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Your Running Questions Answered | The Points of Shoe Podcast: Episode 2
2k Plays11 days ago
Although we'd love to, we don't have a lot of free time to answer all of your questions on the channel. That's why we're bringing Points of Shoe back so we can dedicate a whole podcast to responding to your messages.
In this episode, Tom and Nick answer a whole heap of great questions, from training shoes for progressive long runs to our views on using AI to build training plans.
Subscribe to The Run Testers for more running gear reviews: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheRunTesters?sub_confirmation=1
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Transcript
Introduction to Points of Shoe Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey Tommy from the Run Testers and welcome back to the Points of Shoe podcast. This is the series where we answer all of your questions that you've sent us on either Instagram or on YouTube. Right, let's dive in and see what you asked us for this episode.
Training Routines and Race Preparations
00:00:22
Speaker
Evening, Nick. How are doing? Evening. Very well. Yourself? ah Good. I am... ah think that Training is moving ahead now. I'm back on it now. Exciting times. Sorry, me too. I did my first double for ages today. it was tiring. I'm not that on it.
00:00:38
Speaker
well i just do it I just start at 7am because i I look after my youngest on Tuesdays. I had to get my first bit done before my wife started work, then slipped the second one in at 12. It wasn't but a huge gap in between, but it was all right. Okay. okay ah youre just You're still on your Burgess Hill loops though, I notice. Well, I will be for a while, but um we're goingnna be i'm gonna eat I'm back at ah Brighton Phoenix now. so um I'm back at track tomorrow night. My first track session proper track session for Christ must be every year.
00:01:05
Speaker
Frankfurt starts here. You just wait and get that. Pleshy open today. You signed off for Pleshy yet? I haven't actually. I think I'm actually away that week, which it's like, is it the 13th or something? Yeah. Yeah. ah Maybe I can change my holiday.
Choosing Running Shoes: Gait vs. Feel
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah. It'd be a good idea, i think.
00:01:22
Speaker
Right, well, points of shoe. So we did we're going to try and do this every two weeks. We haven't quite got around to that. We talked weekly for a brief period. And yeah, now back in the old monthly schedule. yeah ah So let's start. We've had quite a few questions through um on both YouTube and on ah Instagram. Let's say the Instagrams are ones first. They tend to be a bit easier.
00:01:47
Speaker
ah Right, so... Altev says, if Nick lands on his heel, why does he prefer the Asics Metsuite Sky over the edge? ah Because it feels better. feels faster. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't run in a shoe because of where you land or your gate. just like it's Everyone is very different. It's very small part of the gates where you land. and yeah Yeah, it just feels better. That's why I run in it.
00:02:12
Speaker
I've also got a high cadence, which is meant to suit the edge more, but ia I find the ah Sky bike makes me run faster. I'm not PB, isn't it? But yeah, simple as that. Okay, that is very simple. ah Right, so next one we've got.
Underrated and Overrated Running Shoes
00:02:27
Speaker
Okay, so from BrownBearBeanPaw, this question is, two in one, what's the most underrated and overrated running shoe of the last five years? I've got an answer for this, which just short one.
00:02:38
Speaker
Go, go, go. guys No, i what I don't think... Underrated? I don't think there's any underrated running shoes because... I think... I've got one for underrated. You do overrated.
00:02:48
Speaker
Well, I'm scared to say it, but no, I would say something like the... Don't say the diet of me. Asics Gel Nimbus 27, 28, those sorts of shoes that are just fine shoes, but somehow people are obsessed them. Not many people anymore, but... Yeah, suppose that's... it's to do with marketing mainly because those shoes are really heavily marketed, but... People just stick with them, don't they, for many years as well.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um I think a lot of times when people, I talk to people about those shoes, they sort of say, I love this shoe, it's the best shoe ever. And I don't I've ever tried another shoe. so Yeah, there's a lot of that. Yeah, definitely. um I think for underrated, I'm going to chuck in at the Hoka Max 6 and 7 because... I think people refuse to use them because they have an EVA foam, a supercritical EVA foam, but it doesn't really matter what the foam is made of if the ride's really good and the ride is really good in those shoes. i think they're pretty good value. They're very versatile. You know, if that was called a Piva foam and felt the same, I think people would talk about it a bit like the EVA cell a lot of the time, actually.
