Why you shouldn’t walk (or run) a mile in someone else’s shoes

The old saying “try walking a mile in someone else’s shoes” is a great concept and a wonderful metaphor, however, it’s not one to be taken on a literal level! I’ve often toyed with buying ‘as good as new’ or ‘only worn a few times’ with running shoes on eBay but always been advised that it’s a bad idea as it’s molded to someone’s feet etc... Recently I was away at my mum and dads where I leave a pair of oldish running shoes so I don’t have to take any when I visit. My brother does the same. I looked at the state of mine and they weren’t brilliant. Then I saw my brothers. Only half a size bigger. A few hundred miles in them and I thought ‘why not’? Can it really be that bad? I’m only doing 4 miles. Here’s what happened!

1. My heels hurt. A lot. The first run seemed fine. The shoes were lighter than I’m used to and coming down some of the hills I felt fast and free. However, the next day my right heel started hurting badly after a mile and I was struggling to put much pressure on either heel for the next couple of days.
2. My legs were mashed. And I mean mashed. I used them on a Sunday and a Monday. I went for a run with my wife on the Thursday and I’ve never been in as much discomfort with something that wasn’t an injury. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the back of my thighs. I love my wife to bits but she’s a couple of mins per mile slower than me on a parkrun but when she kicked for home I was struggling to keep up.
3. My back was sore. Granted I usually have fairly high levels of support in my shoes due to majorly over pronating but using shoes that had been molded to someone else’s feet played havoc with my back. I spent 2 or 3 days not being able to sit comfortably.

So I’ve learnt my lesson the hard way (albeit without any long-term damage I hope!) So next time someone is selling some ‘barely used’ running shoes at a discount price, be very very careful!

What counts as a PB?

I've seen a lot of people saying "my race time was this but my watch says this" in terms of a PB in a race. Some people say a PB is how fast your GPS has ever recorded that distance, some say it's what the official race time says. I'll be honest this is a subject that I have massively changed my opinion on in the last year or so. I recently ran a 10K PB at Silverstone. Watch said 10K was in 48 mins, official time from race was 48:35. I was all for the theory that your PB is what your watch says your PB is. However, I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking and here's why:

1. Courses are measured. Sounds simple but courses are measured accurately and watches have a slight deviation. It is frustrating when you run further than the distance of the race but I've also had some where my watch says it's just short so it goes both ways. A course should be officially measured and based on that, your PB should be taken as your official race time.
   
2. 
   Watches/phones can be wrong. Shock horror! But yes they can be wrong as you can see below. My mile record is world record level. So I can believe my watch or I can use common sense! A course doesn't deviate, have mini drop outs or get your starting position slightly wrong.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. It's what Mo would say! I'd imagine anyway. I can't think if you asked Mo Farah what his 10K PB would be he would say "well I did X time in training once". It would be his racing PB.
   
4. It's a level playing field. Chip timing or officially timed races are the only accurate way to measure one athlete against another. Even within watches there's variation. I do lots of long runs with my brother who has a different Garmin to me and despite running side by side my watch always seems to be slightly behind distance wise. Chip timing and officially timed races take away all those variables.

It's frustrating as most of my "records" in races are quicker on my watch than my official race time but all things considered, the only open and fully honest way in my opinion to say what your PB is is to go by what your official race time is.

Heart Rate Monitors - Why I No Longer Use One

A lot of devices come with an inbuilt HRM these days but back in 2016 it wasn’t as frequent. I bought my brother’s Garmin Forerunner 235 and with it the chest strap. Over the next few months I ran my best ever half marathon and my worst ever marathon. I no longer use one but there were some good points it. I honestly can’t tell you if it’s good - as I said my best half and worst full came using it but below is what I liked and what I loathed:

Pros:

• It’s not subjective. Often we run by how we feel but with a HRM you don’t get the choice. It independently measures your effort and so when you can’t be bothered it kicks you up the backside and when you are flying it reigns you in.
• It helps you run at a rhythm. After a while you get used to running at the same effort and that certainly helped me in my half when I ran without it. My splits were all within 10 seconds of each other which I think is because the HRM got me used to running at a consistent effort.

Cons:

• It tells you the truth. Turns out I’m not as fit as I’d like to believe!!! It took over a minute a mile off my training pace and often left me frustrated that I was constantly slowing down.
• It turned me into a madman. It was slowing me down so much I felt like I was shouting at it all the time. Fellow runners must have wondered “why is that guy having an argument with his wrist”?
• It was uncomfortable. Most these day are wrist based but I would spend the first mile of most runs adjusting the strap to try and get it to stick in place. Probably looked to people around like I was adjusting a bra strap!
• It made me not enjoy running. When the battery went I was relieved. I’d spent 8 months running with it and hadn’t enjoyed it. Yes it had been successful for the half but I run primarily to enjoy it so if anything takes that away it’s not worth persisting with.

So, in conclusion, they work and they don’t work! For me, it wasn’t the way forwards. How have you found training to heart rate?