Thursday, June 30, 2011

Loonie about Lunar.....

This season I'm using Nike shoes as my shoes of choice. The only thing is it can get pretty confusing with all of the models that are out there and what they do/don't do. If you look at the Lunar line of Nike shoes there must be at least ten different models. So far I have tried the Lunar Glide, the Lunar Swift, the Lunar Racer 2, the Lunar Elite 2 and the Lunar Racer.


I really liked the Lunar Glide, as I never had any problems with it as some people had and they still look good after using them for two seasons. I like that the stability part only kicks on when you need it as I need it towards the end of my long runs.


The Lunar Swift, is a good shoe although it takes a little while to get used too as it is very stiff when its new. This stiffness in the sole makes for a weird feel when you first run in them. These also have a stability component on them like the Glides but I'm not sure it works as well.


The Lunar Racer 2, is a shoe that I didn't like, for some reason it didn't work for me. I found the feel to be very springy which was great at first as it encourages leg turnover I also got blisters in places that I never got blisters before such as the outside edge of my foot or in middle of my arch. But what I found was there is next to no stability in it and as the shoe breaks down this became very problematic for me, the other thing I noticed is as the shoe breaks down it began to feel like I was running on a soft surface, so just after the foot strike  when my heel landed it felt like the shoe was compressing even more. I tried to use a soft ortho in the shoe but it gave me a feeling of constantly running on the outer edge of my feet, the other thing I noticed when using the insert was that it made the foot strike really loud, I think I could use it as a bear deterrent if I ran in the mountains with them.


The Lunar Elite 2, At first I was skeptical about trying them as they feel very much like the Swift in that they are Stiff initially but as I use them more and  I've really began to like them. As the season goes on I'll add more to how they are working out.


The Lunar Racer 2011, I read some really good reviews about these shoes before I took them out of the box and they are supposed to be more stable than the LR2, they are on a slightly different last than the LR2 in that it is more curved than the 2010 model. So far I have done one run on them so I can't say yet how they'll workout. But like the Lunar Elite 2 this will be an ongoing review.


It seems to me that Nike is really pushing the Lunar line and appears to be doing less with the Zoom line of shoes, now I don't know if that is a good thing or not as I like the shoes that I've tried so far from the Zoom line such as the Elite4 and the Marathoner.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Did he or Didn't he act on team orders?

This got Harry Wiltshire disqualified from the European Championships on the weekend. The bigger question is whether or not it was under team orders? The Brownlee's don't need to put someone up to these tricks as they have been on a winning streak this year, so why would they get a teammate to do this.

I know from experience that the swim in Triathlon is crazy and sometimes you get bumped, kicked and grabbed but never have I seen someone deliberately impede another competitor. As you can see from the video  he is aware of who is next to him as Wiltshire looks at Gomez a couple of times during the swim and then again when they are trying to climb out of the water.

Wiltshire and Gomez incident Euro's 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

I'm still here

It’s been a while since I posted anything to this blog...and there are a couple of good reasons why that is. I was still injured and didn't really get do anything during those months of any note, I still tried to train (not really much running) but on the bike and swimming. In May we welcomed a new addition to our family, a little baby girl to annoy our son when he’s a little older. Other times I have thought of something that I'd like to say but then my own laziness would stop me from doing it. So what else is new I hear you say.

Training Update: - I've been running pretty constantly since the beginning of April, been doing about 6 days a week running and one day (at least) of cycling and swimming. The cycling has been hit or miss so far as I thought I would have more done by this time of the year. The swimming has been going really well and I'm almost back to the same kind of times I was doing while training for Ironman - although to look at me you'd never think that..... Since I got injured I've really taken to swimming, I'm enjoying it considering that it was the thing that I really found hard to get back into for Triathlon training. Prior to the winter just gone the last time I did any swimming on a consistent basis was when I trained for Ironman Canada 2004.

Running - My running is coming along, although there are days when I feel like something the cat barfed up. But that is to be expected, you just have to keep chugging away at it and then it'll start to click. This year since it has taken me so long to get going again I've decided that I I'm going to slowly increase the distance of the races I do.....however my first race is going to be the Canada day 15K and then the rest of the races until September are going to be 10K's after that I'm still up in the air about what distances I'm going to run. I got a spot in the Chicago marathon in early October but I'm 99% sure that I won't be running as I don't think I'll have the training done to do it justice. 

Thanks for reading