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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Pyramid scheme to progress

4/5 run 61 mins (200,400,600,800,800,600,400,200m intervals) on American Tobacco Trail soft side in New Balance MT10 Minimus Trail w/ Injinji socks

200m
1. :52
400m
2. 1:56
600m
3. 2:51
800m
4. 3:54
5. 3:56
600m
6. 2:56
400m
7. 1:57
200m
8. :57

note: all interval times are recorded using custom workouts on a Garmin 405

HR avg ??? max ??? (average heart rate includes warm-up, cool-down and rest intervals)

I got roped into watching the brother-in-law's crazy puppy and forgot to bring my heart strap.  Any other day this would have been a problem, but today was intervals so the only goal is to go as hard as I can for as long as I can...with consistency, of course.  Last week I did my long run on Tuesday and skipped Thursday in favor of a roadtrip, so this was my first hard run in over a week.  I'm glad it was a pyramid workout instead of mile repeats as it took me awhile to find my rhythm.  This is also the first time I've jogged most of my rest intervals (I walked the 800m rest intervals).  This is the first workout where it seems I got some decent consistency in my times!  I had no idea what my times were until I uploaded the data after I got home.  I'm not sure if the heart rate is just an added distraction or it's coincidence, but I'm happy to finally dial in some of my times.  Now when I look at the graphs for each interval, my pace does fluctuate quite a bit, but that could also be the Garmin playing tricks on me.  All of my intervals were at a sub-8 pace, so it was great to hit that goal as well.  We had a big rainstorm last night,  so the surface wasn't the best either.  I also made a point to not turn around in the middle of an interval.  In the past if I reached the road crossing on either end of this stretch of trail I would turn around and head back, but this was screwing up my times even further, so this time I ran them out no matter where I was at and I would u-turn on the rest interval.  Thankfully I didn't have to stop for traffic.

I really love my New Balance MT10 Trail Minimus, I know I said I would write a full review, but with my left foot plantar fasciitis flaring up again, it's limited my ability to do longer runs on gnarly terrain in minimal shoes.  They've been relegated to intervals on the flat but rocky American Tobacco Trail instead.  I'm doing everything I can to get my foot healed again, as I have high hopes of using the MT10 for all but my longest runs in the future.  The shoe fits so well and allows for excellent ground feel without rock bruising issues.   I feel like my form and efficiency improves every time I put them on.

Now, I have to say a few words about the Strassburg Sock.  I've been struggling with it for almost a week now and I'm giving up and ordering a real boot.  I figured the pain and hot spots on the end of my toes would go away after a few days of adaptation, but instead I now have blisters on the tips of several toes from the damn thing.  Now, I will say, I have some messed up feet and toes...my wife refers to them as Mr. Deeds' feet.  I've tried adjusting the tension of the strap, but loosening seems to put even more pressure on the tips of my toes.  I figured I would throw this out there for anyone who is looking at one of these socks.  It does help, but in the exact same way as the boot, and there are about a 100 models to choose from, most of which don't rub the ends of your toes.

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