The Verdict for My Trail Running Trainers

A few weeks back I did a quick post about coming off of some deserved Vay-Kay and purchasing new trail-running shoes from Under Armour. I paid a decent price for these suckas' so they better work.

Well a few weeks later I am fully sold that these shoes are not just to style at a "state of the art" gym while running on a treadmill next to scantily clad fitness model.


( I don't knock the idea...but still)

No sir (or ma'am) this be "the real deal". I took these trainers out on a few uphill mid speed sprints to check comfort and gripping. If you want you can check out my training on my forum. You may even want to keep an online journal there as well. First thing I noticed was the good grip of the heel to midfoot portion. When my foot hit the ground it was..STABLE... I could easily put good amount of force into my stride without fearing a miss step (which can easily become an annoying twisted ankle). The only fallback is the bulky shoes has some weight to them. Even though I easily adjusted, the sturdy neutral positioned sole and heel cushion came with the price of added weight.

Another point here, I ran with these shoes on a one mile trail tempo run. The terrain was pretty rough. Once again no problems I must say and at that point I was very used to the added weight. I even tested out the gripping after a nice "downpour". I found myself a muddy uphill track and took off in sprint intervals. My friends I did not feel one slip.

So the shoe checks out and has the Ty Ferrell stamp of approval.


(HEREBY APPROVED BY TY FERRELL)

Back Off Break to Go Right Back On

So I went on vacation for a few weeks. Spent my time enjoying great food and drinking different ales. While I was away, I made sure to do some activity. I put together all in one dynamic warmup exercises, I did a bunch of pushups and luckily my folks own a crosstrainer cable machine, so I took full advantage of that (not to sound like I am that disciplined... because I am not). My daily caloric intake blew away my daily activity. As one coach put it, " I was doing a 5 mile workout and taking in 10 miles worth of calories". I did enough to keep the mobility up to par. I was hoping to get back to the island and hit the gym hard. Repent for my disturbing fetish with food. Well, that did not happen. I even bought some snazzy new Under Armour shoes to tackle hardcore trail running.

Here is a look at these things. I'll keep you posted on how well they handle the trails:




My reason for not going all out just yet... I really need a break from training. At least in the gym. I sense my body is not ready to kick arse on the barbells and my mind is focused on too many other things. Now usually I would raise the bullshit flag on anyone else who came up with this, but this is one of those moments when I have scratched a bit deeper into the confusing and thick surface of exercise science. I need a week before slamming the weights around to recover and (excuse the wacky voodoo talk) unify and balance mind, body and CNS - central nervous system (or spirit). So this is now my plan and hopes. I will not lift weights yet. I will continue to train outdoors and do active patterns of mobility drills such as those used in yoga and pilates. I'll give it a week or possibly longer. I am sure the results will be far greater than the short loss of gym time. Will have to see though.

Uphill Trail Running

I have discovered a new hobby for myself. The funny thing is I actually should hate it. Now, when I say "hate it", I mean should really FUCKING hate it!! Interesting enough it actually is growing on me instead. Now I am liking (not to be confused with loving) my new hobby, trail running. I do not like it quite enough to put some serious mileage on my sneakers, but I do like it to continue to do it.



Trail running alone is not what I find likable,it is where the trails are located. I run on some steep ridges overlooking an amazing and tropical valley. I have seen trail running on television but this is unbelievable. An added bonus is the landscape. The landscape changes with hard rains. On this island, a hard rain hits just about every month. The ground is volcanic debris and shifts a good deal with the rain. So just about every month, I have a new trail to run.



My primary running routes are on steep uphill portions of the ridges. When I say steep I don't mean you have to use your hands and feet to get you to the peak. This is a high enough incline that you really need to pull your knees up to make headway. Full out sprints are just about impossible though. This is a bummer for a guy like me that rather deal with max speed than max endurance. However, the great side effects of serious caloric expenditure is good enough for me to overlook the speed issue.

Now, I do not track the runs very closely. I have extremely hard days and very light days. I just use how my body responds as a guide. I do keep track of my body composition and the biggest reason for liking the runs is the fact I stay at 14% body fat or lower. So I'm all for the running that I once hated with a passion.