New Kicks!

I went over to my neighborhood Fleet Feet yesterday to buy new running shoes. My current pair of Brooks Defyance had over 350 miles in them - and I when my legs were starting to get a bit sore after mile 5 of yesterday's long run, I decided it was time to get new shoes.

They have updated the Defyance - now the Defyance 2. I don't know if they really changed much except for the color (and that was definitely an improvement...I can't say that I'm going to miss the fluorescent yellowish-green mesh)....these shoes fit just like their predecessors.

VS

This morning, I got out of the house a little before 6am and was greeted by a scrumptious morning. 59 degrees, sunny and clear. I wouldn't really call it a crisp morning - although by July standards in this part of the country, it could almost qualify for that.

The plan calls for an easy 3 miles. I was heading out to do my normal lake loop, when I had an idea - let's mix it up a bit. The beginning of my lake loop run is actually part of the Kentlands/Lakelands 5K course - where I set my 5K PR last September. I decided to go for it.

I soon found out that there was a problem here...this was a course that I was used to running all out. I trained for a fast 5K on this course (doing 1 mile and 2 mile speed runs) and the last time I ran this route was for that PR. To my muscle memory, I wanted to fly down these streets - not take it easy. Combine that with the fact that I had Pearl Jam screaming in my iPod this morning, I had a tough time reigning it in.

For the first two miles, I prevailed holding back. Mile 3 was a bit faster (10:00 pace with 157 average HR) which was a bit ironic because it has the steepest hills of the course. I guess I didn't realize and started to attack those hills instead of take it easy.

The final stats for this run - 3.25 miles in 34:19; a 10:34/mile pace with an average HR of 150.