Hey, I put some new (running) shoes on…

Managed to drag myself out of bed this morning to try my new running shoes out, impressive as I slept really badly last night.  Shoes were pretty good, more supportive.  Only problem was that for the first 2 miles I had a dodgy hamstring, not ideal!  I also felt fairly poor for the first 4/4.5 miles but after that I seemed to get into it, think I started too fast today (excitement of the shoes probably).

Anyway after the pain it went quite well today overall.  My Nike+ sensor seems to be calibrated well now, with the map saying 7.01 miles and the sensor telling me 7.1 (that’s around 1.3% error for anyone who actually cares).  In fact, mentioning maps, I discovered something new to waste ridiculous amounts of time on: MapMyRun.

This site is powered by Google Maps and allows you to create extremely accurate running routes by using hybrid maps of street/satellite.  It means that you can plot your runs on pavements and through pedestrian areas and gives a better indiction of where you’re going and how far it really is.  My run from today can be seen below but you can also click here to view it on the MapMyRun site, play around with it or even do a flyover video of the route.  Sad, in know, but it’s pretty good once you get to longer distances.  It also gives you a graph of the elevation which is good for planning routes and avoiding certain death.

More Money Spent

Well, with the good weekend over it was time to spend some more money on running gear.  After investigating new shoes online, I went into Glasgow with the idea that I would purchase the newer versions of my Nike Zoom Structure Triax+10s.  After a while I ended up in Achilles Heel in the west end, a specialist running shop where I bought my last pair a few years ago.  After having a chat with the assistant and getting my feet checked again, the conclusion was that the new Nike Zoom Structure Triax+13s were the best option.  So, a new shiny pair of shoes for me then, although they did come at a cost!  Could have done without that.

Nike Zoom Structure Triax+10

Nike Zoom Structure Triax+13

Tonight I also managed to book myself in for the Saturday and Sunday nights in London (race on Sunday 25th April).  After trying the usual suspects of Travelodge, Premier Inn, etc. a nice offer was taken for the Ramada Docklands Hotel.  By having a look at the location it’s fairly ridiculous: right across the water from Greenwich Park for the start of the race but also about a two seconds walk to the Excel Centre for registering on the Saturday.  No excuses then!

Old Firm Delight

Today was a good day on two fronts.  The first was that I managed to complete another longest run yet, 17.7 miles with a pace of 8’06″ per mile.  The second is that Rangers won the Old Firm derby, sending us 10 points clear with a game in hand.  Although not directly related to running, it’s certainly helping on the mental side of things!

With regards to the route it was another Hamilton-Uddingston-Hamilton-Blantyre-Hamilton-Laps around Hamilton effort which went pretty well.  Started slower today, being around 4 minutes behind my last run for the first 4.5 miles to Uddingston.  This allowed me to settle in even better than before and made my whole run pretty comfortable even when stepping the pace up.  With my breathing being absolutely fine, the only parts that were tired were my knees and feet.  Although this is bound to happen I’m going to be looking into getting some new running shoes in the next couple of days as my current ones are about two and a half years old.  This should help with that.

Anyway, day off tomorrow then I can see what this week’s schedule brings other than a 20 miler at the weekend.  Let’s hope I can keep it up!

Death watch: no incidents today, probably due to the quiet Sunday streets.