Shoe Reviews for Fall/Winter 2012

I know I mention it a lot in my reviews but it is a great time to be a minimalist shoe reviewer. When I first started wearing minimalist footwear in 2008, there were not a lot of options for run specific, work appropriate or winter footwear but now, every season brings new models for a variety of purposes.

This year's shoe reviews have a little bit of everything. Here's a pic of some of this season's minimalist footwear reviews that are coming up:

Fall/Winter 2012 Shoe Reviews

Anyone want guess what they all are?

Introducing Speed

Until recently, I've been content with the speed at which I run. It's always been slow but it didn't bother me because I was happy just to be able to run. I've been running with Lee Saxby's running technique for a little over a year now and think I'm ready to introduce speed to my running. In Lee's method, speed taxes your running skill; so to run faster, you have to have good skill. I'm hoping that my skill is equal to the task.

I've done three speed interval running workouts in the last few weeks and I've learned quite a bit about my current running skill level: I can use more skill. I know this will always be the case because there's always some aspect of running form that I can improve on.

My speed interval workouts include a 10-minute warm-up at an easy pace (I have a pace min/km display on my Garmin FR60 for easy reference). My easy pace is about 6:00 min/km. I've been doing 4 or 5 faster pace intervals for about 100 metres or so. My faster pace is about 4:00 min/km. After my speed interval, I'll walk until my heart rate goes back down to 150 BPM then return to running my easy pace for a minute or two, then repeat a speed interval. Then I run home at my easy pace.

Here's an image from my Garmin data of my first speed interval workout:

Here are some observations I've made about running speed intervals (based on how I feel and a video I took of my last speed workout):

• I need to focus on my landing more because I tend to land more on the lateral side of my foot when running faster
• Running fast with the metronome at 180 BPM feels much less taxing on my cardio than running fast without the metronome
• My posture still feels good at either speed
• I could focus more on hamstrings than hip flexors when running faster
• I don't overstride any more when running at speed than running easy (thankfully)
• Running easy tends to be at a faster pace the next time I run after a speed workout
• My cardio could use improvement (not a big surprise)
• Running fast is FUN! (also not a big surprise :) )

For future runs, I want to keep my speed intervals at 4 or 5 and try running fast for a longer distance for the next few times.

If you do speed workouts, how do you incorporate them into your running?

Coaching Tour of Ontario & Quebec

Last week I was away on an epic, whirlwind Natural Running Coaching tour of Ontario & Quebec. The trip was awesome and entailed A LOT of talking. I coached staff from VIVOBAREFOOT retailers and minimalist shoe consumers in addition to having LONG conversations about the different offerings on the minimalist footwear market. I was hoarse for a good three days after the trip.

For more details, you can check out my recap at: http://naturalrunningcoaching.com/2012/07/nrc-in-ontario-quebec-recap/.

And here's a map of the route we took:

More Barefoot Time and Coaching Update

I've probably spent more time barefoot in the last two months than I have any other time in my life. The increased barefoot time is absolutely due to the increased time I've spent coaching. It's been a very busy couple of months for coaching events. Natural Running Coaching is sponsoring the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series in Alberta this year so I attended a promo table at the first two races. I've held 4 Introduction to Natural Running - Large Group Clinics in the last two months. I've personally coached dozens of people through One-on-One or Small Group Coaching and transformed them into Natural Runners. And most recently, attended the Footstock 2012 Race Expo where I shared Natural Running with countless people.

Coaching really has become my passion job and I am grateful every time I get to share Natural Running with anybody willing to learn. And the increased time being barefoot is an extra special added bonus. During Natural Running Coaching, we use being barefoot as a tool to better listen to your body and feel good running form. It's all about form, however, and not footwear. Once you understand what good running form feels like, it doesn't matter what you wear on your feet, although shoes that provide as much proprioception as possible definitely help to maintain good form.

Here are some pics from my recent coaching endeavours:

Me at the 5 Peaks Northern Alberta Series Terwillegar Race

Walking practice at a Small Group Coaching Session in Canmore, Alberta

Squatting practice in Canmore

Jumping practice in Canmore

A coaching client's BEFORE picture

And AFTER picture

Me at the Footstock 2012 Race Expo (with the NRC TV Extraordinaire)

In case my blogging frequency decreases further, don't worry, I'm still here. I'm just enjoying coaching! You can keep updated with NRC adventures at NaturalRunningCoaching.com.

Running Data

I haven't run with any kind of running technology for a LONG time. I stopped wearing a heart-rate monitor, timer, watch, etc. because I found they got in the way of having fun while running. I wasn't training for any races and didn't have any running goals in mind other than to practice good form all the time and to have as much fun as possible. Today, I think I found that running with tech can help maintain good form and be fun, too.

I ran today with a Garmin FR60 for the first time. While running, I had the display show heart rate (just to see where my fitness is at), timer (to establish a baseline for one of my most common short run routes), and cadence (for an accurate assessment of where my rhythm skill is at). I decided to run today with no walk breaks to see how my heart reacted and how long this run takes me now, which I'll compare to later in the season.

I discovered that my heart rate slowly creeps up during my run. I think intermittent walk breaks might help keep it lower throughout my run but I can test that now to see if that is actually the case.

I also discovered that my cadence is around 88-90 BPM (one foot) on flat and uphill, which is pretty good. The optimum cadence would be 90 so I'm happy at 88-90 for a first time out. My cadence goes up (to 103) going downhill, which is exactly what I would expect to see.

Overall, I'm happy with the results of my first run with running data. I do have some goals in mind for this summer of running longer and slightly faster while maintaining good form and being injury-free. Maybe the FR60 can be an added tool for me to accomplish those goals. I don't plan on running with it every time but seeing the results of my run was pretty cool and fun for me.

If you're interested, I downloaded the data and saved an image of the summary (you can click on it to view it larger).

Running Data for May 3, 2012