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Running Shoe Questions Answered: Points of Shoe Episode 7
3k Plays5 months ago
The team answers your running shoe and tech questions in this series from The Run Testers.
This week Tom and Nick talk about running watch data, cross-training for runners and what running brand we'd go for if we could only pick one.
If you have a question about running shoes that you want us to answer on the pod, send us an email to [email protected] with "Points of Shoe" in the subject line.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Points of Shoe'
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey, Tommy from The Rancestors and welcome back to another episode of points of shoe where we answer your questions on running shoes, tech kit, that sort of stuff. In this episode, we talk about a load of things from data on watches to our favorite running shoe brands and if we do cross training. So let's dive in and go through the questions.
House Renovations and Challenges
00:00:30
Speaker
Evening, Mr. Harris Fry. How are you doing? Heidi, hi. How are you? I'm very well. ah Yeah, all right. All right. I said I've got doors in my house, but it's a working program. You still in your old house for now, then? Yeah, we're renovating. then Well, I said renovating. We're doing stuff to the the new house before we move in. so if yeah At least you told me you had ah an hour and a half trip to move a radiator from inside one house to another or something. It's quite hard if you don't live in the place that you're doing up because things get delivered at different times. You don't know when they get delivered. um So every time, ah basically, I got a radiator that needs to be delivered. just They just delivered it. Just left it outside the house and I just checked the truck and it said it's outside your house. So I had to go and move it indoors. Travel over for an hour and a half. You're saying at an unknown location in Sussex right now, there might be free radiators just lying around and stuff like that.
00:01:17
Speaker
Possibly. I mean, I'm not sure anyone would want it, but from the packaging, it looks quite good. Yeah. We've currently got- It was a good radio though. Nice. We've got our own problems here, which is we've got getting a bit of a patio in the back garden and they started yesterday. It's a classic thing where they just didn't turn up the second day, obviously doing another job. So they've just left a massive pot of sand outside my house and it's rained quite a lot today. So I guess they'll have less sand than they left it with. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that sounds positive. Yeah, good. Yeah, really strong stuff. But anyway, yeah, be a good patio for a, it means this is actually quite important because it means throughout the winter months when I can't, couldn't film on my lawn shoe cutaways, I'll now be able to do it in my back garden instead of on the street outside of my house, which has only a bit of a rep as a local loon who's shooting, filming his shoes. That's all I've ever been able to do. Now I'm going to have a garden. I'm going to be all in on there.
Running Shoes and Sponsorship Debate
00:02:06
Speaker
It's nice, but you need a bit of patio because if you're relying on grass, it just floods here all the time. All I've got is patio, decking and patio. Perfect. You'll never have to leave the house again. Absolute dream. Absolute dream. You lapse around it. Right, should we do some questions? Well, we've got a lot. Yeah, I've got a lot. Thanks for everyone who messaged in with a question. We've got some very good ones this time. Yes. We always have very good ones, Tom.
00:02:29
Speaker
We always have very good ones, but there we've got a lot of short and and easy ones to discuss instead of detailed ones that are quite complicated. to Yeah, Instagram, I think it's good for that. It encourages short questions, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'm just going to randomly go through and pick some of the ones that we that we've got that are good. Are any of them are your friends just abusing you like last time? or there's I've had no abuse at all this time, which is odd. That is a shame. It is a shame, yeah. Maybe next time. All right, let's start with a nice, easy one. Fortnite bot. Okay. It says, best running shoes for 10K. For racing, I assume. I assume so, yeah. Asics met at Speed Sky Paris. Okay. Your favorite carbon shoe would be your best shoe for 10K, I'd say. Pretty much, yeah. I wouldn't necessarily feel the need to go and get a low profile one, but the Asics is lighter than all of the low profile ones like the Takumi Senn anyway. But Takumi Senn is good for 10Ks, but I'd rather be in the Asics. It's a bit different. If you did this eight years ago, you'd probably be a bit easier to say, this is a good shoe for 10K because some of the bigger, clumpier, bouncy American shoes might not be very good for it, but now it's as much of a much as isn't it? Yeah, I wouldn't buy a specific shoe for a 10K. Probably just use your general racer, unless you're only doing five and 10K, then weight would come into occasion, then the Asics, the Vaporflyer, both very lightweight.
