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Turbo: are those Nike shoes the ones Kipchoge used for the sub 2 hour marathon? Look subtle – think I’ll get a pair for work.
No, they are the shoes worn by his support runners and pretty much every fast marathon runner over the last year. Kipchoge was using a prototype pair that haven't yet been made available to the public, these in fact.
Couple of guys in my club have those (not the prototype ones, obviously!) and while I'm sure they're great shoes I can't get over how stupid the tail fin thing looks.
Is there really 2 inches of foam under the heel? Reminds me of back to the future, or some weird 1960s, psychedelic moon walking sequence from a sci-fi B movie.
I've got those ridiculous NEXT% in pink (although tbh the colour was a BIG selling point to me); I've only worn them once to have a try (I'm crocked at the minute from a cross country race) and although it might be a placebo thing, I ran a hilly club run - normally I would be somewhere around 6:50 pace - but I was nearer 6:30 pace without really trying - they're really "bouncy"...
Been reading on them - sound pretty amazing. The foam returns 85% of energy which is nice. Apparently the Saucony with the everrun(tm) sole I’m receiving tomorrow will return 83% of energy, no more, no less, so I’m looking forward to springing my way to some personal beasts!
I'm guessing if I'm needing stability shoes due to pronation/flat feet, I'm out of luck in getting cheap pairs like everyone else seems to be doing?
I’m guessing if I’m needing stability shoes due to pronation/flat feet, I’m out of luck in getting cheap pairs like everyone else seems to be doing?
@j4mesj4mes, Nope, Nike Struture are under £75 on the Nike website. https://www.nike.com/gb/t/air-zoom-structure-22-running-shoe-1KqM5f
I’m sure you could find something on the ASICS Clearance site too.
Got my Saucony omni shoes for £79 quid in the end which I think is ok. It’s only £10 more than I paid for a pair of running shoes in about 2004 so can’t complain.
cheers @lunge. Admittedly, I was hoping for cheaper but guess that is in the running world. As I start to bump up the weekly mileage, shoes start getting expensive as they don't last as long as they used to.
Nonsuch parkrun was great fun - another mudfest, sliding all over the place, hunting the verges, loved it.
Forgot all hope of a PB due to conditions and kept pace with a fellow Sutton Runner. Picked it up in the last km and gave it full beans.
Slightly shorter course by about 20m and not quite 5k. Previous best from a few weeks back was 23:48 on the summer course and I was hoping to dip under 23 minutes.
Came in at 21:48 and I’m really not sure where that came from. Pretty happy with that! Obviously hill training and the sessions with coaches are working. Next goal is of course sub 20 minutes, but that seems a long, long way off. There again, I never thought I could run sub 22 so who knows?
I need some proper deep studded trail shoes though as I’m sure I can pick up time if I have grip and don’t have to pussyfoot around.
I hear you @j4mesj4mes, I got 300 ish miles out of my shoes. If you’re anywhere near a Nike Store it’s worth a look in there, I picked up 3 pairs of my favourite shoes for under £60 a pair as they are 3 seasons old and I wanted to stock up.
What fartlek app are the non members of the Apple cult using?
I need some proper deep studded trail shoes though as I’m sure I can pick up time if I have grip and don’t have to pussyfoot around.
Proper trail shoes are quite a bit slower than asphalt running shoes, they have a rock plate built into the sole which slows you down. So I wouldn't count on them being that much faster.
What fartlek app are the non members of the Apple cult using?
Fartleks don't need an app! They're supposed to be unstructured - sprint to that set of traffic lights, then jog for a minute or two, then another sprint until we get to the park gates, etc.
If you're looking for interval training apps, however, search for "hiit" on Google Play. This is the one I use when I'm not using the Garmin workout planner: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ihunda.android.hiit
There are loads of other apps available, this just happens to be the one I found!
Glentress trail half today, featuring a not to be sneezed at 2400ft of climbing.
Enjoyed the climb to the mast, even though pace was slow, no option really on such narrow trails in a big field.
Descents down leithen door etc to top of deliverance were ace, then I went through a period of cannybefuctness and glided in the last 4 miles. It's been a long season.
How ignorant are GT mtbers when yer a runner? Never met as many ignorant bawbags in aw my life. Sad times.
Us and them mentality. Problem is that foot users have right of way and that annoys some mtb folk as they have to slow down.
