Clam Chowdah Challenge and Ultra Marathon Training

Shoe Schedule and Recommendations for Marathon Training

Summary of my diet for marathons

Clam Chowdah Challenge 2011 – Race Days

A word of warning

With any marathon training schedule, I was already in the habit of keeping track of my running. Now I am also keeping track of how many miles i ran on what shoe. Putting everything on google calendar is very convenient as it is also visual as well. I set up a separate calendar for all of my running.

As I’ll be running 5 days a week, many people recommend using two pairs of shoes during training so they both last longer. You are given them two days to dry out instead of just overnight if you only had one pair so some people said you should be able to get more miles out of them. If you run only 4 days a week, it would probably be ok to have one pair of shoes but for 5 or more, its definitely recommended to use two pairs or more. As you train for more marathon, there always seems to be a collection of shoes with varying levels of deterioration so you can always throw them into the mix.

One pair of my shoes was already pretty worn in so i used those for my short runs, so Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday on my odd no-running-on-Sunday schedule. The newer pair would be 7 miles and 20 miles on Sunday. By the time I got to race day, i had to get a third pair of shoes for the race. The recommendation is for the race shoe to have about 50-100 miles on it.

So I have tried a few pair of shoes for running. I have high arches so I tried it a few neutral running shoes. As with all running shoes, it is a very personal choice so stop by a running store to see your options and try them out. Many of the reputable stores would let you return the shoes even after you have ran in them for a bit so don’t be afraid to try it.

My favorite pair is the popular Mizuno Wave rider:

1. I started with Wave Rider 14 which was universally disliked because of the high ankle support and mid foot support. However, as this was my first running shoe, I got used to it. I did have callous on my back heel from the high ankle support but that went away during the subsequent training after my first marathon.
2. The WR15 fixed all of the issues and brought it back to what the WR13 was. It was a better shoe than the WR14.
3. The WR16 is noticeably lighter than the 15. According to some websites, its about 1oz lighter (weight of WR16 is ~10oz)

I also tried the Brooks ghost 3 and defy 4.

1. I liked the Ghost 3 as it was lighter than the wave rider 14 but I think the wave rider 16 has trimmed some weight so it is comparable now. The ghost also had less padding so it didn’t last as long. It would make a good race day shoe.
2. The Defy 4 had more padding but I felt it was too heavy so i usually used those on shorter runs.

I’ve tried a few other shoes in the store, but they just didn’t fit right. My feet is a little wide and I believe the WR are wider than other running shoes in my opinion.

As a suggestion to save cost, you can always buy the previous model shoe for a decent discount. The usual place I go to buy them is Amazon.com. I was able to get a pair for $60 new in the correct size, but you’ll have to compromise on the color. Usually I’ll take any color as I don’t want to have the same color. Also, my goal is to have as many color matching shoes and marathon shirts as possible. I’m up to three so far (white, yellow, blue).

In my next post I would be covering a few ways I geared my diet for this much training.