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OrthoLite Fusion Insole Review

I am hard on my running shoes.  I love my Saucony Fastwitch shoes, but they seem to “feel” worn out after 120 – 150 miles.  My solution… Purchase them on clearance from runningwarehouse.com at a great price and get 4 or 5 pair at one time.

I now, however,  have another option that doesn’t involve having to replace my shoes almost every month.  I was sent a pair of insoles in the mail from a company who saw my running blog.  I have never gotten  anything free from writing my blog, so it was pretty neat to get these and give them a try.

So, here are the details:

The insoles are “OrthoLite Fusion” insoles and can be found in many of the top athletic shoes such as Nike, New Balance, UnderArmour, Merrell.

At first glance, there didn’t seem to be much to the insoles.  “They are just insoles”, I thought to myself.  “I wonder how these will feel or will they even help?”

They helped a lot.

First I took out my old insoles from my Fastwitch’ and noticed how flat and worn they were.  Hmmm.  Maybe there is something to this.  Then I put in the Ortho Lite Fusion insoles into my shoes, tied up my laces and went out for my run.

I’m really not saying this for any reason than other how they felt…  It was like I had a new pair of shoes on.  Seriously, I have struggled with wearing out my shoes so much that this was like a gift to me.  I loved them.  I ran great that night and two days later had the best long run I’ve had ever.  I’m not saying that all of this is because of new insoles, but I was able to keep going strong for 3 – 4 miles longer than the week before.  Something helped, and I’m sure these were part of the solution.

Here is some info I got with the insoles:

OrthoLite Fusion Insoles

  • OrthoLite Fusion insoles are available at ortholite.com or amazon.com for $19.99. Features include:
  • Designed to fit all athletic and outdoor shoes or boots
  • Made with open-cell foam, allowing air to circulate around the foot, keeping it cooler and drier inside the shoe
  • Wicks moisture away from your foot leaving your foot cooler and drier
  • Unique spring-back technology ensures that your insole won’t flatten out and it will retain over 95% of its thickness over time
  • Our patented anti-microbial formulation (approved by the EPA and FDA) fights fungus, bacteria and shoe odor
  • Lightweight and fully washable
  • $1 from each purchase goes to  directly to the Level Field Fund, a grant-giving program that strives to bridge the gap in funding to uniquely talented athletes.

So, I will be using these insoles in the future when my shoes are low mileage, but the insoles are worn.  It made a huge difference in my running.

I hope this has been helpful to you also!

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More thoughts on “The Voice”… Thankfulness is the key!

Thank you everyone for such a great response to my blog post yesterday!  I had more views on my post yesterday than the day of the Boston Marathon.  It was also a great thing to see another blogger pick up where I ended and write their own story about struggling with “The Voice”.  Sarah wrote a really good post here (http://reallyarunner.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/why-blogging-is-brilliant/).  Go read it when you get a chance.

Yesterday, as I lay on the Chiropractor table waiting for him to work on my hip, I thought more about combating that voice that talks so negatively to me during my runs.  I realized that it actually begins before my run.  Mainly on my speed workout or long run days.  So I decided that I am going to begin thinking more positively about my running, especially on those days.  I am beginning by just being thankful that I can run, let alone so many miles and in the Southern heat.  I am thankful that I can go to a Chiropractor who can help me be able to run a 5K race and a 17 mile long run in the same weekend and still be able to walk.  I am thankful for my continued weight loss and keeping those 100 lbs off.  I am thankful that I am off all my prescriptions that I took for years.  I am thankful I am off my CPAP.  There are so many things that running has helped me with that I cannot even begin to list them here.

Running has changed my life.  I went to the doctor the other day for my sinus infection and my heart rate was 56!  That isn’t even one beat a second.  That reminded me of something my father used to say to me.  He said that his theory was everyones heart has a finite amount to beats for each life.  So the slower he could get his heart to beat, the longer he would live.  I don’t know if that is scientific or not, but it sounded good to me.

I am training for my marathon on September.  It is hard and not every workout will be pleasant.  However, I am going to work harder at being more positive and thankful to God for the fact I can run and I am really going to work at extinguishing that negative voice before and during my workouts.

Life is too short!  I want to make the most of all the time I have to live.  Running helps me do that!

I am thankful!

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Long run chatter. The Voice! I hate that Voice!

I was 10.25 miles into my long run.  Frankly I was surprised I made it that far, but I needed to make another 7-8 miles.  There was a lot going against me.

First, I am still not over my sinus infection.  It is better, but not gone and it hit me hard Saturday night and I woke up Sunday feeling tired and a little sick.

