Firstly I’d like to thank Nick for organising and inviting us. There were a number of interesting points which certainly gave you “food for thought” not least of which being, don’t let a niggle become a problem, seek advice.

The Solent Hotel was our venue for the evenings Running Foundation (RF) talk. The RF are a combination of Nick Knight’s four podiatry clinics,  Pinnacle personal training and the Lowford Clinic. So with one group you are covering Chiropractic, Physiotherapy, Podiatry, sports massage and personal training all under one umbrella ( ella, ella !!) The evening’s talk also included Alton Sports from a running shop point of view and a fifth contributor that was Vanessa from England Athletics, giving a runners perspective.

Second Wind running’s Phil and Teresa had joined me for the evening and I recognised fellow Crusader Kate Robinson once we sat down with our drinks.

We started with Sean from Alton Sports who talked through the service that their four shops will offer you, when you buy the correct trainers and socks. “Socks” I hear you say but it does make sense that you get the best combination for your feet. Look after your feet and they will look after you !! I asked about toed socks but this came down to personal choice.

Nick, the podiatrist talked about choosing the right footwear and his number one point was comfort. He advised that the fit was more important than being a slave to shoe size. Running up and down the street will give you a more natural test than a treadmill but clearly being in one spot does help analysis. The power of the lace was an interesting concept. Too tight and you suffer from numbness, a slipping heel can be corrected by using those final shoe holes and to stop the infamous black toe nails thread one lace from the first eye to the last eye diagonally and then lace up from there for a better fit. Nick said Plantar Fascia was the most common issue he came across. The remedy is different for each individual but sandals first thing in the morning as well as self massage and toe curl stretches with ice bottle rolling under your foot in the evening will all help, combined with medical advice.

Kristina the Chiropractor from Norway & the Lowford clinic talked to us about neck, back, shoulder and hip pains. Her demonstrations made me think that I really ought to help myself by including exercises into my week for strength, stability and mobility. I particularly liked the video she showed us about awkward runners to get across her point … Don’t be that guy 🙂 Both Kristina & Andy showed us a number of exercises.

Andy from Pinnacle PT  was both ex army and a sandal runner with endless enthusiasm and energy. The gym he works from concentrates on strength and conditioning. From a runners point of view he made the very good point that exercises done with your right and left legs will point to one side being weaker than the other which can then be addressed so as to give a balanced running motion. He recommended mixing easy paced, threshold, interval and reps running which we may be aware of but don’t actually do enough of.

Finally Vanessa Lowe gave an insight on 10 mile training from an England Athletics viewpoint. Join a club, have a plan and stick to it, warm up and practice what you’ll do in the race, in training. A great tip for uphill running was to concentrate on positive  backward arm drives which I will be using tomorrow. Finally, again, another comment that I could relate to and don’t do enough is that a warm down is preparation for your next run.

All in all an interesting and very useful night.