Shoe Review - Mizuno Wave Rider 17

Shoe Review – Mizuno Wave Rider 17

Some love affairs are all-consuming passion fests, which leave you panting and wanting more. The previous Wave Rider 16, was thus. I was in raptures on every run. The feel was great, the shoe was light and the colour schemes bold and funky (please can we have another yellow Mizuno).

With news that the 17 was going to be even lighter, and with more of a ‘racing’ profile, I was salivating at the thought, and couldn’t wait for the release date to come round. Soon after Xmas 13, I got my order in and duly received my 17s in all their pure white glory.

There was only one small problem, I found I wasn't really liking them.

When I took them out for a run, they felt clunky and inflexible. The toebox seemed to have acres of spare room.  I was expecting a close-fitting racing machine and got a comfy sofa. But having shelled out nearly £100 for trainers, I wasn’t going to bin them after 20 or so miles, so I persevered. 

Ever so subtly, my feeling about the shoe began to change. The cushioning on long runs was welcome and I felt supported in grinding out the miles. 50-60 mile weeks weren’t a problem and there was little obvious wear on the shoes. Speed work ticked along at impressive paces. Instead of feeling like blocks of iron on my feet, I noticed I began to have a spring in my step.

Whatever I was throwing at the Wave Rider 17, they were coping admirably. I ran the Northern 12-Stage Relays in them and was on 5K PB pace. I got a 10K PB in them and a longed-for Sub 40. Over the course of time I realised, I absolutely love this shoe, it’s a proper all-rounder.

In the midst of my initial grump with the WR17, I purchased some Adidas Boston 4 and Adizero Boosts. They were both great shoes, feeling fast out of the box, but in the grand scheme of things they didn’t give me anything that I wasn’t getting from the WR17. Also, being a bit of the small side I decided to sell them on.

After 500 miles, Mizuno have done me proud. Whilst I’m still a believer that it’s not shoes that make you fast, Training makes you fast. But to have a pair of shoes that you have faith in can go a long way to helping you achieve your PBs. 

It takes a little while to grow into the Wave Rider 17, but once you do, you’ll be smitten.

I Am Legend

 It was an unplanned squad run that prompted this post.

I’d not run for a few days due to a combination of house-hunting and a nasty case of sinusitis. But last night I found myself at the club without a clue and ended up doing the whole-club which we now do once a month.

The session itself consists of laps of the square, just over 800m, meaning about a three minute effort for me. This was countered with the equivalent effort as someone else took their turn. We were supposed to split up into pairs, but I hate that – it feels like school PE, so I tagged along with another pair as a threesome meaning I was running with someone of equal ability which made for great racing.

The amount of discomfort I was feeling was a good measure of the fact that I was working hard, and my times were pleasingly consistent. I also found the benefit of the jog recovery, as my legs felt much better without all the lactate floating round them.

Anyhew, the point of this post was a conversation we had on the way down to the session. It seems that my training from Nick has taken on a life-force of its own. Some of the people at the club seem to talk about the sessions in a strange way, as if I’m asked to scale tall buildings, rescue kittens and give Mo and Galen a run for their money.

Of course, in reality my sessions are not vastly different to the ones run by the squad. The mix of efforts may be different, but there are only so many ways you can dress up a 4x 1mile or a 5x1200m session. I love the focus that my training gives me, and the fact I can alter things depending on what life throws in my direction (when I remember to tell Nick).

In the past, I suppose I have been slightly guilty of fostering this view. I’m a naturally private person and in some ways I’m quite protective of my training, well I’m the one paying for it. But I can never marry up that view with the one that sessions are always much more fun with others there. 

A while ago, for a number of reasons, I set my Garmin Connect profile to Private. However, I’ve had another think and decided this is unnecessary. I’ve love to connect with other runners so if you fancy sharing training, look me up here:

http://connect.garmin.com/profile/trainandscoff

Enjoy The Silence

Hi Folks,

Things have been a bit quiet at The Trial of Miles. That was (partly) a conscious decision on my part. 

I’ve got a new job at work, a much desired step-up the ladder, but it does mean I now have a 45 mile commute each way on most days, shrinking my free time somewhat. Also, after Frankfurt I took a long hard look at myself and realised there are certain aspects of my life that I need to change.

 A few months without the rentless push that I’ve subjected myself (and everyone else around me) to for the last few years. I love training and striving, but just as we take a recovery week after a period of hard graft, by brain needed a rest.

“What are you training for?” people would ask. “Nothing in particular…” I reply. Of course, they don’t believe me, but that’s the truth. 

Also, as discussed in my last post, you can get a bit sick of having running in your face ALL THE BLOODY TIME. It has been nice to take a step back. In fact, it’s made me realise how beneficial it is to have periods of specific things to train for. But also, you need recharge time.

