Archive 2017

Stryd Right

As I mentioned prior I’m using the Stryd Marathon training plan.  It’s an interesting plan in a few ways.  The workouts have more variation in the workouts themselves than other plans I’ve used or seen.   Also the initial month is very low speed long distance.  Distances aren’t that long per se but this is obviously not a couch to marathon plan since week 1 has a 8 mile run at the end and the short distance is 4 miles.

Economy of form leads to being able to go the distance”

When I first started I couldn’t do a 4 minute run…

The slow runs also have some kind of ‘strides’ as Stryd calls them or sprints or intervals as I grew up calling them.  The first few runs that have sprints are pretty simple 3 to 6 mile zone 1 running (super slow) and then  100 meters balls to the wall full on sprint with 1 minute jog or walk.  Repeat the sprint cycle 4 to 10 times depending on the workout.

After the first 3 or 4 weeks of training the tail end road sprints change to hill sprints which start at 8 second balls out sprinting uphill followed by 1 minute jog or walk, repeat 4 to 10 times.

What I find the most interesting/intriguing about the Stryd plan is the alleged science behind their rhyme and reason of their training activities.   Each one is, allegedly, designed to target a specific function of the running physiology.  LSD’s or Long Slow Distances which are slow slow are designed to strengthen the heart, promote healing (which I could use right now) and increase oxygen delivery ability at the cellular level.   That all sounds pretty science-ey doesn’t it?

The sprints, especially hill sprints are designed to increase neuromuscular capabilities, strength and leg sprint stiffness.  These lead to more economy of form.   Economy of form leads to being able to go the distance.

There are a total of 8 different areas the various styles of workouts targets.  Remember Rocky 3?  Dolph had all the Russian science behind him and all Rocky had was star power so he won?   In reality science is a pretty big boost toward being able to accomplish what you want in the time yuou want it.   Obviously runners used to just ‘get out there and run’.   But it does make one think how much better those awesome runners of yore could have been if they’d of trained with the knowledge we have now of anatomy, physiology, kinesthesiology and in general just more understanding of the human body and it’s bio-mechnics.

I for one feel my slow, structured approach to running even #notrunning as I do has got me there safely and with minimal risk.   Indeed it was only when I started added extra ‘off book’ runs especially ones on technical trails and hills that I started having problems with my knee.  Just the one.  The left one.

At some point Time will come crashing down with a ‘this is is my friend, this is as far as you can get now, after 5 decades of abuse, this is the maximum your body can output’.  So we’ll see where that line is.

During my sprints on Tuesday, granted just 100 meters at a time, I hit a pace of 6:04 per mile.   All in all I don’t really think that’s anything to complain about given my age, lack of training and the fact that I outweigh the average elite runner by over 100 lbs.   Those are some big handicaps to overcome.  Time will tell how far over that hump I can get.

Stryd’ers on the Storm

The title of this post is a play on a play of words.  Back in my younger days when I had more free time and less demands on what time I did I was both a geek and a nerd.  i.e. I played roleplaying games.  The kind you do with several people.  That’s probably not clarified enough, the kind you do with several people, with your clothes on.  Okay maybe that’s still debatable.  The kind you do with several people, using rule books and dice, with your clothes on and there are no orgasms involved.

But as one of the bigger clydesdales in the herd”

Anyway there are these things called Driders which are a combination of a kind of elf and a spider in a centaur like blending.   In one particular session our heroes were at a placed called Storm Shipping and Receiving when they were attacked by Driders.  This of course by necessity generated the phrase “Drider’s on the Storm”.

Which is a long way to go about explaining a title that makes sense to now one.

Anyway….  I bought a Stryd foot pod as the pacing and distance from my watch wasn’t as precise as I now want it to be.  I was also intrigued by the ‘train using power’ metrics that are being floated around.   The Stryd foot pod calculates how much energy/effort you’re expending on each step you take to move your body mass forward.  It analyzes all kinds of data from each step and gives you a picture of running motion.   It takes into account slopes, go up hill and burn more power, downhill burn less.