00:03:45
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Good. Good answer.
Shoe Recommendations for Long Runs
00:03:48
Speaker
ah Gareth Chapman Sculpts says, what type of shoes do you recommend for a progressive long run? Good question. Progressive long run? It depends how much you're progressing, I guess. But that's that's right in the Super Trainer sweet spot, I would say. um Things like Mega Blasts, Blasts.
00:04:08
Speaker
um I mean, if he's really fast, I'd use a you know, like ah ah one of the comfier carbon jobs. but if you're just progressing, you know, to like a steady pace at the end, kind of a a tempo pace maybe. Yeah. yeah Yeah, I love doing that kind of thing in a super trainer. Where are Tom?
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right. I think I actually you did a progressiveive progression run the other day. First one I've done in a long time. um Very unsuccessful because it was during a storm and i was worried i was going to get by lightning. and but i I actually used the Dynafish Zhaonian for that. Super true. Adjacent shoe, I'd say. Yeah, yeah. ah But I think i think it yeah it does depend on your speed because I think if your progressive progression is getting to the point where you're running at basically race pace at the end,
00:04:49
Speaker
then you want the best possible shoe because it depends on long. Yeah, if it's a really long progression run, you just want to set yourself up so that you can do it at the end. I'd say a long progression run, getting near towards race pace, is the most important run before something like a marathon and you should probably do it in your marathon racing shoe because it will simulate the effect of the day, feeling harder as time goes on. But yeah, if it's just like a general, I do a lot of easy to steady runs. I love doing those to super trainers or kind of like Kipstom Tempo, another much cheaper one than the Mega Blasts. Yeah. Yeah. I always find there's a mental aspect. Progressive runs I find really, really hard because I struggle to... I can go from fast to slow quite easily, but going from slow to fast, I really struggle with mentally, especially if it's a long one. So I need a shoe that is just going to help me as much as possible in that. It's tough. I do so much slow to fight. Even today on the track, I did three sets of eight reps of 400 in the pace increasing. And it's just, yeah, I mean, I'm quite long run, long did race focused and any race really, it's all about, you know, training the body to accept things feeling harder as time goes on. So, yeah. Okay.
Marathon Benefits of Plated Shoes
00:05:51
Speaker
This is an interesting one from Ryan Arch. He says, are plated shoes beneficial recommended for runners in the four to five hour marathon pace?
00:06:00
Speaker
We do talk about this occasionally on. Yeah. I think basically if they're not too on stage. You don't mind the cost. i don't think there's any real problem with them. I just, it wouldn't be top of the things I'd be looking at probably. um But, you know, there are some that are pretty comfy and cushy. I don't believe in the ones that are directly designed for like four hour runners and all that. I think those are just expensive super trailers. But if you can find one that you you like the feel of and it's comfortable enough, I think it will still help. um It's just, I think the things affect things like stability probably a magnified a bit if you're spending longer on your feet would be my guess. Yeah. ah you you've view What about you, Tom? You've done a few of the four-hour shoes, actually, Four-hour racing shoes. Yeah. I would say mean there's ah runners going for the four- to five-hour marathon pace, there's different types of runners that fit into that category. and Sometimes, you know some people might have trained a very long time to get to that four-hour pace. and I think in that case, supershoe is going to
00:06:56
Speaker
play to super shoe is going to make a difference if you're desperately trying tick off you know, claw back some seconds to get that time. But if you are, and I've done marathons between four and five hours where I've done it quite comfortably in those, I don't like using super trainers for those ones or sorry, plated super shoes because they aren't as comfortable as nice. I basically use really nice, comfortable shoe that's nice and bouncy. I'd say things like the mega blast. I did the Flocknest marathon in the mega blast and it was like three hours 30, but I probably would have used it if it was for four hours something. Yeah. It was just comfy, nice and bouncy, not unstable, just a great, you know, it just makes that run more enjoyable by the end of it. Whereas, you know, and I wasn't trying to claw a few seconds. So I would go for comfort and bounce over a super trainer if I was going for a consistent, nice, comfortable pace. yeah but if you are if you are know if you're a six hour marathon runner you're going for a four hour marathon maybe super shoes are good good thing to go for because it's yeah it's like it's like it's pretty yeah like if you've peaked in your training to try and hit a four hour marathon goal you're not peaked know you've worked really hard in your training for it like you say that's a pb that's you know these shoes do give you time it's just um you got to make sure you do do your long runs them to make sure they don't have adverse effects in the last hour of your run or something And five hours is a long time to be running and a lot of super shoes aren't really designed for comfort and especially over that time. I've done like, you know, the Sockley Dwarf Elite One. I did a half marathon that shoe and I could not have run any further in it.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, that shoe was pretty brutal. Yeah. Yeah. So, so you, so I think if you're running for four to five hours, your comfort should be much higher than if you're running two hours and 20 minutes because. Yeah. And it's not just the underfoot feel of like like the plate will feel un uncomfortable after a lift up a time. It's also, yeah, they'll very racy thin uppers that might really irritate after the third hour, that kind of thing. So yeah it's just, yeah, you just got to try out the shoes a lot, but there's, I think there is performance gains for anyone in these shoes. So it's just whether you can, you know, the trade-off's worth it. Okay.
