“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
- Alexander Graham Bell

For many runners, race day is the payoff for their investment in the time and effort of running and training. To ensure that an event is successful, good preparation is needed in all areas: mental, physical and otherwise. From the seasoned veteran to the first time 10k runner, connecting the dots of race preparation will help reveal your true potential come race morning.

Here are 7 tips to help you prepare in the weeks and days leading up to your event.

(3 Weeks before Race Day)

7. Taper
The most difficult part of training for many athletes is often not running. A taper is generally a 3 to 1 period between your peak training and race day where your training volume and intensity decrease with the goal of going into the race as recovered as possible. The tricky part is not tapering too long or too light and losing a bit of fitness, while at the same time not tapering enough, and going into the race below your full potential and not fully rested. Remember, it is better to be 10% under-trained than 1% over trained for an event.

6. Visualization
While watching any elite event, such as a track or swim meet, athletes are often seen staring off into space before competition. What they are likely doing is visualizing the competition to come. Research and experience clearly show that visualizing different aspects of a race improve performance, decrease stress, and make the entire event execution smoother. From what you are going to wear that morning, to your bike to run transition in a triathlon, to that huge hill at mile 4, picture it in your mind in the weeks preceding the event.

(1 Week Before Race Day)

5. Know the Course
I was completely unfamiliar with the course of my 50 mile race last year. Along with a number of other runners, I missed a turn and added another few miles. This was so demoralizing for one runner he quit! Read past race reports and become familiar with everything on the race’s website. Know the course inside and out. This includes an elevation profile so no late race hills sneak up on you, as well as a map to reduce the risk of you getting lost. For my ultra marathons, I watch videos from runners, read race reports, and write out my plan for and visualize every major section of the race- all in an effort to prepare myself as much as possible.

(2 Days Before Race Day)

4. Lay everything out
A few days before the event, lay out your gear, apparel, and nutrition. Be certain nothing is missing; a checklist can even help you be consistent race to race. While doing this you can pin your bib to your shirt, fill your water bottles, etc. You do not want to arrive at the race venue and realize you forgot your favorite socks at home!

(On Race Day)

3. Nutrition
More than anything, improper nutrition can wreck you on race day. I always try to eat very lightly the day before an event. 12 hours is the general time it takes a meal to pass through you. Avoid the pre-race pasta extravaganza! Do you want a pound of pasta, cheese, sauce, and garlic bread sitting in your lower gastrointestinal system when you toe the starting line? Find your race day meal and it can help you prepare not only physically but mentally by bringing some comfort and routine to an otherwise busy day full of new adventure. My go-to meal is a huge salad and a bunch of fruit. May be a bit too much fiber for some, but it works for me.

2. Warm Up
Getting to the race nice and early will lower any stress and allow for plenty of time to warm up. Very light jogging and dynamic stretches are simple and easy ways to keep you warm and limber the morning of a race. Generally the shorter an event, the longer the warm up. If I were to do a 5k, I would probably spend about 5k warming up prior to the race. Before a 100 mile ultra marathon, I’m as lazy as humanly possible; the first 20 miles are my warm up.

1. Never do something new on race day
This is the number 1 rule on race day. From shoes to clothing to the fuel you use during the event, stay consistent with what has worked for you in the past! Even different brands of sports drinks can potentially affect you in a variety of potentially unpleasant ways.

While we’ve all heard stories of runners who just “show up” on race day and run a great race with no preparation, being well prepared will not only ensure you will likely race better, but also feel better about the results. By considering the event as a weeklong process from training to preparation to the finish line you will feel more satisfied post-race and more importantly run a more consistent event. Once you find your own routine of race preparation gearing up for an event will become second nature and the fun of race day will be with you throughout your training and prep.

Run Real.

SKORA will be at Bloomsday Run Expo May 4th & 5th. Come by and see us at booth #208 and find out how you could win a pair of SKORA FORM shoes and receive an exclusive discount.

Kyle Kranz is an ultra marathoner and SKORA’s Social Media Coordinator. He is currently preparing for the Canadian Death Race.

Greetings runners!

For most of us, the warm weather heralds peak racing season. Here in the Pacific NW of the US, home of SKORA headquarters, the list of local races seems endless. We are very excited to announce our presence at two great events: The Eugene Marathon and the Lilac Bloomsday 12k. The organizers of both events each host an expo in the days preceding their respective race.

The 2012 Eugene Marathon is held on Sunday April 29th. Last year nearly 7,000 athletes crossed the finish lines of the 5k, half marathon, and full marathon. During the two days before the marathon (April 27th-28th), packet pickup takes place at the Health and Fitness Expo. Here you can get a massage, pick up some freebies from vendors, learn about new products, and enjoy a great discount on SKORA shoes at our booth. We’ll also be giving away a free pair of SKORA shoes to one lucky runner, so be sure to visit the booth!