Then there is the 5K I ran just 24 hours before.  I ran as hard as I could and I have never been able to run the day after a 5K because my body is way too sore.

Finally had I just drank water, had some Cliff Block Chews and I ran my tenth mile way too fast.  My thoughts were, “maybe I should call it a day”.  “I still have 5 weeks before my marathon”. ” Who would criticize me for running 10 miles after such a busy weekend”.

Then my phone rang… It was my work… I had to help someone with an IT issue.  I stopped running.  I talked on the phone for 10 minutes.  In the mean time, TJ ran past me on his run and another runner ran past.  I finished the call.  I stood there thinking,  “What do I do?”  I was tired and hot.  It was getting close to 80 degrees and 90% humidity.  I was soaked.

One more mile, I decided.  I’ll run one more mile and see how I feel.  I’ll slow down a bit, try to run relaxed, not push.  After all, 11 miles is better than 10.

I finished that one mile and went for another.  I finished that and then another.  By the time I finished, I made a distance PR of 17 miles.  2 miles farther than I have ever run.  I also managed to keep an average pace of 9:15/mile.  I am so glad I didn’t give into that voice.

THAT VOICE!

I hate that voice.  It talks to me on all my long runs and hard workouts.  It is constantly telling me to give in.  Give up.  There is always tomorrow.  You are tired.  You are hot.  Today is just a bad day.

NO!

I have decided that that voice is not my friend. Yes I have to be wise and if I get hurt, I’ll know I am hurt.  But there is no way for me to run a marathon in 5 weeks if I let that voice be my friend any longer.

So I am going to work my hardest to ignore this voice and move forward.  My goal is to run this race and do my best.  However if I bring this voice along with me, I will just live in fear the whole race.  My goal for the next 5 weeks is to silence this voice and move forward confidently and wisely and make the right choices based on fact and not on “a voice”.

Today is my off day.  I have a trip to the chiropractor this afternoon and then I hope I can rest for the evening.  It was a great weekend for running and I feel much better than I did about my upcoming marathon.

Thank you all for your comments and encouragement!  I am so thankful I started this blog!!!

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Shake and Bake 5K – AWESOME!

It was a great race…

The Shake and Bake 5K ended up being fun, lots of PRs and a family pizza!!!

So, we got to the 5K about an hour early. Perhaps it was a bit too early, but I already had my beet root juice; TJ, RS and I eat breakfast and we were ready to get to the race. Thus we got there an hour early. We ran a mile and then met Neill (@BigBigGeek) near the starting line.

So what do you do when you have run a mile, used the porta potty, and meet your friend who is going to run the same race… You run another mile. That is what we did.

As we started running another warmup mile, I noticed this sign on the route:

stop go slow

Seriously, the first turn of the 5K said “Stop… Go Slow”. I began to worry a bit. 🙂

We finished our run and lined up on the starting line. A prayer… and the race began.

I stated out too fast. I was a half mile into the race and I could still see TJ. I knew I was running too fast, so I slowed down. Perhaps it was too late. I was only a mile into the race and I was breathing way too hard. A few up hills and a few down hills and I was back on my game. Then 2 missed turns. Fortunately I was able to correct my errors pretty quickly, but I lost precious time. The first turn that I missed, I noticed a runner retracing his route and figured that something was wrong. I corrected fairly quickly. The second, I was going the wrong way and another runner behind me called out (thank you, I don’t know who you are) and I corrected, but I lost time and he moved in front.

Okay this isn’t the Olympics, but I take my 5K seriously… Perhaps I shouldn’t.

From this point on I ran the course correctly. I got to a T intersection and I had to turn left and I saw TJ running to the right – right in front of me – He was smoking.

I came up on the finish line and TJ was cheering me on and I noticed the clock… I finished 4 seconds slower than my last 5K and 20 seconds below my PR. Those dreaded missed turns. Oh well. What could I do.

I ran a final cool down mile with TJ. Perhaps the most fun mile of the race (post race). We ran and we recounted the race and had fun. We got back in time to see RS sitting alone and resting. He had finished 2:00 faster than our last race and had only gotten 4 hours sleep because of work. Wow. We all did amazing things in this race.

Finally the awards. First, our family award… Yes, family award. I had never seen one before, but our family one one of two awards and got a $50 certificate to a local pizza place. Now that is my kind of award. From then on they only gave awards for the first place finish. TJ, who came in second in his age group at 18:48 didn’t get to hear his name. Such a shame as he ran a FANTASTIC race. RS came in third in his age group at 26:23 (1 second behind 2nd place) didn’t get to hear his name. [editorial: I think there should be recognition for the 3 top age group winners – just my opinion]. Finally the 50 and up group… Yes my age group. I feel so old sometimes as I just turned 50… okay 9 months ago. I won my age group. Wow, my time of 22:08 won the 50 and up (really sad when there is no upper age limit) age group.

