Runstreak day 24 - 6.3 miles easy - 3/30/12

Today was another solo run at lunch.  For the most part it was kept at an easy pace, except the times when hills drove the HR up.  There was also a half mile section during mile 4 where I picked up the pace a bit  - under 7 min/mile - because I wanted to get a glimpse of how easily I could stay relaxed at that speed.  Even if only for short bursts - it would give me something to start with when it comes time for some intervals.  I also wanted to see how other mechanical aspects, such as leg kick and cadence, were affected by the higher speed.

Overall, the hip rotation is coming along nicely, although today there were a couple times I had to pay attention to it.  One thing I did find on this run that has been occurring recently (as my shins and calfs get used to being relaxed) is that the front half of my foot seems like it's slapping down a bit more than I'd like.  I feel like my foot placement is improved over what it was previously, and with the attention paid to not flexing the calf, I think I'm heel striking even less (not that I was doing so much at all before) - so I'm not sure why it is a noisier foot plant than it should be.  It could be a fatigue thing (noticed it during the second half of the run), a running downhill thing (second half was all gradual downhill), a NB Minimus thing (when looking at the sole from the side, the mid-sole appears thicker than the toe or heel), or maybe even related to continued subtle compensation for the ankle (which, again, feels better than yesterday, but still not 100%). Once the ankle is 100%, it might be a good idea to head to a track - a nice, flat, even surface to try and iron that out and get a better sense of mechanically what it should feel like. I wonder if running on sidewalks and on streets and going up and down hills is interfering with my ability to determine precisely what micro-adjustments need to be made to alleviate that.

So, as it turned out, this was a week of trials for the Minimus shoes - and as a better point of comparison, I'll use the Frees next week to see how it goes.  I've mentioned before that I've felt there is extra material in the Minimus mid-sole, and this article corroborates that.  Apparently the trail version of the shoe does not have as much material - so in a way I wish I had researched a bit more and gotten them.