Similar to Surfer in that I don’t count miles in shoes. I have quite a few pairs on the go at one time in various states of wear, although I know it’s time to ditch them once I start to feel a twinge in my left hip. That sign mean that the shoe is about shot and upon inspection of the soles, usually means the grip has been worn away to reveal the torsion system below (adidas adios).
Having said that, I have some shoes (Boston 6) which are about 3 years old and have probably cover well over 800 miles but are still comfy and I prefer to newer shoes I’ve started wearing.
The trail shoes I wear will often wear out the upper before the sole wears out though.
I guess it’s a pretty personal thing.
Some people at my club wear their shoes until they have all but disintegrated!

How many miles do you get out of your shoes?

Depends on the shoe and what it’s been used for but for road mileage about 300 is about when mine start to feel a bit different. I’m quite sensitive to it, I get knee pain when they’re on their way out.
Saying that, I have a pair that are getting on for 500 and they’re still fine, another pair of the same model I retired at 280.

I don’t go above 300 miles now, in road shoes, trail/hill shoes, I theoretically would do longer, but they tend to get wrecked anyway.

Mine usually get up to about 900-1000km, so about 600 miles… It’s not so much of an issue on road as my shoes are generally fairly minimalist, so there’s less bounce to lose as they get older. However I should have changed the trail shoes earlier, while the tread was fine the lack of cushioning was starting to become a problem on rocky descents and was leading to heel pain.

Thanks. Mine still feel quite young really. Maybe the pain is just because I pushed it to the limit on Sunday. A few day’s rest should help. It was worth it to get the time though!

A couple of years in and I’m still doing 5k at least twice a week.

I’m bored with the same routes because of lockdown – a few local routes I won’t use as they have narrow bridges as pinch points that the dog walkers all use, squeezing past and allowing shit everywhere….

I know it really helps with my weight.
I know that roads suck for running on, my knees, hips and ankles all object over 7-8k… Yet off road I can run 8-10k and not have the pains…

Keep at it folks…

Can I just use this page to once again state how much I love Decathlon running gear?
Just clicked buy on a basket containing 3 pairs of undies, 3 pairs of socks, a long sleeve top, a short sleeve top and all for under £35. None chosen for price, all chosen as I like them and they work.
Absolute bargains.

Unrelated, 134 miles needed over the next 2 weeks to get to 1000 miles by the end of May. A big couple of weeks ahead.

I’ve had a couple of t shirts from Decathlon but found they hold the smell of sweat. Puma tops for me.

If anyone needs a bit of motivation, Christian Varley is currently running his 19th marathon in 19 days – https://www.facebook.com/ManxSolidarityFund

I’m bored with the same routes because of lockdown – a few local routes I won’t use as they have narrow bridges as pinch points that the dog walkers all use, squeezing past and allowing shit everywhere….

I’m finding this frustrating too. I’ve been waiting until much later in the evening than I’d like but means I can run the route I want.

Hopefully I’ll be back running within the next week or so, crashed on my MTB on the 1st May (going down a narrow bridleway, an overgrown bush caught my right bar and ejected me over the bars, with my bike landing some 10ft away from me!) and landed on my left shoulder, which resulted in a mild shoulder seperation (self diagnosed), was very painful the first few days but I’m back to 85-90% movement with very little pain now, so will start running again soon!!

This weeks club running challenge is a belter!.

1 mile as fast as you can, 1 hour to complete it. Basically split it down into reps of whatever distance suit you, start and stop the Garmin until it adds up to a mile.

I’ve got an airport nearby that has a completely empty car park, flat and has a nice sectioned off road that is exactly 1/10th of a mile, so gonna go 10 reps. I know shorter reps would probably be faster, but it’s more recoveries too!.

Surely you want a nice steep downhill section, then walk back up at a nice slow pace?

Agreed, you want a nice downhill for that. Not too steep as you lose your stride, but enough you get lots of momentum, and ideally a tail wind.

Downhill not really in the spirit of it!.

Managed my mile, split into 10 reps, in 4.16

Could’ve been a fair bit quicker if I’d not had curry 90 mins before the, but it’s just a bit of fun.

