Gear Review; YakTrax

Way too many people are fair-weather runners. When the temperature dips and the snow flies, the excuses follow suit. And don’t get me started on treadmills as the answer to bad weather. (sorry in advance to those who enjoy those contraptions... not me) So what is a runner to do? Foul weather running gear is the answer. There are plenty of methods to layer up for warmth; all sorts of clothing, hats, gloves, balaclavas and the like. This gear review is on something other than warm layers. 

I tried a product called Yaktrax. They are slip-on traction devices worn over your regular running shoes. They make different models (walk, run, or pro) in different sizes (small, medium, and large... just match your shoes size to their suggestions). I bought the “run” model for my wife last winter because traction was a problem for her. At first I was skeptical; these things were merely a very elastic rubber compound frame with criss-crossing metal spiral thingamajigs. I expected they would last only for a few miles of real running or would be just a marketing gimmick.  

How do you even put them on without taking out an eye?! Which is the front? Do you put them on before putting your shoes on, or after? I discovered they are marked with “heel” on one end and “toe” on the other. OK, Einstein level 1 accomplished. Start with putting the Yaktrax over the toe (with your shoe already on), then stretch it back to reach the heel. It can stretch hard so you may want to put your toe down on the floor to help leverage AND keep it secure to not have a slingshot moment. If you really advanced, you might be able to take out your running competitors “by accident” with a David and Goliath sneak attack. After it’s on, make the necessary slight adjustments so that it’s aligned evenly from back to front, side to side. Then use the velcro strap to further secure it from the top of the shoe. Presto... it’s on. Repeat. Good to go... now you have 4 wheel drive.  

Those shoes have 500+ miles on them! (Kinvara 3's)

criss-cross traction x3

So how well do these actually work? In my opinion, they work great for slippery conditions. I wouldn’t wear them just because there is snow outside. That to me is a bit of overkill. But being able to have the added traction meant running on days that would otherwise be spent eating potato chips on the couch. My wife has used them numerous times and has no complaints. Since we have about the same size foot, I was able to try them out for myself during an ice storm we had a few weeks ago during my “Holiday Streak”. I ran about 7 miles in them. My experience is that it doesn’t feel much different to run in the Yaktrax than regular shoes. It’s louder and adds some weight to your feet of course; but I found that was a reasonable trade-off considering I wouldn’t have gotten far without them that day. The run was great and I gained more confidence the further I went along on the slick looking patches. I ran across a steel deck bridge and their was no catch with the metal spiral things. I’m a fore/mid strike runner and my wife is a heel strike. This product works either way because the metal traction criss-cross pattern is repeated 3 times through the length of the sole area. I was concerned at first about the durability of the rubber compound frame/web (considering it takes considerable pounding in cold conditions, road salt, sand/road abrasion, etc.). As of today though, there are no tears, rips, cracking, or whatnot with the rubber compound. The metal parts shows no signs of rust, breakage, or other deterioration either. In fairness, these also don’t have 300+ miles on them so I can’t really comment on longevity. But they have been worth the $$ spent (which was $25 at full price). I’ve seen them on ebay going for less. If you live somewhere with heavy snow or ice and want to run year-round, these might the answer for the hard core days. I recently showed these to a friend of mine and his father is going to buy some just for walking. They are great for running, but would be sweet for people who may be unsteady because of a physical ailments. The extra traction can keep some people from having to remain indoors. A relatively small price to pay for such confidence. The only thing I can say at all on a negative side is that because these are elastic, they tend to pull up on the toe section of your shoe. This doesn't cause discomfort or anything, but it creates a rather odd feeling that is just different. Not bad, not uncomfortable, just something different that isn't something that would deter me from using them. I rated them 3 frogs on my “stomponafrog scale”. (1 frog means “look elsewhere”, 2 frogs means “meh”, and 3 frogs is a recommendation from me... for whatever that’s worth, and 4 frogs is “you should be locked up for not having this item”)              

3 Frog Rated!

Race Review; Old Forge Triathlon

Since it’s winter and races are months away, I wanted to take a moment and do a race review. First race review... so here goes. One of my favorite triathlons so far was the Old Forge Triathlon. Old Forge, NY is a nice town nestled in the Adirondack Mountains. The scenery is obviously phenomenal. This was the 2nd year of this event; so it’s very new. One of the special perks to this race is that signing up gets the participant entry into the Enchanted Forest water park! Sweet! 

