Mizuno's Wave Universe 4

I am excited(thanks to PR's shoe buyer Dave Miller) to have gotten a brand new pair of racing flats for 2012.  Mizuno's Wave Universe 4 weighs at just 3.7 ounces and is nearly 1/2 the weight of my previous racing flats, the Musha 3s, and it could possibly be a shoe I will race in up to the half marathon, certainly the 10K.  As for the marathon I will probably still stick with the Musha for that.  Many will say the Wave Universe's design is for the 10K on down, though some of the world's best runners will use a shoe like this in longer races because they are so efficient and light on their feet.  Brian Cunningham(former coach of William and Mary) suggested I will have to test it out in a workout on the road and see.  It fits my foot pretty darn well(similar to the musha) and for how light it is, it still has just enough amount of cushion. 


When I was a bit younger, my half marathon PR was 1:16-1:17, I raced in a Nike Pegasus(neutral cushioned shoe).  As I became faster and progressed to a 1:12-1:13 half marathoner I used the Asics DS Trainer.  In the middle of 2010, I shifted to the Mizuno Musha, and raced in that for the rest of 2010 and 2011, dropping down to my current PR of 1:08 for 13.1.  Over the years, I have gone to lighter and lighter racing shoes as I have gotten more and more efficient.  Keep in mind though I am talking about my racing shoes.  I love to just do an easy run in my high-cushioned Enigmas, and I believe that doing so helps keep me injury free.  When it comes to racing, I think at a point, you can only go so light...without sacrificing cushioning.  I am not one of those runners with the goal of progressing to vibrams, and I don't know any elite half marathoners who race in those things. 


So I will have to test it out and see.  I do think, that, eventually, in order to progress to 1:06 and faster in the half marathon, I will have to race in a lighter shoe on my feet than the Musha.  It just seems heavy to me now racing 5:00 pace miles in.

Now on to training:

Since the Marine Corps Marathon, the past 7 weeks have been lower mileage, averaging 50 miles/week.  I am feeling more rejuvenated now though and ready to get to 70 again.  I have been taking 1-2 days off each week as well, though that will begin to diminish as I raise mileage again.  This past week I felt really good on some runs, running at faster paces.  On Wednesday I did a nice "break the ice" track workout of 8x400 meters with 1 lap jog between each.  I hit 70,70, 69, 69, 69, 68, 68, 67.  Thursday I took off.  On Friday morning I ran with Coach Brian Flynn who coaches at Bridgewater College.  Brian is training for the Houston Half Marathon in January so his mileage is high right now but I ran 11 miles with him before he added on another 11 or more(he was doing a long run of 22-25 miles).  Training with him consistently would be ideal and I wish he lived in the same area as our abilities and PRs are quite similar.  His brother Ricky qualified for the U.S. Trials in January with a 1:04 half marathon.


Saturday morning I ran with Matt for about 17 miles which was my first real long run in weeks, and I really enjoyed getting into that zone again.  Totaled 56 this week.  Last week was 66.  This week should be more of my real zone around 70-75 again.