It's crunch time. Less than three weeks remain until Chicago and Boston Marathons. I'm not in my taper yet -- I have only a 2-week taper. My last long run (22 miles at 7:10/mi) is on Sunday. My previous long run (21 miles @7:20/mi) didn't go well, as far as pace was concerned. I fell off that pace early, and rarely got back to it. As I got increasingly tired, my form got worse, which made things more difficult and slowed me down further. Definitely discouraging, even though I know I totally have it in my to manage both of these. (After all, my PR is 3:02:02.)
Doing the math in my log, I notice that my sneakers are basically at end of life, being about 900 miles total between the two pairs (so, about 450 miles each). I've got time to get new sneakers and wear them in enough prior to the races. And while I'm at it, I'm going to splurge to get the ASICS Metaspeed Sky.
(Think the ASICS version of the Nike Vapor Fly -- having the carbon plate in the sole that is supposed to reduce your time by 3%.) Should be interesting to see how well the run on Sunday goes with these new sneakers, assuming the store has a pair in my size for me to buy; the website only has normal width, not 2E wide. Will it be easier (assuming all other regular variables aren't a detrimental factor)? Stay tuned.
EDIT: Well, I was hoping to pick up these Metaspeed Sky sneakers today, but my local running store doesn't have them. :-( I've wound up ordering them online, but doubt they will arrive in time for my long run on Sunday. (The turnaround is never THAT fast.) Hopefully they will fit well enough, despite being normal width, rather than my usual wide. Mercifully, I get free returns within a 90-day window, but hoping I don't need to take advantage of that.
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