal screw.

However, at least 2 of my friends have lost most of their Ice Spikes. I think that a lot of that has to do with putting them into shoes that had previously had sheet metal screws in them.

As for why that is, my guess is that the screws were thicker so that is why their spikes got lost so easily.

I’ve only had them this one season so I can’t say with certainty yet if removing them and then replacing them will cause the same issue with the spikes falling out. I know that I’ve not had that trouble with normal sheet metal screws.

So, if you want to put something into shoes which have previously had screws, you are probably better off using sheet metal screws again. If it is a new pair of shoes, you can choose either without having to worry. If the shoes previously had Ice Spikes, then let me know how it works out for you, you’ll probably be fine with more Ice Spikes.
Advantage: Neither

So how fast do the Ice Spikes wear down compared to the sheet metal screws?

Is it realistic to expect to get the 500 miles their website claims they’ll last? How long do sheet metal screws last?

When I took these photos, I had about 90 miles on the Ice Spikes and about 79 miles on the sheet metal screws.

I’ve found that my sheet metal screws usually last around 100-150 miles depending upon which part of my foot they are on; now that the pair of shoes with sheet metal screws has around 115 miles on them I’ve already replaced about a half dozen screws per shoe and just haven’t found the time to replace the rest.

You can see in the pictures how much less wear there has been on the Ice Spikes. Even the ones that have seen the most wear are still providing plenty of grip. Based on what I’ve seen, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect 200-500 miles depending upon placement and the terrain you run on.
Advantage: Ice Spikes

Summary 

So which are you better off purchasing, sheet metal screws or Ice Spikes?

They seem to be pretty equivalent when you count the features, so you need to see what’s more important to you.

Both products will help you keep your feet when it’s slick, but Ice Spikes will provide more traction in the icier conditions.

From a price standpoint, sheet metal screws will probably be cheaper, especially if you don’t run very far during the Winters and can get through an entire season without having to replace any screws. If you rotate shoes or have different shoes for different conditions, then sheet metal screws will almost certainly save you money.

If you do run a lot, though, the Ice Spikes might be the better choice because even if they come out a little more expensive than the sheet metal screws, they will give you more even traction throughout the season and will save you the hassle of having to replace them constantly. As sheet metal screws wear down (providing less traction) and have to be replaced the price does begin to even out.

Sheet metal screws can be bought online at Amazon.com or by going to your local hardware store. You can learn more about Ice Spikes or purchase a set at their website: www.icespike.com

Plenty of the women in the group that I coached over the Summer wore them pretty regularly, and they certainly have a following.

That said, I could definitely see going for the martini water stop »

(Hat Tip to Isabelle for emailing me the video!)

Table of contents for Jeff Galloway Clinic

1. Jeff Galloway speaks at the Maine Running Company
2. Jeff Galloway Clinic » Building Endurance
3. Jeff Galloway Clinic » The Magic Mile
4. Jeff Galloway Clinic » Running Faster
5. Jeff Galloway Clinic » The Run-Walk-Run Method
6. Jeff Galloway Clinic » Food & Training
7. Jeff Galloway Clinic » Audience Questions

Jeff Galloway recently came into the Maine Running Company for a short clinic and to share some of his experiences. This is a continuation of my write-up on the event based on the notes that I took. All of the articles will be linked to down at the end of the article as they appear on the website.

Today’s article deals with Jeff’s notions on building speed.

Running Faster

“There are no health benefits for running faster. It’s only for the ego.”

If you want to run faster, then you need to do some sort of speed work. Jeff allows for a leap of faith pace projection for goal times to train for in a race by cutting 30 seconds off of pace dictated by the Magic Mile pace time.

Jeff has 3 types of faster running in his workouts.

First, he has his runners do acceleration gliders as part of their normal workouts. These promote leg turnover and help you get your momentum going. They aren’t speed work, they are just drills, so they should be very short and should not leave you at all fatigued.

Second, for marathon training, he likes to add mile repetitions at the leap of faith goal pace. Note that this is the pace that is about 30 seconds faster than the pace dictated by the Magic Mile, not what you hope to be able to bring your pace down to over the span of the next few months to a year. He recommends running for 3 minutes and walking for 30 seconds until you have finished running the mile repeat, and then walking for 5 minutes before the next repeat.

Jeff recommends that you do your mile repetitions on the opposite weekends from your long run. You may work up to as many as 14 mile repeats, if your long run is up to 28 or 29 miles. Otherwise, you should do half of the number of mile repeats as you do in your long run. Again, note that these are not all out miles, they are based on your projected race time.

Third, Jeff likes to do race rehearsal runs. For a marathon, he will have his runners do a 3 mile run at marathon goal pace so that they can get used to running (or run-walk-running) continually at the pace that they expect to race at.

For races shorter than the marathon, Jeff suggests that you do 400 meter repeats. For the 5k, you should do 12 to 15 repeats, and for the 10k you should work up to 15 to 22 repeats. Your pace should be 8 seconds faster than your quarter mile race pace, or about 40 seconds faster than your mile race pace. For example, if your Magic Mile was 10 minutes, then your 5k race pace would be 10:33/mile, which means that your 400 meter race pace in your 5k would be 2:38. Take 8 seconds off of that, and you should run your 400 meter repeats in your workout in 2:30.

The long run builds endurance, but speed work builds the ability to run at a hard pace.

(Event Photos)

Table of contents for 2nd Maine Cross Country Clinic

1. 2^nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part I: Injury Prevention and Treatment)
2. 2^nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part II: Nutrition Basics & Fueling for Performance)
3. 2^nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part III: Biomechanics & Footwear)
4. 2^nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part IV: Meet the Athletes)
5. 2^nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part V: The Athlete’s Panel)

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. This is the third part of my reporting on the clinic; the first part was about injury prevention and treatment and the second part was about nutrition basics and fueling. This part covers foot and biomechanical structure and the selection of proper footwear.

Selecting Proper Footwear

The third presentation of the night was from the owner of the Maine Running Company, John Rogers. John’s career in the running business started in product development for Nike and Mizuno, but he retired from doing that to start a specialty running store here in Southern Maine about 4 years ago.

“We try to find the right shoe for people.”

John and his employees use a 6 step fitting process to make sure that they are getting fitted with the proper shoes when they come into the store.

The 6 steps consist of determining information about the runner and his or her running habits, as well as some specific tests to help them determine what each athlete needs.

This 6 step process includes:

1. Determining the approximate height and weight of the athlete.
2. Determining how much the athlete is running on a daily and weekly basis.
3. Determining what shoes the athlete has worn in the past.
4. Determining if the athlete uses orthotics or similar devices.
5. Testing the athlete’s foot with a digital scanner.
6. Doing a visual assessment of the amount of pronation from the athlete when they walk or run.

The correct shoes for each athlete may be different. You should first find the best shoe that you can, and only once you have chosen that shoe can you begin to worry about the extras such as orthotics. If you need to wear orthotics but you put them into the wrong shoes, then the orthotics are not going to help any.

