Sound practical advice for selecting your running shoes

This may sound obvious to some of you but it is sound practical advice for those runners looking to buy a new pair of shoes to pound the pavements. A big shout of thanks goes out to www.therunnersguide.com for this great advice.

One of the most important pieces of equipment to a runner is their shoes. They support your body and keep it safe and healthy while you run. Even if you don’t run that much, you should invest in a good pair of running shoes.  We all know that a shoe should feel comfortable, but there are other things you may not think of

• Here are a few tips on selecting the right pair. 

  Get enough support. A good pair of running shoes should feel snug all around your foot.  This means that your whole foot is being supported.  If you can’t find a pair of shoes with the right support, buy some orthotic inserts.

  Examine the shoes. Besides trying on the shoes at the store, you should look and feel the shoes as well.  Check to see if they feel strong and well made.  Also check for padding and other shock absorption factors. 

  Get the right size.  Many people think about how their arches feel in shoes and totally ignore their toes.  To avoid toe damage, get shoes that are half an inch longer than your farthest reaching toe. Also, since your feet spread out as you walk and stand during the day; try to shop for shoes at night when your feet are bigger.

  Don’t use worn out shoes.  Shoes eventually lose their ability to absorb shock after about 250 miles.  Keep track of your mileage and replace your shoes accordingly.  You may need to replace them more often depending on your running style. 

Ok – and the only thing we would add is that you should give you new shoes a bit of mileage before going out and attempting a PB in the local marathon – you need to know that they are comfortable and won’t give you a race stopping blister after a few miles.

We found this great video from mikesdebp with some more good advice to help you in your search for that right pair of shoes for you.

 

Safer SCUBA diving with exitpoint technology

We are ever conscious of the high number of tragic accidents that occur to scuba divers. In our opinion it is probably the extreme sport that claims the most lives and yet some would argue that it is not even extreme.

You may have a point but what is so often forgotten is that an underwater environment is totally alien to us mere mortals. So if something does go wrong you have very little time to make amends. We cannot emphasize enough how imperative it is to take every precaution possible when using SCUBA.

We are therefore pleased to tell you about a new gadget which will help. It is called the exit point navigation system and this important and life saving technology was notified to us by www.uberreview.com

Exitpoint is an interesting piece of concept diving technology, which could potentially reduce one of the biggest dangers that inexperienced divers face, getting separated from their buddies. It provides divers with real-time information as to the location of their buddies and the exit point and works by triangulating the positions between divers and the boat. An alert is issued if a diver starts to stray out of range.

Without doubt a great device and one you would be well advised to acquire as too often it is when you loose your diving buddy and become disorientated, especially if inexperienced, that an accident could happen.

For some further safety tips for you whilst diving we have added this video from ghamlyn which gives an excellent demonstration, whilst in a swimming pool, of:

• neutral buoyancy
• detaching and re-attaching a side-slung deco cylinder
• regulator swap
• switching to deco gas
• deployment of an SMB
• twin-set shut-down procedures

OK – somewhat different to the ocean but take in how controlled and ordered are the procedures.