Managed my mile, split into 10 reps, in 4.16

1 second faster than my best Nobeer…. zero stops 🙂

lol! That’s a phenomenal time Surfer!.

I reckon I could get below the 4 mins, with a bit better prep, and keeping the sprints shorter. Won’t be doing it though, there’s a few clubbies tweaked hamstrings doing this challenge.

Could’ve been a fair bit quicker if I’d not had curry 90 mins before

boak!

Because we see so much international athletics on TV an Tinternet its easy assume that the 4 minute mile is less of a challenge now. 4:17 is a million miles away from 3:59 and I trained very hard all those years ago (200m – 25secs, 400m – 53:8, 600m – 1:27 and 800 – 2:01)

My mate ran 62:45 for a half and 28:15 for 10000m and still only ran 4:06.

The 4 min mile is still staggeringly hard to beat and by running it in sections you will get an idea of how fast it is.

I can’t run a 4m kilometer without a decent downhill.

Well it appears I can’t run much at all, after most of the year off. Legs are ruined. Not sure what’s going on with my knee but it won’t take any side forces without buckling, having to tread really carefully off-road. There’s a fair bit of soreness down the calf and shin too. It’s certainly not a running injury as I haven’t done any!

I’m doing 3x10km jogs per week, alternating with riding. The jog (doesn’t deserve to be called a run) is 5km gentle uphill, prob 180m climb, round the trig point and back down. My avg on the uphill leg is about 5.10-5.20/km. Coming down, the leg hurts and I’m doing more like 6min/km… Then I end up shuffling round the house afterwards for fear of the knee buckling under me. Rubbish.

Not sure if it’s a case of HTFU and go long/easy until or if it comes right. Physio still closed for now.

Injuries are a fact of life I think. I tweaked my arch doing my 10K on Sunday- still hurts a bit today but not too bad. Thing is my shoes hurt the side of my right foot just putting them on so I think there might be something wrong. I really dislike hunting for shoes, especially if you can’t visit a shop.

As for the mile, I did my mile challenge today. There’s a member of our club who holds the record of 2:34 or something and the idea is that we all attempt to run a mile as near to that pace as we can and see if we can beat him. Even mostly downhill I could only manage 6:06, which is slower that he did. My speed has gone a bit over the past few weeks but I gave it full beans. I know there are people on here who run faster marathons. It’s quite incredible what the human body is capable of.

We did a Kipchoge challenge a few months back – run 200m at his marathon pave (34 seconds). Basically a sprint for me – remarkable.

As for the 4 minute mile, I agree it has been diminished in stature over the years because quite a few elites have achieved it, but just trying to run at that pace for any length of time is an absolute eye-opener. About 30 second 200m slacked together, stunning. watching Cram and Co make it look so effortless back in the day always inspired me, but just thinking how Bannister ran that fast on a cinder track, in slippers and without modern scientific methods is simply stunning. Freaks of nature maybe, but it still took some doing. Surfer – 4:17 is mighty impressive though!

Facebook memories reminded me that ten years ago I ran a 23min 5k, so I tried to do it again last night. On pace (4.35ish) for the first 3k but couldn’t keep it up. Dropped back to 4:50ish and came in a 23:32

I’ll take that given a year ago I was struggling to get under 30m and five months ago I mullered my ankle. There is an upside to be furloughed I guess….

The 4 min mile is still staggeringly hard to beat and by running it in sections you will get an idea of how fast it is.

When you consider that nearly 4 times as many people have climbed Everest as have run under 4 minutes and they were both achieved within a couple of years of each other it puts it into perspective. And that in itself doesn’t come close to really illustrating how hard it is. I’m sure there are a great many of people on here could get to the top of the mountain with the resources made available to them but I doubt there are many could achieve a 4 minute mile no matter what resources were made available to them.

I was really pleased when I got sub 4 minute per km time for a 5k Park run on a couple of occasions, I doubt I could get near 4 min mile pace for more than a few meters.

I really dislike hunting for shoes, especially if you can’t visit a shop.

Hate to piss on your chips even further, There’s not much available in the usual places either, had a look at sportsshoes.com, oaft.