If you need help choosing shoes, speak first with your coaches who might have experience with different types of footwear and are going to know a lot about your running style. Once you have gotten their advice, you can visit the running store and speak with a local specialist who can narrow down exactly what you need.

Be an active participant in the fitting process. Always operate under what John refers to as the Doubt Factor: If you have any single doubt on a shoe, then don’t buy it.

Once you have bought the shoe, then write the date that you bought it in the insole. Your shoes should be replaced every 4 to 6 months, or every 400 to 600 miles, depending upon your running style and the model of the shoe and the environment that you run in.

Shoe Categories

“We’ve come to a point in the industry where everybody is making high quality shoes.”

There is basically a model of shoe for everybody, these days. The big companies got into a habit of over-teching and over-building their shoes in the past few decades, but that trend has turned around and the industry is moving back towards minimalist concepts. Many trends are even going so far as barefoot running, or as close as you can get and still have something to sell to the consumer.

Neutral shoes are the fastest growing category in the footwear industry, which has been helped by the orthotics manufacturers. Neutral shoes are for a high rigid arch and can come with either moderate cushioning or maximum support.

Stability shoes are still the largest category of shoes on the market. They are appropriate for mid or late stage pronators and for duck footed folks.

When choosing racing shoes, you should apply the same sorts of philosophies towards your shoe selection as you would for trainers. Find something that will suit your needs for the different circumstances that you will be racing in and pick the correct racer or lightweight trainer that will suit your needs.

John is also a big fan of rotating your shoes, although he does not have a preference on whether or not you should rotate the same style of shoes or different styles. That will be an individual decision that will be different for each runner.

In exchange for this review, they sent me their Pressure Points™ product, which are a couple of hard rubber balls that are used to put pressure on various parts of your body when there is nobody around to massage you. There are 20 points on the body that are the most sensitive and conducive to acupressure. These points were chosen by acupuncturist and program creator Marc Coseo. Along with the two balls, the package comes with a poster to help you find the 20 different points and a DVD that leads you through finding each point within about a 30 minute timespan.

The packaging for the product recommends that you use the Pressure Points™ system to warm up muscles before athletic activity and to help relieve muscle soreness or back and neck pain. Prior to receiving this product, I have used similar methods as what are described to self-massage some of my muscles, especially on the bottom of my feet.

I have not spent a lot of time with the product given the proximity of its arrival to my goal marathon this Spring and my unwillingness to try anything new in the week or two before a race. I tried locating a few of the different pressure points and tested the product a little bit based on what was similar to things that I have done before, and I did not have a lot of trouble finding the points they referenced in the DVD or applying the pressure as described. I liked what I did try, although that was fairly limited in nature. I will get a better opinion on it next week as I recover from my race.

My wife gave the Pressure Points™ a better try than I did, going through the entire DVD and trying to locate every point that they suggest you use the acupressure on. She had some trouble finding most of the points referenced, and when she did manage to find them she was too uncomfortable to make full use of the system.

The DVD does a good job of describing how to find the different points, but they do not give you very much time to get yourself situated and to use the system. By the time that my wife found a point and actually got the ball placed correctly, the woman on the DVD was halfway through her time using that point and moved on to locating the next point before my wife was ready. If you decide to follow the DVD step by step, then you are going to want to keep a remote handy so that you can pause it regularly.

If you would like to find the introduction to the product, be sure to choose “Play All” on the DVD menu. We originally went straight to the specific points that we wanted to use, which dove directly into the first point on that list. No matter where you start the DVD, it will progress through the entire thing, so if you want to go straight into the pressure points then you can start on the Pressure Points 1-5 option. When we did try the “Play All” selection, we were able to see the introduction and the description of how the process is supposed to work and what it is supposed to do.

When you are watching the DVD, try to ignore the expression on the woman’s face who is demonstrating everything. She doesn’t look quite as uncomfortable as my wife did at times, but she doesn’t look at all happy to be using the balls.

The woman demonstrating everything was young, but everything else about the DVD seemed to ignore the folks that might want to use this system to recover or prepare for a workout. The DVD seems to concentrate on using the balls to improve problems with rehabilitation or to offset the aging process since all of the testimonials that are sprinkled throughout the DVD are from folks that are at or near retirement. The video was very obviously filmed in the late 1980s and just copied from VHS to DVD rather than being updated to fit in a little better with the times.

I will update this review after I have had a couple of sessions where I could go through the entire system so that I can speak a little more from my own experiences than from my wife’s experiences. I certainly would not try using this product before a workout, but I can see how it might promote rapid recovery by encouraging blood flow into your muscles as a post-workout recovery tool.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of The Ball Dynamics Pressure Points™ system from the manufacturer to review on this site. My thoughts on the product are my own (and my wife’s) and do not reflect those of the manufacturer. I was not paid for this review in any way other than receiving a copy of the product.

Table of contents for Do-It-Yourself (February/March)

1. Do it Yourself » Grip Tools
2. Utilizing Snow instead of a Gym
3. Create Your Own Medicine Balls and Stress Balls
4. How to Make Screw Shoes
5. How to Make Your Own Clubs

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March. This week, I’d like to teach you how to make screw shoes.

Stabilicers are a good product and will go a long ways towards making your run safer by providing good traction in icy conditions. They have a few problems, however. If you don’t put them on right, then they will come off during your run. They can get heavy, especially when you get snow packed in between the stabilicer and the sole of your shoe. They are also more expensive than the alternative.

So what is the best alternative? Screw shoes.

Here’s a quick video that demonstrates how to make screw shoes:

I usually use #6 sheet metal screws. Don’t get anything longer than 1/2″ or else they will probably poke through your shoe and into your foot. With most shoes, you can use the half inch screws in the heel without any trouble. With my trail shoes, which have a very aggressive tread, I use the half inchers throughout the entire shoe. With my road shoes, I tend to use 3/8″ screws under the ball of my foot.

I tried using half inchers with an old pair that already had about 500 miles run in them, and the screws did go through. Running slow wasn’t a problem, but any sort of fast running and I could tell there were screws pushing into the bottom of my foot. If the soles of your shoes are really thin, then you might be able to put some screws around the outside edges of the shoe, but it might just be better to get smaller screws (such as 1/4″ sheet metal screws) or else move onto a different pair. The shorter the screw, the more likely that it will fall out while you are running and you’ll have to replace it.

I like to use sheet metal screws because they have a good bite around the outside edges and I can put them into the shoes using a socket extension on my cordless drill. Trying to screw the shoes in by hand is certainly feasible, but it’s a lot of work and will make you rethink your decision to have traction on your run. With a drill, it literally takes about a minute and a half to put in all of the screws in one shoe.

Sheet metal screws are also pretty cheap. If you get them in packages of 20, they’ll probably be about 10 or 12 cents per screw, but if you get a larger package then the cost goes down to a couple of pennies per screw.

When you put the screws in, you are literally screwing them up and into your shoe so that the sharp point is towards your foot. If you use rounded screws, you are just going to make your run more difficult and it will defeat the purpose of putting screws into your shoes in the first place.

