The shoes felt great throughout the run, but my legs were mush after 7.5 miles. Happily a neighbor was driving by and gave me a lift for the remaining 2.5 miles back home :)
Dockers Coit dress pants fit very nicely
I'm a kinda big guy, with very strange measurements. I have a 40-inch waist and a 30-inch inseam, a 17-inch neck and 36-inch arms, so nice-fitting clothes seem hard to find. I just bought some new dress pants that I like a lot. They are called Dockers Pleated Coit pants. They drape nicely, are slimming, and feel great. They're not very warm, but that's OK by me.
New shoes - New Balance 479
I've had these shoes for a couple of months now, and I really like them. I'm using my Sofsole insoles in them, and they feel great.
Pros:
Price - you can find them for under $70 at most places
Roomy toebox
Comfortable
Very agressive tread
Very supportive
Great cushioning
Feel like they will last a long time
Cons:
Laces don't stay tied
These things feel just great, and I have to stress again the AMAZING comfort provided by the insoles.
Hills hurt!
I haven't been running much this week (though I have been working out to get my heart rate up), and just wanted to talk a little about hills. Call me crazy, but I LOVE running hills, especially on a trail, but also on the road. Hills FORCE you to go harder than you might otherwise. I know that I can keep up a higher heartrate for longer on a hill than on the flats. I think it's because on the flats, I have to push myself to go harder, but on hills, I feel like I'm battling the hill itself. Kinda weird, but it works for me.
My only advice on hills is that sometimes it's faster to walk the hill than to run it. For me, that's certainly true for steep or long hills. I've found, for example, that my driveway takes about 6 1/2 minutes for me to run (at a slow pace to ensure I can actually make it to the top) or just 5 minutes to walk. And when I walk it, I feel much better at the top; I'm still winded and my heart rate is up, but not as much as when I run.
It's official - low carb does not work with long distances
I went for another long run today, and it was absolutely apparent that you (at least *I*) need carbs for any kind of speed. I ran for about 80 minutes and walked for about 80 more. Luckily I had taken in some carbs before and during, otherwise I would have just passed out, I believe.
So the lesson I've learned is that I FIRST need to lose weight (through my low-carb diet and slow running), THEN I can work on speed and/or distance. Without the carbs, it just doesn't feel very good at all.
Why the hell do shoe companies have to change their shoes??
I really like my Brooks Dyad 3 (road running) shoes. I like them so much that I emailed Brooks to tell them that after I wore them for a while. Well, they were almost worn out and I thought I'd get another pair. All I could find was the Dyad 4, but I figured they couldn't be *too* different, right? WRONG! IMO, they suck. The cushioning is fine I guess, but the material is all stretchy and provides absolutely no support. Just pissed me off.
A wonderful feeling
All this week I've been running a nice, hard route, pushing myself a little harder each time. It's only a 20-40 minute run that is from 1.5-2.5 miles long, but it'll hurt ya. It's basically an out and back that starts at 2400 feet and drops to 2200 feet in the first quarter mile; it's then up and down a little for a quarter mile, then back up to 2400 feet in a quarter mile, then you turn around and go back. It may not sound like much, but it's definitely enough to hurt.
By Thursday, I was able to complete the 1.5 mile portion without dying and yesterday I added an additional mile (with some more climbing) to it. And I've done all this while still eating low-carb.
Since I felt so good yesterday, I figured I would go after one of my goals today. I live close to Tellico Gap, which is a place where a road crosses the Appalachian Trail at a relatively high point (around 3800 feet). A goal I've had since I moved here has been to run from the bottom of that mountain, up the road to the top. It's about 3.5 miles, with 1000 feet of climbing. I've only tried a couple of times before, but never made it (I know it's not much to some people, but I'm a Clydesdale, dammit). I'm happy to report that I made it all the way to the top of that bastard! It took me 72 minutes (pretty much the slowest you've ever seen anyone move that still counts as "running"). Coming down took right at 45 minutes. So it was almost 2 hours of running, and I didn't feel like absolute crap at the end.
I ate a normal breakfast for me (a big pan of Better 'n Eggs with some sausage) and I had my 100oz CamelBak filled with water with me (and a Clif Bar just in case, but I didn't have to deploy it). I definitely was tired and needed to nap when I got home, but after two hours of resting (and eating lunch), I feel great!
Low carb diet + running = a little bit of fail
I just (2 weeks ago) started on a low-carb diet because I need to de-pudgify. What I've found is that my body isn't very efficient at turning this low carb stuff into energy. My runs feel like I'm about to DIE. But, I'm still running, tho I'm keeping my pace really slow and stopping as soon as I start seeing things.