00:03:51
Speaker
choose If you are a runner that is very, very fast and you're trying to get marginal gains all the time, then there probably is some benefit to really going for a lighter shoe, but...
The Role of Data in Running Training
00:04:01
Speaker
um Yeah, twisty courses, some some of the pumas come into play because the grip is so good. But, oh yeah, general straight line 10K, throw on your carbon shoe. Yeah, okay. So not just any carbon shoe then you that you like. Okay, so this is a really good one, quite a difficult one. If you could be, this is Mephisto, if you could be sponsored by any running brand and therefore receive free,
00:04:26
Speaker
apparel and shoes, but but it means you can't wear any other brand ever. Who would you choose and why? It's a good question. like I'm pretty dominated by the ah wanting my favorite racing shoe. but ah so that would burn you I'll make do with substandard trainers compared to other brands if I think I've got my favorite racer. but Actually, in general, I really like Attix's clothing as well. so I probably would say Attix, but I think they've got the best rotation available at the moment of any brand, I'd say. loads of good cushy shoes, really nice, versatile daily trainers, my current favorite racing shoe. And I've always found their clothing has a good fit for gangling, you know, Lancaster's like myself. So I've even got a couple of pairs of shorts with loads of pockets for the marathon, which I'll obviously need to carry all my drinks. So I'd probably say Essex right now. How about you, Tom?
00:05:16
Speaker
It's a tough one because yeah it does largely come down to the shoes, doesn't it? If you you know it could have the best clothes in the world, but if you don't like the shoes, then you're not going to pick it. I think it's a tricky one because I would go, well, sockney would be my wish my shoe go to one, I think, via for shoes. But i don't I don't think I've got any sockney kit that I really wear very often. So I'd probably say Nike. Nike? Just because I really like the kit and it fits me really well. And I've got lots of nice nice Nike stuff and I'm really in the outfly. ones more than any of the shoe. So Hoka right now has got some lovely like clobber really nice bright colors and that so that'd be tempting as well as I do like their shoes a lot as well the yeah but I don't know there's not too many I would be gutted to be you know I'd happily take most of the shoes and most of the gear
00:06:02
Speaker
yeah No problem. I think these days, that's the big difference. A few years ago, you just have to say Nike because they obviously had the best racing shoe by a mile. um But now it's all quite even unless you end up... but I wouldn't want to be sponsored by Under Armour, for example. I don't want to use their racing shoe or their train shoes that much, although their gear is quite nice. Yes. yeah Yeah. Yeah. It's a yeah tricky one. and yeah well A long time ago, like well, it's a long time, five years, 10 years ago, it'd be pretty easy to pick based on ah ah like clothing and stuff because not many were doing really cool clothing. It was pretty general. They have added it in, yeah. Supposed to be even like Hoke and never even did clothes before and now they've got quite an abstraction. Yeah. I remember when they on the site they had one hat and one t-shirt. Glory to God, all you need is to put it around bottomless. yeah
00:06:46
Speaker
Under Armour make the best ah boxes, actually. That's a strong point for Under Armour. If you're going to that level, I'm not sure many of these running runs even make boxes, Tom. so Suddenly, it's command of every run. you know and I do like even under you know a pair of shorts with a liner, I usually still wear boxes. I never do. I basically don't wear shorts without a liner in these days. so Yeah, I just find for, I prefer, that's probably a question that will come up on the channel sometime. Do you wear underwear under running shorts? That has come up before, it came up about a year ago. Yeah, depends on the shorts, but mostly I still do.