The idea is to run so that you burn a specific amount of energy for distance and to go into specific burn zones, i.e. energy output bands, to achieve your training goals.  Certain bands and types/timing of training are good for certain things, lactate use, vo2 max increase, physiological changing of the body for running etc.

Now that I’ve finished my half marathon training using the Garmin Heart Rate Zone based plan I’m going to try the Stryd marathon training plan.   It’s interesting, the first month is a lot of long slow distance or LSD’s with some sprints, Stryd calles them strides, at the end of the shorter ones.   The speeds are slower than I’ve been training with so far for long distances so it’ll be interesting to see the results.

I did a 9 mile run on Sunday at the recommended speed which was about 90 seconds per mile slower than I’d been running long distances and I was a little surprised at how difficult it did feel by the end of the run.  There are extenuating circumstances, in the previous month I’d run my first half marathon, normal training, a 5k race on Friday, 2 5K obstacle courses on Saturday and then the 9 mile on Sunday.  So there may have been a wee bit of reason as to why 9 miles slow felt kind of tough by the end.

It runs through to mid September over 4 months of training.   It’s 3 days a week, starting with 16 miles a week for the first week and ramping up to around 40-50 miles a week at the peak of the training.

But as one of the bigger clydesdales in the herd for distance running long and specifically slow may be what I need at the moment to help clear up a nagging knee issue.

Altra Paradigm 2.0

I’m afraid my Altra Paradigm 2.0’s aren’t working out.  This is due entirely to sizing, not anything else.   I measure a 12.5 and wear a 12.5 to 13 in most shoes.  I bought my Paradigm’s in size 13 and they’re just kind of short.

but jab into anything long enough and things will start to hurt.”

For short runs 5K’s especially as long as I wear thin socks they’re okay length wise.  But I ran my first long run in them on Sunday and by mile 7 my feet had swelled just enough that my two longest toes on each foot were hitting the end of the shoe.   I wasn’t wearing thin socks that day though but a thicker set of Balega’s.

I may be able to adjust a bit by really locking down the midfoot to keep my foot from moving forward at all but I’m just not sure it’s going to be doable.

It felt kind of like repeatedly stubbing your toe on velvet but jab into anything long enough and things will start to hurt.  By close to mile 9 I was seriously wanting to be done with the run.

To go up a size though, because no one makes half sizes past 12 means I have to get them in 14’s which I worry will be like clown shoes on me.

So I may have to give this model a miss or just use them for short runs with thin socks or barefoot.

The shoe overall I really like, the cushion is maximal but not marshmallow.  The midfoot is secure and the heel pocket is good for my foot.   The tongue is cushioned but not too much so.  Laces are long enough for traditional lacing, if you go parallel lacing you’ll have plenty of lacing.

The styling is good (for an Altra).

The only two big issues is sizing and availability.  In anything other than the most common sizes it’s hit or miss being able to find a pair in any color much less the color you might want.

Jaybird X3 Update

So I finally with my one communication a day maximum back and forth with Jaybird got them to accept an RMA from me.   This did require me to have the reciept for my purchase.   Tip for you, when you buy an expensive piece of electronics put your receipt in the box and keep the box for at least the length of the warranty.

there had better be a zombie horde chasing me and having music on that run would be the least of my worries”

They finally acknowledged that the device didn’t work and had me ship it back to them so they could test it.  I assume once they test it and find out it’s broken they’ll ship me a refurb unit to replace it.

At this point though I’m calling it a lesson learned and I’ll keep it for secondary usage.   The Plantronic Back Beat’s for my needs are better in all ways including price and are demonstrably more durable in terms of weather.  Due to me dropping them getting out of the car they were totally submerged in rain water for about 12 hours with no signs of an issue.   The day I run 12 hours in torrential rain there had better be a zombie horde chasing me and having music on that run would be the least of my worries.

