Archive for January 23rd, 2009

Remember how I was going on about wearing my shoes till they got to 500?  Well, I’ve been feeling a little nervous about them since they’ve hit the 400s – I felt an ankle twinge on a couple mornings that disappeared when I wore my newest pair.

So today I did an experiment and put one new shoe (75 miles) on one foot and on the other foot, a 421-miled shoe.  It felt like I had a shorter leg.  Seriously, the old shoe was noticeably compressed.  My 364-miled shoe felt pretty close to the new one, but the 402-miled shoe was almost as bad as the 421. Thus, I tossed the 421 and 401 pair and kept the 364 (which I’ll throw out at 400 miles).

This left me no choice but to go on a shoe shopping spree at Running Warehouse.  Such fun, because both my Mizuno Inspires and lightweight Elixirs have new models (no complaints heard on either yet, knock on wood) and the women’s models are both lighter, so yay.

I also bought a small version (12 oz.) of my Amphipod handheld.  I’ve been ignoring hydration in these cold winter runs – haven’t felt the need to bring anything, but my longer runs could use something, so the little bottle looks perfect.  I might occasionally bring a gel on my long runs again, too, since I’ll have some water to down it with.

Temps look fine for Saturday’s Pickle, 26 degrees windchill, though I could do without the 15mph wind they’re calling for.  Not that it matters, it’s not a real race and I’m just going to go there with fun on my brain (hey, didn’t I give myself this same propaganda pep talk last week?).

On the run menu, yesterday I had 7 w/8 strides, avg pace 8:28.  And I forgot to post the pace on my 7.25 fartlek the other day – even with snowy footing at spots, a very zippy 8:13 avg.  Been a fast week, aside from the recovery run.

Today’s going to be 6 at a modest pace.  Since I’m not tapering for tomorrow, I figure I should at least make today a slower one.  It’ll be my shortest run since Xmas week, I seemed to have stopped doing 5s and 6s these days.

I will close this entry with an embarrassing admission:  I have been using my HR monitor more lately but haven’t been washing the strap when I get home, so over the last few days I’ve developed an annoying rash under my boobage area.   Little red bumps, not itchy, just hot and uncomfortable.  So I’m hereby going to be extra clean with my strap, and no monitoring for me till these little bumps go away.  Just when my HR info was getting interesting, too…

From short legs to rashy bumps.  I know, I know, my hawtness intimidates you.  Deal with it, people.