Asics gt2170 250km review.

In between injury I've managed to reach the 250km mark.
Not being an asics fan I would have preferred to be truthfully able to say that I hate these pair just as much as the last, but unfortunately I can't.
Though, in my personal opinion, they could do with more frontfoot cushioning I have to admit that for a heel striker the sole unit is probably the most comfortable I've ran in.
My Asics Tamboras come close under normal conditions.
Only doing the mountainrace with the gt's will tell whether they're truely better.
Doing the mountain my feet really took a pounding with the tamboras.
What I still hate about the gt's and probably all non DS asics shoes is their uppers.
When cool they are probably the most comfortable even without socks on, but they are so thick that things get hot pretty quickly and thats when the fun really starts.
Probably would have done a whole lot better in both mountainraces had I used better breathing shoes.
Truth is though that I'm pretty sure I won't be doing another mountainrace anytime soon.
Good as the gt's are I'm still looking for the perfect running shoe.
My next pair will probably be mizuno wave inspires.
After that brooks gts...and failing that either adidas or nike.
Here's hoping the mizunos do the job satisfactorily.

Benefits of a midfoot strike

For the last few years, more and more runners and training professionals have been touting the benefits of running with a mid-foot landing, rather than the more common heel-strike. Many agree that a mid-foot landing is more natural. Have you tried running in place with no shoes on? You’ll never land on your heel.

The human foot is an amazing structure, built with 26 bones, 33 joints and over one hundred muscles, ligaments and tendons. The arch is a beautifully designed spring mechanism that feeds energy to our calves, quads and hips and lets us run gracefully and painlessly, if we just let it do its job.

The running shoe we see most often today has been around since about the mid 80s, when more of the general masses started to take up running. The athletic shoe industry figured that the average jogger might want more comfort than the serious athlete, who had up until then influenced the market toward a more lightweight racing shoe.

Major shoe companies decided to add cushioning and a raised heel to the running shoe, leading to the heel-strike form. Essentially they made running feel like walking. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Since then we have seen an explosion of runners, but we have also seen an explosion of knee problems, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis, ankle sprains, and the list goes on. Many believe that the super-cushioned, gel-filled, motion-control features of the modern running shoe have dimmed the natural movement of our feet and disrupted our skeletal balance, causing unnecessary injuries.

Because of this, some runners are setting their feet free. Some go completely barefoot while others are choosing to lighten up on their footwear, wearing shoes closer to what runners wore in the old days, with little to no cushioning and no pronation control. No bells and whistles.

Runners today are taking back their mid-foot and reaping the benefits with less injuries and more enjoyable runs. If you're up for the challenge of finding your mid-foot and improving your running form, here are some tips to follow:

1. Lose the shoes.

Bare feet are your best teacher. If you aren't comfortable going totally bare, try some lightweight footwear. You can choose anything from running sandals, to water shoes, to a high-tech pair of minimalist running kicks.

The things to look for in a minimalist shoe are:

• no significant lift from the toe to heel (4mm or less) or none at all (often marketed as "zero-drop")
• very little to no cushioning
• an extra flexible sole
• plenty of room for your toes to spread and move

If you absolutely cannot part with your cushioned trainers, that's okay. You can still improve your running form with these next tips.

2. Stop landing on your heel.

The key to good form is contacting the ground with the front half of your foot first. This is more difficult to do in heavy trainers, and next to impossible to avoid when barefoot. The exact contact spot varies from person to person. Some land on the ball of their foot (forefoot landing), but most land somewhere in the middle (mid-foot landing).

Your heel should still touch the ground briefly. However, it should not carry a large weight load. Most of your weight should be directly above your mid-foot. As soon as your heel makes contact, your arch and lower leg muscles can gather the spring they need to move your body forward. This way you can land much more lightly and bounce out of each stride rather than pound the ground.

3. Stand up straight and shorten your stride.

Remember what your mother told you: don’t slouch. A slumped-over runner wastes energy and allows for over-striding, which means extending the leg so far ahead that the foot lands in front of the body's centre of gravity.

Over-striding can lead to a host of problems, joint pain and knee injuries in particular. So keep your back straight, lead with your chest and bend forward only slightly at the ankles.

Shortening the length of your stride and increasing your cadence can make it easier to straighten up and resist over-striding. The average heel-striking runner tends to use longer strides and a cadence of 90 to 120 beats per minute (BPM), but the recommended cadence for optimal mid-foot running is about 180 BPM. That's three beats per second.

Get this cadence down and it may help achieve and maintain your correct form. Help yourself out by downloading a playlist of songs at 180 BPM for your iPod or carrying a small metronome with you.

4. Relax.

Finding your mid-foot can make you a more graceful and energy-efficient runner. But there's nothing graceful about running with stiff, robot-like limbs. Loosen up.

Relax your shoulders, neck, hands, toes, and even your legs. Extra tension in your muscles wastes energy and can cause a lack in flexibility and extra soreness. Bend your knees, shake out all the stiffness and let your body choose which muscles carry you forward.

5. Listen to your body.

Switching from a heel-strike to a mid-foot strike is serious business. In the long run, good mid-foot form is easier on your joints and spine and strengthens your ankles, feet and lower legs. But it is a big change for your underused lower leg and foot muscles.