Brand Comparisons: Puma vs. Adidas
00:08:55
Speaker
Jan Posco says, Adidas, I have barely used the Puba Deviate Pure Nitro, actually. The Adidas Evo SL or the Puba Deviate Pure Nitro.
00:09:04
Speaker
It's not called that. I don't have the Pure yet. mine got Mine got stopped at customs, I think, so i get it this week. but Right. I was going to pick either of them, Tom. No, I can't guess. I've i've barely used it. 25 minutes in the ah the Pure. I'm going to use it for track tomorrow night, actually. um That'll be our first versus for sure.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yes, big time. was actually thinking we need to do a video at some point on on all of the issues. and not Not the daily issues video, but just focusing on these sort of cost-effective. The Evo SL clone killers slash killers, yeah. That be a really good video to do. So I can't even answer that at the moment because I just don't know enough. um My initial feeling is I'd probably still say EVOSL, but I'm not going to make a call on that yet. There's quite a lot more rockered than the Pure. The Pure must stick to quite flat geometries in general, so that would be interesting. yeah Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, we'll answer that in ah in a future video when we've been more gone gone through more of that. MaxThePug11 says, shoe suggestions for two-hour half marathon pace runners?
00:10:07
Speaker
ah Similar as to that, the four-hour stuff. um Yeah, the kind of more stable, comfier carbon shoes. so i would say like the Puma DV8 Nitro Elite 4 over the Fast R3, that kind of thing. But again, oh yeah yeah yeah Even then, if you love the Fastall 3, you've used it a lot, you could run a two-hour marathon, that yeah, a half-hour marathon, half-marathon, that. The Elite 3 is very comfy, isn't it? The new Sockney shoe. um i think that is quite... I i think ah i don't think Cielo is too bad for um a slightly slower paces as well, actually, the Cielo from Hoka. Yeah.
00:10:38
Speaker
But um the Rocket would probably the better bet, actually, of those two. I would, yeah, like say, with four-hour marathons, prioritise stability a little bit. But again, it depends. Is two hours your goal PB pace or is it you're having a bit of fun and ah in ah in a half marathon? It depends on that as well.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's less... There are certain shoes I wouldn't suggest for a two-hour half marathon, which we think would be the lean shoes, like the Puma Fast R3. Fast R3. And then the Nike Vaporfly 4, shoes like that. I just wouldn't suggest those for a two-hour half marathon.
00:11:12
Speaker
yeah most I think the Alphafly is very accommodating, actually. Did I say Alphafly? No, said the Alphafly. I think, actually, the Alphafly... Alphafly would be great, yeah. And it's going going for a song these days. And it is, yeah, I think it's... Now, that's a bit underrated these days. Maybe it was a bit overrated two years ago. and now it's bit underrated, i' say.
00:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Sam Abnethy, 98, says, do you, this is another DV, you can't answer this. Do you think the Puma DV8 Pure and Novoblast 6 are too similar to run both in a rotation? Don't know. We'll answer that when we get around to it. But that's interesting that Novoblast is now getting talked about in that round of views. used Novoblast for my PM workout today, nice little tempo, and it was excellent. Lovely, isn't it? I think it's the Nova Blaster year this year.
