Hodge Podge of Info

Could this be my first ever bullet list blog post for the sake of brevity?

• Yes.
• I swam this afternoon at lunch: 1500m, 22:20.
• I upgraded both the Garmin Training Centre software and the firmware on the Forerunner 305. Hopefully this will eliminate the issue of disappearing workouts. Thanks to all who left tips in the comments section! (This all will be tested on tomorrow's run. Keep your fingers crossed!)
• The knee is feeling better and better as I continue to ice it regularly and stretch the hamstrings and ITBs. I think my lack of a cooldown after the 5K race is to blame for the tightness.
• Marcy has left the building. (Please join me in a collective "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!", or for those of European background please feel free to whistle.)
• My slow 8K run (yeah, the one that my watch pooed out without warning) has opened my eyes to heart rate training and I am curious to know what others think of the concept that precludes doing any training in Zone 3, roughly 140-160bpm. That's where I've been doing most of my training, and perhaps it explains why I've seemingly been bouncing from one injury to another.
• With that in mind I've been doing some research and found a good website that can help me figure out my target heart rate zones, VO2 Max threshold, and appropriate training paces. Check it out here, though it may come as no surprise to many "in the know". It was pretty cool to see that my VO2 Max, predicted based on my recent 5K result (where I ran pretty much as hard as I could), generated training paces that seem right on for how I've been training.
• And lastly, I've been running in my new Asics GT2140s and have found them to be quite good. Way more cushioning than either of the Mizunos that I've been using all year, and the arch support seems to be better as well. It is early in the game, but I really hope that these shoes are "the ones" since my foot seems to be getting better. In fact, I totally expected my foot to stiffen up something fierce after the 5K race, but instead it has continued to improve. I'm thinking it's the shoes until I find otherwise.
• And lastly lastly, for real this time, I have also modified my training plan to something that seems more doable than the FIRST plan upon which I had based my previous summer running goals. I am not accomplished enough to attempt the FIRST plan yet and must focus a bit more on building mileage rather than speed. Perhaps someday I will be able to take a shot at a target time (read "BQ"), but for now I just have to be satisfied with finishing. Strong though, not "just" finishing. I don't want to crawl across the finish line simply for the privilege of calling myself a marathoner.