SL 20s: The Knee Killer

 So I wrote that due to the wet feet in the Boston 8's that I got a pair of SL20s which were more breathable. Indeed they were. Instead of soaked feet I had damp feet. As fate would have it, to make up for the lack of soppiness, these sneakers decided to try to kill my knees.

After a few runs I noticed that the inside tendon on my left knee was sore. My left foot is the "bad" foot. I figured it was due to not using my insert (which I haven't needed in the Boston). I put the insert in and continued to run. Same deal except now I ALSO had knee knock. That is, on occasion my knees were meeting. That doesn't happen to me and I don't have knock knees. This meant that my foot was collapsing inward and that was likely the cause of my tendon pain. 

Looking at the bottom of the sneaker I saw that the inner edge of the front of the sneaker was very worn. This is with 70 miles.  Clearly my foot was doing a lot of rolling.

The SL20s have been retired to walk duty...whenever I wear white. Had I paid full freight for these sneakers I would have been very upset. I didn't so I'm only a little upset. Even the Pegs with a similar mileage (I use it for occasional long run speed tests) weren't that worn.

It goes to show that you have to listen to your body and examine your shoes to make sure you're not headed to injury. I did notice that the SLs moved around more than the Bostons. That should have been a clue.

Your mileage may certainly vary but that's the last SL I'll be purchasing. Fortunately the weather will soon be cooling down and I'll be back to thicker sneakers. So I'll have to find a pair of Vomeros. They are heavy but handled cold weather well, heel wear issue aside.

Running To The Crawl: Not Happening

 So I did not register for the Crawling Crab because I suspected that the currant lunacy around COVID (yes it's lunacy and I've written extensively about it elsewhere), would have resulted in a cancelled race and I didn't want to have reservations to cancel and the like. Sure enough the Crawl is cancelled. Actually it's now a "Hermit" race which I suppose means virtual run. 

No thanks. Not the same. A part of racing is seeing the competition. It's seeing the person ahead of you and saying to yourself: I think I can catch them. It's suffering and seeing that mile marker or clock. It's that big ass finish line banner that makes you dig deep and cut 30 seconds off your last mile.

 So for me the 2020 race season is officially cancelled. Thanks China. 

On the plus side, this allows me to continue to heart rate train for another 6 months. I have already seen benefits and look forward to a MAF test when the weather cools into the 60s. I see no point in MAF testing in hot weather knowing the impact that heat has on your body AND the fact that my last MAF test was in cool(er) weather. The results cannot be comparable.

Run To The Crawl: No Mo' Wet Feet

So per the last post I have a pair of Adidas Boston 8 sneakers. Also it is quite "warm" now. Went for a long run in the 8's and towards the end, say 4 miles, it felt like I had been running in water. When I got home and took off the 8's they were soaked. As if I had dropped them in water.

No bueno.

So given that it wasn't going to be getting any cooler anytime soon and running in wet sneakers was not happening, I had to solve this problem. My saucony's are dead with over 300 miles on them. My Vomero's were dead. They no longer have the "bounce" and as shown in the video the soles are wearing out. The Pegs are for racing and I don't intend to wear them until near race day (last long run before taper) and then on race day. So those were out of the question. Soooooo... I got some Adidas SL20s

As soon as I stepped outside, I felt a breeze on my toes! Yay! They aren't as springy as the Pegs but far softer than the Bostons and far more breathable. Running in 90+ degrees with high humidity has resulted in dampness but not the "been walking in puddles feel that I had in the Bostons. Also, like the Bostons I haven't had to put the inserts into the left shoe. The shoe is pretty stiff. What's better is that they make the Vomeros feel like the anchors they are. I think I'll wait until the weather changes before replacing the Vomeros for winter running (cold feet are not fun).

In other news, even in this hot weather I'm reaching into the 7s for my MAF pace. This bodes well for when the temps drop. If its in the 60s on race morning I should do very well. Virginia is known for being warmer than the northeast so you never know.

Run To The Crawl: What My Sneakers Are Telling Me

Running To The Crawl: Two Fer

Yesterday I saw that the local HS track was open so I planned to do a MAF test today. However; by the time I was ready to run today it was in the 70s and no way I was going to have a good MAF test at such temperatures. So instead I did a two fer:

16 mile bike ride at no more than MAF heart rate followed immediately by a 3 mile run at MAF rate. I haven't done such a thing in years. Tomorrow morning we find out whether I broke my body with an early morning "can't walk" or if I'm fit enough to take that. The latter would bode well for October. Very well.

The NYT Is Trash

Really.

This should have never been OK'd for publication.

Running To The Crawl: Too Hot!

So in a previous post I mentioned that I was going to drop my MAF runs to a lower heart rate. Ha. Jokes on me. Yesterday's 5 miler witnessed me desperately trying to keep at my MAF heart rate while my pace jumped into the....nines.

This was with low 70s. Today I went for a 10 miler and was totally unable to keep MAF rate and so I made it into a threshold run. This means my MAF "runs" this summer are going to feature a whole lot of walking which hasn't happened since January.

So the new plan is, Wake up early (still on lockdown so I don't have to worry about getting ready for a commute) and "run" when it is coolest for most of the week and for faster paced runs I won't worry about time of day. Hopefully this pays off dividends when the temps drop again.