Perspective

Sep 1, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Tonight I ran a couple of loops around my neighborhood.  The weather was a little cooler than it had been but was still  warmer than I would like. I was thinking I want summer to go away.  Soon.  As I neared the end of my run, I could feel a painful spot on my leg where my shorts were rubbing.  Suck it up, I told myself, and, note to self:  buy some more BodyGlide.

On my cool down, though, I had a reminder of just how good I have it here and why I shouldn’t complain about anything.  I had the privilege of running a bit with Lance Cpl Kyle Carpenter, United States Marine.  To say Kyle has had a rough year would be understatement.  Wounded by a direct hit from a grenade in Afghanistan last November, it is literally a miracle that he is even alive, much less running around the neighborhood.  We ran about 5 minutes together, but during that short time, I was reminded of young people serving our country in much hotter places than South Carolina and with much more serious discomforts than chaffing shorts.

To read about Kyle’s story, please visit the Operation Kyle Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/operationkyle  or http://blogs.militarytimes.com/battle-rattle/tag/operation-kyle/.

Also, please check out this video of the soon to be released song “Still in the Fight”, featuring Kyle and other wounded servicemen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of7dGa91uO8

 

Finally, the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 is  about a week away.  Please spend some time reflecting on how the world has changed over the last 10 years. This week, please consider making a donation to one of these worthy causes:

Team Fisher House

Wounded Warrior Project

Thanks to Kyle and all our servicemen and women.

 

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2011 Cross Country Season Begins

Aug 30, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Plans change.  Last week I was planning to do a 10 miler on Saturday.  Over 2 months since my last double digit run, I was anxious to get to that distance again.  Late in the week, though, we found out our son would be making the Saturday trip with the cross country team to a season-opening meet in North Carolina.  10 miler out the window.  No big deal.

So, we ventured to McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte to watch our Lexington (SC) Wildcats compete with about 40 other high schools in the Providence Invitational Cross Country meet. This post is not about tooting the horn for South Carolina’s two-time defending 4A state champs in Cross Country, Lexington (The varsity boys won!), or their #1 runner Colby Coulter (he finished first) or the fact my son, running as part of the JV team, cut over a minute off his PR (I’ll never catch him now!)

No, this post is to encourage you to get out and watch a cross country meet this fall.  For the next 2 months, there are many meets each week in any area of the country, probably on a Tuesday or Wednesday night.  Sometimes, there are Saturday meets with larger fields, like this past weekend.

Around here, the race distance for high schools is 5K (3.1 miles).  At any one meet, there will be 3-4 separate races – varsity boys, varsity girls, JV boys and JV girls.  Sometimes, JV boys and girls run at the same time.  Usually there is no cost to enter, either.  I have had to pay for parking once or twice.

You will be inspired by these young people, from the top veteran kids who battle it out at sub 16:00 times, to the newbie runners struggling to finish.  I always leave a meet wanting to go for a run and kicking myself for not running cross country in high school.

To learn more about cross  country in South Carolina go to http://www.scrunners.com.

For a comprehensive schedule of South Carolina cross country events click here.

POFIFOTO!

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Funky Town

Aug 23, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Having spent my teenage years in the 1980’s, I occasionally like to listen to ’80’s on 8 on satellite radio.  The other day I managed to sneak over to the station when the kids weren’t paying attention, and I heard a remake of the 1980 Lipps, Inc. disco classic Funky Town .  The remake was by a group called Pseudo Echo and apparently went to number 1 in 1986.  I was kind of appalled, but I figured it was a sign that I should make continue with this post.  And, why did they remake it so soon?

Oh well, back to running.  What does Funky Town have to do with running?  I suppose one of the ’80’s versions might be on your run playlist.  However, if you have any high-tech fabric workout clothes, Vibram Five Fingers or ever left wet shoes in a closed car for a day, then Funky Town may have a whole new meaning – the smell.

