New ideas

Visited my favourite shoe store today 'The Running Centre' as it is getting close to time think about new shoes and had a very interesting conversation with Sam the manager.

Now, keep in mind that I haven't been involved in the shoe selection business for quite some time, so what I learnt today may not be particularly new news. Anyway, what Sam was saying is that the whole shoe fitting business has moved a long way from the old, stability shoe, neutral shoe, cushioned shoe etc concept. Instead he was saying that these days shoe selection is more based on what you use if for and whether you prefer a cushioned shoe or a firm shoe. That's it. He said even the gait analysis concept is no longer really necessary and this is from a store that specialised in it. Boom. Mind blown.

Apparently, this shift in thinking around shoe fit came about after people realised that the extra support in stability shoes wasn't leading to any reduction in injury or any increase in comfort. As someone who has always run in shoes with loads of support, this was quite a revelation for me. Now, I have no idea if Sam is correct or not, however, I have a lot of respect for his knowledge and expertise, so I suspect he is on the money. Amazing. I suspect it means that my next shoe selection might be a bit of an interesting one.

Today's revelation shows the value in trying to stay abreast with some of the concepts when it comes to sport. That isn't to say you want to be flitting from new concept to new concept constantly, that doesn't tend to be productive. However, as an athlete (and especially a coach) it doesn't hurt to be aware of what the sporting industry is up to and where it is going. Knowing what is legit and what is pure snake oil can certainly help when making smarter purchase decisions. Common sense really.

On the topic of furthering knowledge I decided today to delve into the world of HRV, or Heart Rate Variability. HRV isn't a new concept, but with the advent of new apps etc it is becoming a lot more accessible. In short HRV is the measurement in variability of the time between your heart beats, as opposed to heart rate. The consistency of this measure can be used to correlate things like stress levels, illness and in athletes, recovery. It is something that we are talking to athletes about more and more so I thought it was time I got my head around it. Plus, I am hoping it will be useful for my own training. Early days, but watch this space.

In other news, I am off to Darwin tomorrow for work so posting might be a bit intermittent until Saturday. Will see how I go for time.

Speaking of which, I should probably pack my bag.