Vead – Lehekülg 17 – Nourish, Train & Flourish

On the 3rd of March I found this link on Marathon100’s FaceBook page saying that since the weather is so nice right now and there are only 3 running competitions in March, they’ll be hosting a virtual competition on the 8th & 9th of March 2014. You had to register, get a number, print it out and put that on your shirt the day you were running and afterwards send them an e-mail (and a running app screenshot if possible) with your results. I thought why not take part and registered on the same day for Saturday, the 8th of March and 10K. There were also options to run 5K, half-marathon (21,1K) or a full marathon (42,2K).

Since this event was a very different from the races I’ve done before, I wasn’t really nervous or anything. But this isn’t necessarily a good thing! I didn’t give my body any rest all week. I did Jooks Jõud Venitus, strip aerobics, interval running, interval muscle workout and BodyPump before running a 10K race. What a fool does that: 3 intense workouts before racing? Me obviously.

I think I didn’t take the race as seriously as I should’ve. Since I needed to get other stuff done that day, I picked a rather early start time and didn’t have breakfast before starting. Anyway, when I stepped out my door at 10 AM, it was raining pretty hard. That didn’t make me particularly happy what you gotta do what you gotta do. Fortunately the rain stopped on my 2nd kilometre. There was also wind and in the beginning, so I got pretty cold and ran faster just to get warmed up. My race number got wet and ripped off with the rain and wind around the 2 km mark.

Somewhere around the 4th kilometre I met another runner who waved to me and smiled. I was listening to my RunKeeper telling me about my pace, speed etc and totally almost missed it. I didn’t even have time to wave back… Well, if you are reading this, you were awesome! 🙂 My mood went up by like 100% at that moment. Sorry you got only an awkward smile from me 🙂

In general there were a lot more runners out there that day. When I passed someone, the first thing in my mind was if they are also doing the race. I don’t think everyone was but I hope some people were.

In general it was not an easy race. My muscles were sore from the week before and I had to push myself to keep moving forward. Fortunately I had a good lap designed and I never got bored: Anne channel, Ülejõe park, Tähtvere Sports park, Supilinn, city centre and more Ülejõe park. But on the 6th and 7th kilometre I got extremely slow and a little frustrated with myself. What do you mean you are running with a pace of 8 min per km?!

When I reached the city centre again around my 9th kilometre, I suddenly felt how my legs got lighter and running got easier. I was pretty fast when I passed my university and the city square. I finished with a pretty good pace actually but the slow kilometres before really dragged down my average pace. But that’s OK. I was still proud of myself. I had just completed a 10K with sore muscles and finished pretty fast. I was still under 7:30 min per km which is a normal pace on a sore day. Gotta leave some room for improvement next year, right? 🙂

After finishing, I took time to stretch nice and long and enjoy the sun that was peeking through the clouds for some seconds. It had been a good International Women’s Day run.

Results:

My official time: 1:15:22
Official distance: 10K
Actual RunKeeper distance: 10,2K
Average pace: 7:23 min per km
Average speed: 8,13 km/h
My position: 39 (out of 40 that finished) –> Yay, I wasn’t last 😀
My position among women: 14 (out of 15)
In my agegroup: 1st! Just kidding, I was the only one in my agegroup doing the Virtual Run on all distances 😀

Not a bad start to the season. Next: another Virtual Run on the 22nd or 23rd of March and then Tartu Parkmetsa Run 7K on the 12th of April. Not gonna make the mistakes I made with this race!

People who have followed me for a while know that last year in May I bought new workout shoes since my 7-year-old (!) Nike running shoes weren’t good enough anymore. They had outer soles coming loose, the inside mesh was getting holes and the leather was coming off in places. Time for new shoes, right?

My overall training Nike's that will be used for group workouts only from now on. — My overall training Nike’s that will be used for group workouts only from now on. I don’t recommend this model, they have not held up good 😦

I bought some new shoes. Another pair of Nike’s. But I didn’t buy actual running shoes, I bought overall training shoes (üldtreeningujalatsid). At that time it made a lot of sense to buy overall training not running shoes: I had been doing group workouts for 4 months and nothing else really. I didn’t have any plans to start running actively.

