Once Inspired

Posts Tagged ‘Saucony’

So it’s been a little longer than usual. I’ve just hit the refresh button and taking a while to boot up again. I just felt it was time to clear the mind and the body of everything competitive, everything training and everything triathlon. So I’ve really been surfing and reassessing my life as an athlete. I have still not come to a conclusion just yet, but let’s not get too carried away. I know how you lot can start/spread rumours. (Laughs… laugh with me).

Now I don’t usually post much personal stuff but today I’ll mix it up a little for you.

So yesterday I headed out to the 3000 ha of the Koeberg Nature Reserve on the Cape West Coast (Eskom Power Station) and had my first run in the Saucony ProGrid Peregrine. Sandy, grassy and loads of gravel, the Peregrine ate it all up.

Built on the same platform as the Kinvara, the Peregrine boasts a 4mm heel drop. Traditional running shoes or the type of shoe that most people run in or are familiar with have a 12mm heel drop. Trust me, the 8mm difference is epic and I am loving life in my flatter shoes. I only run in 4mm heel drop shoes or complete flats.

Sort of newlywed, Brendan Lowen is leaving this weekend for the ITU World Long Distance Champs in Henderson, Nevada in the United States of America. The event is hosted by Lowery’s Multisport. You can also keep an eye on them on Facebook.

Involving a 4km swim, 120km bike and a 30km run; Brendan talks to me about his preparation, equipment, motivation and the people involved in making all this possible.

Hey Bren, let’s start off with “How are you?”

I am in a good space, recently married as you mentioned, to a lovely girl! Looking forward to the new season as well…

I have never really enjoyed running. I always experienced some form of discomfort. That was until I was given a pair of the Saucony Kinvara. Now Saucony have developed a trail shoe “built on the same foot form as the Kinvara”, the Peregrine features a 4mm heel drop and weighing in at only 257 grams this is a light yet still rugged fully capable trail shoe.

The Saucony ProGrid Peregrine received the prestigious Runner’s World Editor’s Choice award in their April, 2011 Trail Shoe Guide. This was ahead of the likes of the Asics Gel-Trail Attack 7, Brooks Cascadia 6, New Balance 915 and 5 others. To read more you can click on the previous link.

For those of you who don’t know, running is not my strong point, even though I used to win just about every race I entered at school up until I was about 15. What happened after that? Shoulders and chest happened. Anyway, I am wanting to run like used to so I am paying quite a lot of attention on my running. I came across this video and thought it was pretty good. I find this to be working well for me. Just replace the Brookes he speaks of with the Saucony Kinvara.

Ready to go for world triathlon champs in Beijing my preparation has been good. There are areas where I could have worked more, but being an age group racer with a full time job, it is difficult.

As lucky as I am to be in a position to be able to afford some of the best equipment and have more time than most, there is a very good reason why there is such a huge gap between the pros and the rest. Pros get time to train, time to rest and time to eat properly.  Not to mention being sponsored the majority of equipment required.

Runners are generally known to have stiff feet, hence their inability to swim (You can read more about foot flexibility and swimming here).

I used to run in full on motion control Adidas throughout school, until I eventually developed chronic compartment syndrome. I them had the operation, known as a bilateral subcutaneous fasciotomy which releases the overdeveloped muscles by cutting the fascia/sheath which encases them. Part of the reason for this is a muscle imbalance due to the raised heel on the common running shoe most of us know. Since my operation I have run in shoes with nothing more than a 4mm heel-forefoot drop; the Saucony racing flats and more recently the Saucony Kinvara.

The Development of Engineered Running

The Saucony Hattori is Saucony’s answer to the Vibram 5 Fingers. The Hattori is a super lightweight “barefoot” running shoe. I have just received a pair and will be reviewing these in the next week or so. Until then please enjoy the video.

Xtenex (indeXed-TENsioning-nEXus) is a worldwide patented elastic lace technology that produces adjustable tensioning between shoe eyelets. Xtenex laces have an elastic core and a series of knots along the entire length of the lace at consistent length intervals. Stretch the lace and the knots disappear, allowing you to thread the lace through the eyelets. Release the tension and the knots reappear. More knots between eyelets lessens the tension; fewer knots between eyelets increases tension.

Currently, most laces are not able to provide variable tension as laces are tied by creating a knot at the top end of a shoe. The problem with this way of lacing is that all of the tension sits around the ankle area and that results in a restriction of blood flow and circulation. The problem is compounded by people creating a double knot so as to avoid their laces coming undone.