00:11:54
Speaker
could be the Nova Blaster year, Tom. It could be the Nova Blaster year. o i've i've i've i've not dis I've not really been that obsessed with Nova Blaster since the first one. Some of them have been okay, but I think this one is the perfect one. It's those things, because we've had shoes with that kind of puck of foam before. It's never made any difference, but in this one, it does make a difference. It's like two different foams, but it's a shame the price has gone up a little bit, because it is a fair bit more pricey than kind of some of the big hitters now. Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll we'll add that in into our big roundup of EVOSL killers.
00:12:24
Speaker
Okay, this is a good question, um and it's not about Kit.
Dealing with Running Burnout
00:12:27
Speaker
yeah i This is just a load of random numbers and letters. is the I love your commitment to doing the names. way I can't even read this out. It's like a password. um Have you guys entered running burnout? How do you get out of it? No. and i i I read this one. I thought Nick doesn't get burnout of i'd say and i've said this before but this i think is one of the biggest advantages of working with okay or my coach in particular the biggest success i've had with him is after to six years of running i like it more even than i did at the start and i'm excited to go out each day and training is the most fun thing about everything it's even more fun than racing and um yeah like this morning because i was up at 6 a.m to get to the track for seven for a double and then i did a and then my when i put my kid down for his nap and my wife was here you she's working in the house i go for my second run uh yeah it was great uh so no not yet I have to say, I also started running quite late in life. I didn't start running until I was late 20s. So I think if you started from very young, that might be a bit more of a cause. Tom, you go through you go through peaks and troughs, it's fair to say, with your love.
00:13:24
Speaker
I've experienced running burnout many times life. Many times a day. I'm bit different than you. like you you are Running is the most important outside of family stuff. Running is the biggest thing in your life, isn't it? That's your like... Yeah, it's my outlet. You have to really trim down what things you can do once you have the family. So I've really focused into this. And I and i i have loads, so many different hobbies and things. Yeah, you're a deletante. Thomas is always doing something. Yeah, so so I sort of, I find with running that it fluctuates a bit. Sometimes I become very obsessed with it and then i love and I'm not as obsessed of it it. It does help a lot with working on a channel where you test your shoes because it means I have to consistently, yeah it's exciting to go out for a run most days because I've got a new shoe to wear. So there's a different sort of motivation. But um most of the time when I get running burnout, basically, just, because I go to the gym a lot as well, I sort of shift a bit and go, I'm going to focus on the gym a bit now. I always continue to run, but I find that things like park run is really good for it because even if you know you're not you' not got the motivation to go out like four or five times a week, as long as you're you know there's something you're doing every week, that you're going, actually, I'll keep doing that. enjoy doing that. sort of Just hold on to it for a bit and just don't pressure yourself to do it because that's the worst thing. yeah If you're not really into running at a certain point in your life, don't force yourself to go running because you just hate it. No, or if work out what you do like. Actually, it's important like to go through lot phases. Obviously, I did a big marathon block at the start. it was a half marathon block that turned into another marathon block. But since then, i've just done a load of club races. Every race, every week, I've had a race, like about 8 and I've got another 10K as we can, then another 10K after. And it's just really fun doing that as something different to break rather than...
00:14:57
Speaker
just go straight back into another heavy block of training. It's, you every other week you've got a race. That's a different kind of stimulus to the brain. And and I think it's also important to mix up your distances a little bit. So I, you know, I tend, i won't be in a marathon block for Frankfurt until, you know towards the end of summer. The summer is just about bit more fun, turning out for the club, seeing people who I, you know don't see in the cross country season because don't like turning out for those races. Yeah, yeah. That kind of thing. Well, it's a bit different view because you're you're basically maintaining constant level of, you know, but quite highly, um fit high level of fitness for running. But if I think for most people, i think it's good to just one of the worst things to do is if you have a running, if you get bored of running for a bit, you'd completely stop because then it's very hard to get back into it because you lose fitness very quickly. and don't handle all rubbish And then you actually hate it more because you're like, I can't even do this anymore. So even if you're bored of running, I always try and do a bit, you know, a few. Or stay involved. Go and volunteer at Parkrun just to see how excited other people go. Yeah, yeah. Just have bit FOMO to run. So when you're ready to go, it's not as daunting and horrible as like it can be if you've had six months off and all you've done is eat pies.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, pies baileys. Which I have done. No, he's done it. Oh, he's done it. ah Right. So this is a good question, actually. Can Pierce... Can Pierce? Can Pierce is a normal name. I think you're now making him seem weird. Is Can Pierce a normal name?
