Review Inov-8 Roclite 295

My Kinvara’s have finally bit the dust with the upper more less destroyed from misuse. To clarify this is not likely a design flaw but rather because of me opting to use them as my primary trail shoes. I had been holding out as long as possible anxiously awaiting the release of the Saucony Peregrine’s. However, after being informed by every running store in Louisville that they don’t have them or don’t carry them I gave up.

My local Trail Store (http://www.louisvilletrailstore.com) guru had turned me on to the Inov-8 product line over the winter. He had suggested specifically the X-Talon 212’s or the Roclite 285’s. Both would be good replacements for someone who is already a fan of a shoe that combines good support with a minimalist weight/feel. The latter providing a little more beef than the Talon’s but both seemed to fit the basic requirements.

I am not sure if the 295’s are a new entry into the Roclite product line or not for 2011 but it was the first time I had seen them on the shelf. I had gone into the store already set to buy the 285’s but the bright red color was a little much for me and being that I am not a flashy guy I was very excited to see these sitting there next to them.

Not a particularly sexy shoe but function on the trails beats style anytime. The tightly woven black uppers are covered with what Inov-8 calls a Meta Cradle. It is basically a series of bands that attach to the sole of the shoe and lace loops to provide structure and stability. All of the laces on the shoe are tied into this Meta Cradle sans the top two loops. The toe box is covered with a soft rubber to help, I assume, minimize snagging of the mess and also protect the toes from intrusions of foreign objects. Big plus there as my Kinvara’s are littered with holes from sticks and thorns that poked holes through the material.

The Sole of the shoe is a pretty simple pattern of lugs that help aid in climbing and descending. Depending on what type of trails you run this can be a critical component. It appears the lugs at the toe are slightly smaller than those in the mid sole and rear. Would be curious as to the design benefits of this tread but I am assuming it has something to do with providing a climbing teeth in the toe. The mid-sole also has 3 bands that begin on a heel lug and fan out to the front group of lugs. Inov-8’s web site describes this as a Fascia Band to help increase propulsion efficiency and reduce fatigue. I have seen this feature in other shoes I believe so there must be something to it.

I typically wear a 9.5 to 10 but have found that while roomy toe boxes for road shoes is great, for trail running not so much. Climbing up and down steep slopes with room up front means your feet slide forward more than they might on the road creating blisters on the ball of the foot and also the arch. In addition these shoes seemed to run about a half size smaller than what I typically wear anyway so I ended up in a size 9. The shoe provides a lot of room in the width with a nice solid footprint making them feel very stable.

First run, just had a heavy storm roll through in the AM so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to hit one of the local trails that provides a good mix of technical, creek crossings, hills, flats and even a couple of short jaunts on pavement. After parking the car the entry point I chose for the trail includes a climb up a muddy hillside at about a 60 degree angle. The toe lugs did exactly what you would expect and held firm right up to the point where the mud became so thick that nothing short of ice spikes would have held on. Quick grab of a root and a tree or two and up on top.

This section of trail is a short trip over rocks mixed with overgrown trees and thanks to the storm runoff from the hillside above. I’ll be honest, there was very little running going on here as I was mostly just concerned with remaining upright but I will say the shoes did their job.

Next up about a 1 mile trip through a wooded section that has plenty of whoop-de-doo’s mixed with an occasional short climb/descent. Again the shoes held firm and let me run confidently without having to worry so much about footing. One of the unexpected test was climbing fallen trees. I was unsure how sticky the soles of these shoes would be so the first couple of times this came up I treaded lightly. Like the Kinvara’s the sole is made from a softer stickier rubber and like the Kinvara’s they held like glue with zero slippage.

Next was a short trip on pavement. Not much to talk about here, the shoe felt softer than I would have expected. You could certainly feel each lug on the bottoms of your feet but it was not uncomfortable over a short distance although I don’t think I would recommend that for a long distance.

Lastly I made it a point to get these things good and wet and see how they felt. I found a safe place to cross the creek where the water was only about ankle deep. The shoes seemed to shed the water quickly and I honestly forgot to think much more about it as the last segment was very technical including several rock runoff’s and steep climbs/drops. Crossing large sections of rock that were completely covered with running water the shoes again exceeded my expectations providing good grip and solid feel. Quick transitions to climbs and descents in this section of the trail were also handled with ease.

If you are looking to pick up a pair of light weight trail shoes I would highly recommend trying out a pair of these at your local running store. The people at The Trail Store in Louisville have been great to work with and if you are in the area stop by and talk to them.