It was a hard race. There were a lot of up hills and at some points I wanted to just walk, but something TJ said to RS at our half marathon kept playing in my head… “you can jog, but don’t walk”. I just kept going.

So maybe that is the moral to the story… When things get tough, “Just keep going”. Also TJ always says, “Never make a decision on a hill”. Both sayings have wisdom in life.

So it was a great day. My friend Neill also got a fantastic PR by beating his best race by almost a minute. Way to go Neill.

Now for the pictures – Thanks for reading.

RS, TJ and Me

RS, TJ and Me – Yes I am shorter than all my sons!

Neill (@BigBigGeek)

Neill (@BigBigGeek) Awesome race Neill!

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Hangin’ with “The Dog” before our 5K

Feeling better today.

I had a long day yesterday and by the time I got home, it was late and I have my 5K today, so I only ran 4 miles.  They were 4 really good miles.  The heat didn’t bother me as much and I just felt good running.

Today is the Shake and Bake 5K.  TJ, RS and I are going to eat breakfast at Steak n Shake and then head out to meet Neill (@BigBigGeek) at the race.

By the way, I drank a bottle of the beet root juice.  Interesting to say the least.  Sweet going down, but the after taste is similar to soil.  🙂

20130803-035716.jpg

“The Dog” loves her ball. I think she thinks I will take it from her. 🙂

Anyway, I’m just hangin’ with “The Dog” and playing ball as I wait to head out.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement.  This marathon training isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.  🙂

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Sick Daze

Okay, it seems that as soon as I committed to running the Lehigh Valley Marathon on September 8th, my life has… well fallen apart.

Maybe it is just me, but I was very sick the past two days.  I had the worse sinus infection I’ve had in years.  In fact, I don’t think I have missed a day of work since I have lost weight and stated running because of being sick.  Now…  2 days.

I just had a great run on Tuesday and now the week is gone.  Today I will run, but since we have a 5K race in the morning, I’ll have to take it easy (and since I haven’t been out of bed in 2 days).

But I am going to try my new magic weapon.  Beat root juice.  Yes it sounds disgusting, but it is loaded with nitrates and is supposed to increase endurance by up to 15%.  Well, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

Short post today.  Tomorrow I’ll be hangin’ with the dog and then running with TJ, RS and my friend Neill (@BigBigGeed) in the Shake and Bake 5K.

 

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Good first marathon workout

“You okay”?

I was half way through my steady state run yesterday. The heat index was 103 and I had to take a break in some shade.

“Yes – thanks” was my reply to the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. “It’s hot out here today”, I said as I looked around to see who was talking to me. It was some nice people sitting outside on their porch. I must have looked as bad as I felt at the time. However it only took about 2 or 3 minutes to gather my composure and start back on my run.

I had been dreading this day for some time. Six weeks out from our marathon and we are now starting our workouts. TJ sent me the schedule and I had mistaken that yesterday was to be a tempo run and not a steady state run.

So, being hot out and a bit worried I wouldn’t get through, I set my iSmoothRun app and went out for my run.

Looking back on it, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. My first mile was slow as I warmed up. My achilles has been a bit sore, so I didn’t want to go too fast. After that I went straight into my steady state pace. I am supposed to keep my pace around 8:00, but with the heat, I set my app to 8:30 just to be on the easy side. I didn’t listen to my app.

Here are my splits:

Steady state splits

Steady state splits

Needless to say, I felt good about the run. It was tough, but it gave me some confidence that I can get through my workouts this summer and not pass out. 🙂

This morning I woke up with a sinus infection. That, along with only 4 hours sleep means I will have to take the day off from running today. Oh well. Better safe than sorry!!!

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I ran mile 16 – 18 yesterday!

Yesterday I continued my 15.7 mile run from Sunday.  I know, I know, yesterday was Monday, but I thought I’d do a couple easy miles to get an early start on the week.

There are no easy miles the day after a 15.7 mile run. 🙂

I did run/walk 3.25 miles.  Nothing fast other than the last quarter mile which I ran at a 7:38 pace, just to know that I could.  Anyway, my legs really did feel as they did at the end of Sunday’s run.  They were weak and tired.  I’ve heard that each run is the cumulation of your previous 2 runs put together.  And I have heard that it can take 7 – 10 days to recover from a long (or hard) workout.

In a way yesterdays run was nice.  My legs were exhausted, but I was fresh.  It was 90 degrees outside, but I had no need to push my run or do a workout or run a specific distance.  It was refreshing, except for the heat.  I need refreshing.