00:16:13
Speaker
Can... Like Cameron Pierce. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. It just looks... Yeah, it's hard to read on. This is a question. With the rise of EVSL, the u sell yes so Mega Blast, Puma Pure, etc., are standard daily trainers dead? I think they aren't, but I would never use one. like I think at this point, we say in all our reviews, like I always say like the ghost keeps being on the Brooks Ghost, Nike Pegasus, the Nimbus, like you were talking about, Tom, these shoes will not change to become like those shoes because they've got the dedicated audience. But what I would say is I don't think they're winning over new people. there um But if you already if you've used one forever, you're probably sticking with it. but they asked the
00:16:50
Speaker
In my mind, you know, I would never recommend buying one those shoes, really. Like, I think there's always something a bit more exciting. Like, the Nova Blast is the classic example. I think Nova Blast is, like, the small step up on those shoes towards the really fun, like, Puma Pures and, and you know, the Evo Sels. But it's still a very normal, grounded daily trainer, the Nova Blast. So I...
Daily Trainers vs. Versatile Models
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, it's never going to be dead because that's the shoe that people try on in a running shop and walk out and buy and stick with forever. And it's the most marketed, like Tom says, and it's, you know, it's always at the top of a brand's lineup. so I think, but I do think they are unacceptable in my mind in the lack of fun they offer compared to not just those shoes, but even things like the Rad UFO or something like that, something new. So yeah, it's just true. like None of us put those shoes in our rotation. None of us use those shoes, right? If we test a lot of shoes. Yeah, I do think, um I don't think they're dead, but I think they're starting, yeah, yeah the the the actual market for them is, it's a lot harder and I don't think a lot of them justify their existence anymore. So if you have, because what what you're looking at is a lot of these new shoes can actually be used for different things. You get that sort of versatile level. Back in the days of the, you know, the old, the the original like Clifton's and things like that, you had an option. You had an easy shoe, you had a fast shoe, ah or you had like a race shoe. yeah It wasn't the first, there wasn't a lot of versatility in those days. was much certainly yeah Yeah. So now you go down, I think there are benefits to the, really the benefits to some of these shoes are adjustability and comfort.
00:18:18
Speaker
That's all you're getting. They suit a wide variety of people as well. So don't like, you can pick them up and they're probably, not going to hate them, but, um, They could develop, I suppose. Sock and E this year seem done quite a lot of the Huracan and the Triumph. We haven't tested them yet, but that Triumph is one of those classic shoes and they've got a... That's the thing, I don't like that brands... The Nimbus, why is Nimbus not getting any of the really fun phones in the ASICs lineup? It's the most expensive neutral shoe. they should you know think it would better serve both the audience and brands for maybe to put their flashier stuff in these shoes which have the highest profile but they're very very timid about change making big changes to them because you know they want the person who bought the previous one to buy the next one and that is a viable strategy although I would always say situation don't release a new shoe it's wasteful but And to be honest, most daily trainers are developing anyway. We're seeing less of it. And I think the Nimbus probably, I know that ASICs do this thing where they, most brands do it, where they focus on like one or two shoes a year. We're probably going to see some of those faster phones come into the daily shoes now, the standard daily shoes. But... Yeah, I think people have kind of shown that these fast phones aren't just about fast. Like Nike from Meri Plus is a classic example of pretty standard daily trainer, but with a big thing of Zoom X and it's still stable. It's really balanced. It's really fun. It's better at slow paces. And it's just about tweaking how you use these phones a little bit, think. Yeah.
