Training Log: (Super) Dead Super Shoes + Crisis Averted!

Before we get into this week's training log, a moment of silence please for this amazing (in some respects) pair of New Balance RC Elites that I super enjoyed running in for a little over a year. As you can see I really pushed the envelope in this these things but I think April 3's SacTown 10 was destined to be their last hurrah, and we're calling it at a whopping 216.27 miles according to my nerdy little spreadsheet. I am pretty sure when you can actually see and touch the actual carbon plate that you should not be running in a pair of shoes anymore regardless of how much they cost.

These shoes were a pandemic-era Christmas gift from my mom but I am pretty sure they cost $225 which puts us at about $1.04 per mile. I have never calculated this ratio for a running shoe before but once you get up into the > $200 super shoe category, it really just becomes irresistible.

I've had opportunities this last year to run in a few different carbon plate distance shoes (not the Nike ones, I absolutely refuse on principle) and I have a lot to say about them, so look for a future blog post going into more detail. But for now, just know that I loved these shoes *so much* in terms of feel and performance but was also super bummed at how non-durable they turned out to be (lesson learned).

ANYHOO, let us move on to this week's training log.

All's well that ended well this week, but boy was there a bit of drama in the meantime. I felt much better more quickly after the 10 miler as compared to the Oakland Half where I was an absolute train wreck for 2-3 days. I took Monday completely off, then ran three easy miles on Tuesday that felt pretty good. By Wednesday I was feeling ready for a big 12-mile workout consisting of a short tempo run followed by a short speed workout. At this point I've been feeling pretty confident about tempo workouts in that 7:25-7:40 range; they are feeling more and more comfortable and more and more I see them on my schedule and think "OK cool, I got that." 

The faster VO2 max/5K/10K stuff is still a little intimidating -- I think I went for so long not really being able to run in that range at all without all-out sprinting that I still see paces in that range and feel not 100% sure I can hit them, at least not for very long. But, the funny thing about training is that little by little, you start to see some of those lower numbers and go, "Wow, this feels actually NOT like a prelude to death? Neat!"

Case in point this past week -- since beginning "real" training again at the beginning of March, most of my workouts have been appropriately short -- ie, a total of three or four tempo/threshold miles, a handful of mile repeats, etc. But last Tuesday's workout was 3 miles @ tempo/HM pace, a 3:00 jog, then 3 mile repeats @ 5K/10K pace with a 2:30 jog. I won't lie that on paper it looked a little scary, but after two recent double-digit races in which I averaged ~7:40ish pace, it was a little easier to think of the 3-mile tempo as a warm-up and the repeats as the harder work.

Were they harder? Yes! Did I sometimes sneak a little extra walking or standing around to catch my breath in between the mile repeats? Also yes! But I must also say, I did these on the roads instead of the track since that's what I'm racing on currently, and they were not as hard as I was afraid they might be. I even finished the entire run (12 miles after warm and cool down) feeling pretty good and not nearly as worn out as I expected.

Now, the downside is that on my cool down I pulled something in my left calf and couldn't run more than a block at a time the next day, so I walked to the gym and back rather than jogging as usual. Basically, if you've ever woken up screaming in the middle of the night with a charlie horse, and then had a VERY sore calf the next day, it was that kind of feeling.

Thank all the running gods that are, it felt much better on Friday; I ran 4.5 easy miles without any pain at all, and things seem pretty much back to normal now (though I have been much more diligent about rolling out both feet on the lacrosse ball since then).

~*~*~Two Weeks to San Jose (40)8K~*~*~
Grand Total: 35 miles

* 22.15 easy
* 12.85 speed/tempo

Monday 4/4: Post-race rest day, and much needed

Tuesday 4/5: 3 easy + 1 hour strength -- My usual jog to the gym & back.

Wednesday 4/6: 2.75 warm up, 3 miles @ tempo/HM pace, 3:00 jog, 3 x (mile @ 5K/10K pace / 2:30 jog), 2.4 cool down = 12 total. Plus little calf tweak!

Thursday 4/7: 1 hour strength (walking to the gym & back instead of running as usual).

Friday 4/8: 4.5 easy. Calf on the mend, praise the running gods!

Saturday 4/9: 3.5 easy. Suuuuper tired legs today, despite not doing anything significant since Wednesday. But, hey, no calf pain, so I still celebrated.

Sunday 4/10: 4 warm up, 6 x (1/2 mile surge, 1/2 mile easy), 2 cool down = 12 easy. I was still suuuuper tired when this run started, and between that and the crazy wind we were having, I wasn't sure just exactly how "surgey" the half miles surges were going to be. For the first one I think I barely managed sub-8 pace, but by the 5th one I was seeing more like 7:10 or so with a pretty reasonable level of effort I thought? It's so funny when you have those longer, harder runs where you actually finish feeling *better* than you did before, not just mentally but physically. I don't understand it but I'll take it. :) 

Now to finish my taxes (eek!), & then 1.5 weeks to the 8K!