When you put the screws in, put them at the lowest points of your shoe. If you are running in a road shoe it may not make a big difference, but trail shoes tend to have a more aggressive tread and you want to make sure that the screws are the first thing to hit the ground. Putting the screws between the treads doesn’t really make much sense.

How many you put in is up to you. I like to put 3 to 5 screws into my heel, and then 5 to 10 screws into the forefoot section of the shoe. A friend of mine has 19 or 20 screws in each shoe. The best method is to start by looking at the wear pattern on your shoes and to begin by installing the screws where your foot is naturally going to hit the ground first or where you push off with each stride. Those are the points where you are most likely to slip anyway. Start with a smaller number and then add more if you feel that you need them.

When Spring rolls around and the roads become easy to run on again and the lakes have thawed so that you can’t get out on their surface anymore you can just take the screws right out or else put the shoes aside until next Winter. I plan on keeping at least one pair of screw shoes around until early or mid-Summer, since we can get some freak snow storms and icy conditions even through April and May up here in Maine.

Keep an eye on your screws and replace them when they get too worn down, as I did in the video above. I ran with a guy once who used to have screw shoes, but basically just has some metal round patches on the bottom of his shoes now. It is more difficult to drill your screws out with screw shoes than it is with the stabilicers, since there is no pre-set threads for you to put them into.

Have you made screw shoes before, or do you stick to more conventional products like the stabilicers or yak trax? Or do you just go really slow and hope that you don’t slip?

Table of contents for Do-It-Yourself (February/March)

1. Do it Yourself » Grip Tools
2. Utilizing Snow instead of a Gym
3. Create Your Own Medicine Balls and Stress Balls
4. How to Make Screw Shoes
5. How to Make Your Own Clubs

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March.

This week, Scott describes how to make homemade medicine balls.

This summer, I definitely need to go the sand and foam in a basketball route. Last year, I painted almost every room in my house and made a medicine ball out of the painter’s tape that we used to protect our ceilings and windows.

That’s a nice, lightweight 2 or 3 pounder that is made entirely out of what otherwise would have become trash. So outside of getting a new piece of workout equipment, I also got to amuse myself by seeing how long I could keep each piece that I wrapped around the ball without it coming apart as I ripped it off of the ceiling.

Scott also describes how to make tornado balls, stress balls and juggling balls.

The tornado ball is basically a medicine ball on a string, and the juggling balls are basically stress balls with a different filler.

Another way to make a juggling ball, which is what I did when I was in high school, is to fill a tennis ball with water. You can add a dash of the chemicals that you use in your pool or a water bed to keep anything from growing inside of the tennis ball, and which also gives it a slight foaming ability that can create an oddly balanced ball that lets you do some really neat tricks while the ball is in the air.

You’ll need a syringe in order to get the water and chemicals into the tennis balls, but the hole will heal itself within a few hours of removing the needle. Just be sure not to mistake one of these for a real tennis ball; that’s a quick recipe for destroying your tennis racket.

Table of contents for Do-It-Yourself (February/March)

1. Do it Yourself » Grip Tools
2. Utilizing Snow instead of a Gym
3. Create Your Own Medicine Balls and Stress Balls
4. How to Make Screw Shoes
5. How to Make Your Own Clubs

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March. Scott starts us off this week with almost a dozen do-it-yourself grip tools that you can build cheaply at home.

My favorite implement that he describes has to be the water ball (pictured left) – it never even occurred to me to fill my swiss ball with water.

I have used a few of his tricks before. I’ve used the rice or sand in a bowl implement, and I’ve fattened up some of my weight bars at times. I usually use a hand towel as a quick way to add or remove thickness.

I’ve also created my own clubs, although I used to be a professional juggler so those were more for creating odd implements to amuse others with than as a specific weight lifting implement.

For some good ideas, be sure to check out Scott’s article on how to make your own grip tools.

When I got home, I was amazed to discover that the GPS worked inside!

Not particularly well, since it thinks that I was running around the infield at an average pace of 42 minutes per mile instead of 4 minutes per mile, and it thinks that I ran through the walls a few times, but the map was great:

The point of the workout was to get my heart rate elevated so I could get an idea of what my max heart rate is. After a 3+ mile warm up in the beautiful weather outside (and horrendous rush hour traffic) I came inside and met a man doing a 200 meter workout. Since chasing somebody down is always preferable to running alone, especially when running intervals, I did 200 meter repeats instead of the 4-6-8 ladder I had planned on.

The workout was more fun, but I’ve had my heart rate elevated higher just by starting a run in the cold by going up a hill than I did from running this series of 28-31 second 200 meter repeats. I decided to run a pair of 400 meter repeats afterwards, but on the last turn of my first 400 I tweaked my calf. Going from marathon base training to 200s on a small track isn’t usually the best idea, after all, so I called it good and cooled down at that point.

While I was working out, I discovered a few things about the Garmin. First, the chest strap doesn’t bother me on long runs or tempo runs, but it was very constricting after a 200 meter sprint. It wasn’t so bad after I loosened it a little but I think that it will be difficult for me to actually wear it unless I am trying to do a workout based on my heart rate.

I also discovered that having a lap button next to a start/stop button is going to take a little getting used to. I didn’t hit the wrong button during the workout, but I had to really think about what I was doing at the end of each repeat. That is a learned behavior, though, and can be fixed.

It was very nice to have the tenths of a second spelled out in Garmin Training Center for me when it came time to record the workout. That was much easier than trying to flip through my normal watch on each lap to record my times.

All in all, it was a successful test of the Garmin as a heart rate monitor, but a failure in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. I had fun, though, even though the workout reminded me why I hate running indoors. (full workout)

Photo by ezioman

I have a very good sense of direction, so I pointed myself towards where I wanted to go and it wound up being right.

After a few steps, though, I decided to give the map functionality on my new watch a try. It is a Garmin ForeRunner 305. I haven’t had it long, so I don’t know all of the cool things you can do with it yet. I mostly use it for mapping my runs after the fact.

It turns out that I was going in the right direction and would soon have gotten to a spot of open water that I would have remembered running around on the ice. It makes me very comfortable knowing that the map was there, though, because now I can run trails wherever I want and at least have an idea of what direction I need to go to get home. Once I was back on the path I wanted to take, it even started to warn me about 15-30 feet before every turn that a turn was coming. That was pretty neat, but also a little annoying.

Photo #59 by Don Penta
The run itself was a lot of fun. I ran 15 miles on snowmobile trails, with about a third of that on the surface of the lake. Anytime a snowmobile came near me I had to jump off to the side, where I would sink into knee deep snow. I also got some strange looks when they got close enough to realize I wasn’t wearing a shirt. Hey, it was hot out! It was at least 35 degrees.

Speaking of running without a shirt, the pictures for last week’s Resolution Run are now available. By the time it started snowing during that run, I had stripped down to just my singlet. You can see all of the pictures from the run (the photo to the left is cropped from #59) over at the Maine Running Photos website.

