4 weeks of runs and workouts left before the Las Vegas Marathon. I still have one 20 miles run left before we start getting into taper mode. But I am almost there.
I was scheduled to run 10 quarter mile intervals @ 6:20 pace with 10 minutes of warmup, and 10 minutes of cooldown. The rest interval was to walk or jog 1/4 mile (I chose to walk @ 15:00 pace).
Following my 10 minutes warmup, I ran my first quarter mile at 6:18 (9.5 mph) pace (closest I could get to 6:20 on my treadmill). It wasn’t hard at all. So for the next one I bumped up the speed to 6:15. For the 3rd interval I bump it up to 6:11 pace. For the 4th interval I went to 6:07 pace. For the next 6 intervals, I ran at 6:00 pace which is the fastest my treadmill will go. They really weren’t that hard. I could have run farther at that pace. Then I did my 10 minutes cool down.
It felt good.
Next week I have 8 half mile intervals @ 6:26 pace. I may crank those up too.
I have run my last two road races wearing Nike Air N’Sight II’s. They are have worked pretty well. My last race was the Niagara Falls Half Marathon which I ran in 1:42:49. I am running the Las Vegas Marathon in just over 4 weeks. And I am hoping to run a 3:30 marathon and qualify for the 2009 Boston Marathon. It is going to be close.
One think that popped into my mind that I can do is lighter shoes. I weighed my size 12 Nike Air N’Sight II shoes, and they weighed 14.3-14.4 ounces each. I figured that if I could find some lighter shoes, I could save some energy. Since I am taking about 2000 steps (I’m guessing) per mile, multiplied by 26.2, thats over 52,000 steps! I decided that if I could find some shoes that weighed about 10.4 oz, that would be a savings of a 1/4 pound each foot! Think about lifting a small weight 52,000 times. Imagine trying to run with an extra 1/4 pound weight attached to each foot. Each step you would be lifting it, accelerating it, decelerating it, etc. over 50,000 times!
Anyway, I went to the local running store and told him what I wanted. I even brought along my digital kitchen scale to weigh the shoes. I tried on a pair of Mizunos that felt pretty comfortable. But when I weighed them, they weighed about 12.4 oz. Lighter than my Nikes, but not a huge savings. Then he brought out some Fila Volante shoes. I weighed these, and they weighed 10.4 oz. I could tell there wasn’t quite as much cushion. The insole also pushed up a little into my arch, more on the left shoe than the right. I tried these on their treadmill, and they felt okay. Not as good as the Mizunos, they felt light. Iasked if I should be concerned about the insole pushing up into my foot and he said no. That it is bothered me, I could always pull the insole out of another shoe, and swap them. I bought the shoes.
My scheduled run last night was for 11 miles. I ran with the Fila Volante shoes. I was conscious of the insole pressing up into my foot, and wondered if that would start hurt after a while. On the contrary, after a couple miles, I didn’t even notice it anymore. I did try swapping the insoles with the ones from my Reebok’s, but the weight of the shoes rose from 10.4 to 10.7. And they seemed to have less cushion. I put the original insoles back in.
Overall my 11 mile run last night went well. While they have less cushion than my Nikes, I think they will have enough for 26.2 miles. If they save me a couple minutes, great! I need all the help I can get!