I remember my first experience with energy bars, well over 10 years ago. I recall being somewhat curious and even a little excited about this new concept. I thought to myself, Will it boost my performance? Will it give me boundless energy?

My eager optimism crashed as soon as I began it to eat it. I managed to scarf down the dense, chewy mass, and proceeded to get a gut bomb that lasted the duration of my run. In the early days, some of those bars were terrible!

Then I discovered CLIF Bar. Conceived as an idea in 1986, debuted in 1992, and incorporated in 1997, CLIF Bar has chewed its way to the top as a leading maker of energy bars…

Read the full review at The Final Sprint! 

Well, it’s official, I’m running the St. George Marathon as my fall OTQ attempt. I contacted the good people at St. George Leisure Services on Tuesday, and they were happy to let me in, especially since I had to cancel my registration last year due to injury.

So why did I choose St. George over Chicago and Twin Cities? Simple, the benefits far outweighed the costs. Not to mention a nearly 2:1 majority vote for St. George in my poll. One of my favorite proverbs is “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17), and I received a lot of good advice and feedback from my running peers that I valued while making the decision.

In the end, it came down to teammates. If I run St. George, I knew I would be shoulder-to-shoulder with several Wasatch Running Center teammates, as well as with several other friends that I consider “teammates” even though they happen to wear another singlet.

Two horses working together can pull a heavier load than the sum of the loads pulled by individuals. Similarly, teammates working together can accomplish much greater things than individuals. At my NCAA cross country championships, I noticed that people who qualified as part of a team tended to perform better than people who qualified as individuals. The individual qualifiers almost always had fewer allies, less support, and less motivation. Team qualifiers, on the other hand, were supported by each other, ran for a greater cause, and benefitted from pack running. I look forward to doing some pack running with my WRC teammates and others at St. George, and helping pull that OTQ load.

And its not just the people running in the same pack as me, but those running at all speeds. Thanks to the FastRunningBlog community and other contacts I’ve made, I will likely know well over 25 people running St. George. I want to be there with them before the race, to see them finish, and to celebrate their races with them.

Finally, if I travelled to Chicago or Minneapolis, it’s unknown whether my wife would be able to go with me or not. That’s no good for either of us. By running St. George, I know that she will be there with me.

I’m already pumped for the race. 2:20 or bust!!

It is essential to track and monitor your body’s performance and response, as well as the surrounding elements to which you are exposed, whenever you are participating in outdoor activities such as trail running, hiking, backpacking and fastpacking. GPS technology provides information such as speed, altitude, and bearing, but often requires athletes to carry yet another device and is generally incapable of providing weather-related information.

Casio has introduced the Pathfinder Series as a way to disseminate vital information to trekkers using the low-profile and convenient platform of a wristwatch. I recently had the pleasure of exploring the 3V model of Casio’s Pathfinder PAW1300 Series and tested it on several types of training runs and within various environments…

Read the full review at TrailFit!

So I’ve made a decision: I’m crossing over to the “nerdy side” and will soon be buying a Garmin Forerunner 205. Ah yes, now I’ll finally be able to to measure my runs to two decimals and take quarter-mile splits. I’ve elected not to get the heart rate monitor (ie - the Forerunner 305), simply so that I can have more speed and distance stats simultaneously available to me on that glorious, honkin’ huge watch face.

We runners sure love our nerdy gadgets, and it’s been getting worse and worse. And thanks to the distractions of iPods and Virtual Training Partners®, our social running will further spiral as well. Thank goodness for running blogs and the wonderful social interaction they provide (heh heh).

But the real question is: which is nerdier, the Garmin Forerunner 205/305 or the old Casio calculator watches? Although the Garmins score points with pace alerts and a customizable screen, the calculator watches have that irresistible ’80s retro flair. Hmmm…I’ll have to ask my Virtual Partner® and get his opinion on this one.

