Thursday, September 25, 2014

Out with the Old...

This week I hit another milestone on my fitness journey -- I retired my very first pair of "real" running shoes.

"WHAT??" you say? "You've been running for over 4 years and you're just now retiring your first pair of shoes????"

Why yes, I am. This is what happens when you start running, and then stop to have a baby, and start again, and then stop to have another baby, and then take forever starting again. The number of miles you can get out of a pair of shoes varies according to your weight, your gait, and which expert's advice you're reading. Most sources I've seen recommend a range of 300-600 miles.

I bought my Asics GT-2150's in June of 2010, and just now have about 350 miles on them. I've only logged running miles, not walking miles, though I'm not sure that makes a difference. I'm sticking with the lower end of the recommended mile range because these shoes have had a lot of pounds slamming down onto them, and there are visible signs of wear on the inside and outside.


These shoes will always be special to me. They're the first shoes I bought in a running store, and the miles we've logged together have been memorable. I wore them in my first disastrous 5K, my second, much-improved 5K, my first (and unexpectedly awesome) 10K, and my 4th race/3rd 5K.


Then, after some time off and some false starts and more time off, they carried me through the training for and completion of my very first triathlon!!! I'm not sure if any other pair of shoes I own will carry me through quite as many significant events! In fact, I hope they won't, because I hope to wear the rest of them out much more quickly from now on! ;-)

Can you tell which ones are the new ones? Nah....

My new shoes are....exactly the same as the old ones. I bought an extra pair when I saw them on sale at a department store. I figured it couldn't hurt to have a back-up pair waiting in the wings, and I was right, because Asics doesn't make the GT-2150 any more! When I wear out THIS pair, I'll go back to a running store for another fitting, and see whether I should get another Asics stability shoe, or something else entirely. For now, I ordered another pair of Superfeet inserts just like I had before, and hope that the shoe/insert combination that has gotten me this far will continue to work.

Funny, I never knew my shoes came with such a snazzy looking insole...because the guy at Fleet Feet took them out when he put in my Superfeet! I paused and admired the pretty before I did likewise.

I was all set to trim the inserts to match the exact shape of the insoles, but they already matched. I could have sworn the Fleet Feet guy trimmed them, but it was a long time ago...


Yesterday I took the new shoes, complete with new inserts, out for a spin, an easy recovery run of about 40 minutes. To be perfectly honest, they didn't feel that different from the old shoes, except with a little more support around my arches and heels. Maybe the old ones still have some life in them, but I'm not taking any chances on possible injury from running in worn-out shoes. The new ones might give me a boost psychologically at least, if not physically!

It feels like there should be some sort of ritual or ceremony to retire a pair of shoes, especially one that played such an important role in my journey. Oh well, I guess I'll just toss them on the pile with the other sneakers that I wear for non-running activities. If the pile gets too big someday, I'll look into donating my used shoes. For now, Pair #1 is done, and Pair #2 is on the job. I wonder where they will take me??

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Putting the "OFF" in "Off-Season"

Isn't it cute how I mapped out a whole plan for my triathlon off-season? Yeah...I am following approximately NONE of that plan right now. None at all.

At first I was at least keeping up with the running, but even that has fallen by the wayside! I had a great 5-mile run on Sunday, Sept. 7th. My next attempt at running was two days later, and I quit after 15 minutes. I just wasn't feeling it that day. I have not been able to force myself out of the bed in the morning for a run since then.

I don't really know what's going on. It could be any number of things, really.

TIMING

We're back in the school year routine, which requires me to be back from my workouts in time to help get three crazy little boys dressed and out the door on time to get to school. Sometimes the little ones ride along, but most days I stay home with them while my husband drives the others. So if I don't hit the ground running the minute my alarm goes off, I pretty much miss my window in which to get a workout completed. Maybe later in the year, the kids will get better at staying on task in the morning and my help won't be needed as much, but for now this is a daily obstacle that can only be overcome by getting out of bed on time. And right now bed is winning every.single.day.

STRESS

The start of a new school year is always stressful just because there is so much newness for everyone to get accustomed to, and also just so very many things to do! This year that stress has been compounded by all kinds of things going wrong -- things that I fully expected to go RIGHT, so I've been caught off guard. I expected to be incredibly BUSY this month, but I had no idea I'd be extra busy trying to solve all kinds of problems that I didn't see coming. Of course, working out would help me cope with the stress, and missing the workouts is making me feel even MORE stressed...and yet somehow I can't seem to make myself get moving. It's like I'm stuck in a spiral stress vortex that won't allow me to do the very things that could help relieve the stress. UGH!

PAIN

Ever since my 5-mile run, I've been having pain in my left knee. It's in a spot where there wasn't pain previously, and it feels different than the knee pain I usually have. It's a little better this week, but it was pretty bad all last week and over the weekend. I don't know if it will be any worse when I run, but that's not stopping me from using it as a convenient excuse not to try. Maybe I do need to rest it, but I won't know if running makes it worse if I don't get out there and just see how it feels!

FUNK

My head is in a weird place right now. This is probably a by-product of the stress, I think. I just don't feel motivated to work out, or do much of anything, really. I've been sad and grumpy and moody and blah, sometimes all at once! Just like with the stress, exercise could help with these feelings, and maybe clear my head a little, but I'm in too much of a funk to force myself to get out there. Blah blah blah. Blah.

So there you have it. I'm a little lost and searching for the right motivation to get moving again. I desperately NEED to get moving again. Would anyone like to come to my house and literally drag me out of bed at 5:30am tomorrow? Pretty please???