00:07:29
Speaker
OK, here's a good one ah from ah the the YouTube ones that people just seem to have like um automatically generated names like just numbers and letters. It's not even going to read out that one. ah So yeah what are your thoughts on the importance of data from running watches and other devices for training? Is there an argument for less data or metrics? What does a runner absolutely need? so i would never say there's an argument for less data because i find it very easy to ignore data that i don't need on which i know some people struggle with that if they so if they know it's there they'll be checking on it and using it but i've never i think now always more data because if that's useful to someone great i'll just ignore it if it's not useful to me tell the actual essentials for me
00:08:08
Speaker
um I would say the most important stats for me are accurate pacing stats. So lap pace, basically. like could If I just had lap pace on the watch, I'd probably make do because I have a plan from a coach and everything like that. And I know what easy effort feels like. But I do think, well, that's the thing. Heart rate on watches is useful, but not if it's from the watch because I don't really think it's very accurate. But yeah, some judge of intensity is definitely useful, I think, for lots of people, especially new runners. But I Yeah, I wouldn't be going completely nuts on it, but then some people will and they'll use it like if you pick some people use power from watches and it judges everything they do, but I don't know. um I certainly don't think there's an argument for less data because you can just turn it off very easily. Yeah. Well, I'm not massive. um I i use ah probably use the bare minimum. I've got a Garmin Fenix 7 Pro, so I do get a lot of data, but I tend to use the standard things that most people use. I suppose it's
00:09:00
Speaker
It's not necessarily an argument for less data because I think the data is important. It's how the data is used. So yeah I do think there's a lot of watches that use the data just to show that they've got the data. And then you look at it and you think, well, what do I do with that? so it's also this is definitely Yeah, there's definitely a move to have all this data out there to try and help you. so Obviously, that's in runs. Outside of runs, I will look at things like you know the readiness stat and stuff like that. I'll take it and I even look at the hill in the endurance score on the Garmin. I don't really care about them, but yeah if you see a trend in the right direction, I think it's quite interesting sometimes.
00:09:33
Speaker
but You gotta make sure that you're not relying on things that are based on dodgy heart rate data more often than not and stuff like that. So that's sometimes the big issue with it. You've got to get good data in to get good data out. So I would never live and die by any of the stats on the watch ah apart from like pace during a workout because I haven't got any other measure of that pace. It's very hard. I can't tell if I'm running a 318k or a 321k without the watch. So yeah yeah that's probably the most important stat. ah I would net i would always i'll say the the moment you are checking data ah to the point where you feel a little bit stressed by it, I would hide the widget or hide the data on your watch immediately because it's not worth it. I think it's all going to be used with a pinch of salt and looking at trends and all that kind of thing rather than hard numbers because we're all we're all amateurs here for the most part and it shouldn't be shouldn't be taking away anything from your enjoyment of the sport.
00:10:22
Speaker
No, i I do think it's, I mean, I was ah can't believe, I think it might have been Andy from the running channel was talking about how when he used to train in his early days, they obviously didn't have GPS watches that they were using for, for runs and stuff. So he did it all based on time. Yeah. And it was never that accurate, but obviously it worked quite well for him in his training. But I would say that I suppose it's different, different people. There's probably some data that some people would find useful for others don't find useful. There's some, there's there's an argument for some data being useful from a purely you know, motivational way, like, yes, driver, just seeing your numbers go up and things like that. But yeah, you know, I think I think for most people, there's a there's a fairly clear set of data that is going to be really useful for your runs, which is like, you know, how far you've round GPS, what your pace is over that.
