Adidas Adios 2 review

The original Adios racing shoe made its name as the shoe to break world marathon records in and the Adios 2 took up where the 'Haile shoe' left off by carrying Patrick Makau to a new WR in Berlin last September.

I've had a pair for a couple of months now and have been wearing them alongside the Asics DS Racer 9 as a comparison so this is my view of them.

The changes to the Adios 2 are several with the addition of Continental rubber to the outsole and a little bit more medial stability being the headlines, along with a fractionally reduced weight. I've used a pair of the orginal Adios for a while and immediately noticed the additional stability. Its not a huge change but for the runner that does benefit from a bit of stability its a welcome addition.

This shoe is still quite low in the heel and I find that my calf muscles need a good stretch after wearing them. That said they feel very responsive, more so that the DS 9 which I reviewed a few months ago. The forefoot just feels firmer and more dynamic for my liking.

So what about this highly touted outsole ? I used the shoes in a 10k race last weekend in Schaffhausen and the tarmac was wet and the corners looked particularly slippery (left). The traction from the Continental rubber was as good as promised and I was able to charge into the corners with total confidence, not something I could do in many of the racers I have owned.

The wear rate looks like its going to be very good as well which is a welcome sign as many modern racers seem to wear out their lightweight blow carbon outsoles way before the midsole has worn out.

Would I wear them for a marathon ? Absolutely, to my mind the best marathon shoe I've had since my old Adizero CS that carried me to a 2.18 in Toronto. For 5-10k races I prefer something even lighter so may be tempted to try out the Adizero Pro or anything else that readers can recommend.

Buy here from Running Home

Also take a look at the Saucony Kinvara 3 review.

Marathon season kicks off in Berlin

This weekend the autumn marathon season gets properly underway with Berlin and Toronto Waterfront grabbing the early headlines before the focus shifts to a couple of potentially epic races in Chicago and New York.

After a summer of hobbling around in pain and not enjoying the little running I have been able to do at least I am starting to move well enough to run 3 or 4 times a week now. Commitment has been in short supply so this weekend I'm off to Berlin and who knows, the juices may be flowing again come sunday afternoon ! For once Haile won't be lining up as he is having a crack at New York and what should be more of a championship type race. I really hope this means that he is going to prepare seriously for London 2012. A marathon medal 16 years after his first 10,000m gold would be a fitting finale for the maestro - I will always remember the day I sneaked into the stadium in Addis during the pre-worlds training camp in 2001 and he came up to the stands to say hello and introduce himself. Class.

Anyway, one of the benefits of being away from proper training is more time to reflect on what has worrked or not worked in training and also time for things that I wouldn't normally do. Last saturday the Somerset Runing Network organised a runners fayre over at Taunton. Top of the bill was Dave Moorcroft and he gave a thoroughly engaging talk which its fair to say had the audience captivated. The two big takeouts for me were 1. be the best you can be (at whatever level yor talent allows) and 2. enjoy the journey because very few will get to win an Olympic medal or set a WR. Wise words indeed !

After lunch we had a cosy little group for my Faster Marathon workshop, lots of good questions and sharing of experiences between the participants and plenty of fun for me and the tub of marathon lard...

Geb rues a fast early pace in Dubai

This morning world record holder Haile Gebrselassie posted the second fastest ever marathon with a 2:04.53 clocking in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon but arguably missed improving his own record after a 61.27 first half.

Its no coincidence that recent WR runs in the marathon have been achieved with a negative split i.e. running the first half slower than the second.

Personally, in my 4 four marathons i've run 2 with negative splits and 2 where I went out too quick. No prizes for guessing which I prefer ! The negative split races I ran closer to my potential and recovered much faster. I wrote earlier about starting London 2006 too quick and how ugly that got.

So if you are thinking going out faster in London to get ahead of schedule is a sound tactic, think again ! Even the greatest can't make it work.