I would have really liked to have run the Provo River 1/2 marathon this morning. It was in one of my favorite places to run, and was a good distance for my training (and it turns out the weather was great), but my running budget didn't allow it this year. Instead I decided to run repeats of 3 miles around the 1/2 mile loop (around the block) in front of my house. I warmed up for one lap and recovered one lap in between repeats. I planned to do at least 4 repeats, maybe 5. However, shortly into the 3rd repeat I felt serious blisters beginning to form on the balls of both feet. I kept going for a while, but decided to stop the damage after 2 miles into the 3rd repeat. I averaged 7:15/mi the first 3 miles, 7:41/mi the next 3 miles, and 7:33/mi the last 2 miles. My goal today was to focus on form, not time. Each time I felt myself slowing or tiring I would refocus on running smoothly and efficiently. I was trying to get comfortable with how it would feel to run at my goal marathon pace for a long time. I averaged just under 7:30/mi for the 8 miles I completed, and still felt pretty strong. I ran slightly faster than my target pace (7:38/mi), and the marathons have a lot of downhill where this course was level. I'm a bit mystified by the blisters on the balls of my feet. I was running in the same Saucony Grid Tangent shoes I ran St. George in last year (I normally save them for races and ocassional speed work so they are not worn out yet), and was wearing similar socks. I normally put SportShield on most potential problem areas of my feet prior to long runs. I did this again this morning, but I think I missed the balls of my feet, probably because I haven't had any blister problems there for a long time. I also think maybe focusing on holding my form for such a long period of time may have had an impact. It increased my foot turnover rate and I think it affected my foot strike position slightly. | 