Today I received my new Mizunos today along with a pair of gloves and two pairs of socks so that should keep me going through the rest of the Winter!
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| New Mizuno Wave Inspire 9's |
Met up with Anto again for this run. Was planning to take my first rest day in 15 days but decided a slow recovery run might be just as beneficial. The first km was rather nasty until the body loosened out and the remainder went fine. Didn’t look at the watch once on this run and just ran at a pace I was happy with, which turned out to be 5:22/km. Pleasantly surprised with the outcome and glad I ran it now.
Tuesday, 14th January 2014 – 16.8km Interval with 7km @ MTP - 4:33/km (Overall: 4:46/km)
I received my new pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s on Monday and decided to use them on this evening’s run. This was the second time I have looked to move away from the Kayanos (Due to their cost and weight) but my first effort with Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12s was far from a success! This is a pair that I had tried on back in Chicago 3 months ago and felt they were very comfortable. I managed to get these in an online sale for €90 along with a couple of other bits n pieces. As I put them on for the first time I noticed they were pretty firm around the edges so I threw on a second pair of socks to avoid too many friction issues. My first few steps around the apartment were comfortable but I was raring to get outside and truly test them.
As it was an MTP run I drove to the Coast Road and parked up beside the Elphin pub near Baldoyle. The plan was to run an out and back along the coast path from Sutton to the wind monument in Clontarf. The Southern direction was into a stiff wind which was creating its own challenge. I started off gradually but by the third km I was running at sub 5:00/km pace. I decided to keep this effort up all the way to the turnaround point (@ 9km) where I would then need to up further to 4:36/km. This resulted in more than a decent effort as far as halfway and my HR was around 147bpm for this section, so almost MP effort already!
Once I turned around it was noticeable that the wind was no longer an opposing factor. I knew I’d start to overheat when I upped the pace and with no breeze to cool me down I decided to discard my jacket and gloves under a tree for collection afterwards. I soon managed to hit the required pace and was very thankful I had ditched the jacket in no time. The pace was maintained around 4:33/km for the remainder of the 7km of MT Pace. Well, with the exception of the final km where I pushed the effort for the final 500m to come in at 4:23 for the full km. Just because I could really and shows that I was well in control by the finish.
The new runners were remarkably comfortable throughout and felt much, much lighter than the Kayanos which I never thought I’d notice as much. The footfall felt cleaner and the cushioning was top notch. I felt no niggles whatsoever either, and if anything was probably feeling a little less achy after the run! All in all a very successful run on both the hardware and the data front!
Wednesday, 15th January 2014 – 8.6km Distance (5:19/km)
One thing I failed to mention about the runners were a couple of friction points on my ankles, specifically the inside of the ankle joint on my left foot and just under the outside of the ankle on my right foot. I had worn two pairs of socks last night so I went with the same tactic again tonight. However even just walking around the apartment I could feel the chafing so I was prepared for a little irritation on the run.
When I got outside the plan was to do my MLR at about 4:50/km. I did an easy first km (5:20) and was about halfway through the first km at the faster pace when I decided ‘not tonight’! A combination of tired legs from last night, tender ankles, slight breeze and mental weakness led me to packing in the session to settle for an easy 5:19/km run instead. By the end of the run I was very happy with my decision as the legs were very heavy by that stage, still though I figure they benefited well from this recovery run.
Thursday, 16th January 2014 – 18.0km MLR (4:49/km)
This was last night’s postponed MLR run. It called for a tasty pace for a long duration so I was a bit anxious before I eventually headed out at 8pm. I needn’t have worried though as by the first few steps I could feel the benefit of yesterdays recovery run and was running much stronger from the beginning this evening. After a wam-up km the remainder managed to stay very close to my goal pace and although I was beginning to put in a bit more work over the closing 5km my HR still made for good reading. By the time I was finished this I was very happy with my evening’s work and feeling good after a disheartening run yesterday.
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| Splits for the MLR - Nice consistency across the board! |
Also while on my run I had the first inkling of perhaps deferring the 24 hr race in Belfast to next Summer. The way I’m progressing I feel would deliver a good Summer of faster races and PBs with a shot of doing some real damage to the marathon PB in Autumn. If I persist with the 24hr race though it is likely to set me back for Autumn and there will be very few PBs arising over the Summer. I will wait until after Barcelona in March though before firming up any decision.
Week 2 Summary (so far):
RTW: 4 from 4 days
DTW: 55.3km
DTY: 236.0km
