TT Running Club

“Smiley, GREAT JOB!!! Trail running is awesome, gald you enjoyed it so much. You should be proud. I would run trails daily if given the chance. I love the hills rocks roots and mud, so much better then concrete hell.

Ewker, I used to wear New Balance exclusively (road and trail) but now wear ascics gel nimbus for roads and vasque velocity for trails. I dont think anyone brand is perfect. They all have attributes that make em desirable, NB's big thing is a better selection of widths. I still love NB shoes though...lots of fond miles.

I think the best running shoe is the one that feels the best and provides for the needs you have, support,cushioning,stability,over pronation etc...”

“I wear Mizuno Wave Runners. I pretty much took the salesperson/store owners word for it that it would be good for me after she fitted me and looked at my footfall and stride.

Much like hiking boots, everyone will be unique and there is no one best shoe.”

“Roam makes agood point, going to a real running store and getting fitted is important. A good podiatrist can offer specific features to look for in a shoe.”

“Since we're on the subject of shoes... How many people use real running shoes and how many people use trail shoes?
I have hiking boots, I have trail running shoes that are closer to trail shoes than they are to running shoes, I have running shoes for the gym/pavement, and now I'm looking at buying a 4th pair of trail running shoes that are closer to running shoes than trail shoes. What can I say, I'm a shoe slut.

Does anyone have or have heard anything good/bad about the Salomon XA Comp 2 trail running shoes? I tried them on at REI and they fit awesome.”

“reptiles, I have heard lots of good stuff about salomon shoes (I own tech amphibians) from my adventure racin friends. I met some guys from salomon who gave me socks, they seemed nice enough (the fellas and socks). I tried a pair on and liked em but didnt have the $$ at the time. I will prolly try a pair soon.”

“Just wore my new Salomon trail runners yesterday orienteering. Awesome! I've been a New Balance/Merril girl but I like the roomy toe box on the Salomons. Can't remember the name on 'em but they're the new model, grey with red and yellow.”

“Massive cramp in left calf yesterday 3 mile run.


hsn't release fully yet.


Have used foam rollers and massage stick.

Hurts to walk

Happened several years ago as well.”

“ouch!”

“"Oooh, don't get Sass started on this one.."


note to self, answer SG's questions with yes or no from now on!”

“LOL! ;)

See you about 4:45 Sass....”

“The running store experts put me in Ascics. I'm on my second pair, and I love them. So much better than the department store Nikes I'd been buying.
For trail I use Vasques, mostly because I had such good luck hiking in them.
Like Roam & Birch said, everyone has different needs. I vote for getting an expert opinion.”

“Here's the race results:

http://www.jcpg.org/raceresults.htm”

“le Subtil, I would think that the foot fitters at Trail days (Fit Systems by Phil Oren)
http://www.fitsystembyphiloren.com/index2.html
are more of an expert that some guy at running store.
last edited: 5/17/05 12:09:51 PM”

“lee, them cramps are a beeyatch for sure. I hope it gets to feeling better.

Ewker, I dont think one "expert" is better then another. Its an issue of trust. I know the folks at the store I have been fitted at are trying to sell me the perfect shoe, not the perfect brand. Its like a pack or sleepy bag or any gear. I am not discounting the other guy, he just hasnt seen my feet or my stride and footfall.

Had an awesome 7.8 miler today. I pushed my daughter (45-50 lbs with stroller) and did it in 63min 16 sec. I am HUNGRY!!!”

“good run birch!

Ewker - that "guy" at the running store is generally not some teenager goofing off after school earning gas money. They generally know what they're talking about and aren't pushing any particular brand. When I got my shoes, the store owner, who's also one of the leaders in the local running club put me in about six diff pair and brands for me to see how they felt, let me go outside and run a few yards in them. This was after she'd had me on a treadmill with a video machine to look at my stride and footfall in slo mo.

She knew what she was doing - I learned a lot from her about shoe fit.

I'm sure there are exceptions and we aren't talking about "Foot Locker".”

“OK running newbie checking in again. I ran two miles on rolling hills last night. My breathing is starting to shallow out and the side cramps are starting to be less severe, but now I'm having trouble with my calf muscles balling up on me. Sometimes it happens almost immediately when i start running. It feels like my calf is about to explode. Do I need to do more stretching? run through this? Ease off and do less mileage till it goes away? Is this normal? Legs are a little tight today, but no cramping.”