This is a sprint distance triathlon; with a 1000 meter swim, 22 mile bike, and 4 mile run. Sprint distances can vary slightly. And this one was on the longer side of “sprint”. So here was my day:

We drove to Old Forge early in the morning on race day. We live about an hour away so there wasn’t the need to stay overnight. Although, there are hotel options and some campgrounds very close by to stay at if a person wanted. I might have gotten a bit more sleep the night before if we camped right there at the KOA. But the morning drive was scenic and without hassle. This is a small event so setting up in transition was no problem. Volunteers were great as always! The bike racks were the ground-base type instead of the saddle-hang bar system. I don’t really care for the ground type racks; as I worry a bit about the plywood splinters and bike tires. I had no problem... just a preference. As usual, transition space is at a premium. I always try to do my part and keep a tight transition area. It amazes me how a few people set up like a yard sale is happening. To each their own. While waiting for the race to start, I like checking out the bikes and gear that other athletes are using. There was the usual spread of mountain bikes to fancy triathlon bikes with zipp carbon wheelsets; and everything in between.     

SWIM: 

I wore a wetsuit for this swim even though it was August. Practically everyone was in a wetsuit... the water was quite cold actually and the air temperature was still chilly that early in the morning. The swim start (8am) was a wave start; with 5 minutes between each wave. First out was under 40 year old males, then 40 and over males (my group), then the ladies. Whatever happened to chivalry and letting the ladies go first? It was a cool morning and mist was hovering on the small lake. The picture below shows the in-water starting area. Look out into the mist and try to find that 1st buoy... it’s there, just keep straining your eyes. Now imagine being in the water with your eyes only 6 inches above the surface and trying to find those things! Well, I was sighting relatively well until I made the turn of this triangle course. When I finally found the next buoy I discovered I had strayed off course. Nothing crazy, but adding distance in the swim was not part of my plan. I starting booking it back to where I was supposed to be; with other wayward swimmers following along. Made it back in decent time considering the side excursion. Swim Time: 1000 meters in 18 minutes 46 seconds.  

In-Water Swim Start... I'm the one in the blue cap;)

T1: There is a short run on grass to get to the transition area. Wetsuit off, helmet and shoes on, grab the bike and go. It took 1 minute and 34 seconds. That seems slow compared to some other races I’ve done. My bike was set-up in the furthest row from the transition entry and exit; but the whole transition area was quite small so this wasn’t really a factor. Oh well. But there were not many bikes gone from transition as I started heading out. That’s a good sign. 

I'm the guy NOT mooning the camera!

BIKE: 

My bike is a Giant Defy 3; which is a entry level road bike. I bought it off Craigslist locally. I swapped out the curl handlebars for a base bar and aero bar set-up. It works great. I have since bought an actual tri-specific bike. This bike course was a blast. It basically loops around a chain of small lakes (First Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake, and guess what... Fourth Lake). Riders head out of Old Forge on Rte 28 toward Eagle Bay. The initial couple hills get your heart rate going, that’s for sure. Watch the shoulder of the road through the first half of this course. It’s has a narrow shoulder with some crumbled payment here and there. Riding just to the left of the white line gives you much better pavement; but make sure your are not too far over of you may get caught with what is called a “blocking penalty”. Riders continue on Rte 28 until they reach a tiny town called Inlet; where riders then turn right onto South Shore Road and head back toward Old Forge on the other side of the chain of lakes. The second half of this course has smaller hills and some flat sections. This is an area to really focus on cadence and good cycling form. The pavement is very smooth and a perfect to to get aero and move it. As riders crest the final hill and start down toward T2, there is a short “no race zone”. This is a safety precaution because the dismount line is around the corner of a small downhill section and there could reasonably be an accident in the making. The no race zone is very short and doesn’t really impact the overall race. One final tip for the bike section; what out for deer. They are plentiful on these roads and very friendly. I had one walk right in front of me and it had no plan to get out of the way. It wasn’t a close call by any means; but keep some vigilance just the same. Bike Time: 22 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes and 46 seconds.  

