New Kicks, out in the middle of nowhere, and other random items...

Okay, after figuring out I had about 440 miles on my pair of shoes, I decided to switch it up. I read about these....Brooks Cascadia 5 Trail running shoes. These were designed by a fellow heel striker and ultra runner - Scott Jurek. (More on Scott here: http://www.scottjurek.com/#/bio/ )

Okay, Scott is in a different league than me, but still, a PT who designed a trail running shoe who is a heel striker? Sounds like some one who knows what he is doing.

I hit the trails over the past couple of weeks with John K to try out the shoes. Nice ride. I'm hooked.

John and I ran some land out in the middle of nowhere Iowa (I'm still not exactly sure where I was at). After "scouting" the land for about 4.8 miles, we came up with a 5k course. We ran it twice - once forward and once backward and came up with an even 3.1 each time.

The hills were killer. This was a tough 11 mile trail run. However, for some odd and likely unreasonable reason, the challenge was worth the 2 hour drive and the run was refreshing. I hope to get back there a few time before the summer races.

Here are a couple pics of the land

Rolling hills was basically all we ran, if you weren't going up, you were running down. Lots of good elevation change. Through the run, it was good to get in a 10 min mile. The change up in pace and terrain was a great way to mix up the normal pavement running.

While out on the run, we decided that we could hold a race out there. It would be an extremely challenging race.

I've recently switched back to drink heed during my runs. The mix seems to work best for me. Also, one item that is growing on me is this yogurt as a snack -

Also - I saw an ad in Ultra runner Magazine about Jason's Nut Butter. Organic peanut butter that I ordered and will try. It sounds yummy and it might be a good alternative to a GU pack on the run. Once I get it and try it out, I'll let you know my thoughts.

My running past for the past couple of weeks

3/11 - 5 miles - easy

3/12 - off

3/13- 21.2 miles in 2 hrs 50 minutes

3/14 - 5 miles

3/15 - 5.6 miles

3/16- Split day - 4 X 3k @ 7:10 with 5 min between - 10.75 miles; 3.6 miles easy

3/17 - 30/30/30 min E/R/T which worked out to e=8:30, R=7:10, T=6:40 = total miles was 12.2 miles

3/18 - Off (elliptical)

3/19 - 3 hrs with the last 60 min at race pace = 22 miles

3/20 - off

3/21 - trail - 7 miles

3/22 - 11.5 miles trail/pavement mix - easy

3/23 - 10 miles total - 1 mile warm up and 9 miles @ 6:47 pace

3/24 - 11 miles trails (HARD!)

3/25 - 5 miles easy

YTD total - 585.5