Interview with Profeet ambassador Paul Navesey

We recently caught up with Profeet ambassador Paul Navesey to find out how his year is going.

Q – Last year was your first on the Profeet team, how did 2016 go for you?

The year went very well for me. Starting the year I had a chat with my coach Allison Benton and I had a main target of running under 7 hours for 100k at the Anglo Celtic Plate. I achieved that in March representing England, as a result becoming British 100k Champion.

I had other goals throughout the year that we set around the 100k effort. I started 2016 with PBs of 77:30, 31:58 & 16:00 and we set goals of sub-70 for a half marathon, sub-31 for 10k and sub-15 for 5k.

I raced quite a lot over the summer on the track, thoroughly enjoying a handful of trips to British Milers Club (BMC) races, and successfully hit all my targets after a great summer’s training with Allison’s training group.

I finished up with 68:48 at the Peterborough Half, 30:56 at Leeds Abbey Dash and 14:55.5 at Eltham BMC.

Q – What are your main targets for 2017?
My main aim for winter into spring is to prepare for and race at London Marathon. The current Crawley AC club record is 2:23:38 so I would love to be able to improve on that.

After that I will get back to the track for the summer. I’ll be racing the Sussex County 5000m championships and then moving on to plenty of BMC track races and some road 10k work.

We have a great training group that attends plenty of fast races so it is a great deal of fun over the summer!

Q – How are those ‘A’ race goals influencing your training through the winter?

Training over the winter still maintains some parts that we do all year round with the group. As the London Marathon is my main goal I have stepped away from the track sessions in favour of long tempo runs but I still get together with the group for long reps either on Brighton Seafront or in Hove Park.

Being part of a training group and getting to group sessions is great for improvements and helps ensure high quality training.

Q – What events have you taken part in recently and how did you get on?

I have unfortunately had a small niggle at the start of the year so I have only managed to get race once so far – the Brighton Half Marathon in February.

It was a breezy day but managed to run 69:19, which I was very happy with as a return from injury. I had great advice from my physio Alan Law and Allison to get back into training and be healthy enough to race.

Q – What sort of cross-training do you do?

Because of the injury at the start of the year, I’ve been doing more cross training than usual. I ended up on a Wattbike [static training bike] for a lot of sessions.

I found this incredibly useful as an alternative whilst not able to run. It is something that although I’ll now reduce due, I’ll keep within my training for recovery or as an effective alternative if needed.

Q – Do you have any races coming up?

I have a place as part of the Sussex team that will be competing at the Inter Counties XC in Loughborough.

It is always a pleasure to run for Sussex and our training group makes up a large number of the team going so it will be a good trip.

I will be toward the end of the marathon training on the Brighton Marathon weekend so I will race the BM10k before the main event kicks off. That should be a great way to get a run in and be around to spectate some great marathon racing before I move on to London Marathon two weeks later.

Q – What shoes do you race/train in?

I came in to the Profeet Run Lab and did a full run assessment, which was incredibly useful. Although I didn’t require any custom insoles, I was recommended the Adidas Adios Boost.

I had never worn Adidas before, but given the knowledge of the Profeet staff I was happy to trust them and I’ve now gone through so many pairs I’ve lost count!

They have really worked and it was a fantastic recommendation. I have worn them from 5k through to 100k without a single issue. Having the assessment was totally worthwhile for me.

That’s great to hear Paul. Best of luck with the BM10k and the London Marathon.