And the beat goes on
The potential lockdown is a bit of a scare. It could kick in before I have a chance to bank anything else ! But we can only go on the information we have and right now it's all systems go (spoiler alert - it's not !!)
Legs are almost ok this week. Obviously I wake up like a 90 year old man but they come back to life fairly quickly. Need to continue with the s&c - it's a bit of a focus this week to make sure I stay healthy. That needs priority Mon, Tue & Friday! The idea is to pep the legs daily now to make sure I feel really, really good every day.
Thoughts of how to continue to build fitness without taking risks are always at the forefront. This week will be pretty relaxed outside the 2 races to try and bring a mini peak. Then it's focus on the 3k which will be the final dance of this track season. I'll have 2 weeks to recover, build and peak for that and it should be my best chance of setting a decent time this year.
One session I will 100% do this week is a comparison of my race shoes in preparation for Sunday. The base case shoe is the next% - it's tried and tested at 16.47 ! I'll run a loop of around 1km at ~330w in each of next%, 4%, tempo next%, adizero & alphafly to see which one is fastest, most comfortable and most economical at race effort. I want fairly fresh legs for that so it'll be Tuesday. Long-ish recoveries and some strides after and I'll report the data. that'll form the 'interesting' part of my blog haha
Felt good this week, absolutely sure lots of that is the confidence from the race but 3 sessions on very tired legs and 4 days of effort is a decent return at this stage. Confidence is high, looking at predicted race times and everything is heading in the right direction.
Tuesday morning and I get a message to say the 3,000m track race is cancelled ! Ahhh, that's a nightmare. I'm assuming that there will be quite a bit of this as the uncertainty grows BUT I manage to find another one on the same weekend so panic over lol !
The shoe test
Protocol - (all written before I started) from the track, jog down to the main road. Run steady ~1km to Old Ramsey Rd. Aim to feel comfortable. Run back @ ~330w (5k effort). Stop watch, jog to car, change shoes!
Stryd power, HR, Garmin.
Aim - a clearly 'fastest shoe' in all senses, but mainly at power. Will compare all metrics (effort laps) and make a judgement call on the shoe for Sunday and probable 'race shoe'.
I will also make notes on how each shoe felt. It'll be interesting to see data on out laps where I will just run steady.
Assumptions. I am assuming the Alphafly will test fastest. The Next% will feel fastest and most comfortable. The Tempo will be as fast as the other two but won't feel fast. The adidas won't feel good at all. Not going to take 4% as I know they are not testing as fast as the Next% anyway (for me).
So, straight outa Strava ...
Long story short...
Alphafly, Adios, Next%, Tempo in that order
Data ::
Protocol -
Just under 1km from California Road to Old Ramsey Road run as steady 'to feel' pace. Stop, walk around and come back.
Just under 1km at ~5k effort (330w for 17 mins).
Jog back to car in car park, change shoes, jog back and repeat x 4 !!
Nike Tempo Next%
Steady - 3:47 (268w, 181spm, 145bpm)
5k - 3:12 (309w, 184spm, 158bpm)
Felt great on steady but felt like hard work on effort. Could not get power to target 330w. Feel 'slappy' when running very hard. Foot ached a bit.
Adidas Adios Adizero Pro
Steady - 3:45 (272w, 179spm, 153bpm)
5k - 3:10 (324w, 184spm, 162bpm)
Felt much better than expected. Comfortable, holding target power no problem. 5k pace felt much more manageable.
Nike Alphafly
Steady - 3:48 (277w, 177spm, 153bpm)
5k - 3:08 (329w, 183spm, 164bpm)
Felt crazy comfortable, held back to keep power down. Could really push in these.
Nike Vaporfly Next%
Steady - 3:49 (268w, 179spm, 153bpm)
5k - 3:10 (309w, 186spm, 163bpm)
On paper these look like fastest shoe at power : time, however this felt like hard work. Possibly fatigue from session but they felt flat after the other two shoes.
The Next% are the base case shoe as they're the ones I have raced in (i.e. comparisons are pretty much against that shoe, the final test was to show relative data)
The result
1 Alphafly
Close first. They felt so comfortable and always felt like I was holding back. Easy to hit power target on tired legs. I can't describe how comfortable these felt on and how relaxed the position was at 5k pace. They tested fastest time but mainly if you look at stride rate it's 1 down per minute against the other shoes which shoes they are travelling further.
2 Adios
Would be more than happy racing in these. These also have crazy levels of comfort. Can feel them pushing forwards, a bit more of a roll than the Alphas which are angled. Zero outsole, these will wear out in about 50 miles tops! Can see the carbon 'fingers' through the outsole after less than 2 miles of running! They are certainly fast and like the Alphafly was holding back to hit power.
3 Next%
A long way behind the other 2 for feel. Surprised with that. On paper the fastest shoe based on power to time but I had to work really hard and last night the 309w actually felt harder than 5k effort. Even though HR was lower my legs felt like they were pushing harder. the soles felt flat in comparison which is crazy considerng these have been my go-to fast shoe for months. Could not get near 330w on the test, that would have felt like 1500m effort!
4 Tempo Next%
As a daily wearer, hands down the best shoe I've ever run in. The steady was no loss against the others but at 5k effort it just felt to stiff and heavy. As a long tempo shoe this is absolutely perfect, at sub 5:40 pace though it's under too much pressure and the pace felt like it was really forced. Feels a bit slappy with the harder wearing outsole and react heel foam. 6:20 pace and above though this is something else. One complaint on this shoe is that it doesn't have the extra eye hole to get a runners loop in and the heel is a bit slippery if the socks don't add any grip. This aggrivates my PF so I tend to wear 'grippy' socks with them to hold heel in place. If I tested these shoes at 7/mm I can imagine this shoe being a massive winner.
These results are for 5k effort (~5:30 - 5:40/mm) what's interesting is they all handle differently at different paces. I would possibly go for Adios over Alphafly for 10k / Half marathon (5:50/mm) and I would most likely choose Next% OR Tempo for full marathon (6:15-6:30/mm).
Actually felt a bit tired on the test, on the first rep I wasn't sure I'd actually get through it !! But once I slipped into the Adios it came a little easier.
Paces ranged between 6:20-6:40 on the steady and 5:30 - 5:45 on the 5k. In fact, I'm not 100% the pace is correct as the Alphafly test I saw 5:29/mm about 50m from the finish and it ended up at 5:35/mm lol !
It does go to show that there is a huge difference between paces in shoes. The Tempos were actually a fair bit faster than the Alphafly for the steady run but couldn't hold a match to them over the faster run.
I'll go with safety and use the Alphafly for the 5k on Sunday but next road race I'll def go with the Adios as I am keen to see those perform in a race on fresh legs.
Talking of fresh legs, will take a full rest day tomorrow and then full race day prep on Thursday - 5k shakeout in the morning and then race. I've banked 7 days in a row for around 44 miles & 413 TSS which is high for me! Fingers crossed that is everything I need now for the next couple of races to hit some respectable V45 times!
Comments
Post a Comment