I am pretty certain that my new DS Trainer 14's are trying to kill me. You know how like in those campy horror movies from the 80's where an inanimate doll or car would look peaceful to most people, but when no one else was around they were always trying to kill their owner. Yeah kind of like that, but in a more sinister way...by crippling my knees. Remember how last week I wore my new shoes for the first time on a long run, and said they felt good. Well I spoke too soon. On Monday and Tuesday my legs right below my knees were very sore. They were feeling better on Wednesday when I wore my 14's again on an 11 miler, and that was the first time they really hurt during a run. Anyways, I am going to try to use them some more but only on short runs, and I threw a pair of moldable insoles into them so hopefully that will help. The DS Trainer 14's are supposed to be more supportive than the 13's, so maybe that is the problem. Which would be nice because I would like to be a more neutral runner.

Like I said last week we have started school once again. I am hoping to get out of teaching my lab on Wednesday nights because that is when I usually do a medium length run. This past week I was in lab until 5:30p and then ran 10.5 miles after, which was awful because I didn't get home until around 8p to eat dinner. So either I have to switch medium run days or change my teaching schedule. Also, trying to run 10.5 miles near USC is a challenge. I ran multiple loops around exposition park, and it was much more difficult mentally than doing a 20+ miler. I think people looking to prepare themselves mentally for a marathon, should find a 2 mile circuit somewhere uninteresting and just run that for like 12-14. That would be much better preparation than 20 miles along the beach, mentally that is....

I seemed to have gained a little weight this week, which concerns me. I was near my ideal weight, but the last week I picked up about 2-3 pounds. Don't really know why. I think I have been shoveling more cereal and fruit in my bowl for breakfast, and snacking a bit too much post dinner. I'll keep an eye on it and get it sorted out.

Training this week went just ok. The knee pain was uncomfortable, but it didn't impact my training too much. Tempo work on Friday went very well, ran 7 miles at 6:50. This is 5 seconds faster than my training suggests, and I wasn't pushing too hard. Though the last mile was a little difficult.

Last weeks training:

• Tuesday - 6.02 Mile Easy Run w/ Strides - 48:48 min, 8:06 pace

• Wednesday - 10.49 Mile Easy Run - 1:26:16 min, 8:13 pace

• Thursday - 4.04 Mile Recovery Run - 35:02 min, 8:40 pace

• Friday - 9.04 Mile Run w/ Tempo - 1:04:43 min, 7:09 pace, 1 mile warmup and cool down, 7 miles @ 6:50 pace

• Sunday - 15.10 Mile Long Run w/ Fast Finish - 1:58:17 min, 7:49 pace - 10 Miles Easy, 5 Miles @ 7:11 pace

Shoe Mileage:

• Asics DS Trainer 13.1 - 328.05

• Asics DS Trainer 13.2 - 55.95

• Asics Gel Bandito - 25.18

• Asics DS Trainer 14.1 - 30.32

Weight - 133.4 w/ 8.5 - 8.9 % body fat (inconsistent readings)

So I didn't write a blog for last week because of the holiday and I was out of town. It was a rest week so not much to report anyway. This week however, I do have some things to talk about. The first being SHOES!!! On new years eve I went in search of the elusive Asics DS Trainer 14's, even though I knew they were not going to be released until 1/1. No big deal I thought and went to my favorite store in LA, A Runner's Circle, which happened to be having a sale. Did they have the 14's? Nope, no they didn't and I doesn't look like they will be in stores until the middle of the month. A quickly got over my disappointment and purchased two other pairs of shoes. One a pair of DS Trainer 13's (the same I have been using all year) and a pair of Asics Gel Banditos (which are posted racing flats...more below). But what about the 14's you say? Well, on 1/1 I scoured the internet (did a Google search) and found two places selling them. Eastbay said they were back ordered until 1/12, and runningshoes.com who said they would ship directly from Asics in 1-2 business days. So of course I ordered them, and I hope that they do indeed ship out early next week and aren't delayed until the 12th.

Yesterday I registered for the Surf City half marathon. I am really excited about this race for a number of reasons. First it is a perfectly timed warm up for the Pasadena Marathon. It is on Feb. 1st which is about 6-7 weeks before Pasadena. Also, being on 2/1 it is the day after my birthday, and what better a way to combat the getting old feeling than by setting a new PR. I want to accomplish one of my goals for this year during this race, and that is to break 1:30 in a half marathon. I think this is very possible because Surf City is dead flat, and the hills really slowed me down at the City of Angels. Finally I want to try out my new racers before Pasadena to see how they hold up. 

Speaking of racers (meaning my Banditos). I tried them out for the first time on Friday for a 6 mile tempo run. My first impression is that I like them...a lot. Wearing them was the first time I realized a potential problem stemming from the heat moldable insoles I have been using for the past year. The DS Trainers and Banditos are designed for mild-moderate pronating runners however, I think that the insoles I have been using has counter-acted the posting in shoes I have been wearing. I noticed that while wearing the Banditos I seemed to be making ground contact way on the outside of the sole, and therefore not really using the built in support of the shoes. I tried to correct this and make contact back more to the middle of the shoe. This is a little difficult to do however in the middle of a tempo run!! So today during my long run I really focused on making proper contact (this time with my DS Trainers). I now feel like I am getting properly centered in the shoe. It will take a little while to adjust (my calves and quads feel it a bit today), but my hope is to continue to adjust and maybe reduce the amount of pronation in my running.

Couple of other things. On Thursday I actually ran a legitimate recovery run. I tried keeping my heart rate in the low 140's which is about 70% of my max. It worked really well. I felt great on Friday after being kind of wiped out earlier in the week. Other thing is I am going to train all out for Pasadena. Meaning I am changing my goal time to 3:10, and I am going to try to BQ. To BQ is my other goal for the year and I was planning on making a serious attempt later this year. But I was thinking that my actual training paces have been close to the 3:10 times, and if I continue to train for 3:15 (my current plan) and miss 3:10 by a few minutes I will be very disappointed. This is essentially what happened at City of Angels. I trained for 1:35, and did a little better but I wasn't in shape for 1:30. The change is actually pretty easy. I just have to lower the pace on all my runs by 10-11 seconds from my current plan. 

Last weeks training:

• Tuesday - 5.03 Mile Run w/ Fartlek - 37:51 min, 7:31 pace

• Wednesday - 7.75 Mile Easy Run - 1:04:36 min, 8:20 pace

• Thursday - 3.15 Mile Recovery Run - 27:20 min, 8:40 pace

• Friday - 8.23 Mile Run w/ Tempo - 59:26 min, 7:13 pace - Warm up, 6 @ 6:53, Cool down

• Sunday - 18.06 Mile Long Run - 2:27:00 min, 8:08 pace

Shoe Mileage:

• Asics DS Trainer 13.1 - 315.95

• Asics DS Trainer 13.2 - 25.81

• Asics Gel Bandito - 8.23

Weight - 132.2 w/ 8.9% body fat (down .3%!!!!)