Running
17.2 Km in 1:30:00 average pace 5:14

As I posted a week or so ago I have decided to ease back into the long runs. So today I planned to run for 90 minutes, and although I laced in the footpod I set my watch so I could only see my pace and stopwatch, not distance covered. This would save me from any obsessive "just do an extra 700 metres to round up the distance" behavior. I was going to head to my favorite spot along the Yarra from Templestowe, however I was on my own and it is a bit isolated so I ended up closer to home along the Koonung Creek Trail instead.

I wore my new Nike Air Equalon's even though I was starting to suspect them to be the much feared amongst runners, Evil Pair of Sneakers. When I ran in them on Wednesday the pain I had in my left foot about a month ago recurred with avengence, so bad that even when I walked the last Km back to the office it nearly had me in tears. Determined to persevere (they cost $220 afterall) I relaced them as shown by the coach last time I complained about the pain. This seemed to make the world of difference because today's run was totally pain free, this lacing method still keeps the shoes snug but relieves the pressure over the top of my foot as I have high arches. As an aside, can you believe there is a whole website dedicated to lacing shoes, that dude has alot of time on his hands :-)

I've decided that my preferred training shoes are the Brooks Trance 5's (6's no good remember, real shame) so have been hunting high and low for a pair. I haven't been able to track the 5's down in Australia in my size (US 9.5 very popular) and after some time on the net yesterday managed to find a pair AND in my size from the states. Better yet, with postage it comes to about $140 because they are a superseded model and the AUD is pretty strong against the USD at the moment. In hindsight I should have ordered 2 pairs. Now the caveat is I am not getting too excited yet. An e-mail to another supplier delivered me the news that he can not ship Brooks or Asics to Oz because these companies won't let him, so I am half expecting an e-mail on Monday canceling my order, fingers crossed they don't. That kinds pisses me off too, they gouge us on the price here and take away our right to get them shipped more cheaply from the US. And in this case it is not a case of bargain hunting specifically, I wanted a superseded model because the nuff nuffs in their infinite wisdom upgraded the model but changed the stability, talk about alienating your customer base.

The Week That Was
Mon - 10Km Recovery (56:20)
Tues - Speed Work (1x800, 5x400) 10Km all up with warm up and cool down
Wed - 13 km Rec (1:09:40)
Thurs - Unscheduled Rest, left half my gear at home
Fri - 10Km tempo session, 6 Km at 10Km race pace (49:37)
Sat - Scheduled Rest
Sun - Long Run, 90 minutes and set the watch so I couldn't see distance covered, came in at 17.2 Km

Total - 60Km
Obviously slightly peeved at missing Thursday but in hindsight I did say I was going to drop to 5 days a week for a couple of weeks. Very pleased otherwise, it was a strong week and apart from today's long race pace being about 15 seconds per Km to fast I trained to plan. I think I'll be back on 6 days a week next week and it will probably look something like this

Mon - 10Km Rec pace
Tues - Speed Work
Wed - Mini Long Run 14Km
Thurs - 10Km Tempo session, 6 Km at 10Km race pace
Fri - 8 to 12 Km Rec (go by feel)
Sat - Rest
Sun - Run 100 minutes, distance ?? Km
Total 70 to 75Km

Other Stuff
This is unashameably a running post today and it has gone on looooooong enough really :-)