Bloomsday is a very unique event. Boasting over 50,000 finishers, it is a 12k taking place in Spokane, WA on May 6th. The race is the largest event to be given a “green” certification by the Council for Responsible Sport. Bloomsday also hosts one of the largest fitness, health, and running expos in the country. It is free to the public May 4th and 5th. SKORA will also be attending this trade show, offering a great discount on SKORA footwear. We will also be giving away a free pair of shoes at our booth! If you will not be at the Eugene event, we hope to see you at Bloomsday!

If you will be attending either of these two events, visit us! This is a great chance to meet the team (and for us to meet you!), ask any questions you may have, and try the shoes.

We hope to see you there! Run Real.

A good pair of shoes with plenty of miles on them fits like an old baseball glove. Perfectly fitted to how the body moves. A wear tester put 600 miles, or about 500,000 steps, in the shoe pictured above. There are also a few runners we know currently approaching 500 miles in theirs. We are really looking forward to seeing how far these athletes can take the shoes!

There are three important factors that determine shoe life.

Terrain. Road running will wear out the sole of a shoe faster, as the road has zero give and creates more friction against the shoe. The gravel, dirt and grass of a trail will give a bit, wearing less on the sole.

Running form. The runner’s gait also plays a role in determining when a shoe needs to be replaced. In a heel-striking gait, where the shoe makes contact in front of the runner’s center of gravity with a heel-first foot placement, a shoe will typically wear more rapidly since there is simply more movement. In contrast, an all-foot (midfoot/forefoot) running form encourages a flat and strong landing under the runner’s center of mass, resulting in less motion of the shoe on the ground as well as more evenly-distributed impact forces.

Materials. Finally, the material of the shoe’s sole plays a key part. The R01 sole SKORA developed is comprised of a high density, high abrasion rubber outsole and an ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) midsole, both more dense than the industry standard. This increases both the durability of the shoe and ground feel, thanks to “just enough” cushioning material between your feet and the ground. The wear pattern is more spread out as well, compared to a more pinpointed wear pattern from a less dense and thicker material. Also, the outsole on our R01 platform has smaller ‘lugs’ than those on traditional running shoes, which also reduces premature wear.

SKORA outsoles at 0 miles, 100 miles, 600 miles. (Left to Right)

Through superior materials and workmanship, SKORA’s R01 platform should provide a runner with many hundreds of miles on and off road. A shoe sole should not be a hindrance to an athlete’s endurance, but a partner to help keep your feet safe while encouraging healthy and real running. Run Real.

We’re thrilled with all of the great reviews on the BASE and FORM models over the past few weeks. In case you missed them, here are a few highlights:

A shoe for the serious runner: Wired Magazine
Find your natural form with SKORA (FORM Reviewed): Competitor.com (video)
First Look – WOW! (FORM Reviewed): Gumption Gear
SKORA Redefines Minimalist (BASE Reviewed): Barefoot-Running.us
SKORA FORM review: MinimalistRunningShoes.org
FORM Takes on the World’s Finest (FORM reviewed): Average Guy Hits The Road
BASE and FORM Reviewed: Running On The White Line

More reviews to come!

Run Real,
SKORA

We were invited to talk about our shoes at Competitor.com’s booth at The Running Event, this past December. Great time meeting Mario Fraioli and his crew.

We talk a little about what makes the FORM shoe so unique. Watch the video here.

The Running Event (TRE) earlier this month in Austin, TX was SKORA’s first trade show and brand launch. Pulling off an event like this is not exactly…relaxing. But, hard work has its rewards.

For us, the greatest reward was finally being able to share our story, face-to-face, with shoes in hand. With so much buildup, excitement, speculation, you name it – the moment the booth was complete with lights on and shoes hanging – was the moment it all felt so Real.

SKORA’s reception was fantastic. Everyone – from the retailers who had never heard of us, to those who have been following us faithfully, took great interest in what we are doing as a company.

We set out to create the best running shoe, because as runners, we deserve the best. And more importantly, to help runners stay injury free, for life. When it comes to running shoes, we believe that performance can be beautiful.

To those of you who have been following, encouraging, and believing in us, we cannot thank you enough. Thank you for spreading the SKORA love, helping us get the word out, and being the driving force of what we’re trying to achieve. We hope you stay along for the journey. Run Real.

Our first real photoshoot reaffirms SKORA’s (long-awaited) launch is nearing ever closer.

Our day started early on a foggy Portland morning, the last weekend of October. With a crew of five: photographer, assistant, digital tech and two athletes. We took on the challenge of shooting in 5 locations throughout Portland, guerrilla-style…

We were fortunate to work with an amazing sports photographer that gets what we’re about, and real runners that happen to look great in front of the camera lens.

