The Virtual Runner Running Blog » running shoes

Catchup

The Virtual Runner — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:17:00 +0000

It’s been an eventful November to say the least! Here is just an overview of what has been happening in order of importance.

My son turned two!
I tried out my new Adidas trainers and my new Shoepouch.
Barack Obama became the first African-American President of the USA.
In the UK, the Monetary Policy Committee dropped the Bank of England base rate by 1.50%, reducing the overall rate to 3.00%!

My son’s birthday was great and he suffered toy/family overload. He didn’t know what to play with first and didn’t want anyone touching his stuff. He was a bit naughty but not too bad. Overall, our son is very well behaved. However, now that he is “doooooo” we await the onset of the “terrible twos” which are renowned worldwide for taking your sweet innocent 1 year old and turning him/her in to a little monster. Bring it on.

My new trainers are great so far. I’ve done about 50 km in them already and they seem to be holding out and the cushioning is quite good. There is still stiffness in my left achilles after a hard or long run but that is something I’ll have to sort out.

I’m not going to go on about the election in the US or the change in the interest rates here in the UK. You can read about those yourself on almost any worthwile news site.

That’s it for today, short and sweet!

Adidas Supernova Sequence

The Virtual Runner — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:12:00 +0000

I did say that I would go in to the shoe shop expecting to buy one type of trainers and probably come out with a completely different pair.

Here is a brief overview of the trainers:

Adidas Supernova Control Sequence Running Shoe. A brand new stability shoe from Adidas with luxury cushioning.

3D Formotion – to ease the transition between the toe off and landing
No Seam Fit Technology – for an amazingly comfortable fit
GeoFit Lining – for an anatomical and very comfortable fit
LiteStrike 55 Inlay – for lightweight comfort and soft feel
adiPrene – in rear foot for shock absorption
adiPrene+ – for dynamic forefoot propulsion
Torsion System – for independent movement between the fore and rear foot

A great stability shoe which provides great pronation support aswell as having luxury top of the range cushioning to help take the strain no matter how many miles you do.

I tried on a pair of Asics Kayano trainers and they were just too hard. There wasn’t enough cushioning for my taste. The same went for the Asics 2130 trainers so Asics was out of the running within 10 mins of my 1 hour+ visit to the shop.

I tried on varous Brooks and New Balance trainers but in the end I went for the Adidas Supernova Sequence trainers. They just seems to offer the cushioning I was looking for and they are still “stability” trainers which will hopefully offer the support I need in the arches.

It was an added bonus that the shoes were also on sale and reduced to £68 instead of £80. I would’ve easily paid up to (an probably more) £100 on new shoes but these were a bargain.
The fellow who was helping (putting up with) me at the shop said I could try them out on a treadmill and if I didn’t like them that I could take them back without any problem. On Sunday I’m going to test them out at the gym on the treadmill and see how they really feel.

So I’ve got my new shoes and hopefully these won’t cause me any pain or injury. They should also carry me nicely up until early next year when I’ll probably need another new pair of trainers.

The only thing I need to buy now is a pouch for my Nike+ sensor so I can still use it with my iPod. I’ve seen them online and they attach to the laces with the sensor held firmly inside. That way, if I really start liking non-Nike brands I can still at least make use of the their Nike+ sensor technology. That is until I want a Garmin forerunner or some other sort of GPS running technology.

The Runner’s New Shoes

The Virtual Runner — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:17:00 +0000

Once upon a time…

I’ve got a day off work on Friday and I’ve decided I’m going to purchase some new trainers which should take me up until the Reading Half-Marathon. The shoes are a gift from my fiance and her mother (my future mother-in-law) for my birthday next month. I know it’s early but I certainly don’t mind because I love getting new trainers!

I’ve been looking around at various specialist running sites online and I’m going to try some Asics trainers and take a break from Nike. I need to experiment with some other brands to see if the little pain niggles that I get in my achilles (left foot) go away or get worse. Seems like an expensive experiment considering new trainers are about £100 but it’s worth it in the end.

I’m going to go to my local running shop on Friday and have a look at what they have got. I’ve already got a particular pair in mind but I need to try them on.

They are Asics Gel Kayano 14 trainers. The only problem is that I’m not a very big fan of the gold colour. I have seen a pair in blue/white (which I would prefer) but it depends on whether the shop I’m going to has them in stock.

I’ll talk to the staff in the shop to see what they recommend and I’ll also see if they can give me another gait analysis to see if I’m actually using the correct type of shoe (structured) for my running.

You never know, I could end up with a completely different brand of shoe to what I said I was going to get.