Long run - 5miles, 8:45min/mile, 150avgHR

My first run without my orthotics since before Christmas (6 weeks ago), and with my brand new pair of Asics Gel GT-2130’s.

It probably wasn’t the best first run with a new pair of shoes and no orthotics, but I wasn’t going to put off my long Sunday run, not was I going to persevere with my New Balance shoes when I’d just splashed out on a new pair of Asics!

The run itself wasn’t too bad at all. It was the first time I’d gone 5 miles for about 7 months (since my stress fracture). I ended up going faster than I wanted too, but my perceived effort was probably about 6 or 7 all the way.

As for the shoes, they felt really good. I tried to maintain a good midfoot strike, which I think I did OK at. They certainly felt better than the New Balance pair have done recently.

It’s about 4 hours since the run now, and I’ve spent at least an hour stretching and using my very firm roller on my achilles and calfs.

My shins (particularly the left) are a little tender, but I guess I’m not going to be able to do a 5 mile run with a new pair of shoes and not feel any strange twinges. Am I???

I’ll do some more stretches before going to sleep tonight… the real test will be to see how my achilles are in the morning when I wake up. They’ve been OK for the last couple of weeks, so I’ll be disappointed if the run with no orthotics has had a negative effect.