Paul Martin

Some observations:

• Don’t get tiny in-ear pods. They have a habit of popping out during outdoor activities, and due to their size they are likely to get irretrievably lost when they do.

• If you’re outdoors, being aware of your surroundings is very useful. Traffic, bicycle bells, dogs, other runners, etc.

I started out with some cheap Bluetooth buds with a linking cable between them. They served me well for about six months before I decided I was getting serious about running.

I have an older pair of Aftershokz Aeropex (the previous model to the OpenRun, before the rebranding to Shokz). I can’t fault them. I also wear spectacles and have no problems. The initial set I had a firmware bug which would mean they didn’t charge if you turned them off when they weren’t idling (ie. whilst they still had an active audio session with the phone).

About 20 months into owning them, my set developed a fault where they sounded like clashing cymbals on every movement (one of the transducers must have detached internally). The manufacturer sent out a brand new pair without argument. That has different firmware without the charging bug.

Note that many race events do not allow the use of earphones, but some will make an exception for bone conduction earphones which don’t block outside sounds.

On the other hand, if your routine solely consists of running on a treadmill in a gym, ignore all of the above.

I’m still working on building up the skin thickness on my soles.

I’m in my mid fifties. I run mostly in Vibram FiveFingers and occasionally (like today) barefoot. I’m just weird that way.

I did the UK variant of Couch to 5K (9 weeks, final goal is 30 minutes at any pace, not 5km) three years ago. I’d never run before in my life.

Instead of chasing pace after finishing that, I worked on increasing duration and distance. That was after realising that every time I’d forced myself to get faster I’d picked up some injury. Pace naturally increased as I got fitter.

It’s really what you’re used to. When it gets above 21°C here (70°F) in the UK it tends to get very humid and sticky.

Also we’re not acclimatised to it. We’re currently “enjoying” temps over 27°C (80°F) this week after a much cooler month. This is not typical for September. The nights have been very warm too. I’ve been getting home after a run the last few days and making a small puddle on the floor tiles.

Looking back, most of my personal best paces have been in the early autumn or spring.

On the other hand I love running on concrete, even barefoot!