Windy Monday Night

I did the Monday night run with Annette and the girls in the Blooming Ridge subdivision. They have been running here for a couple months now and Monday night they should have called it windy ridge. We had some pretty high winds to deal with and yes, there are hills here and many of them. You go up one and down another. We basically loop around the neighborhood in the dark but it is well lit. This is a great training route.

Yesterday afternoon I went to Academy Sports to get me another pair of Brooks Adrenalin 7's but wouldn't you know it, they were out of my size. Ever since I was injured I have had it in my head that the Saucony Hurricane 9's that I have wore some were not the right shoe for me. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Irregardless, I have it in my head that they are causing me injury. Since they were out of the Adrenalin 7's, I decided to try something different. I tried on a pair of Asics Kayano Gel 13's which Annette has had good luck with and a pair of Nike Air Structure Triax 10+. I have a pair of Ascis GT2120's but they have always seemed to hurt my left heal. Something about the heel cup. Well, the Kayano 13's were about the same way. The Nike's felt great and had better cushioning. The Kayano 13's were almost twice as much as the Nike's so I decided to try a pair and see how they would do. I figured if nothing else I would have a nice pair of shoes to kick around in.

The Nike's actually felt really good on the run last night. They seemed to have more forefoot cushion than some. They seemed to keep my feet at a better angle than the Hurricane's do. If they don't work out I will be back to the old standby Brooks. The aggravating thing on shoes is the fact that about the time you like one, they change it and go to a new model.

More on the run:
When I got to Michele's house to start our run I was joined with Annette, Brenda, Kelly, Heather and Michele. The first thing we noticed was the temps were warmer than we had been used to but the wind was terrible! There must have been a 16-25 mph wind blowing directly from the south which made it feel much cooler than the 58 degrees that it was.

We crossed over into Blooming Ridge and all we could feel was a direct head wind. We commented that this was wind like the Rivertrail 15K had last year. We were running but it almost felt like we were standing still. After a couple hills we turned left and got out of the wind. Then it got hot. It was hot and cold all night depending on which direction we ran. I struggled a little bit but stayed with the group. When I hit 3.1 miles I decided that I was taking a walk break. Especially since this was the first time in forever that I had done 5k non stop. The girls kept going. So I would sprint to catch up, then slow or walk again. I only wanted about 4 miles anyway so I knew I didn't have far to go. Kelly was on fire last night pacing the group and looking very strong. The last 1/2 mile I ended up running very hard and fast to catch up. I looked at my garmin later and It showed me at about a 5:58 pace. Just wish I could hold that longer but I can't. Overall I was pretty happy with the run. Especially considering the hills and the wind we had to fight. We all hate wind and most hate hills so running what you hate makes you stronger.

Here are my splits from last night:
Total miles - 4.11
Avg. pace - 10:33
1- 10:49
2-10:41
3-10:17
4-10:29
.1-10:20
560 calories burnt
Avg HR 166

Tonight is speed work at the track. I am looking forward to it though the weather is calling for 25 MPH winds. Could make for an interesting run. Afterwards I have to attend an emergency vehicle driving class at the FD. This is a boring class that I have done probably 13 times but it is a requirement to have at least once a year. Add another certificate to my collection!