Week 7 - Training Recap

My foot didn't feel too bad this week. It still flared up a bit, but on Monday's run it was barely noticeable. Perhaps all the icing and exercises have helped, though it's nowhere near healed.

Because my foot held up, I had a decent week of running.

Monday -
6 miles. This was the run where my foot felt pretty good. Usually, it takes about a mile for my foot to feel okay, but it felt fine from the first step here. I figured it was either healing, or trolling me.

Wednesday -
6 miles, 4 at tempo. For the last two weeks, I haven't successfully been able to complete a tempo. I ended up cutting all of them short, or just ending the run. Apparently it took me two weeks to recover from the 10k. Granted, I did get sick, so it's probably a combination of the two, and the cold delayed my recovery.

Splits:

8:56.64 - w/u
7:47.19 - T
7:43.31 - T
7:34.23 - T
7:39.47 - T
8:57.72 - c/d
3.44.88 - c/d

I didn't feel too bad at the end, either, so that gives me more confidence maintaining an 8:18 pace for the half.

Thursday -
7 miles. I ran this a little too fast. My overall pace was 8:49, but I did that for a reason. I would be flying to Jersey on Friday and figured my long run would suffer because of the heat and tiredness. That meant an actual long, slow run instead of a progression, right?

Saturday -
10 miles at 8:40. Oops, wrong. But, I did get a taste of running in the heat. I got out around 8:00-8:30 am, though it was quickly warming up despite the cool breeze. I ran 4 miles before stopping for a water and GU break - boy did I need it. During the final 6 mile out-and-back, I could feel the air shift, sort of how Frodo and Sam must have felt the closer they got to Mordor. Okay, not that bad. I did feel tired still. However, on race day I will be waking up a few hours earlier to eat a full breakfast, topping off my energy stores. I'll also take an energy shot and eat some Honey Stingers shortly before the race, so I'll have more energy.

Total - 29.64

Not a bad week at all. This week will be the beginning of a cutback week, though really I'm just going to shorten the long run. Next week will be semi-easy, then the final week before the half will be a coasting week. I'll just run easy, do strides on Thursday, then a short run on Saturday and do my thing on Sunday. That's the plan for now. I'm hoping the weather cooperates; if not, I'll put up with it.

On another note, I bought a pair of Pearl Izumi Women's Split Infinity shorts from Running Warehouse. I had been eying them for a while, but at $38 I put them on the back burner. You see, I normally buy a pair of Nike Tempos from the girl's section (size large). They're just so hideous that the women's sizing fits terribly. They're relatively inexpensive that I put up with it, and if you roll the waistband down it cinches the excess material.

THEN...

The Izumis from Running Warehouse were on sale for $22! No way was I passing that opportunity up, so I ordered a pair. They fit wonderfully, are semi-form fitting if you buy true to size, and feel so lightweight that you won't notice you're wearing shorts. They're shorter in length than the tempos, but that's okay for me. The design is pretty sweet, as well. As with all Izumi wear, the pocket is on the back. That's okay for keys and things you don't need until you're done running, but for GUs or anything like that it's a bit awkward. I've been told that it's a cycling thing. Oh well.

I just checked RW again and saw that they're marked down even more, if you're interested. I bought another pair because it's a deal I just can't pass up. (Is anyone else spoiled by RW's free shipping? I wish more companies offered this for every purchase, not just when you spend more than $75.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd talk about this because I've been having trouble finding new running shorts. I end up stalking race pictures to find women built similarly to myself to see what they wear, and even then I have questions. I know I'm not the only one who has trouble finding different styles of gear, so I hope this helps.