Published by Ronald on Tuesday, 12 Apr 2011 12:00 EDT
I have an absurd fascination and maybe even a small obsession with mountains. I think it’s due to the fact there are no mountains in Holland at all (I’m not counting that one hill Limburg that some call a mountain).
Every year I go to the Alps either in France or Switzerland. Not for running but for skiing. This year I went two weeks in a row and decided to bring my running gear. Just in case I wanted to run for one or two days.
My first week was in Verbier and had lots of fun there but I didn’t do any running. My second week was in a place called Riederalp. From what I’ve seen it was a very popular spot for walkers and I even saw some runners there. The skiing area was amazing there but a bit too small for one week. Within one day I had seen the whole skiing area. When the week progressed the snow got worse and worse because we had sun all day and the temperature was around 14C during the day. It barely froze at night.
Published by Ronald on Friday, 08 Apr 2011 14:17 EDT
FRunning is proud to announce that the first Dutch National Championship Barefoot-style running will be held on the 8th of may 2011 in the city of Tilburg, The Netherlands.
FRunning is a new website trying to promote barefoot running in the Netherlands. Like in many other countries, barefoot-style running is becoming more popular by the day. Frunning decided to hold a nice 10K race just for the more minimalistic shoe wearers or of course on your barefeet.
I think I will have a look and perhaps even sign up. Not sure if I will sign up for the barefoot 10K though. I just don't have the right shoes yet and my Adizero Rockets just aren't minimal enough. So instead I might just join the normal 10K.
Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 01 Apr 2011 13:51 EDT
March 2011 was my first month of the year completely back to "barefoot" running. I completed a total of 20 miles (INJURY FREE!!!) for the month wearing a mixture of super cheap grocery store Aquasox, Invisible Shoes Huaraches, and my Merrell Trail Gloves. Each shoe has it's strengths and weaknesses and I thought I would take a minute to highlight a few for each different form of footwear.
Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 22 Mar 2011 09:29 EDT
Justin over at Birthday Shoes has written an epic article about minimal shoes and the pros and cons of different designs with a focus on why the toe shoes, best example being Vibram FiveFingers, exist and are a superior design. After reading, I am a bit more intrigued by the validity of design choice to make shoes with toe pockets and would probably even consider trying a pair on now.
Published by Ronald on Tuesday, 22 Mar 2011 08:56 EDT
Runkeeper is a running app that will work on android, iPhone and blackberry (my bad its not available on blackberry). It’s a pretty popular app and recently their pro version became free making it perhaps one of the most feature rich apps available.
How does it work?
Besides having tons of features, it’s still quite easy to use. You can pick what activity you want to do. Then just press start activity and you are done. There is one small note though, It will start the activity whether or not you have GPS signal. I often startied an activity and had to press pause really quickly and then wait until it had a good GPS signal to start my run. I found this pretty annoying.
The first time I ran with it, Runkeeper scared the hell out of me. Apparently it mentions every 5 minutes how far you have run and what your pace was. It does it in a pre-recorded (I think) voice making it sound quite nice.
Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 18 Mar 2011 16:12 EDT
I think Spring is officially here in the mountains of NC. It's currently 78 degrees Fahrenheit and I took full advantage of the first truly warm day of the year. I decided that today was the day to rotate my Invisible Shoe Huaraches back into service. After a longer and colder than normal winter of running in shoes, I have been itching to get back the weather that allows my toes to soak in some much needed vitamin D.
Published by Ronald on Wednesday, 16 Mar 2011 15:54 EDT
I really wanted to find the best running app so I decided to check out a few of them and write a concise but complete review on them. I’m starting with sportypal since I know that one the best. However at the time of writing this I’ve already been testing other apps. So if there are any questions on how this compares to other apps feel free to ask.
Sportypal is a running app that can track your runs, walks, cycling or any other activity. Sportypal aims to be intuitive and very simple to use which it seems to do very well. It works on any android, iPhone, Symbian or blackberry. I briefly tried it on my old Nokia and it seemed to work very similar to the version on my android phone.
"Our core product is what you already know and hopefully love from Brooks. The core design philosophy is centered around creating the most customized fit, most dynamic stability, and most cushioned ride possible to deliver an incredible floating experience. We will not waiver here…
Our glaring opportunity is to create a new product line designed from the ground up to provide the runner with an incredible feel experience. “Less is more” has become the design philosophy of many brands in the market right now that are chasing the minimal trend. The hard part about that for us is that we don’t feel that “less is more” is a great consumer proposition. It is no doubt an uplifting life philosophy, but a product promise? Runners shouldn’t have to pay more for less technology. We want to build a better, biomechanically sound product in a lighter package that allows the runner to feel more with less.
Published by RunningPoint on Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011 09:18 EST
I finally bit the bullet and ordered my very own pair of Merrell Trail Gloves from Running Warehouse. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had to own a pair and after trying on the NB Minimus Trail (which I will provide my opinion on soon), I was sure the Merrell was the shoe for me.
Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 08 Mar 2011 16:00 EST
In case you haven't read Part 1 of my Invisible Shoes huaraches review, here's a bit of recap. Huaraches are one of the most basic forms of footwear and consist only of a material that protects the bottom of the foot and a lace to secure them. They have been used specifically by the Tarahumara Indians and have been popularized by Chris McDougall's book Born to Run. Steven Sashen of Invisible Shoes decided to modernize the huaraches and offers a DIY kit on his website or he will custom make you a pair.
Part 1 of this review chronicled the process of me measuring, cutting, and assembling my DIY kit. Part 2 is my review of running in the huaraches.
Appearance
When you are dealing with a shoe that is designed for this extreme level minimalism, I'm not sure that appearance is even a factor. I personally like the way the huaraches look. When the laces are tied in the slip on method (which I use), they retain a bit of shape and look like a very stripped down version of any sport sandal from manufacturers like Teva or Chaco.
The only area to add a splash of personality to these shoes is in your choice of laces. There are quite a few choices for lace color with the DIY kit and I chose the black laces. I am glad I did so since I have adopted the huaraches as daily wear around the office and out in public. The black laces help to not make my footwear a focal point, especially around the office. I am proud to wear them anywhere and have gotten nothing but overwhelmingly positive comments about them. There are no second thoughts involved with wearing the huaraches out in public like there would be with FiveFingers.
Barefoot-style running will be held on the 8th of may 2011 in the city of Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Runkeeper
