So this week, I ran a total of 6 times. That’s right, 6 consecutive days, I managed to lace up and run. In fact, I even created a schedule to follow which will allow me to rebuild my abilities and prepare for some races.

I decided to start by doing 2 extended interval runs a week before I go to the gym. What I’m referring to as an “extended interval run” is a run where I lump multiple intervals together and run them back-to-back without rest. Of course I can only run a few this way, but I will work my way up to running as far as my body will carry me. I ran 4 continuous quarter mile splits at 800 meter pace, which made for an 8:15 pace. I had struggled to do this last week, but succeeded both times this week.

I did manage to still get to the gym for a 30 minute workout twice. I spent 10 minutes on the stair machine, ten minutes on the rowing machine one day and bike the other, and still did a tough core workout. I have to admit, it was very gratifying to show up already sweaty, as if I am always busting my hump. It garnered interesting looks from the twenty-something girls at the checkin counter.

I also was able to hit my target pace during the intervals on Monday. Started out doing just the 4 800 meter intervals, which grew progressively slower. As you can tell from the pace chart, I walked the rest periods, which seems to greatly scew the chart. I’m not very happy with SportTracks and I’m growing increasingly frustrate with its complete lack of openness. I realize that these are the types of things that will never be fixed and asking for such changes usually results in the overly Windows forum community to write you off unless you’ve donated (read: bought the software). Downloadable shareware that’s closed source? Seriously? Hey Zone Five, 1994 called, they want their business model back.

Saturday was hell though. I made it though about 2 miles without any challenges, but started to find my heartrate had climbed up there and was not relenting. I was struggling to breath and my quads were starting to ache. It didn’t help to realize I had 4 miles left. I stopped about a half dozen times or more, as you can tell from the jumps in pace. However, there were about 3-4 times where I got lost because I decided to explore a neighborhood I had never been in. Getting lost can really take the wind out of my sails. I also made the mistake of thinking I wasn’t hungry when I left the house. I wasn’t, but quickly ran out of gas on the trail. After all of the hills, getting lost, draining my energy, and the complete frustration of not being able to keep pace, I ended the run early as to avoid continuing the horrible experience.

In the end, I think I may scale the Friday easy run back because I don’t think it helped any. It may in fact increase my risk for injury so I think I will scale back by a mile next week. Since I cut back a mile off the 6 miler yesterday, I’ll have to repeat this week next week to make sure I can continue the plan.

Here’s this week’s pace charts. I changed them to graph pace against distance since time doesn’t really help much.

Geez, that took forever to manually add each individual chart to a post like that.

I finally bought a new pair of running shoes last weekend. I have been using the Brooks Adrenaline GTS for a while; I’ve gone through 3 pairs now (on the 4th).

I went to my local Run On! and pestered the saleswomen to fit me for various shoes like I do every year. That is, once a year, I go to Run On! and try on a bunch of shoes to see if any of them suddenly fit and feel better than my last pair. Every time so far, I’ve kept with the Adrenaline because they fit like a glove and I have yet to experience any pain. Granted, I keep the milage at or under 30 a week right now and I stick with a reasonable pace, but I put them through the ringer. The last pair I just switched from had turned a dingy brown and have been worn through about 700 miles or so (had them since last August). Around January, I had to start using my expensive inserts to prevent injury. I always get lectured about how I should replace them every 400 miles, but like the dentist telling me to floss, I usually blow it off.

Well, I have a confession to make. Every time I buy a new pair of shoes, I spend a while sitting in front of the TV smelling them. The smell of new shoes is exhilarating, intoxicating even. I’m not sure what it is about the smell, but brand new shoes smell so good to me. Perhaps it’s my brain realizing the smell as a vision of all of the miles and meditation ahead of me. I feel like Cinderella would if she bought a pair of glass running shoes instead of slippers and found that the prince was a runner as well. I bet he couldn’t get 700 miles out of glass running shoes though.

The best part of new shoes: the joy of feeling like Superman again for a few weeks while they wear in.