SPIDER

Okay.  I know for a fact I have never run a workout as fast as I did last night.  Is it a coincidence that I ran this workout in my new Nike LunarSpider R2s?

SPIDER!

My review?  The shoes are fast.  I ordered them on a lark late last week from Runningwarehouse.com when I was feeling like I wanted to try something new in footwear.  They only come in men's sizes and they recommended my size 9 lady foot would be happy in a men's 7.5.  But, they were out of the 7.5, so I ordered the 7.  I was certain that they would not fit, but, if I ordered them, at least I could touch them.  They look so cool.

When they came, I weighed them on my food scale (currently dedicated to weighing shoes), and they were just a hair under 5 ounces!  Crazy light.  They looked even cooler than the picture on the website, and I'll be damned if they didn't fit my feet perfectly.  I felt like Cinderella with arachnids on her feet.  I couldn't wait to do my 12 x 400m workout the next day in them.

My feet always fit well in Nikes because both are narrow.  These shoes are no exception.  The upper is so thin and light that they just seem to form another layer of skin around my foot.  There's plenty of room in the toe box, even though a shoe salesperson might not think so.  I've found that I need less room in the toe box when the shoe has less of a heel-to-toe drop.  They have a fairly stiff sole, but I really felt like my feet were in touch with the track surface and that made the shoes very responsive.  There's hardly any cushion, just enough to protect your feet from serious bumps.  As I ran in them, I wondered if I would wear them in a marathon like Shalane did in NYC.  No need to decide that now.  I'll start with a road 5k and go from there.    

I saved my workout for the evening, since I love running at night, but the day was long and I was pooped when I got home.  The Genius came home from his run to find me laying in my running clothes on the bed at 6:45 p.m. trying to take a short nap.  I got in about 15 minutes before waking and realizing I needed to get out the door pronto.

I downed a Go Girl and headed to the track where I felt super sluggish on the warm up.  I slipped on my Spiders and everything changed.  I did my drills and strides in them and knew they were special.  As I strode, I felt like the cartoon character whose legs are spinning out in front while their torso lags behind for a split second before joining the lower half in a speedy get away.  I felt kind of clumsy at first until I got used to the little rockets on my feet.

My workout was to be run at 4 seconds per lap faster than 5k pace.  So, I estimated 5k pace to be 84-85 seconds per lap, making my target 80-81 for these.  I had 1:30 jog rests for this workout.  My first repeat was a blazing 79 seconds complete with a tingly sensation in my upper body and a slight burn in my quads.  Too fast.  I tried to calm myself down a little and ran the next in 78.  Oh well, I thought.  Just go with it.

Each repeat felt better and better, and I kept throwing down 78-79 second laps.  I got to the last two laps and switched my iPod to my current power song J. Lo's Get on the Floor  (don't judge!).  This was the first time ever in a track workout where I felt so good I just smiled when I hit the end of my rest and whispered bring it!  The last repeat was 75 seconds.  Oh, hell yeah!

Splits: 79, 78, 77, 79, 79, 79, 80, 78, 79, 79, 77, 75
average = 78

It's getting ill it's getting sick on the floor!