Asics GT 2150 Shoe Review!!!

(Please note I was not paid, the shoes were not given to me and I did not receive any other form of compensation for this product.  This just happens to be the brand of shoes that I have been using the last few years.)

Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way.... :D


I can't wait to get this pair more dirty!!! Too white!!!

This is the next evolution for 2010 in the Asics GT 21XX series.  A little background (quickly)...  I wore New Balance through high school and college and they worked great.  And then, I tried to "fix the wheel, that was not broken."  Big Mistake!!!  I then proceeded to go through 3 brands before I got to Asics, and I started with the GT-2130's.  They were great!  I have since stuck with them every year, and I always purchase them through a local running shoe store called Weststride.  When I worked for the bank Genie (the owner) and her husband Todd were bank customers of mine.  Great people!  If you work/live in the Atlanta area you should definitely check them out.

As far as an official stance on the shoe and its properties, this is what Asics has to say about them.

"One of the world's most popular running shoes just keeps getting better. Providing excellent stability, the ASICS GT-2150 road-running shoes work to keep feet comfortable mile after mile, be it training or ticking off another marathon.  Lightweight, flexible synthetic textile and polyester mesh uppers offer maximum breathability and comfort.  Wicking polyester linings absorb excess moisture and dry fast.  ComforDry™ footbeds provide additional cushioning and manage moisture for a cool, dry comfort.  Personalized Heel Fit (PHF®) memory-foam-lined collars mold to each foot for amazing comfort.  Solyte® 55 midsoles use medium-density proprietary material to enhance cushioning and stability.  Proprietary Solyte midsoles are also exceptionally lightweight with excellent rebound for easy running.  Forefoot and hindfoot GEL® silicone-based cushioning inserts absorb excess shock in all directions for great stability.  Impact Guidance System (IGS®) helps slow pronation for an optimal gait and natural foot movement from heel strike through toe-off.  DuoMax® dual-density medial posts provide pronation control for moderate overpronators.  Space Trusstic® system delivers stability and arch support while maintaining appropriate flex.  High-performance blown rubber outsoles provide superb traction and feel.  DuraSponge® forefoot outsole material provides cushioning and traction while AHAR® abrasion-resistant heels enhance durability at the heelstrike area.  3M Scotchlite® reflective accents enhance visibility in low light.  GT-2150 road-running shoes proudly carry the Seal of Acceptance from the American Podiatric Medical Association." 

These shoes favor runners that have a pronation range from neutral-over to severe pronation.  I am more of a neutral runner, but the comfort and width (especially in the toebox area) are great.  I usually need shoes that are wider through the middle of the foot, and that support a slightly higher arch than normal.  The Asics GT-21XX series definitely fits the bill with my needs and I will continue to buy/use them as long as this series keeps doing what it is doing right, and does not drastically change anything.  The GT-2160's have come out for 2011, but I am the kind of guy who is always looking for deals and has no problems buying remaining inventory from last year's line if they are on sale/clearance.  And for those of you who like to put more than 300-500 miles on a shoe, I still have my GT-2130's to hang out in and I am still using my GT-2140's occasionally to run/play in (I feel like they still have a few miles left in them).  I think this will be the first year in a number of years where I will go through a minimum of two pairs in a year, so depending on inventories at the shoe store, I may get the new 2160's.

If you are interested I would check with your local running shoe store to see if they have any in stock for sale/clearance (2010 model) or go online.  And most importantly...

MAKE SURE THE SHOE YOU CHOOSE FITS YOU!!! 

Don't go randomly out buying a brand and wonder why your feet, legs, back, etc, hurt.  Or why you always seem to get blisters after you have put hundreds of miles on a shoe that should be well broken in.  I am sure there are other reasons I am missing as well.  Get fitted for your running shoes, and your body/feet will thank you!

(NOTE:  Asics, if you are reading, I am gonna need some new shoes in about 3-4 months, I wouldn't mind having a new pair of GT-2160's in red ;)

Thanks for reading the review!  Now... What is your favorite running shoe?

No Prinicipal Richards, its ok! I have a "Hall Pass!"