I’ve also decided that I have really got to stop beating myself over every wobble or perceived event that hasn’t gone to plan. I have high expectations of myself, but that shouldn’t mean that I can’t cut myself some slack on occasion. Shit happens, that’s life. I’m not helping myself and I’m making life a misery for others.

 Frankfurt was a bit of a turning point for me on that score. I hadn’t quite got the time I was after, but there wasn’t a thing that I could have done differently to alter the result. I left it all out there.

I think we can be guilty of getting so hung up on times and numbers that we can forget the real benefits of running - Doing something healthy that you enjoy, preferably with your friends at the same time. 

A couple of other positive changes this year include:

Press Up Challenge (AKA #PUC2014) – The slab of Rowing Awesomeness that is Pete Reed has challenged everyone to do one more press up each day for the whole of 2014, no slacking. My upper body strength has always been abysmal so this is a good challenge for me.

Moving house – in itself quite stressful, but actually its lovely to have something else to worry about that isn’t running.

Acknowledging that what I do is good enough. Not to say I can’t get better, but for now it’s good enough.

Information Overload

Not many people are prepared to sit in a boat in all weathers, being shouted at through a megaphone, in front of not only the rest of their crew, but also all the other crew on the river at the time. Consequently, although amazing in most ways, rowing is still quite a ‘niche’ sport.

However, in the last couple of decades, seemingly every Tom, Dick and Shelia has donned a pair of brightly coloured running shoes and gone out to pound the pavements in a wave of endorphins/smugness (delete as appropriate).  Whereas 20 years ago, someone finishing a marathon was looking on with a slight sense of awe – the mass-participation of our sports has made it almost ordinary, especially when faced with such feats as Ironman, MDS, UTMB etc.

Now I’m not here to rant about running playing second fiddle to Ironman (a post for another time), but the explosion in popularity of running means that for the avid (read slightly obsessive) enthusiast, there’s never been more information available to digest.

You can read countless websites about running, you can subscribe to magazines about running, listen to podcasts on running, read books on running, watch DVDs on running, tweet about running, talk about running (and most of us do... a lot). Quite frankly it’s exhausting. 

Which each new information source comes that hope that this one tit-bit of information will be the key to unlocking previously unknown speed and potential in our running. Suddenly PBs will fall, Miles will fly by and hills suddenly flatten themselves. Of course, this doesn’t generally happen.

One of the reasons I got a coach was that I wanted to make sure that my training was the best I could be possibly doing at that moment. I’ve reaped the rewards of consistent, focused training and now run times I only previously dreamed of. Of course, I’m still not satisfied but I know that I can improve further with a bit of grit and hard work in the future.

Problem is I still find myself spending hour after hour still reading all the gunk on the internet. Wondering if Pfitzinger & Douglas’s plan is relatively better than Hal Hidgon’s? Would Yasso 800s  better for me than a 45 mins progession run? What’s the damn value of hills anyway?...Arrggh.

These questions are impossible to answer straight away, if at all, and certainly won’t be answered sitting on the sofa on a Sunday evening tapping away on the internet.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. The challenge for me is that I find it difficult, if nigh on impossible to drown out all that ‘running chatter’ that goes on and stay focused on what I need to.

So how do you do it?

What I Learnt Running the Frankfurt Marathon

A marathon is a curious beast. It can catch you unawares and nick your running credit-cards without a moments thought.

I hope these tips help.

1. Definitely do a race in another country

On the face of it, running a race abroad seems like a massive undertaking. However, with a bit of forethought and planning, it is no more stressful that travelling to another big city marathon in the UK. There are a variety of companies that will offer to sort everything out for you and shepherd you round. If you want to completely eliminate the faff factor, it could be a good option for you. But always remember you will be paying a premium for the service. As long as you are not applying of a yak race in Outer Mongolia, pretty much all of the planning can be done in English. The race websites will have an English translation, and armed with your credit card, race entry is only a couple of clicks away.

Do your research when it comes to accommodation, it may mean paying a bit more to be in the city centre, but make sure your hotel is near to the start/finish (which are hopefully in the same area). When you’ve just run 26.2 miles, the last thing you want is a 4 mile trudge across town to your “amazing value” hotel out in the sticks. Business hotels are often a good bet as they tend to be emptier at the weekends and you can get some good deals. 

Expedia is your friend – we found some very reasonable rates in both Frankfurt and Berlin.

Flights can obviously be a big cost, I realised I’d been collecting Air Miles for the last 10 years  and so used them to get to Germany and back. If we hadn’t have had those though, I think it would have been a couple of hundred quid. A stretch for some, but if you’ve been training for this for 4-6 months hopefully you’ve been saving as well.

The expo in Frankfurt was really well organised, picking up the number took less than five minutes. Being Germany, everyone spoke English anyway so there was no confusion. It was reasonably sized, but we just had a quick zoom round and left, remembering the slog round the VLM EXPO. You’re there to run, not go shopping!

