Running

Hope all OK @Arducius. 290+km covered is one heck of an achievement still.

thnx all for shoe advice, rly helpful!

DNF just before the last checkpoint. I tripped on Saturday and in saving myself from sprawling on the floor I tweaked something in the back of my knee/upper calf which initially wasn't too bad but got progressively worse. Then I fucked up my sleep schedule as I thought I could sleep at CP5 but it turned out to be just a table and chair so had to press on to CP6. When I finally arrived I only had a short nap which was a mistake.
Both of these combined to make Sunday morning really slow and by the time I reached the SDW I was going about 2mph and feeling awful.

Lots of positives to take from it though. I'll do a proper write up later.

Sorry to hear you got injured but that’s still an utterly incomprehensible distance to have covered - massive congrats for that.

Definitely looking forward to a write up!

Talk to me about race shoes.

Following a dose of bad shin splints back in February I got a run assessment and was advised to stick to shoes with stability, and ended up in ASICS kayanos. I’ve also always had custom orthotics which I always ran with for the little running I did do before last year. so between the stability shoes and insoles I’m well supported. But they are heavy compared to the nike Pegasus I previously used.

Worth noting that the physio somewhat disagreed with my need to be in stability focused shoes and that with proper strength training in the right areas any good shoe that fits would be fine.

So, my question, can anyone recommend suitable fast shoes for interval days and racing in, bearing the above in mind?

I’ve done all of my racing and training this year in the kayanos and while they won’t hold me back drastically in a 70.3, and probably no harm to have the stability when my form falls apart towards the end, I feel like proper race shoes would be good for a marathon. Every little helps.

I'm a big Adidas fan, mainly because the shoes suit the shape of my long thin foot.
Adizero Pro are my slightly faster than Boston shoes, and Adizero Adios Pro as my cheat shoes.

Having broken my ankle in December (have I mentioned that before?), I won't be putting the Adios Pro shoes on my feet any time soon!

Speaking of post ankle running, I stormed my way to 162nd at Hackney Marshes parkrun just gone, 24.39. boom.

I also ran a slow 5 miles today and now feel like I've run to the end of the world and back

Was the run assessment done at a store or by a doctor? I’d tend to side with your physio in that the current wisdom is that peoples running mechanics shouldn’t be modified by orthotics unless their pronation is causing actual injuries. Usually, our feet just do what they do without issue and the whole stability shoe thing has changed.

There’s a newer type of stable-neutral shoes, which are essentially neutral trainers but with more sidewall from the midsole instead of medial posts. Heel bevel is also different.

Saucony make a super foam stable-neutral called Tempus. Haven’t tried it but it gets a lot of love, I think it would be a good shoe to keep your form up at mile 20.
There’s a few others I think - have never run in Saucony but as doubleodavey mentions, different brands fit different foot shapes so it’s worth trying as much stuff as you can.

Huge caveat that I’m by no means giving advice here. There’s a strong argument to sticking with what’s been working for you.

Awesome news. Seems like things are picking up rapidly.

Thanks for the thoughts, I’ve had custom orthotics since late teens, fallen arches length ways and across the knuckles, so I’ve never really run without them, and at this stage it would be a considerable adjustment to drop them.

Run assessment done at a run shop, guy suggested overpronation was contributing to shin splints, physio disagreed (and from working through the rehab and reading into it I understand why she disagreed), but I had handed over my hard earned for the shoes and between them and the s&c I’ve had no issues since, but they do feel heavy and clunky at any speed, so I’d like something a bit faster as I lean into running more. I have been tempted to try my fairly new Pegasus for a 5k again, which have been otherwise downgraded to casual wear.

I guess my overarching question is, is there any point in me buying a fast (carbon plate or otherwise) shoe if I’ll be sticking a custom orthotic into it?

You would still get some of the performance gains - what size shoe are you?

Typically 11-12 uk depending on shoe

Yeah, you’d still benefit.

I run with custom orthotics and was advised to go to a neutral shoe

I’m wary of shop run assessment because 9/10 the answer is Kayanos

No experience with orthotics but, in the spirit of the forum, my twopenneth anyway !

I generally run in neutral shoes with decent cushioning.. I had many years of issues with my calf muscles and this seemed to be what worked. I moved from Adidas ultraboost to Saucony Evo-something or other.

In the last few years I’ve been running more and earlier this year bought some Saucony Endorphin Pro cheat shoes (earlier model, second-hand) for a HM which I was targeting.
At my usual training pace they felt a bit unstable and unsupportive but once I was up at a decent pace (for me) I got all the springy benefits and they feel great.
I feel more ‘up on my toes’ however and definitely have a change to my form/gait meaning my ankles and calves feel beaten-up the following day if I’ve run more than 10km in them.

I’d say go for it but add them in gradually to shorter stuff to make sure they won’t bring on shin-splints or similar.

Somebody on this thread with significantly more experience of supershoes suggested that the Endorphins were the closest feeling to ‘normal’ shoes which led me to go for them over the other usual suspects.

Having said all that.. I just looked at the Tempus that @Well_is_it mentioned and they look great so I’ll be in the market for some when I’m next in the market.

I’d happily post you a pair of old vaporflys to try - wouldn’t give you the full effect but might be some use

That’s very generous however I’m in Republic of Ireland so I’m sure customs and duty would have a field day

I realised I've probably been running wrong! Never really gave it any thought. I run 1 or 2 times a week off road for 45mins-1hr.
Normally try and run as fast as I can, probably a bit hunched over and heel striking!
Today I switched to some Alras, tried increasing cadence, slowing down and mid strike.
It felt weird a bit like I was trying to run on the spot more than forward. Increasing cadence whilst slowing down also felt odd. Definitely got the mid foot strike and posture sorted.

Good stuff, did it feel more efficient?

Try strengthening those calves, they get worked over hard when you don't heel-strike.

@chalfie you recommended a youtube/insta running trainer/physio maybe 6 months ago - do you remember the details? He showed me a great alternative to the usual heel raise exercise which has really helped me.

Gary Young?

Close; Gary House

This is a great exercise:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HdCEJXP_s2g

@pifko thanks, yes definitely felt it in the calves after the first run.
Not sure it felt more efficient, just very different.
Thanks for the exercise tip. I'll keep practicing.

I think that all the super shoes are there or thereabouts now, my usual advice is go for the super shoe from your favourite brand as it’s the one that’s most likely to fit…

Personal experience with the asics Metaspeed is good, for my money they lack a bit of the magic carpet ride of the Nikes but they also feel a bit more responsive so I love wearing them for interval work, I also don’t love them for slower running as i feel they stall a bit unless I’m running faster but I have friends who violently disagree with this!

Recently discovered one of the air pods on my Alphaflys had burst so nabbed some Metaspeed Skys on a sale.
Haven’t run in them yet but the toe box feels like it’ll be more comfortable at least. The Nikes were like rockets but always hurt my feet in one way or another, not to mention they lasted 180miles.

If you bought them from Nike direct then get in touch and they’ll probably just replace them, even if you’ve had them a while

11th and listed as first mv45 at race the train (10km race) today, although it looked like 2nd overall is also mv45 but this doesn't show in results.

Happy with that. Here's HR graph (yes it hurt) and race splits...

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