Trial and error (and more error)

One of the many Rules of Running is 'Do not wear anything in a race that you haven't first tried in training.'  My last couple of runs have flagged up just why this is important.

They're in here somewhere...

Sunday's 120-minute off-road run saw me pair my Brooks Glycerines with Feetures socks.  I always wear my Balega socks with the Glycerines and the Feetures with my Sauconys - I have no idea why, it's just become a habit - but it was the Feetures that I grabbed from the running sock drawer first (yes, I have an entire drawer just for running socks) and I couldn't be bothered to rummage around for the Balegas because I was already setting off later than I had planned....and they're just socks, right?  How much of a problem could they cause? 
 
A fair bit, as it turned out.  Within 30 seconds of starting to run, the right sock disappeared into my shoe and rucked up under my foot.  Sigh.  I stopped to sort it out, thinking that I just needed to pull it up a bit higher but again within 30 seconds of running, it snuck back under my foot again.  Sigh and several swears.  I wasn't about to spend another half-hour going back home to get more functional socks and I wasn't about to spend a two hour run fighting with my right foot.  So I did what any impatient person would do and removed the sock and ran with one socked and one sockless foot.  I had feared developing blisters on the naked foot but it was in better shape at the end of the run than the other foot.  I'm not sure what this means for my Sock Future (do I dare to go bare?) but I do know that I'm glad to have found out now - and not at the start line of an ultra - that Feetures and Glycerines do not get along.

And then there was today's 60-minute threshold run (for those who find it interesting, it was a 10 minute warm-up, threshold intervals of 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 minutes with 2 minutes recovery between intervals, and a 10 minute cool-down).  I had to start in the dark so wore my head torch for the first time in a couple of years.  'This will be good practice,' I thought, given that I'll be running/walking/shuffling/crawling during the night for at least the last couple of hours of London2Brighton.  I also thought that I'd experiment with wearing my compression calf sleeves to 1) keep my calves warm in the fierce wind and 2) give some extra support to my grumbling left calf.  I've only ever worn these for recovery post-run but lots of runners think that they really help during the actual running as well.  I'll take any help out there that might keep my weary legs ticking over, so practicing with calf sleeves in training can only be a Good Thing.

Argh!  Get these off me NOW!

Except that it wasn't.  I HATED the feel of them.  I kept interpreting the tight (supportive) sensation of the sleeves as being a tight (injury) sensation.  And even once I got my head around that, I HATED how hot they made my legs feel.  OMG, I just wanted to stop and rip them off but to do so would have meant taking off my tights first and, by then, it was getting light and I didn't think that the passing rush hour traffic would appreciate being flashed.  I toughed it out but I will NEVER wear them for running again.  EVER.  My calves will just have to cope on their own. 


And how did the head torch work out?  Well, it was comfortable and, with three brightness settings, very adaptable to changing light conditions.  I noticed that it had a fourth setting - a series of flashing lights which I thought would be good for increasing how noticeable I was.  I used that for a mile or so before I realised that the pattern of lights was actually the SOS signal.  Sigh.  No wonder some of the oncoming cars were slowing down to have a look.  Just as well I figured that out now and not in the  middle of the night near Brighton after the rescue services showed up.

Running.  There's always something new to learn.