I received the following message in my email this week. I have written before that I wear my Road ID wherever I go, and every Christmas they offer savings for people looking to get Road IDs as gifts. This year they are offering the discount a month early:

Hello Blaine:

I know it’s a bit too early to wish you “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.” But, that won’t stop us from offering you (a previous Road ID customer) a great Holiday Special. Order from RoadID.com by 11/30 and take 15% off your entire order! Simply use the following coupon code to get your discount: PCSaveOurHair7

Why are we offering this coupon so early? We’ll, last year everyone here went completely bald from the stress of trying to keep up with the Holiday orders. Some of us are just now sprouting new hair and would love to show it off to our families this Holiday Season. By ordering early, you’ll not only save 15%, but you’ll also help save our hair.

ALSO, we have a whole NEW product line to show off. Now, every Road ID is available in an “Interactive” version. What’s “Interactive,” you ask? Well, go to the website and check it out. I think you’ll be impressed!

As you already know, a Road ID is the perfect gift and training partner for the runner, cyclist, triathlete, or active person on your gift list. If you can’t speak for yourself, your Road ID will. If you don’t know exactly which Road ID to purchase, just order a Road ID Gift Card or an online eCard.

Click here to order:
http://www.RoadID.com/?referrer=2219&CID=PCHoliday187

$1.49 shipping on all orders!

Road ID: It’s not just a piece of gear – it’s peace of mind.

Safe Sporting & Happy Holidays,

Edward Wimmer & Mike Wimmer

I do not know that I would bother getting their “interactive” road id. You get a free year’s worth of the service but then there is a charge to keep it going. You could duplicate the same sort of thing by putting a website address on your Road ID that contains your emergency info.

I stand by this product, having bought 4 of them in the past. I’ve gotten 2 for myself and 2 for my wife (pre- and post-marriage and house acquisition.)

“If wearable computing is going to be popular you need to provide some information, but not a lot,” [optics engineer Mike] Hazel says, “our goal was to produce something very light that could be styled into a normal spectacle.”

The Informance sunglasses work on the same principle as bifocals. Rather than using a prism to change the focal length of what you are looking at, it displays the information in a 320 by 240 pixel display in the left lens. The display and wireless link only adds 7 grams to the weight of the sunglasses.

The prototype only shows you your chronograph and heart rate, but there is plenty of space for other information. I hope that when they release their product (in 2009) that they provide an API so that people can hack the watch and the sunglasses to customize what their glasses can show. The company that developed the technology is already looking at integrating GPS.

I will not be an early adopter for these, unfortunately. As cool as I think that they are (and there are pictures in the linked article below), I would not be able to justify the 1k Euro expense. A very neat idea, though, so hopefully the price comes down within a few years.

(Source: New Scientist Tech)

Table of contents for Technology (July)

1. The Sustainable Gym
2. Technology to Time Your Workouts
3. Wii Fit and Wii Sports
4. The Advantages of Running Shoes (aka The Running Shoe FAQ)
5. Tools for keeping up to date

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about the technology of fitness equipment throughout the month of July.

Scott finishes the month off by discussing tools to keep up to date. He lists a few online training logs, sites for finding news and regimens, and a description of different ways to subscribe automatically to any of those sites.

I’ve never used a swiss ball, although I’ve used those balls that are weighted. Is there a difference? I’m down to trying anything new when it comes to ab work.

It turns out that she does in fact have a swiss ball, she just had not heard the terms that I refer to them as before. Below I have provided a brief description of medicine balls and swiss balls, as well as their ugly step-brother the bosu ball.

Swiss Balls

Swiss balls are large inflatable rubber balls. Other common terms for it that I can think of off of the top of my head are exercise balls, stability balls, gym balls, sports balls, fitness balls, balance balls, yoga/pilates balls, body balls, and therapy balls.

The advantage of using a swiss ball rather than a hard surface is that your more of your muscles need to be engaged while you are exercising in order for you to counteract the instability of the ball. This is especially good when you want to work on your core muscles, which contribute to your balance.

You can also use swiss balls in place of a chair, which is useful if you are an otherwise sedentary person or if you are having some back pains. I have not tried this for more than about 10 minutes, though, and I recommend talking to your doctor or physical therapist before deciding to give up chairs on anything approaching a regular basis.

Medicine Balls

Medicine balls are the weighted balls that look similar in size and texture to a basketball, although they are usually a bit smaller and can sometimes have handles. They are usually made of leather or rubber, and are filled with sand, plastic pellets or (in the homemade variety) rice. They usually weigh between 3 and 18 pounds.

Medicine balls can be used like dumbbells by doing lifts such as squats or presses. Where they really shine, though, is in core work where you can toss the balls off of a wall or to a friend. When doing situps, they are a little easier to hold against your chest than a dumbbell and are much easier to toss around for a more dynamic workout.

A unique advantage for medicine balls that I have never had any desire to do is to have somebody drop them on your stomach while you are doing situps. This is a popular exercise for boxers to condition their gut to getting punched.

Bosu Balls

Bosu balls are fairly similar to swiss balls except that they look as though they were cut in half. They have a flat, rigid bottom with a gel filled semi-circular top.

They are called bosu balls because there is no top or bottom. Bosu stands for “both sides up” (or “both sides utilized”) and can give your muscles a unique stability challenge. If you put the rigid side down, then you need to balance your body against a ground that is not even and which moves beneath you based upon your center of gravity. If you put stand on the rigid side and have the ball side down, then the bosu ball will act like a balance board where your feet are firmly planted on it but it will wobble back and forth.

I most often use bosu balls with the rigid side down when I do shoulder presses in order to work on my balance.

Examples

My photographer moved to Massachusetts so I haven’t been doing new demos for way too long, and I never got around to doing swiss ball crunches or any medicine ball or bosu ball work. Here are a few other swiss ball exercises that I have written about and demonstrated before, though:

• How to do a bridge on a swiss ball
• How to do dumbbell “bench” presses on a swiss ball

Most exercises that can be done on a bench can be done on a swiss ball, and many that are done standing up can also be done while sitting on a swiss ball or standing on a bosu ball. It adds a nice dynamic that makes your muscles work together to keep you balanced. You can also substitute medicine balls in many exercises that utilize dumbbells or kettle balls. (Kettle balls are basically just lumps of iron with a handle that are engineered to be awkward to handle.)

So now that you know the difference between these useful tools, what are your favorite exercises that utilize them?

Table of contents for Technology (July)

1. The Sustainable Gym
2. Technology to Time Your Workouts
3. Wii Fit and Wii Sports
4. The Advantages of Running Shoes (aka The Running Shoe FAQ)
5. Tools for keeping up to date

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about the technology of fitness equipment throughout the month of July. This week I would like to discuss the most important technology that a runner will deal with: running shoes.

• Why do runners buy shoes specifically for running?

  Running shoes and shoes that are made specifically for different sports such as basketball or cycling tend to have different shapes that cater to the specific activity that they are made for. Different types of motion put different stresses on your foot and ankles, and these are accounted for in the design of specific shoes.

  For example, cycling shoes tend to have a rigid bottom that is not particularly comfortable to walk around in but provide for a much more efficient transfer of energy from the foot to the pedal. Basketball shoes provide support for the ankle to account for making hard cuts and frequent jumping.