FWIW one of the #runners I know his Jaybirds died this week with no output from the left earpiece.   I wished him luck in dealing with Jaybird CS.

That’s 2 for 2 first hand experience with failed units on the Jaybird X3’s.   We could be outliers of course but the laws of averages and normalization indicate that the Jaybird’s may have some issues in QC or design.

And neither of us have ever run in the rain or gotten these units wet.  Mine literally were working fine one run and the next time I tried to use they were dead.    The other person’s were the same way.  They were working at the end of a run and at the start of another one the earpiece was dead.

 

Half Marathon Man (original title I’m sure)

So… first half marathon, all 13.3 miles of it, done.  Yes I know but SPR wasn’t possible since there were 25,000 runners and #notarunner in the race and I didn’t know the route as this was a very last minute race.

freezing my testicles off didn’t help.”

My planned race the day before got thunderstormed out and cancelled.  So… my running partner, her husband and myself signed up last minute for the OKC Memorial Marathon.  Half marathon technically.  I drove down the day of after about 3 hours sleep and we ran the race.

It was unexpectedly cold, colder than I was ready for and dressed for so that was a thing.  Pre race it was low 40’s and I was dressed for mid 50’s. And by the end of the race, soaking in sweat with a bajillion mile an hour wind in my face along the last mile it was OMG cold.

The race went pretty well all things considered.  I lost my running partner somewhere between miles 6 and 9.  I kept looking back and she was there and then she was gone.  I tried to find her a couple of times and then I thought maybe she’d passed me but I was alone at the end of the race and as a result we didn’t cross the finish line together.  That’s my biggest disappointment of the race.

In the end we had pretty good run I think.  I wasn’t super happy with mine but it was acceptable.  I’d planned on doing a 2:36 and ended up with a 2:39.   With better pacing it could have been a 2:30 I think.

My running partner crossed a little after me.   Our other running friend cut several minutes off his half marathon PR and this was a hilly race so he did super awesome.   He has a plan to be a BQ in the next couple of years and I really think he can do it.  He runs like a madman and doesn’t follow any training schedules.

The OKC Memorial run was very well put on, good corral management, there was no congestion on the race at all.  My races up till now the front of the herd is always full of slow runners and walkers so the first half mile is always a juggle as the herd thins out and everyone finds their natural paces.   This was a pretty nice change.

Lots of aid stations, one every mile and a half or so supplying both water and powerade and the volunteers seemed actually happy to be there in the 40 degree and damp weather.

My only issues and they’re minor is the finisher shirt hand out took some time to straighten out and the line for the promised Carl’s Jr hamburger was about a billion miles long so I ended up with a banana.

I had a few minutes of being in a bit of a mood after the race was over, mostly just knocking on myself for having to walk a couple or three times during the last 2 miles (again a hilly race) and wondering how my partner was doing.   Then having to wait a a fair long time in the line for the finisher shirt while freezing my testicles off didn’t help.

But it passed and in the end I was okay with it and that’s a key thing to take away from any race.

All in all while it was a super expensive race (major race, sign up at the last minute and have to travel = not cheap) I think it was worth it.  It was the last long race till Fall that the four of us were going to be able to do together.   I have another half in a couple of weeks but that will be the last non-5K available in the area for the summer.

Gear wise I ran in my Nimbus 18’s with my Stryd on it.  The Stryd measured 13.27 miles while my Fenix 3HR measured 3.40 miles.   13.27 wasn’t unexpected as there wasn’t any way I was doing the SPR on the course.  At one point one of my feet got wet from getting splashed and I was worried about a blister after feeling my sock start to bunch up but it worked itself out.  But my Stryd seems to read slightly high on mileage so I set the calibration factor on my Fenix 5 down to 99.7% so it should get a little closer to perfect.

My biggest take away from the half marathon was confirmation that road running is boring.  Mind numbingly boring.