Sooo, I was gonna tell a real quick story about the skinny on what transpired this past weekend (and I wanted to somehow get the new "Hall Pass" movie into my title as well :).

Friday I was supposed to get my bike fitting for my road bike.  That got cancelled because All3Sports was gonna have a number of their employees down in Costa Rica for the Rev3 Tri Olympic and Half Rev races this past weekend.  So there went that for the weekend.  Then my buddy Mitchel who works for LifeTime Fitness told me that he had scheduled a metabolic test and a VO2 Max test for 1pm on Saturday.  He tells me this Friday afternoon, and then proceeds to give me a laundry list of things I can/can not do between Friday evening and Saturday @ 1pm.  One of these things was that I was not allowed to work out.

I get a "Hall Pass!"

The Friday evening not working out kinda pissed me off because I slept in Friday morning and was planning on doing a brick in the evening to make up for it.  So there goes two workouts.  Then I had two workouts planned for Saturday, one being in the morning, and he then tells me that I cannot do the morning workout either.  Oh and I have to go to bed early, and I cannot drink the night before either, and I have to have my last meal by 9pm and can only have a small snack for breakfast. 

Saturday morning comes and around 10am I get a text from Mitchel.  I had already made other plans for the morning and was currently out and about, and he says, "Just found out that the equipment is not working, so I have to cancel the tests, sorry bud."  Well crap!

I did get my rest of the workouts in though through the weekend, and I did find time to go out on Satuday night, and I also tackled some studying for a final exam I have this coming Thursday night (Federal Tax Accounting). 

In other news, my road bike parts should be here sometime this week.  I purchased them last thu from a guy in Washington State, and he shipped them out Friday.  It was an ebay auction, however, he ended it early since I made him an offer rather than bidding on the item.  I got a 2010 Shimano 105 groupset, and then he threw in some Mavic Kysium's for an additional $175, plus the tubes and tires.  Total out the door with all of that was $520.  Pretty good considering the average retail price of that 2010 groupset alone is around $650-700.

Here are some pics.  I did have a pic of the wheels, but I lost it, so I will get that to you when I receive the items in the mail. 

I will have a post on my rescheduled bike fit and other things in the Friday review, since I am now going to go into hiding until after my exam on Thursday night!  Have a great week!

Listening to the body...

So I have a history of not listening to my body.  This has led to numerous injuries some including ITB Syndrome, Plantar Fasciitis, Osgood's Schlatter, and more. With respect to this year it has been trying to stage a revolt on the scale of Egypt with President Mubarak.  I was sick for the better part of the month with a sinus infection I could not shake, I had food poisoning, and this past week my ITB band and my calves have been kind of messed up from running (precursors to former leg injuries I do not wish to repeat), and the doctor told me I am overweight and need to lose weight.  It I am usually never sick and the only time I have had sustained injuries is when I did something stupid with respect to training.  Weight has been due to my lazy ass ONCE AGAIN this off season combined with my food intake.  Crap, crap and more crap. 

Those of you who are linked to me on facebook saw my post this morning about how Bloomberg News reported McDonald's January same store sales were up 5.3% beating estimates.  I commented on I ate so many times at McDonald's in January (more than I think I ever have in my life), that I probably helped them beat analysts estimates (a funny business joke, but not funny when it comes to nutrition). 

I think I came to this epiphany last night when I was running my Chastain Extended Loop.  as I approached about 1 mile on the run, my calves really started to hurt.  I was running uphill at the time, so I thought nothing of it.  As I crested the hill to go down hill for the next half mile, my calves were locking up.  I had to eventually quit when I hit this particular intersection that would let me cut back to my car.  I walked/jogged back to my car in considerable pain.  I also had problems driving home in my car, because i have a stick shift.  I went home and stretched and put on the compression calf sleeves.  sleeves helped some.  Today I am going to stretch and roll the calves out before I go on the run to see what happens.  I wonder if it was the 2nd day soreness from Saturday's run.  I know that I did not run very long on Saturday, but I am still recovering my mileage from my lost January, where I was pretty much beginning anyways. 

