Salvaging the Week

Up until now, I've gone on a pretty strict diet of 3 weeks on and then 1 week off. The off week pretty much just consisted of me doing whatever I felt like and usually logging mileage somewhere in the 50-60 range. However, after the last time I took one of these down weeks, I just felt sluggish and bloated when I was done with the week, not refreshed and springy, like I was expecting. So I decided to rethink the down week. This would have been the week that is was scheduled for and from how I felt in the beginning of the week, I really felt like I needed it. My legs were heavy and my head just wasn't in it. I limped through 9 miles on Monday and then on Tuesday, I just didn't have it, so I took the day off. Now normally, when I take a whole day off during the week, it spells doom for that week. My motivation is usually sapped to do any kind of real workouts or any significant mileage. I pretty much just maintain fitness through the end of the week and then start again the following Monday.

Then on Tuesday, I woke up and felt pretty good. I did a 9 mile run in the morning and was feeling particularly bouncy. Normally, unless I plan on doing some sort of workout, I don't bring a watch with me. It eases the temptation that I sometimes to get to race, when I should be recovering. However, today I brought one along, just in case. About a quarter of the way through the run, I was feeling good and decided to just start seeing what I was running at, so I hit the watch. I came through the first mile right around 5:46. At that point, I was still feeling good, so I figured might as well turn it into a tempo run. I wound up doing 4.5 of the miles at a 5:43 overall pace. It felt effortless. Later that day, I went out and did a 12 mile run that felt equally effortless. Apparently the day off did me some good. So I think I'm back on track. I did 10 miles this morning at a relaxed pace and then plan on doing another 7 at lunch….although my current workload may thwart that plan. With a good day tomorrow I should be back on track and on pace for another solid week.

On a related note, I finally got some new shoes last night. I've been wondering what kind of difference a lighter shoe might make with my day to day training. Right now, I'm wearing Asics Kayano and/or 2100's, but I've always been pretty flexible with the shoes that I wear. I'm definitely not tied to a particular shoe or brand. I can pretty much run in anything. The Kayano's served me well though and I was happy with them, but man, they are some heavy shoes. I think they weigh somewhere in the 13-14oz range, which is pretty heavy as far as shoes go. I pretty much wear my trainers all the time, whether I'm out for a Sunday stroll, or running a mile time trial, and up until now, I've never really worried about shoe weight. It sort of seemed like throwing away dollars to save some pennies. The risk of injury from wearing too little of a shoe outweighed any kind of performance boost I might get from them. But things change and now I want to give it a shot. I feel like my legs are strong enough now where they can handle a little less support than something like the Kayano offers. So I got some Brooks Axiom, which is a lighter shoe, but still offers some support. I'm not ready to go completely minimalist at this point. We'll see how it goes.