It Must Be the Shoes
Like most boys, when I was a kid I loved getting new sneakers. I thought they made you run faster and I would do windsprints with my shiny Adidas or Puma sneaks (back when todays retro styles weren't retro) and actually feel the speed emanate from the shoes. I've caught T doing windsprints when he gets new sneakers, so I suspect this still holds true.
With that intro I will sing the praises of my New Balance 833s. If you read last week's posts, I got them online after a quandary on what to run in for the upcoming Philadelphia Marathon. I wanted to give them a trial run in NYC, and the UPS guy delivered them literally a few hours before I left for NYC, but on walking around with them I started to get heel blisters and decided to play it safe and wear my old trainers (NB 856s). I wore the 833's yesterday and they felt comfortable, and put them on again today and they felt fine, with no indications of any blister problems. But that is not why I'm pumped about them.
I'm following the taper schedule laid out for me by an old coach. For this workout, Greg directed a run of 90-105 minutes, with 4 of those miles taken alternately at 5:45 and 6:15 pace. I modified this a little bit to fit the course I've been running on Thursdays. So the workout ended up being a 2-mile warmup (including dropping off T at school); a 2 mile dash from 34th & Chestnut to the Civil War Memorial just before Memorial Hall (which are the toughest two miles on the marathon route) in under 12 minutes; a 1/4 mile or so downhill recovery to MLK Drive; and then take the first marked mile at marathon pace (6:05-6:10) and the second at 5:45. Then its up Bloody Nipple Hill and a cool down all the way back to Penn, where I altered the usual course a bit so I could pick up my bike, which I had to leave there last night, and cycle home. If you're interested, the course is here and measures to 12.3 miles.
The beginning of this marathon course portion is an uphill so I imagine I'm in an infantry charge. Today the enemy had a secret weapon - a strong headwind - and before I knew it I was sucking air heavily and not feeling fast. But the enemy's secret weapon was no match for my shoes, as to my surprise I hit the first two miles in 11:40. Dawg! Fastest I've ever run that stretch. The marathon pace mile then felt effortless as it went by in 6 flat, and the last timed mile was a relatively easy 5:38. The rest of the run was a romp through Fairmount Park, made beautiful by the sun and the autumn leaves, and the whole run ended in just over the minimum at 91:13.
Perhaps the most rewarding part of this training cycle has been charting my improvement over this loop. This is the last time I run it this year, and it leaves me confident that I'm ready for Philly on the weekend after next. With a little help from the shoes!
With that intro I will sing the praises of my New Balance 833s. If you read last week's posts, I got them online after a quandary on what to run in for the upcoming Philadelphia Marathon. I wanted to give them a trial run in NYC, and the UPS guy delivered them literally a few hours before I left for NYC, but on walking around with them I started to get heel blisters and decided to play it safe and wear my old trainers (NB 856s). I wore the 833's yesterday and they felt comfortable, and put them on again today and they felt fine, with no indications of any blister problems. But that is not why I'm pumped about them.
I'm following the taper schedule laid out for me by an old coach. For this workout, Greg directed a run of 90-105 minutes, with 4 of those miles taken alternately at 5:45 and 6:15 pace. I modified this a little bit to fit the course I've been running on Thursdays. So the workout ended up being a 2-mile warmup (including dropping off T at school); a 2 mile dash from 34th & Chestnut to the Civil War Memorial just before Memorial Hall (which are the toughest two miles on the marathon route) in under 12 minutes; a 1/4 mile or so downhill recovery to MLK Drive; and then take the first marked mile at marathon pace (6:05-6:10) and the second at 5:45. Then its up Bloody Nipple Hill and a cool down all the way back to Penn, where I altered the usual course a bit so I could pick up my bike, which I had to leave there last night, and cycle home. If you're interested, the course is here and measures to 12.3 miles.
The beginning of this marathon course portion is an uphill so I imagine I'm in an infantry charge. Today the enemy had a secret weapon - a strong headwind - and before I knew it I was sucking air heavily and not feeling fast. But the enemy's secret weapon was no match for my shoes, as to my surprise I hit the first two miles in 11:40. Dawg! Fastest I've ever run that stretch. The marathon pace mile then felt effortless as it went by in 6 flat, and the last timed mile was a relatively easy 5:38. The rest of the run was a romp through Fairmount Park, made beautiful by the sun and the autumn leaves, and the whole run ended in just over the minimum at 91:13.
Perhaps the most rewarding part of this training cycle has been charting my improvement over this loop. This is the last time I run it this year, and it leaves me confident that I'm ready for Philly on the weekend after next. With a little help from the shoes!
posted by seebo | 10:53 AM
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