Shoe Review - Adidas Supernova Glide Boost 7

I have had these shoes about 2 months now, and put on easily 250+ miles.  My review is as follows:

I have long been a fan of Adidas, in particular their Supernova line of shoes.  These shoes tend to be great workhorses, lasting for many many miles, with plush cushioning.  They have vastly improved over the years, as I remember one early pair, around 1999-2000, had terrible wear, the sole pretty much disintegrated.  Not any more.

I have now put more than 250 miles on this current pair, with a previous pair (the glide 6) still having a bit of oomph even though I have kicked the crap out of it after north of 600 miles in the fall.

What I like about the shoe:

1. The upper - It is roomy, has a gusseted tongue, which allows for good fit and proper maintaining of tightness throughout shorter and long runs.  Welded overlays and an inner and outer material give it some heft to stand up to the elements.  This may have some downside in the hot summer.  
2. The outsole - Made of continental rubber, the outsole continues to last, only now starting to show some wear, but nothing concerning.  Has pretty good grip in the wet as well.
3. Responsive ride - while some of the plush cushioning has been replaced by the more responsive boost technology, i think it is pretty well balanced.  I have been able to get up to and past marathon pace during long runs, (around 6:30/mile), and it has held up pretty well.  

What I dislike:

1. Weight - at 10.7 ounces, it is a bit heavy for my liking, but this said, the responsiveness does allow for a good transition to a tempo/racing shoe when the time is right.  Put on the racing shoes after these, and you feel like you are flying.
2. Moisture control - Having run in the rain a few times, these get pretty wet and heavy, offering little in the way of drainage.

Other details:

Drop - 9mm

Weight - 10.7ounces

Price - $160CDN ( though they often go on sale, currently around $100 which is good value for the long last)

These will continue to be a go to for me.  Having run in almost every brand, Adidas have consistently provided me with the least injury time, and hence continue to be one of my frequent shoes.  Probably this has to do with the last, stack height and cushioning being the most suitable for my stride and strike, but it continues to make sense for me.  

2016 News and Goals

Its been a while since I have sat down and pounded the keys.  A quick recap:
2014 - Suffered through a pretty bad bout of achilles tendonitis, which led to me DNS my first ultramarathon (50mi).
2014 - 2015 - Fall through winter, put in a great training block which had me shift focus in 2015 - seeking a BQ for my 40th birthday (turn forty 5 days after the 2016 Boston Marathon).  I ran the 2015 Whitby International Marathon, finishing in 3:05:28, good enough for 2nd overall and 1st in my AG.  This was a BQ, though I had to wait to make sure I made the cut-off (I did, cutoff was 2:28 under qualifying times).  Off to Boston for 2016.  I recovered well, though had a niggle of plantar Faciaitis which developed into a more chronic nerve impingement.  I took a few weeks off in the summer, then got back at it.

I ran the Angus Glen 1/2 Marathon in November, a fairly hilly course.  I led from the start, and won overall in 1:21:10.  I felt great the entire race, except for some persistent foot pain from 8k onwards (see above).

I have been training since, averaging about 60miles/week with some peaks in the 80-85mile range.  I will gradually start to pick that up ahead of Boston.  My goal for Boston is sub-3 hours, and so far, my last long training run - 19 miles, I ran at an overall 3:02 pace, with the final 10 miles at 2:55 pace.  And felt great.  Maybe I am peaking early, but things are ticking.

I also got selected to be a member of Team Running Free.  Excited to be a part of the group, it is a great store I have shopped at often over the last few years, and a ton growing up through my highschool and university days.

Which brings us to goals:

1) Sub 3 hrs at Boston.  I have run under 3 hours in 2 of the 4 marathons I have run.  No sweat.
2) PMA - Positive Mental Attitude.  Pain is Pain, stay positive in running and life.
3) Try to run 3 marathons.  Boston, perhaps repeat Whitby, recovery pending (5 weeks after Boston) and something in the fall.
4) Run more events.  I am hoping to run at least 10-12 events this year.  Will see.
5) Volunteer at a race (or two).
6) Get out on a regular basis with the run group at Running Free, maybe others.

PMA!

