On Wednesday night, I had my first real speed workout in what seemed like forever. 10 minute warm-up, 5×1000 (with a goal time of sub-5:00) and a 10 minute cooldown. Thanks to my fancy watch, I decided to skip the track and head to the Don Valley trail — a place I knew I could run entire kilometres without interruptions.

I only kept track of my splits. Running this fast was no fun. I felt like I was pushing myself as hard as I could and was checking my watch every 10 seconds to make sure my pace was sub-5:00. I did it, barely. Here are my splits:

1. 4:56
2. 4:39
3. 4:40
4. 4:42
5. 4:36

But now my coach thinks I’m ready to run my 10.6k leg in sub 55:00 at the Island Girl this weekend. I think she’s crazy.

I finally ordered new shoes: Mizuno Wave Inspire. I’ve never had Mizunos before, but I’ve hear good things. Now that my runner’s knee has disappeared, I’m reluctant to go full-out minimal. I’m keeping the Newtons around for the tempo runs and short runs and will use thee puppies for the longer stuff. That’s what I’ve done for the past month or so and it seems to be working out. I’ll keep it up until my knees (or some other to be determined body part) begins to disagree!