A nice, base-building, easy 15km this morning takes my tally for the month up well over 100km already, which is greatly encouraging. It also brings the total kilometres run for my current road shoes to over 1,000km, so it's probably time to start alternating them with a new pair to see how they're truly holding up. The old shoes look totally fine, and whilst I suppose it's the internal gizzards that are important, I don't think I've ever had a pair of shoes look as good as these do after notching up a thousand clicks.
When my podiatrist recommended switching to this model (Asics 1000s) I did a double take, as when I had previously used Asics I found they were pretty soft and wore out quite swiftly. However he assured me the new versions of Asics were far better made and would last a great deal longer, and so it seems to be. Even so, most of the recommendations I've ever seen about running shoes suggest replacing them after about 800km or so. I'll try my new pair and see if there's any noticeable difference. If not, I might just let the old pair do a bit more work first.
Thus far, base training is going very, very well. With nine weeks still to go before my next scheduled race which is the Sydney Half Marathon in May, I'm in a great position to simply enjoy the training without the more usual panic of making up for lost time and having to cram in too many miles too quickly prior to race day. That isn't to say something untoward may not still happen between now and May, but having this many miles under my belt this far out from race day is a luxury I intend to make the most of and enjoy whilst the going is good. I'm still not sure what my goal will be for this race, as it's really just one of those events I've run several times before and therefore like to keep my foot in, so to speak. My half mara PB was set nearly five years ago now, and I'm not sure I even want to contemplate trying to break it, as I have my mind firmly set on other, bigger goals. I would like to get closer to two hours than I have in my last two half marathons, which at least would be a general indicator of improving race fitness, but I'm not too fussed about going under two hours again for the moment. After all, I've been there, done that, and got the medals to prove it. To go under two hours again would require a lot of speed work that would invite overuse injury and risk my other goals, so I'll just take it carefully for now and build the mileage and the pace very, very gradually. So far it's working a treat and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
A few more weeks like this and I'll be ready to seriously contemplate some other, longer races. For now, with fair weather and a fine breeze, it's steady as she goes.
March Too Much
