Paying the Price.

  Today's 5km parkrun result confirmed my feeling in that my best times are now in decline as I am beginning to pay for all the racing that I have been competing in and also by not training properly. Today I had another job to do at the parkrun besides running as fast as possible and that was to set up some checkpoints and take timings between them. I set up four checkpoints, though five probably would of been a better choice. Five so that  the last section would be the last 200 metres up the incline to the finish, that way I can see how my sprint finish is doing or not doing. My  first checkpoint was going through the finishing line on the short lap which I ran in 5 minutes 29 seconds, I was operating way above my capability for that first section as I was in close battle with Toby Osman of Ripon Runners and Scott Cassidy and both of them were in front of me by the time I hit my stopwatch at the checkpoint. It will be interesting to see if I can go any faster in that sector without setting off too fast that is if I manage to improve. Today's finishing time was 17 minutes 08 seconds and third place, the winner was Osman in 16 mins 25 secs and Cassidy second in 16 minutes 49 secs.
   I have a long steady run planned for  tomorrow morning then I will be taking five to seven days off from running. My plan is to gradually build back up again and hopefully by October time I will smash my 5k parkrun P.B. at Ripon.
   I have some of those Newton race shoes that I have used a few times lately  and they do appear to be a match for my usual Adidas option. I thought I would put them on for the 5k race this morning. I jogged down to the parkrun course and began my warm up. The ground was slightly wet and after just a couple of strides at 5k pace I could feel them slipping whilst pushing off on each stride. Believe me, within 5 seconds  I was soon off the course and making my way back up the hill to the car to switch into my Adidas race shoes. With my number one race shoe option on I was soon back on the course and warming up with 100% full traction. As I learnt all those years ago in the cubs, "Be Prepared". The Newtons might of had three races and a few speed training sessions but they hadn't been tried and tested in all race conditions so the old pair of Adidas always came along just in case and thankfully so. The Newtons were ok on wet tarmac but the wet footpath stuff at Fountains Abbey was too much for them. Another fault with the Newtons is that they don't like stones, if there are any stoney sections then you can guarantee that a stone will get lodged in the sole unit. In my opinion they are not worth the high price that they ask for them and I will be getting myself some new Adidas race shoes as soon as possible. If you have found yourself a race shoe that meets all the criteria that you require then my suggestion would be to stick with it. I used to use Mizuno that I was more than happy with but would often get blisters but since I switched to Adidas I have never had a problem. Training wise I think I must of just about tried everything, and what I have found the best for winter is a pair of goretex shoes. Hundreds of miles in the rain with dry feet, I read years ago that once water gets in then it can't get back out so you are better off with normal training shoes. Unless you are running down rivers I would ignore that statement and get yourself some goretex shoes, you won't be disappointed especially with the way our weather .
    I won't be buying one of those G.B. tops that they use for the medal ceremonies at the Olympics, did nobody try one on before they bought them ? They look like some sort of designer potato sack. The rest of the kit looks good though.