The shoot was a great success, and we can’t wait to have the completed catalog early next year. We shared a few photos from the shoot on our Facebook page, see them here.

“I can’t wait for these shoes!”
“What’s taking so long?”
“We have to wait until February?”
“Why do they cost so much?”

We thought it might be time for a little introspection.

As many of you know the SKORA journey started years ago when David was trying to find solutions to his chronic injuries, and discovered barefoot running. After finally being able to run pain-free, he started looking for performance shoes that would enable him to realize the benefits of barefoot running, while still offering some of the protection and comfort of shoes.

We figured there must be other runners out there like us… We were faced with a lack of options that truly met the needs of runners. Three years ago we embarked to make our own.

As we began designing our concepts, sourcing for suppliers and building early prototypes we realized how complex and resource heavy performance shoe manufacturing really is. No wonder you don’t see new running shoe brands springing up every year. But we pushed forward and knew we could make better running shoes, otherwise, why bother?

Our basic design philosophy is to remove as much as we can from running shoes that gets in the way of a natural running gait. We wanted a zero drop shoe, that allows for great feedback with every step. One that is shaped, and performs, like your bare feet, and yet provides some protection from rough running surfaces or foul weather.

We were committed to make our shoes out of premium materials. We never quite bought into the “rotate your shoes” or “you must replace your shoes every 300 miles” marketing hype. We believe that runners deserve the best. We’re not cutting any corners or sourcing cheap, second rate materials.

It took time to find the right suppliers and factories that shared our vision. We expected such a high degree of detail and quality that quite frankly it wasn’t easy to find a partner that appreciated a return to building things better.

After countless pullovers, adjustments and samples, we believe we have it right. SKORA shoes are fantastic and the feedback we are getting is overwhelmingly positive. But we’re just getting started.

Are our shoes the answer for everyone? No. But they’re the performance running shoes we wanted to make when we first started this long journey… and it was worth the wait. Run Real.

We really wanted to get some big miles on the shoes and hear from real runners about what we did right, and most importantly, what we did wrong when we designed our shoes.

Runners filled out surveys that helped us determine which runners would be the best suited to give us fast, helpful feedback. It was very important for us to find runners that could put some miles on the shoes in a short period of time. With any minimalist shoes, ours included, there is a transition time to get the proper mid-foot/whole-foot stride and we wanted folks that were used to running barefoot or with minimalist shoes so they could ‘hit the ground running’ (sorry).

There were questions around running style, types of shoes worn, miles per week, etc. Unfortunately, the most important questions was, “What shoe size do you wear?” as we only had men’s size 9 and 10 for the tester shoes…

After selecting our testers they were sent either a pair of blue Base or black Form shoes. We set up surveys online for the testers to report their first impressions and more surveys to complete after they were racking up the miles. The SKORA shoe testers ended up being a great variety of real runners from all over the world and we were able to see how our shoes perform in a variety of climates and terrain types.

We had great feedback all the way along and a big thanks goes out to all our testers as they generally confirmed what we knew all along: we have some kick-ass shoes.

One tester in particular deserves a special mention. Kyle Kranz, from South Dakota, liked his tester pair of Base shoes so much he contacted us and asked if it would be alright if he used them in an upcoming race. Seemed fine to us, and then he mentioned it was a 100 mile ultra.

We were a bit nervous as this was to be the first Ultra ever attempted in SKORA shoes and he’d be running in test samples too… Kyle seemed confident, so we said go for it.

We’re pleased to report that both Kyle (and his shoes) survived the event and you can read his race report on his blog.

The test program helped us confirm changes we had been planning to make for our final production shoes. It was great to hear the feedback that confirmed the direction we are heading with our shoe. Run Real.

There is a great representation of shoe companies at OR, and while most of them are more traditional in their footwear selection, there is a rising tide of minimalist shoes. Kigo, Altra, Vivo, Luna, Vibram, Merrell all had booths and were very busy showing off their latest shoes. Even the larger, more well known brands are showing minimalist styles even if (in our view) most of them don’t quite get it yet.

SKORA shoes won’t be available in stores until February 2012 so it was too early for us to have a booth. We did manage to give some folks a look at the samples we had brought along, and the reaction was even more positive than we could have hoped. The energy and support we received at the show was a great boost to keep us sprinting forward in launching our new company. Special thanks to Barefoot Ted (Luna Sandles), and the folks at Altra, Vivo and Kigo for being so welcoming and honest.

Upon returning from the OR Show, we’ve been showing the shoes to select retailers in the Northwest and so far folks are really liking the shoes. It looks as if this long journey of creating SKORA shoes is going to take off like a rocket… We just hope we’ve ordered enough shoes for the Spring.