00:19:47
Speaker
Okay, one from James Flett. There's a few Ironman ones in here. so good alternative to the Superblast for Ironman triathlon. I now see over 40mm stack has been banned. ah I assume in Ironman that's the same as running where it's just really bad for elites, but maybe not. I don't know. If you have to be under 40mm and you want a comfortable shoe for an Ironman, you have to be under 40. I mean, you probably, you know, he hasn't said a racing shoe there in the Superblast. Not a lot of shoes now are under 40mm, I guess. and it's It's a long distance to run, so you yeah do want a bit of stack on it. so I mean, i I would ask around. I can't imagine that's being really enforced unless you're winning these or age winning an age category or something. and But the Novelast is over. His shoes, like the DV8 Pure, the Velocity Nitro are both under 40. The Max 7 is under 40. It's not a cushy, cushy shoe, but...
00:20:42
Speaker
I can't think of much cushier of that kind of... Depends what Super Blast he's talking about as well. Yeah, that's true, yeah. um Yeah, mean, I don't know what's going on with Iron Man, to be honest, but i would I would assume if you rocked up wearing a Super Blast, no one would care.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah i need to We need to know which Super it is, because if you're talking about three, that's a very different question than you're talking about the two. But, um all right, so, yeah, we don't know anything about Iron Man. yeah all right let's jump on to uh the ones from youtube so you did uh okay these are these are always a bit more complicated because people tend to write lot more on these um best daily trainers for a natural ride and then they put new balance rebel v5 versus puma deviate pure versus others we can't talk about puma deviate pure the rebel's not that natural anymore it's quite big and cushy really um
00:21:30
Speaker
if you don't If you don't like rockers, which I guess may be what natural ride means, I think actually the Velocity Nitro from Humor is nice, flat, normal ride. Yeah, yeah. Azura is fairly natural, isn't Bit of a rocker, though. like if you If you're riding rockers, then the Mack or the Azura, yeah. Oh, the Azura is 40mm. That's a good one for an Ironman. Oh, yeah. The Rad Synth is actually a very natural ride, very kind of firm, pretty close to the ground. not Yeah, yeah. Not that long-going ride. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, natural rise is a term I don't, yeah, might need a bit more explanation next time. Okay. Yeah, we we we've got few of those left. We haven't got much time, so these are being relatively quick fire. Okay.
00:22:07
Speaker
That's good one. I'm running my, this is ah the win, Lewis 71. I'm running my first 10K in September and so won't be aiming to beat any records, but I would like to give my feet their best chance. Can you recommend shoes that provide a consistently comfy ride so I can complete the distance? I will have done about 37 park runs by the date of the 10K. Thank you.
00:22:26
Speaker
Okay. Comfy. Comfy 10K shoe. Nova Blast. um Great. That's a good choice. Yeah. And you could if you wanted to, they don't know how fast this guy is, Nova Blast might be good choice because it's a pretty nippy shoe.
00:22:42
Speaker
And it's comfy for sure. um Don't mind the Clifton 10, I have to say, although this new Clifton Pro seems interesting. um ah if you wanted to spend a load of money the Megablast is really comfy Megablast Superblast certainly very comfy Kipstorm Tempo I wouldn't say it's particularly comfy but it is a good issue it is comfortable enough but it's not it's not you use your first word is comfy is it um yeah yeah I think Nodoblast yeah we might have it for that Snowblast is a good choice, especially if you can use it for racing. A lot of those shoes like that, you I'm not tired, we've not tried the new Triumph 24 yet, but those sorts of shoes. Yeah. Paramount, not so much or? Nah, Paramount's way too, it it is comfy, but it's it's just such a but wobbly shoe. Okay. um ah yeah I just wouldn't suggest people get it if I i didn't know a lot about them. Right.
00:23:28
Speaker
I struggle a bit with that shoe and I like really soft shoes, but yeah it's a big beast of a shoe. ah This is from P. Dar. If you had to pick a shoe most like the original Endorphin Pro, what would you pick?
00:23:43
Speaker
The original Endorphin Pro. It was the best marathon shoe for me that I've used and it was really disappointing that they went in a completely different direction with with the successor. That was quite a firm isn't it? but the Pro 1 and 2 were both quite similar. It was the Pro 3 that was different. Pro 3 was like favourite one. Your favourite one. Pro 2 was firm. And I didn't like the first two. I remember racing in the second one thinking, this is just really... It was like... Yeah, there aren't many shoes as firm as that now.
