Running through a winter wonderland

THE New Forest offers an ever-changing landscape whatever the seasons, but it remains as breath-taking and spectacular as ever.

This morning winter had arrived. The ground was hard and icy, small lakes of ice littered the forest enclosure's as traces of sleet swept across the countryside. A couple of deer scampered for cover and a couple of ponies huddled together to warm against the freezing temperatures.

Given the choice of running in winter or summer, this time of year is perfect. Wrapped up to the nines, crunching your way across rutted, icy paths, with a slight chill on your face, it's just perfect.

Mind you, on an eight-mile circuit from Fritham, our gang of four found ourselves caught up in the Heartache Half and Marathon which was being staged at the same time. Most sensible runners were well wrapped up, but one nutter from the Serpentine Running Club ran in sub-zero temperatures dressed in just the familiar red and yellow singlet and running shorts.

This was an important run-out for the new Evos which have so far been confined to the sanctuary of roads. Now it was the turn of forest tracks and some grassland. And they fared brilliantly. We skirted any seriously muddy parts which would have been treacherous and like a skating rink to my fancy dan orange Cursoris. The forest tracks provided a decent test of the durability of the Evos.

I was concerned that with the changing terrain and also the distance that my feet would suffer. But thanks to the lightness of shoe and now I have adapted my running style to push off from the soles, this made the effort pretty easy. I flew up the hills and my calves, which have taken a right pounding, are holding up well.

Next up is the Eastbourne Half Marathon in a week's time and a chance to see how the shoe will step up to the extra five miles. This year, for the first time, organisers are putting together pacing groups and I'll be taking round the eight minute mile group for a 1hour 45 minute finish time.

I've never run the Eastbourne Half before and so I don't know the course too well which includes one nasty hill up towards Beachy Head at the four-mile mark. So I'm going to need to push the pace a little bit early on to make sure we allow for the climb, before the gentle run along the prom towards Sovereign Harbour.

But I'm really looking forward to the race which will be another step towards the Mizuno Reading Half which takes place two weeks' later when all the Evo testers will gather and put the shoes through their paces.

I was very circumspect about the minimalist shoes but I am quickly becoming a convert because of their lightness and smoothness of running, and they're pretty comfortable too.

The Usual Suspects line up at the end of our wintry run across
 the New Forest

Just loving the Evo - a real pb shoe!

The start of the Eastbourne ParkRun - this is the first anniversary run
which was celebrated a couple of weeks ago

TWO weeks into trialling the new Mizuno Evos and I'm buzzing. This morning I sauntered down to the Eastbourne Park Run - a 5km splash and dash along paths around the Shinewater and Hydneye lakes on the north-eastern outskirts of town.

It was the first time I had run in anger with the new Cursoris since my outings with the lightweight orange flash have been limited to cautious training runs around town in the revolutionary minimalist shoe.

I completed one impressive hill-based training session in midweek feeling surprisingly strong and refreshed. Because the shoe encourages you to run off your toes, and since they are so lightweight there was never a feeling of the heels dragging you backwards. I was more than made up with the hill reps believing this was a good platform to attack the Park Run.

I love the whole atmosphere of the Park Run series - it's informal, it's flat, it's fast and the only person whose performance matters is yours.

There were some quick whippets out there today among the 71 runners of all ages and abilities, including one teenage girl with legs like Bambi who breezed over the ground to finish in around 19 minutes.

Unlike my fellow Evo testers, I don't know a tremendous amount about the technical spec of these shoes we are putting through their paces. If you want to know more about the data behind these minimalist shoes then I suggest you take a look at one of the blogs or Tweets from one of my fellow testers.

I can only give write about performance and how they feel to a  pretty average runner who is moving out of the cushy comfort of his highly sprung sports shoe, to something which is close to running barefoot.


The Cursosis shoes - that's the toe of my sock bottom right!
You can see the tread on the sole of the shoe, but look at
the heel - it's like one of those old school plimsoles!! 