On Wednesday, January 24 of this year I heard a chilling story of a local runner who was struck and critically injured by a vehicle while running in a bike lane along a low-traffic road. At the scene and for hours afterward, emergency personnel were not able to identify her.Just this weekend on en route to our marathon, we were forced to take a long detour. The main mountain pass to our destination was completely closed down, a rarity since it is a U.S. Highway. While sitting in traffic and listening to AM radio, we learned that a cyclist was struck by a vehicle, resulting in a large accident that killed both the cyclist and several occupants of the vehicle.

These are stories that have come from my own backyard in the past 6 months. And they are not just stories, but are real accounts of factual events and they hit close to home. Tragic events such as these hurt my heart and make me wonder, “What if this happened to me? How long would it take for my wife to find out? Hours? Days?”

Recently I began wearing a Road ID simply because I couldn’t stand the thought of being unidentified in an accident and what that would do to my wife…

Read the full article at The Final Sprint! 

Wow, the Ogden Marathon went unbelievably well for me! Between setting a PR and course record (2:26:24) and winning the race, it was a thrilling experience. Now I’ve got a new training cycle ahead of me, and after running some 5K and 10K races, it’s back to marathon-specific training. After my Ogden performance, I firmly believe that I can meet the “B” Standard for Olympic Trials, and potentially even the “A” standard. Ogden, after all, is not known as a blazing course, due to its topographic layout and average elevation of 5000′ above sea level. In addition, fighting warm temperatures and running solo nearly the entire race indicated to me that I can go faster with better conditions.

The question therein lies: which fall marathon should I do to qualify? Seeing as to how I want to train as long as possible, and the end of the qualifying window is October 7, my options are three: St. George (Oct 6), Chicago (Oct 7), or Twin Cities (Oct 7). I’m at a bit of loss of which one to do, so have compiled a list of pro’s and con’s.

St. George Marathon - Pro’s

• Probably the fastest of the three courses; highest probability of hitting the “A” standard here
• I’ve ran it before and am familiar with the course
• Many of my friends are running it, and I will have support and potential carpooling options
• Thanks to new friends made from the FastRunningBlog, I can likely get free lodging
• Closest race, least travel = least stress
• Saturday race = preferred

St. George Marathon - Cons

• No prize money. Yes, I’m that shallow.
• Course is fast, too fast even. Feels like cheating. I’ll doubt my ability to run well at NY if I scrape by with a qualifier here.
• Weakest field of the three races. Yes, there is strong competition, but not nearly as thick and bloody as Chicago or TCM. Highest probability of getting stuck by myself here.
• Higher elevation than the other courses.

Chicago Marathon - Pros

• Sea level (well, close enough)
• One of the fastest courses in the world - flat. I’m a rhythm runner, and I can get in a great rhythm here.
• Thick, thick, bloody competition. Top 30 would be a brilliant effort. Lot of advantages to working with a pack.
• I’ve got a lot of old teammates in Michigan who run this race. Potential lodging and team running opportunities.
• Big marathons are sexy.

Chicago Marathon - cons

• Potential expenses. I don’t see anything on their website about Olympic development. I’d be a very small fish here and would probably have to pay most of my own way.
• Long travel = stress
• Virtually no chance of winning any sort of prize money. Yes, I’m that shallow.
• Risk - it would be shameful to travel that far and spend that much money, and then have bad weather or a bad race and not qualify.
• I hate the Bears.

Twin Cities - Pros

• Like Chicago, very close to sea level
• They appear to have some sort of Olympic Development program…potential expenses paid?? (need to inquire)
• Bigger than St. George, but smaller than Chicago - the best of both worlds. There will be excellent competition here, and yet I’ll still have a shot at Top 10.
• Good prize money here. They give bonuses for hitting “A” and “B” standards, but achieveable prize money for Top 10. Yes, I’m that shallow.
• I have some family in the Twin Cities, so potential lodging

Twin Cities - Cons

• Looking at the profile, this is the slowest course of my three options. This is a big con.
• Long travel = stress
• Potential expenses.
• I hate the Vikings.

So what do I do? In any case, I figure I should contact Chicago and Twin Cities and see if I can get any expenses paid. If not, it’s a no-brainer: St. George. But even without considering expenses, my brain is telling me “St. George”. It has the fastest course, surest qualifier bet, least travel impact, and most friends and loved ones in vincinity. It’s just not as sexy as Chicago, is all. There’s just something about the idea of running 5:15-pace with a pack of twenty people, all clawing after the same thing, surrounded by hordes of cheering spectators, that appeals to me.

