Saucony Grid Pro 2! I'm so happy! I didn't even expect to get them. I went to Big 5 expecting to pick up some of their on-sale-cheap running shoes and my mom ended up insisting on the better ones! The Saucony were also on sale, but still... they were more expensive than the others... and it seems like everyone is strapped for cash at the moment!
The cool thing is that my calf tightness is gone. I don't know if it was the 4 day rest (involuntary; things got seriously busy!) or the shoes. The shoes feel really good, though. I don't feel like I'm pounding my calves when I run down hill.
They have little to no heel drop, and the soles aren't too thick anyway. I wouldn't call them a minimalist shoe, but they definitely have less to them than what I would call a "traditional" highly padded running shoe.
Another thing I like about them is the fact that they are ventilated so well! My feet are always cool, now. They were getting warm in my other shoes, but with these... well, the first time I wore them, my feet were practically cold in them and keep in mind that we're in the middle of August and I'm in a fairly warm climate!
As far as actual running goes, I've been doing well - despite the unintended 4 day break. Actually, I think it might have helped. At least mentally. I'm getting my mind more focused on what I'm doing - marathon training. I'm not just running. I'm training.
Today was an especially good run. It was supposed to be a semi-long run, and in the past those have been 3-5 miles on my schedule. I didn't look, assuming it would be the same, and just did 3, since it was getting late. Turns out I was supposed to do 4-6. Oh, well. No matter.
I've been struggling with my pace, and with the amount of walking I've been doing when I run. It's like my mental walls are building back up again, walls that I broke down when I first started running, when I was training with C25K. R knows about this. He's been talking to me lately about consistency in running, I think because of this.
He knows that I want to be fast. He knows I sometimes have trouble pacing myself. He knows that I hate it when I have to walk.
He mentioned that he found that consistency - just keep running, slower than you normally would if need be - in order to keep on running as much as possible. This helps you go faster and go better.
So, today, I felt great. My heart rate had been nice and low all day (in the low-to-mid 60's, which is good for me; used to be mid-to-high 70's!) and R had mentioned that a low resting heart rate is a good indicator of a good run later. I was stoked, then. So, later when we went on the run, I was feeling pretty good just from that confidence alone, of course.
I also have had no soreness or muscle aches at all. My feet are getting used to the new, less cushioned shoes, but that's no biggie.
I also had a Green Smoothie before we left, which I have always found to be great before-run fuel, and I've been, I think, unintentionally carbo-loading with beans the past couple of days.
I only mention all of this because it might have something to do with my state of mind and the way my muscles were feeling.
So, I ran. I felt really good. I kept my pace such that I knew I was slightly pushing myself (in marathon training, you never, ever, have to seriously push yourself, I'm finding out... unless it's through patience or endurance) with just a slight ache in my legs, just enough to let me know I was using them.
I calculated that, on a bad day - or even a medium day - I have about 5-7 spots - usually 7 - that I walk on, habitually (that's part of it; I made it a habit to walk certain parts of the "course"). This time, I made the word "consistency" my mantra. I ended up walking about 4 times.
The first time was up the Big Hill. I usually do stops and starts of walking up that hill. This time, I walked for maybe 10 seconds, ran a bit, walked for 10 seconds. That was all the walking I did. Just for that one little part.
The second time, I was on flat ground and everything, but I had to fix my iPod. Fix as in turn on the shuffle because it was going alphabetically through the songs - which I didn't mind, except that for some reason my podcasts are on my songlist, and I didn't want to listen to those. I wanted music! So I walked for about a minute, maybe 1:30, then.
After mile 2, I walked again. Don't ask me why. I guess I crashed into a mental wall at that point. Walked for about a minute, maybe slightly longer.
Fourth time was up the backside of a hill. See, I'm not, according to the plan, supposed to run up hills. I decided to give myself a break on that last one and not run up it. I'd already run up it once, anyway.
And that's it! That's improved on 5-7 walk-sessions in my opinion!
Also, at the bottom of the second little hill - the one I walked up the backside of - there was a dog, a pit-bull pup, that was following me. I didn't think he was more than a year or two old. I've heard about this dog; he's nice and friendly and sweet and he doesn't look mean at all. Nevertheless I was a bit scared because I don't really know the dog first hand. I slowed down a bit, and he trotted behind me. I finally held out my hand for him to sniff, which always seems to be a good thing when meeting new dogs (unless they look like they're going to bite it off!) and he was fine and then just a second after sniffing my hand, he tucked his tail between his legs and jumped back about 6 feet! Whaaaat? If anyone knows why this happened, I'd be glad to know!
So, yeah. I got fairly consistent splits, which I'm happy about. Those wildly changing ones with a fast one here and there and then a slow one (usually much more often, there were slow ones) were cool, because of the fast ones, but I'd rather have some sort of descent, gradual splits going on.
Now, these splits, today, weren't negative. I'm totally okay with that. But check out how consistent and smooth they are!
Break Down:
Warm Up: Abbreviated Lunge Matrix
Mile 1) 13:09
2) 13:40
3) 14:00
last .16) 1:54 @ 11:55 pace
So I'm happy!
Also, I have to apologize for not writing for 10 days. I got busy and distracted. The runs I did do in those 10 days were fairly good, however! I may write about them at a different time. Since it's late, though, and I'm sleepy, I think I'll call it a night as far as blogging goes, for now!
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