Neutral

Hey, Peeps. Long time, no blog. My apologies.
Several years ago, sitting in a lecture given by Arthur Lydiard, I was told that choosing a shoe is easy. "Have as little under your foot as is possible to keep you from getting injured." That's it. Since then, I've wanted to follow his advice, but I always heard conflicting opinions from the experts at the shoe stores. They seemed believe that my stride requires manufactured stability to control minor over-pronation of my foot. (Pronation is the natural rolling movement of the foot while it is in contact with the ground. Too much or too little can cause issues from the ankles all the way up.) For about a year now, I have suspected that my stride is much more neutral than I've been lead to believe. So, armed with a coupon that was in my Cap. Hill 10k race packet, I made my way thursday to the City Sports in Chinatown to experiment with neutral-cushioned shoes. I found one that lived up to its name, the Asics Nimbus, by feeling as soft as clouds underfoot. With today's 16-miler in mind, I wore them around all day yesterday to try to get a feel for whether they would cause issues. Everything felt peachy. I was a little tentative when I set off this morning, having not worn them for a run before his long one. But they didn't disappoint. The case is not closed yet, though. I will need to wear them consistently for a week or more before I can conclude that my stride is, in fact, more neutral and that I've been duped for years. Duped into thinking that I need to pay for the extra devices for control in my shoes. During the run, actually, my stride felt more balanced than ever. And the post-run stress and soreness is finally equal in both legs! Heh. Am I the only person in the world who gets excited that both my legs are sore? The other news to report is that I am back on track in terms of training. Even after losing an entire week to illness, I managed a 54 mile week this week. 54 is 90% of my goal of 60 a week. I've got 15 more weeks of training to go, so I am right on schedule. My goal for the coming week is to reapeat 54. Should I be able to do that successfully, I will have a week to cut back and recoup a bit before the NYC Half Marathon at the end of the month, and then jump right back in at 60. From there, it will be smooooth sailing. No increases in mileage, only increases in intensity (speed). I've got about 400 Miles in the legs so far for this go-'round. The rest of training will add anywhere from 600-900 more. That will EASILY be enough "hay in the barn" for me to feel confident toeing the line in Dublin. All I have to do is stay healthy. Sounds so easy!