Saturday, February 26, 2011

T-3 to LA, Trail shoe selection for S2S

Trail shoe choice

After having such good luck with the Kinvaras (I've put 55 miles on them now)  I decided to go with the Peregrines (also from Saucony) as my trail shoe. Here's a review at runblogger, with a video review from the tridudes blog too.


The Peregrines are reasonably priced ($89), light for a trail shoe (10oz) and have the same soft breathable uppers (with no hard heel plastic) of the Kinvara which I like a lot. The cushioning is the same as the K's and the drop is the same 4mm. (I seem to be dealing with that just fine .)


The soles on the shoe have incredibly good sticky rubber and nobbies...(at the price of a bit more weight than the K's).  The only downside mentioned in the review is that if it's a really really wet/muddy trail the uppers may let in too much water and silt. On the other hand they'll probably dry out quicker 8)

Alas, ZombieRunner doesn't carry them (yet), and neither does the local Sports Authority store, so I ordered them online from Roadrunner Sports...should get them next week.


This weeks training so far

Taking it easier this week after last weeks really hard slug of training. A full rest day on Monday, and then some cross training on Tuesday: my usual 30 minutes of 100rpm + biking and then 30 minutes of core and weights. 

Wednesday was an easy 4.8 mile run..10:35 pace with a good spm of 170+.  

Thursday I decided I was recovered enough to do a 3 mile fast tempo+ run and see how my conditioning was doing.

So ...ran a slow 2 miles to the Paly track. Once I got there, I discovered the PE instructor  had the kiddies out doing some kind of 15 minute walk/run warmup.


They don't seem to mind sharing their track (I helped pay for it after all 8) but I did have to do some dodging and weaving..seems nobody explained to these young'uns about leaving the inside track open..some of the laps came out @.27miles on the GPS. 

After grumbling their way through it, whistle blew signalling the end of the torture warm-up and were herded off to the gym. Peace and quiet for the rest of the run.



The stats  for the tempo portion:


Tot:    3.17 miles,  Avg Pace:  7:54 m/m,  Avg HR: 132.8,  Avg Cadence: 88.4 (i.e. 177 spm)


An HR of 132 for this pace  is  low for me....not sure what's going on here...
For example, here's the splits from my PR 10k race back in Sept '09:


Split:   1.00, Pace:  7:53, Avg Pace:   7:53, HR: 140.5, Cadence: 85.0
Split:   2.00, Pace:  7:48, Avg Pace:   7:50, HR: 153.0, Cadence: 85.2
Split:   3.00, Pace:  7:55, Avg Pace:   7:52, HR: 154.0, Cadence: 84.8
Split:   4.00, Pace:  7:56, Avg Pace:   7:53, HR: 154.0, Cadence: 84.8
Split:   5.00, Pace:  8:03, Avg Pace:   7:55, HR: 154.8, Cadence: 84.0
Split:   6.00, Pace:  8:16, Avg Pace:   7:58, HR: 156.0, Cadence: 83.8



Notice the cadence now  is 4-5% higher for the same pace and my HR is way lower...almost 20 bpm.  I don't fully believe the 7:54 m/m pace number..the Garmin is not very accurate on the track..(much better on straight line courses)..probably more like 8:10 m/m.


I jogged the 2 miles back for a total run stats of ~7 miles @ 9:22 average pace, 121 average HR. So ..I seem to be in pretty good shape considering how little fast running I've been doing lately.

Friday it was back to the gym for more cross training. (FYI for the last 4-5 months I am running 4 days a week (vs 5) trading an easy 3-5 mile run for two days of cross.)

So..same routine plus this time some 'step downs'..you stand on a box, lower one foot  and touch its heel to the floor (never put your weight on it though). Then you lift yourself back up..(it's kind of like one legged squats). This is to strengthen my quads...ack..eerk..they sure need it. I..could only do two sets of 12 on each leg and I suspect I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow.

Saturday (today), We had the threat of snow in the forecast (last time was 1976) but it was not to be, alas. (It would not have accumulated since the ground temp is above freezing). It was a bit cold (for us) this morning however.


9.2 miles on the flat baylands run at a pretty constant 9:23 pace/119 ave bpm.. This is the lowest HR vs pace I've ever recorded for this run..(previous best pace vs HR is 9:24/123 from April 2009, right after I did my PR 8:30 pace HM) 


I've done this run many times so I have a lot of data to compare against. The run felt moderately hard, maybe 7-8/10 effort level. 


I haven't been paying much attention to the pace/HR numbers ..since I'm not peaking for any of these races, but I noticed I was feeling pretty good ...and so it seems I am pretty fit, at least cardio and running-economy wise.


Legs are doing ok after this weeks workout...yesterdays step down exercises didn't mess me up too much today ;)


Sunday: Another poky hilly run on the schedule.....distance and pace based on feel. Wx should be perfect.









7 comments:

  1. No threat of snow here. Another 10 inches. February is now the second snowiest on record. Enough already!
    You keep very good records of your workouts.

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  2. As someone who is still trying to get fit, I tend to pay more attention to my heart rate than to distance or time. It's been really rewarding to see how it has come down. It used to take me only minutes until I was in my target zone...that zone is becoming harder and harder to reach!

    I've never given much thought to the number of miles on my shoes. How many miles does one usually run before it's time to replace them?

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  3. @ajh: Ugh.

    @rae: Yup HR is great. You can see the improvement without having to race or do time trials.

    They usually recommend replacing shoes every 300 miles..but it really depends on the shoe and the runner. I usually buy a new pair at 300 miles or so and then alternate which I use.

    When the old ones start to feel terrible compared to the new just use them for street shoes and flip to the new ones.

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  4. I've heard good things about those shoes, I hope they are magical for you in so many ways. Can't wait to hear!!

    I laughed at the track etiquette; one summer I was using the middle school track and there were people bringing their kids to ride their bikes on the thing, and the inside lane to boot! Drove me crazy :).

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  5. @jill: Yes, I'm looking forward to trying them out. Of course you'll get to see them at S2S!

    Bikes on the track?! That's just so WRONG ;).

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  6. Ok so don't think you're going to go to S2S w/o my my presence, most likely I'm still going to go but may have to go and be a cheerleader. It'll cost me more $ to get out of that ticket. Plus, Chris and Patrick are suppose to be staying with my friend, whom they don't even know. Soooooo....I'll know more on Wed whether or not I can run (but I'm not banking on it...and even if I get the ok to run, I'm not going to get any long runs in. grrr).

    What are your plans, btw, when there? Email me and let me know. I'm sort of stranded in San Fran on Friday afternoon. Chris and Patrick are not coming until Saturday afternoon....

    Hope all's well!

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  7. I just bought my first pair of trail shoes. Like you, I bought the same brand as my road show. And, like you, I have a low heel-to-toe drop shoe. Mine are Newtons and while they are not "mimimalist", they are designed to promote natural running gait.

    Your comment about your hydration plan was interesting to me. I was glad to hear it b/c I would probably lean towards your approach over a conventional approach.

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