00:24:07
Speaker
i I don't think. Maybe the Mizuno Hyperwater Elite is a bit firmer than average, I would say. yeah. yeah but also consider because everyone's guilty of this did you love that shoe because you were in great form at the time and running really well and haven't been as good form since because i think i feel you sometimes look i sometimes look back with shoes with a lot of nostalgia and then uh maybe that's the reason i like them so much because i happen to be i was making a few breakthrough performances but in terms of firmness i can't think of many shoes that are firm and rocked as that shoe i mean the fast r3 is pretty rockered and slightly firmer than average I'm just looking at my shoes trying to think of anything that's as firm as that. But no, I can't think of anything. I bet there are brands that just weve've we've not tested that have really firm ones that we just don't hear much about. Yeah, but I guess it's certainly a move away from that. because i mean even i mean, the current endorphin speed is not dissimilar to the original endorphin speed, which was not dissimilar to the original endorphin pro. Yeah. In terms of it, I mean, that's still a rockered shoe with a nylon plate with the exact same foam. I'd say that's probably about similar as you get now.
00:25:15
Speaker
Okay. So we weren't that useful with that. Sorry. It's just, it's not a shoe that many people, that people want anymore. That sort of firmer. ah Not in a full race, isn't it? I ask a question from Lee Harrison. With the new surge of plateless shoes, do you think there'll be a place in the market for the nylon plate shoes still? From a running perspective, do you think this move from the brands is just to compete with the Adidas EOSL, or is there a need to go back to the more traditional do-it-all style shoes?
00:25:40
Speaker
ah I think it is move because the E-Busail is so popular and rightly so. I do think in general those kind of shoes, nylon plate shoes will go out fashion a lot because they're more expensive than these shoes and people enjoy running in them more, I would say, the plate-free ones. I think this will be a place because they're cheaper race for models, I guess. But I would say don't know if a plate provides that much extra punch compared to the way they've set the foams in some of these kind of, you know, either Super Trainers or Evo SL kind of alikes. So don't think brands have gone, there's a need to move back to of more traditional shoes. I think they've just seen the Evo SL as big. don't Adidas even expected the Evo SL to be as big a success as it was. So... It happens a lot. Like the original Nova Blast wasn't meant to be such a big shoe. The Super Blast wasn't meant to be, yeah. People surprise themselves sometimes and I think that's what's happened here and seeing the natural kind of year and a half, two year catch up period for everyone else to try and do it. Yeah. The nylon plate shoes, when they first came out, you're talking about like the speed. Mm. It was a really simple distinction between those shoes in that you had the expensive carbon plate race shoe, you had an island plate version, which is a bit cheaper, and you went down to plateless ones, and the distinction was clear. But now there's no, you can buy a carbon plate shoe to train it if you want. Yeah. That is true, actually, yeah. So unless you really find them too firm, carbon ones, but mean, the nylon ones are pretty similar. And they are expensive, these nylon ones. And, you know, the Superblast as well changed everything in that front because plate-free Supertrains became so popular. And then people have, you know, refined it with the Adidas, the Kip Storm.
00:27:06
Speaker
um You know, the different ways of using foam in the midsole, like some shoes have like kind of a firmer foam in the middle, you know, all that kind of, lot really good ideas came out and it does seem that the foam is doing the bulk of the work in lots of these, you know, impressive shoes. So they just worked out ways to stabilize foam without putting full plates and I think.
00:27:23
Speaker
Okay, one more to go. There's still a few other ones, but I think we'll ah I'll save them for the next points of shoot. So i can't pronounce this these letters and numbers.
Running Coach vs. Books or AI Plans
00:27:32
Speaker
Do you guys have a running coach or do you train on your own? Do you think reading running books and using AI to build a training plan is enough?