The Cursosis is so lightweight, and feels like carpet slippers. They are unlike any running shoe I have ever worn before. A totally new dimension.

They have a wide fitting, with a breathable mesh, and a 12mm heel to zero drop. In other words, there is no cushioning on the heel whatsoever. Turn the shoe upside down and look at the picture on the right of my dishevelled shoes. You can see the grip and tread on the sole, but on the heel it is bare. Yikes!

The purple Levitas shoe, which I will try for the first time tomorrow, is even more extreme. Described as a sprint, race shoe, it has an 8mm to zero drop.

I've been spoiled and pampered with my running, so used to the heel in my favoured shoes having lovely gel cushioning. I even used to fit heel pads at the back of my shoes to give my feet extra protection, backed by the snug fit of a heel collar. It's like being used to being wrapped in a warm 12 tog duvet to sleep in every night, and left with a threadbare horse hair prison blanket!

So, back to Park Run, and despite seeing Bambi sprint off in the distance, I knew I was going well with a 6min 38sec first mile. I tried to keep my pace consistent and the form steady, leaning forward and pushing off with my toes with every stride

One of my fellow Evo testers reckoned it takes four weeks to make the transition to the Mizuno Evo shoe which requires patience.

His tips include:

• All accomplished and elite runners run on the balls of their feet.
• The foot should strike the surface with the ball of the foot in a dorsi-flexed position (with toes pointing forward not downwards) otherwise this creates a" breaking" motion.
• The heel doesn't touch the ground.
• The foot on landing on the surface should be "light" not heavy, it then "grips and scrapes" the surface.
• The knee is slightly bent on contact with the surface and the foot lands below the centre of gravity - just below the hips.  Think of your leg working in a circular motion from the hip joint.
• This brings the heel of the foot behind the body. The hamstrings and gluteus maximus (backside muscles) play a very big part in this movement.

I have read this piece of wise wisdom a number of times, and did so again before setting out this morning. These tips are not easy to apply in the pressure cooker of a race, but I was very conscious of the need to avoid the heel touching the ground. Easier said than done and when running tired virtually impossible. But the principle is absolutely correct.

The 5km blast went perfectly. To some, my time of 20min 41sec may seem pedestrian, but I was well chuffed - my fastest Park Run ever for 13th place overall - not too bad for a guy a few weeks off his 50th birthday.

I've cut down on the sugar in my diet, I've lost a fair bit of weight too, and thanks to regular Wednesday night speed sessions along the seafront, my tempo runs are now much faster. But, the shoes do make a big difference. They are light, there is no heel drag, I can lift my heels even in the dying embers of a run, and they feel really comfortable.

The Litmus test, however, is distance. The furthest I have run in these shoes is seven miles. In two weeks' time I have the Eastbourne Half Marathon and then the biggie, the Reading Half in exactly four weeks. I am hoping that as I focus on form, the distance will come, and who knows what might happen over 13 miles.



And this is why I love Park Run. The lady with the dog was
running today and there were two ladies running with
babies in pushchairs - total legends

You've been Tangoed with the new Mizuno Evo - which weigh as light as one cup of rice!

Get the glare off those tracksters! Another of Eastbourne's homeless
 found resting on the prom wall with a natty pair of orange carpet slippers!

IT'S 6am and my feet are hurting. Outside, Eastbourne Pier is bathed in darkness and I can hear the waves crashing against the stoney shore. It's also pretty cold out.

Twelve hours ago, I was down by the pier running along the prom with my friends David and Helen trying out my new pair of running shoes which had arrived that morning in the office.

I was like an excited kid at Christmas as I opened not one but two Mizuno boxes containing pristine shoes, wrapped in paper and smelling lush.

Call the fashion police straight away. I don't know if Mizuno designed the shoes believing runners might encounter foggy pea-soupers on their morning runs, but you certainly can't hide with the brash orange and purple designs which stand out like Belisha beacons.

