On Running Cloudsurfer review

For the last few weeks I've been testing out a pair of Cloudsurfer trainers made by Swiss company On Running. It is not yet a well known brand here in the UK though it has built quite a following in Switzerland, Germany and the US.

If you have seen a pair your first reaction was probably similar to mine: "they look weird, that outsole must be a crazy gimic". What strikes you is the series of rubber hoops which make up the outsole and are known as clouds by the guys who designed the shoes. Different models have a different number of these clouds and the Cloudsurfer sports 13 of them.

So what made me overcome intial scepticism and give these a try ? Well at the UK 100km championships my team mate Dave Mitchinson ran the whole race in the stripeed down Cloudracer version of the shoe and had no blisters, blackened toe nails or other foot problems. With that in mind I figured there must be something in the shoes worth finding out about. So when the opportunity came to stop by the On office on a recent trip to Zurich I took it out of sheer curiosity.

Lacing the shoes up the first thing I noticed was the fit which was relatively broad and suits my feet nicely. I've struggled a bit with narrower Japanese shoes and these felt right for european feet. Sizing is similar to normal shoes and I slipped nicely into a UK8.5 and would probably also be fine in a UK8. Take care if buying off US sizes though because my UK8.5 is marked as a US9 and I would usually take a US9.5 in Saucony and Adidas.

First impressions. After walking carefully down the stairs and out of the office expecting to fall off the 'clouds' at any moment I went for a short run up the street with founder Olivier Bernhard. And I have to say the shoes felt pretty good. The biggest thing I noticed on that first short run was how bouncy the shoe felt and while flexible my feet didn't feel out of control or unstable. On top of that, they definitely seemed to push my hips a little bit further forward and helped me to run 'taller' than usual.

Back home I've given them the full treatment including off road, grass, tarmac and whatever the best of Somerset can throw at the them. I've yet to find a surface that they struggle on though some people report the clouds filling with mud when it is really dirty under foot. So far they have done just under 200 miles without any obvious signs of wear and tear (above left) and I'm curious to see how long they retain their dynamic feel before starting to feel crushed and flat.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when you start running in a shoe like the Cloudsurfer is that it will allow your foot and lower leg to move more naturally than when in a normal shoe. So you should transition carefully over a period of weeks and pay attention to where the muscles are working a bit harder i.e. stretch them out afterwards. While not as drastic as going to a zero drop 'minimal' type of shoe, these will give you some of the benefits without many of the risks. I've certainly noticed my right calf feeling different and as a result the hamstrings and glutes working more effectively.

In summary: a good shoe if you are looking for something to help you run more naturally and with better posture but don't want the lottery of going to a barefoot/minimal shoe. Full product details

World Trophy 50km reflections

This post seems to have taken an age to come together. The race took place as long ago as 20th October and it didn't go according to plan with a problem in my right vastus lateralis getting progressively worse until I had to stop at 36km, frustrated and disappointed.

So one of the reasons it has taken me so long to pull some thoughts together was I that I very quickly wanted to move on from what had happened and focus on enjoying a good break and getting myself healthy again to resume training later in the year.


So a few reflections on the event. The heat. It was a hot day on the Italian coast with temperatures in the high 20s and no shade from the sun which was burning down for much of the race and reflecting off the sea. I was surprised to see people dropping out even in the first 10k as they struggled with the conditions which brings me back to the topic of heat acclimatisation which i've written about before.

If there is a possibility of a warm day then prepare for the conditions ! I'm still amazed at how many runners leave this aspect of their preparation to chance and hope they can cope - they invariably can't. I did my most comprehensive heat acclimatisation so far with regular treadmill runs wearing a hat and gloves and not surprisingly I felt relatively comfortable on what was a hot day.

All the photos here are of me running with team mate Dave Mitchinson. We spent the whole race running together and it really helped to have some company and a bit of moral support when things were feeling a bit tough. We hatched a plan early on to start steady and work our way through. In the early stages we were outside the top 10 and by the time I had to step off the road we up to 5th and 6th with 4th place in sight. Once again I was reminded of the value of setting out a realistic pace for the course/conditions. In the marathon or 50k you have a long way to hang on if you go out too hard and there were some of the early leaders who were hanging on for a long time!

With hindsight I had an inkling of trouble in my right leg when out for a jog the day before the race. There was some discomfort although it eased off fairly quickly. Knowing what I know now I would have spent a lot more time self treating that evening and on race day morning though whether that would have prevented the problem from flaring up who knows.

In such a long race drinks are critical and in ultra races you can have a support crew handing you bottles within the designated technical areas. We had our own drinks on a table (left middle) but some quick thinking from Team Leader Andy Smith ensured that he also got across the course to give us bottles of water in the second technical area to help us keep cool (left bottom). Thats the kind of experience in the team that really makes a difference.

And finally winner Steve Way deserves a mention for how he ran the race. With an out and back 6km loop along the seafront we could see the race unfolding and Steve dropping off the lead group a couple of times. He never gave up and get running his race. Even when I walking back in it was clear that although in third place he was looking the best of the leaders though I not sure he believed it given by the look he gave me when I yelled at him that he could win the race with 10km to go ! He only took the lead with 5km left and the size of gaps he opened up tells you just how badly 2nd and 3rd place blew up.

Chippenham Course Record

Its been a few months since I laced up my racers so it was great to blow away the cobwebs at the Chippenham Half Marathon on Sunday and come away with the win and new course record having taken 39 seconds off Dave Mitchinson's time from last year.

Racing half marathon's during a marathon build up is always a tricky one for me and probably the main reason why my half marathon PB is totally out of line with my 10k and marathon times. Invariably I'm running on tired legs and in the groove of marathon pace as that's what i'm actually training for. And yesterday was no exception. The first few miles felt as if my legs were going to fall off they were so stiff and tired from a really hard 10 day training block. It was good to have some company for those first 5 miles before I was able to ease away and settle into a nice rythmn. The last mile had the benefit of a few hundred metres of downhill which made for a nice fast finish which I'm sure will have been welcomed by most of the runners.

The event itself was really well organised. I would say that this is the best medium sized race I have been to in the UK in terms of organisation and the race 'village' on the cricket field was excellent. With a bonus for a course record and a pair of Saucony running shoes from local sports store Sportzform it was also a profitable morning's work.

The women's race was won by the fast improving Helen Taranowski of Coventry Godiva and in the vets categories the evergreen Zina Marchant of Bath ran away with the V55 prize in 1hr 35 mins.

Photos: Diane Vose, Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

Results:

1. 69:36 Adrian Marriott
2. 72:41 Stephen Paterson
3. 72:59 Martin Shore
4. 74:34 Tom Fisher
5. 75:24 Darren McNeely

Full Results

In the news:
This is Wiltshire
Chippenham Half Marathon