Here are a few tips for dealing with Funky Town.  First, get a separate small clothes basket for your running clothes.  Keep your  dirty workout clothes here.  Also, try to air dry clothes if you cannot wash right away.  Second, the main reason to keep the clothes in a separate basket is so you can easily wash them separately in the special detergents they make for high tech fabrics.  These really make a difference.  Occasionally, I have put on a high tech shirt that went through the regular wash, and I could tell a difference in the fabric smell.  We (and I use “We” loosely, since my wonderful wife handles 99% of the laundry duties!) currently use Tide with Febreeze for the running wash loads.  Third, if your shoes get wet from dew,  rain, or a 20 mile marathon training run, stuff newspaper in them for a day to absorb the moisture.  Finally, if you have Five Fingers Funk, good luck.  Washing them works for a bit, but the funk comes back quick.  I do keep dryer sheets in mine when not in use.  Here’s a link to a review of a product that just might work: http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2011/04/13/killing-the-infamous-vibram-stink-a-better-solution/

POFIFOTO!

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Working on Form: Video Analysis

Aug 17, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Back when golf was my obsession, I occasionally recorded my swing and tried to analyze my faults.  Many times, what I thought was happening was proven wrong by the video. Up until the last couple of weeks, I had not used video to help my running form. Now that I have an HD video recorder in my possession most of the time thanks to a smart phone, I figured it was time to use it.

What is good form?  Click here for a link to a good video on form at Active.com.

How am I working on improving my form?  I am concentrating on foot strike mostly, trying to transform from being a heel striker to a mid-foot striker.  I know I am a heel striker from race photos and shoe wear patterns.  I am working on this transformation through changes in shoes (reducing heel to toe drop) and experimenting with barefoot running to get the feel of not heel striking. I am learning to lengthen my stride by lifting the heel higher toward my rear end, instead of extending my forward step. Here is a video of me running in my new Newton Gravitas shoes.

What did I learn from this video? #1, I think this is going in the right direction. #2, I am definitely not heel striking, and #3, I can see how high my back kick was.  I was intentionally going with what felt like a higher heel lift than I normal feel, and I can see that it was much better.  This run was very short and it was tough to keep the form toward the end.  I will now have to work on hamstring strengthening.

Here is a video of me barefoot on the treadmill.

 

What did I learn from this video? #1, I seem to be way too tense.  I already figured out earlier in the year that I am an under pronator, and I don’t see much pronation there at all.  So, I need to relax and see if I get a bit of normal pronation.  #2, I might have my feet pointed outward a bit.  Just a minor thing maybe, but I could experiment with my toes pointed a little more inward.  Other than those 2 things, I was pleased with the foot strike.

So, just like in golf, the video proved very useful.  Feel free to comment.

Finally, here’s a link to a recent article at Runner’s World which asks ‘Does form matter?”

POFIFOTO!

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Product Review: Saucony Amp Pro2 Recovery

Aug 14, 2011 by Greg Fowler

What is the most aggravating thing about children?  Nope, not the talking back.  Not the the messy rooms, either.  The most aggravating thing is out growing clothes, especially shoes, before they are worn out!

This situation is what leads me to this review of the Saucony Amp Pro2 Recovery shoe.  These are not running shoes, but, rather, post-running shoes.  Hence the term recovery shoe. These are not mine, but I did purchase them for my teenage son.  He had outgrown his Sanuks, a sandle that is very similar in style to the Amp, and asked for a pair of Amps as a replacement.

My son is a runner.  You may have read my references to runs with him in other posts.  He is also a member of the high school cross-country team.  One thing the team members seem to do is take off their running shoes as quickly as possible after runs and put on some sort of casual shoe.  I’m not sure if this is because they leave their running shoes in their lockers or what.  My son wanted the Amps for this purpose and for a casual school shoe.

I searched for Amps in Charlotte last weekend during my Newton hunt.  I could not find them, so we ordered them from Zappos.com about 4pm last Monday.  The shoes were on our doorstep about 1pm the next day.  Kudos to Zappos.

Bottom line here:  my son loves them.  They are very light weight (about 5.5 ounces) and, according to him, more comfortable than the Sanuks.  The back of them folds down so they can be used in what I would call “slipper mode” if you’d like.  He also received several positive comments about them from teammates.  That was probably his favorite feature.

You can read more about them at the Saucony website.

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