I haven't found any cure for it so far, but I'm hoping it will just get easier over time. If not, it'll just kinda suck, but that's OK. The worst run is better than a lot of things :)
And fellow clydesdales, don't worry. I'm pretty certain that the absolute lowest weight I can get down to is probably 200lbs (I can bench press 300lbs, so I've got a lot of muscle on me), so I'll still be a member :)
I haven't found any cure for it so far, but I'm hoping it will just get easier over time. If not, it'll just kinda suck, but that's OK. The worst run is better than a lot of things :)
And fellow clydesdales, don't worry. I'm pretty certain that the absolute lowest weight I can get down to is probably 200lbs (I can bench press 300lbs, so I've got a lot of muscle on me), so I'll still be a member :)
My current running shoes
These are my current shoes. They're Merrell Stormfront GTX (click for a review) shoes from 2005 or so with new SofSole Adapt insoles.
I bought them in 2005, but shelved them because I couldn't make them comfortable. However, since I pretty much keep all my old shoes (don't judge me, I KNOW lots of you people do the same thing), I kept these around and figured I would try them with new insoles. THAT was the trick! These things are now some of the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn! Plus, they have Gore Tex without much bulk. Just perfect for me.
I've run in them on trails and the road, and they feel great on both. Unfortunately, Merrell doesn't make them any more, but it does show (to me, at least) what a big difference insoles can make.
Insoles!
If you have foot pain and haven't tried different insoles, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND FIND SOME NOW! I've now discovered how good my feet can feel and I'm never going back to wearing shoes with their supplied footbeds. Really.
Part of my foot pain is the fact that I broke both big toes in martial arts years ago. My right one got injured so bad that I've got some rheumatoid arthritis in the largest joint of my big toe. Also, I didn't realize that my arches needed more support. But now the pain is basically gone, thanks to three insoles that I've found lately:
1. SOLE Heat-Moldable Insoles - They have three thicknesses - thin, regular, and thick (and lots of other choices, too, apparently). Which one you use depends on how much room you need to take up in your shoe. I didn't bother with heating them up -they feel fucking AWESOME right out of the box - around $45 (and I could only find them at REI).
2. Sof Sole Adapt Heat-Moldable Insoles - SofSole carries a bunch of different insoles, but these have the highest arch. Just touching them, they don't feel as substantial as the SOLE insoles, but they work REALLY well - around $30, and they seem to be available at multiple places (Dick's Sporting Goods is where I found them).
3. The Walking Company Memory Foam Insoles - (The ones I've tried are the Lynco: Men's Premium) These are the first high-dollar ($60) insoles I tried and I liked them a LOT... until I tried the two above. These definitely have more cushion, which I *thought* I needed, but it turns out that the feel almost TOO squishy for me. Also, The Walking Company has a pressure-sensitive mat that you can stand on that determines the type of support you need. I would definitely recommend it.
I've seen some less substantial insoles at CVS and Target, but if you're really a clydesdale, you'll crush those flimsy little things, so don't waste your money.
Part of my foot pain is the fact that I broke both big toes in martial arts years ago. My right one got injured so bad that I've got some rheumatoid arthritis in the largest joint of my big toe. Also, I didn't realize that my arches needed more support. But now the pain is basically gone, thanks to three insoles that I've found lately:
1. SOLE Heat-Moldable Insoles - They have three thicknesses - thin, regular, and thick (and lots of other choices, too, apparently). Which one you use depends on how much room you need to take up in your shoe. I didn't bother with heating them up -they feel fucking AWESOME right out of the box - around $45 (and I could only find them at REI).
2. Sof Sole Adapt Heat-Moldable Insoles - SofSole carries a bunch of different insoles, but these have the highest arch. Just touching them, they don't feel as substantial as the SOLE insoles, but they work REALLY well - around $30, and they seem to be available at multiple places (Dick's Sporting Goods is where I found them).
3. The Walking Company Memory Foam Insoles - (The ones I've tried are the Lynco: Men's Premium) These are the first high-dollar ($60) insoles I tried and I liked them a LOT... until I tried the two above. These definitely have more cushion, which I *thought* I needed, but it turns out that the feel almost TOO squishy for me. Also, The Walking Company has a pressure-sensitive mat that you can stand on that determines the type of support you need. I would definitely recommend it.
I've seen some less substantial insoles at CVS and Target, but if you're really a clydesdale, you'll crush those flimsy little things, so don't waste your money.
Introduction
Hey there! I'm creating this blog in hopes of helping other clydesdales with reviews of products and information that I've learned the hard way over time.
About me: I'm 5'11" and currently weigh about 250lbs. I'm currently on a low/no carb diet (just started a week ago) in hopes of dropping some of this extra weight, so I'll give you my progress on that, too. My running schedule is more erratic than I want, but that's how it is these days.
With that out of the way, welcome! Please feel free to email me if you want to contribute or if you have any questions. You can reach me at frank dawt tate at gulfsoft dawt com.
About me: I'm 5'11" and currently weigh about 250lbs. I'm currently on a low/no carb diet (just started a week ago) in hopes of dropping some of this extra weight, so I'll give you my progress on that, too. My running schedule is more erratic than I want, but that's how it is these days.
With that out of the way, welcome! Please feel free to email me if you want to contribute or if you have any questions. You can reach me at frank dawt tate at gulfsoft dawt com.
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