Filming Techniques for Running Reviews
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose it is. But I feel like I feel like running this boom now, there's a lot more people running really hard solo and without things like track sessions. And I think in the past, when Andy was running, it would have been like,
00:11:21
Speaker
Yeah, well, five sessions a week, which just is not on time, but the key ones are on the track and you know how exactly how far you've run and it just doesn't matter. So, but if, or, you know, you're over the running club three times a week and you're doing heel reps and some guy knows a hill that's the right length and, well, they know the rough length of the route. Um, well, some guys got a wheel and measured it. But, um, yeah, if you're out by yourself training hard, like I did during COVID, everything was done. All my sessions had to be done on the road. I was finding certain road loops and things like that. The watch became really important for pacing, all those kinds of things because, yeah you know, had no other way to do it. Um, But yeah, ah I definitely think, for example, sometimes in marathon training, I'll get two into my total mileage and it will be on the bill but'll be on my watch face, um you know, day to day, I look down on it and I'll be like, oh, normally at this point in the week I'm at this mileage and at which point I take it off my watch face because that's stupid to think about that. So you're just going to catch yourself with a lot of this data and be quite mentally aware of what you're using correctly and what's not helping you.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, and we're going to be quite in the depth of this one. I'd also say that I think that there's some things that you get on a watch which a seasoned runner won't care that much about, but it's quite good for a beginner runner that are quite complicated data sets. So yeah things like the training redit readiness and stuff like that, I don't really use anymore because I generally know my training readiness, but for somebody who's new to it, that might be quite an important way to go. oh I didn't realize ah but after doing two runs a week, um my training red is going to go down more than Yeah, the trend the overall training load analysis is pretty good on these. So you can see, I think they are if you're starting running from scratch and you've got the watch or you know you're coming into it it, it will give you, if you if it you know people don't like all these things, like I said, overreaching or unproductive. But yeah but if as long as you're getting accurate heart rate data written, that will probably be a fairly accurate representation that maybe you're doing a bit much at the moment. um Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
um But again, those kind of people probably are using the optical heart rate monitor, which might just be saying that they're working harder than they actually are. So that's why I don't like optical heart emitters. I almost wish they didn't have them on watches and they just came with an armband. But then the rest of the day, they are very useful for tracking sleep and tracking. If you want to track your heart rate throughout the day, which everyone does want to these days, then you've got to have both. Okay, here's one that I particularly like from Julian Ramirez. How do you find running with a camera or filming when you make your run test videos? Is it artificial or do you get used to holding one? I don't like it. It's a pain. I don't do much talking to camera on the run, very rarely, which is but i yeah I just use my phone on a ah on a selfie stick. I'm quite low tech because the um
00:13:50
Speaker
And I don't do things I used to occasionally put it down and run past it. ah But yeah ah you know, it's just too hard to fit that in. I'm always on the gun with time and stuff. So i am basically, occasionally, I just stick my phone and get a shot of the shoes on the move. But I don't really do much filming on the run. Otherwise, Tom, you've got you've got Tom's got all the action cameras and upgrades all the time. So he does this. Yeah. ah So yeah, I've got like GoPros, ZZ360s, drone. um I i ah used to do some videos where i I would put a lot of effort into it and set it up and go out just purely on the but on the idea that I'm going to go and get some nice shots. My days of being a wannabe content creator like that have gone. So basically I just, I do, ah it's tricky when when I'm training for a marathon,
00:14:38
Speaker
and I'm going to have a run, which is probably unique, you're just going to do that run. You don't want to be stopping for five minutes. It just takes too much time. It is quite annoying going out to do a hard interval session or a long run, carrying a GoPro or whatever in your house. It's going to be frustrating. A lot of mine are artificial now. I tend to do them around my house if I want to get shots of the shoe running around, unless I'm actively going out for trail runs. I will take the GoPro out because obviously I haven't got a trail next to my house that I can get shots on. So I do use it for that. I hardly ever use my Instagram 360 anymore just because it's too much hassle editing it afterwards. um So yeah, interestingly, when we interviewed Kifuzi on the channel, so Kifuzi always takes one with him we've got regardless of whether he's planning on filming something or not, because he always says that because he's he's a content creator, like that's his, he's great at filming and he's great at editing and stuff like that. He's always got one on it because he says something always happens on a run.
