In the flats

As much as I love running in the aqua shoes, they are tough on the feet in the concreted city. At the weekend I got some racing flats. These Asics Hyperspeed 4s have a gel layer. Richard at the running club has Asics Pirahnas which are similar but not gel. I bought them into work today with the explicit aim of trying them out at lunchtime.

I set off to do a loop down Victoria Embankment across Charing Cross Foot Bridge and back across the wobbly bridge and back to the office.

The first thing I notice is that my feet do not land as soundly as in the aquas. With no padding, when you land, you have landed. The gel absorbs your stride and you do a microseconds of wobbling until you are set. On thing I do notice is that I seem to be running fast. After a while my legs ache in some different places. Not sure on the gel and I wonder if the Pirahnas would have been a better choice. Still, early days.

On the Southbank I relent on the pace. Best to take it easy in the new shoes. The walkway around Blackfriars is a mess so I miss out the wobbly bridge and go back over Blackfriars instead.

At the end I am more tired than when I run in the aquas but less than other shoes. Without the constraints of a race it is hard to tell the effect on my speed.

Over the last few months my running style has changed. It seems remarkable that you can change something you have been doing for so long.

The two big races of the summer are coming up, Corporate Challenge and the Great City Run. Time to start increasing the interval training.

30"38 (20 mins fast,10 min medium)