Week in Review w/c 2/25/13

Monday:
Enjoyable, but chilly, short run in Saucony’s latest zero drop offering; the Virrata. The Virrata features 18mm of foam cushioning underneath the foot, which offers a level of protection comparable to traditional training shoes. In fact, my early miles in the Virrata have felt very Kinvara-like. Which is a good thing of course.

I also made more progress on the Hundred Push-Ups program. and am enjoying using a BOSU ball for my latest attempt at “doing the hundred”.

Tuesday
Just ran a nice, easy 10k on the treadmill during my lunch break, and started up some more supplemental strength work with Troy Jacobson’s excellent StrEndurance program.

Wednesday
Great day to be outside, so ran steady for about an hour. Ended up with 8.6 miles which is a lot better than all the shorted mid-week runs I’ve been logging lately.

Thursday
Ran a steady 10k in the Saucony Virrata. Conditions were a bit blustery so very happy with the average pace of 6:18/mile. Also did another round of StrEndurance as a warm up for the run. Lots of push-ups, squats, squat thrusts, mountain climbers, dumbbell rows, shoulder press, crunches, back extensions, jumping jacks and flicks definitely loosened things up!

Friday
Busy day at work, so just ran 5 miles on the treadmill. Started off slightly slower than 7:00/mile pace, but gradually picked things up to finish at 9.5mph. Also did more BOSU ball push-ups, some core work and the latest round of the one fifty dips program.

Saturday

Decided to head down to the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail and run the Mettle Events 15K – a no frills event on possibly the flattest, straightest course you’ll ever find. Take a look at the GPS track below if you don’t believe me!

After a couple of easy, warm-up miles with some drills, it was soon time to race. There weren’t too many familiar faces at the start line, so I decided to set off fairly comfortably and see how things panned out.

I soon found myself sitting in 2nd place for the first 2.5 miles, but was able to gradually close the gap between me and the leader, then I think it was just after the 3 mile mark where I was able to make the pass and press on.

I maintained pace to the turnaround cone, then stepped things up a notch for the remainder of the race, feeling good the whole way to the finish line, with no issues whatsoever. Even the tendon on top of my left foot that’s been bothering me since Rocky Raccoon didn’t trouble me today.

The Saucony Virrata (as seen in the photo above) was the shoe of choice for the race – very responsive, and with a tremendously cushy feel for a zero drop shoe.

My official finish time was 57:15 (6:28/mile pace), but as the course came out a bit long (15.5 instead of 15.3 miles), my actual pace was closer to 6:00/mile – not too shabby at all.

Sunday
Legs felt pretty good after Saturday’s race, so I decided to run down to the Oceanfront and back for an enjoyable 20 miler. I kept the Garmin hidden under a jacket sleeve, so I wasn’t sure of my pace until I reached the 10 mile mark at Rudee Inlet – it was a pleasant surprise to have averaged sub-7’s as it felt nice and easy. Turning for home wasn’t so pleasant, however, as the cold wind was pretty much in my face the whole way back to the house. Nice end to a 66 mile week!