MAKE MINE A HALF!

Sorry workers to dwell on about the weather but the last two days, late morning, have been really fabulously spring like temperature wise,  with sunglasses compulsory. Yesterday, the fine December weather, however, was only scant compensation for the soreness of the legs still prevalent after Sunday's Alex Park 5K.  7 miles averaging "easy" pace of 9 mins. proving more than enough.

     It had me thinking about the decision to revert to my adidas Adilete racing shoes for last Sunday's 5K and the soreness in the legs.  The lower profile racing shoe is 266 gs.  The adidas Tempo racer/trainer I usually do my track sessions and races in weighted in at 323 gs.  22% heavier but offering more cushioning.  Just for interest I weighed a adidas adistar M.D. spike which came in at 208 gs.  The Supernovas came in at 370gs and my Somnio training came in at 408 gs. in comparison.
    Handling the spikes made me think how great it would be to return to wearing spikes for my track sessions but I would certainly have to "wean" my aged legs back to getting used to the lack of cushioning and support. I couldn't just take them out of the box and do a session in them, certainly not at my age. Then again is it worth the risk?
   I did , however, take out of the box a new Brooks lightweight training shoe, the Ravenna, to test today.
After working on the legs with some self massage I decided to a "1/2" track session .....10 x 300....so only 3000 metres as opposed to the normal 6400 with  Great Langdale 10K in mind.
   Looking at recent 300 rep times I would have been happy with 75....41.40 10k pace.  The first 2 were on target but the remaining 8 started to flow very well. The new shoes were proving very comfortable and supporting me well as I tried to get up on the toes .  So,
74.3     75.4    72.4   72.5   72.1    70.7    71.7    72.2    70.2    69.3.........average 72....40 min 10k.pace
                       Gave myself quite a generous recovery of 1 minute.
   Looking forward to a couple of easy days now before tackling the new event for me on Sunday, in line with the "keep it fresh" with the new running experiences resolution which I hope to take into 2010.