New Kicks

When I started trekking longer distances back in January, I also started getting major blisters on the bottoms of my three outer toes on both feet.  At the urging of some very wise people, I went to be fitted for shoes and was told that I slightly underpronate (which means my poor outer toes are getting the major work of walking).  Since my pronation issues are not that horrible, I don't get blisters at lower mileage (and can wear regular shoes).  However, it does present enough of a problem to cause major blisters at higher mileage (8+ miles). 

I was fitted for shoes and went through a giant pile before attempting to make a decision of going between two stability shoes - New Balance 860v2 or Brooks Adrenaline.  I went with New Balance as the Brooks cut into the top of my big toe (no matter what size I tried on this happened - the toe box just doesn't work for me). 

While I have loved a lot of things about my NB training shoes - they broke in easily, I have not had one blister with them, they are lightweight and breathable, very comfortable - they broke down unbelievably fast!  I literally wore through the sole. 

Now, yes, I have been doing more miles at this point in my life than I ever have (I've completed over 30 miles  in the last 5 days), I still expected that they would have lasted longer.  I needed to replace these shoes before my half on May 20th.  I really didn't have a choice seeing as my knees and hips were starting to register the impact of wearing the worn out shoes.

I made the decision to buy one more pair of the NB 860v2 shoes simply because my half is in just over 3 weeks and I didn't think it would be a good idea to switch brands and shoes completely.  Plus, these shoes break in so quickly that I don't think it will be a problem.  I am disappointed with the current quality of New Balance though.  They used to be my go-to brand with decent arch support and quality levels but this just isn't the case anymore.  Case in point:

Shoe on the right = old trainers.  Shoe on the left = new trainers (only worn 5 miles).

Oh well, live and learn, right?  The goal of having no blisters was successfully met, so I don't have anything to complain about!  The new trainers should be fully broken in just in time for my half.  Although I like the new blue, I do kind of miss the orange.  Guess that what going to grad school at University of Tennessee and teaching at a school whose colors are blue and orange will get you...and affinity for orange.

So, while we are on the subject of new kicks and breaking in shoes, check out these bad boys:

New hikers!  I have had the same hiking shoes (Merrells) for the past 8-9 years.  They made it through countless miles of hiking, camping, field work, and crazy mud messes.  They always looked new, the tread never wore, and they were 100% water proof (my new ones are not but I will be hiking in the desert mostly).  During the last field course I worked on (1.5 years ago), I started to feel their age.  I could feel every stick, stone, and pebble through the bottoms of the shoes.

Despite the good run with those, I knew I had to get new hikers before the next field course that I start on May 20th (yes, you read that date correctly, I fly out the day of my half marathon).  I went with Merrells again since I had such a great experience the last time.  These hikers are going to take me to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and then back up again!).  Well, that is if they are broken in on time. 

Since I will be doing so much hiking, I will likely take my old Merrells along just in case I need a switch or I start getting blisters.  I do need to pick up some pronation correcting inserts for these though. 

So with all that foot talk, I leave you to have an amazing evening!  If you have suggestions of great brands of trainers that are of fantastic quality (beyond Brooks), let me know!  I'll likely be looking for different shoes around mid-summer.

Review: Bob Harper's Ultimate Body Cardio Body DVD

Good snowy evening!  It's been a good, but busy, day!  Yesterday, I did a review of Bob Harper's Cardio Conditioning DVD that I worked through on Saturday.  Since I have been really working hard to incorporate variety into my half marathon training to avoid burnout and my body becoming too used to walking, I decided to do another workout DVD today.  Although I had only planned enough time to do a 30 minute workout, I ended up doing a 60-minuter and raced through the rest of my day.  :)

Today, I did Bob Harper's Ultimate Cardio Body DVD.  I bought this DVD at some point but have never done it (not sure why).

Note: I only completed the 60-minute workout, not the 10 minute glute challenge, so I am not reviewing the second workout.

Despite this workout starting off with insane amounts of my least favorite exercise ever, lunges, I loved this DVD!  I felt challenged, though I probably would have been better off with two sets of weights.  This is a similar problem that I had with the Cardio Conditioning DVD as I am stronger at some exercises than others (this, by the way, is my own issue, not the DVD's - just something to be aware of). 

Although this workout didn't feel that much like a traditional cardio workout, my heart was definitely pounding at certain moments.  I loved that Bob took your heart "on a roller coaster ride."  I don't usually challenge myself this way as I tend to walk at the same speed for a long period of time and this left me feeling very energized after my workout! 

Although this isn't a traditional cardio workout, it is not a low-impact workout either.  It's not as high impact as other videos (like Jillian Michael's Burn Fat Boost Metabolism, which does not use weights) but you will be jumping quite a bit, sometimes with weights in hand.  The only thing that bothered my knees was the lunges.  Bob also ends the workout with a 2-3 minute crazy cardio shot that I loved.