Good effort though and way beyond what I could do at the moment. I’m encouraged by my recent results and thinking maybe I could start doing longer races.
Think the GT bikers will view this area as their playground and everybody else is intruding. I did the 10k trail run the night before the GT Sevens, and around this time last year The Mighty Deerstalker which was fantastic, but both avoided the times the Storm Troopers are in attendance.
Aye, fair enough, that's mibbe how they think, got fed up cheerily giving it 'morning' and getting bugger all back.
All the interactions were on fireroads, so not as if you're on their trails....
I think I’ve narrowed down my XC/trail shoe down to the Inov-8 X-claw 200 in black. Low drop, light, wider fit in the toes, flexible, a bit of padding but not too much and what looks like great grip. Just need to work out if I need 11 (shoe size) or 11.5.
Mogrim, I just like it when a wee bleep tells me to drag my sorry bones to the next point.
Root, go big. My trail shoes are 11.5, shoe size 10.
Tailwind energy powder - seems to be a lot of rave over it?
Doesn’t seem to be particularly well known on the riding scene though?
I’ve normally stuck to just water in my soft flasks as I don’t fancy trying to clean a stick mess but this tailwind stuff says it washes out with just water.
Anyone know what the neutral unflavoured one tastes like?
I supported a lad doing BG last year who used Tailwind. Really rated it. The name did make me giggle a bit. #parp
Mogrim, I just like it when a wee bleep tells me to drag my sorry bones to the next point
😀
Still not a fartlek though... but the app I mentioned above will do that for you. Although I definitely prefer Garmin, mainly as I don't usually run with a phone, at least not when I'm doing anything like speedwork.
Anyway this weekend's running was a 24km LSR, cold but sunny and not too much wind - pretty much ideal autumn/winter weather. Looking forward to next weekend's race, though, it's a fun and relatively short (17km) trail race in a nearby town. Just hoping the weather is favourable!
Was back in UK for a brief visit this week. Can't do our club race (Kirkby Moor) next week but the weather was good so had a trot round the route. Granted I picked some bad lines and stopped to chat to some other runners reccying the course, but when I uploaded the run to Strava I was dead last on the leaderboard 😭 Running through knee deep heather on faint trods is a skill that doesn't come easy. Nice views over the Duddon estuary though.
Saturday was a bit different. Met @mrsparkle of this parish and did my first parkrun. Warmed up limping from tweaking my ankle in that bloody heather but ran round at 4.20 for 4.8km (don't think I've ever run one km in 4.20 before) which was enough for 2nd. Might even do another.
Annoyingly 4.20 is about the same pace my club mate ran Kirkby when he won it last year.
Running through knee deep heather on faint trods is a skill that doesn’t come easy.
I hate heather with a passion, awful stuff for running. There's loads of it round here.
Managed to get out for a relatively gentle 4 mile road run yesterday (after not running much in the last two weeks). As always it feels so good to be out despite the difficulty in motivating myself on a cold and wet Sunday morning.
Needed to blow off steam last night, managed a 10k pb 47.5 mins, pretty chuffed. Shaved nearing 3 mins off my last attempt and have only been building base in z2. It hurt.
Beautiful morning on the canals this morning. Ice cold, clear sky, an amazing sunrise, just perfect way to start the week.
Good to hear everyone enjoying getting on and moving those legs.
I’m on a bit of a high after the weekend. I think I am definitely going to aim for a sub 20 parkrun before I get too old and my legs fall off.
So, I improved by nearly 2 minutes over 5 week of club sessions and varied running. I need to increase my pace from 4:25/km to somewhere near 4:00/km which I know is mighty difficult. Any training suggestions or just stick with what I am doing and see where it leads?
Cheers.
I have no idea how people can go <20 minutes for a parkrun - no matter how much I train (and I can happily run half marathon distance for fun when I have the time) I just don't have the leg speed.
I am very tempted to enter the Manchester Marathon next year - the finger has been hovering on the 'Enter now' button all morning.
I've just started doing bit of running, upto 5km at a time, but my calves really hurt. I can feel them tightening whilst running, and then really hurt afterwards, to the point that I can't comfortably walk down stairs for 3 to 4 days aftertwards.
I warm up and stretch after the run and have new trainers. Is the issue likely to be due to my legs not being used to running or something else. I've had alot of knee issues in the past, could it be linked to this?
It's now got to the point where running impacts on everything else, ie I cant ride due to the calf pain.
Any ideas?