00:15:34
Speaker
or quite often happens on the runway where he goes, I wish wish I had a camera with me to capture a shot where I was running past that thing or something like that. yeah but But listeners, if you've seen confusing videos, you might notice that they're probably a little bit more chiseled. um Yeah, I'd say everything about my setup is to minimize the hassle as much as possible. So that's why I use an iPhone so I can air drop it to my computer and it's quite small video sizes. It doesn't take hours to transfer. And so basically I'll have a selfie stick. I'll just tuck inside, tuck down my shorts and
00:16:05
Speaker
at some point on a run where I feel like it's nice and quiet, there's no one around me, we'll put the phone into that. And i don't I don't stop at any point to get it out or anything like that. It's all part of the same run. There's no stopping at all. So it does save a lot of time. The sacrifice is obviously quality of video, but ah I think or as a reviews channel, our argument is more that the quality is the content rather than how it looks necessarily. I do try and catch, if I specifically talk about something about the shoe, like if I'm saying that there's the heel is really soft or something. I will try and make sure I capture that in slow motion so you can sort of see it in the shots. I used to do it a ah lot harder. I used to go up and set up the camera and run past it a few times and stuff. But yeah, yeah and in fact, because I'm not training hard at the moment, I'm probably more likely to do some more of those things. And next to my new house,
00:16:53
Speaker
there's like a nice trail and stuff to do a nice bit of filming where it's where I am now. It's quite hard. I mean, I live in Brighton. It's busy all the time. So just filming is embarrassing. It's like kids parks and stuff. So you got to put away. It's just annoying carrying around. Sometimes I get a few more nice shots on the track actually because ah usually I have a friend there who doesn't do my whole session and who does like bits of it at faster pace and stuff like that and he will i sometimes will greet i' give my phone and he'll film me when I'm in the middle of a rep so it's not artificial. I also look horrendous on the run so I don't like to see too many shots of me running because I have you know I'm not I'm not an I'm not a gainly chap that's for sure so there's nothing no one needs to see that. A lot of people have said that. um yeah well My tracks well I've left the really club now but my track
00:17:37
Speaker
the only times you could use it, there was there was basically like 100 kids training on it as well. So I could never take it to the track then. yeah like Which I always wanted to film on a track, i even take the drone down the thing, but I've never found a track that I could do. it I did see like i do see, I go on Instagram and you see like ah one of the content creators talking about the new drone, like, oh, I'd love to have that. Well, it follows you in films. I go, yeah, you would never use it. you would <unk>d yeah yeah and You'd be so annoyed at how long it took you to get the video off the thing or keeping it there and how you had to actually stop on a run set up. So yeah, mine is it
00:18:07
Speaker
making a video should add as little time to my day as possible, because I don't have the time, basically. Yeah, I suppose that's the thing, isn't it? We are runners, reviewing running shoes over creating amazing content that looks beautiful. Yes, no one's going to say the videos look beautiful. some yeah Some of yours look quite nice, Tom. Tom has actual real cameras, and like not just the GoPro ones, whereas mine is. You can tell by mine, because when in the winter, I have to film a video at night, you basically can't see me because the phone camera's not good enough to get the content. Yeah, yeah. yeah i when when When some of us, not me, use so record and there's no slow-mo on the camera and you can't actually see the shoes because you're running too quickly. Yeah, I'll do that. yeah yeah I don't like slow-mo because ah
00:18:50
Speaker
and then the file sizes get too big. Action mode is a big change actually for me because I didn't realise how much better, only when I had that on the iPhone did I realise how much clearer those shots of my re-running are compared to when I just used the camera in normal mode. Yeah, action mode has been a big plus. Nice, yeah. Well, I have actually been looking at that drone that follows you. Of course, yes. Quite expensive though. Every year. Another thing for me to buy that I've guys in a draw for... Have a couple of kids, you will stop doing that. yeah
00:19:28
Speaker
All right, let's ah do another one. This should be a pretty easy one. Do you guys ever wear barefoot style shoes to alter the stresses on your legs and feet? No. No, I don't either.
