First try out of the Brooks Adrenalines

Three generations of Ellis trainer: GT2140, GT2150, Adrenaline GT10

So I tried the Brooks for the first time this morning and they felt comfortable enough…

If I compare them to the Ascis 2150s I was using before, they are a slightly better fit for my foot… Despite leaving half an inch between toe and end of shoe on both trainers, the GT2150s used to slip a little more around the heel, the Brooks don’t do that.

They did feel a meatier trainer when running, I’ve only just checked the weights of the two trainers post-run but they are 70grammes heavier than the Asics which I don’t find surprising. This gave me some confidence of their stability properties though.

They were also a little stiffer on the first run than I remember the Asics being but I imagine that stiffness will loosen up as I run more in them…

So far, they seem like a good buy.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 609
Miles to date: 799.09

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Things will only never get better

After this morning’s run I had my weekly sports massage at Virgin Active with Lillian and told her about my visit to the physio.

While she agreed with what the physio had said, Lillian was quite forthright in her general assesment of my condition. “James, the only way you will totally get rid of shin splints is to rest – there’s no other way out of it,” she said before going on to do a massage that went a long way to relieving some of the pain.

I later went into London and popped into a shop called Runners Need – as I said earlier this week, I was keen to have my gait looked at again. While new trainers ahead of the Brighton Marathon would never be worn in and would lead to blisters, I thought it was worth taking a look at.

I started this quest running in Asics GT 2140 stabilising shoes that worked pretty well for a good 500 miles but when I tried to get a new pair, they were no more and had been replaced with the upgraded GT2150s.

When I entered the shop, I told the shop assistant this and he said a few other people had had trouble with the change. He said the new shoe was not as stable as its predecessor and that they were now recommended only for people with mild to moderate overpronation (foot rolling inwards as you run).

We checked them out on the treadmill using a video camera to record my stride and you could see they are correcting my gait but maybe not enough, I’m still pronating quite a bit.

He also asked me if I had any other problems… I said blisters on the arches and he confirmed this is another complaint people had with the 2150s.

He suggested I try on a pair of Brookes Adrenalins instead and when we checked them on the video again, they looked like they did a better job than the Asics so I bought a pair.

It’s highly doubtful I will run Brighton in them but I was going to change the 2150s after next Sunday’s marathon anyway… I’ll probably just try and break the Brookes in a little early.

Click here to see a link to Garmin Connect and see a map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 606
Miles to date: 796.09

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

The first run after the first half marathon

In the excitement of finishing the Porstmouth Coastal Half Marathon yesterday, I totally failed to notice I have now run more than 600 miles in the last five months!

Today was pretty tough – Im shifting at a private jet company, working on their customer and staff mags and so had to be up early… My legs, particularly the left, were stiff, my blisters hurt and it was chucking it down with really nasty rain.

I dragged myself out of bed though, had a banana, some water and a couple of Ibuprofen and went out in in. The first steps were agony but, by the end of the road, I started to feel a little looser.

As the rain drove down, I trundled no… ages slower than yesterday. By the middle mile though, I was feeling pretty good. The cold was numbing my legs against the pain and I was back in my old worn in trainers to combat the blisters. Even the rain didn’t seem to matter… in fact, I actually like running in rain, there’s something about it that makes you feel like you are really pushing yourself.

Hopefully the rest of the week, if I take it slow, will be easier

Click here for a Google map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3.01
Target: 468
Miles to date: 606.19

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Suggest a song for Sunday

So as part of my training for the Brighton Marathon I have my first proper race this Sunday, the Portsmouth Coastal Half Marathon raising money for the RNLI.

For 13.2miles or around 2-2.5 hours, I’m going to need some inspiration for my iPod playlist, so please, if you have a great suggestion, leave a comment below or email me by clicking here.

In order to look smart, I’ve gone and got some new kit ready for the race and tried it out today. Aside from the worrying fact that my legs are still tight from Sunday’s 15 miler, I can conclude the following.

1. New Adidas running shirt – absolutely fine, no problems at all – made with Climalite materials to cool you down.

2. New Asics GT 2150 trainers – these have inbuilt support to stop by ankles from turning when I run. My old trainers (GT 2140) did a good 550 miles and its around this point the support tends to go… a return to turning in the old trainers could be the cause of my leg ache this week. The GT2150 are simply the new generation GT2140s so there was not much difference. the

3. Given it’ll probably be cold at the weekend by sea, I decided to invest in a new base layer by Skins. Despite getting a large size, I almost felt like I was being asphyxiated. I’ll probably revert to my old Adidas one to keep warm (which, despite being a medium, is much more comfortable).

4. New New Balance shorts. Again fine, although they bunch a little around the privates which could lead to chafing. Extra vaseline or old shorts could be in order.

Finally I also tried a carb gel for the first time. These are supposed to give you energy as you go but as you have to drink half  a litre of water with them, you still end up running with a bottle. I think I’ll stick to a bottle of Lucazade Sport when I run Sunday. They tasted bloody awful anyway, so I’m not too fussed with not using them.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 459
Miles to date: 587.32

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The hills are alive

As part of my regime for the Brighton Marathon, I was supposed to do some hill training last week while in Orlando. Pushed for time though and given Orlando is as flat as one of this Tuesday’s pancakes, I’d missed it out in favour of a flat run and so decided to do it today.

I’m not absolutely sure of what the benefits are but it hill training is in every training programme and, I think it is meant to strengthen certain muscles that are perhaps not put under the same stress when running on a straight.

Anyway, the program involved running for a mile as a warm up, finding a hill and running up it for two minutes fast before jogging back down in three minutes to the start. And then repeating this nine times.

So I headed out into Norbury as far as Norbury Hill – which is pretty steep – and went up and down it, veering off to side hills a couple of times to break up the monotony. Some builders in one of the houses there were just looking at me as though I was mad.

Toward the end of the run it started to rain, heavily and I began to curse my stupidness at going out in just shorts and a tee. By the last hill, my arms were red and sore with cold and to compound things, it started hailing as I was running home. Hard, fast hail that stung as it hit my head – but quite enjoyable in a masochistic way.

I’m off to do my first official half marathon on Sunday in Portsmouth and was chuffed to hear the doorbell ring this morning with the postman announcing the arrival of my new pair of trainers. There are the ones I’ll hopefully be running Brighton in but I’ve had to upgrade from Asics GT2140s, which you can’t find any more to Asics GT2150s… I’m hoping they’ll be as good and faithful as the last pair.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 5.27
Target: 456
Miles to date: 584.32

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here