For more information you can go directly to Inov-8's web site at
http://www.inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG1&P=5050973003&L=27

On On

IronMan 70.3 Muncie

Well it's official I am signed up for Muncie 70.3. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Triathlon's and their distances. This is considered a Half IronMan distance at 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. 2 years ago I went for my first run and could barely go for 60 seconds, thanks to C25K.com and a lot of encouragement from my family I am able to pursue this newfound passion.

My plan all along has been to do a Sprint the first year and then Olympic distance the second eventually leading up to IronMan Louisville in 2012. Over the last 2+ years I have often had a hard time keeping myself in check as this whole fitness thing is so new to me I want to do more than what I am ready for. It's difficult to balance what I want to do with what I am capable of and most importantly what my Family as a whole is willing to sacrifice.

This is a very time consuming sport regarding training and as I build up closer to my race I will more frequently have 2 a day workouts along with 3-4 hours bike rides and 2 hour runs on the weekends. My Wife has been very understanding but I also don't blame her for being frustrated at times with me for being gone a lot.

Here it goes, it's now 15 weeks until race day and I am right where I need to be regarding training. Hope all goes well and I can stay healthy between now and then.

Thanks Honey for once again putting up with me and my mid-life crisis. I LOVE YOU!!!

Calories, fat or carbohydrates? Why diets work (when they do).

I came across this article today and thought I would share. You can also read the entire article by following the link at the bottom of this post. Gary Taubes is a regular blogger on the science of weight loss and has also recently published a couple of must read books if you are planning on improving your health.

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (Borzoi Books)

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage)


Last September, the Williams College psychologist Susan Engel had an opinion piece in the New York Times on the value of standardized testing as a means of assessing the quality of a child’s education. Engel argued that there was scant evidence that these tests were of any value at all, and that they should be replaced by the many “promising techniques” that psychologists had already identified as valuable in assessing the learning of our children.

So what does this have to do with nutrition and weight control? Well, among the promising techniques, wrote Engel, was this one:

Researchers have also found that the way a student critiques a simple science experiment shows whether he understands the idea of controlling variables, a key component in all science work. To assess children’s scientific skills, an experiment could be described to them, in writing, and then they would explain how they would improve upon it.

So the value of controlling variables in a scientific experiment is something that a reasonably well-educated child supposedly understands. And what I want to know is why don’ t nutritionists understand it and those researchers out there doing diet trials and studying obesity and weight regulation. Because their failure to do so — and I would argue that it may be a willful failure — has led to what may be another of the great misconceptions in modern nutrition research. In particular, that carbohydrated-restricted diets are “valuable tools” in the arsenal against overweight and obesity, but they’re just one of the dietary tools.

This belief stems from the last decade of diet trials comparing carbohydrate-restricted diets (usually Atkins) to low-calorie, low-fat diets. Instead of thinking of low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins as deadly, which was formerly the case, nutritionists and dietitians (or at least most of them) now think of these diets as useful, just as other diets, low in calories or fats, are also useful. The idea now is that some people do well on carbohydrate-restricted diets and some people do well on low-fat diets, and maybe this is a result of whether they happen to be insulin sensitive or insulin resistant or maybe its just a product of their particular food tastes and preferences.

And this belief, of course, is based on the notion that we get fat for reasons other than the nutrient composition of the diet – probably because of some combination of our genes, our tendency to eat to much and our sedentary behavior – and so the diet that works best is the one that allows us to most comfortably restrict our intake of total calories.

Read the entire article by following the link below...
http://www.garytaubes.com/2010/12/calories-fat-or-carbohydrates/

Ultra or Bust Week 11

Training is progressing, not always to plan but I am using it as a guide to make sure that I am getting at least close to the mileage/time I need each week. This past weekend was busy and I was not sure I was going to be able to get my long run in. My daughter however, asked if we could go to the gym so she could swim on Sunday. Perfect, except now I had to do my long run on a treadmill as opposed to outside.

The treadmill or as I and many other like to call it the dreadmill is not exactly a place that inspires the same level of excitement as heading out on the road or trail for a long run. My YMCA also limits your time to 60 minutes so my only hope was that it would not be that busy and I could manage to just keep resetting it after each set. Plan called for 4 hours but I thought if I could manage 3 I would feel pretty good about that.