Set myself a couple goals for May and am getting ever closer to them.
300 miles run in May.
1000 miles run by the end of May.
Run every day in May.

I need just under 100 miles in the next 11 days to hit the goal.
In June I may even try riding my bike!

When you consider that nearly 4 times as many people have climbed Everest as have run under 4 minutes and they were both achieved within a couple of years of each other it puts it into perspective.

Surprised it’s that many people under 4 minutes TBH, seeing the photos of the queues going up Everest.

Surprised it’s that many people under 4 minutes TBH, seeing the photos of the queues going up Everest.

Many people are or could get fit enough to climb Everest and you can circumvent many of the other challenges if you have enough cash. Can’t do that with a 4 minute mile!

Re the 4 minute mile thing…

I finished second in a small race a few years back to a slightly older, slightly chubby guy (I wasn’t judging him on that btw he just didn’t look like a racing snake). I was a good bit behind but not embarrassingly so. An old boy I know clapped me on the back at the finish and said he reckoned that was an excellent result for me against that competition so when I got home I googled him and it turned out he had a mile PB of 4.01. He’d also surprised a few of the local fast boys as he’d been out of the game for a few years and moved to a different area so no one knew him.

Obviously he’s lost a bit since then but class will out. 4.01 is super impressive but must have been a tough thing to be so close!

Many people are or could get fit enough to climb Everest and you can circumvent many of the other challenges if you have enough cash. Can’t do that with a 4 minute mile!

Yeah, that’s sort of what I meant – given the hundreds of people going up Everest each year I’m surprised that total is only 4 times the number of sub-4 minute milers.

Not saying you have to like the guy, although some of his videos are quite good, but this is quite amusing. It’s a 4 minute mile.

@root-n-5th 2:34 for a mile is a little far fetched, regardless of how many short sprints you add up. Assuming a mile is 1600m (which is being generous) then 2:34 = 154 seconds. 154/16 = 9.625 seconds/100m, or only 0.04 outside Bolt’s world record.

I think my fastest mile during my silly 5k challenge was about 3:35, probably about a 45-50s quicker than I could do in one hit.

I fancy a go at an FKT or 2, Jubilee Greenway or the longer Capital Ring. Jubilee Greenway certainly closer to my best distance, and a relatively simple route which could be done easily at dawn and be done and dusted before it gets busy. Capital Ring more of a challenge with opening hours of parks etc and would be a proper full day. Maybe if all races are off for the year I might target it in the Autumn.

@turboferret. Sorry I was unclear. That is his marathon record – 2:34 or something. We are trying to all run a mile and see if our 26 miles added together would beat him. I have failed, but I get another chance next week and hopefully will be cooler.

I bet you could do a 4:30 mile?

@roots-n-5th that makes more sense, thanks for clarifying 🙂 I’ve never raced a mile, but based on a rather lacklustre 4:18 1500m from a few years ago I think 4:30 is probably within grasp if I worked a bit at it. My marathon time averages at 5:27/mile so I know I can do a few of them back to back when the stars align!

I love running in the heat, unfortunately virtually all of my runs are done at 5am or earlier before it properly warms up. Hopefully I’ll manage to get back into a routine of double running so get some nice sunshine.

While you may not like running in the heat, it is good practice, and you do make physiological adaptations as a result, which will prepare you better for the heat, and also to run faster as you generate more heat. Last spring was perfect timing for a 2-week trip to India in the lead-up to London as I could get most of my runs in the high 30s of low 40s. Everyone thought I was absolutely nuts but it seemed to pay off

I’ll try to adapt, but it’s not just running in the heat, it’s anything. Anything above 20 degrees (much less if running) and my brain goes soggy, limbs lose coordination and I act like superman with kryptonite around his neck. I’m sure my ancestry must have been Scandinavian or from somewhere of cooler climes. I’ve always been like that and it’s a bit of a running (sic) joke in the family. I seem to perform best at a wet, muddy, January parkrun at a nice cool temp of about 3 degrees. It’s not pleasant, but suits me.

No choice but to get out there and change my physiology.

The president of our athletics club has a pretty impressive running resume, which came to light in a recent newsletter – I knew he was multiple National XC champion, but didn’t realise he also had a sub 4 minute mile to his name!