  While not always 100% necessary, getting a shoe for a specific sport can provide performance and/or safety benefits. Even amongst just running shoes, there are 8 categories of running shoes depending upon the type of running that you plan on doing.

• Why don’t runners walk around in their running shoes all day?

  Just like tennis is different from basketball, running and walking are very different activities from a physiological standpoint. Shoes that are designed for each activity try to minimize the stress of each activity and provide the most comfort at the same time.

  Wearing your running shoes while you walk or your walking shoes while you run can lead to discomfort and can drastically shorten the lifespan of your shoes.

• What is the difference between walking and running?

  When humans walk, they tend to push off to the side with their feet and sway back and forth. Walking is a way of controlled falling, as you shift your center of gravity over the leg that is going to support your body. The motion of your foot as you walk is a slow roll onto your toes.

  Running tends to keep your center of gravity more or less central to your torso as you swing your legs along beneath you. This is more energy efficient than walking, but increases the impact when your feet hit the ground. Running causes pronation, which results from your foot striking on the outside of your heel and then rolling towards the inside of your foot.

• What is most important when choosing a running shoe?

  Running shoes were originally made of leather. They did not begin to incorporate rubber until after sneakers started to become popular because the rubber was too soft and would wear away too fast for a serious athlete.

  Adi Dassler (the founder of Adidas) created the first lightweight running shoes in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1960′s that New Balance began putting a rubber wedge between the sole of the shoe and the upper portion to raise the heel and minimize the stress on the Achilles tendon. Bill Bowerman began making shoes for his runners by using a nylon upper and a sole created by pouring polyurethane into his wife’s waffle iron.

  The secret to the success of Bowerman’s shoes were the midsole that he put into the shoes to provide extra cushioning. The midsole provides protection from being able to feel sharp or hard objects that the runner steps on, and absorbs the majority of the impact that is the trade-off for a more energy efficient form of movement than walking. The midsole also provides rebound for the foot to make the next step a little easier. By fiddling with the density of the midsole in different areas of the shoe, and by contouring the foot bed, manufacturers design shoes that fit runners of different sizes and gaits.

• What are midsoles made of?

  Most midsoles are made of EVA, polyurethane, or a combination of the two.

  EVA makes a great cushioning material and is very light and very flexible, but it tends to lose some of its rebound and resilience and becomes “compression set.” That is one of the major reasons that you should always rotate your running shoes between runs.

  Polyurethane is very strong and lasts a lot longer, but it is heavy and has less rebound than EVA. Shoes with an all polyurethane midsole are almost guaranteed to last a long time, both because of their resilience and because they will probably not be worn as often as they are likely to be too heavy for most runners.

  Most companies combine the two materials by putting the polyurethane in areas of the midsole that are put under the most stress and using EVA elsewhere. Different mixtures are the biggest separating feature between one brand of shoes and the next. What is comfortable and works for one person is also quite likely to be uncomfortable for their neighbor, so each brand of shoes can potentially have plenty of market share.

• How do I best choose or take care of my running shoes?

  If you don’t know more about running shoes than you thought that you needed to by now, then you can look through my list of shoe care tips that was published on this site about a year ago.

• What is the shelf life for running shoes?

  Shoes don’t last forever, but unless the shoes weren’t stored well (extreme heat/cold) then last year’s models will be fine. You should generally try not to purchase shoes that are more than a year old, because the mid-soles will harden and break down over time even when the shoes are not being used.

  If you do have shoes that are 3 or even 5 years old, you can probably still use them. Just be aware that you probably will not be able to run as many miles in them as you would on a pair of brand new shoes that just arrived at your local shoe store.

  It can be a delicate balance of cost-effectiveness if you want to purchase a model of shoe that you like while it is on sale and before the company tweaks it to the point that you don’t like it anymore. (Thanks to Tom in Maryland for the question.)

What have I missed? These are a few questions that I have seen floating around in various forums or that have been emailed to me or asked in person over the past few months. Is there anything else that you would like to know that was not covered by this article or by the list of tips that were previously published?

Feel free to email me or leave a comment with any thoughts or questions that you may still have.

The advantage of using a velomobile is that you do not need to burn any fossil fuels to get around. You can even get electrical motors to assist you on the hills that are powered by your pedaling actions. Velomobiles tend to be heavier than bicycles, but due to the aerodynamics they are usually easier to go fast in. They provide much better protection from the weather, and are much more stable.

It is a lot more difficult to roll a three-wheeled velomobile than it is to fall off of a bicycle, and it is extremely unlikely that you are going to be thrown over the handlebars to land on your head. If you do somehow fall off of your bike, you have a much shorter distance to go before you hit the ground from the seat of a recumbent bicycle.

Apparently, they are much more popular in Europe than they are here in the United States. I have seen them before from a distance, but last night was my first exposure to one and the first time I was able to see one close up. Ethan Davis gave the presentation to the Portland Maine Bicycle Commuters group. He operates a by-appointment-only shop in Arundel.

The velomobile pictured above (more of which can be seen at the meetup website) uses a commercially produced recumbent bicycle that has been retrofitted with a custom shell to turn it into a velomobile. There is a mounting point in the nose of the bike, which allows the shell to pivot forward so that the rider can get in.

I found Ethan’s presentation last night pretty interesting, and it certainly has piqued my interest in the velomobiles themselves. I did not get an opportunity to ride his around at all, so hopefully I will get an opportunity in the near future. I hope that they catch on here in the states so that we start seeing more of them.

Have you ever ridden a velomobile? What did you think?

“G” is somebody I know locally outside of the running community, and he asked me:

I got conned into running the 5 miler at the Yarmouth clam festival.

I don’t have any good running clothes… anything you recommend? I was gonna hit dick’s sporting goods and pick something out, but I wanted to see if you knew of anything special I should look for.

I was just wondering about attire – I’ve been ramping up my running lately and starting to chafe a bit, so thought I’d invest in something decent so I don’t sever my leg at the thigh.

When it comes to clothing, it doesn’t really matter. If you expect that you are going to run on a regular basis, then you should get some running shorts with the liners. There will be way less chafage, and way more comfort. If you were only planning on running this one race, then I recommend wearing briefs and whatever shorts you have. Don’t wear a swim suit under any circumstances; that’s just asking for pain.

Any brand of running shorts will work, although I like the Race-Ready shorts. I only have one set, but they have velcro key pockets rather than just the one sewn inside the liner, as well as some mesh pockets along your back. The only time I use them in short races is in the Winter when I need to do something with my gloves, but they are handy for the longer runs.

I prefer to avoid cotton when it comes to shirts, but there is nothing wrong with it. Any t-shirt will do. If you want to get fancy, a singlet or a polyester t-shirt will be more comfortable. If you are willing to spend the money and will run enough to make it worthwhile, then getting some sort of technical fabric will be worth it, especially since the race that you are planning on running has historically been very hot every year.

If it’s easier, you should head over to Maine Running Company instead of Dicks. John Rogers does a lot of good in the local running community so I point people his way whenever I can. Maine Running Company is where Walkabout used to be (well, actually, still is) on Forest Ave across from the Great Lost Bear in Portland. There’s a parking lot behind the store but the access is right before you get there so you have to keep your eye out.

