Weekly Training Report - June 16th-22nd

Monday: 6.1 (7:33)

Tuesday: 9.4 miles (7:32)

Wednesday: 9.3 miles (6:27); 2.6 (8:09)
Tempo run, 50 minutes at T pace (6:14).  Probably my longest tempo run ever, I felt really good.  I would categorize it as "comfortably hard", but my breathing was controlled and I never felt like I was redlining.

Thursday: 8.1 miles (7:54); 3.1 (7:56)

Friday: 8.2 miles (7:22)

Saturday: 10.5 miles (7:50)

Sunday: 16.7 miles (7:46)

This was my longest run since my marathon at the end of February.

Weekly total: 73.9 miles
Well, I finally made it to 70 miles in a week.  It took me a little longer to get here than I thought.  My first 70+ mile week since November last year.  I also doubled for the first time this week, and I actually liked going out for my shakeout runs at night.  My daughter rode her bike with me and it was nice to have her company.

I probably won't do any workouts for the next week or two and try to hold my mileage in the 70s.

So, I ran a lot this week, but only made it to Jiu Jitsu once.  I can't seem to do both.

Weekly Training Report - June 9th-June 15th

Monday: No running

Tuesday: 7 miles (7:34)

Wednesday: 8 miles (7:46)

Thursday: 5.3 miles (6:23)
Tempo run, 30 minutes at T pace (6:17)

Friday: 4 miles (7:30)

Saturday: 10.3 miles (7:22)

Sunday: 7 miles (7:37)

Weekly total: 41.6 miles

Very low mileage week, I did get a workout in.  But, no long run.  On the other hand, I went to Jiu-Jitsu classes 6 times this week.  So, I feel like that somewhat makes up for my lack of miles this week.

I've been a blue belt for a few months now, and there's a Naga tournament coming up in my area: U.S. Open.  So, I'm contemplating doing that tournament.

Weekly Training Report - June 2nd-8th

Monday: 8.5 miles (7:03)

Tuesday: 10.0 miles (7:30)

Wednesday: 7.6 miles (7:21)

Thursday: 10.8 miles (7:31)

Friday: 5.4 miles (7:29)

Saturday: 8.4 miles (7:35)

Sunday: 12.5 miles (7:12)

Weekly total: 63.2 miles

Not much to say about this week.  I didn't run any workouts, just a bunch of easy running.  Training is getting a little monotonous with no races on the horizon for a couple of months.

Weekly Training Report - May 26th-June 1st

Monday:  No running
This was my first day without running in 532 days.  I felt like it was time to break the streak.  Sometimes, I'd find myself running when I probably shouldn't just to get in a couple miles to keep my streak going.  It definitely felt weird not going for a run.

Tuesday: 8.5 miles (7:42)
I had blood in my urine after this run.  That really freaked me out, it's never happened to me before!  It was very hot and I ran during lunch, but didn't really drink before my run.  So, I think it was just due to dehydration.  I made sure to drink a lot for the next couple of days and never saw it again.

Wednesday: 8.0 miles (7:19)

Thursday: 3.1 miles (7:18)

Friday: 9.1 miles (6:38)
I did a tempo run for 40 minutes, just over 6.3 miles.

Saturday: 10.0 miles (7:32)
My legs were tired from the workout on Friday.  I never really felt very good during this run.

Sunday: 15.1 miles (8:21)

First long run in a couple weeks.  Ran about 4 miles before meeting up with the running group in Winter Park.  It's also been over a month since I've run with the group, so it was nice to see everyone and have some company on a long run.  Still want to up this distance to the 17-20 mile range.

Weekly total: 53.8 miles

Slight lower mileage this week due to taking Monday off.  Maybe next week I'll shoot for 70+ miles.

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.