Hard Core Running at 62

I recently received an email from Dad. It was the best email I have had all year. And before you ask. No I still cant run faster than him!!

“I did a 5k fun run on Sunday and tore my plantar facia? muscle (the one that holds your arches up and connects to the bottom of your heel bone). Can’t even bloody walk now. I was going ok, had been sort of cruising most of the way – didn’t want to push too much on my first “serious” hit out  – but only 100 yards from the finish my heel went off like a gun. Had to run on my toes like a ballet dancer to finish. I went alright though. Was 1st in my age group and overall came 67th out of 1204. Time was still pretty slow though – 21.43.

The physio said I might not run for a while but I can jump on my mountain bike and do as much as I like – so off I go.”

A Beast of a 5km Run

In my second run in my new Beast shoes I ran my fastest 5km in ages. Here’s the low down.
Distance: 5km

Time: 22.14

Splits: 4:43, 4:41, 4:32, 4:28, 3:57

GARMIN 305 Review

First up I will get right to the recommendation. If you are even thinking about buying this device then save some brain power, jump on ebay and just get one. I guarantee you will love it.

Size: Its large and covers your whole wrist. You could wear it as a watch but people will give strange looks. On the up side you would never get lost. But utlimately you will just run the battery down.

Comfort: Its actually pretty good. You dont notice the size and weight at all. One tip I can give you though is to find an old wrist sweat band and cut it up. I foudn on long runs that the sweet made the watch move around too much and hit the front of my hand. Now that I wear it over a cut out piece of my old Nike wristt sweat band it feels much more comfortable.

Made For: Moderate to serious runners and multisprtists wanting full GPS funcitonality and computer integration.

Battery Life: Very good. Last for ages. Sometimes I only charge it once a week.

Display: Not colour but big enough and bright to easily read when you are running.

Customisation: You can decide which fields ( and there are lots of them)  you want on what screen. Its awesome!

Accuracy: Brilliant! I run with a group of people who all have them. The only problem we have found is that we get different distances readings. On a 21k run for example my watch was different by about 200m. Not much but annoying. We think however that my firmware and settings might just a bit different. But then which watch is more accurate. Lots to talk about on the long runs!

Made For: Moderate to serious runners and multisportists wanting full GPS functionality and computer integration.

Bundled Software: Garmin Training Centre. A bit simplistic but it does the job. They are trying to get you to sign up to motionbased. Check some of my runs out for an idea on how it works.

Conclusion: I can’t train without it.  I have lots of cool gadgets and toys. This is my favourite. End Game!

Brooks Beast vs ASICS 1110

I have been searching for a new pair of shoes and found that the Brooks Beast model might be a better shoe for me than my ASICS. Only problem is that it doesnt come in a “D” width. At least not in this country. So I go online to order them from overseas and get told they are not allowed to ship to Australia. That just made me mad as hell. They dont sell them here and they wont let anyone who does sell them send them here. I could rant about the stupidy of that for ages but not today.

Today I am sending out a thankyou to Brooks Australia who are actually brought a pair of them into Australia just for me. Now thats service! But now to the review.

Cushioning: ASIC’s wins. The Brooks are OK but straight away you can feel that they are not as well cushioned as ASICS Gel. Even though the ASICS are a much cheaper shoe.

Stabilty: Brooks wins hands down. I have had pretty much no knee pain since switching to the Beasts.

Durability: Only time will tell. My biggest beef with shoes is how they also tear on the inside heel. I will be keeping a close eye on the Beast.

Overall: The ASICS are a great shoe and highly recommended. For me though I think the Brooks will end up being my preferred shoe. What matters most I guess is that you pick the right shoe for you. Unfortunatley if you are like me you might have to spend many years trying to find them.