Posts Tagged ‘running shoes’

Or rather, getting over it does.

I took yesterday off since all I could stomach on Tuesday was saltines, I knew I needed another day to rest up so I took it without hesitation.  I felt better into the evening and this morning I checked my resting HR to see if I was back to normal and surprise of surprises, it landed on a new low…45!  How fun is that?  I should get sick more often.

I’ll be venturing out for an easy something today, somewhere between 7 and 9, I’ll see once I’m out there.

I got my box of goodies from Runningwarehouse, which I can afford because I no longer buy civilian clothing or shoes.  I got my new model Inspires which are lighter than last year’s model and Elixir 4s, which are lighter by a smidge, but cute with a new mesh upper.  I’ll be taking the Inspires out today for a test run.  I’m thoroughly relieved that they and the Elixirs feel the same as the previous models, standing anyway, so hopefully running in them will be the same, too.

I also got my new small water bottle, which is perfect, about the size of my hand, so that’ll go out with me on the weekend.  Lastly, I got a new pair of light gloves because my Nike’s are fine but they’re basically thick polyester and I wanted some that feel less plasticy (my eyes always tear in the cold and wiping at them with Leisure Suit fabric sucks).   Test run on those today.

So yay, huge relief that this was a short bout (I’ll never forget last year’s chest crap that put me out for a few weeks) and normalcy is returned.   Have a great day, my friends!

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.

Tomorrow’s 5K is gonna be a cold one: wind chill of 20 degrees.   That’ll be only the third time I’ve run in that cold a temp so racing in it should be interesting.  All I want is to have a fun morning (a PR can wait) so it’s a no-pressure race and this, my friends, is huge.  I’m finally beginning to mellow out on that score.  ‘Bout time.

In other streams of thought, the weight loss thread on the Marathon Race Training Forum is becoming huge and inspiring with Before-After photos from fellow bloggers/commenters Kazz, Progman and EatDrinkRunWoman, among others.  What transformations!

Since adding my name to the list, I’ve made better food choices the last few days.  More shocking, it’s now Day 9 without candy and this is a real milestone.  Honest Injun, about every night for the last 10 years I’ve had candy after dinner.  Now, my new dessert is granola cereal with some light yogurt, how’s that for a sensible trade-off?

A shoe moment:  I’ve never really known when to switch shoes, they say when you start getting aches or pains.  Most people get new ones at 300-350 miles, so I was getting rid of my shoes at 350 miles without an actual need to, just because I thought I should.

Nowadays, I don’t feel like throwing away perfectly usable shoes, so I currently have three pairs of Inspires in rotation with mileages of 405, 366 and 257.   I have to laugh at how hard it was, psychologically, to continue using that first pair after they got to 350.  I kept wondering if I was putting myself in danger for injury and would I be able to tell the shoes were fucking me up before they fucked me up?  So far, so good…the old ones don’t feel perceptibly different from my newer ones, so I’ll keep wearing them until I have a reason not to.  Here’s hoping they’re good for 500, if not more.

And that’s it for today, check back here tomorrow for a race report – which better be full of fun, goddamn it!

Since Mondays are a day off, today marks the beginning of week 10 in Pfitzinger’s 18/55 (he counts backwards to the race).

Previously, all the weeks were 3 days on, a day off, then 2 days. This week he shakes it up with 2 days on, one off, then 3 days on. And instead of the LT run opening the week, it’s not until Friday – 11 w/6 tempo, then a recovery and then a 20 miler. That little combo should be, er…interesting.

Today was simple since all he asked for was a 6-mile recovery run with 6 strides. Nice. Tomorrow is 12 so I’ll mess around with that mile-long hill again, this time doing 1.5 up and downs to make my 12 total.

This weekend I looked at the silly pile of shoes in my little office (I like them near me) and realized I’m doing with running shoes what I do with cosmetics and lotions. I use the bulk of it up, then about 3/4 into it I get bored and buy something else, so I’m left with the ends of a lot of perfectly good products. As far as shoes go, I have a couple pairs that are past 300 but still perfectly fine to use and a couple Asics in the high 200s that I stopped wearing when I fell in love with Mizunos. So I’m on a mission to use the 300+ pairs for recovery runs and the others for some medium runs so I can start clearing my room and my mind of extraneous shoes.

Other than that, the day after Nick left on his bike journey, the house started falling apart, so I’ve been repairing door handles, pneumatic door closers and my fave job of the week so far, killing a bunch of maggots in an outdoor garbage can because Nick’s son and his girlfriend who live in the downstairs apartment, are apparently unacquainted with their garbage disposal. After the disgusting job was done, every time a breeze from the window ever so slightly lifted an arm hair up, I kept thinking fat little white wormy bodies had hitched a ride on me. Ech!

