Another week’s distance goal met! This was actually a really great week for me in terms of training. I managed three runs and two sessions at Spudds, and I even got double-hundreds on the rower! Today’s run was windy but not too cold, and I felt pretty comfortable throughout. I tried out my new SKINS A400 3/4-length tights, which felt nice. (More on those in a minute.) All in all, a great week!

Nov. 14: 10.23km
Nov. 17: 6.07km
Nov. 19: 6.55km
Total this week: 22.85km (14.3mi)
Total in 2010: 867.36km (542.1mi)

Only 132.6km left to meet my goal of running 1000km in 2010! I just need to keep hitting 22km/wk and I’ll get there.

SKINS preliminary review: I’d previously bought myself a pair of SKINS shorts at the Melbourne 2008 Running Festival Expo (where I ran the half-marathon). I still wear them occasionally, but they’re not my favourite running gear. I think this is because I got them too small. I’m tall and I’m right between the L and XL sizes, and in the shorts I got the L. With the new tights, I requested the XL. I like them MUCH BETTER. They still compress (I mean, that’s the point) but they’re not so uncomfortably tight that they leave marks on my skin. I’ve got a couple other pairs of cheap Kmart 3/4-length running tights, so that’s my other basis for comparison here. Unlike those, the SKINS tights don’t have any sticky rubber around the calves to keep them from riding up. I was worried about that at first, but it wasn’t a problem. The calf area actually feels tighter than the rest, and I think that’s probably intentional. They stayed in place throughout the run. I was also worried about the waistband, as on the SKINS shorts I found they wanted to roll downwards over my tummy. Again, this wasn’t a problem with the tights. (That may be more about getting the wrong size in the shorts.) The only negative was the feeling that they were a bit low in the crotch. It took me a few minutes at the start of the run of hitching them up to get them in a comfortable position. (Note: I also have this problem with pantyhose, so it may be more of a personal issue with wearing tights than anything else.)

Okay, so how about performance? Did the magic pants make me run faster? Not really. They didn’t hinder me, but I don’t think they gave me any super boost either. They were just comfy pants. I’ll need a few more trials before I can ascertain whether they provide any real benefit over my cheaper Kmart version.