November 23rd – Re-treads!

I arrived home last night to find my new (old faithful) Ariel’s had arrived in the mail from Eastbay. They have a really quick turn-around time, less than a week from the USA. I was quite excited, as not only did they cost less than $150 ($280 in the shops here), but they are the “newest” model with improved technology… I only learned about all of this when talking to the Brooks trade tables at two events recently. So I had a new pair of bricks and was keen to try them out. I worried about running though as my leg still felt a twinge when walking and I wasn’t sure I should run yet. But with 9 days off (and counting) it was time to test it again.

MGirl’s netball club had a fundraising fashion parade on last night, so there was no chance to run then. I got up on time this morning and decided to walk FD#1 in the bricks to see if that helped my leg feel better while walking. After dodging magpies and retrieving FD#1 out of the creek, about 45 minutes later I was back out the door with MGirl on a test run. Running with MGirl is always like a time-trial, and as I only intended going about 3+kms, I figured a good hard run would be ok; even on “the leg”. At first my calf felt a bit “iffy”, but I could instantly feel the extra support from my shoes. The more I ran, the better the leg felt. Although I still argue that my cal problem started before I changed into the Adrenalin’s, I couldn’t help but wonder if my footwear change had prolonged a temporary problem? Oh well, water under the bridge (or kms under the feet) and all my wondering won’t change the fact that I am where I am at the moment with my running. I was happy to go 3.5kms at 5:13 pace and my leg felt much better than I thought it would. Hopefully this is the beginning of the climb back to full fitness.

Yesterday I was attempting to write my first ever program, to start from when we get back from holidays late January 2011. It is a 27 week program, and I think I’ve done a good job. I initially wanted to do it, so I could determine whether I did have enough time to increase my mileage safely (at 10% per week) and still get up to the required totals in time for the race. The answer is YES! As I got more involved in the program and tweaked it here and there; build-phases, rest weeks… I was getting more excited about how it was turning out. I’ve sent it off to StuMan from Eclipse Fitness for an expert eye over it to make sure it is all going to work. I am proud of what I’ve done; now I just want to put it into practice!