I've always thought of sporty-types who wear flash coloured footwear as prissy and total yankers. You could be sure in a football match anyone not wearing regulation black boots would be taken out with a fair, but meaty follow-through tackle within the first five minutes of a game.

As far as running is concerned, I'm not sure if the orange and purple shoes conform to my Colour Me Beautiful profile - I've always thought I was autumn colours!

So, for those of you joining this blog for the first time wondering what is the guy waffling on about?

The story is that the footwear company Mizuno has invited a dozen experienced runners from a variety of backgrounds to try out their new minimalist running shoes: the Wave Evo Cursosis, latin name MegaOrangeus and the Wave Evo Levitas, latin name Hecknocushioninusque.

For years, runners have been pampered with these snug-fitting, super cushioned, mega shock absorbant shoes, but the science is asking why are we still getting repetitive injuries and why are our bodies not running naturally. In fact, isn't the best way of running injury-free and running naturally is to run barefoot, just as we did as young children.

So, the footwear companies have come up with the minimalist concept - one step away from running in the total pink and crinkly and protecting your feet from dog poo, fast food wrappers and broken bottles as you pound the pavements.

Over the next five weeks, this daring dastardly dozen are trying out the gruesome twosome from the Mizuno minimalist stable, leading to the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday, March 17 where we will gather as one and see how our feet stand up to 13.1 miles of hard core running.

So last night was the first outing. I tried the Cursosis. I've just Googled the word in case it means something like "runs like the wind but looks like a Tango ad". Instead I get links to a lot of dodgy Spanish websites!!

I'm not going to write too much about my experience now, because I need to have a couple of runs to get a feel for the shoes. We ran six miles out and back along the prom at just under eight minute mile pace.

The shoes are light as a feather, well just 205 grammes - the equivalent of one cup of rice - they fit really well and as you walk in them it feels like you are walking in a pair of slippers or crocs. The running sensation is interesting!

The one noticeable aspect of the run was that towards the end I was more able to pick up my tired feet and stride. I wasn't laden by the heavy soles of my traditional Asics.

The morning after the night before, my feet feel a little sore. They've had a bit of a pounding, but I'm not put off. This is an interesting journey of discovery, something new for my running and maybe it might change the way I run. Who knows!

Here's a link to the Mizuno site for the new shoes: www.mizuno.eu/en/sports/running/products/discoverevo

And these are my fellow Mizuno runners, check them out on Twitter with updates and links to their blogs :

@Mizuno_Running
@theRunningEd
@gofasterfood
@Boshrun
@kimingleby
@BePrettyFit
@NatRunClinic
@Ashton378
@JuliaArmstrong
@sammymargo
@lewychalk



Never mind the supplements, a Mars Bar is the best way to run a marathon

MARS Bar and Lucozade drink for breakfast before a run? The nutritionists would be spitting in horror on their cream cheese wholemeal bagels and liquidised fruit mush. But I was on the fly this morning before a sun-kissed 5km outing at the Eastbourne ParkRun.

Of course breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Pick up a copy of Runner’s World and every month there is the latest high-carb, high-protein, high nutritional value, hi-ho-silver lining recipe which all runners should adopt to improve their performance and shave minutes off their personal bests. But do we pay a blind bit of notice? Nah!

It’s ironic that a week ago I spent an hour or so chatting with runners who are training for April’s London Marathon and raising money for the Hampshire Autistic Society – and there we talked about diet and hydration.

I certainly didn’t let them into the secrets of my crazy pre-run breakfast habits, but advised them instead of the need to take on nutritional fuel for breakfast ahead of a run; whether that is porridge, cereal, toast and bagels, and certainly avoid the Little Chef Olympic Breakfast. I also spoke with a 9.45am London Marathon start in mind to have a pre-race ritual firmly instilled of taking food and drink if you can before a race – mine is a protein bar, banana and an isotonic drink.

