Sorry...

It's been a bit too long since I've posted anything. way too long. To all of the people who may accidentally have stumbled on the blog, became huge fans, and then expected more, I say to you "you don't even exist, sir!".

This post is more just a quick list of what's been going on, and then a review of the B.O.B. Ironman stroller will follow shortly.

1. Lil guy is growing really fast. Like a weed really. He's playing, rolling, baby talking, and just generally being quite the awesome guy.

2. The Mrs. has several marathon plans, all in effort to trounce prior PR's, and as long as the chondromalacia doesn't go completely insane, it should be a good year for running!

3. As the man of the house, it's my job to be the one to be injured. As many have read in the past, back issue, broken ribs, and costochondritis has really sidelined me the past season, and is finally allowing me to get back into the flow of things. Competition will only be had if God grants me absolutely no more injuries this year.

So how about a quick break down of my training so far!
I have been doing quite a bit more mountain biking this year, as I should be able to finally start competing for Marzocchi later this year. Swimming has also been a heavy part of my training, but not quite as much right now. Mountain biking has been just too much fun! Mile splits on undulating hills has been right at 4:14, assuming no people traffic. Actual trail speeds are all over the map right now, based on some very bad storms downing some very large trees.
Running has been a fickle lady, all depending on what the back let's me do. Mile times have ranged from 5:47 up to 10:30, just depending on terrain and pain. I've recently had a few gluteus medius spasms, so if anyone has any input on avoiding those, let me know!

To sum up, training good, wife great, boy so good, God... too good to us recently.

Thanks for the read, check back soon for the B.O.B. review.

BEST. DAY. EVER.

A lot has happened in the past 2 months that I missed blogging.
Podiatry is rocking and rolling. Our little family will soon be moving on to residency, and then (God willing) back to AK!
My wife and I welcomed our first son to the world on Dec 10th. That's pretty awesome, we love the lil turd to death, and he's a good kid. I'll probably write about that later.

EVEN BIGGER NEWS!
MARMOT SUMMIT HAT IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm extremely excited to report that my in-laws gave me a replacement Marmot Summit hat for Christmas! I am so excited to welcome this fave gear piece back to my quiver of outdoor gear, and can't wait to push it through some awesome climbing, skiing, and backpacking
Pure love...
My son's pretty cool too.

Injinji toe socks: unboxing

I have no clue how to pronounce injinji. I guess that's fine really, it's not so important. More importantly, I have a big blister in between my big toe and 2nd toe on my right foot. Gore-tex shoes tear it up, making it get bigger and blood filled.

CW-X compression socks: a review and an attempt to explain compression clothing.

I recently purchased some CW-X compression socks. I like them. You should buy them. they work well, they feel nice, they have not ripped yet.

After that terrible review (seriously, great socks, work as told), I'm going to dive into compression clothing as a training modality.
Looking at a study by Kemmler, compression stockings (think socks), actually affect running anaerobic, aerobic, lactate threshold, BUT not VO2 max. Essentially, the let you suffer for a little bit longer on the run. They don't really help you raise your horse power, but they give you a little more gas. With a sprinting test on moderately in shape runners, athletes were able to pump for an extra 1.41 seconds. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that really adds up in the long term.

Where's the Respect

This last Sunday, many classy trail runners took off on the 2nd running of the Bobcat Trail Marathon. They tackled surprisingly ugly hills in south-east Ohio, ran in mud, maybe some snow, and fairly cold temps. They did it all with smiles and happiness... mostly... we all know how much "fun" marathons can be.

Heartbreakingly (real word??? meh...), many of the runners found out that some weiners decided it'd be hilarious to tamper with the marathon signage. Dirty, dirty, dirty.

I feel for these runners. It's gut wrenching hard enough to do a marathon of this caliber, and to find out that you were shorted by 2 miles has to rock you in the family jewels. So be courteous out there. Don't tamper with signage.... then again if you're reading this blog post you probably wouldn't do this crap anyways.

Keep it classy, people.

Black Diamond Windweight Gloves Review

I"ll air my grievances first. The seams inside the gloves are a little annoying and I don't like how the fleece attracts hair. Now that we have the dirty business ironed out, I can extol the good graces of the Black Diamond Windweight Gloves.

Operation Elderly 20's: The First Legit

I have heard that doctors make horrible patients. I assume this is true. I pretty much assume that anything I do is truth, so let's run with that. Thus, I rode my bike before my Nov. 1st doctors appointment. It was only 12 miles, but man did it feel good.

I feel like now is a good time to  talk about easing yourself in to working out.