Weekly Training Report - May 19th-25th

Monday: 8.0 miles (7:47)

Tuesday: 12.2 miles (7:38)

Wednesday: 8.5 miles (7:02)
Did 4 x 1km intervals today with full jogging rest (~5 mins), the pace for the intervals were ~5:30.  The rest was probably a little too long.  But, I wanted to do more intervals than I did last week.  Plan is to keep increasing the number of intervals I do and decrease the rest time.

Thursday: 7.5 miles (7:09)

Friday: 9.1 miles (7:22)

Saturday: 8.0 miles (6.53)
Did ~32 mins at T pace, a little over 5 miles.  So that works out to 6:20 pace.  I felt really good the whole time, comfortably hard, just the way it should be.  Its nice when workouts go the way they're supposed to.

Sunday: 10.2 miles (7:48)

I still have been horrible at getting up in the morning to get my run in.  Usually I would wait until the sun sets before going on my long run if I don't do it in the morning, but we were going to a friends house at night for a party.  So, it was either run outside or go to the gym and run for 2 hours on the treadmill.  At 11am, it felt pretty good out, not too hot.  So, I chose to run outside.  By the time I actually got out of the house, it was almost noon.  It still wasn't too hot, but after about 5 miles in, it was pretty oppressive.  I planned my run to run by water fountains every couple of miles so I could drink and douse my head.  But, I started getting chills at mile 9, so I called my wife to come pick me up (luckily I had brought my cell phone).

Weekly total: 63.6 miles

Back over 60 miles, but this is two weeks in a row where I've bombed my long runs.  I have to get those back on track.  Other than that, I'm happy with my two workouts this week.

Weekly Training Report - May 12th-18th

Monday: 7.5 miles (7:25)

Tuesday: 4.0 miles (7:42)

Wednesday: 8.3 miles (7:14)
Did intervals today and they really sucked, I only did 2 x 1km repeats at 5:33, 5:36... blah

Thursday: 9.0 miles (7:41)

Friday: 8.0 miles (7:03)
Did about 22 mins at T pace, a little over 3 miles at ~6:20.  I want to try to build this up to 5 miles.

Saturday: 12.5 miles (7:35)

Sunday: 6.9 miles (7:55)

This run really sucked, I wanted to do 15-17 miles.  But, I ate like crap this weekend and my stomach wasn't into this run at all.  I got about halfway and had to walk about 4 miles home.  I guess we all have bad runs, but this one really got me down.  It sucked, and I need to get my nutrition squared away.

Weekly total: 56.2 miles

This is my first week under 60 miles in almost 2 months, and I only had to run about 3 more miles on my long run on Sunday to get there.  But, I blew up on that run.  Oh well, I need to forget about this week and get back at it next week.

Saucony Type A6 Review

I've been meaning to write this review for awhile.  Based on my equipment listing in Runningahead.com, I've had these shoes since March and put about 50 miles on them.  I run in a lot of Saucony shoes, I have 3 pairs of Kinvara 3s and 2 pairs of the Virratas.  Both of those shoes are every day training shoes.  I've worn them for races before and they work fine, especially for marathons.  But, I wanted something geared more towards racing, especially shorter distances, and I decided to look for something from Saucony.

The Saucony Type A6 shoes are a lightweight racing flat with a 4mm heel to toe drop.  Saucony advertises them as weighing 5.2 ounces, and my size 12.5 weigh in at 6.6 ounces.  Compare that to 8.6 ounces for my Kinvara 3s and it's a big difference.

The upper is a combination of two layers of FlexFilm mesh, the shoe looks narrow, but most racing flats are narrower than everyday trainers.  But, it fits and feels great, the mesh is not too restrictive.  The ankle collar is very padded and cushioned and feels great.  I like the collar much better than the Kinvara 3's barely non-existent padding.