I am behind the 8 ball for the Half Marathon, but I am going to take it in stride.  If I can complete a Half Ironman with virtually no training, then getting the training that I am going to get over the next 6 full weeks will be a huge step up from that.  Also the half mary is not an A race for me, it was just something for me to work up to so I know I would be ahead of the curve when it came to my Ironman training.  If I was putting in good mileage for the half mary towards the end of March, I would be in good shape coming up to the summer and for Ironman.

I've got a training plan for February.  I have been sticking to it, even if the workouts were not on the exact days that I am used to.  I am working on a nutrition plan, and hope to have that finalized in the next couple of weeks.  In the next two weeks or so I will decide how I want to tackle the main part of my season, and how to break it down with regards to building up my base, tackling a few races I have put in my season, AND Ironman specific training.  I have also been toying with the idea of joining a group or getting "informal" coaching.  I say informal coaching because I cannot afford to have the coaching I want to have (i.e. $100+ a month for personalized service). 

On that note I have been bike shopping again... More like bike Internet shopping.  Things I cannot afford :(  But I am going to try really hard to upgrade parts to my bike this year.  Main items on the list include (and will finish off this bike permanently), new wheel set, new group set, and new handlebars/aero clip-ons.  I would also like to get a bike fit for all of this.  I have a coupon for all3sports to get fit on the bike, but I want to wait until I get all the parts (except maybe the wheels) so that when I get fitted, everything will be ready to go.  I am going to go ahead and take measurements this weekend so I have something to take into the bike shop, even though they are going to measure me again and tool around with the bike.  I did get my ISM saddle, and I have not yet put it on the bike, but I am excited that I got it. 

I kinda feel like the purchase list is going to get longer this year.  Most everything I own that is triathlon related was purchased (with the exception of clothing) in 2005.  Helmet, Bike Shoes, Bike and 90% of components, etc.  Why did I have to choose such an expensive sport??? I mean a drug habit would be cheaper than all of this ;)  That is a running joke (no pun intended) I use quite frequently, some people laugh, some don't.  I guess if I joined a club of some sort I could get some discounts, but it is going to take more than that to help me out :)  I am not asking for a full ride sponsorship or a brand new bike to be purchased for me (although that would be nice), but somethings gotta give.  If I convert this to a real world experience (because triathlon is a hobby, not the real world,  unless you are a pro, hope I don't offend) it would be like having to repair your transmission, your car insurance is due and you found out that you owe taxes to the state AND federal government. 

The other issue is getting hassled by bike shops.  They never want to install parts that you purchased yourself, they only want to install parts that you purchased through them.  Something about liability or some crap.  Hey, if I buy some parts of the Net or through another 3rd party and I give them to you, and one or all of the parts are actual crap, then that is my damn fault for buying them.  I am PAYING for you to install the parts I purchased.  You are still making money by charging me labor for the install, why are you trying to screw me for not wanting to pay double for parts at your shop when I can get them for 50% off somewhere else???  Sorry I will get off of my bike box.

Speaking of which, if you live in the Atlanta area and need a full size hard case bike box with wheels and a handle for pulling while you are traveling, I will rent you mine for $25.00.  I paid $450 for mine plus shipping to my house and I have only used it once, and I have rented it to a friend one time.  Otherwise it just sits around collecting dust until my next traveling event or I have to move a body :)

This week I am getting the swim and bike back into my workouts, but still mostly run focused.  So that this point for the next few weeks (and because school is still crazy) I will have a couple swims and a couple of bike rides/spin classes a week to get back into the swing of things.  By the end of February I will have gotten my feet week and some miles under my bike and I will kick it up a notch in March.  April will be a great month because I have three weeks off from school, and then I will be MIA socially May-2nd week of August because of Grad school + training.  Then I will be done with school and can peak in August and September with my training, taper October, and BAM!  Race day will be upon me!

So I have gotten way off track on this post.... where was I?  Oh yes listening to my body!  Well I just need to spend more time listening to it and less time in my head ignoring it and telling my body what I think it should do regardless of its state. 

Have any of you forgotten to listen to your body?  What happened?

Have a great week!