Dave Clarke
1500m: 3:39.27, Oslo, 26 June 1982
Mile: 3:56.95, Crystal Palace, 17 July 1982
3000m: 7:54.13, Crystal Palace, 18 August 1984
5000m: 13:22.54, Norway, 28 June 1983
10,000m: 27:55.77, Florence, 25 May 1982
5 miles: 22:37, Wimbledon, 11 March 1985
10km: 27:50, Cardiff, 12 May 1985
10 miles: 47:25, Canterbury, 31 January 1988
Half Marathon: 62:11, Berlin 5 April 1992
Marathon: 2:13:34, Stockholm, 3 June 1989

That’s some impressive range…

PSA if anyone is looking for sleeveless tops for running in this hot weather, matalan have decent ones at £8 each – https://www.matalan.co.uk/product/detail/s2768179_c270/souluxe-navy-gym-tank-top-navy

I bought a few of their normal souluxe running tops and they’re good, was trying to find a sleeveless one and they’ve just added this one so have ordered a couple!

T-shirt suntan, begone!!

@turboferret If you search on Youtube you will see he was a prolific racer many years ago and I have seen him race a number of times he was one of our best runners of that era and given the “depth” of top athletes during that period, thats saying something. If you look for the Gaymers series of road races in the 80’s amongst other city centre races of the time, you will see lots of footage of him.
This one has a short interview

Gaymers

Dying to get in the hills here (finally allowed, but need to stay within the province) but I can’t run – or walk really – on uneven ground. Left knee just doesn’t stabilise, end up with pain down front and side of lower leg. Might start by doing some easy walks.

Running on tarmac for now, 10k 3x per week – as mentioned above it’s 5k +180m out, then back down the same way. Currently running the uphill leg at about 5 min/km, and limping back down at 6mins.

@surfer I knew he was multiple national XC champion and would regularly win Surrey League XC races as part of a fartlek session as purely racing was too easy. Didn’t know he had quite that range though.

Thanks to @lunge I now have some new trainers 😀

Romilly was confused by the paper inside the Novablasts so she couldn’t wear them as she usually likes

New Balance Fuel Cell Rebel are much more up her street 🙂

The Merrell Trail Glove 5 shoes came several days ago and this afternoon I went out in them.

They feel a whole lot less minimal than the Vapour Glove 3 shoes I have – which I can roll up from the toes to heels into a stubby tube. The Trail Glove 5 just seem to fold around the ball of the foot and that’s it. The rest of the shoe is just too stiff to roll up like that. There’s noticeable arch support too in the TG5, in contrast to the VG3 which completely lacks arch support. Probably a good thing as far as my feet go.

It was the first run since feeling pain in the ball of my foot while running in the Vapour Glove 3, 11 days ago. Felt like I’d gone back a bit in the walk/run/walk/run department, not getting as far before having to walk again. Though a bit different for me, I felt confident to try a few short stints of running as fast as I could to see how it went. Was ok, didn’t feel out of control like I might fall flat on my face!

I thought I sweated a lot while riding, feels like I sweat more running – but maybe that’s the slower speeds (especially when walking) so less air movement.

Any running shorts recommendation!? Running in lightweight summer mtb baggies currently.

Disappointed that there is a drop off in activity on this thread. I can only assume you are all out running in the sunshine 🙂

Jut reading this. Interesting from someone who was very interval based as a youngster to read about polarisation. Which seems to mean doing significantly less in the space between very slow (circa 77% of max HR) and very high intensity. As someone constantly trying to get race fit (V55) the 80% of training at the above HR is appealing, not least because it is less injurious and quite easily achievable. My attempts at getting fit have constantly been thwarted by injury but my training has included a large part of my training at a higher speed and HR which according to this theory adds little but is extremely tiring and increases the risk of injury. Only started this a week ago and am just running 5 miles a day and keeping my speed very low. Of course it really has value for me if that slower 80% translates into faster racing…

Any running shorts recommendation!? Running in lightweight summer mtb baggies currently.

Decathlon, but primark are my favourite tbh, although obviously not an option at present. Have a look at auusie grit, good sale on at the moment.