Still hanging (on)

First, it was bloody freezing out there this evening. I don’t know where they take the readings but it felt far more chilly than the reported 2C.

Riding to work this morning, my foot rolling in side my riding shoe, it wasn’t long before I was favouring my left stroke trying not to aggravate the ankle. Necessity being the mother of invention, this annoyance gave me an idea… this evening I compared the heel cup (and supporting sides) of both my regular shoes to find that they were similarly high. I grabbed my Supernovas from the shelf, last worn on a three-hour adventure hike on a Hawaiian lava field, and was happy to discover the sidewall was considerably lower. Recognizing the risk that sporting worn flats probably wasn’t smart, I decided to wear them hoping that running the planned workout on the Lochside Trail would help mitigate any exposure.

From the moment I slipped my foot in, until the long seconds where I pathetically tried to untie my laces with frozen hands, my ankle couldn’t have felt better.

The session called for 12x1k tempo, off a minute. As I’m still hopeful to run a descent (2h41-2h40) race in Phoenix I decided to aim for pace times between 3:37-3:40. Running on a marked two-kilometer section of uneven trail without the constant feedback of the track, I found it difficult to dial in my pace and became frustrated with my inconsistency despite feeling relaxed and comfortable.

3:27 (153, 161)
3:36 (155, 160)
3:33 (155, 159)
3:30 (155, 162)
3:29 (154, 160)
3:37 (156, 161)
3:36 (156, 162)
3:37 (157, 162)
3:37 (153, 161)
3:39 (156, 165)
3:40 (150, 161)
3:38 (158, 162)

I managed to find some uniformity over the last seven, and after returning home couldn’t help but wonder if I sold myself short and should’ve been aiming for 3:34-3:37. I’ve convinced myself I did the correct thing given that I started this training block from a undersupplied cardiovascular position.

Training: 1:20:04, AHR 143, with 12x1k tempo (60”)