As it turned out once I had conceded that I would be on this contraption for 3 hours it was not really that bad. I did not push any sort of difficult pace like I might normally do but instead just set it at a steady 6MPH and went. At the end of each 60 minute set I went and filled my water bottle and used the restroom then quickly returned to the machine and finished another.

I would not recommend this as something to do regularly but in a pinch it was not to bad and including my warmup/cooldown along with a few walk breaks to hydrate I managed to finish just shy of 17 miles.

Typically after my long runs I take a day off before and after but this week because of many scheduling conflicts I ran the night before and also opted on a recovery run the next day. Surprised that neither one seemed to affect my long run and my recovery run seemed to loosen up my tight calves from the long run the day before. I will probably continue to at least do a short 3-5 mile recovery run the day after each long run from now on.

The thermostat has taken a quick plunge to the south. Last night I got home and debated on running outside or not. It was dark and the temp was 17 degrees with a steady wind. I picked up a pair of Saucony tights in the fall this year but I don’t really have anything for the torso to protect against these temps. In the past when I have run in the cold the sun was typically out so it never really got to be miserable. However, running in the dark cold is an entirely different experience. I am going to have to do a little research on proper gear for running in these temps. Chest, arms and hands were OK but the tissue around my stomach and back was frozen.

Have a good week.

Lab Tests: Galeos Caesar Dressing Not What it Claims to Be

Galeos Miso Caesar Dressing, a supposedly low-calorie and low-fat product hyped on NBC's reality show "The Biggest Loser" and endorsed by trainer Jillian Michaels, among others, is neither low-cal nor low-fat, lab tests commissioned by Consumer Ally found. Testing showed the actual calories per serving is almost 10 times what the label claims.

Read the full article here...

Recent Interview with Atkins CEO Monty Sharma

Just wanted to thank Mr. Sharma for making it clear that Atkins is not Bacon and Eggs. As I have pointed out many times on this blog, Atkins is a diet consisting of all of food groups with lots of Vegi's, some fruits and Dairy and limited Breads, Cereals, Pasta and Rice.

He also pointed out that like any other diet MODERATION is also a component.

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Ultra or Bust Week 7!

Time is not standing still as I would have hoped for the purpose of preparing for this race. However, I am moving along on my plan with a few missed runs but getting my long ones in which are the most important of them. Total mileage for week 6 of 32.86 miles.

Pure Screamin’ Hell Race Report

The run started on the street with a mad dash to the woods. I got in behind a pretty slow group and since it was single track in the dark passing was more or less impossible. The first 2 miles were around 12 minutes each but when we got to the bottom of the hill there was a street crossing that allowed me the opportunity to pass about 10 people.

Plenty of room to run now but this is was also the base of the first major hill climb. I debated on running the entire hill but decided I would walk about 1/2 way up. Surprisingly I did not lose much ground to the bouncing lights I could see 100 feet in front of me.

Thinking the worst was behind me I settled down a lot and started to cruise. As it turned out the worst was yet to come. No more big climbs but constant up/down/up/down was exhausting. This little 6 to 12 foot moguls are a blast on a mountain bike...on foot, not so much. Really started taking a toll on my feet and knees about mile 5 and my legs were getting more jelly like with each pounding down and back up.

The other part that I struggled with was going downhill. As it turns out this is much more difficult to do that up. The trail was mostly covered with leaves which hid all of the roots, outgrowths and other things that laid in wait to send you head over heals. No way to open it up on the downhills for fear of twisting/breaking a limb. I managed to only fall once when my shoe caught a root and did not let go. Tore a hole in my shoe, brand new ones by the way, and sent me toppling down. This is the one time where the short downhills where a blessing as I stopped in the valley between them limiting my travel to only a few feet.

All in All a great race and I had a ton of fun. A little disappointed that my Garmin read 6.86 at the end instead of 6.66 but close enough.


This week includes the following runs.

Mon: 1.25 hours
Tues: .75 hours
Weds: 1.25 hours
Thurs: 1.25 Hours
Fri: Off
Sat: Siltstone Half Marathon – I don’t plan to “Race” this event since it falls into my training plan. Really just want to go at a nice and easy training pace and get familiar with what will be part of the final leg of my 50K. 3500 Feet of elevation change in this one so going fast is not really an option anyway. Should finish around 2:30 considering the elevation changes and plan to walk up the steeper ones to avoid injury. Calling for rain on Saturday at some point, hopefully it will hold off at least until I am done.

Have a good week