I got new shoes Saturday! I was starting to have some fairly significant soreness in my ankles, shins, and knees after each run so I took my old shoes to my friends at the localish Fleet Feet store and had then checked out. The salesperson gave them a good looking at and determined them to be pretty well worn out, as I suspected. I tried on a few new pairs and ended up with these: Brooks Ravenna. It was hard to know for sure if I would like them for a longer run or not after just a quick jog outside the store. As I tried them on, I noted that they felt a bit lighter than my old New Balance that had been discontinued.
This morning I took them out for their first real trial. I was scheduled to do the same routine I had done last Thursday and Saturday. I arrived at the park and it was cold, but not too cold, and the water on the lake was like glass...just the way I like it when it's cold. 32 degrees + no wind = comfortable run. I warmed up with a 5 minute walk around the parking lot, then pressed the Go button on my watch and took off running. Before I knew it, the first 1:30 of fast (for me) running was over and it was time to jog for 1:30. I avereaged a 9:39/mile pace for the first 1:30 and continued to run in the mid to upper 9's on all but two of the remaining fast reps. This was offset somewhat by slightly slower average paces on the slow reps. As I got close to the end of the workout I decided I would continue at my fast pace through the final 1:30 which is supposed to be at a slower pace. I managed that and actually ran the fastest I had all morning for an average of 9:08/mile over the last 1:30. I also tacked on an additional 24 seconds to the end of the workout because I wanted to push it out all the way to the car.
I really pushed myself today because I'm planning on an easier run Wednesday and then taking Thursday and Friday off before the 5K on Saturday.
The new shoes worked out great. My feet felt good during the run and my joints are feeling fine after the run. There was no need for Ibuprofen this morning after the run.
Today's Stats: I did 3.78 miles in 39:24 for a pace of 10:24/mile. That's just a hair slower than last Thursday's run and I'm inching closer to my baby-step goal of maintaining an average pace of 10:00/mile over the course of a 40 minute workout. My first goal for the 5K is to run the whole thing, which shouldn't be a problem considering I've been running considerably farther than 3.1 miles non-stop consistently for at least a month. Secondly I want to finish in 33 minutes or less. That would mean an average pace of 10:39/mile which I've beaten three runs in a row.
Next up: I''ll be swimming tomorrow and then running 3 miles on Wednesday trying to maintain about 11:00/mile, which is hopefully quite a bit slower than Saturday's race pace.
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