Table of contents for Technology (July)

1. The Sustainable Gym
2. Technology to Time Your Workouts
3. Wii Fit and Wii Sports
4. The Advantages of Running Shoes (aka The Running Shoe FAQ)
5. Tools for keeping up to date

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about the technology of fitness equipment throughout the month of July.

This week, Scott talks about the Nintendo Wii and what its role is as an extra tool in the fitness arsenal.

Nintendo has had Wii Sports since the console was released, but they are now creating a new program called “Wii Fit” which includes using a balance board as a controller. Scott discusses some of the advantages of using the balance board, including a video that was recently shown at E3. He also discusses an experiment that one man used to lose weight by playing video games for 30 minutes per day.

Table of contents for Technology (July)

1. The Sustainable Gym
2. Technology to Time Your Workouts
3. Wii Fit and Wii Sports
4. The Advantages of Running Shoes (aka The Running Shoe FAQ)
5. Tools for keeping up to date

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about the technology of fitness equipment throughout the month of July. This week I would like to discuss the technology used to time a workout.

There are many different ways to determine how long you have been running, biking, or doing any number of other activities. You may be tracking the total amount of time that you have been doing a certain activity, or you may be timing some intervals as you train during a specific workout. The technology that has evolved to keep track of that time ranges from using the tools we are biologically equipped with to the latest wonders of satellites and even little chips you wear on or in your shoes.

Photo by jalalspagesAn easy but inaccurate way to time your workout does not involve any technology that you are not biologically equipped with. You can use the sun to get a rough estimate of how long you have been working out based upon how far it has traveled while you exercise. You can also use the moon, stars or other celestial bodies, but the sun is the easiest one to quickly find and to have a relatively uniform rate of speed throughout the sky.

Photo by PetromyzonAn hourglass can give you a rough estimate about how long you have run. The most accurate you can definitively be with an hourglass is whether you ran for more than an hour or less than an hour. Your hourglass may not actually be set for an hour; if it takes 30 minutes for the sand to run through then you would substitute the more or less than 30 minutes for the hour. You can estimate a short run based upon how much sand is left in your hourglass, but that can never be much more than an educated guess.

Photo by Craig BranaganA (very) slightly more accurate way to time a run than using the heavens is to find a clock in your local environment that you can use. The clock on your stove, your car’s dashboard, or Big Ben can give you a rough estimate of when you start your workout and when you finish. A little simple math and you will know within a minute or two how long you were working out.

Next comes the hand held stop watch. This is much more accurate than the sun or a clock in your environment, but can be a little inconvenient when you have to carry it while running. If you have a coach watching over you, then they will do well to hold onto it and to track your times for you.

The next step up for most athletes add is a wristwatch. Sports watches will usually have at least a timer, and you can also get watches with lap memory and count down timers. Some watches will come with quite excessive bells and whistles, such as displaying or tracking your heart rate for you as you exercise or constantly asking the satellites in orbit above you where you are so that it can plot your course for you on your computer when you get home. Stop watches will often have these same features, but sports watches can be comfortably worn on the wrist and tend to be much less bulky.

Timing machines are completely inconvenient for a runner, but are great for coaches or race officials. You start the clock at the beginning of a race, run, or interval, and you press a button once the interval or race is over. It will store how long it took, and can even create a paper copy as you go.

Far and away the most accurate way to time a workout, especially a run, is by using a ChampionChip or similar RFID system. When you run over the timing mats, the RFID chip on your shoe or ankle sends a signal that is read by the mat and transmitted to a timing computer. The computer tracks each individual chip so that you can have many thousands of runners with extremely accurate times. You can use a mat just at the finish of a run to mark exactly when you completed a workout, which works as long as you know when it began. If you put a mat the start and finish of your run, then you can have an accurate time to the tenth of a second. You could even put mats along your course to see where you were at specific points.

Those are the broad categories of different time-keeping devices that you can use to time your workouts. Generally speaking, as you get more accurate you can expect to spend more money and require more preparation.

Table of contents for Technology (July)

1. The Sustainable Gym
2. Technology to Time Your Workouts
3. Wii Fit and Wii Sports
4. The Advantages of Running Shoes (aka The Running Shoe FAQ)
5. Tools for keeping up to date

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about the technology of fitness equipment throughout the month of July.

Scott starts the month off with a talk about the sustainable gym. There have been some great strides in utilizing the power generated by our workouts to help power our houses and the machines that we are using.

I think that the best way, though, to get a good workout and to utilize all of the energy that you produce is to get outside and do some yard work, especially activities that do not require power such as digging a hole or planting vegetables.

Scott over at Straight to the Bar has a buyer’s guide to purchasing a power rack, which has some great advice on what features to look for and how to choose one that is appropriate for you.

One of the things that delineates the cheaper racks from the ones that people are seen drooling over in garages everywhere is the spacing of the pin holes (the holes down the side of the rack that the pins are placed in). Within reason, a smaller gap between the holes allows for a greater degree of flexibility. Anything down to about 1” is fine (the cheaper racks have a gap of 2” or more).

We did not come to a consensus on what we thought would best serve his feet during the marathon. Our best guess was that he should get some trail shoes custom made that were tight in the heel but long in the toe. What suggestions would you have? I have to admit that my down hill racing has been a bit limited, and I have not done any real trail racing for years.

1. Number Size: The most important thing to me is how large the numbers are. When I am running, I don’t want to have to search for the numbers; I want to be able to glance down at my wrist and read them.
2. Button Size/Position: The size and position of the buttons to access the various features of the watch are the second most important attribute that I look for. Having buttons that are difficult to find or difficult to push makes it harder to track your workouts and splits.
3. Water Resistance: You should never settle for anything less than water resistent to 100 meters.
4. Laps and Splits: Having lap times and split times are important for training and can help you break down your race performances later to see where you need to improve. They also help jog your memory as to the specifics of a workout for when you are recording it in your training log after the fact.
5. Other Features: I put other features together, since I have fairly simple needs and other features are just a bonus. An alarm or two, count down timers, and workout memory are all nice features and ones that I use.

This list is the order of features that I look for in a watch, and they serve as a good guideline. The first item on most people’s list should be fit, because if a watch is not comfortable then you will never wear it. If you have a small wrist, you may have to give up large numbers or buttons to avoid getting a watch that does not fit right. Most watch bands can be replaced, so if a sports watch does not fit quite right you can always get a more comfortable watch band (or steal one from a watch that does fit well) in order to improve the comfort level.

You might think that at least 100 meters of water resistence would be a given, but I have had two watches that have died on me. One got wet in a rainstorm and just stopped working, and another got submerged slightly on a run which lead to barely readable numbers. It then violated the first rule that I look for in a watch, which is to make sure that I can easily read the numbers.

Another feature that you tend to take for granted is that a sports watch is going to have lap and split memory. I always assumed that any watch that had a chronometer feature (which is a given on a sports watch) and that could show you your lap and split times would be able to remember them until the end of the workout. It was not until my current watch that I had one that could store multiple workouts. My last watch, which I have since given to my wife, had nice big numbers but could only display a lap and split time when you push the button. Once you go for your next one, that split is lost forever. I reviewed the watch a couple of years ago, and determined that the watch was fine on random runs but not for any sort of interval work.

