Have a little faith

Hit the "Monster", with a light rain in the afternoon. Wore the Lunaracer's as a test. Felt great, a little loose going down hill. Times were fast. Top of Gilead in 24:17. Finished in 47:17. I'm hoping I'll have that performance Saturday. Was planning the black sheep speed workout this morning, but awoke to 4" of snow.

Never done this before. I went out 4 miles in my heaviest shoes, Nimbus' at about 13 oz. Then I laced in some bolts (that's right, like 1/2" steel x 5" long bolts) to add another 4.5 oz per shoe. It was awkward for a while, but then they adjusted. I even had to look down to make sure they were still there. If nothing else, it proves the need to be "light on the feet". Train in the heavy's, run in the light's.  Went to water tower and back, 32:00 min.

Excellent weather.  Splits were 55:30 @ 8; 1:52:55 @ 16.  Half was 1:32:10. I knew I was in a little trouble with my knee. Caused me to limp a little, and loose my ~7 m.p.m pace. "Better life through chemistry" Tylenol helped; 1200 mg. Started slowing down 5th east until Liberty Park, then motivated again. A 3:15 was possible if I could just hold ~8 mpm . I came close with 3:16:35. At mile 23, Craig Romrell was willing to pace me up State Street, but I waved him off to help Burke Hills reach his 3:30. He missed it by 45 seconds.

Blisters were a thing, mostly on my right foot, which started to heat up way too early (like around 10 miles). The 5-toe socks were good. Will use them again.  I needed to run more tempo distances to toughen my feet up to "push-off and strike" at that pace. Recreation speed doesn't toughen up the feet.  Need a few 10-15 tempo runs at 7 mpm. 

My half time was 5 minutes faster than last year 2009, yet I finished 2.5 minutes slower overall. I didn't perform so well in the last half. Maybe I went out a little too fast. Should have held back some. Pete Petersen passed me at 17. He can  hold the pace consistently whereas my 2nd half time slows down about 10 minutes.