Obviously, I can think myself into circles here. Fortunately, I have a little while to decide. In the meantime, your comments and insights are appreciated in this decision-making. Perhaps I’m missing something?

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Garmin, Suunto, Timex, Adeo, Polar… and the list goes on and one. In today’s saturated market of fitness toys there is a plethora of gadgets available that can measure running stats such as pace, distance, heart rate, and more. The gadget companies respond by releasing increasingly innovative products that offer features of increasing quality and quantity.

The Polar RS800sd (speed+distance) may have just trumped them all. Using a foot pod to measure speed and distance, and an ECG-accurate transmitter to measure heart rate, the RS800sd running computer offers enough features, analyses, and bells-and-whistles to make your head spin. I recently had the pleasure of taking this unit for a “spin”…

Read the full review at The Final Sprint! 

Due to the facts that it’s two days before the Ogden Marathon and that I’m rather bored right now, it seems appropriate to post a map, profile, and discussion of the upcoming race. Only this time I’m going retro: rather than creating a nice, new, shiny map and profile, I’m electing to post some of the earliest work I’ve done.

I made the map below back in winter of 2004 for “personal use”, and then modified it when Ogden changed their course in 2005. My race course mapping business, Marathon GIS, was just an idea that point, and the sole purpose of this map was to make something more informative for myself than what was on the website at the time. The map was created using Manifold Systems v6.0. No Adobe Illustrator, no Photoshop, no ArcGIS, just 100% Manifold. The map looks very crude to me now (embarassing even), but at the time I thought it was pretty cool. Fortunately, my hardware, software, and cartography/graphic arts skills have increased quite a bit over the past three years.

Likewise, the profile I made for the Ogden Marathon was not “prettied up” in Illustrator, but was a 100% product of Manifold + Microsoft Excel. However, even this crude profile effectively shows the layout of the race course and its unique characteristics.

The couse can be broken out into any number of distinct segments, depending on whether you are a “lumper” or a “splitter”. Today, I’m feeling more like a splitter, so I’m dividing it into 5 topographic segments.

1. Mile 0 to Mile 8.25 - South Fork. Virtually all downhill, at a nice, mellow average gradient of -1.16%. The race gets off to a fast start on this segment, especially since weather is always nice and cool early in the morning up the canyon. Resist the tempatation to get out too fast. Instead stay comfortable, enjoy the downhill, and preserve your glycogen.
2. Mile 8.25 to Mile 14.5 - Pineview Part 1. Regretfully, the downhill dissipates into rolling hills as the course starts to circumnavigate Pineview Reservoir in Ogden Valley. Most of the hills are not steep or long, with the exception of a sharp climb around Mile 14. Quite enough to slow you down though. The key here is to stay relaxed, get the most out of aid stations, and recover whenever you get a downhill. Average gradient for the segment is +0.21%.
3. Mile 14.5 to Mile 17.25 - Pineview Part 2. After the large hill around Mile 14, the course flattens out again, and you even get a slight downhill for awhile. This is a good portion of the race to recover from the rollers and get your rhythm again. It’s the “calm before the storm” (-0.25% average gradient), as the next segment will be a downhill quad-burner.
4. Mile 17.25 to Mile 24 - Ogden Canyon. Downhill quad-burner, with St. George-like gradients in places. You know you are in for a ride when you look down from the top of Pineview Reservoir dam. Pretend you are a drop of water and let gravity flow you into Ogden. This segment is where most people find out how well-trained they are, but it is a good opportunity to fly. Around Mile 23, Ogden Canyon burps out the runners into the valley, and resumes a more gentle downhill along the Ogden River Parkway. Average gradient for the entire segment is -1.8%.
5. Mile 24 to Mile 26.2 - Ogden City. With glycogen depleted, quads mashed into a pulp, and running in more “gravity-neutral” conditions, many runners struggle to hang on to the finish. Plus the heat kicks during this part of the race. Mile 25 is still a very slight downhill, and then the remainder of the course to the finish is essentially flat. Thankfully, no uphill finish in this race. Average gradient for this segment is -0.16%. Be resilient, douse yourself with water at aid stations, and finish strong!