The watch that I reviewed also had a “databank” feature, which was completely worthless. When I met my wife, I suppose that I could have recorded her phone number into the watch since I was probably wearing it at the time. It never even occurred to me, though, and I probably would have forgotten the phone number while trying to figure out how to enter it. I did a much better job just writing her phone number down when I got back to the gym. Watch out for features like this, especially if there is a chance that they will impede usability.

Some nice features that you can keep an eye out for are large lap memories, multiple workout storage of those lap memories, countdown timers and programmable interval timers, and pace guides. Some watches will allow you to enter how far your race is and how long you expect it will take you. When you press the lap button every mile (or kilometer) you can see how far on or off pace you are.

If you get very fancy, you can find some watches that come with GPS tracking, or that interface with your iPod and tell you how far and how fast you are running, your heart rate, and a thousand other features that you have to pay a lot of money for. The simple ones work for me, and I have rarely play with watches that have these other features. I had a heart rate monitor once that interfaced with a bike computer (that you could wear as a wrist watch) but I rarely used it.

How well does your watch measure up against these feature lists? Are you happy with the one you have, or are you ready to shop for a new one?

The company wouldn’t disclose everything that’s coming but hinted at changes from Nike Shox and in apparel. Nike did say it plans to make all its running shoes compatible with its Nike+ technology by the end of the year. Nike+ allows runners to track their workouts with Apple Inc.’s iPod. “I think there is a real renewed sort of energy and focus around product,” Parker said.

While this is good news for the folks that have an iPod and haven’t wanted to spend the extra $50 on shoes that could use the Nike+ system (and who did not want to find their own way of attaching the sensor to their shoe), I tend to worry a little about it. I have little to no interest in personally using the product, as I have zero interest in purchasing an iPod. What I do have an interest in is maintaining the quality of the shoes without making allowances and adding weight for features that I don’t need. What I also have an interest in is maintaining the affordability of my shoes and not having extra fees tacked on for those features that I’ll be ignoring.

(Sources: Boston.com – Gizmodo)

The easy answer to how many shoes you need to be a runner is that you do not need any. Training barefoot is certainly a viable option, and experienced barefoot runners tend to have stronger feet and are less injury prone than us shoe users. The problem, however, is that we start wearing shoes when we are very little, and you need to go into the barefoot mode slowly and carefully. Your feet will be weak due to letting your shoes do most of the work of walking around all day, and running barefoot asks a different stride of us that you may not be used to.

Realistically, though, the minimal answer is one pair of shoes. Most of us will want to wear shoes, and if you are competitive there are certainly advantages to wearing shoes in races. For a casual runner, one pair of shoes will get you out on the roads and can serve you when you are racing.

A more competitive runner, though, is going to want at least two pairs of shoes, and more likely three. It is important to rotate your training shoes between each run if you run more than once a day or more than one day in a row. Your feet will sweat, and you really want your shoes to dry completely before wearing them for another run. A competitive runner may also want to have a pair of racing shoes, whether they are lightweight trainers or full on waffles or spikes.

Personally, I tend to have more shoes than that. When I was in college, I trained in Asics 2040s. When the 2050s came out, I found a clearance sale on the 2040s and bought four pairs of them. I swapped between two pairs at a time through school. These days, I have switched up my shoe use a little and have different styles of shoes that I swap between. Amazingly, I currently have seven pairs of active running shoes, and recently threw out two pairs that had been retired.

To keep my shoes straight and to make it easier to track them in my workout logs, I label my running shoes with a letter. Right now, I have three categories for my shoes.

The first category are my training shoes. I have four pairs of shoes (labeled J through L) that I swap between each run. Even if I run twice in a day for a few days in a row, I will still have at least two days between reusing the same pair of shoes. Each shoe is a different style; two of them are Asics brand and two are Nike brand.

The second category are my racing shoes, which I also use for interval work. The first (labeled G) are last years shoes that did not get too many miles in them yet. They got covered in glass when I was broken into, but I got the glass out of them and have been using them again for my track workouts. I also have a new pair of shoes that I have only used twice.

The third category is my indoor training shoes. I use running shoes when I lift weights because I use the treadmill for a short warm up. I only use these shoes inside. Usually they are only used at the gym on the treadmill and when I am lifting, but I will occasionally use them on the indoor track.

I am a little over board, but most of my shoes were bought because I could get a good deal on them and I knew that I would use them before the rubber started to degrade. My indoor training shoes I had not planned on using until this summer as outdoor trainers, but I decided to retire my old pair of indoor trainers and there was a pair already bought and paid for to replace them.

How many pairs of running shoes do you own? Do you have far fewer dress or casual shoes, which is the case for me?

Table of contents for Equipment (January)

1. Weight Lifting Glossary
2. Toys for Runners
3. What is the difference between standard and Olympic?
4. Safety Equipment for the Roads
5. How to set up a home gym

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will wrote about exercise equipment throughout the month of January.

This week, Scott provides an excellent overview of how to set up your home gym. He starts out describing the benefits of a home gym over a commercial gym, and the basic equipment that you will want to get your gym started. As well as more advanced equipment or equipment alternatives, he also talks about features of your gym such as what music to play (and how to listen to it) and to consider setting up your gym outdoors.

If you have ever thought of starting a home gym, you should check out the article. My own home gym is pretty neglected right now, since I go to a commercial gym. I have a weight bench, swiss ball, bars, dumbbells and plates. Very basic, but it suits my needs when I do not want to go out. I have a pull up bar somewhere, as well, but I haven’t thought of where to mount it quite yet.

Table of contents for Equipment (January)

1. Weight Lifting Glossary
2. Toys for Runners
3. What is the difference between standard and Olympic?
4. Safety Equipment for the Roads
5. How to set up a home gym

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about exercise equipment throughout the month of January.

In a similar vein to a few weeks ago when I wrote about toys for runners, I would like to describe some of the safety equipment that you can get to keep yourself safe while you are out on the roads.

Shoes
Running barefoot can be very good for your feet when done properly, but I would venture to guess that the vast majority of you use running shoes. I list them as the first piece of safety equipment because choosing the proper shoes will help you prevent you from getting injured, and any shoe will help keep your feet safe from glass and ice. If you want to know more about shoes, I wrote a series of articles about how to choose and care for your running shoes last August.

Identification
Carrying some sort of identification with you is important in case the worst should happen and you can not identify yourself. I prefer to wear a Road ID dog tag, because it is very easily recognizable, very easily carried, and includes my name, emergency contact info, and some vital health statistics such as blood type and allergies. If I am unconscious, then my emergency caretakers will know enough about me to keep me alive and will be able to try calling my wife, my mother, or my place of employment. Somebody will know where I am and what happened to me. Carrying your license, or getting something that you can wear on your wrist or shoe works as well, but I prefer the dog tag because I am more likely to have it with me and it is more likely to be easily found and recognized.