^^^ Rest is all you can do - don't keep running or the injury will take longer to recover. When you go back to it, build up the distance more slowly and make sure you do some specific warm-ups/downs to focus on the calves. It could also be a stress fracture.
Also look at your running technique - are you over-striding?
I had very similar when I started @teenrat. The things that helped me were dropping the weekly total mileage a bit, stretches, foam rolling and doing eccentric calf lowers. The latter of which, when I did them 2 or 3 times per day, really helped.
I've got sub-20 PR and sub-45 10k goals in mind. I think the latter is going to be easier than the former! I am currently at 48m for 10k (running on my own), so I reckon 45m in a race shouldn't be that far away. The sub-20 parkrun seems a long way off though. I'm at 22m at the minute and finding another 2 mins is going to be hard! Definitely need to get back into the club track sessions - not been able to make them for ages.
Managed sub 21 a couple of times this year, sub 20 was one of my targets, but I've not really managed to have a proper go at it, ie warmed up etc.
No races left this year, thankfully, so I'll make sub 20 my priority now, along with running for fun with no real goal. 🙂
As Lunge says, eccentric lowers and raises, plus rollering. Not convinced stretching does anything but turn the above into a workout and it will help to build strength then build up running slowly. Unlikely to be a stress fracture they often come on after a longish period of fast higher mileage training and tend to be felt less in the muscle.
The way to get faster is to run with faster people who will push you.
Also running more/further will help to improve your endurance, but that wont necessarily make you quicker. You need to pair that with some sort of speed work, with the aim of increasing cadence.
When you run with faster people, you have a higher level to aim for which can give you the extra motivation to push yourself beyond what you would normally do or your perceived limitations.
One of my previous targets (2013) was to go sub 40 for 10K, I struggled with this at first and it took me a few attempts to crack it, however, once I passed that hurdle, it was no longer challenging and my times dropped even more.
After changing my training and running with some different people for a while, this year I've managed to run under 33:30 for 10K.
Tha is Alanf. I am definitely running with faster people at the club and I think over the past 5 weeks I have pushed myself much further than I would have if I’d been going solo. I’m just about keeping pace with the runners I considered way faster than me now over short distances but there are plenty of faster members.
Sub-22 was hard and I was using a fellow member as a pacer, but I was comfortable enough until I wound it up in the final km. It was slippery, gloopy, rooty, very muddy, I was sliding all over the shop, and I forgot my inhaler so I feel I have it in me to go faster.
As Alan says - case in point: I run (when not injured) 60-70k a week in the hills. Low cadence etc. Can't run 10k on flat in much under 50m. I know what I need to do but prefer pottering round in the hills.
Nobeer, T-R and anybody else lucky enough to be in the real north; High Terrain are advertising a Cairngorms Ultra next year.
If there isn't one already would there be appetite for a STW Strava running club?
Best I get my backside off the sofa and get in the hills tomorrow... reading some posts here has made me feel rather pathetic.
Spin; runners of singletrack is the club name
Cheers duckman, just joined.
I can’t find that group - should I search something else?
I've joined too. Now to feel really inferior about my running. Onwards and upwards.
Now to feel really inferior about my running.
You shouldn't - you are out there doing it and enjoying it, that's what matters.
I’ve joined too. Now to feel really inferior about my running. Onwards and upwards.
Na, since it started the miles have calmed down a bit, it's mostly leisure runners like us mate. Don't compare yourself to the guys that are flying, putting in mega miles, as they've generally been doing it years.
Instead, compare yourself to a year ago, and how much you've come on, and think how you couldn't imagine then what you're doing now...
Instead, compare yourself to a year ago, and how much you’ve come on, and think how you couldn’t imagine then what you’re doing now…
Well said and very much agreed.
Yep, you are correct, all of you! Not sure why I posted such a negative thing - I've managed to pick up the cold the kids have had for the last week so feeling crap today - so sorry about that. I'm actually feeling pretty good about what I'm achieving on a personal level, not compared to others, and rather than look at what others are doing and feeling bad, it inspires me to get out there.
Bucked up I have been. Thanks.
🙂
Instead, compare yourself to a year ago, and how much you’ve come on, and think how you couldn’t imagine then what you’re doing now…
i'll go with that. according to strava's fitness metric, i'm 259% fitter than I was a year ago.
Superb Jam bo!
