Week 19 Summary

Another good week. 70 miles, 8 sessions, 6 days. Felt good. Solid quality workouts, feeling healthy, legs feel good. All in all ,things are rolling along. Bought some new shoes and am wearing something other than Mizunos for the first time in three years. Bought two pairs of Adidas Adizeros: the Mana and the RC (a discontinued model from 08 maybe). The Mana is what I would describe as a lightweight trainer and the RC is a flat. When I asked the helpful clerk at the general sports store to which I had a gift card I received as a Christmas gift what the difference between the two shoes was he replied the RC was for shorter distances. I responded oh, 10Ks and such. He was shocked! Oh no, short sprints. That's all. I bought both pairs with the intention of running in them on the tready and retuning one pair. At home a little internet research yielded some additional info on the RC (which I'm guessing stands for Road Course) and confirmed my suspicion that contrary to what the helpful acne faced lanky teen told me could be used for more than sprints.
The Manas are nice, they fit well ,they're very light compared to the Mizunos and are likely the shoe I'll run in Boston.



The RCs though, sweet baby, are they something special.



I have never owned a flat so that might be part of the juice but they feel really, really fast. Light and bendy and grippy. Super comfy with or without socks. Love em. Just love em. I'll run a few sessions between now and race day and try and gauge whether or not they'll hold up over 26. Website says optimal performance up to the half distance and I tend to believe that's accurate but they're so much fun to run in I might not be able to resist.

On a related note: I just tossed the Mizunos Iève been running in since I qualified for Boston back in December 2008. They were well beyond the recommended 500 mile replacement lifespan. I am sure that running those shoes into oblivion is what enabled me to successfully transition from a shoe that weighs 11oz to one that weighs 7. For those of you out there who might be thinking of going smaller, lighter, less as a result of the newly ignited debated about footwear, mechanics, efficiency, etc. take note: The difference between the two shoes is significant and if you switch without prep you will get injured. For me FOR ME, the progressive breakdown of the cushioning in my old shoes provided a gradual injury free transition.

Anyhoo, couple charts: weekly summary, first Q workout of this week. Felt good, ran well. Still trying to figure out pacing for Boston. I'm thinking sat 7:30- ish for the first half and then start cutting it down. Suggestions are welcome.

Week 18 summary

Good week. Lighter mileage, about 50 or so. Legs felt good. Quicker paces were easy whether due to lighter mileage or increasing fitness I don't care.
Key workouts this week were:
a 40 minute tempo workout (where I somehow hit the lap key on the Garmin a couple minutes short?) which was supposed to be at 7:15's but felt easy and restrained at 7's
and an interval workout set for 6:45's which ended up nearer to 6:30's. Short intervals: 4:30 on 4 min rest and 3:00 on 2 min rest.










This week is the last 70 mile week between now and Boston. 5 weeks of training left. Booking my flight and getting my passport tomorrow. Things are coming into shape.

There have been a number of posts in the last while about running by feel. Lucho put one up, Kerrie Wlad wrote about training according to feel, Brandon Fuller wrote one about running fast when he felt like it, etc.
I'm hoping for some feedback on this topic because for those who do it well, it sounds like second nature but for those of us who do not it's a bit of a guessing game.
Because there are days that I run OK but feel like crap. And there are days that I feel like crap and run like crap. And there are days when I feel super fresh and can't really get going at all.
And when the training is heavy, I never feel all that great.
So, where does one begin? Can this skill be developed without spending years of running gadget free in the snowy mountains of Colorado? If so, how to start....
Feedback from gadget free, snowy mountain runners is welcome, as is advice from anyone else who has any to offer. I'm in a spot where I've become aware of the limiting effect of seeing those pace splits on the Garmin. That said, like many runners, I like a nice system and I'm a little uptight. After all, this post has three graphs in it!!!

Jamie and I were at the Saskatchewan pavilion for some of the Olympics. We were scheduled to be there on the Sunday of the gold medal men's hockey game until my parents got tickets to the closing ceremonies and we were short one set of babysitters. Thanks Dad!