May Roundup
What I've been up to and what you might have missed.
Greetings from Holland where I’m on a very much needed half term holiday. I’ve had a very painful back, hip and leg for the past couple of weeks due to a nerve irritation. I always planned to have a month off from training in May, but I’d planned for it to be a bit more enjoyable than it has been.
Obviously, in the spirit of taking some time off, I wrote this email last week before I left so rest assured I am taking a proper holiday from work as well as running. In fact I’m probably floating down a lazy river right now, or eating pancakes.
Speaking of work, I’m planning to return to coaching a handful of runners from June. More details on this soon, but if you’re in the market for someone to plan your training (and your recovery from it) then it could be me. I have a list of people who are interested - if you want your name adding to that list, just reply to this email.
In case you missed it this month
What it feels like to be strong
How to run more without breaking down
All The Gear: Recovery and injury prevention tools
How to train for a hybrid race
From the archive
Why runners need upper body strength
Motivation: How to find it and keep it
Shoe of the month
Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 - the fastest shoe in the world
Technically, this is a shoe I ran in last month but I’ve done very little in May. You may recognise it as being the shoe that Sabastian Sawe ran sub-2 hours at London Marathon in. I got to test it briefly before London.
It’s a very light (to the point that the box feels empty) and fast shoe. It’s also super expensive at £500, so it’s unlikely many of us will be racing in it. But what is interesting about it (and I haven’t seen many people talking about) is that Adidas has moved from a traditional carbon plate to an ‘energy rim’ which puts the carbon structure at the edges of the sole rather than under your feet. It’s the same as in the Adidas Adizero Dropset Elite, which is very comfortable underfoot because you haven’t got the carbon directly under your toes.
So while we might not all get to run in this exact model, if Adidas introduces the energy rim into more of its race shoes, it’s something to look out for. Particularly if you have found carbon plates uncomfortable in the past.
Coming up in June
In June I’m covering a 5K to 10K training plan download, a strength workout for marathon training legs, and why I don’t give my coaching clients a goal time. If any of those sound like they’re written for you, make sure you’re subscribed.