TransTo4: 2-4

6.2 miles in 57:17. (9:15 /mile)

Longest mileage week yet. 15.5 miles once I adjust the other 3 milers for the week up to 5Ks. :) This ended up being a 10K because that's just how the 'outer loop' around the house ends up if I start and stop at the same spot.

Did this run late Saturday night. Didn't get on the road till around 9:30. It was pretty quiet out, and most of the drivers were especially nice to let me run across streets without making me wait. I only got caught by one light for about 15 seconds just after mile 4.

Got fitted for new pair of shoes on Saturday, and WOW! Finally had an opportunity to run down to Balanced Athlete in Kent. Eric, who gave the shoe talk for us at work a couple of months ago was working and hooked me right up. :)

I had brought both pairs of shoes that I currently have, and he did the shoe expert/oracle thing and flipped them over and looked at the wear patterns and grunted a few times, and made comments about coming off on the outside of my foot and not the center of the shoe, and then proceeded to twist my shoes and show me that the Sauconys that I thought were more supportive were super flexy and the ASICS I though were bendy were stiff.

Did the barefoot treadmill thing and watched my ankles pretend to be pieces of spaghetti, and that I toe out on both feet, but worse on my right foot.

He measured my feet with me sitting and my foot up, which I've never had anyone do, and then measured my foot standing. A full size change (7.5 to 8.5) just going from no load, to standing load. Imagine what those dang high arches are doing with impact load during running. (It also explains why my shoes are comfortable when I'm standing, but get tight and uncomfortable if I'm sitting.) He also pointed out that especially my ASCIS flex forward (I think) of the ball of my foot, and that's the important part to get synced up, apparently.

He had me try out two different pairs (take a trot up the sidewalk outside and back), out of the box with sock liners , with my super feet (recommended for arch support), and then did the video thing again. He liked one pair, and you could see that I came off the middle of the shoe now, and immediately rejected the other because you could see my ankles still rolling around. He then went to a third pair of shoes and did the same, and those were them. :) Much more support and motion control, and in the recommended full size larger.

So I ended up with a pair of ASICS Foundation 7s in 9 1/2. Apparently for maximum overpronators who need motion control. :) It's amazing to watch my feet when I run and see my feet just STOP as they roll inwards, and continue correctly. I love technology. :)

Eric had some great form advice, and had two pieces of general info I though I'd share.

One, if you increase your foot turnover your form will improve, and you will get faster. I run about 70 left foot strikes (whatever the right term for that is) per minute. If you shoot for a slightly smaller stride, but 90 left foot strikes per min you'll be faster. (18" stride * 70, vs 15" stride * 90 equals 1260" vs 1350" equals 7.5 feet further per minute which is almost a 1/10 of a mile further in the same time over an hour). Apparently they make little belt clip metronomes to help you teach yourself this. Didn't get one, but this may go on the short list.

Second, he's big into heart rate training. I'll let you go google, but it sounds like it makes sense, and I've babbled about it before, so I'll just leave it at that.

After going home and doing a little tap dancing about getting another pair of running shoes, and now having two pairs I shouldn't wear for too much, we had a great evening with some friends/neighbors and I got on the road late. Val asked just before I went out if I was looking forward to the run, and I realized I'd been looking forward to the long run all week. It didn't disappoint. :)

Left shoe was a little loose on the run, but I was too stubborn to stop and adjust it. It didn't seem to cause any problems, but I'm going to have to play with how tight to lace these. The new shoes are great! Forgot band aids, and am a little uncomfortable. :) I'll learn eventually. Or, I'll toughen up. :)

I'm going to have to figure out snappy names for my next sets of posts, since I figure I'm done transitioning to 4 days. :)

splits:
mile1 - 9:37
mile2 - 9:39
mile3 - 8:32
mile4 - 9:20
mile5 - 9:08
mile6 - 9:25
0.2 - 1:37 (8:05/mile)