But my goal is to finish a 50K on a trail so that’s less boring.  Better scenery, more interesting and entertaining running and being one of the few who make it beyond a half marathon and the very few who make it past a marathon.   I’m not sure my physiology (so not built to run) and let’s be honest starting training to run a 50K when you’re 50 while oddly ironic isn’t necessarily the best starting point.

But what else do I have to do with my spare time?

 

Getting Salty

Added another domain that points to this one called runsalty.com.  Surprisingly there’s no such thing on the internet.  I went looking for a tech shirt with either I Run Salty or Run Salty on it and they don’t exist.  I’m vaguely shocked at that.

I didn’t expect that the internet would let me down and apparently I had an original thought.”

So I registered the domain name because why not?

I need an angry salt shaker running as a logo now and I can use cafepress or something similar to create my own tech shirt to show my angry running.

This all started as I just ran my first half and for a few minutes after I finished I was in a bit of a mood because I ended up walking 3 sections of the last mile and and a half.   Maybe half mile total walking.  And as a result I had the thought I need a shirt to warn people that I may be unapproachable and as salty is a thing at the moment although it may be winding down, I said to myself, “get a I run salty shirt.”.  I didn’t expect that the internet would let me down and apparently I had an original thought.

So you may see some changes on the site as I make it more salty.

hoME Improvement?

So my new fancy Stryd after 3 runs is telling me I have a few areas to improve on.  The problem is how does someone who’s #notarunner build a training plan around these recommendations?  That’s one thing I’m running with the Stryd and any advanced data/metrics is “Okay I have all this data.  Now what?”   My leg stiffness is X.  Yay?  Boo?  My ground contact time is XXXms.  Okay?

where I can get the best bang for my buck.”

Stryd doesn’t as far as I can find offer any information on what these numbers mean, if they’re good or bad or indifferent, and if they’re bad how to improve them.

Now some data is obvious like GCT or ground contact time.  The less time you’re in contact with the ground the faster you’re going.  Duh.

Interestingly I found some data on some of these numbers in an article that just mentions them in passing.   But they outlined that some vertical oscillation is good, too much is bad.  Same with GCT where most runners fall between here and there.   And leg stiffness is actually a good thing within a certain range as it increases running economy.

I have a Garmin based marathon training plan that kicks in after my half marathon this weekend.  But now I need to work on using that as a base plan and then incorporate targeted workouts the Stryd is telling me where I can get the best bang for my buck into the Garmin plan.

My thought is keep the Sunday long run obviously.   Then add Hills, Fartleks, Intervals etc as the other training each week and just keep increasing the times/repetitions.   The problem is that’s tedious grunt work and I hate tedious grunt work.  I like that I can select a plan on Garmin and then set a start date and hit ‘send to watch’ and done.   I sync the Garmin calendar to my Google calendar, turn on notifications and get a 24 hour heads up about what I’m doing the next day and I can print the calendar to show my week.   No muss, no micro managing each workout.

Another thing I’m not real sure of is what is a “High Volume Easy Run” versus a “Long Run”.   Do you just run a lot of easy runs but at what distance?  Should I stick a Z1 run of 3 miles in on all my current off days?

Anyway this is all in my road to doing either a marathon or a 50K this fall.  The bad part is I’m training for a marathon or 50K distance during Oklahoma summers in the middle of climate change madness causing hotter than normal temperatures.  But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger is what I hear.

Jaybird X3 – Warning

So I have a pair of Jaybird X3’s, bought the first couple of weeks they were available.  The sound quality IMO was decent but Bose Sound Sports sound better.   The Plantronics Backbeat Fit sounds better IMO.

Yes I get asked to do the very thing I’ve already told them I’ve done several times.”

But the Jaybirds were oh so highly rated so I bought a pair.  You can probably tell where this is going right?

