I have 2 main pairs of Altra Torins that I tend to alternate. One is termed my long run shoe, but I use them for hill runs occasionally. The other pair is used for tempo runs and hill runs. I have a pair of Altra Intuition 3.0s for treadmill running as they're not suitable for me for any type of elevation. I also have a pair of Altra Olympus shoes for trail running.
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| My shoes currently in rotation. CW from top left - Intuition (treadmill), Olympus (trail), Torin (tempo runs), Torin (long runs) |
The Torins are my favorite street shoe, but I can no longer find these in my size. So I went virtual shoe shopping. I ordered a pair of Altra Torin 2.5 and a pair of Altra Paradigm 2.0. I have tried so hard to like the Paradigm line, but I can't use the original or the 1.5 version for running due to blisters. And other than the original Torin, I don't like the others of that line either. Why do they have to keep changing the shoes????
Anyway, my shoes came on Tuesday from Amazon (free returns rock!) so I got to try them both out this week.
Sunday - 16 miles @ 13:29
With my runs getting longer again, I decided to try out a trail I haven't run. I have run a connecting trail during a couple half marathons, but I have never run any more of it.
I parked at the south end of the Nashville Stones River Greenway. Not to be confused with the Murfreesboro Stones River Greenway. Seriously. They don't connect.
A Google Map review said there was a bathroom at this end of the trail system, but there isn't. There is a dog park under construction and a water fountain inside the fence, but right now, there are just a couple of porta potties. There are plans for permanent restrooms, so at some point, this will be a great trailhead.
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| The new dog park going in at the Percy Priest trailhead |
Since I haven't run this trail before, I did a bit of exploring, taking spur trails off to other trail heads. The first spur trail I took ended up stopping at Stewarts Ferry Pike. I didn't see anywhere to go, so I turned back and took the trail to the trailhead next to the Hermitage/Donelson YMCA.
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| YMCA trailhead |
The YMCA trailhead is a parking lot with a nice water fountain for people, dogs and water bottles. Except it didn't dispense water very well. I was able to get a trickle from the water bottle area and filled my water bottle, but if I hadn't had a bottle, I'd have been out of luck. I hope it gets fixed.
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| Water bottle fountain. |
I returned to the main trail and kept going until I reached the Heartland Park trailhead, which is just a parking lot with a map and a trash can. I turned back.
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| The map at the Heartland Park trailhead. |
I was scheduled for a 14 mile run, but because I ran a bit more of the spur trails than I had intended, I figured I could get 15 by running a small loop that I thought was shown on the map. Instead, I ended up going out to where the Stewards Ferry Pike trail and the YMCA trail split off from each other and then back to the main trail. By then, I was going to hit 16 miles when I reached my truck. I normally do up to a half mile cool down, but I figured, why not? So I ran all the way to my truck.
I managed to hit my overall average pace goal of 13:29 for the 16 miles. A few longer, a few shorter, with the last mile run at 12:18. Honestly, the reason the last mile was that was because I was worried I wouldn't run again if I walked!
When I stopped running and started walking for my cool down, my legs hurt a lot. A very lot. I reached. I shouldn't have run that long. But I kept walking around and stopping to stretch. I also stopped at my truck and got a new water bottle. After about 15 minutes of walking, stretching and drinking, I felt much better.
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| All done! |
I like this trail. It's got some hills on it so I ended up getting about 900 feet of elevation gain for this particular run. That's good considering the Chattanooga Marathon has some 1100 feet of elevation gain to it.
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| Part of the trail |
The absolute biggest issue with my run was the lack of water. I did get some water from the YMCA trailhead, but it's a 1 mile trail (2 miles to go out to that trailhead and back to the main trail) to go out to get water.
I ran with my 18 oz Salomon handheld that really holds about 16 oz, as well as 2-10 oz bottles on my belt. I refilled my handheld at the YMCA trailhead, so I had about 45 oz of water total for this run. Which is fine, but if I didn't want to do the extra 2 miles to refill at the YMCA trailhead, I'd be out of luck for any water on trail.
Fuel for this run was 2 packets of instant grits, a slice of American cheese and a "sausage" patty about 2 hours before starting. During the run, I had 3 packs of gel and 6 shot bloks. I had a little bit of a queasy stomach for the last couple miles, but nothing too bad.
I was pretty sore for the rest of the day and some of Monday, but I kept moving and that helped a lot. I did reach a bit for this run, but I'm pleased with the overall outcome.
Tuesday - 5 miles @ 12:28
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| Rocking the purple shoes and shorts! |
I got to try out my Altra Paradigm 2 shoes. They arrived via UPS and I picked them up on my way out the door to run. I also got my Torin 2.5s, but after trying both pairs I decided to go with the Paradigms.
This was a mild run in mid-70s weather. I was pleased with my Paradigm shoes. They are a lot stiffer in the forefoot than my regular running shoes. I had a little soreness in my right forefoot after about 4 miles, but no other issues and no lingering issues after the run.
I ran at River Park. I was tired and didn't want to do this run. So I figured going to the same trail where I'm used to running my tempo run would be a good thing and it was. I took a gel at mile one and had a good, if tiring, run.
Wednesday - 5 miles @ 13:51
Back to my trusty treadmill for my easy run. I went back to my time based workout, running 4.5 minutes and walking for one minute.
This time I wore the new Altra Torin 2.5. I don't like them for running. I probably should have stopped and taken them off so I could return them, but I didn't and now I'm stuck with them. I don't feel right returning them after running 5 miles in them. So I'll probably make them horse riding shoes. They're just too narrow in the toe box and my right foot toes were cramping. Disappointing from a company that touts wide, natural toe boxes. At least I have something I can do with them.
Thursday - Hill Friday, um, I mean...
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| Would really think there'd be more fall color here! |
During my half marathon training, my hill workout was on Friday, but this training cycle, I've switched that to Thursdays.
I ran the hill near my house, my normal 4 mile route with mostly up or down. Only about a half mile of flat.
The weather was great. 75°, sunny, with a nice breeze. I bumped my uphill run interval to 45 seconds from 30 seconds. I kept the 75 seconds of walking between. That worked out pretty well. I do want to do that again before bumping the run up to 60 seconds, but I felt good and had no issues on this run.
I ran in the new Paradigm 2 shoes again and was pretty happy with them. They're a little shorter in the toe box than I'd like, but I didn't have any issues on this run. I'll adjust my laces to lock my ankle in if I think I'll have problems. I may have just found my next shoe. I'll add on the miles and see how it performs.
Since this was a 4-run week, this was my last run of the week.
Weekly Stats
Training mileage: 30 miles
Training time: 6 hours 40 minutes
Total Mileage*: 32 miles
Total Time*: 7 hours 27 minutes
Elevation Gain: 1,740 ft
* includes warm-up and cool-down
What's Next?
This coming week, I'll pretty much repeat this week for my long run, tempo run and hill runs and add on an extra easy run.
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