all the difference

I purchased two items this past week that made a big difference in my run. New shoes and a fuel belt.

This Friday's long run was to be a 28km run to Rehovot (for us novice runners). We were meant to start at Tzomet Shimshon, but I found that to be problematic. Starting at Tzomet Shimshon means you are starting to run with a serious uphill. Instead I againstarted at Presidents Forest, which makes the run only 26km. I added 2km in the middle of the route.

From presidents Forest, the run is a slight downhill for the first 8km, with a couple moderate uphills. This allows you to run effortlessly at faster speeds. For the first 8km or so until Tzomet Nachshon, I was averaging a pace of something like 4:55/km.

The run is beautiful and smooth.

I went to pro-Sport during the week and got my feet analyzed for shoes. I bought a pair of Stability running shoes made by Asics. These shoes correct part of my instep which had been causing me a lot of pain on the long runs and causing me to slow down a lot and also limited my ability to go further.. At a certain point I could no longer run.

I ran with my new shoes on Friday and I had no pain, and I pulled in to Weizzman Institute at 28km and felt like I could have gone further. I also ran it at a fast speed than I ran the same run 2 weeks ago that was only 26km.

Another difference was the fuel belt. I did not have to make any stops at all for water breaks because I was carrying the water with me. I have personally found stopping to be difficult for the run. I know it is necessary to stay hydrated, and you need water at certain distances, but I have found that when I stop, my muscles tighten up and it is harder to run after a stop. So not needing to stop made a big difference.

Also, because my gait was [partially] adjusted, my shoulder pain did not happen this week. Though one problem that arose was a bit of chafing in places I did not have prior..

Anyways, the run was great. I have taken a liking to the Rehovot run. My final numbers were 28km at an average pace of 5:35/km.