Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Bloody Nipples - Autsch

Browsing through the Internet and listen to experiences of fellow runners the fissure of a nipple / jogging nipple - or to bring it to the point a bloody nipple - is a common thing which happens to quite a lot of runners. Never happened to me until today and I must confess this really sucks.

I still remember that I was reviewing pictures from the Bottroper Herbstlauf and saw a runner with a bloody shirt. I smiled in relief though I had no idea about the real extend. My pictures from today:



I usually keep an eye on using compression shirts for my longer runs. While those look kind of funny – given that my body has never experienced the torture of a gym – and come with a price tag (skins stuff), I never ever had any issue with those. I tend to use events/finisher shirts only for shorter runs. This is the rule. There are always exceptions to rules: Today I wore the Tetraeder Treppenlauf Finisher Shirt (fantastic event which is on my list for 2015 again and the T-shirt is fine – no complain here). There should be no more exceptions – ever ;)!



Beside this I had a fantastic run today, which brought me back to the start location of the Bottroper Herbstlauf and on the top of Halde Haniel




Perfect start in the day, which brought some money in for die Arche e.V via runvember and brought me close to finish the "Bring back the Boom" Strava challenge. 



Sore but happy J!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

First impressions of the Altra Olympus

I’m using quite different shoes from various brands. I’m following the trend to having more minimalistic shoes and zero-drop. Not because this is a popular trend, but because it seems to make sense.
At the same time, I acknowledge, that running frequently long distances in the urban environment, could have a negative impact on my body. Up to now there are no issues, but with increasing the mileage this could easily changes.

The first time I saw some Hooka shoes, which come with extreme cushioning, in real life I was amused. Thinking process started and yes this extra cushioning made sense to me.

So zero drop is fine, but I want to have some good cushioning for longer distances as well.
As of today I was running minimalistic shoes (Five Fingers Komodo Sport LS, Asics Lyte)  for shorter distances and form drills, while I have found a good fit into Mizuno Wave Rider for longer distances. The latter are wide enough for my Hallux valgus and provide some good level of cushioning. At the same time those are not zero drop (14mm).

Before I actually get hands on a Hooka shoe, my attention has been drawn by a different brand - altra shoes. Besides having shoes with just extreme cushioning, they also embrace zero drop and advertise a wide toe box, which should come in handy for my feed. I got exited. Then I got frustrated,  as it seemed to be impossible to obtain those shoes in Europe/Germany, without ordering them directly from the US. This got solved in the meantime. I got in touch with Altra and eventually I got hold of the list of first shops, which should be selling Altra shoes in Germany:
As Wat Läuft shop is located close to my hometown, I went there. Nice shop and I got very good sales advise. I ended up with buying the Altra Olympus, which is an extreme cushioned trail shoe.


On my first run, I needed a little while to get used to the high stack - fear of twisting my ankle- , but after a few km I already forgotten this and had no issue anymore. The cushioning is impressive and releases my legs quite a lot. Again on the first kilometers I felt a little detached from the ground, but this is no issue anymore - even not, if I'm switching between different shoes, which I do a lot.

Overall I was so convinced of the shoe, that I decided after only 60 km of running in them, to actually use them for my very first 50km run - My first - little - ultra experience. The race went well and no issues with the shoes.

While trying the shoes in the shop, I recognized that the tongue of the shoes is a little short. I feared that this would become an issue, but it hasn't so far. The tongue is locked properly once the laces are closed.

Only little drawback of the shoes so far is the grip of the soles. Perfectly sufficient for running easy path in forest, but if it gets wet, one can already experience the limits of the grip (e.g. wet wooden planks). I think this will be not sufficient for more technical trails. Looking forward to try the Altra Lone Peak 2.0, which seems to have a more aggressive sole.

To summarize - and take it with care as I only run like 140 km in this shoes: The Altra Olympus is right now my go-to shoes for long distance runs - both on easy trails and on the street. I love them and my feet even more!





Thursday, November 6, 2014

FIrst - little - ultra experience


Whoa - done!

Since a while I kept playing with the thought of running distances beyond a marathon. Definition comes in handy here  - everything beyond the 42.195 km is called ultra. Be it 50 km, in a flat landscape on a well-maintained path, or be it a 100 miles race in the mountains. I love to think in iterations - hence I've chosen the former. The latter can come later. - Or I'm just shitting my pants?;)

Beside being interested in how it would feel to run longer distances, I also have been observing that e.g. half marathon distance became a normal thing to do for me over the cause of time. I still remember the careful planning before running HM distances in the past (no party in the night before, what to eat before and on the run? what to drink? and what to do if things go wrong?). These days is drinking a sip of water and off we go. How cool would it be, to achieve a similar level of easiness for the marathon distance by making it a relatively short run? Not sure if this works - but first step is done.

Beside listening to and reading all those insane - absolutely motivating - reports from the various ultra dudes, visiting the TorTour de Ruhr earlier the year gave me a big push. Tortour de Ruhr is a private race that takes place on a cycle path - Ruhrtalradweg- next to the river Ruhr - all the way from the source to the junction into the bigger Rhine river. Just 230 km. What?! True - they also have shorter distances - down to 100km (Bambini run). I visit the TorTour de Ruhr this year by running from home to the finish line (around 30 km) - watching some of the runners arrive a the finish line and running back 20 km before actually taking the train back. Took quite some times and I made quite some breaks, but it felt fantastic.

I already had a big goal for this running year - Berlin Marathon - but I also wanted to explore longer distances. There is a short Ultra Race - 50 km distance - close to my home, the Jürgen-Liebert-Ultra which is part of the Bottroper Herbstlauf event. Easy to get there for me. Only issue is that it took place just one month after the Berlin Marathon. Would I be recovered?  Hard to say - so I delayed my registration.

Two weeks before the race I decided to register. All set. How would it be?

I picked up my BIB the day before a race so I was super relaxed on the morning. This is the first difference I noticed to the marathons I have run so far - the people are way more relaxed. Though it happened to be the 42. edition pf the event  and hence they also offered a marathon, the majority of the starters where quite relaxed. I started in the last third of the crowd - taking it easy.  Chatting people, greeting each other and loads of hugs, surrounded me . Large Community. Discussion have been so vivid, that everybody was surprised as the gun went off. No comparison to the hectic marathon folks.

I took it easy to not over-pace in the beginning. Still I was a little faster than most of the others which started just in front of me. So I slowly hopped from group to group, which is always nice. Beautiful weather and the coloured autumn forest made it a fantastic experience.

During the first lap I met my father, who made his way into the forest to cheer me - very nice and good motivation!



Around km 22 I arrived in a group in where I met Michael Kiene. He is a experienced runner and we had a very nice conversation, in which he shared his experience. Thanks! During our conversation, we increased the pace a little, but everything was still under control. At km 33 he left me and I was running the remainder of the distance alone.

Everything went fine and I could hold the pace relatively easy. During the last 10 km my brother turned up to cheer me and take some photographs - thanks!

I must confess that the last 5 km where getting a little tougher, but still easier than the Berlin marathon. My calves started firing and I was a little afraid of cramps. Next time I need to take more salt.

Finishing felt awesome and Michael congratulated me right after the finish line. Topping of the day was that I actually made the 2nd place in my age group. Nothing that I was aiming at, but well - this feels nice.

I recovered quickly from the race and looking forward to then next. Maybe Rennsteiglauf?!

Update:
Have a look on strava to see how it went...