My Orbea - Or more like what my Orbea would be if I had money :)

So one of my friends Dee Dee posted on her Facebook page the other day, a bike that she outfitted through Orbea.  It lets you customize certain features and then not only tells you how much it will cost, but it will allow to you share it with friends and purchase it if you wish.  She went all out and her price tag ended up being just under $11,000.  I was a bit more modest just because I wanted to see how much one would cost if I was to go out and buy one right now.  Just for funsies.

Here is Dee Dee's link.

Here is my link.

You should go try it as well!  Always fun to do even if you are not in the market, or if you are just doing some window shopping like myself ;)

My comings, goings, new teams, new gear, and upcoming races...

Hello Again!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! The weather in Georgia is great again, and my training is probably at about 70-80% of being normal again. I will not bore you like previous posts and try to update all of my workouts since my last post on March 26 (not that there has been a workout every day, but there have been enough to make it long and boring).

My first race of the year is this Saturday morning at 8:00am at John Tanner State Park in Carrolton, GA. It is a sprint race and is part of the Tri the Parks Series in GA. There are about 20-21 people in my age group, and I am not planning to try and podium after the year I have had thus far.

The following weekend is the 5 Burrow's Bike Tour in New York. If any of you are going to be in it, please email or post to my blog to let me know. It is a 42 mile bike ride beginning in Manhattan and ending on Staten Island. It will be fun, since we will be riding with her uncle, as well as meeting some more of her family and also probably going to see 1 or 2 of my fraternity brothers whilst I am there. And oh, I have NEVER been to New York before (other than sitting in JFK for three hours).

Then two weeks later it is................ Ironman FLORIDA 70.3. I am really exicted. Again, due to training, I am not expecting anything, although I would like to at least match last year's time, if not beat it by 1-2 minutes. What I am excited about is that it is a real sanctioned Ironman event. So hopefully I will get a small taste of what I am up for in 2008 with a full Ironman (except for the distance part!!!) I completed the Gulf Coast Triathlon last year (which is a great race and copies most of the bike and all of the swim and run for the Ironman FL course every November), and I know what I did wrong there. This year I have had lots of trouble with training and getting my act together, but since I am not trying to break any records, I should be ok.

And.........................Say hello to my new friend, Garmin!!!

Garmin Forerunner 305 to be exact (with speed/cadence sensor on the bike, of course)

I still have not hooked up the bike sensor yet, and I have not installed the computer software, but I THINK that this is the last gadget I will ever need with respect to a HRM or stopwatch, etc.

The only drawback is that I have read a couple of reviews that it does not do too well in water, and Garmin says that you should only wear it in water for no longer than 30-40 minutes (my half iron swim is 45 min). I would think they would have fixed this problem. Splashing water ok, swim, the jury is still out with me.

I also would not trust the calorie burning monitoring unless you are running or riding at slower speeds. When you get up fast enough at long distances it tends to skew it (I dunno, can you possibly burn 4100 calories riding 56 miles averaging 18.5mph for a 27yr old male???)

I would not even consider the calorie thing as a drawback, since that is not why you are purchasing the garmin in the first place, and if you are dedicated enough, you will probably know how many calories you burn per hour anyways.

I could probably write for an hour about all the cool features for the forerunner 305, but I will let you buy one from Amazon.com for really, really cheap (over $100 off) and experience it for yourself.

In other news.....

I am officially on the Javelin (amateur) triathlon team!!! For those of us who cannot be on a real triathlon team (other than my beloved team raceAthlete, you are my favorite!!!)

Above is the 2007 official race outfit. The only thing I had to do other than a small fee is to make sure I wear it at all my 2007 triathlon races. And I really do not have a problem doing so, since almost everything I wear is Sugoi, and I am very comfortable with the brand.

Jackie got a new suit for my birthday for me, and when I get some pictures together I will post them for you. Be looking next week early for some pictures of this weekend's triathlon. I should have results of the race by then as well, but do not look for me to be breaking any records. I should be a bit faster on the swim and the bike, but I am not sure how I am going to do bricking all three sports together with my broken training (am I beginning to sound like a broken record with this year's training, just let me know).

That is about all I have for now, be looking for something early next week, and hopefully after the next 25 days I will be closer to 100% back on track for this year.

Murtha Out....