Gearing up

Week 4 draws to a close and here are the headlines

• Number of runs = 4
• Total distance run = 23 km
• Longest run = 9.25km
• Gym stuff: 1 cardio session at the gym; 1 core strength gym session
• Other stuff: A lovely new pair of running shoes!

Training

My son, I, drew up a list of suitable organised runs for me between now and the 22^nd April and circulated it amongst the family for anyone to join me along the way. I narrowed it down to a selection of 10k and HM events, with the first HM being a couple of months away in January 2018 and the first 10k being a couple of weeks away on 11^th November. I has also signed up for the 10k on 11^th November and has kindly said he will run with me rather than at his usual pace. That is extremely generous of him. With his PB of around 46 minutes for 10k, he will undoubtedly feel he is crawling rather than running. As for me, I am aiming for a finish inside 70 minutes at this stage; if I can get close to 65 minutes, I’ll be over the moon.

Not having a whole lot of time between entering the event and participating in the event certainly concentrates the mind (and body) – hence the 4 runs this week!! T joined me on one early evening post work run – having company helped me up my pace slightly and it was fun to run and chat (well gasp) at the same time.

Friday morning’s 9km run turned out to be the most scenic – starting in misty woods and finishing in sunny autumnal fields.

I took this snap – it’ll provide a reminder of pleasant conditions when motivating myself out of the door in the depths of dark winter running days.

Gear

I have been on the quest for new running shoes. The main marathonfeat blog photo shows my current running shoes – Innov8 roclites 305 GTX. I love them because they are light to wear, are waterproof and are a cool colour (turquoise, greys etc). These are trail shoes rather than road running shoes and are suitable for running on softer surfaces such as woodland paths, mud, grass, stones rather than tarmac. Trail shoes provide less cushioning than road shoes and have a softer grippier sole to aid stability on rocks, wet slippy surfaces. Much as I love my Innov8 roclites, they won’t do the business when it comes to training for and running the London Marathon. For 26.2 miles of road running I will need something much more cushioning to protect my joints and with a sole that will stand up to the wear and tear of hard tarmac.

So, in search of road running shoes, I headed eagerly to my local town, seeking out an independent specialist running shoe shop. However, my eagerness was soon extinguished when the shop assistant told me they didn’t stock anything in my size at all… (In normal shoes I am 3 ½ , in training shoes usually 4 ½.) …and only started with shoes from 5 ½ upwards. He didn’t get any shoes out at all for me to try or to see if different styles/brands might fit. Not keen to make a sale at all it seemed…

Next stop was another independent sports shop (this one recommended by T) in a different town. What a contrast to shop 1! The staff in this shop were definitely keen to make a sale. The establishment was Warwick Sports Shop I cannot fault their service and attitude and would highly recommend them. They spent about an hour on me –

• looking at my stance
• checking my requirements
• bringing out a vast range of shoes and brands (New Balance, Brooks, Saucony)
• trying varying lengths, widths, styles etc
• scrutinising me on the treadmill

Until we found The Ones – Brooks Transcend 4. They are the right length and offer plenty of width in the toe box without being too roomy. I am assured that they are extremely cushioning and have enough mileage in them to train for the marathon and beyond.

I can report that they have been out on their inaugural run and they were just the ticket. (That photo doesn’t really do them justice as they are bit more turquoise and bit less pink in reality…)

So with 174 days to go…

The weekly plan for the next few weeks includes 3 runs of around 8k each; at least 1 cardio and 1 core strength session at the gym. And in between, I’d better see if I can fit in some work!