It’s not text book, and there are far better minds with degrees and the title “Dr” before their name to advise on proper nutrition, but this works for me.

These annual January talks are something I enjoy giving. We always catch up over a curry following the race for tales and traumas over a nan bread and a hot Madras!

You can see the mixture of fear and excitement in the runners’ faces at these winter meetings. All of them were marathon virgins just setting out on this great adventure. All had a host of questions to ask about training plans, kit, where the drinks stations are and what actually happens at the start, where does your luggage go to and where can you meet friends and family at the end in Horse Guards Parade.

All I could say is that the months ahead would be hard, but the reward at the end of this journey would be enormous when completing your first marathon will be a life-defining moment.

The talk was pretty predictable – the sort of chat all marathons novices will receive, including paying close attention to the training schedule by ensuring their legs and bodies get miles in the bank. I always throw in a few unofficial extras; things like how to avoid runner’s nipple or using Vaseline to prevent sweat from dripping in your eyes and aid with wearing sunglasses, if you need them.

However as part of my pre-race marathon preparation, I always take a couple of Imodium tablets to prevent bowel embarrassment along the route, and I also carry an anti-inflammatory Voltarol tablet to take at around 15 or 16 miles when my body is really suffering. Maybe it acts as a placebo, but the painkiller really helps me to deal with the trauma of the last nine or ten miles.

Okay, that last part is not recommended. It’s what I do having been recommended by other runners and they work for me.

Yet that advice was put into context this week with the inquest into the death of Claire Squires. She was the 30-year-old London Marathon runner who suffered heart failure and collapsed a few hundred metres from the end of the race last April.

The inquest heard that Claire had taken an energy supplement called Jack 3D. This is a sports supplement containing the stimulant DMAA, known as dimethylamylamine, which had previously been linked to the deaths of two American soldiers. The drink is commonly used as a work-out aid or a weight-loss supplement.

At the time of her death, there was no ban on taking this supplement. But Claire had added a scoop of Jack 3D to her water bottle to give her an energy boost for when she hit the preverbial runner’s wall in the latter stages of the race. It was an innocent act from a woman who her boyfriend, Simon Van Herrewege, said was passionately against the use of drugs.

It is ironic that four months after Claire’s death, Jack 3D and other supplements containing DMAA were banned from being sold in this country on the grounds of the potential risks to public safety after it had been linked to heart attacks.

Walk into Boots, Holland & Barrett or any similar shop and you can see shelf after shelf of  supplements - tablets, bars, and drinks for a variety of uses from building muscle to helping with weight loss.

Apart from taking glucosamine to treat a tender iliotibial band, I’ve never been tempted to buy any of these supplements, legitimate as they are. You could clear the shelf of supplements believing they would transform your life, enhance your health, drop a couple of stone and rid you of those niggling ailments. I’ve never thought about the science that much – I just run and get on with it.

I agree with Simon Van Herrewege who said after the inquest how there needs to be far great supervision of the health foods and supplements industry. There also needs to be greater education about these supplements and their value. It is a minefield when you look at that shelf stacked with supplements. Where do you start?

A simple Imodium or Voltarol tablet does what it says on the packet. It is safe, it’s legal and it isn’t going to enhance performance - crikey, I need a V2 rocket shoved up my jacksey if I wanted to see any real improvement to my personal best and I think there may be a health and safety issues there!

At the Hampshire Autistic Society talk, I spoke about the need to hydrate well, taking the isotonic drinks every five miles and water too – sipping but not drinking hard. And if you need a boost, take a gel or a protein snack, or in my case a bag of Jelly Babies, a Mars Bar and a chunk of sugary Kendal Mint Cake.

And you know what, when you get that sugar rush from a handful of Jelly Babies, you can keep your expensive and convoluted supplements – they get me to the finish line.

Claire Squires