Finally, if nothing else, you will get a kick out of Bob Harper's socks.  He wears black shorts, black shoes, and black knee socks.  I don't normally care that much what people are wearing (especially in a DVD like this) but it had me wondering the entire time who picked that out for him.  If you make it to the cool down, you'll get to hear his joke about it.

All in all, this is an awesome workout, perfect for adding a little variety into my workout schedule!  I plan to keep this in regular rotation as I really love to kill weights, abs, and cardio in one shot, especially on busy days like today.  It's too early to tell if I'm going to be sore from this but seeing as I was sore from the Cardio Conditioning video, I likely will be from this one as well.  We'll see tomorrow morning!

Review: Bob Harper's Cardio Conditioning DVD

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend and staying warm!  I have been trying to incorporate more free weights and strength exercises into my half marathon training.  I am trying to schedule at least 2-3 days of cross training and/or free weights into my workout plan each week.  I just feel so much stronger and I am better able to support myself when walking for long distances when I my core, arm, and leg muscles are well conditioned.

I have several workout videos that include weights (cardio + weights = 2 birds/one stone) but I usually stick with Jillian Michael's videos like Ripped in 30 or 30 Day Shred.  I was looking for a bigger (and longer) challenge yesterday so I popped in Bob Harper's Cardio Conditioning DVD.  I got this DVD about a year ago and I did the 60 minute workout a few times but never made it through the entire thing.

Yesterday, I did make it through, so I thought I'd offer a review of this workout.

This is a fairly challenging workout and definitely worked muscles that I don't exercise on a regular basis (as made obvious by slightly sore upper arms and legs this morning).  I liked this workout for several reasons:  it incorporated different exercises than I usually do (varied workouts are so important to keep my body from getting used to my workouts), it was longer than most workout videos, it didn't contain lunges (oh, how much do I hate lunges?), and I was sweating pretty good throughout the majority of this workout.  I liked that you pushed yourself for about 45-50 minutes and then went into an ab workout and started cooling down.  There is also a countdown on the screen, which is really nice to know how much longer you have to go.  I believe there is a way to turn the countdown off.

This workout probably would have been more productive to me if I had two sets of weights (one light, one heavy), but I completed the entire workout with 5 lb weights and it was fine.

Now for what I didn't like:  this workout is extremely repetitive.  If you don't like squats, kettle bell-like swings, and dead lifts (with a weird squat included in these), this is not the workout for you.  I don't think I would do this more than once every week or two because I can see myself getting very bored with this and because I tend to get lower back pain with dead lift.  I have previously done the 25 minute workout included in the video (it's more like 23 mins) and felt like it was too short and I didn't get a good workout.

All in all , this is a good DVD, and will likely land in my weekly or biweekly video rotation.

Have a happy and healthy day!

Unlimited

First things first.  On my post on Saturday, I challenged myself to 30 miles of some combo of running, walking, and hiking over six days (Mon-Sat) + 4 days of lifting weights.  Things are going well thus far!  I took Sunday as a rest day as per the plan, but I find that rest days just make me feel like crap - tired and lazy, both on the rest day and the next day.  I may try to do a little something, like a slow walk, on rest days. 

Never-the-less, I walked 5 miles on the treadmill yesterday and 6 miles (3 outside, 3 on the treadmill) + 30 minutes weights today.  So, I've got 11 miles in in 2 days!  I figure there will be a day later in the week where I will want to walk less, so I went a little longer today.  Tomorrow I have a mid-morning appointment so I will likely break up my workout a little bit, which actually makes it easier.  I haven't run this week as my knee has been acting up again.  I enjoy running but when my knee hurts, I can't help but think that I will just cause more damage if I do a high impact activity.

My second topic of the day is Jillian Michael's book, Unlimited.  I passed this book by about six or seven times and finally broke down and bought it on Monday.  I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it but I am really enjoying it.  This book isn't exactly about how to succeed in physical health, but the advise provided in this book can be applied to your career, mental health, relationships, physical health, really any part of your life that you are having a problem with.  I will provide a more complete review of this book, but for now, I'd like to share my favorite quote from the book.

"...it's my dream, so back off and start working on your own."

Why do I like this quote so much?  Because sometimes I feel like I am surrounded by so much negativity.  I hear over and over again people talk about what other people are working towards and how much they don't support it.  Here's the thing - if that person is working towards something that will make them happy and doing it in a non-destructive manner, why should anyone else care or try to make them feel bad about it?  I think we all need to support those in our lives and focus on working towards our own goals and dreams.  I end this post with another quote from Unlimited:

"Think of it like throwing a boomerang (if anyone actually knows how to do that): whatever you think and feel comes back to you.  And thus the word is karma."