After walking Bennie and then relaxing for a minute I decided to get back out there and get going on my weekly speedwork. Actually I was looking forward to the challenge, because I knew that it was going to be warmer.

The Run

Planned run and focus: 10 x .26 and 2-4 x 200 at 80-90% effort. I am still not attempting to go into the well and keep the body in one piece for when training starts again.

• Course: Philbrick No Track Tuesday
• Weather: Sunny, 75*F, Humidity 52%, 5 mph NNW
• Distance: 6.39
• Time: 56:49
• Pace: 8:53

Quarter-Mile Repeats

Lap #	Time	Pace	Remarks
1	1:43	6:36
2	2:00	7:41
3	1:53	7:14
4	2:01	7:45
5	1:50	7:03
6	1:52	7:10
7	1:55	7:22
8	1:53	7:14

200s

Lap #	Time	Pace	Remarks
Null	—	—	Got phone call
2	0:52	6:52
3	0:52	6:52
4	0:52	6:52

What did I do well?

I kept at it even though it was hot and sunny. I ran without my glasses and wore a buff to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. That really seemed to help with not having to worry about the sweat making the eyes really hurt and I needed to focus more because I can’t see all that well without my glasses.

What do I need to work on?

Mental toughness wasn’t a strong point today. Also I didn’t too well staying aware of my surroundings towards the end of the run. On the second to last 200 a runner came out of the Circle and I never saw her until she crossed right in front of me. I had a really bad case of tunnel vision and was only looking for cars, not other runners.

Shoes:

At the last moment I decided to use my Nike Zoom Fly SP, I wanted to find out if they did any better than the other go faster shoes that I have been wearing. The answer was not really. I am slower this year than last year, but I kind of expected that, so it is not the shoes, it is me. 🙂

The SPs did fine and were comfortable, next week I think I will either use the Razor 3-8.5s or Beacon v1 to see how they compare. It is kind of nice to not have any real pressure to perform and see which shoes work the best for me over a longer period of time.

What was I thinking?

After the first quarter, I was already thinking that this is gonna suck. The heat while only in the mid ’70s was a bit more than I expected, especially when I was in the full sun and as much as I tried to focus on the music beat, I had a hard time mentally.

When I attempt to run faster all that form work that I have been working on just goes right out the window, especially the arm swing. In order to feel comfortable running at the faster paces I raise my arms more up towards my chest. That keeping them lower or at 90* angle just does not feel right.

So I have a feeling that while the running tall part, keeping the feet pointed straight ahead work fine, the arm swing is just going to have to be my own. I also noticed that my right arm tends to come across my body a little more often when I am running faster, so I am compensating for something with that as well.

Overall, not a bad workout and I did what I wanted.

• Got in some faster pace work
• Made it through the workout without damaging the hamstrings
• Found out how the Zoom Fly SPs worked in comparison to other go faster shoes.