January 11th - Training - Manchester, NH - 7

The testing continues as tonight I got the next shipment of new running gear in the mail. I know that in terms of running tomorrow, we looking down the barrel of a gun and seeing a blizzard. I probably will not be able to get a "good" run in tomorrow so the product testing would need to happen tonight.

In today's shipment, I got my new pair of running compression pants/man-pries. I ordered the Pearl Izumi Phase Splice Kicker, which is a 3/4 length compression pant. I figured these would allow me to feel better while running as I can never get my calfs to loosen when I wear ordinary compression pants. I figured I would give these a try and see how they do.

(Go ahead, I know the jokes are coming . . .)

I left my house and decided that because tomorrow was going to be awful to run in that I would get a good medium distance run in tonight. I went out for my Boston Prep "prep" run. This run is a 7 mile loop around Manchester that has an approximate 200 ft. elevation climb from mile 3 to mile 4. This is my version of Heartbreak Hill known as Heartache Hill (formally known as Wellington Road). I figured this would be a great run to do to see if I can get my calf muscles to loosen on a training run.

As I made it to mile 3, I was feeling great and my calves were loose as could be considering the cold temperature. I felt great as I powered through the mile from 3 to 4 in ~9 minutes and 36 seconds. This was a great feeling as usually my legs are tight and have difficulty doing the hill workouts in the winter. NOT TONIGHT!  I cruised up Heartache Hill and cruised home as the remaining 5K is mostly down hill.

(Great elevation profile for Derry)

Now in the past two days, I think I have discovered some of my top/favorite running gear and have began to rank them in no order (I know this is going to drive a few people mad).
1) My Garmin Forerunner 305
2) My Saucony ProGrid Kinvara Running Shoe
3) My Pearl Izumi Phase Splice Kicker Compression Pants (wanna-be pants anyway)

NOTE: Tomorrow, if at all possible, I will be testing out a new pair of Injinji Toe Socks . . . We shall see what new conclusions that I can come to tomorrow!