I dithered. Can you believe that? (Shut up at the back.) See, it's like this. My very first pair of trainers were Brooks Adrenaline 12s. I loved them to bits. When I needed new ones there weren't any 12s to be had, of course, just New!Improved! 14s. Which hurt. Very reluctantly, and after three false attempts, I ended up with New Balance something-or-others which have always been sort of okay. Ish. The material frayed on the toe-box after about 80km though and I tried to take them back but Sweatshop had been bought out by awful Sports Direct and had changed their returns policy and basically, I've hated NB and Sweatshop ever since.
Fast forward to the other week when someone on the FB page mentioned that TK Maxx had Brooks Adrenaline for£34.99, and I was off like a shot. However, there was a bit of an issue - they had size 8 and size 9. My original Brooks were an 8.5 (I have hobbit feet). The NB were an 8 and I have had sore toes after longer runs as well as achy hips. But the Brooks come up bigger. What's a girl to do?
Buy them both, of course, and dither round the house at home. 8. 9. 9. 8. Might I fall over the toes of the 9 and trip myself up? One of my feet is almost a whole size bigger than the other. With the 8, would I still get the rubbed toes? 8. 9. 8. 9.
I went to Beginners' Running Club in my NB and was thinking about my feet most of the way round. Yesterday I poked at my toes in both new pairs. The 8s were exactly the same as the NB 8s, so I took the Brooks 8s back. Today I went out in the Brooks 9s and my feet felt fine. I was a tad wary of tripping on uneven pavements, but my feet didn't slip around in them at all, and I was able to put my MoreMiles socks on again instead of the thin socks I've had to wear recently. Hooray
None of which explains why, according to my Garmin and Strava statistics, I am running more and getting slower. Not fair, huh? I'm currently doing about 2 5ks and a 3k a week. The 3k is usually intervals, one of the 5ks includes hills (yukyuk) and the other 5k is a gentle potter and tends to be longer, sometimes up to 7k.
Ah, well, at least I'm getting out there again.
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Anniemurph
Graduate10
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Very nice shoes Annie! I have a new pair of Asics on order so will hopefully be uploading my pic in the next day or two! As for the form, has it been warm where you are? I definately struggled in the heat a couple of months back. I think we also sometimes just go through a big of a plateau/ dip? Iron levels maybe?? Just a couple of ideas, but I am sure you will pick up speed as the weather cools!!🙂
Ooh, I look forward to your pic of your new shoes too!
It's a bit warm here, but nothing like it was last month. Iron levels... there's an idea, although I'm eating my handful of spinach each morning in my smoothie Perhaps it is just a plateau, although that's very annoying if so. I expect to get better if I'm running regularly! That's in the rules, surely? Ta for the encouragement!
My favourite running trainer Jack Daniels says that our daily "easy" pace can vary from day to day by 30seconds to a minute per K - depending on whatever!!! I find that I am reasonably consistent when running at my conversational easy pace - except obviously over different courses. But there are also days when I am able to "get out there" , but not with any great deal of enthusiasm - so they tend to be slower
Great name for a trainer, Bazza I get that some runs are better than others, that's always been the case for me, but I appear to be getting consistently slower and finding it consistently harder. Which is a bit of a pain
Having said that, for the last 5 weeks I feel like I have been constantly been trying to catch up. Doing the Beginners' Running Club gave me the kick-start I wanted, and/but meant that I started running three times a week again, pushing myself that bit more.
Might be time to start doing some "fast" running - find a flat place after an easy and run as fast as you can for 100 metres - you should be absolutely knackered at the end. IF you can , after a few minutes of slow walking rest , try to do it again. - Build up from there. Or try running as hard as you can for as long as you can up a hill -
Slow easy running is good for us - but it unfortunately can become a habit!!!!
Sorry for the delay in responding, Bazza, I've been away with limited access to email.
I've been doing Laura's Speed podcast once a week - but getting slower on that. I've also been trying my two big hills in the town again, and trying to go faster up them, but things just aren't improving at the moment.
Perhaps I should stop worrying about it for now. At least I'm out there and running again.
I've been getting slower too. Have been extending my distances and had read several times can expect 5k time to drop but it hasn't. I do sometimes feel my actual running is sometimes a bit stronger (rather than faster) tho'. Anyway very nice shoes.
V nice shoes indeed, Annie. Sorry to hear you're on a plateau at the moment. Suspect Bazza is right and you need to do some fast runs. W1r1 as intervals, jogging the walks and sprinting the runs, is my favourite speedy workout. Actually, now I've said that, suspect I could do with having a go at it myself!
Sorry for the delay in responding, AM, I've been away with limited access to email.
Hmmm, I've been doing Speed and hills, so I'm not quite sure what else to do! Having said that, I think that Beginners' Running Club is doing Fartleks on Tuesday so that will be interesting and will give me another option on intervals. (Deep joy )
Like the shoes! I think a lot of us have been slower lately,I know I have compared to earlier in the year. I'm blaming the heat! Bring on Autumn!happy running!😊😆
There's definitely an autumnal feeling in the air this morning! I'll try again tonight and see what that brings - apparently we're doing fartleks at beginners' running club
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Perhaps it is just a plateau, although that's very annoying if so. I expect to get better if I'm running regularly! That's in the rules, surely? 
First run with new shoes - sight pain
New running shoes - and yes I will certainly be seen in the dark - that's for sure!!
New shoes sort of, and On Running customer service is brilliant:
New Shoes ! Black but a Bargain !
