Once or twice a week, even while doing a base training block, I enjoy doing some faster stuff as well. Nothing too hard, long or fast, but some work to stretch the legs a little, to remind them that they can still zip along when necessary.

Plus, I wanted to get the Magic Speeds out and see if they felt any different from what they did last summer. My Achilles Tendonosis is in a lot better space than when I got them, and I figure I might as well see if that makes any difference. Especially, since I wasn’t all that impressed the first time around.

I warmed up at a comfortable pace for 20:00 minutes and then did 8 x :20 second strides on the road out in front of the house. The body wasn’t all that impressed with the idea of having to work harder than it has in a while. The other part is that my pacing and effort levels were all over the place. Not a bit of consistency was found during the strides, which didn’t surprise me all that much, and it will change as I get back into doing them.

After the last stride, I had an issue with not being able to catch my breath, which worried me a little. It is an odd feeling, and it seemed eerily similar to what others have described after they had COVID-19. However, I walked for about 10 seconds and whatever it was went away. Besides the mental part where I was wondering if was going to happen again…

I have had some issues with this feeling when I push harder on a run, since I was sick a few weeks ago, but not to this extent. I am hopeful that as I get further away from that, things will keep getting better, they seemed to be until this morning. It is almost as though I had low-level exposure to something (COVID-19??? or the flu) back then, and I have had this lingering issue since. The strange part was when I was sick, I had zero respiratory issues, so I don’t know what it is?

After that, I ran easy until I got to 5.0-miles and since there was a quarter-mile left to the finish, I picked it up a bit. About 200 m in, I started to feel a bit funky, so I shut it down to a comfortable pace and felt fine.

Just one of those things I will have to work through or if it doesn’t get better, talk to the Doc when I see him in November.

The ASICS Magic Speeds still don’t impress me all that much. For a carbon-plated shoe with great foams, there is no sizzle to them for me. They are at best comfortable light-weight trainers that I can go fast in, but they are not something I would use as a “go faster” shoe or to race in. They certainly do not put a smile on my face, like the GlideRides or other shoes that I have lying around the house.

I really am not sure what I will use them for going forward? They are that dreaded tweener shoe in my rotation that I really don’t use all that often. I prefer either a true daily trainer or go faster shoe, than ones that do little of both, but not all that well for me.

The reality is that

That I had a decent run, where the body got moving a bit faster than it has recently, but kind of scared me a little after the last strides, when I had a difficult time getting a breath. I am still not sure what that was all about, but it has only happened since I was sick a few weeks ago, so it might be connected to that.

I did learn that the Magic Speeds still aren’t impressing me as a speed shoe, and that they are more the dreaded tweener shoe in my world.

A good run on a gloomy day, but I didn’t get rained on, so that was a good thing.

Although, when I reached in my drawer after I got done running to get a clean shirt, I pulled this one out. My Runner’s World Half Marathon t-shirt that happened October 21, 2012, and brought back a flood of memories, to say the least.