April 14, 2009 – Zone 3

I can’t remember the last time I looked at a Zone 3 workout and thought “Oh thank God!” but this was definitely one of them.  It means no worrying about how to get my heart rate into the 174-183 range and no issues of how that will affect my knees.

Of course, this whole issue with my poor choice in shoe selection has now come back to really bite me.  I have no idea what my real gait is while running and I’m just choosing blindly in the dark.  There are three types of running gait, defined quite well by Runner’s World.  My last pair of running shoes was a motion control shoe, built for overpronate running styles.  I thought that I’d chosen that one incorrectly and this time I selected a neutral shoe.  The problem is that I have predominately flat feet.  I have since I was young and nothing I’ve seen indicates that’s any different.  So, the neutral shoe now introduces more arch than my flat foot can deal with.  That article indicates that I should be choosing motion control or stability shoes.  The results have been horrid as I now have significant blisters in the arches of both feet that are exacerbated by the distances and paces I’m now working.  So, I discovered that band-aids would only sweat and peel off into the sock, which added to the blister.  To overcompensate, I bought some athletic first aid wrap and tape.  I thought I’d wrap my foot and it would take care of the problem.  Little did I realize the consequences of my actions.  I wrapped my foot too tightly and once I was 6 miles into my run, it became obvious that my feet swell.  The constriction became so painful at one point that I swore my foot went dead numb.  Did I stop?  NO!  Why?  I don’t honestly know.

Housekeeping data:  8.8 miles in 70 minutes; 7:57 minutes per mile average; 865 calories.  I was disappointed that it fell short of 9 miles, thought it should not have been out of the norm now to hit 9 miles in this zone 3 cycle.  Of course, the searing pain in my left foot was a direct contributor.  When the run ended, I sat on the end of the treadmill and ripped off the wrap only to discover it had caused some sort of compression injury and my foot still was in full pain and I had to limp to do my stretching and back to the car.

I’m going to have to find a happy balance until I can justify a new pair of shoes.  Colleen won’t stop me from buying new ones, I’m just a cheap bastard and I don’t want to feel I’ve wasted my expenditure on the current pair.  I’ll see.  I also have come to the realization that if I’m going to convert into a real long distance runner, I’ve got to start alternating pairs of shoes.  This has a twofold benefit to a certain extent.  It will allow me to have the shoes last longer, but I’m spending twice as much at the point I buy new shoes.  I guess we’ll see.  I do know that I plan to change my workout once I get through this last bit of the 12 week program.  So, my blog won’t have the workout name in it necessarily or the names will change as I start doing my own training and more importantly really ramping up the distances.  I’m still 6 months out, give or take, but I need to run 13.1 miles in any length of time just to let my brain understand both the rigors and that I’m truly physically capable of doing it.

Cheers!