“Ewk: not to be argumentitive, but the "guy" at the running store was the owner, and he spent almost an hour with me. More importantly, he sold me shoes that eliminated my knee pain and have worked flawlessly for around 900 miles (2 pr.). All this for the exact same price as the best I could find on the internet. (running club members get a 15% discount)

I sure am pumped for this marathon. I hate not running much during the last 2 weeks.”

“sometimes cramping is a sign of dehydration, try drinking more water over the whole course of each day.

Its also hard to stretch enough, especially if your just starting out. I usually spend about 10 minutes stretching my legs and back before a run - sometimes more if i feel especially tight.

If your brand new, two miles might be a lot to tackle - particularly with hill work - don't do any more than your comfortable with and allow yourself a recovery day too.

You'll start to learn to control your breathing as you go, but concentrate on full deep breaths (it helps take your mind off the road in front too).”

“I've been running faster lately than ever before, surprisingly. Funny thing about it, my chest muscles are sooooo sore from taking big breaths! I've always been a real shallow breather and have been working on my posture and breathing lately to get a more open chest and deeper breaths. I keep on catching myself with my shoulders all curled up toward my lungs. Don't want them to stick that way.”

“At the Colorado Rockies Home Run 5k (charity run in downtown Denver).

What a great event - at least 1,500 runners, maybe twice that many, i have no idea. Started on the street right outside Coors Field and ran thru downtown. For the whole first half of the race we were parallel and dirctly into the Front Range with Mt. Evans just in front of us. COming back into the stadium was pretty cool too, even there were only dozens of screaming fans rather than thousands. Circled the warning track and then exited the stadium to finish on the street. I finished in 28:20, but I'm gonna claim it was 28 even due to the extrememly crowded start which kept me from crossing the start line for at least 20 seconds or more.

After the race the stadium was open with the batting cages, pitching speed gun, etc, etc - and all the hot dogs, banannas and bagels you could ever want.

I didn't win any of the Rockies giveaways - but they gave away some really cool prizes - autographed balls and bats and one lucky gal got a freebie in one of the suites plus 12 tickets.

I did get two free tickets just for entering and another super cool t shirt. And, had a great time to boot.”

“Beginner checking in again: Ran my 2.5 miles under a full moon tonight..beautiful night! This was the first time I did my 2 miles on hills without leg or side cramps and breathing is finally shallowing out. Feels great. I'm looking forward to longer runs!”

“Roam congrats on the PR sounds like a great time.

IJ, glad to hear that the cramps were gone. Keep it up, it just gets better.”

“What a fun race Roam! Great time.”

“I realized this weekend my race is a little over a month away. I better start working on improving my time!!


G and I went for a run Friday night. It was a short one, since we didn't get started until pretty late. I ended up having an asthma attack, I guess. It was hard to breath in, I sounded like I was wheezing. Not fun.”

“FYI for you treadmill runners

http://www.trinewbies.com/run_treadmill_chart.asp”

“Yeah, you have to run at .5% incline to equal road work.”

“its my night to run, but I'm tired and feel like i'm coming down with a head cold. Do you all run through that kind of stuff or take it easy?”

“If I'm not training, I usually slack if I'm sick.

If I am training, I will run with a cold.

I don't get sick very often, and if I do, it goes away in a day or two. So it's never really been an issue for me. Most things you read say it's ok to run with a head cold, but not if it migrates to your chest.”

“Felt better this evening so i went ahead and ran my two miles. Feel better now. I think if i get some good sleep i'll be ok.”

“Had an excellent day Saturday for my 2nd marathon in Traverse City, Mi.
Ran 3:46:19, 52 minutes faster than my first, despite some sideaches.
Great race. I wish I could make a living doing that.”

“Awesome job!!! Keep it up. I plan to run my first marathon this fall either in Columbus or at the Airforce Marathon in Dayton. Do you follow a specific trainning routine or have you created your own?”

“3:46! Great race!! Wow, almost an hour off your PR!”

“Great race leSub!


I've got another 5k this weekend - gotta try and beat my last time of 28 mins.”

“Nice job! Are you still thinking about running the Volkslaufe? Let me know! I'm definitly going to be there!