With that image in mind, I wish you all a fine and fabulous Tuesday, may your day be larvae free.

This week is a recovery week, so today was supposed to be 8 miles w/8 strides. I got confused though, thinking I was supposed to 10, then I mistakenly thought I’d programmed in only 8, so I did two extra, ending up with 12 strides total. Doh! Apparently, I’m hopeless at keeping track of things, even when it’s programmed for me. Kept good pace, though, so very pleased.

Broke in a virgin pair of Inspires…twas a cushy and blindingly white ride.

So a few months ago, I mentioned that one of my race goody bags included a sample bottle of NatureMade calcium softgels. I’d put off using it because, like most calcium supplements, it’s Calcium carbonate which stops me up, poopwise. Which is too bad because Tums are a cheap source of calcium and those Viactiv chews were pretty tasty but both of them were problematic.

As a replacement, I’d found some other chews by Citracal, whose products use sodium caltrate, much better for poop issues. They’ve stopped making them though, so I’ve been taking their calcium pills, the “Petites” which are laughably huge horse pills despite that moniker, but that’s the problem with calcium citrate, it takes up a lot of space. One serving was 2 pills for 400mg and I need 1000/day, so I was never taking enough.

So I was looking at this bottle of NatureMade Calcium softgels and each pill is 600mg, which is impressive, even more than a Viactiv chew, which would mean only needing one pill twice a day (can’t take too much calcium at once, you have to split it up). I decided to go ahead and try the things, poop problems be damned, and wonder of wonders I had no poop trouble at all! Must be the gel or something. Whatever, I’m a convert.

This is all leading up to this: I finished the last softgel so on Saturday I go to Target to get a real bottle – no luck, no softgels. I was going to order some online and then yesterday in the mail I received my free sample of Calcium from NatureMade which I’d forgotten I’d signed up for. They send you two bottles of 14 each, so it’s a great freebie.

Btw, they’re doing this offer for all their Softgels, so if you’re a boy and don’t need calcium, go choose something else. Free stuff is fun!

One last unrelated thing that was making me laugh the other day was sometimes I lurk at the messageboards at LetsRun.com. There was this one old post about why is it that you can be a fit runner but sometimes getting to the top of your stairs will leave you wiped out? I thought I was alone on this, but if those hard core guys are experiencing it too, I’m in great company. Which made me think of another bit of goofyness…

When I started running, I remember being at the grocery store, standing in line and realizing I’d forgotten something. I remember distinctly feeling like an elegant gazelle as I ran back to the dairy section, like “wow, running has really transformed me! I’m sleek and agile, look how good I look!” It was such a great feeling.

Cut to the future (now) and why is it when I’m not in running attire and have to cross the street fast or run back through the grocery store, I now feel like a clodding oaf? It’s like I can’t remember how to start running or I run weirdly and don’t know what to do with my limbs. It cracks me up! My running is so improved but my “civilian” running has completely regressed. Wonder if any of you notice a difference either way? If so, please share…

I’m officially a shoe whore now. On Monday I’m taking back the Adrenaline 8s and getting a second pair of Mizuno Inspires. And if that’s not enough, I’m expecting the UPS guy this afternoon to bring me some Mizuno Elixirs just in time for tomorrow’s 5K! Lightweight trainers, baby!! One step above a racing flat but perceptibly lighter than a standard training shoe…that should knock off a half a second off for sure!

What else? Oh, I’ve been involved in the Miles Game on the RW Beginner Forum for months and months now, where you enter your mileage for that week along with your team name, then the miles get added up and the teams and runners are ranked for the week.

Well, all this foot/ankle stuff I’ve been dealing with confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for some time now, that the Miles Game is not a healthy thing for me. The reason being, if I need to take a day off here and there, I personally have no problem with it (whatever it takes to keep the ole bod in good form), but when it comes to posting a lower mileage week for the game I end up feeling guilty, embarrassed or wussy…and for what? So I bade farewell to my teammates today.

Beyond that, my love affair with the Beginners Forum is waning in general and I’ve lost interest in participating, preferring instead to spend my reading time at training or racing forums/boards. I feel kind of sad about it, like an Era has passed, but it was excellent while it lasted and now it’s on to more technical interests from here on in.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print for now. Going in an hour with Lara to pickup our packets for tomorrow’s Clean Air 5K. Goody for Goody Bags! Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs! Wait, I don’t even like Cocoa Puffs…