cooler weather gear

As the temperatures are getting cooler, I’m slowly pulling warmer clothing out of storage. I’m not ready to pack away all the summer gear yet, but I’m going to have to face it. We broke down and turned on the heat today — it was 59* in the house this morning!

Since I’ve been running through several winters now, I have just about everything I need. I did pick up a couple new items recently that I think will be quite useful.

I am a chronic over-dresser once the temperatures drop. I hate being cold! I’m often left tying a jacket around my waist once I warm up in a mile or so. Not too bad for a short run, but can be annoying for the long ones!

I think my first purchase will be one of my favorites:

Arm warmers — perfect for those in-between temperatures! They will keep me toasty when I’m getting started on a run, and I can push them down or stow them in a pocket or waist pack once I warm up. I got a chance to test them out earlier this week. I think it was in the low 50s when I set out for my run.

The arm warmers were warmer than a long-sleeve tech shirt would have been, yet I never felt the need to push them down during my run.  I love them!

Now once it starts getting really cold, I start to bundle up even more.

OK, it was actually 22* with a 12* wind chill that day, so I wasn’t overreacting. But I do tend to pull out that hat a little sooner than I need to!

So when I saw this in the $5 bin at my running club’s merchandise table, I knew I had to have it.

It’s really lightweight, and will be easy to modify once I warm up.

Of course I had to have a little modeling session with my new gear.

I also had an assistant. He agreed that it is quite lightweight and comfortable.

Joey didn’t mind helping me out. He almost went to sleep in his head scarf!

Are you ready for winter?

What’s your favorite cold-weather gear?

know your garmin

I’ve been running with a Garmin since 2005. I started with the Forerunner 201, and upgraded to the 205 last year. I love it and never run without it!

When I was a newbie user, though, I didn’t bother to read the manual. I was so happy to be tracking my speed and distance that it took me a few months before I realized it could also give me split times.

Now it’s one of my favorite features!

I’ve helped friends both in real life and through Twitter get their Garmins set up, and just last night a reader send me a question about mile splits. It’s easy!

Click on "Training"	Then "Training Options"
"Auto Lap"	For mile splits, set Auto Lap Trigger to "By Distance," and lap at 1 mile

That’s all!

Of course if you want your splits sooner or later, you can do that. I manually hit my laps when doing speed work on the track since I know how far I’ve gone. If you’re ever doing intervals without distance markers, it could be helpful to set quarter or half-mile laps instead.

There is a limit to how many laps the Garmin can hold. If you’re a long-distance runner, this will fill up kind of quickly! There’s an easy fix for that, too.

Make sure you download your data regularly. When you get the alert that your lap database is full, go to History –> Running (or Biking/Other — wherever most of your mileage is) –> Delete. You can choose to keep one or three months — I usually keep one month if I know I’ve synced recently, or three months if I’m a little behind.

I also want to share one more thing I just learned. I’ve always used the software that came with the watch to manage all my data. I’d heard about third party applications, but never checked any out.

But I did recently sign up for Garmin Connect. And I wonder what took me so long to find it!

This is a race I ran on Sunday — I aptly named it “Metric Marathon” since that’s what it was — 26.2K (16.3 miles).  There’s a much better map than the software. And I love the splits and elevation!

Click to see a bigger version, though I still had to shrink it to fit on the screen

Still working on that race report; I’ll type out those splits so you can actually read them!

new shoe review: newton motion

I’ve been reading about Newton Running for a little while now, and I’ve been curious. I’ve always had a tough time finding running shoes that I love, and I know there are definite problems with my form.

These shoes promote a midfoot strike, and that really appealed to me. I do tend to land on my heels, and it’s not good. Could these shoes help me learn to change that?

The technology also intrigued me. Check it out! Little lugs on the sole add both cushioning and shock absorption. I often have sore feet after long runs, and I seem to whine about it more than my friends who have covered the same distance. I wonder if my feet are more sensitive. Maybe this is the answer?

The timing was right to give them a shot. I like to rotate my shoes, but only have one pair right now due to recent shoe retirement. I also decided the Nike Structure Triax that I had been using weren’t really right for me. The Brooks Ravenna that I bought more recently are a much better fit, but even they are starting to get old.

In the spring, I won a gift certificate for a free pair of shoes (no price restriction!), and a couple weeks ago I went in for a fitting. While I had my eye on the pricey Newtons*, I still went through the process and tried on all the salesman’s recommendations. Ultimately I didn’t care about the price tag — these really felt the best!

Sorry for the bad lighting. They're actually brighter than they appear!

These shoes are super lightweight and fit great around my heel — even with my orthotics. That is often a problem. The fit around my foot is really good, too. I have kind of thin (but not narrow) feet, and it’s hard to find a running shoe that holds my feet steady enough without having to pull the laces as tight as they’ll go.

I’m following the recommendations and gradually increasing my mileage. Only one mile the first day, two miles the next. Currently my longest run in them is only four miles.  So far, so good! My first couple of runs were pretty slow, but I was able to maintain a better pace for my four-miler.

I still feel like it’s too soon to take them out for my 14-miler tomorrow — I’d like one more week of short runs before really putting them to the test. I’ll be sure to come back with an update once I start racking up the miles!

* This particular model retails for $175 – a lot more than I usually pay for running shoes. I’m willing to pay more if it makes a difference . It was definitely a plus to be able to try them out for free!

Disclosure: These shoes were free from a gift certificate that I won at a race. It could have been used to purchase any brand of running shoe. I have no affiliation with Newton Running and was not compensated in any way for this post.