Overall training shoes are good if you practice a little bit of everything: a little bit of strength training, dancing, aerobics, running etc. If you practice 4–6 different sports once a week, they are great for you. But my training plan changed a lot during summer: no aerobics, mostly running, cycling and some Zumba. The shoes were OK for Zumba and cycling (since I’m not a pro) but not good for running. I thought since I only run short distances, I just don’t want to spend the money on decent running shoes.

And I didn’t.

Bad decision! During summer I had some pain in my ass (literally!) and occasionally also wore a knee support because in the past I have had problems with knees. I also remember my shins hurting really bad before Tartu Tudengimaraton 10K. This can all be associated with bad shoes.

My shoes weren't that bad but still worn off. Photo from 2toms.com — My shoes weren’t that bad but still worn off. Photo from 2toms.com

During winter I started to wear my old Nike shoes running again. 7 years have really worn them out and I did get them fixed a little but still they have no support left in them. I mostly ran only once a week so I didn’t do too much damage to my joints.

But since the New Year I have had a clear understanding in my mind that I need to get proper gear to train for my half-marathon coming up in June. I can’t run in shoes that don’t have the right support. I don’t want to get injured like I have done many times in the past, especially during high school.

So until today I had no idea what my feet actually needed. I had never gotten a foot analysis test or anything. I always had just bought some sports’ shoes and never put too much attention in them. I knew that if I was going to spend 130+€ on shoes, I want professional advice and testing.

I searched long and hard find where you can get you feet tested AND buy shoes from. I only found Jooksuekspert. But they operate in Tallinn. I didn’t want to spend more time and money on travelling and then found that Rademar had FootBalance campaign going on. I e-mailed them, got no response. Then I went to an actual Rademar store in Tasku Center in Tartu but they didn’t have the analysis machine… I was getting hopeless. Fortunately the staff there knew that the store in Tartu Lõunakeskus has the service I was looking for.

So today I went to Lõunakeskus and actually bought a pair of good Asics running shoes! I also got excellent service there, I was really impressed. The guy who helped was named Aare and he really knew his job well. I got my feet photographed and analysed. He told me that my feet have normal to low arches which means I need support on the inside part of my foot and that my front arch (don’t know the exact term in English, in Estonian it ristvõlv) is lowered so I also need support around my toe area. So basically to sum up: I have pretty nasty feet 😀 and I’m an overpronator. He also said he would e-mail the results to me but I haven’t received it so something must have gotten wrong there 😦

I'm an overpronator (the bottom option) — I’m an overpronator (the bottom option)

Then he recommended shoes. I wanted Asics and there were 3 alternatives: GT 1000, GT 2000 and GEL-Kayano 20. The first two only have a gel pad on the heel but Kayano’s have it under your toe area as well. Also the material used on the soles and outer shell are all a little different.

I tried everything on, tried walking and running in them and unfortunately for my wallet liked the feel of the most expensive pair the best. The price difference between the least and most expensive pair was around 60€. I thought long and hard and almost cried when I paid for my Kayano’s. But I really do hope they are well worth it!

My brand new running shoes: Asics GEL-Kayano 20. Love the bright colours too!

I said a HUGE thank you to Aare for doing my foot analysis and recommending shoes. He did a wonderful job and helped me out big time.

And if you’re looking for a place to buy running shoes in Tartu, definitely go to Rademar in Lõunakeskus. The FootBalance service in Rademar shops is also offered in Rocca al Mare and Järve Center in Tallinn and in Põhjakeskus in Rakvere. I don’t know how long the campaign will last so if you need something, better move quick 🙂 Or you could also go to Jooksuekspert in Tallinn, I have heard a lot of good words about them.

Let’s hope my new shoes serve me good. They should be good for around 1000 km. Bring it on! 🙂

Rubriik: Vead

Marathon100 I Virtuaaljooks 10K

Results:

Asics GEL-Kayano 20: my new running shoes!