Track sesh tonight, I haven't run since Glentress trail half on saturday, and a day up a mountain on sunday, legs are feeling fresh for it.
according to strava’s fitness metric, i’m 259% fitter than I was a year ago.
Ohh, where do I find that?
part of summit. i'm trying a free month.
Ahh right cheers
If I may tap into the running hive mind, I have drawn a keen runner in the work secret santa and wonder if anyone has any suggestions?
- £10 budget
- Woman in early 30s
- Good sense of fun
- Did her first marathon this year, or maybe first half and is now training for a full one
- Lives in London
I was thinking some retro 1980s-style sweatbands, but that may be under budget.
johndo, you can get something similar for free if you use the Elevate Strava plugin:
https://thomaschampagne.github.io/elevate/
I had Summit for a free trial and it didn't do anything for me, this worked as a free alternative
Eastcoastmike - Great photos a few pages back.
First proper winter run of the season last weekend. Picked a pretty good day for it in the end.
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Instead, compare yourself to a year ago, and how much you’ve come on, and think how you couldn’t imagine then what you’re doing now…
Well said and very much agreed.
All that matters is you are out there, enjoying it. Fitness will come easily enough, try not to compare yourself with anyone else.. unless you have a personality that makes you want to "beat" someone.. as in use them as some sort of goal.
I plod, I hack, I rarely take any interest in anything anyone else does. I just enjoy running in the woods and trails.
The really cool thing about trial running is.. theres rarely anyone else around, and the views are rather pretty.
Buffs
Arm warmers
parkrun wristband (you'll need a few details for that though so it won't be secret!)
A tutu and wings (a suprising amount of runners run my local parkrun in this combo)
Now to feel really inferior about my running.
As everyone else has said, don't be. Everyone is on their own journey and exists somewhere on a continuum. You might look at faster folk, but you can guarantee that the faster folk are looking at even faster folk etc etc. At the top of the chain is Kipchoge 😀
Not many miles for me at the moment as I seem to be existing on about 3-4 hours sleep a night while doing painting and DIY, finishing off our loft conversion. Last night was re-fitting the toilet that the plumber did an absolutely p!ss-poor job of 🙁
Extreme exhaustion and 100 miles a week certainly do not go together...
Oh, I bet they do...
At the top of the chain is Kipchoge
Wonder if He looks up to Bolt, and vice versa?
Buff or arm warmers are a good suggestion for the secret santa, loads of different designs around so you should be able to get something original she won't already have. Although if you gave me a buff my smile might be a little forced, at last count I've got 17 of the things...
Anyway, this weekend's plans? I've got a fun little (17km) trail race in a local town, and as it's been raining all week it's going to be a muddy morning 😀
Anyway, this weekend’s plans?
QECP... smile and wave as you scoot on by...🤡
Will; where is that?
Thanks for that @matt - installed and now have a whole load of data to fixate over 🙂
Unfortunately my fitness peaked in September (Great North Run and the associated extra training) and not getting out as much in this foul weather.
Duckman - Stob Coire Easain, just west of Loch Treig.
Anyway, this weekend’s plans?
Low key this weekend.
Run Directing at parkrun Saturday so will run there and back, 4 miles each way.
Sunday I'm volunteering at junior parkrun and again will run, 1.5 miles there, long way home back which will be 6 miles ish.
Local team XC for me on Saturday - South of Thames XC Morden Park - 5 miles, teams of 4. It's my local park so easy to get to. New Inov-8 shoes have arrived so will be trying them out.
Aye, climbed those two in similar weather when the old Fersit hostel was still on the go. That's proper hill running!
Parkrun for me on Saturday then I will be running the Junior one with one of my daughters on Sunday if she is well enough. If not, I might try to get out for a longer run of around 6 miles.
Question for TurboFerret:
Now I’ve joined the Strava group I’ve been snooping on some activities. Just wondered if you won the Sri Chinmoy 5k with the buggy? Brilliant pictures of you lined up on the front row with the buggy.
@root-n-5th no, I was 10th, over a minute back from the winner. I have video of the whole thing too with lots of commentary from my passenger, plus capturing the moment where I got trapped in the tube doors on the way home 😀
Lots of near heel-clips at the start of that race too which could have ended with embarrassment :O
Thanks for the gift ideas.
Any books that might be relevant?
The Running Man?
Google's only giving me young, handsome Arnie. Was that a gag?
Clearly a bad attempt at one, yes 🙂
Arnie wasn't sure either.
😀