Cross-Training Routines and Benefits
00:19:39
Speaker
No, we have quite a wide variety of different drops and stuff like that. And I am not uh someone who feels the need to run barefoot at all i uh i you know people into that that's great but it's a very different thing and it's not you know as a high mileage runner you know fairly high mileage runner to suddenly swap into them we'll just be asking for an injury so no i i can't i'm running well i mean i
00:20:01
Speaker
Ultra, ah even those, they're zero drop, but that you know they're not their fault. Even then, the the zero drop ones I struggle to run in for a longer period of time. Yeah. like test e The Under Armour actually, which says it's eight millimeter, the new philosophy is not eight millimeter drop. It's a very low drop. I'm jogging back from a session. I thought I i should have swapped shoes. The session is fine in them. I don't mind being in a low drop shoe for a session, but uh but i would the force going through your body and running is quite high even on the forest near me i would only do a very short run if i ever did in the barefoot style shoe but mike used to run them a lot yeah yeah mike didn't run in them for the purposes of strengthening his feet they did he just preferred them he he basically started was running
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, he just died. in In barefoot, yeah. And now he's yeah they got all these cushy shoes to test and he hasn't gone back. Can't go back to him. Can't go back. Okay, this is one not about shoes, but about training. So cross-training, do you do it? What do you do? How much do you do? Do you enjoy it? ah I am not brilliant. I'm very good at, I do yoga, run his yoga a lot. We talked about it before, the session I do two or three times a week. I will do a lot of calf raises every day. Pretty much I do kind of ah do three sets of 10 calf raises on each leg and then do that twice with different bent leg, straight leg. But I'm trying to do a bit more strength training. I spoke spoke to a really interesting physio about this actually for an article. He says, you can get same similar benefits for strength training, doing one big session as traditional strength training, which is a lot of time that I'm sure Tom will come onto that.
00:21:24
Speaker
by doing doses of exercise before and after a run. When you're already changed, you're willing to do some exercise. If you do some whatever squats, that kind of thing, then you can actually get pretty big benefits from it. So I'm just going to try and do that this year. But even then, that's the thing I lost in the time crunch. So probably do I do a bit of core training, I do yoga, and I don't do enough of other stuff. Tom is very good at cross training. Well, no no ah sometimes I am. Well, cross-training, there's obviously loads of different ways you can do cross-training. I didn't do anything like cycling or anything. I used to do cycling. Yeah, I like cycling. I do cycling doors. If I'm doing lower mileage for any reason, I will cycle indoors as well.
00:21:59
Speaker
yeah yeah um i Yeah, I used to do cycling. I used to do loads of HIIT classes and all those sorts of things. I've stopped as I got older. This is why Tom has called you all round the fitness. If you ever wonder why his social media tag is that, it's because you used to do everything. That's how I met Tom, actually. Was that a yeah fitness class, I think? Yeah, you used to do all sorts of that, crossfit, all sorts of things. Now, I still very much go to the gym three times a week. i am ah I'd probably say I'm a bit bad at the moment of doing legs, but I do try and put it in. But I generally... You've got the glamour muscles, do you? yeah
00:22:31
Speaker
Well, the the problem is that get older now and I find it when I do legs I am out of action for a couple of days Yes, it makes it really hard to run and I can't I can't do legs during marathon training just because you know, you're doing six days training a week and um It does massively affect me like if I if I go and do a hard leg session and then you know, I've got an interval session If you never managed to get over the hump of like, you should be able to get used to that, right? And not get the dumps by doing enough of it. Like obviously pro athletes are doing horrible strength sessions on time, but, and they say to like do it on your hard run days, you get a full recovery another day. The idea of going and doing like some weights after, after a hard session is really hard. I do a lot of walking just in life and that does, it does add up a bit, you know?
