Review New Balance 5000

A few weeks ago I picked up these babies for $50 on Amazon (regularly about $100).   It seemed like a good deal so I went for it.

These shoes are spike-less flats.  The New Balance website says these shoes are great for track and road racing up to 10K.

I wore them to the track for the first time today.  They seemed a little narrow, and I already have average to narrow width feet, but I figured that was because I wasn't used to tighter fitting shoes.  My second thought was these were nothing like the flats I wore in high school.  Two decades does change things a bit.

I could really feel the traction and I liked it.  I ran a total of 5 miles, including 800m repeats.  The ride was smooth and comfortable.  My last 800 felt just as good on my feet as my first.  I did have a bit of a hotspot on the bottom of my big toe that I noticed when I got home, but no blister.

Overall, I found these to be great shoes.  The uppers are thin and the laces seem thin, but I suppose that all saves on weight.  The soles are quite comfortable and felt surprisingly soft for how thing and light they are.  Good shoes for their purpose.  While I don't intend to buy new racing flats, I'm tempted to now so I can have something to compare these to.  Don't tell my husband.  He won't like that I've found a new thing to spend our money on! :)

Run Less, Run Faster and Muddy Trials Bash 10K

Now that marathon recovery is complete, I am ready to get back into the trenches full force.  For the past few weeks I have been analyzing my past training and researching new training plans.  During marathon training I had to sacrifice speed training to build my endurance.  I missed track workouts so much.

Because of that, I decided to train to increase my 10k pace.  I don't know if I will actually sign up to run a 10k at the end of my training schedule--I hate paying run on my own streets--but I do plan on doing a formal time trial.

The plan that looked the best to me was Run Less, Run Faster.  It incorporates a lot of key workouts I missed doing while I was building endurance.  I do think it might lead to a bit of burnout, and since I don't have a key race in mind, I plan on doing a fall back week every third week similar to what I did during marathon training.  During the fall back week, I will not focus on times for most of the runs, but instead focus on hills (a component that's lacking in RLRF) and just having fun, easy runs.  At the end of the week, I am going to do a 5k time trial. 

In RLRF, pace times for workouts are determined by your current 5k pace.  So the time trial and fallback week will serve two purposes.  First it will give me a rest and let me just enjoy my runs and talking with my run buddies, and, two, it will help me reevaluate my training goals.  If I've improved, I know to focus on new paces in my workouts.

This week is my first 10k time trial.  I haven't run a real 10k since, well, ever.  I am kind of nervous because it takes place in the afternoon, and I generally run in the morning.  I don't know how my body will react.  Also, it is supposed to be hot this weekend.  I am no stranger to running in the heat, but I prefer not to for obvious reasons.  Hopefully I will be able to race my best!