Newton MV2 Zero Drop Shoes- 5.5 oz!

Check out the Newton MV2 here, and a review by runblogger. The MV2 is a "zero-drop" shoe, meaning the heel and forefoot are level.

Ed Whitlock Does It Again! 3:15:54 at Age 80!

Eighty year old Ed Whitlock continues to defy age by averaging 7:24 per mile in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon last weekend. That's another in a long string of age group world records Whitlock has shattered along the way. According to the Runners World Age Graded Calculator, Ed's time is equivlant to 2:02:10.

Training Update- 40 Miles Run at 7 Min Pace or Under!

Sun: 3 miles x 5 in 20:47 ave with 3 min recovery, all on turf. 16 miles total

Mon: 7 miles easy

Tues: 8 x 800 on the track- felt good the last 4 but not really sure how fast other because the last 2 according to the GPS were 2:45 but seemed short. I think all were at 3 or under. 6 miles total

Wed: easy 5 miles

Thurs: 5 miles in 35 min pm 2 miles jogging with the kids

Fri: 3.5 miles in 24 min

Sat: 13.1 miles in 90 min

MY COMMENT: This was an amazing week- Despite coughing fits even while running (especially when I stop) I feel decent running. Although I cheated by including 2 long fast days in one week, my total of 7 min miles or under was 40! Can't wait to get healthy!

Sick for 6 Weeks

This is definitely the longest stretch of sickness I've ever experienced. One week of apparent food poisoning, followed shortly by chronic coughing that shows no sign of improving. I got checked out and was told it was viral- most days I feel pretty good, but every once in a while kind of run down. The one constant has been the coughing- to the point where I sort of tweeked my back, rib or some combination last week. I cough on every run, sometimes to the point of initiating a gag reflex, and I've had to stop for minutes at a time almost every time out.

This has got to end, hopefully soon. I am in decent shape, but periodically question my sanity during long or hard workouts when I am forced to stop.

This is no fun.

Marathon Training- The Final 4 Weeks

It's also clear that the basic foundation of the last month should be intensity, not volume. Running lots of miles and fitting in last-second long runs would further stress already wounded muscles. It's better to let muscle fibres recover by gradually reducing their weekly dose of impact forces. Although at first glance the principle of running intensely during a recovery period seems peculiar (why wouldn't rapid running also stress the muscles?), it works well for several reasons. First, research has demonstrated that intensity is a much more potent producer of fitness than mileage. Since you are trying to boost your fitness dramatically in the last month, intensity is the more attractive option
-Marathon training: planning a 30-day running programme

MY COMMENT: Interesting!

What Should Runners Eat? racingweight.com

One analysis of the diet of seven elite male Kenyan runners found that they consumed extremely high amounts of carbohydrate—76.5 percent of calories—and very low amounts of fat (13.4 percent of calories) and protein (10.1 percent of calories). -racingweight.com

MY COMMENT: William Sherman referenced in this article was a classmate of mine at Ball State so this must be true!

Many other intersting articles that I need to read at racingweight.com, including this one on a topic that has intrigued me forever- The Straight Dope on Salt