Training Update

9/11 - Did Leg weights (Squats, bulgarians, deadlifts after leg curl and extension warm ups as well as core).  Then I took to the bike and pounded through 16.48miles in 52 minutes.  Legs felt fine throughout, and glad to see my fitness is maintaining if not improving (my speeds and wattage is increasing with decreasing perceived effort)

9/12 - Long bike ride - 28 miles in just under an hour and a half.  My speed was 0.5mph faster on average than the previous day.  Legs felt smoked afterwords, probably a build up from the leg work out yesterday - esp. glutes/hams

9/13 - Back workout (pull-ups, rows, plus biceps and core) followed by a 1 hour 20.50mile ride on the stationary bike.  A full 1 mph faster on average than on 9/12.

9/14, 9/15 - Took 2 rest days, legs were feeling a bit tired after a week of 105.35 miles, albeit on the bike. I continued to do my leg exercises (stretches, stair lifts) with minimal discomfort.  Was feeling good enough to run by 9/15 but thought better of it.  I am planning on 1 more week of strict bike, and look to do a short run on the weekend followed by a mix of run/bike the following week assuming my achilles twinge is gone.  From there I will slowly ramp up the running.

9/16 - Started with Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, followed by a 16.2 mile ride in 48:33 (20.05mph).  Felt good.  By the end of the day my abs were stiff as I had added a bit of weight to my leg lifts and decline curls.

9/17 - Long ride this morning of 30.64 miles in 1:33:02 (19.76mph) which was faster than my previous long rides with little change on perceived effort.  A sign I am getting stronger.

Last night I also finished Relentless Forward Progress (which I will review at some point this week).

I also breezed through Brendan Brazier's Thrive, which I picked up from the library (I was disappointed after much build up, will also review),

and next up are What I talk about when I talk about Running, also from the Library,

and Killian Jornet's book (very excited to read this).

I have also been watching a ton of Sage Canaday's videos and reading his blog, which you can find here. (sagecanaday.com)

Mentally Tough - Cod Liver Oil Workouts

Today, I rode the stationary for 1 hour 25 minutes, resulting in a 26ish mile ride.  During these rides, I have mainly been listening to podcasts, my favorites being Rich Roll and Talk Ultra.  Regardless,  I still find these rides difficult mentally and particularly boring.  I would much rather put in a 2 hour run, with nothing but the sounds of traffic and nature to get me through it.  As I have shared, I expect to be on that stupid bike for another 2-3 weeks at least and so I have taken the view point that these are part of the process of mentally toughening myself up for the 7-8 hours that I will be running during the 50-miler I am planning on debuting in Spring 2014.

I used to have a track/cross country coach back in the day that summarized these as "Cod Liver Oil workouts".  He gave me this expression one fine November afternoon back in the day.  Ok, so it was far from fine.  It was one of those days where there was a cold drizzle, in between bouts of rain, that soaked your clothes (this was before moisture wicking, though gortex was available, but was expensive) on a typically southern Ontario November day of somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius.  It was the kind of cold that you could feel constantly, that was almost numbing, and for a few hours afterwords, you had difficulty getting warm.  No amount of warm drinks, sweats and blankets would help on the drive home.

On this particular workout, he had us doing hill repeats.  As if the cold wasn't enough, we were included to run up a 10-20% hill about 600-800m in length.  Over and Over.  The only plus was this was on a sidewalk rather than grass, so our feet remained soaked, not drenched/water logged.  About a third of the way through, upon reaching the top, the coach shouted something about a "Cod Liver Oil Workout".  On the next repeat I asked him what this meant.  He explained that when he was a little boy, everyday in the fall and winter, his mother made him take his cod liver oil, that it tasted disgusting.  His point was that even though it tasted bad, it was meant to make you stronger, just like the hill repeats in the cold rain.

This is the view point that I am taking with these stupid stationary bike rides while I am injured.  Suck it up, because looking back, everything will seem glorious when compared to these darn workouts.

Lesson Learned

Well, the run yesterday was evidently a poor idea, even though it felt fine for much of it, if not great.  Today the feeling is back, not pain per say, but some soreness.  Back to rest and no running, probably at least 2 if not 4 weeks now, with my stretching and strengthening exercises.  Bummer.

Today's workout was a push upper body (chest, shoulders, triceps) along with some core work.  That was followed by a 40 minute stationary bike ride pushing me through a little over 12.5 miles.  All in all felt fine.  Stretched, strengthening exercises and ice afterwords.

Diet and nutrition is on track, with my continued gradually leaning up to get me ready for next spring. Energy levels remain high.  I will get into this a bit more as we go, but I moved to a 100% plant-based diet about 2 months ago, with the 4-6 months before that being probably 80-90% plant based.  Haven't looked back.  I am not a fan of the Vegan label, but people ask, and certainly I am on that trajectory.

Happy Trails.