New shoes!

Well not too much new has been going on with my runs here lately. Actually, I haven’t been able to get many in due to boot camp 3 nights a week. Last Wednesday evening I went out for an easy 3 miles but the humidity made it not so easy. Around 1.5 miles, I thought about quitting and walking back home. But I figured I would keep going until I at least did 2 miles. Then once I hit 2 miles, only one more mile, surely I could do that.

My legs weren’t bothering me and my breathing wasn’t difficult. The heat and humidity just made it very unpleasant. I wasn’t excited about the run and it wasn’t fun. It’s funny how you can have so many thoughts going through your head on some runs, especially the ones when you want to quit. It sounds cheesy, but I always tell myself "I can do this. Don’t let your mind quit before your legs do". So I’m thinking running is like 90% mental?!?

Saturday I went out to the track for some 400 intervals. I programmed my Garmin for 10 laps of 0.25 miles (400 meters). I thought each lap counted: one speed and one recovery. And I also added 1 warm up lap and 1 cool down lap. This would give me 3 miles for the entire workout. I didn’t realize the Garmin counts each lap to include the speed and recovery laps. Anyways it still worked out fine; I just stopped the timer after I got to 2.5 miles for the interval workout. I did pretty well to keep my fast lap between 8:30 – 8:45 pace. But I will not lie, it was tough. I could not wait to hear the beep for my recovery lap. And I did walk for a little at the start of each recovery lap before starting a slow run.

A couple of weeks ago, Michael and I went to the local running store to get officially fitted for shoes. For some reason, we had never done this before! We have been advised about shoes from another local sports store and taken some online assessments, but no official fitting until now. Michael has been having shoe issues since the beginning of the year when he bought a new pair of Asics 2160’s. He had been wearing the Asics 2100 series for about 3 years now and had no problems. But these last ones were possibly the start of his injury. Since those, he tried Brooks Ghost, which we returned within 30 days for the Brooks Pure Connect. Although he kept the Connects, they didn’t seem to be the right shoe either.

I thought I was fine in my Brooks Ghost until I lost a toenail and read that could have been from my shoes being too tight. During my fitness assessment the trainer said they looked a little tight and maybe I should go up a 1/2 size. Then I wondered if I was in the right shoe or not and figured it wouldn’t hurt to get fitted. Running shoes are not cheap and we cannot afford to buy a new pair once a month around here! So off we went to Off N’ Running. Shout out to Emily who helped us for over 2 ½ hours!! She was so nice and very knowledgeable, totally awesome!

We tried on many different shoes, ran on the treadmill several times and finally figured out what we needed. We both need stability shoes.  Michael ended up with Brooks Adrenaline-GTS 12 as the best shoe for him. I did need to go up a ½ size but not just any shoe would work. Most would slip on my heel. I needed a shoe with a wider toe box but one that would not slip. It came down between 2 shoes: K-Swiss Quickie Blade Light and Mizuno Wave Alchemy 11. The K-Swiss felt the very best, but to me were ugly!! Bright yellow with black is just not me. I really tried to get over the way they looked but I just couldn’t. There’s a grey color with a design that’s better (still not great) and they would have to order them. I left the store with that plan in mind. I thought I should get the shoe that feels the absolute best. Then a few days later, I decided to go with the Mizunos. Mainly because I wouldn’t have to wait on them and I just liked the look of that shoe better so therefore I would be happier (at least I hope so).

My new Mizunos!

KSwiss

The only fitting difference was that I felt like the K-Swiss had a little more room in the toe box. Otherwise, both shoes seemed to fit great. Emily said the Mizunos would most likely "give" a little after I break them in too. I think, it’s all of matter of trial and error anyways. If the Mizunos work, then that will be great. I’ll probably keep buying those. Or maybe later I’ll give the K-Swiss a try (hope for better colors to come out). I do recommend going to your local running store to get a professional fitting. Even if you are a seasoned runner, it’s probably worth going in every year or two for a "check-up". Our fitting was free of charge and I assume most probably are too (not sure though).

I did receive my fitness assessment results, but this post is already long enough so I’ll save it for another post. This Saturday is Race the Bar 5k and I don’t feel as ready as I would like to be to try for a PR. But I’m not going to let that be my focus. I’m just going to get out there and do my best! (I know, cheesy).