Three weeks ago, when I started this fool’s errand, sorry, I mean voyage of personal discovery, some sage soul replied to my first triathlon training diary entry with the following comment:

“Welcome to one of the most expensive hobbies any man of average means will ever partake in.”

Wise words, Ladywhotries www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/U82390... wise words. And perhaps the soundest statement of fact ever published on a BBC blog since my colleague Mihir Bose suggested it was all Chelsea’s fault www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/therepor... . All of it, all the time.

I was reminded of LWT’s (as I’m calling her now) warning as I contemplated what I should write about for this week’s diary.

New bike? Check. Wetsuit? Check (and already considering an upgrade). Lycra clothing and comedy race accessories? Not quite ready for that yet, perhaps next week.

Which left me with one choice - the one bit of the triathlon conundrum I had mentally filed away in the “sorted” pile. I mean, everybody can run, can’t they?

I certainly thought I could. After all, I’ve managed to stumble my way around a couple of marathons and a few half-marathons. I was even a Beckham-esque district cross-country champion once, a long, long time ago. Not to mention a box-to-box midfield maestro even now.

But I thought I should just check with the experts, and perhaps also buy some new trainers to match my bike, wetsuit, sunglasses, watch, heart-rate monitor, GPS system etc etc.

So I made an appointment for a “consultation” with a trainer technician at Profeet www.profeet.co.uk/ on London’s Fulham Rd.

I chose them because I’d heard they were good and I’m a junket-addicted journalist that thought the mere flash of my press card would get me some free “gait analysis”. I thought this would be a good thing.

I was wrong. Not because Profeet’s technicians are just jumped-up JJB staff – they’re not, at all. No, it was more to do with what their analysis uncovered.

Put it this way, after being filmed on a treadmill running in my old (rubbish) trainers, then filmed running in bare feet, then asked to run over pressure pads attached to a computer, and then poked and prodded a bit, it turns out I run like an arthritic giraffe on ice, wearing clowns’ shoes.

Watching the slo-mo footage of my running “style” was the most embarrassing on-camera experience I have had since I saw for the first time that not only was my golf swing more Jim Furyk than John Daly (golfers will understand) but I do actually have a growing bald spot and not a “double crown”.

Watching my heel slamming into the treadmill, misfiring calf muscles, lazy toe extension and shocking left ankle roll was equally dispiriting.

I know there are doctors in China (and the Old Kent Rd) that think they can cure earache by sticking pins in your feet, but there also shoe salesmen in Fulham that can tell that you twisted your knee falling off a podium in a nightclub on your mate’s stag do a year ago…just by watching my foot land on a treadmill. Even my own mother doesn’t (didn’t) know that.

Thankfully, my technician, Andy Brodziak andybrodziak.com , is a soul of discretion, footwear aficionado and competing triathlete. He was not going to let me be put off by a lazy toe, oh no. And before I knew it I was running around the block with an Asics on one foot and a Mizuno on the other trying to decide which was right for me.

Obviously I couldn’t tell the difference. But I pretended I could and went for the nicer looking of the two. It was also the more expensive. And then I bought some “running” socks and a custom-made insole too. Suddenly that free analysis was looking like the drop in the proverbial open-water swimming venue.

Now, the “Profeet” experience is clearly at the full-fat, all the bells and whistles, end of the market. Will it work? I’m not sure. The likes of Harlequins and Wasps rugby teams, England cricketer Andrew Strauss and rising triathlon star Vanessa Raw www.corustriathlon.com/en/el... (see, the picture I used is “editorially justified”) certainly think so.

I can tell you the new shoes are lighter and considerably more comfortable than the ones they replaced. I can also tell you that the staff know their stuff and are full of excellent advice that comes without a price tag (more of that in a minute).

But I should point out that the analysis costs £40, the shoes are what you would pay anywhere else and the insoles cost the same again. I should also say that many running shoe specialists are doing more basic “gait analysis” (usually just the filming on the treadmill bit) for free.

My fiancée, for example, was so impressed by this service at Runners Need www.runnersneed.co.uk/home.a... recently that she bought, in her words, “the most expensive pair of ugly shoes” she had ever seen, let alone tried on. She now loves them. To run in.

So if you want some good, gratis advice here’s some from Andy:

1. You don’t need to spend hundreds on getting the best shoe on the market but you should spend some time on making sure you get the right type of shoe for your feet and running style.

2. Some people get obsessed with having the right kit (can’t imagine who he is talking about). Stop worrying about it and do some more training. It will be much more useful. If you really want to spend some money, treat yourself to a good sports massage - the ideal cure for misfiring calf muscles.

3. And don’t neglect stretching. Work on your problem areas before and after training. Don’t just ride to work and then sit down at your desk for hours (again, I can’t imagine who he is talking about).

So that’s this week shopping and top tips dealt with, what else can I tell you?

Well, my training has been a bit humdrum this week apart from one very heartening ride – a 60-mile epic from the mean streets of Bermondsey to the Darling Buds of May country lanes around Elstree.

I was supposed to be hugging the wheel of my colleague John Sinnott but he’s got Tour de France form news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/oth... and from the moment he took me up the Hors Categorie Muswell Hill (is there a steeper hill in London?), I was hanging on.

I didn’t get my breath back until we had gone past the British Darts Organisation www.bdodarts.com/ office 10 minutes later (is there a more incongruous place for a national governing body’s office than “arrers’s” home in leafy north London?).

In fact, there was a strange sporting links theme to the entire route. It’s the sort of thing Observer Sport Monthly might make a series out of – what connects the Emirates Stadium, the BDO, Barnet’s Underhill, Jens Lehman and pheasants?

Anyway, off to try my new shoes now. Next week I’ll tell you about my first “brick” session, what the cool kids are wearing for triathlons these days and some handy tips for tri’s “fourth discipline”, the transition.

I may also finally agree to accompany this site's triathlete-at-large/Ewan Thomas impersonator/ball-by-ball cricket card Tom Fordyce on one of his "track" sessions. He made himself sick twice last night. He thinks that's good. Roll on Blenheim.

Here's my training week in cold, hard facts:

Swimming Two 30min pool sessions Cycling One 60-mile ride, 6x30min rides Running One 45min jog.