Over the weekend I purchased a pair of Vibram Five Fingers Sprints. I walked around in them for a couple of days to loosen them up as they were a little tight when I bought them. They loosed up quickly. They are also more comfortable than they look. They got a few looks, though most people didn't notice. Reaction ranged from cool to creepy. Some people don't like feet.
My track workout for the week called for 6 x 800 (only 6?) with a 90 recovery in between. I decided to go to a nearby track that someone had told me about. This would save me some gas and it was supposedly well lit and visible from a main road. I decided I would warm up in my Five Fingers and do my workout in my Mizunos.
The warm up in the Five Fingers was good overall. I didn't notice any difference in my stride or any burning sensation in my legs. I'd heard from a couple of people to expect this. I read about barefoot running when I'd only been running a short time in '04. I changed my stride based on the information I'd read about barefoot running. This could be why I didn't notice a difference. Towards the end of the 3rd loop, I guess I didn't lift my left foot high enough and scraped the top of my big toe along the track's surface. It hurt so bad I was sure there was permanent damage. My first thought was 'not my pedicure!' I stopped and looked at my big toe and waited for the blood to surface on my new Five Fingers. But it never came. When the sting subsided, I continued my warm up with minimum pain in my big toe. When I changed into my Mizunos, there was no visible evidence of the scrape and my pedicure still looked great. Score 1 for the V5s!
It was really windy! The wind gusts were unbelievable. I switch direction each speed interval to break it up in my head and in both directions the head wind was in the second half of the track, when you're tired anyway. It felt like a bully had his hand on my forehead holding me back. I'd start an interval pretty strong, but hit the head wind and lose momentum. After the first 400, I'd struggle to recover even with the wind at my back then lose it all together when I hit the second head wind. It was so discouraging. My times were off more than 10 seconds from last week.
Interval times:
4:07
4:11
4:13
4:13
4:12
4:06
When I got to the track there was a lady run/walking the track. Her sons were playing around the soccer goal. She left before I started the warm up. It was just me. There were no games at the nearby softball fields and there were no lights on the track. There was heavy track on the main road, but the parking lot wasn't visible from this road. When it started to get dark, it started to get creepy. I'll try a different track next week. Maybe I'll even find someone else to run these with!
Workout number two went better than speed work. I run this one with a group. The plan called for 5 miles @ tempo pace. That's roughly a 9:50-10:05 pace for me. I warmed up for a mile before starting my tempo run. It was tough, but I felt strong. The course I run with the group isn't easy. There's a lot of hills, but there will be hills in a race, so I don't modify this run to avoid hills. I managed 5 miles in 47:32 or a pace of 9:30. That's slower than the 4 mile tempo pace last week, but I started the tempo run sooner, where there are bigger hills, this week.
Overall, I think training is going well. I feel strong and I'm more involved in my workouts than I have been in the past. My long runs have been hit or miss which is normal. I am working on some fueling issues with those but I think I have a plan that will work. I'm certainly enjoying this more than usual.
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