Believe me, sitting at a desk all morning is not the best post-marathon activity, so it was great to get outside during lunch and go for a brisk 2 mile walk. It really helped work out some of the soreness in my calves….
After work, I decided it was time to dust off the bike and get spinning. After all, my first sprint triathlon in 5 years is only just over 2 months away and I really need to start cross training. The workout wasn’t too stressful – 23 x 1 minute “on”, 23 x 1 minute “off” – but was a perfect way to get back on the saddle.
I followed up the spin with an easy 15 minute run – calves were still a bit tight, but the bike/run transition will be great practice for the upcoming triathlon.
One last thing to mention – yesterday I decided to dispose of the Brooks ST3 Racers I wore in Sunday’s marathon. I’m not looking to make excuses, but I believe I made a really novice mistake in my choice of shoes for the race. My calves and feet have never been this sore after a long race and I’m 99% sure it was the shoes. I knew they were almost ready to be recycled, but after testing them out before the weekend I figured I’d be able to get one or two more races out of them. How wrong I was….and how right my wife Ally was when she advised me to wear the ST4’s I’d purchased just a couple of weeks earlier.
I wore fairly new shoes Sunday and was really torn between the new ones with less than 10 miles and the old ones that still have some life left in them. Glad I picked the new ones – my feet have never felt this great after a race! Besides minimal thigh soreness, this has been the best post-race feeling in a while. It’s amazing what the right shoes can do!
Pleased for you David – great to come out of a race feeling good isn’t it?
I wore my “new” shoes in a 10k race a couple of weeks ago and during a treadmill workout a few days before Shamrock. They didn’t quite feel right for the marathon, so I (foolishly) went with the tried and trusted old faithfuls.
The crazy thing is, look at what I wrote on February 15th:
http://www.runbulldogrun.com/long-run/another-long-run-in-the-bank/
“One last thing: during the race yesterday I experienced a little foot discomfort and think that my Brooks Racer ST3’s are on the way out (i.e. they don’t have many miles/races left in them).”
Live and learn eh?
Shoes these days need very little actual breaking in time. When I ran the Cox Sports Marathon last year, I’d received my new shoes about a week and a half before the race and did 2 runs in them, a 5 and 10 miler (or so.) Not only that, but it was my first time wearing racing flats for a marathon.
Yeah, the PR was nice…heheh. I should call my Mizuno rep and see if I can get a free pair of the updated version of those shoes – they are supposed to have flames on them this year.
Hey Blaine,
How’s it going? It wasn’t so much that they shoes weren’t “broken in”, rather that the older ST3’s just felt better than the new ST4’s. Oh well…
Congratulations Steve! Pity about the shoes though….still your time looks really good, and a 6:30 pace is to die for. I am doing my first sprint triathlon in May, so am looking forward to seeing how your training goes too.
cheers!
2 weeks before my marathon, I bought a pair of ST3s and a pair of ST4s directly from Brooks (ordered 2 to get free shipping, > $100).
I broke in the ST3s those last 2 weeks and wore them in the marathon. My older ST3s only had ~240 miles on them, but I wanted something a little fresher for the race. I was afraid of getting sore calves in the race with those old ones.
I didn’t even bother breaking in the ST4s. I had limited time to break in the new ST3s, as it was.
Andy,
Your ST3s are still good after 240 miles? Mine are totally done after about 200 – sometimes earlier. Regular training shoes are fine for 400-500 miles…
Actually, they’re not good after 200 miles. I thought I was the only one who wouldn’t get them to last 400+. I felt guilty not using them after 200. Thanks for educating me that 400+ is typical for the training types, not the racer types.
FYI: I’m one of the stubborn types that prefers running in my ST3s at all times. I like light shoes, and I feel that they will keep me running better during my training. Of course, that’ll mean that I’ll be shelling out more dough, as compared to those who run in the well padded, cushiony, longer-lasting trainers. Again, I’m stubborn.
I feel guilty not being able to use them after a couple of hundred too.
My local running store suggests around 100 for pure racing flats (which I wear in 5 and 10ks), a couple of hundred for more substantial racers like the ST3’s (which I wear in races over 10k up to a marathon) and 400-500 for regular cushioned shoes which I wear on a day-to-day basis.
I’m sure different people will have different opinions, but these guidelines have worked for me in the past (except Shamrock 09 of course where I figured I’d get “one more race” out of the ST3’s…)
Thanks for the comments..
I would give anything to not be right about the shoes and see you get a new PR….
You still ran an awesome race.proud of you
ally
xx