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, it does. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, yeah. So but I would say I think my view on a the lower legs, I do loads of upper body stuff and actually upper body stuff is that is is not people don't think of it as a as a cross training, but it's quite important to build your upper body as well. So because it's minor. minor. Well, yeah, cause you need your core. Cool. But a lot of the stuff you do if a body is going to help your core. So yeah, exactly. Pull ups and stuff like that is actually having a nice and effect on the rest of your body. And don't you do get a lot of runners, especially you get older who have like, you know, back pain and stuff like that, because they've got quite weak upper bodies and cause and they've only ever really done running. Well, no, yeah, especially well, now we're both over 35. I will do a bit of upper body just because I don't generally need to stop muscle wastage. Yeah, that so means I'll throw down and do some press-ups and because I don't worry very much I can do some press-ups. It's great kind Yeah, we should yeah I'd like I will I'm gonna try this X this the idea is yeah when I start going again is it's it's always a time thing I was running out the door to do my runner fit it in like and it's like I could just do three quick sets of squats here, but I also don't have very heavy weights at home so
00:24:25
Speaker
you have to, I end up doing, have to do them fast or we're trying to do them almost plyometrically to try and actually get enough of an impact. Because talking to this guy is very interesting. It's like most runners do strength training wrong. He says, basically they do long endurance style sets with low weights, which simulates running. That's not helpful at all. You need to be doing like close to your rep max short sets.
Running Goals for 2024
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, you want a bit of strength, bit of hyper, hyper, hyper, Jesus Christ. Hyper-trophy. Hyper-trophy. Yeah, you want a bit of that because I'm still, I was going to have the benefits for the, injury prevention and and also speed and power and all those sorts of things that did become quite important. The classic runners thing is to say, oh, I'll do hold some hills. And that's my strength training for the week. And I asked this physio. He's very good. He's got an app called Running Buddy. It's a really good app, which is strength training specifically for runners. And it's so like a paid app. He's a physio, but you know so its he's really well done. Everything's really well done. I spoke to him for an interview. He's a really interesting guy. and um But he says, yeah, I asked him, can I
00:25:19
Speaker
that's all right i go on the trails and do hills he goes yeah he runs you know it is you know in a certain way if you're doing an actual sprint on a hill it is a similar thing but it has to be actually sprinting and you know it is a lot easier to go and do some strength work but yeah and okay let's uh let's uh finish with a fun one um so running goals what are your goals for 2024 ie any race goals and mileage goals will care and be releasing his book on running the denoub I know about that book. i didt hope We asked him about the book. He did a long really long article in Runner's World. yeah We need to follow up and see if he's actually going to do a book because it's not a workbook, isn't it? Yeah. Well, he's heading back out there, isn't he? so Maybe he's gone gone to- Two-part a book. Yeah. Yeah. We don't know about Kieran's, but Kieran's goals are Conrad's up leg and I think he's going back to the Berlin 100 Mile because he finished last year because his toe shed its skin or something. so That I'm got plenty of marathon at the end of the year and I'm gonna go for the summer is 10k and half marathon PB's and Which haven't touched for a while. I need to have a good go at so gonna do high mile Keep up. Hopefully the high mileage I did for the London marathon and do add more speed and then I'll let your love another go at amount of marathon PB I don't twist I am
00:26:34
Speaker
more or less content with my marathon PB for life at this point. like susan you what you You say that now. I'll go for a PB, but at the end of the day, when I'm 90, if I live that long, I'm not going to go look back and go, 226, 227, I'm not going to but and not gonna be that fast. Unless I suddenly take off another five minutes, that'd be nice, but it seems unlikely. yeah yeah i I've got Valencio as well. Yeah. do you notice I've only got normally I have a series i've got I've got some of the races up but at the moment I've just basically haven't because that now I've got this house and everything I'm just sort of focused on that so I'm i'm not that bothered about big Sussex league events I'm doing a couple of Essex league events for to try and do PB's and also try and nab an Essex medal but yeah
00:27:10
Speaker
Well, I'm going to I'm going to stop. I'm going to spend the next two months sorting the house out and just comfortably running around the downs around ah around the new the new pad. Well, yeah, we're testing a lot more choices. But then also even start training in August. for Valencia and I'd like to get about 250. That would be my aim. Yeah, that'd be good. You messed around the start of this year doing too many marathons. I'm just not going to train for spring marathons anymore. You really hated it, didn't you? I hated it, yeah. It might be worse because it's going to be country roads and stuff, so I just don't know what. It's going to be dark. You're going to get hit by a car. If you get on track, where are you going? No, there's no track. There is a track in Lewis, which I can drive to, which the running clock goes to, but it's not that convenient. So, we'll see. I just need to find like an industrial state, don't I, and just train on that. I think there's one. Don't get those in small towns. It comes to a point, though, where one thing I did quite a lot for London, not that much, but it made an effort to, okay, I've got a serious session. I'm going to go to, I'm going to drive, I'm going to take the hit and drive 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes to a place I know I can do this well.
