Shoes and Insoles |
Watches and Gear |
Shoes- We recommend a sturdy basic training shoe. Some examples are: Brooks Ghost, Hoka Clifton, New Balance 1080. Talk with your athlete's coach to determine if they would benefit from a specific sport shoe. Past athletes have had good experiences with the following stores. Your mileage may vary. Also, the stores usually offer discounts to runners on high school teams - just ask!
A Runner's Mind 378 Main Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Phone 650-209-5526 http://arunnersmind.com/locations/los-altos/ Fleet Feet Menlo Park 859 Santa Cruz Menlo Park, CA 650-325-9432 https://www.fleetfeet.com/s/menlopark/ Running Warehouse on-line sale page https://www.runningwarehouse.com/salelanding.html Racing shoes- Lightweight XC racing flats will optimize performance in races. Here is a good source. Womens Mens Insoles- replacing the thin flimsy insoles that come in shoes with an after-market insole that has a plastic arch is a good idea for runners who do not have a perfect neutral foot strike. We recommend the Currex Runpro $50 available at the running stores listed above. Note that they come in low, medium and high arch, so get the right ones. Here's how to check. |
Watches- Athletes must run with a watch so they know how long they are running each day and can track their progress over the season. Watches will be required during the season so kids can time their own groups for intervals/fartleks etc. You don't need anything too fancy, just as long as it has a stopwatch feature it's fine. GPS is great but not necessary. Please note, running with the timer on your phone is ok for easy runs but not good for workouts during the season as it is bulky and affects your running form (also you may drop it and it will end up looking like mine).
A quick Amazon search came up with these possibilities but anything is fine: Casio Casual Sport Watch $12 Timex Marathon Unisex $28 Timex Ironman Essential $33 Timex Ironman Classic 30-lap $35 The best GPS watches are anything in the Garmin Forerunner series such as the 25 and 35 models. The cheapest we see on Amazon is Garmin Forerunner 35 renewed $100 Massage rollers- The Marathon Stick $33 Travel Stick $28.50 Trigger Point Core Foam Roller $37 Cold Pack- Gel Cold and Hot Packs $18 |