Another week in the books and I made it through Thanksgiving, a 2-day work week (which was nice) and obsessing over another pair of running shoes that I have no business obsessing about.
Actually, I was surprised that I was able to run as much as I did.
The Miles
A quick review of my week in running
Monday
#1 – 4.05/36:08/8:55/Kazan 2 – It was the first snow of fall that stuck, so I decided to use the Kazan’s in case it was slimey or slippery down-back, since when I went out the door the thermometer said 31*F. Turned out the roads were fine and the dirt road, didn’t have any glaze to break through. It was a Bennie run, however, the 1st mile was slowest at 9:12, and the rest were all sub 9:00 (even coming back up Steven’s Hill), I really didn’t expect this pace.
#2 – 3.11/24:02/8:55/Adios 3 – It was still in the mid 30’s, so the treadmill was calling. I got on and started out at 7.3 and then did a little progression to the last mile where I did half of it at 8.1 mph and then popped up to 8.6 for .25 and 9.1 mph for the last quarter. Actually the last mile was more of an overspeed effort to see how things are feeling. The leg felt fine and the aB3’s are doing just what I want at the faster speeds. I did some foam rolling after running and it seemed to help the hammies feel better.
Tuesday
3.33/31:09/9:21/Inspire 11 – Just an easy recovery run with Bennie.
Wednesday
DNR – I had a 10 day running streak going and felt as though I needed a day off. I had originally planned to go to PF and do an hour on the treadmill, but by the time I got done with work at 3:00 PM, I just didn’t have any interest.
Thursday
Thanksgiving – Yes, I knew that I was going to overeat and I wanted to run a bit quicker than I have for a while outside. I was good and didn’t go to any of the local 5K Turkey Trots.
#1 – 3.01/25:15/8:23/Adios 3 – I was wearing the AB3’s and running down-back with Bennie, so when a truckload of hunters went by we did pick it up to what I want to be race pace again someday. Unfortunately just as we were hitting the 1.0 point, there was a gunshot about a 1/2 mile away and Bennie was immediately ready to turn-around and go home. He wasn’t into running and we slowed down. Then once we got up over Stevens Hill we picked it back up a little.
#2 – 4.10/35:14/8:36/Adios 3 – I stopped long enough to get Bennie unharnessed and headed back out. I didn’t run super fast, but I did maintain a decent pace. Down by the old dump a nice 8 pt came out on the road about 25 yards in front of me.
So even though I did two separate runs according to the GPS, in reality it was only one run and I was very impressed with how well the Adios Boost 3’s did at that distance.
Friday
4.02/37:14/9:16/Kazan 2 – Just a nasty day for running with Bennie, it was a light rain, 31*F, with a light rain. Just plain old nasty. The dirt road was a bit slimey and the Kazan 2’s did exactly what I got them for.
Saturday
4.03/35:13/8:44/Inspire 11 – It wasn’t a great day for running and of course I overdressed, so I ended up sweating a lot more than I needed to, but with it being the last day of hunting season, I wanted to wear my BRIGHT orange running jacket. I figured that most of the sliminess would be dried up, so I wore my Inspire 11’s just to keep rotating the shoes. There was a lot of traffic on the way out, so we did the first mile a little faster than I expected. While I felt like we were working a little, it didn’t feel as if I was pushing very hard – it might mean some progress on getting back in shape.
Sunday
#1 2.02/19:01/9:28/Kazan 2 – Freezing Rain/Sleet/Snow 33*F with a bit of a breeze out of the north meant nasty running this morning. Bennie agreed, he did his business quickly and when a couple of gunshots (sounded like muzzle loaders being sighted in) happened around the lower gate, he decided the combination wasn’t worth sticking around outside and in no uncertain terms let me know we were heading back up the hill – NOW!!! I did manage to coax an extra lap up on top out of him, but once we got back to the driveway, he just turned in and said “I’m done.”