After at a guess less than 2 full charges worth the headhpones were dead when I went to use them last Sunday.  They’ve never been wet and given I was using them in 30’s and 40’s degree runs they didn’t even get sweated on.  And remember they’re rated for water.

I assumed the battery was dead so I plugged them in for 15 minutes to get me enough battery for a run.  15 minutes and they still won’t turn on.  So I assume the manual is lying to me about 15 minutes will get you an hour’s worth of run time and leave them on the charger and go run.

I get back and check them.  Still dead. Ooooh kay.   I put them back on the charger and try turning them on.  THey come on.  I take them off and they immediately die.   I put them back on and long story short while on the charger they will turn on and act normally with the exception that the right ear piece is dead.   They do their normal OMFG loud startup sequence “Powering on.  Blast of eardrum busting music.   Searching for Music Device.  Fully Charged.”

I can change the EQ using the app on the phone.   I can play music, only through the left ear piece.

So I google and you’ll be shocked to hear there are a lot of folks with the same problem.   I open a case with support and explain everything in detail.

I get asked if I tried turning them off and on.   And to try using a different USB port.

I respond back and tell them I’ve tried the soft reset of go into pairing mode and press the power button twice, the hard reset (that everyone says does nothing) of pressing the power button 8 times, pressing for 5 seconds, and doing that twice more.  I reiterate that the headphones appear to be fully charged, at least they say they are and the power led goes green indicating a full charge.   I reiterate that there is NO sound in the right earpiece and that the thing ONLY works while it’s on the charger.

I get a response back to try pressing the power button 8 times, holding for 5 seconds and doing that twice more, then putting it on the charger and letting it charge.   Yes I get asked to do the very thing I’ve already told them I’ve done several times.

So… knowing I’m wasting my time in doing this… I do it again.  And knowing I’m now wasting my time I re-state everything I’ve already stated twice for the third time.  Emphasizing that it has been reset, that the right ear piece doesn’t work, that the headset doesn’t work at all unless it’s on the charger.

It’s safe to assume at this point that they’re using the delay, irritate and drag the issue out till the customer gives up method of customer support.   And knowing there’s little chance I’m going to get a working set of headphones out of this any time soon if ever and I have a half marathon this weekend and don’t want to run it listening to my own breathing I found that Costco has Plantronics Backbeat Fit for $50 right now with instant rebates.

The Backbeats are pretty highly rated and to my ears they sound almost but not quite as good as Bose Soundsports and with better bass than the Jaybird X3’s.

So there you go.  If you’re considering the Jaybird X3’s then at this point assume they’re disposable and consumable and you might get some unknown number of months out of the or you might get some few hours like a fair number of people based on the views and public support cases on the Jaybird support forum and googling jaybird x3 battery issues, jaybird x3’s won’t turn on, jaybird x3’s won’t charge, jaybird x3’s one earpiece is dead.

I knee this would happen

Did my last long long run before the half coming up in 2 weeks yesterday.  Was doing pretty good up till about 7 miles and then my knee decided to get pissy as hell.

And being curious is how you get into things you might have otherwise not gotten into.  Or that’s what I hear about college anyway.”

I was able to find, eventually, a gait that reduced the pain from WTF to Ouch levels by landing my left foot on the outside edge.   This reduced the stress that was happening to my knee or some reason I have no idea on but for whatever reason it let me maintain my pace for the most part.

We tried a 1 mile run, 45 second recovery lather rinse repeat this run and that worked okay I think.  It didn’t cause problems anyway.   And really not causing problems is something to be desired.

I’m going to put a pair of orthotics into my chosen race shoes, Nimbus 18’s right now, to add some support and help drive my foot to the outside.  When it doubt just force it and hit it with some lube if it sticks right?  It works in a lot of situations at least.

We didn’t quite get the pace I was hoping for but we might hit it for race day.  Regardless the primary goal is just to finish the half marathon and not be last over the line.