Today starts my workouts for the marathon.  TJ said to do the same ones we did for the half marathon that worked so well.  So I will begin my marathon workouts today with a tempo run.  I am going to try for 3 miles, but will play it by ear.  During our half marathon workouts, it was winter and 40 – 50 degrees on average.  Now it is summer and 85 – 90 degrees.  So it may be a tad harder to pull these workouts out!

Hopefully my legs will cooperate and it will be a good run.  I don’t like the torture of tempo runs, but I like the results.  My pace usually goes down 30 seconds a mile the day after.

On a side note… I was able to walk with no problems yesterday.  After my last 13 mile run my hip was so bad that I had to take 3 days off and start seeing a Chiropractor.  Yesterday I was a bit sore, but really had no issues.  I guess my Chiropractor is doing something right!   At 50 years old, I need all the help I can get.  🙂

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The most important run so far

15.7 miles.

Okay, really about 15.20 running and .50 walking.  That is what I ended up with yesterday.  There is some good and some not as good news from that run.

The good:

  • My goal was between 15 – 18 miles and I made it.
  • 13 miles were completed with a pace between 9:00 – 9:30.
  • I ran 5 mile loops for the first 10 miles and that seemed to work well for me to get some Gatorade Chews and water.
  • I can walk this morning without a limp, so my Chiropractor must be helping.

The not as good:

  • I really wanted to make 17 miles, but just couldn’t do it.
  • The Marathon is 6 weeks away and I don’t feel that I am close to 20 miles yet.
  • My hip hurt to the point that I feel it affected my run.
  • I crashed the last 1.5 miles.

Here are my thoughts:

I feel that the 5 mile loop was a key to me doing well.  I decided to run the last 7 miles at one time and just as I hit 15 miles I couldn’t do more.  I wonder if I had kept to the 5 mile loop if I would have been able to make it.

I am a little panicked about the marathon being so close and my mileage not being where I need it.  I know that when the race comes, I will be able to do more than I can just running in my neighborhood.  Also, my neighborhood is very hilly and the marathon isn’t.  Finally, it is hot and humid here, so that will be better up North in September.

Ultimately, sometimes you have to do what you don’t think you can do in order to get what you really want.  I am not worried about qualifying for Boston in this marathon.  Right now, I want to finish the race.  Who knows, it might be the perfect storm and I’ll fly through and do great.  Time will tell.

So it was a good run.  It was a PR in distance.  It was fairly easy until the last two miles.

I can’t complain.  It was a good run!  It was the most important run so far in my training.

I am thankful.

Pondering my Long run while Hangin’ with “The Dog”

The Dog

Just sitting here pondering my long run with “The Dog”.  She is happy to get some attention and I am happy to relax before I attempt my longest run.  Last year at this time my longest run was 6 miles.  Now I want to make between 15 – 18 miles.

I did take the good advice I got yesterday from Russ and others and took the day off of running.  We just did some shopping and I cut the hedges.  So I got a workout in anyway.

Today I plan on mixing up my route a bit.  I have a 7 mile route in our neighborhood that I run on long days.  Today however, I plan on running 2 five mile loops and then do the 7 mile route.  That will allow for me to come by the house and drink some water along the way.

Here is hoping for the “zone” that David mentioned.  I’m really going to try to make it a steady run and just see what happens.

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Dizzy update, Running update, Marathon update

So I went for my run yesterday; a little apprehensive after getting so dizzy on Thursday.

I took it slower and I ate more during the day yesterday (Okay, I had a donut at work).

I think I have decided that the socks didn’t cause my issues. I do think the 4 other items I listed were all part of the issue. Especially the fact it got 20 degrees hotter in 2 days. It has been so much cooler lately because of afternoon storms that it is almost like I have to get used to the heat all over again.

Starting out slowly yesterday really helped. I was able to get 6 miles in, and this after waking up at 1:30 AM and not being able to get back to sleep, working all day and taking myself and my Lovely Wife to the Chiropractor. After all that I ran 6 miles in a 9:22 pace. Not bad.

Today I am waffling about what to do. I should run, but I am sore from the week and I have my long run tomorrow. I know TJ would tell me that even 3 miles would help. I’ll see. I am going to take BZL to Steak N Shake for a birthday breakfast (can you believe I have a 26 year old son? I know I can’t). Then I’ll play it by ear.

I’m hoping to get somewhere between 15 – 18 miles Sunday. I really have to make that goal or rethink my marathon. 5 weeks left and all my injuries have really affected my progress. It is crazy that I went a year with no injuries and now 4 months filled with them.

Life is good.