The sole is comprised of XT-900 carbon rubber on the heel and forefoot, with iBR+ on the midfoot.  I'm not sure what all that means, but it sounds impressive.  It also has drainage holes for heat/moisture, to keep your foot dry, just don't step in a puddle I guess.  That added rubber on the sole should mean that this shoe is pretty durable.

Like I said, I've run about 50 miles in these shoes.  I wear them for interval and tempo workouts.  And I've run a 10k and 10 mile race in them (both PRs!).  They are lightweight, but still have a good amount of cushioning unlike my New Balance Minimus 10v2, which I feel like I can feel every little piece of rock on the road.  The shoe fits my feet like a glove and feels very responsive.  And, they make me feel fast!

I know I could race in these up to half marathon distance, I don't know if I'd used them for a marathon.  I'd probably want something with a little more cushioning on the sole.  But, who knows, they may be great for a marathon.  I have yet to wear them on a run longer than 10 miles.  At some point, I'll try them out on one of my long runs and when/if I do, I'll come back and update this review.

But, as of now, my overall impression of this shoe is that it is a great shoe.  It fits the bill exactly for what I wanted it for.  It is a great shoe to run in and to race in.

Weekly Training Report - April 5th-11th

Monday: 8.3 miles (7:22)

Tuesday: 12.3 miles (7:18)

Wednesday: 6.7 miles (7:32)

Thursday: 7.0 miles (7:35)
Holy crap, it was HOT today!  I felt like I was going to pass out and had to walk a couple of times.  No more running during lunch time, I guess.  I need to start getting up early and getting my run in before the sun is up.

Friday: 8.0 miles (6:55)
I did a tempo run, my first workout in awhile.  My goal was 5 miles at ~6:20 pace, I only made it 3 miles and my splits were 6:14, 6:12, 6:20.  I was too fast for the first two miles and I think that kept me from going the whole 5 miles.  I was really hurting that last mile.

Saturday: 8.1 miles (7:28)

Sunday: 16.0 miles (7:34)

Weekly total: 66.3 miles

I'm not looking forward to the next 3 or 4 months of running in this heat.  Most of my runs this week were at night after the sun went down.  But, it was still 80 degrees during my runs and it doesn't get dark until 8 pm.  So, I definitely plan on trying to switch to running in the mornings.  It's usually 10 degrees cooler, and I usually get up early anyways.

Weekly Training Report - April 28th-May 4th

Monday: 8.2 miles (7:35)

Tuesday: 8.2 miles (7:23)

Wednesday: 7.8 miles (7:34)

Thursday: 16.1 miles (7:30)
I didn't have to go into work until lunch time, so I used today for my long run knowing that I'll be flying back home over the weekend.  And I'd likely be too exhausted/jet lagged to get in a good long run.

Friday: 7.6 miles (7:28)

Saturday: 3.2 miles (6:55)
Short run after flying back from Hawaii overnight.  I thought this would be a pretty slow run, but I felt pretty good surprisingly.

Sunday: 11.0 miles (7:26)

Weekly total: 61.9 miles

I made it back from my work trip at the end of this week.  I was able to keep running 60 miles/week for the two weeks I was in Hawaii.  Now, that I'm back home, I hope to start adding some workouts in over the next couple of weeks.  If that goes well, then I'll start thinking about bumping my mileage up to 70 miles/week.

Weekly Training Report - April 21st-27th

Monday: 8.0 miles (7:57)

Tuesday: 11.1 miles (7:38)

Wednesday: 2.4 miles (7:37); 5.6 (7:38)

Thursday: 8.5 miles (7:36)

Friday: 7.1 miles (7:38)

Saturday: 7.9 miles (7:52)
This run was after I had hiked up to the summit of Diamond Head crater, I spent about 4 hours walking in the morning before going out on this run in the afternoon.  My legs were dead.

Sunday: 12.2 miles (7:27)

Weekly total: 62.7 miles
Not much to say about this week.  I'm waking up early to get my runs in and then working pretty long hours.  I wanted to run longer on Sunday, but I waited until the afternoon to go out and it was pretty hot and humid.