The helmet is funky... I know

T2: What can I say; rack the bike, helmet and bike shoes off, running shoes/hat/race belt on, and off ya go. I took 56 seconds in T2. Again, a bit slow for me but whatever. This is where doing bricks helps train your body for the weird sensation of running directly off the bike. I’ve gotten better at it but it’s still an area that I need to work on. 

RUN: The run course was basically an out and back with a slight deviation on the way back. The 4 miles were all pretty flat. I once again had a deer walk in front of me and I needed to go around him. Maybe next time I’ll try riding him for a bit. I wonder if that would DQ me? Ha! The run was good, with a couple water stations along the course. The finish chute was lots of spectators for this small of an event. Ran under a ballon arch thing and met up with family. Run Time: 4 miles in 29 minutes and 4 seconds. 

Final Stretch

I finished the race in 1 hour 57 minutes and 6 seconds. My main goal was to finish and my secondary goal was to go under 2 hours. I definitely would consider doing this again in 2014. Best part of this tri is the course itself; mainly the scenery and the challenge of the bike. The volunteers were great. The Old Forge Triathlon is a small start-up triathlon so don’t expect the post-race party atmosphere or big swag stuff. There wasn't much for post-race food, so prepare accordingly. There are plenty of nice places to eat in this quaint little town. Also, remember the special perk of the water park entry. That was fun too and something quite unique as you select the races you want to do. So that’s it for my race review. 

*Special thanks to Olivia; my daughter and awesome photographer!    

The Beginning: Couch to 5K

Wouldn’t it be great if we all maintained a fitness level that kids. They just run and bounce everywhere? But most of us don’t have that energy. So what on earth happened? Life happens to put it simply: stuff like work, college, deadlines, parenting, aging, laziness, ingrained habits, tiredness, weight-gain, stress, illness, and so on. Blah-blah-blah. Make your own list because I’m too lazy to go on... Ha.  

Before our quest

So one day in mid 2011 my wife comes to me and says “I want to do a 5k”. I simply responded (from my couch with probably a bag of chips in hand) “sure, count me in too”. And that was the start of my journey. 

I ran a bit in school and was active as a youth. But that was years ago (read a couple decades ago) I knew I wasn’t in prime form anymore by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, I had a few extra pounds for decorative purposes here and there. OK, maybe more than few. But I thought a 5k is merely a few workouts away from reality. Boy was I in for a rude little awakening. My wife proceeded to download one of those Couch to 5k programs onto her iPod. The first workout was something like run 1 minute and walk 5, rinse and repeat. Pretty easy, right? Well, I think my lungs caught fire that first run. Turns out that it wasn’t going to be that cake-walk I first thought. Cake... yum. Anyway, we kept at it and the workouts lengthened and there was more running and less walking. Things were progressing rather well; having not died from the prior days that is. And then came the... wait for it... running injury. It turns out that by starting running when you are out of shape + buying low/zero cushioned trail running shoes + heal striking with the clomp of a rhino on a track surface = metatarsal fractures. Great... let me quell my disappointment in a bag of doritos. Actually, I was making good progress with this thing called exercise and didn’t want to lose my momentum from an injury setback. So I purchased a road bike from Craigslist. That spurred this whole triathlon thing. But that’s another story. So I biked when I could and it was so much fun! Less pounding on the body, racking up mile after mile, and seeing real health improvements. After a few weeks I was back running again; this time with better shoes and this new cross-training alternative. 

And so it went; biking and running. Making plenty of stupid/newbie mistakes and learning from them. My wife also became interested in the bike aspect and we went out and bought her a nice shiny new road bike. We were shedding pounds like mad. Not gonna lie, that first 4 months was hard even though the mileage was pale in comparison to today. But we each lost about 35 pounds each during that initial 6 months. Seriously, a combined 70 pounds. No diets or gimmicks. As the weight came off, the running became easier. Then came our first race in November; the Hobble Gobble in Potsdam NY. A prediction run. This type of run is when you show up and find out how far the race is; in this case it had choices of either under 4 miles or under 7 miles. (We obviously picked the under 4 at that point in our lives). Then we estimated our run times. The winners aren’t the runners who finish the fastest; it’s those who come closest to their predicted time. That didn’t matter for us though. We just wanted to finish and have fun; and not die gasping for air like a fish out of water. The day was cool and overcast. Students from the local college were there to sign the national anthem for both the US and Canada. The course had some live turkeys, some cheerleaders, and even a garage band. The run was a simple out and back. My wife and I ran together and worked pretty darn hard coming up the incline to the finish (can’t even call it a hill... but it felt like a mountain). Afterwards we ate some chili and other snacks, and just sat back and enjoyed the company of other runners. We lived to tell the tale. And we started talking about “the next one”. 

