Xmas Is Early

My new kit arrived safely, delivered by Mr Complete Runner personally. A boxful of goodies included lots of great summer gear to keep this Runningbear training cool but also some more racers and trainers; T6s and Glycerin 8s which are my all time favourites. Brooks seem to be the only brand of shoes that keep my feet free from blisters, sore spots or calluses however many miles I race or run. They've also got a great shoe advisor online, check it out here.

A new addition to my fine collection this time is a pair of Brooks' Cascadia Trail shoes. I've had my eye on these for a while and am looking forward to trialing these on the trails this weekend...

Other than pressies from Brooks (thanks Martin), the week's been a tedious one with too much going on at work and no time for owt else. Training runs have been a rush to get out and back before the evening light disappears so I've just been hanging on for the weekend and space to breathe and relax again. I'm now very glad its Friday; two full days ahead with space to run, breathe, eat and sleep, all in that order. Tomorrow is track work again, accompanied by my trusty M; we'll be flogging ourselves with 400s. Yay.

Scorchio

After a rather tropical training week hitting the miles I'd been bracing myself for the extra toughness of the weekend sessions in the daytime heat... and I wasn't wrong. Coach Scobie made no allowances during Saturday's session; he worked us hard with a descending ladder  from 2k dropping down to 400M, all at sub 80 split pace with a total of well over 5k. The session was a bit daunting given my lack of speed work this year.

I struggled with the running rhythm early on and lacked the even pacing but settled into some speedy running once I found the Runnngbear groove. I felt floaty light in my Nerve spikes and managed to finish with a final flourish of 2.35 for 800M and 71 for the final 400M.

I'm actually enjoying track work for the first time in this second running life. I've some work to do yet to develop the strength endurance but for now, I'm learning to run fast so I can race fast...

This morning was another running feat in the heat; a steady 16 miles from home run early but not quite early enough to avoid the scorching sun. I was crawling over the doorstep hallucinating giant chilled bottles of chocolate milk by 11.30am. The afternoon was one long rehydrating blur...

So, another fine training week in the body bank soon to be followed by a small spending spree; a fast and furious 3k session on Tuesday night. Keep all those pinkies crossed my cheque doesn't bounce.

Not Just A Pretty Face

I've been thinking through the practicalities of running, no... racing 26.2 miles. In particular I've been thinking about how mashed my feet could be racing the full 26.2 miles in skimpy little racing shoes.

I've been doing my marathon shoe research and thought I'd invest early in some research testing and ordered a couple of racer-trainers with my pile of race vouchers yearning to be spent. The new shoes were delivered to the office this week.

The beauties have been perched patiently atop my piles of files and boxes of books as I pack up ten years of working life in Leeds and move on out to HQ. I start my new job proper on Monday (yikes). The Glides have been itching to get out of the box but my Sunday shenanigans and trashed quads have focused my mind on a gentler approach; the plan is to slip on the lightnin' slippers for the odd recovery run first.

Last night was the medium long run. The original plan was to include a bit of tempo but I was just too wasted after Sunday and all that intervals work on Tuesday. I managed another 14 miler at a steady 6.50 pace but squeezing in any tempo or even marathon paced miles would probably have been a step too far. Sometimes I reckon it's knowing when to hold off that's the smart part of training too.