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Thursday 18 February 2010

Not Just A Pretty Face

I've been thinking through the practicalities of running, no... racing 26.2 miles. In particular I've been thinking about how mashed my feet could be racing the full 26.2 miles in skimpy little racing shoes.
I've been doing my marathon shoe research and thought I'd invest early in some research testing and ordered a couple of racer-trainers with my pile of race vouchers yearning to be spent. The new shoes were delivered to the office this week.
The beauties have been perched patiently atop my piles of files and boxes of books as I pack up ten years of working life in Leeds and move on out to HQ. I start my new job proper on Monday (yikes). The Glides have been itching to get out of the box but my Sunday shenanigans and trashed quads have focused my mind on a gentler approach; the plan is to slip on the lightnin' slippers for the odd recovery run first.
Last night was the medium long run. The original plan was to include a bit of tempo but I was just too wasted after Sunday and all that intervals work on Tuesday. I managed another 14 miler at a steady 6.50 pace but squeezing in any tempo or even marathon paced miles would probably have been a step too far. Sometimes I reckon it's knowing when to hold off that's the smart part of training too.

3 comments:

Julie said...

Love the shoes...orange is a hot color this season:) Woo hoo, new kicks!!

ultra collie said...

rub them in mud rb ;)
really cool.. and they'd go beautifully with my orange swatch

Antony Bradford said...

I think you're doing the right thing in getting some early research and testing out some shoe options prior to race day. The light weight racers may be ok for shorter races. However, often the cushioning is then limited and you then suffer discomfort leading to loss of form on the longer races. I think you do need to try them out on a long run and not just down the aisle in a shop to know they are up to the job.

I also agree that the holding off from training is hard. You have to be really smart here. The 'devil inside' will be wanting you to do more than you can take and go flat out on every run - it will be hard to resist. Sticking to your program of recovery running, even when you feel you can go much harder will be the key.

All the best on race day.

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