Although, my running has sucked lately. Maybe I'll start doing other things and go back to running in a week or so...”

“Nice work, folks! I finished May with almost as many miles as le Subtil ran in one day!”

“Well, my May beat his one day, but just barely. June will be better, I'm tapering up to 20 mile weeks, thats the plan anyways.”

“congrats LeSubtil!!! That is an awesome time.”

“Thanks, everyone, for the support.

applesauce:
I took a training program from runnersworld.com and modified it a little to suit my schedule. I can only run 3 days a week because of other obligations, that and my old body needs the recuperation time.
The beginners program was a little too easy and the intermediate was a little too hard (too much speed work) so I split the differences.
My longest week was 50 miles. My longest long run was 24.
For me, having a plan on paper is a must. It's so easy to put a run off or cut it short. If I have a schedule, I just follow it, regardless.
I ran about 500 miles since January to get ready for this one.

Now, I'm looking ahead to a trail marathon on Grand Island in July, and possibly another marathon in Death Valley in December. I guess I'm hooked!”

“I was just wondering how many people drink caffeine before a race? Is that extra jolt of energy worth the possible dehydrating effects? Doesn't caffeine raise your heart rate also?

When backpacking, I down a huge mug of hot choc. and chia tea in the morning before hitting the trail and it really gets me going. I was figuring for a 10k the caffeine effect would probably last the entire race and give me an additional boost. But since I have never ran a 10k I was wondering if there are caffeine side effects that I haven't thought of.”

“I have a cup of coffee the morning of a race just to avoid a caffeine-less headache. You really don't need the caffeine to run well - your body will supply all of the adrenaline you need. And, in fact, if you're competing in a USATF-sanctioned event, you're technically breaking the rules, as caffeine is a banned substance. Fortunately, I have yet to be in a position to be drug-tested after a race.... :-)”

“Some of the Gu I've tried is labeled "extra caffiene". I never noticed that it made any difference.”

“There's actually a study recently relaesed about the benefits of caffeine for competition. There was an article about it in this months Adventure Sports magazine. It increases performance and doesn't act as a dieretic (how's that spelled?) as formally believed. The only time you should avoid it as an athlete is during recovery. I'll see if I can find the article online for ya....”

“There was an article in National Geo about caffeine recently. They say that deydration is a myth, so you shouldn't have to worry about that aspect.”

“dehydration isn't a myth, that caffeine dehydrates is a myth.

I can;t get the article online. The main points are: most athletes need 100-300mg to feel the effects of caffeine.

caffeine has beneficial metabolic effects, increasing the breakdown of fats at the beginning of a workout and saving gylcogen stores for later.

Caffeine stimulates your central nervous system, decreasing your perceived exertion so you don't feel as fatigued as you are.

The study was released by the University of Conneticut Human Performance Laboratory.”

“I've never been afraid of consuming caffine prior to a run. I'm with Bowlderman - I have enough of a caffine addiction that I can get a headache or feel sluggish if I abstain.”

“Is it normal to get a little sore in the knees a month or two into a new running routine?”

“not abnormal at least - don't increase the mileage too quickly - most people will notice a body rebellion - especially in the knees and ankles, if you increase the mileage more than 10% per week.

which can seem like a frustrateingly low amount, but to add more is risking an injury that will sit you on your bum for up to a month.

Advil is a good thing.”

“My Doc told me that it's loose tendons and that they'll tighten up eventually. He said it's important to start off slowly for that reason. (He's also a runner, which is very nice)”

“Thanks, good info. I've probably been pushing it a little too hard,i'll ease up a little.”

“was this morning. I decided to enter it earlier this week and make it my June event.

Got up at dark thirty to do the hour drive down to Denver to City Park (where the city zoo is) - really nice part of town it seems, the park was anyhow.

The course wound thru the park, around the lake (the lake smelled a little funky) - even had a little shade.

I finished in my best time ever - 26:42 (unofficial). My first mile was one of my fastest ever too - the kid beside me had a watch, (I don't wear one) and he said we were at 7:00, dunno if it was 7:50 or 7:10, or what but anything under 8 is below my "comfortable" 5k pace. I slowed down a tad and concentrated on my breathing so I wouldn't bonk before the 3 mile mark.

Had a great time and supported a good cause.”