Coniston - DNF & Inov8’s

Last year during the Lakes-5 day Orineteering I bought a pair of Inov8 Mudclaw 270’s. They were a nice fit but needed just a tad of cushioning.  They were the outgoing model so were on offer for £50 at Lakesrunner. Back in January at a GoOutdoors sale I bought me a pair of Inov8 Mudclaw 333’s for £35 (50% off), well they are the “Grippiest Most Durable Fell Racing Shoe”. Being the slightly heavier model they should have the extra cushioning I needed. I kept them nice and clean, in the box until I needed them.

Well as it turns out I needed them sooner than I thought as the 270’s wore out a lot quicker than I thought they would. Considering I didn’t really use them much over winter they started falling to bits after not that many miles. Certainly no where near the mileage I got from my Mudrock 290’s. I tried e-mailing Inov8 and Lakesrunner but never got any reply from either of them (That’s Lakesrunner off my preferred list of shops, it could be harder to veto Inov8 depending on shoe options I find).

I’ve worn the 333’s a few time so far this year but normally on training runs and ended up with cramp in my feet. They are VERY comfortable when I first put them on but after a few miles or on downhill sections thats when the aches start. I had assumed I just needed to wear them in but with the long spell of hot weather we had around april it was difficult to give them a good “Bogging up” with no moisture on the hills. I mentioned this to Chris and one of his suggestions was to try twinskin socks.

Joanne and the kids came up to Coniston for the race. She was planning to take the kids for a walk whilst I raced. Arriving early enough I still managed to be running to the line on the last minute.

Setting of up the hill I found the going tough from the start. Going up the first ascent and the twin skins seemed to be allowing the shoe to move too much. I can’t tie shoes up to tight or it forces cramp onto them, but today the shoes just seemed to be moving much more than normal. As the shoe moved at the back it moved the sock further down the back of my foot. By the time I was 1/2 way up Weatherlam I’d stopped three times to fix my socks, my feet were cramping and I was starting to feel the beginnings of a blister where the shoes were rubbing as the sock disappeared.

In the end I just gave up. I’d only gone about 2 miles and I didn’t plan to be messing about with footwear all the way round. I turned around and headed back to the start to let them know I’d retired. As I descended to the finish it brought no comfort to me when I saw the race leader hurtling down the final descent and beat me back to the finish completing the whole route quicker than I went 1/2 way up the first climb and back down.

I called Joanne and met up with her and spent the rest of the day family by the lake. It was still an enjoyable day if not for the disastrous run.

             

Surely the Inov-8 shoes can’t be this bad??? I’ll wear them in some more.