VIDEO: Marathon Thoughts

Just awesome....

Travel exercise tips

My job does not require too much travel, but I usually end up going on two or three trips a year. Although running is a fairly portable sport, I find it difficult, sometimes, to be fit on the road. Through the Consumerist, I found this post on exercise while you travel over at Nerdfitness.com. His tips? Make it a priority, find creative ways to workout without a gym, and eat well.

The post also reminded me of this video. Ever heard of Burpees? Check out this great video by Mike Rowe, the narrator of several shows on Discovery and star of Dirty Jobs.

Two tidbits of running history

Early this year, I had two encounters with running history that I quite enjoyed. First was Marathon Talk Episode 103 which was an entire episode interview with a man named Bruce Tulloh, a runner whose history was unknown to me at the time. The conversation was fascinating, and even Martin, as he was doing the interview, marvelled at the level of detail that Mr. Tulloh could remember about races that he ran 50 years ago, the pacing, the strategy, the feeling and so on. They talked about running "state of the art" back then and noted about how old becomes new again (barefoot running) and how in his heyday, it was the Scandinavians not Kenyans who ran with such excellence and consistency that some thought they must have some special genetic makeup allowing them to dominate the sport (sound familiar?).

The other brush with running history came from an editorial in the Nov/Dec issue of Marathon and Beyond. Rich Benyo writes about a recent experience with a child of a friend who did not understand why people used to have to make special arrangements to watch their favorite TV shows (he asked why they did not just DVR them). Mr Benyo goes on in his editorial to remind us how, in the not too distant past, race directors somehow managed to accurately time and rank order finishers without the modern convenience of ChampionChip timers. Gatorade tastes excellent now, but he reminisced that it once tasted like the sweat it was meant to replace. (I must admit, I have no love for the new G series and would be happy with regular old lemon-lime.) He did express appreciation for some other modern conveniences, like the technical shirts and shorts, so that he no longer has to expect chafing as a daily inconvenience.

These two pieces reminded me to appreciate my trinkets and toys, but also reminded me that I could still be an excellent runner and enjoy the sport plenty without them.

On a side note, reading about someone's opinion of the early form of Gatorade, reminded me of this video.

Can you run as fast as Ryan Hall?

For the NYC Marathon this year ASICS installed a video board ad in the subway that challenges you to keep pace with Ryan Hall for 60 feet. It is even more awesome when Ryan Hall showed up to race himself. The video for the full ad is "unlisted" and I cannot seem to embed it. So, here is a clip embedded below, but the whole ad is worth a watch if you click here.

Another in the minimalist shoe lineup, New Balance Minimus

As the minimalist shoe/barefoot running movement continues to grow and gain traction (har har), I keep seeing more and more products coming out. I came across this video recently from New Balance talking about their new foray into minimalism, the Minimus. Now, I've not seen them in stores yet, but a couple of things put these on the list of "shoes I might be interested in one day".

First, the mesh/rubber body of the shoe (from what I can see of the video) looks a lot like the setup of my Saucony Fastwitch 3's. Wearing those, I really feel a snug and glovelike fit which I enjoy and I am imagining I will like the feel of the Minimus as well.

Second, these have the advantage over Vibram's shoes in that they have a traditional toe box, not "toe gloves" which work okay to fit my feet, but there are plenty of people out there who can't use VFF's because of their toe anatomy. Also, while I don't dislike the look of Vibrams, someone commented on this video that they can't wait for the Minimus so they can "replace [their] hideous VFF's".

Third, I've talked before about interaction with companies and had success in actually contacting people at companies like ASICS. I am glad to hear that Anton Krupicka has had a good interaction with New Balance and I think we, as consumers, should continue to be smart and conscious about the products we buy.

Proper foootstrike, Ryan Hall at 300 fps, 17 miles into Boston

In another post regarding form and proper footstrike, you probably don't need to wear minimalist shoes if you strike on your midfoot like Ryan Hall. He may not have won Boston this year, but finishing in the fastest American time EVER is an astonishing achievement. Congrats Ryan!

This video is from Peter Larson's blog "Runblogger" who teaches anatomy and runs in New Hampshire.


Ryan Hall - Boston Marathon 2010 from Runblogger on Vimeo.