00:27:39
Speaker
I have running coach. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I still read the running books. And i think you can definitely do your own setup. I don't know about how much about using AI, but I assume know if you're feeding in the right inputs, I'm not a big fan of AI. So I don't know about that. But um yeah, I think you can now get by with so many different ways. But Tom, like you are a coach, but still would use a coach for certain times, right? Yeah, I mean, I think I think it depends entirely on the type of person you are and what you're trying to do. So um for me, I find that if I really want to train hard for something, I find a coach helps me quite a lot because one, I feel accountable um for doing stuff, but also I can ask questions and things. So sort of you have you have a deeper relationship with your training when you have a coach. I would really struggle. I think i think for some people, if you just... I'm quite jealous of these people who can read books, use AI to set up a training plan. Because I think but for a lot of people, especially if you're quite new to running, that would be absolutely fine. That sort of generalised training that you'll get from that is probably... And you'll probably actually get some quite good stuff from AI. I've tried it quite a bit.
00:28:42
Speaker
the The skill from those people is sticking to that plan. Yeah, definitely. I would struggle. Because because if if if you're building it yourself and you're using AI to do it... There's no sort of, that but it's not prescribed, is it? It's just you know words on a page that you've created. um But if you can do that, I think absolutely great. I think if you get to a higher level, if you're like, you've been running for a long time, you're going for really fast times, that's probably not going to cut it.
00:29:05
Speaker
you You might need something a little bit more personalized based on how you you've trained. AI might be able to do that pretty well, to be honest. But I think it really comes down to how you motivate yourself to to stick to it. Yeah, it's true. It's nice to have a coach with something you know this' some thought behind what you're doing and you're assuming it's all safe in their hands. I think I would say if I wasn't with a coach, first thing I'd probably try would be the ah Norwegian single stuff that's around the internet. Very easy to build your own plan to that. And to end it's quite, I think, an effective and enjoyable way to train that I have mates doing. and i would i would like i mean yeah I think you can find that in various forums and stuff. I know there's a book now, actually. Yeah, Norwegian Singles Method book. Oh, okay.
00:29:44
Speaker
but Yeah, I do think, but it it also really depends on the coach and whether you get on and whether it works because there's a lot of coaches these days, Tom. Yeah, you have to spend a lot. Your coach is very, very good.
00:29:57
Speaker
I mean, got very lucky with my coach, but also... World famous coach. Yeah, and ah and, you know, not charging as much as a lot of Instagram coaches. So that that would be my fear would be i don't want to be spending 200 pounds month on a you know on a coach that I'm know'm not 100% sure about. so Yeah, yeah. That's the other, yeah I don't want to get taken for a ride for my coaching when there are like you say so many good books and stuff like that. spent weeks for trying to find a coach and I had very specific things that I wanted from a coach like what sort of races they'd done previously and you know how much experience they had in certain types of running and all these sorts of things.
00:30:31
Speaker
Whereas, ah and some i looked at, I just, I mean, there's a lot of coaches out there who aren't really experienced running coaches. They're just, you know, they're just coaches. They haven't done the running themselves. So sort of, you know, there's there's different things that people want from a coach. But yes, you've got youve got to find the right one. It's not necessarily for everyone. I'd like, I said, if i was looking for a coach again fresh, I think a big background of working with clubs and it's quite nice because that just means they've worked with lots of different runners, you know, for a long time. And it's, you know, it's, you get so much experience and trust from being in that kind of system, I think, but you can certainly find brilliant coaches who've never coached anyone else before. They just happen to be, you know, really good at it and really good at motivating you and everything. But it's also lots of ways to get quicker at running. It doesn't have to be too complex, especially at the start. Okay. I think that'll do it for now. That's quite a long points issue. Yes. Pretty strong. Pretty strong. um Yeah. I mean... like Somebody did comment last time saying, please make it an hour.
00:31:22
Speaker
There's only one person, though. So we'll get an hour for one person. Do another 20 minutes on the Dino Fish to get some more comments in. Oh, yeah. No, that's... Oh, yeah. We'll get a few comments on that. um Cool. All right, then. Well, we'll try and stick to our plan of doing more of these. um Yeah. so you See you in a couple of years. Yeah. Yeah. ah Cool. All right, then. Well... I think I'll do it then for this yeah this one. I will ah speak to you soon. Bye-bye. Catch you guys later.
00:31:48
Speaker
This episode was presented by Tom Wheatley and Nick Harris Fry. It was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.