Other than that you’re only other task is to get yourself to the start line. If you picked your hotel sensibly it should be no more than a 10-15 minute wander over.

2. It doesn’t matter how fast you are, in the 24 hours before you’ll be shitting yourself with nerves.

The tension at the pre-race briefing was palpable. It doesn’t matter if you are an elite looking for a Championship Qualifying Time or an marathon virgin hoping to just get round in one piece, everyone has their own battle to fight and its natural to be nervous. You’re about to do something really quite special, so channel that nervous energy into focus on the task ahead.

3. You need to be selfish

Remember what I said about the expo – you are there to race, so that so be your primary aim. As lovely as sightseeing on the Saturday would be, it will mess your legs up and make you tired. After the expo in Frankfurt, we went and found a brunch place I’d read about, but that was as adventurous as I was going to be before the race. On the Saturday afternoon, Steve wanted to go and look at the old town. Believe me, I felt guilty, but I had to say “you go and enjoy dear, I ‘m staying in the hotel room”. Rest, Rest and more Rest. To avoid total cabin fever I went across the road and grabbed a coffee later on, but didn’t walk more than 800m in total. If need be make time to sight-see afterwards (although not race day afternoon, you won’t be in a position to do much then).

4. Do as much research as you can

If you are running in a strange location, try and know as much information about the race as possible. What is the course like? Are there any nasty hills? Where are the water stations? What are they serving at the water stations? The last thing you want on marathon day is any surprises. You need to put the work in and do the research. I may go a bit nutty about it, but I had the course map as my PC wallpaper. I didn’t spend hours and hours looking at it, but on race day I knew exactly where I was at all times, and when the next water station was coming. 

A lot of the major races have video run-throughs of the course on Youtube. They are invaluable. You can see course gradients/changes far better on those than you ever can on a map.

A little prep goes a long way on race day.

5. Don’t try and be clever

Whilst being pleased with my time and a PB, due to the reasons listed in the last post, my undoing was trying to make it all too complicated. If you fuck about, the marathon will find you out. Ease into the race, let everyone pass you, keep it steady and controlled, wait until 30Km and then start the heroics.

Anyone can be a race hero at the 10Km mark, they almost certainly won’t be at the 40Km mark. Calm down, bide your time and push at the right point. Or you’ll have a last 10Km like I had.

I LOST 10 MINUTES IN THE LAST 10Km. GAME OVER.

6. People will have very different reactions to the same result.

One of the interesting things about being with a group is it made me realise how much time you spend on your own during a marathon weekend. Especially post race, I was used to celebrating with Steve rather than lots of other runners. Their reactions encompassed the whole spectrum.

There was the guy who ran a similar time to myself and was absolutely gutted as he had wanted 3:15. Whilst I felt sorry for him not achieving what he wanted, it was why I’d tried to divorce myself from a number target before the race. I know in my head I can be exactly like that at times. Now, he as in a different set of circumstances, but he really didn’t seem like he wanted to celebrate his brilliant achievement. I hope he reaches his goals/targets in the future.

On the flip-slide, there was the lovely lady who’d broken 3:00 for the first time. I think she was possibly the most ‘useful’ (sorry Nick – your briefing withstanding) person I spoke to all weekend. It had taken her 6 ½ years to break the 3 hour mark, down from 3:08. Both times are amazing but it truly brought it home that you can't just expect marathon success, you’ve really got to work specifically for it, sometimes hard and sometimes for a long time. She admitted that if someone had told her it would take over 6 years, she maybe never would have bothered. But the fact she stuck with it and got it in the end was so inspirational – I was a bit starstuck. Maybe that was the beer though. She also acknowledged the effect her quest had had on family and friends. I think we sometimes forget as runners, how much of a pain in the arse we can be to those around us, especially if you’re the sort of runner that thrives of umpteen million sessions a week and all the assorted paraphernalia.

7. Enjoy the aftermath

You’ve finished, you’ve got the medal round your neck. You smell horrendous. But you are now a marathon runner and that feels good! Whether things have gone exactly to plan or a bit wrong, its fine. Don’t worry, panic or beat yourself up. Take a few days to think, reflect, analyse if you wish. But most importantly, stay away from those trainers. You may feel great by the Wednesday, but you’ve put your body through hell so give it time to get back to normal, and when you do start EASY.

After Frankfurt, we went over to Berlin for a little holiday. It was great as I didn’t even have to think about running for a week (or course I did but I didn’t let it rule my thoughts). Trainers stayed in the bag and the previous 3 months of pretty intense training eased itself out of my system.

Don’t launch into XC races, Track or Hill sessions. Just nice and gentle jogs round the park or similar. Enjoy the view.