00:28:21
Speaker
And I nailed every single session there. And it was like, you you know what? this you know this is so This is worth it. like you know It's going to cost you a bit of time. But you if you plan it out so that time isn't affecting the family, it's OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. Let's finish with a quick one. Could you review some running apps like Runner and Cooper? Training players, that's hard for us because we both are coaches. You don't have any coaches anymore, but Mike, Mike's done one, hasn't he? used a Mike uses a Hal Higdon's one. And Kieran used Cooper for... Kieran
Training Apps vs. Personal Coaching
00:28:48
Speaker
did use Cooper. So I think Kieran, I can't remember, I think he said he he might be doing a video on it or something, but maybe... He covered it and obviously he didn't use it entirely because he did run three marathons during training, which I have to imagine wasn't the apps recommendation. Yeah, it's very difficult to review something like that because obviously it takes a long and you've got to get all the way through to the
00:29:08
Speaker
point where you see the benefits of all the training and everything. so yeah um It's quite a big it's a quite big investment. but I think Mike did say he's going to do a video at some point on how he did and he's probably going to use that again because he's quite keen on that. I've looked at all those apps and they i they are pretty good. ah They're definitely going to make you fitter. I think if you get to a certain point where you're really serious and you've used them you know for a couple of marathon or two, they're definitely what I would use while starting out before I got a coach. But at some point, if you get a good coach, it's it's a world of difference like because they're so, just so smart. And they know how to keep you interested and they know what to do. And there's a bit more accountability with a coach compared to an app, obviously as well. But I do think those apps are brilliant. If you're a very, if you're a driven person, and you're also smart about it, you're not like just following it blindly, because the app doesn't know if you're feeling well that day, that kind of thing, then they would, or everything I've seen from Cooper, Runner, most of these apps is being very positive, it will definitely work.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. i' I'm always quite jealous of people that can can follow them because I i need the the coach to sort of know that I'm paying a coach and and know that I've got to do those sessions otherwise it's pointless me carrying on. Whereas with that with the, I think the thing like, with the Hal Higdon app, you can pay ah for the premium service and it modifies the run based on, you know, you know if you if you can't do it one day or two days, yeah it knows that and it will just the training plan. But I hated that because I knew that i it would adjust it. Whereas my coach would say, don't miss sessions yeah unless you have to miss the sessions. It's not like I just don't fancy it. i'll break at them but I probably
Episode Wrap-Up and Future Questions
00:30:35
Speaker
get the opposite from my coach because I um always want to go out and run. to He stops stops me from doing too much and makes me rest at times and stuff. Yeah.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah. All right then. Well, I think that'll do for ah this episode. Yeah. Lovely. if your If your question wasn't answered, well, we've got another one coming because we had a good crop of questions. So we're going to go. We're going to have got plenty of questions to talk through. So, yeah, there'll be another episode coming out very soon. Catch you on the flip flip, I guess.
00:31:02
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.