I forgot to bring a chest strap which points out the problems I have with the OHR monitor on  watch.  Flexing of my wrist, shifting of the watch over time, this all means it reads funky.   I had to throw out all my HR data for this run as it was all suspect.  And not just mildly so.

Another problem I have is how instant pace using GPS is off.  When you’re trying to run a pretty specific pace for a race and GPS based pacing is fluctuating 10-15% due to time outs and straight line averaging when going curves and corners it can be problematical.

I’m curious about the Stryd and it’s power zone training, the metrics it provides and how allegedly it can have accurate pacing without being calibrated.  Since my stride is not consistent enough at this time it throws off my foot pod which is accurate at a given single stride length.

And being curious is how you get into things you might have otherwise not gotten into.  Or that’s what I hear about college anyway.

Altra-nate shoes

With the Altra Torin 2.5’s being on sale for near half price everywhere I bought a pair.  I ran them yesterday for my intervals (10min warmup, 5min Z4, 1m z2, repeat 4) with my running partner.

makes me bounce like Tigger on a sugar rush”

I wanted the Altra Paradigm 2.0’s but they’re hard to find in my size.  They’re a maximal cushioned shoe, i.e. a massive stack height.  For long distances though a maximal stack height is something I kind of want.

It was wet out, a bit of a spring downpour had just gone overhead so the first thing I noted about the Torin’s is they actually have some traction on asphalt unlike my Hoka Clifton 3’s which are very slippery on wet concrete.

The Torin’s are definitely a ‘moderate’ cushion shoe.  I’m not sure I’d want to run a marathon in them without dropping another 70 lbs.

The 0 drop shoes reinforce moving off of heel striking but they can only go so far in changing your stride.  Trying to switch from a hard core heel striker after 50 years of running that way is tough.   Trying to toe strike makes me bounce like Tigger on a sugar rush. Getting a mid foot strike may be the best compromise I can come up with.

I think they run a little small myself in spite of their ‘true to size’ rating.  My foot measures as a 12.6 on the U.S. foot scale and at a 13 these may require a little breaking in or thinner socks than the Balega Blister Resists I was wearing to fit ‘right’.   As usual when things are a little crowded my pointer and middle toes on my right foot start to complain at about the 3 mile mark.

Luckily I have three boys who wear the same size shoes so any shoes I don’t like for running and aren’t bad enough to send back go to them.   So if these don’t work out one of them will get them.

Each time I do intervals I do think my natural pace is faster than my current pace.  9’s feels more natural to me as a pace.  The problem is I can’t maintain it for a long distance.  It takes a lot of energy to push as much mass as I have and am likely to continue to have and the energy costs are not linear as pace increases as you’re very aware.

On a plus note, I matched my 5K PR time during this training session and I could have pushed it more for a 5K distance.  On top of that it was an after work run and my morning runs are always better.  Bottom line my next 5K, first Friday in May should see me with a new PR.  Of course the day after that 5K I’m running back to back Warrior Dashes.  So those may not be all that fast. 🙂

A #runner I deal with on a daily basis REALLY wants a Stryd.  I was looking at them, the whole train by power thing and the #omfgaccurate allegedly for pace it is interesting but I’m not sure about the data. How do you ‘use’ that data to become more efficient or better at #notrunning?

I was looking at their training plans and they seem to be dominated by intervals and hilly intervals.  The whole high intensity training seems to be everywhere.  My own Garmin based training plans have quite a lot of it.

I doubt I’ll ever get down to the 8′ pace I had in my 20’s/30’s again.  There’s a very valid reason the BQ times get longer based on age.   There’s only so much stress/output you can squeeze out of the human body at any given age and in general it continually declines over time after peaking far too soon IMO of the human lifespan.

Interestingly statistically #runners who start young burn out in their 30’s in terms of their PR times.   #notarunners who are more casual in their efforts can set PR’s quite later in life.  So in theory I still have some performance increases and can keep setting PR’s.