Discussion: Shoes

Had you done anything in the spikes before the race? I know a few who have done a session/race in spikes and calf then plantar issues have followed quickly as they're not used to them yet.

Check your mileage shoes - my achilles was aching a bit recently, new shoes (500 miles on the old ones) and a bit of stretching and felt much better instantly, see Kris's log for this as well!
Horses for courses but I find a decent heel-toe drop (8-10) mm in my mileage shoes protects hammy/achilles. I'll use my lower profile (6mm) shoes once a week, enough to allow the body to get used to them.

Hadn't used the spikes before to be fair, that could well be a factor, but generally don't have too much of a problem after using spikes, definitely a factor though. Yeah fairly fresh mileage shoes (100-120miles~) changed them as they have a bigger drop and are more cushioned than the cheap NB pair I found before which I had to get as a filler pair! I think using more cushioned shoes generally will help hopefully.

Dare I say maybe a pair of cliftons would be the one at the minute

I'm not overtly against Hoka's, but not sure I can justify keeping on buying shoes!