My latest workouts, Getting used to my new ASICS-Gel Kayano 21's and other Shoe Talk.

I didn't mean for almost two whole weeks to pass without out a blog update.  Between the week of Christmas and then New Year's, everything has gone by in a blur.

I took a few days easy after the half marathon, and now I am slowly easing back into training.

My Latest Workouts

Week of December 21-27
Sunday 12/21-Rest
Monday 12/22 Two mile shake out run at recovery pace., My parents came into town that evening for the holidays.
Tuesday 12/23 Rest-
Wednesday 12/24   Six miles in the foothills

 It was a chilly morning, and I was feeling so happy.  I kept waving at strangers and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

Thursday 12/25 Rest-  I opened up my new  ASICS Gel Kayanos 21's...  In a previous blog post I was bragging about how I got a sweet deal on last season's ASICS Kayano 20's,  Well I ended up with a bait and switch.  I received an email from Kohl's that my shoes were no longer available.  I really wanted to try out this shoe so I ponied up the extra $30.00 for the Kayano 21's and I ordered them.  It still was a good deal considering I only paid $120.00 for a $160.00 shoe.

Friday 12/26 I went for my first run in my new shoes... I ran 4 freezing miles around Cornerstone park and the surrounding neighborhoods.  More on the shoes later

Saturday 12/27-Rest

Sunday 12/28  8 Miles, a cold front has moved over the Las Vegas Valley, Overnight lows are now in the 20's!!  It was a cold morning but, I bundled up and felt fine.  I'm beginning to like my new shoes a bit more.  I ran 8.12 miles in 1:07:59 (8:22 average pace)

Week of December 29-January 2nd

Monday 12/29- I went to the gym on my lunch break,  I did some upper and lower body exercises.  I did this as circuit training-  I did two different sets of four exercises each for three reps,
First Circuit
Flat Bench Bench Press
Bulgarian Split Squat
One Arm Rows
Triceps Bench Dip-With Legs on a Stability Ball

Second Circuit
Goblet Squat
Push ups on a Bosu Trainer
Lat Pull Downs
Cable Flys

I also ran three miles at recovery pace.

Tuesday 12/30- Rest day, my daughter wasn't feeling well so we stayed home today.

Wednesday 12/31 Speed work!! For the upcoming 10k next month I am going with a Hal Higdon 10k training program.  My workout was 9 x 400's.   I stayed home from work again, and before my husband went to work I headed to the park for a quick workout.  The weather was shitty (cold with snow flurries, that wouldn't stick)  but, I really wanted to fit this workout in.  I ran a mile and a half to warm up, I did some form drills, a few strides, and I stretched a little bit.

This picture is from a few summers ago.

This park  has an 800 meter track and I was running half laps around the park for the 400's. I used my Garmin to track the .25 distance.  I forgot to bring my stopwatch to time the splits. In between the interval's I would slowly jog across the park back to the starting point.  Halfway through the repeats I switched directions.  My data might be slightly off.  (95, 93, 96, 94, 97, 93, 97, 95, 95)  I also wore my Brooks Pure Flows for this workout.

Thursday 1/1-  I ran one mile while my son rode his bike to the park, around the park, and back home. Then I headed out for three more miles at an easy pace.

Friday 1/2  5 mile run with 2 miles at 10k race pace.  I modified my Hal Higdon plan, becuase this weekend there is a 5k race on the plan and I'm not able to race a 5k..  My legs didn't feel too overloaded from the speed work on Wednesday.  I was ambitious and hoped that I would run these two goal pace miles in the low 7's maybe even high 6 minute range.  Well that didn't happen.  Here are the split times
Mile 1- 8:48
Mile 2-9:33
Mile 3-7:11
Mile 4-7:33
Mile 5-10:07

I tried not to go out too fast during this tempo segment, but I think I might have because I was hurting so bad during the end second mile of that interval.   I think I was running closer to 8 minute pace towards the end.  It felt good to push myself though.

Getting used to my new Kayano's

and other Shoe Talk

I'm wasn't sure how I felt about these Cadillac's

This is a whole lot of shoe.....  I can tell why they cost a lot more than my other ASICS.  Hello cushion!! These shoes are  great for long runs, and slower miles.  I'm not really as much of a heel striker as I used to be, and I think these shoes were made for heel strikers.  The heel to toe drop on this shoe is almost 13mm.  That's a bit more than the 8mm heel to toe drop  that my ASICS GT 2000's were providing.

The first few miles in these shoes felt really awkward and funny.  I was kicking myself for blindly choosing a shoe without trying it on in the store first.. This shoe also reminds me of my Brooks Adrenaline's.

One of the reasons that I had stopped liking my beloved Brooks Adrenaline 

was that my heel stopped feeling snug in the back of the shoe.  When I would run, I felt like my feet would slide around a little bit in the shoe and that my heels weren't secure in the shoe. (I have skinny narrow feet with long toes, and normal arches)  When running down hill my feet would jam into the front of the shoe.  When I sized down  I ended up wearing out the front of the shoe so fast, and then I injured my groin trying to do speed work in regular running shoes.

Hello forefoot strike.

The Kayano has a similar feeling that my heel wasn't really fitting snug in the shoe, and since then I have made some adjustments to the laces and my foot isn't sliding around anymore.  I'm also going to try to notice the wear pattern on the front of the shoe to make sure I'm not wearing out the toe portion too fast.

I really liked the fit of my ASICS GT 2000's

My heels stayed snug in this shoe, and I really liked the fit of this shoe.  But, then when I purchased a second pair of ASICS GT 2000's  in different colors.  It felt like a different shoe.

Slicker colors but, not nearly as good as the first pair.

 This pair felt much stiffer and I don't feel that they lasted nearly as long as the first pair I purchased.   However my heel feels snug and it doesn't slide around when I run.


I will say that the Kayano 21 is a great shoe and after about a week of running in them, they are really starting to grow on me...This is a great shoe for marathon training.... When I ran my 8 miles on Sunday, my legs and feet didn't feel as tired towards the end of the run.   I'm hoping to find a bridge shoe that is somewhere between the ASICS Gel Kayano and my Brooks Pure Flows.

I miss the salad days of just buying my Brooks Adrenalines model after model and them working for me.  The Mizuno Wave Inspire was a good shoe too.  But, since the big model changes that happened in 2012 and because of  some of their marketing strategies towards bloggers. I'm not really a big fan of Mizuno anymore.

It  also seems like the price point for running shoes is getting so much higher.  When did running shoes become so freaking expensive?!!