Greetings!

Greetings from the land of Not Training. I've had a pretty relaxing week, but we've had people in the house working on the kitchen, so things aren't exactly normal either.

I went for a short run Tuesday night and last night. I picked up some new running shoes (pictured); they're spikeless cross-country racing shoes. So far, I really like them. They're super light and I can tell that they're making my feet work. My feet and calves got a little sore the first time I ran in them, but it's been getting better ever since. Even though the shoes are very breathable, my feet haven't gotten cold yet (last night, it was in the high teens); I'm wearing thin wool socks when I run in them. On a slightly warmer day when it's wet or slushy, I may have a problem though.

I went 5 rounds with the heavy bag last night too. By the end, it had started leaking again. I called Everlast earlier this year to see what they'd do to resolve the problem, and they offered to let me buy a new bladder for $60. How nice! I tried a temporary repair, which obviously didn't hold, so now I'm done with it. I'm going to chuck the bladder and fill the bag like a traditional bag (with sawdust and padding). I figure that the bag is rated to hold 80lbs, so it shouldn't matter if it's water or something else.

I got Ross's latest offering this week too, Full Throttle Conditioning. Good stuff in there, as always. He makes a nice analogy at the beginning about fatigue "locking up" your "toolbox of athletic abilities". It's kind of hard to explain without going into the whole thing, but it was definitely nice.