Appropriate Clothing
Wear clothing appropriate to the weather. In the summer, wear light, breathable clothes. In the winter, layer up with fabrics that can wick your sweat away from your body and provide a nice layer of insulation away from your skin. You want to be cold at the start of your run, unless you are running somewhere that you can discard layers as you warm up. Hats, masks, head bands, and gloves can go a long ways toward keeping you warm.

Reflective Items
Wear something reflective; even when it is not dark, you will be more likely to be seen. If there is any snow on the ground, you want something that will stand out. You can usually find running clothes that have reflective bands on them; if you are out in the dark, I recommend getting something a little more substantial like a reflective vest. A little strip of tape is not usually enough to identify to a driver that there is somebody in the road. I want there to be no doubts about that.

Flashlights and Headlamps
One way to make a driver absolutely sure that there is somebody in the road ahead of him is to carry a flashlight; better yet, wear a headlamp. A headlamp makes it so that you can see where you are going without having to alter your stride to account for your swinging arms, and you do not have carry anything in your hands. I was not sure how much good my headlamp was doing to keep me visible, but now that I do not have street lamps every 15 feet on my road I needed it to see where I was going. After having passed somebody else wearing one, they are certainly visible and noticable. Even if the driver doesn’t know that a runner is in the road, they will see the moving light and know that there is something that they need to avoid.

Strobe Lights
Strobe lights are another way to get a drivers attention. You can attach them to your front or back. A flickering light is more likely to grab someone’s notice than even the bobbing of your headlamp. They will not illuminate your path, but they can let drivers behind you know that you are there. A headlamp really is not very visible from behind, despite the small bit of illumination it provides in front of you. Used together, then you at least know that they saw you.

Water
The single most important safety item that you can use when running, though, is definately water. Water breaks down the fuel that you eat so that you can use it. It keeps you from getting dehydrated. It keeps you from getting sick. Your body is made up mostly of water. I recommend that you drink plenty of water throughout the day, ever day. Be sure to drink some before and after every workout. If you are dehydrated then no amount of safety accessories will be able to keep you from falling and hurting yourself. If you would like to know more, then read about how to hydrate in my archives.

Table of contents for Equipment (January)

1. Weight Lifting Glossary
2. Toys for Runners
3. What is the difference between standard and Olympic?
4. Safety Equipment for the Roads
5. How to set up a home gym

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about exercise equipment throughout the month of January.

This week, Scott writes about the differences between standard and olympic weight bars and plates, as well as the different types of hooks and collars that you can use.

I much prefer using Olympic equipment, but at home I still have standard bars and plates. Maybe at some point my budget can allow me to replace them, but for now they work well enough on the rare occasions that I do not go into the gym to lift weights.

Table of contents for Equipment (January)

1. Weight Lifting Glossary
2. Toys for Runners
3. What is the difference between standard and Olympic?
4. Safety Equipment for the Roads
5. How to set up a home gym

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about exercise equipment throughout the month of January.

This week I would like to talk about common toys that runners get. To be a runner you really do not need much; some shorts and a pair of shoes will get most people going, and the shoes are optional. Once you have been running for a while, though, you might want to start playing with some of the toys that can make running more interesting, more fun, or at least more measured. Here are some of the common ones.

Watches
The first accessory that most runners add is a watch. Sports watches will usually have at least a timer; you hit start when you begin and stop when you get where you are going. You can also get watches with lap memory and count down timers. Some watches will allow you to program a workout ahead of time and will let you know when it is time to start the next leg of your workout. If you time your run over a measured distance, you can determine how fast you are going. While a watch is not necessary, it can let you know how you are improving as you do similar workouts in your training.

Heart Rate Monitors
Heart rate monitors usually involve wearing a strap around your chest and a special watch that can display measurements that are sent wirelessly from the strap. By training with a heart rate monitor, you can determine exactly how hard you are working rather than relying upon a rough estimate.

Pedometers
Pedometers cover a wide range of devices from simple ones that tell you how many steps that you have taken to complex ones that tell you exactly how far you ran and track your pace over time. They may attach to your belt or shoe, or they might include a watch that will display the results of what it is tracking. They may even talk to you through your mp3 player. Pedometers will not always be completely accurate, but the better ones can be calibrated to near 95% accuracy.

GPS Receivers
GPS Receivers are like pedometers, except that rather than tracking how many steps you take they track how far you have travelled in relation to a satelite that is orbiting the earth. As long as you have an unobstructed view of the sky, these can be very accurate. Most models will allow you to track your runs and download them to your computer so that you can see your pace over time and elevation. Some combine all of the features that you would find in a wrist watch and a heart rate monitor in one package.

Audio Devices
MP3 players, cd players, cassette walkmen and other similar devices are very popular. I do not personally support using them when running near other people or traffic, but they are still a popular toy that many people like to wear when they are hitting the streets. You can multitask on your run by carrying music or an audio book along with you.

Technical Fabrics
A little bit less techy but much more easily embraced by all and sundry, technical fabrics have done their best to keep us from getting chafed or over heated or frost bitten. Whether you got the shirt from a race or spent as much on one pair of socks as a package costs of your normal ones, technical products such as cool-max wick moisture away from your skin and are much less abrasive than cotton. You will not want to wear cotten any more once you begin getting technical t-shirts, clothes, and running pants. You may also finding a good, breathable wind breaker will do well as a top level shell to wear over those technical shirts when you are running out in the cold.

Headlamps, reflective materials and blinkers
Headlamps, reflective materials, and blinking lights have made it much safer to go outside and run when it is dark out. Being seen is important to keep from getting run over, and being able to see makes it much less likely you will step in a pot hole or trip on a curb. In my case, it has not done much to keep from running headfirst into random branches that hang over the road.

Water bottles
Water bottles can be something as simple as a gallon jug left in the back of a pickup truck, a water bottle with a squeeze handle, or a fuelt belt that allows you to carry smaller water bottles around your waist. Keeping hydrated is important, and runners have come up with multiple ways of keeping their water with them on the run. The most common ones that you will see are fanny packs that carry a normal bicycle water bottle, and fuel belts that have palm sized water bottle contoured slightly to fit behind you. I am a bigger fan of leaving water out somewhere; if you bury it then it will stay cold and will usually be undisturbed.

These are a few of the toys that runners eventually consider purchasing. They may not buy all of them, but at one point or another they will seriously try to decide whether something on there is worth picking up or not. After getting the stop watch, though, the most important thing to purchase to become a serious runner is a pencil and a piece of paper in order to keep a training log. What you do not measure, you can not improve.

Table of contents for Equipment (January)

1. Weight Lifting Glossary
2. Toys for Runners
3. What is the difference between standard and Olympic?
4. Safety Equipment for the Roads
5. How to set up a home gym

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about exercise equipment throughout the month of January.

Scott starts the year off with an excellent glossary of weight lifting and strength training equipment. He describes things such as dumbbells, kettle balls, squat suits, racks, bands, chalk, power racks, and other items you might find at a gym.

Definately worth taking a gander at. Perhaps you will see the next toy you will want to purchase for your home gym!