It is important to start slow—even slower than you think. Build mileage gradually and always listen to your body when it says stop. Most knowledgeable barefoot runners recommend starting with no more than 1 to 2 km at first, and increasing distance by 10 % each week.

For longer distance runners, this may seem ludicrous. However, learning a new running form is the equivalent to being a new runner. With that said, every runner is different. The smartest thing you can do is be patient, pay attention to how your body feels and avoid injuries by taking it easy during your transition period.

Newton gravity review

Procrastination is my middlename.
Ask anyone that knows me.
To some it is laziness, but I prefer to think of it as thinking things through thoroughly before moving towards any kind of action.
This time around though it finally nipped me in the behind.
After barely 500km of uncomfortable running my pair of hated Asics pulse3 shoes finally decided to upgrade, or is it downgrade, from uncomfortable to downright painful.
Time had come to buy a new pair of running shoes.
For quite a while I'd been fascinated by Newton's action/reaction tm technology and since I'd been hard at work increasing my cadence, which as a side affect had moved my foot strike towards the midfoot, I felt that investing in a pair of gravity's would be a safe choice.
They arrived a whole month before my next race so I thought I'd have enough time to run them in, but as luck would have it I picked up a horrible case of flu which had me out of action for two weeks.
So come race day the only shoes I had was a pair of painful Asics Pulses and a (almost) brandspanking new pair of bright blue,red and yellow Newton Gravity's.
Just the thought of running a half marathon in the Asics had me quickly pulling on the Newtons, not caring whether it might mean a ruptured achilles tendon, worst case scenario, or at the very least some really sore calve muscles.
I was taking a calculated risk, but luckily for me it paid off on the day.
One thing I'd like to mention early on is that any pair of Newton running shoes really needs to be run in properly.
Even if you are buying your second pair I'd strongly advise against putting in any big mileage on a single run before they have been properly run in.
The lug system under midfoot takes about 100km of proper running before they become "loose" and comfortable.
Before that they won't exactely give you blisters but you are going to know they are there and it's anything but fun.
That first race I was impressed by the lightweight feel, relative to my asics it was like running barefoot.
Support and cushioning still was really firm and had me swearing at times, but there never were any doubt that they were built for speed.
I'm very excited about testing a pair of Newton's true lightweights.
Coming from heel striking and probably being used to shoes with a heel to toe drop of 12 to 8mm I recommend that you first invest in a pair of shoes that have a bit less heel since these shoes are pretty much zero drop(3mm actually).

Uppers:
The upper is very light and thin and breathability is excellent.
Still there is little doubt that the materials used are of excellent quality.

Sole unit:
First thing you notice are the lugs.
They look extremely uncomfortable and most people would think that they would be unpractical, but once you start jogging in them they are barely noticeable.
Reading up on these shoes you come to think that midfoot strike is the prime objective of these shoes.
Maybe thats accurate, but in my opinion that's not what you need to concentrate on.
Having developed into a midfoot striker over a period of about a year I thought it would be easy to find my stride, but aparently I'd gone a little overboard at pace and tended to push off with my big toe aswell as second toe, something which had developed into quite a painful issue but was quickly sorted after I started running more with the Gravity's.
In short: midfoot cushioning is exemplory for a shoe of this weight.

Overall opinion:
If you are someone that actively think about good form and a total nut about doing it the "right way" like me and you've read countless articles and studies about midfoot striking and cadence and stride length then these shoes are the perfect partner to help you reach your goals.
If you are a more casual runner, technically speaking, that rather concentrates on fitness than technique then these might be a pair of shoes straight from hell...or they might not, depending on what your technique is.
Fact is you have to be aware of what they are trying to make you do and know what the correct way is to do it.
I am of opinion that cadence is the holy grail of running and that by simply working on that will pretty much fix all other technique "problems".
For me this outlook has lead to success with Newton.
So in my opinion if you can afford a pair then give them a go but don't expect miracles of you aren't willing to change if your technique doesn't suite them.

So who am I really?

Lets start on January 1st 2012.
I found myself overweight, unfit and generally unhappy about how my life had turned out.
So one day I grabbed my mp3 player, put on a pair of jogging shoes and hit the road.
Long story short it's been an eye opening experience through which I discovered a side of myself that hadn't ever seen the light of day before.
Obsessed as I am I read up literally thousands of pages on any subject that catches my attention.
So for what has been about 17 months I've done loads of research into mostly running technique and later on I also started research into improved training methods and nutrition.
Along the way I've had some bad experiences with certain products and methods I might share as well.
Credit will be given where required to all the people I bugged day and night for months to get where I am today.
And I would also like to apologize to everyone I baited with clearly bad ideas just to get the useful responses I would not have gotten otherwise.

In the beginning...

To the few unfortunate souls that discover this blog: I am profoundly sorry that the title is so misleading but to set things straight this is actually a blog about all my jogging exploits and discoveries...and a few possibly misplaced opinions.
I'm not going to go back all the way to where I started and describe my experiences step by step but as time goes by I'll hopefully be able to fill in all the gaps I feel needs filling.
Hope whoever reads this finds it usefull or at the very least entertaining.