The Ogden Marathon has potential to be a fast course, but has to be run “just right”. If you run a poor strategy, or are not trained for hills, the course can turn into a big hurt. I negative-split this course by about 20 seconds back in 2005, and still believe that an even or slightly negative split is the best way to approach Ogden. This means being conservative during the first 8 downhill miles, and then maintaining effort around Pineview. If your legs aren’t trashed by Mile 17, you can throw down some serious splits through Ogden Canyon, which is where you can get back all of the time lost in Ogden Valley, and then some.

It should be great field at Ogden this year, not just upfront, but deep into the ranks as well. This will be my 10th marathon, and marks my first marathon back from injury, so it will be especially meaningful to me. Good luck everyone!!

Sometimes plain water just isn’t enough for the hydration needs of running. As you sweat, you lose water and electolytes, which both need to be replenished during the hydration process. Traditional sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Powerade, have offered viable electrolyte replacement drinks for years, but their high sugar content translates into an unsavory aftertaste in the opinion of a variety of testers. Moreover, hydration packs are particularly difficult to clean after holding sugary sports drinks.In an effort to address these issues, CamelBak recently introduced their Elixir Electrolyte Enhanced Hydration as a convenient, no-sugar, no-mess hydration alternative…

Read the full article at The Final Sprint! 

Trigger Point Technologies hit a home run with their TP Massage toolkit, which is designed to release trigger points, restore muscle elasticity, and improve biomechanics for runners, cyclists, and other athletes. For me, TP massage as been key component of returning my body to health and my recent rise in running performance. (see my full review on TP Massage Ball).

Another oft-overlooked aspect of injury prevention, performance, and biomechanics is core strength. Many runners will be willing to train for hours and hours each week, but fail to put any time into improving their core — the result of this neglect is sometimes poor biomechanics that propogate into injury.

While actively recovering from my barrage of injuries in 2006, I dedicated myself to improving core strength, both during phyical therapy and at home. From wobble boards and stability balls, to simple crunches and bridge exercises, I consistently invested about 15 minutes per day into my core muscles. And it has been time well spent, as I have logged over 1400 miles in 5 months and set several big PR’s…all while staying injury-free.

The TP Stability PODS are designed to increase core strength through challenging balance and symmetry. They come as a set of three different-sized, concave, foam…er…pods (for the lack of a better description). The differential heights of the three pods represent three difficulty levels (I, II, and III). In other words, it is much harder to find balance with the tallest pod than with the shortest pod, which engages greater work in the core muscles.

Those who use wobble boards and stability balls will immediate see the challenge and utility of the TP Stability PODS. Due to their concave shape and foam material, it’s pretty difficult to find your equilibrium while using these things! I enjoyed using the PODS to spice up my normal core exercises, such as my “bridges” and “bird-dog” poses. I found that I was unable to hold my stability poses as long when using the PODS, and activitated a more intense workout compared to without them. This new challenge was quite welcome, as I was getting rather bored with my exercises lately.

The PODS also play well with other apparatus. For instance, doing pushups with my feet on a stability ball and hands on the PODS was a great full-body workout. There are other inventive POD exercises that can be done in synergy with a stability ball or even the TP Baller Block. Just as you can intensify just about any core exercise by using a stability ball, you can further intensify any core exercise by applying one or more Stability PODs to any of your points of contact with the ground.

TP Technologies has also developed a series of POD exercises specifically for runners. They are essentially various forms of one-legged knee raises and hip abductions that stimulate balance and symmetry. While these exercises won’t engage an intense “burn” or anything, they do activitate the deeper muscles of the core, which are often under-developed. I’ve been performing these balancing exercises 3-4 days/week for a couple months now, and have noticed a sizeable improvement in my balance, and have been able to steadily increase my balancing time on the POD. These exercises remind me much of the wobble-board poses I had performed during formal physical therapy sessions while rehabbing a groin strain, only I’m not being billed $150/hour by some therapist.