Our 1st Race: The Hobble Gobble

Since that first race, we’ve come a long way in these past couple years. We’ve done a bunch of 5k’s, 10k’s, 1/2 marathons, and these insane things called triathlons. We still are just the average everyday novice athlete, but we’ve made it part of our lifestyle. In retrospect, we didn’t put back on any of that weight from before. Good riddance! Looking back, I thank my wife for putting this crazy idea in our head about doing a 5k. It has led to so much more. But I will also never forget that transformation. The work and drive needed to pound out a 5k. At races I do today, i try to stick around after I’m done and cheer in those athletes in the back of the pack. Because I’ve been there. Some of those athletes are working harder and put in more hours of pain that those who come in the top 10%. Why? Because it’s the hard start of a journey. It’s starting a new lifestyle and shedding baggage of past habits and excuses. It's setting a better example for our children. It's not an easy journey to start... but the benefits are huge. 

Our Journey: To Be Continued

Holiday Streaking

Nope... this has nothing to do with running naked in the snow. Sorry, wrong blog for that sort of thing; and that is also not a good way to make friends. This is about a running streak. I really enjoy running outside; even in the snow. I also like the plethora of snacks and treats that rain down upon me throughout the holiday season. Hence, one of the reasons behind a challenge called the “Holiday Streak” - weight management. The idea goes like this:

Starting on Thanksgiving Day, run at least one mile every single day until New Year’s Day. No rest days... A total of 35 uninterrupted days of running. Treadmills are lame but they count according to the rules. The Holiday Streak helps expand base mileage without expanding the waistline... during prime pound-packing season. I added my own flavor to the Holiday Streak by making the minimum mileage be three miles each day and making myself run outside (because treadmills are lame). So those were the rules. If you miss a day someone stops by your house and breaks your legs. (or something like that, i didn’t read the fine print)

Now at first glance this goes against sound advice to take rest days or you can invite injury. So on certain days during the Holiday Streak you need to make sure your run is really easy to help simulate a rest day. 

So how did I faire with my Holiday Streak?

I would say it was a three-fold success! [1] Yes, I ran outside each and every day. Some of those days were during the 3+ feet of snow we got one week and the ice storm we got the following week. I had to resort to using my wife’s Yaxtrax on one of the rather icy days. Most days were cold, but this is northern New York. Par for the course. I often ran home from work in the dark; thanks to an awesome reflective vest (prior Christmas gift from my wife) and a great headlamp (birthday gift from my parents). [2] Zero injuries! I was a bit concerned with the potential for overuse injuries to knees, ankles, aching calfs, or whatnot. But I stuck to throwing in some very easy runs (like zone 1-2 for those who use heart rate monitors). [3] I was shot a lot of stares from people who thought I was a little off-kilter running in the cold and snow. That’s always a plus. I prefer people to think I’m somewhat unstable. 

The numbers: 35 days of running, 187 miles in total, 5.34 average miles per day, longest run 16.5 miles, and shortest run 3 miles.

Day 35

I would love to do this again next year. I don’t think I would change much of anything. I got outside during a time of year when people tend to hibernate inside. I got to see a bald eagle fly overhead on one run, deer prancing around on many of my runs (of course there are deer everywhere around here), and I was there to help push a car down the road because the driver couldn’t get enough traction. (I got uber street-cred for that one). Overall, I highly suggest trying the Holiday Streak. There are plenty of excuses to avoid running. Most are made up to fit our larger desire to stay inside where it’s warm and cozy. But I encourage people who are physically able, to get out there and set a goal that is achievable, good for you, and gives you something positive to talk about.