How far do you run? Are you a regular parkrun participant, a once a year marathon runner or do you run 5k every day? With 1.618 every bit of exercise contributes not only to your health and well being but also our rewards system. We want you to exercise any way that you enjoy and keep that motivation up.

But what about blisters or worse muscle or tendon damage on your feet from wearing the wrong shoes? That definitely has a negative effect on your motivation to run.

What trainers do you need? Just buying trainers that look good is perfectly fine, however, they may not fit correctly or be supportive in the right areas of the foot. It’s best to buy running shoes that really perform while you are exercising. The best place to buy shoes is somewhere with the knowledge and information to do an accurate gait analysis and help you find perfect supportive shoes.

Gait analysis Gait analysis is usually carried out while you run on a treadmill in the shop, it’s recorded and your running style is monitored, there are 3 categories of gait that analysis can identify. Pronation is where the foot rolls inward, over-pronation or supination is where the foot rolls outwards and a neutral gait means the foot distributes weight evenly.

Gait analysis will also take into consideration your injury history and the distances you run and a really comprehensive fitting process will take about 15 minutes and will mean either having a stable/structured shoe or a neutral support shoe to try out on the treadmill.

Where to buy the best trainers You need to find a shop where you can have your gait analysed and buy shoes for running the London marathon this year. Try Runners Need. Not only do they provide a free gait analysis but if you are a 1.618 customer you have a 50% discount at Runners Need, on all shoes, even on sale items. So those £120 trainers you love because they not only look great, they have been picked according to your gait, are on sale at £85, you can buy them for £42.50. Fantastic.

We are a UK trusted Health & Life Insurance company. We work exclusively in association with Vitality. 1.618UK is brought to you by a dedicated highly skilled team of financial advisors. We tailor Health & Life Insurance to suit you and your circumstances.