#2 4.02/35:55/8:56/Adios 3 – Which meant that I was heading out to do a few more on my own. I stopped long enough to unharness and somewhat dry Bean off, then swapped out my shoes. The Kazan’s were fine down-back, but I wanted to see how the Adios 3’s did in the rain/sleet/snow mix that was going on in 33*F. The AB3’s did great, I felt secure during the whole run, although the feet did get a little on the cold side in them. I didn’t really push at all and was just running to a maintain a certain level of effort – easy. Although coming back up the Bitch was tough and made the Achilles bark a little more than usual. Which means I gotta do it more often – it is my misery hill and when I can go up it without whining about it too much, it means good things for my running. Just have to be careful on the steeper hills and Achilles though – not always a great combination.
No knee barking during either run, so it has something to do with the Inspire’s. I will keep an eye on them.
Overall, a pretty decent week and I kept my 30+ mile week streak intact for another week. I do notice that when I spend less time on the treadmill, that my overall paces are slower, which isn’t a bad thing, but something that I am noticing. Maybe it has something to do with 7.2 mph is where I start the treadmill, which is somewhere around an 8:20 pace 😉 and when I run outside I usually start out a lot slower.
Running Shoes
No weekly review blog post of mine would be complete without a little section on my running shoes. I am not a shoe-a-holic or anything, but I do like my running shoes. Okay, I confess I do have some problems with running shoes – like I have and want too damn many pair of them.
Mizuno Inspire 11 – A workhorse shoe that I continue to put miles on. They are not flashy or have the latest tech – they just continue to work well for me. Although I do notice that my left knee is starting to bark me a bit after running in them lately.
Which is my old warning sign that tells me a pair of running shoes are getting ready to be retired to walking shoes in another 50-100 miles. It seems that 300 miles is about all I get out of most pair of running shoes, which is why I tend to stay with previous year models so much.
adidas Adios Boost 3 – Fast, yet comfortable shoe. I haven’t experienced any issues or next day knee discomfort. It will be interesting to see how the boost material holds up over the long haul.
I am very happy with how well they are working through 30 miles and will get a 50 mile review written on them in a couple of weeks.
Mizuno Kazan 2 – Fit a bit large, but when I have to start wearing my wool socks, I will be glad for the extra room. I noticed a weird wear pattern developing on the right foot of the Kazan’s, a pattern I haven’t seen since my old Nike Free 4.0’s.
I am not sure why they are wearing this way, but something to keep an eye on. Otherwise they have done what I want for running in nasty weather down-back.
Puma Mobium Swiftstrike – No I haven’t run in them, hell they haven’t even gotten in the house yet! This is one of those fascination shoes that I have some experience with and as I said in this post, that I just gotta run in. They were at a price point that they were reasonable to be an experiment and D2 made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The left knee discomfort this morning is probably more a combination of my old Nike LG7’s (my current walking shoes) being very long in the tooth, the Mizuno Inspire 11’s starting to get tired and using the left leg as my plant leg while raking the lawn yesterday. So no, I am not going to stop running in the I-11’s quite yet, but at the same time it is something I will keep an eye on and if it continues to be an issue only after running in them – well I know what it means.
Going forward
I talked last week about getting back into base training and figured out this week that I ain’t ready to start training for anything yet. I think the body could handle it, but mentally to be honest I just ain’t into it, so real training can wait. For the next few months, I just need to run, without any pressure to meet certain mileage totals or paces.
Really, I need to keep following Mr. Smith’s training advice from 1971 – “Some days you will run faster or further than others and some days you will be running slower or shorter distances, it is just finding the right balance for that works best for you.”
Right now I need to work on finding the right balance of running – for me, not a generic plan from some book.
Let’s be real, I will always go through running shoes faster than most, because I tend to believe that with my funky mechanics that I “need” new shoes more often than someone with good mechanics to protect me from myself. That 300 mile gotta get new shoes thing that I seem to have going on.
Yes, it might be all in my head, but if I believe it is true, the body tends to follow along or is that go along and indulge my brain’s fantasies. However, it is very interesting how between 225 and 250 miles on my primary trainers, that “suddenly” that knee begins to bark a little.
As they used to say on Laugh-in
The mind can be a scary thing, now to figure out how to keep it a little more reasonable and not as stoopid.
Harold Being Harold 
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