Trigger Point Technology’s Stability PODS should be considered by any athlete looking to prevent injuries, rehab injuries, or simply increase performance. There is sooo much good training and rehab that can be completed right at home. A set of PODS sells for $26, which is much less than the amount my physical therapist would bill my insurance for 15-minutes with a hot pack. Products like the PODS empower athletes to take their health into their own hands and implement home programs.

As a runner, I can’t say enough about core strength in general. I sincerely believe that increasing core strength and improving biomechanics was a key aspect to my recent half marathon improvement from 1:12:50 to 1:09:27. TP Massage and Stability PODS were just a couple ingredients in my stew of training, but they most certainly helped.

If you’re interested in core strength, investing in a stability ball should be your first step, and I also recommend giving the Stability PODS a try.

[Pictures are from Trigger Point Technologies’ website]

Coaches, runners, and fans of training methodology take note: the knowledge of the man declared by Runners World as “Worlds Best Coach” and by NCAA as “Cross Country Coach of the Century” is now accessible through DVD. You can now gain insight into the mind of running guru Jack Daniels via the Jack Daniels - The Art and Science of Running DVD…

Read the full article at The Final Sprint! 

Slow day on the blog. I was looking at my shoe rack the other day and realized that I have 12 pairs of shoes total, and 8 of them are running shoes. The crazy thing is that I wear all of them (except one pair) for running and only running. Am I some sort of freak, or is this normal?

Numbers in the photo above correspond to numbers in the list below:

1. Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6 yellow - 497 miles - road training; about to be retired
2. Saucony Tangent - <50 miles - racing flats; haven’t been used since I got plantar fasciitis (PF)
3. Birkenstocks - what I wear when I’m not running; great treatment for PF and comfy as all heck.
4. Dress Shoes - I’ve had these since high school and I hate them; wear them whenever I wear a tie, which is about twice a year.
5. Brooks Burn - 143 miles - lightweight trainers; I’m wearing these for workouts and races until I have the guts to wear racing flats again (post plantar fasciitis trauma)
6. Brooks Cascadia - 88 miles - trail-running shoes; also wear sometimes for hiking
7. Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6 black - 455 miles - road training
8. Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 blue - 79 miles - road training; my newest shoes
9. Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 orange - 316 miles - road training
10. Nike Zoom Kennedy track spikes - ?? miles - track racing; haven’t worn since college, but can’t bear to get rid of since they cost $110. They’re pretty rad though.
11. North Face sandals - haven’t worn since PF; may start using again this summer
12. Fuzzy Slippers - note the SuperFeet inserts. PF changes your life and your slippers.

Several things are evident from this photo

1. I rotate many many pairs of running shoes. Rotating shoes makes them last longer, as it gives the EVA time to decompress and dry out. This is especially helpfully when running a lot of doubles. I’ve found I can get an extra 100-200 miles out of a pair of shoes by rotating, and it helps ward off injury.
2. Shoes have specific uses. Road shoes are used on the road. Trail shoes are used on the trail. Racing shoes are used for racing and speedwork. I don’t wear running shoes for everyday use; they are only used for running.
3. I like Brooks. Don’t know why, I just do.
4. I like the Brooks Adrenaline. For mild overpronators such as myself, it’s a great shoe. There’s nothing wrong with buying the same shoe over and over and over and over…
5. I don’t dress up much. If I have to wear a nice shoe for an event, it’s usually not worth going to.

If you think my shoe rack is bad, you should see my t-shirt drawer!

In the growing world of athletic speed/distance monitoring, runners are presented with two primary choices: GPS units (ie - Garmin 305, Timex Bodylink, MotionLingo Adeo) or accelerometers (ie - Suunto Foot POD, Polar Foot Pod, Nike+iPod). I have trained with several different fitness GPS units and had variable success, and “foot pods” provide an intriguing alternative because they can be used indoors, under any sky condition, and boast of potentially high accuracy. I had the opportunity to try out the Suunto Running Pack (T3, HRM, and Foot POD), and put it to the test over three rigorous weeks of training….

Read the full article at The Final Sprint!