Week 7: 29 miles

Week 7 was very good. I feel like it's been a while since I had a bad run, which is great. I was experimenting with shoes this week and bought EIGHT pair before I found out that I should keep running in the Ravennas. I got a new pair of the Ravenna 3 and love them. My right leg is still strange when I run, but I guess shoes can't correct truly bad biomechanics. Nothing hurts, so that's good. I just happen to run on the inside of my right foot. Whatever. I guess I won't make it to the Olympics.

I ran with the girls from work again, which was really fun. Ruth and I got a little racey racey at the end and ran our little hearts out. It was fun but I was seriously knackered for the rest of the day and I think it might have set me up for failure on my pace run the next day. It was my first 7-mile pace run, and I couldn't keep the 9:00 pace I was aiming for, but I got close. Mentally, holding that pace for 7 miles was tough. And I was experimenting with some shoes which were definitely too big (and sadly, unreturnable - anyone need a pair of Brooks Adrenaline size 9.5?). Maybe I'll try again next week to hit the pace on my next 7-mile pace run, or maybe not. I'm having so much fun lately I'm not that worried about the pace. Wow, that's hard to believe.

I realized this week that 9:00 pace is more like a tempo pace for me than a true marathon pace run. I am not really going to try to do the marathon at 9:00, so why am I training like that? This weekend is my first half, and I think I'm going to try for a 9:30 pace, which means just under 2:05. It might be all wrong - either too fast or too slow - but it seems right in the middle of 9:00 (what I was doing for my "pace" runs) and 10:00 (where I've been doing a lot of my slow runs). I'd love some advice though. Is anyone out there?

On my second short run this week, I had some posterior tib tendon pain. I was trying out yet another pair of shoes. I think when the shoes are too stiff, my leg and ankle fight against it and my tendon ends up sore. Once I went back to the Ravennas, everything was fine.

I only ran four times this week which seems odd, but with the pressure of a 14-miler (yes, another all-time longest distance) on Saturday, it felt right. I did great on that long run, and Sean set me up to do it in Central Park. That was a blast. I had some tired moments and it was a little depressing getting passed by so many hard core New York runners, but all in all I felt amazing, especially afterwards. And then I got to go hang out with my long lost best friend from high school. It was a great day. Sunday we walked around the city a fair bit and I got my cross training in.

My MS symptoms seem to be stable and mild and except for the exhaustion after racing Ruth (and who knows if that's really why I was tired), I feel great.

Pace range for this week: 9:19 to 10:08
Temperature range: 25 - 40 degrees

Details for Week 7 (Feb 13 - Feb 19):

Monday: off

Tuesday: 4 miles (with friends!)

Wednesday: 7 miles 

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday: off

Saturday: 14 miles 

Sunday: cross (walked around NYC)