15.4 miles yesterday!

Yesterday I got up at 545 and was headed out for my run by 630 (it was still a little dark!!  bummer).  I did 7 and met Sam as planned, refilled my water bottles and ate half a banana, and kept on.  I took a Clif shot at 10 miles in.  Running with a banana in my stomach actually didn't phase me, strangely, but it also didn't give me that much energy.

I noticed throughout the run that it was taking more effort than usual to keep my HR up in the zone; usually the reverse happens and it's hard to keep myself from running too hard.  It wasn't that much cooler outside either, although there was more of a breeze.

When I hit 15 miles I threw a huge party right there on the path... I don't remember all of the details but apparently there was some guy standing there and I screamed "Fifteen miles!! Hell yeah, I did it!!" and jumped around and high-fived Sam.  Haha.  That's the good thing about this training... for awhile I will get to keep hitting new distance landmarks.  I was still 0.4 miles away from my place and ran that last 0.4 at a minute faster pace, probably thanks to adrenaline and joy.  Hopefully that will carry me through the last 4-5 marathon miles, too.

The new shoes were good--only a blister on the inner side of my right foot.  Here's the deal, though... the store guy recommended a neutral shoe with my generic arch support inserts, instead of a light stability shoe (which is what I had before).  I got the same brand, just the neutral model and this year's model.  No toe pain or anything, but that inner side of foot blister means I'm still overpronating somewhat--I've dealt with that before, and it went away when I started putting arch supports in my stability shoes.  It wasn't that bad this time really, but I had a tiny bit of hip soreness too that could be related.  (That usually happens with any new shoe I get, though, so maybe I will adapt).  But my toes felt awesome.  Worst case scenario I just take these shoes back and get the stability model again, so no biggie...but I'm going to keep wearing them this week to see.  I also found a website with some exercises to help you strengthen your arches and reduce pronation:  http://www.trifuel.com/training/strength-training/correcting-overpronation  There's debate about whether pronation can actually be "fixed" or not but it's worth a try.  The vibrams will help over time, but I'm not wearing them much just now out of injury-paranoia because my mileage is increasing so much.

Some other lessons I learned this week:

• Chocolate Clif shots are a lot easier to get down than raspberry or any other flavor.  I was considering switching brands or using dried fruit because the raspberry one I had last week was so disgusting...but chocolate was kind of yummy and didn't stick all over my mouth.
• I need to start doing some core work on the mat again--my lower back was aching by mile 11 or so, which usually means I'm doing a crappy job of keeping my hips tucked under me while running, which means I need a stronger core.  In the past, this has been my core workout of choice:  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-13030-0,00.html  ... I'm thinking I'll stick with the same thing again.
• I think I've decided to try a little hill training on one of the mid-week short runs.  The marathon, while advertised as "flat," has some hills... and I'm totally unprepared for them.  
• Here is an article about running form that I found especially helpful:  http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The_perfect_runner__Improve_your_form.htm?cmp=17-4953&utm_source=sendible&utm_medium=feed

This training week was a total success.