Tag Archives: Shoes

Don’t forget to pick up your London Marathon number

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That wouldn’t be good would it.  All the training and preparation over the last few months and you don’t visit the Marathon Expo to get your number.  If you’ve not been already you’ve got 4 more days to get down to London ExCeL.

Did mine yesterday – got there as soon as it opened and had a look round at the stalls and stands.  A lot of stuff there and a chance to catch-up with other runners and your chosen charity – if you’re running for one.

Lots of stands from pretty much any company involved in running.  All great and nice to see everyone and see the latest and greatest running tech, but would anyone seriously pick up a new pair of shoes 4 days away from the Marathon or try out a new energy drink?  Highly unlikely and a risky strategy if you did.  I almost get why everyone needs to go to the event to pick up your number (I said almost) and I can see there might be a commercial opportunity for running equipment companies at the same event.  But why not have another official London Marathon Expo a few months earlier when people are starting out training and looking for advice, new kit etc?

All done for me though and kit all ready, with number and shoe token.  Timing for the journey up to London for Sunday morning being sorted out, a day of rest tomorrow with stretching and then a 2 mile jog and more stretching on Saturday to get rid of any last minute nerves.  678 training miles done including 4 today.  2 more to go and then the big race on Sunday – past all the great sights in London.

The Marathon Expo definitely gets you getting excited about the run and it is a buzz seeing everyone there – so maybe that’s reason enough to have it now…!

QR codes in shoes?

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Whatever next?  In the shoe at the back of the in-sole.  Only spotted them when I took the new Brooks shoes off tonight after my run…

Had to scan it as soon as I spotted it but tried to scan it with the QRReader iPhone app with no success – shadows kept getting in the way.  Genius Mrs. Noble – who was busy sorting out the gorgeous roses I’d got her for Valentine’s Day (care of good old M&S) – suggested taking the in-soles out…  kind of obvious really.

In-soles out, app ready, QR code scanned… where does it go to?  Brooks FaceBook page with a “like” button right there and a competition to win an iPad2 – not bad, a clever idea.

Sore-ish feet in the meantime after an 8 mile run in the new shoes – but new shoes so expected.  Longest run in the training so far coming this weekend – 18 miles.

Who needs new shoes?

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After a month or so running with the new shoes and new in-soles, painful feet and blisters forced me to re-assess.  A quick trip back to the physio, who just said the shoes are too loose and then a few more runs with them tied up better, but still not good.  Back to good old Sweatshop in Teddington today and with their fantastic 30 day returns on shoes (after you’ve tried them as much as you want).  A long chat with one of the guys there and trying on new shoes, and back to Brooks, that just feel far far better on my feet – it’s so comfortable when you put your feet in them.  And then a chat about marathons and the guy serving me (Tim) being very modest about his own one-time marathon run of 2 hours 35 minutes!  Awesomeness right in front of me.  That’s 26.2 miles at less than 6 minutes per mile.  Unbelievable.  Now I’m listening even more to this guy – some good training tips as well from him (including doing speed running as I’ve been doing).  Then a suggestion from Tim on looking at lighter shoes – as well – to use for actually running the marathon in.  Something I’d never thought of.  Tried on a pair of bright yellow Adidas Adizero ones – and you can’t feel these shoes on your feet.  So nice.  Plan is to do the longer pace runs in these ones.

A very productive trip to Sweatshop and thanks to their 30 day guarantee and great service, I got better shoes, another pair (some more socks) and paid more money but all happy.

4 good runs this week.  8 miles to start and then 9 miles the next day (at a faster pace) and then 10 the next (slightly slower).  Really enjoying the 10 mile distance as well.  And then a 4.5 miler on Saturday with first 5km fast (not as fast as recently though – being about -5 degrees C didn’t help).  3 planned this week with an 18 miler long one.

 

 

Taking it easy

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11 miles yesterday at a slowish pace.  Along the Thames again and over Richmond Bridge. Very chilly and wet, so even more layers on – could only just move the legs!

Have done a fair few 10 milers and 12 milers but not an 11 before.  Shouldn’t make any different but 11 sounds odd – ha ha.  8 minutes 30 seconds per mile pace – so slower than planned marathon pace and it now feels wrong to run at that pace.  Feels like the pace running is paying off.  Happy days.

A dodgy foot this feet – apparently suffering from Plantar Fasciitis – inflammation of the plantar fascia in the foot (a band of tissue running from the heel to the middle foot bones).  And yes it hurts.  Funnily enough more when not running.

Advice from the doctor is rest – easy running hopefully along those lines – plus stretching and a nice info sheet printed off by the doctor.  A trip to the physio later this week for more help and to see if some new custom in-soles are needed.

Bought the current ones about 3 years back and they’ve been one of the best running investments there is.  Had a problem when training for the marathon in 2009 when at about 16 miles (on the longer runs) my knees would hurt.  Saw a physio and did some proper foot and running analysis and they fitted me with some in-soles for my shoes designed for my feet.  Worked a treat.  Suspect now they need replacing and shoes may do too.  Brooks GTS11 are my current shoes – had the GTS8 ones before and loved them.  GTS11 are the latest ones.

One more longish easy run planned this week – on the way to the physio – and then a fast 5km on Friday.  And more running next week – first one on Boxing Day morning.