Adrienne Langelier Racing

Today I won't be talking about running too much. Leah over at Chasing Atalanta, who is quite the versatile blogger has kindly tagged me to share 7 random things about me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I will do my best to sound interesting, but can't make any guarantees....

1. My rather unusual last name supposedly originates in Quebec. I think this is cool be cause Montreal is one of those cities I'm fascinated with and have to visit. I think I have a decent chance of fitting in there!

2. I once saw Julia Roberts on a ski vacation in Taos, NM. True story. BTW if you've never been there, I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite towns.

3. As a child, I was actually a very good pianist. I could belt out anything from Joplin to the Cheers theme like nobody's business at age 9. I promptly quit however, when my teacher chewed me out for not practicing one day. I guess I don't like being yelled at. and I was a sensitive kid. Sometimes I'm tempted to try and pick up the ivories again, but time will tell. I'm still a big fan of music-most types within reason.

4. In the spirit of Halloween, I once made my own  robot costume and it did not go so well: everyone kept asking if I was a mailbox. At least I tried:)

5. I graduated college with a 4.0 (recall my nerdy last post), so I tried to leverage by applying to a Master's program at Harvard; getting the classiest rejection letter ever.I think I still have it somewhere. I guess there's a lot of people smarter and more accomplished than me, and that's the way it should be.  Looks like I shoot for the stars in any situation possible, life's too short to do otherwise.

6. Speaking of college, I love my alma mater, Texas A&M! Whoop!!



7."Watch out says that bird!!" I came up with my personal mascot which became my nickname Honey Badger because it reminds me to be tough and to not let anything stand in my way,while not taking myself so dang seriously. Seems to be working so far:)

So there you have it. Hope you've enjoyed my astonishing versatility, or at least learned some useless Adrienne facts. I think most everyone has been tagged, so please feel free to tag yourself-I look forward to hearing about you.

Run randomly happy!

"We've contained magic...in a shoe!"-Drew Baylor (aka Orlando Bloom) in 2005's Elizabethtown.

Actually, in the aforementioned film, the shoe Mr. Bloom refers to turned out to be not so magic after all. Thankfully for Brooks, they actually come much closer to being a "magical" piece of footwear with the Pure Project line; particularly the Pure Flow-for this girl at least. I actually feel like I'm almost late to the party as almost everyone else sponsored by the ID program were zipping around in these before my cheap butt finally couldn't wait anymore. Hey, better late than never, right?

On to the review itself...

My first sampling actually came on the treadmill while wearing jeans at a cute running shop in Louisiana. How's that for random? When I first slipped them on, they felt kinda weird as I was not ready for the 4mm heel-toe drop. Almost felt like I had the 'post-high-heel-wearing-foot-sinking-into-floor' feeling  (girls, you know what I'm talking about:)).  Once I started running in them, however, the feeling immediately went away and felt just like a light, smooth running stride. Nice. I had to have them, but waited another week to actually purchase them-because I'm frugal like that.

This week I put just about 20 miles into them  (I wore them for a 10-miler, a 6-miler, and a little recovery run), these feel like no other shoe I have run in. Weighing just a fast 7.5 oz, they are the weight of flats, yet I find them super-cush with substantial arch support a midsole fully infused with Brooks' DNA system. All that and I can still feel the road...pretty crazy!

While I have trained myself to mostly run on my forefoot, the funky heel-rock thing reinforces a proper foot placement even more; equaling even less work for me on the run. Another feature I find really cool is how these shoes seem to adapt to how I run, not the other way around...and I have weird feet; as I get told this all the time! To put it frankly, running in these feels like, well, running.

This unique shoe is nothing like anything else out there. The Flow is not fully minimalist; it's nothing like a traditional trainer yet the ride feels surprisingly stable to me. Initially, I was worried about lateral movement of the foot but the elastic Nav Band locks my skinny, high-arched feet in place. So far, my one minor complaint has to be traction-maybe its me-but on damp roads they seem a little slick.

Who would I recommend these to? I would pitch these to runners with some experience under their belts and have a fairly (but not totally) efficient stride as this shoe rewards decent biomechanics.  Neutral runners and those who just need mild stability in their shoes (such as the Ravenna, which I also love) may also do well in the Pure Flow. So far the farthest distance I put in these is an easy 10 miles, but I have no qualms about taking them further. Also, the Flows left no odd next day soreness or even left a single blister.

So here are my first impressions of what I find to be an awesome shoe so far. Definitely a staple in my rotation now.

Magic, I tell ya. WTG Brooks!

Run Happy!

"The Pursuit" has become my moniker for the current training cycle(s) this season and my long, steady mileage build. My re-entry to the half marathon game is now just about a month away and I'm feeling excited and strong. The fall has been all about method-doing the work while looking at the peak and smiling as I traverse the metaphorical foothills of the mountain range that is my cluster of big racing goals. I'm content to just seeing the reward ahead and the timing of things will work itself out.

Ok, Zenlike rambling aside... it's been a great week both in training and in the world of sports psychology. While for some of you this may not be much to write home about, but I will be hitting a solid 60 MPW tomorrow. Last year I put countless 60's in, however, I always felt somewhat tired and did not do all the "little things", at least not consistently to turn a physical grind into something satisfying and rewarding. It almost feels like this is my first "real" highish mileage week.

After an awesome and fairly emotional spectator trip to the Gulf Coast Half Marathon in Louisiana last weekend,  I hit the ground Monday morning with an easy 11. Great way to start the week-the suburban sunrises over a very man-made lake are slightly underrated! I used this time to process out what laid ahead for me: lots of appointments, an out of town clinic at a university I'm now working with, of course my training, and everything else that passes through my head out on the trail.

The product so far:

M: Easy 11.5
T: Easy 7/Weights
W: Easy 13; then deck side at swim practice for 2 hours as recovery!
TH: Not much, but couldn't pass up great weather for a 10 mile bike ride
F: Easy 7
Sat: Long-Just over 16 (thanks Bill for the bike pacing:))
Sun./Planned Easy 5 on trails

Next week I resume with the faster/shorter part of my San Antonio mini-cycle. All part of the big picture, even though I'm not totally certain what it is-but it sure looks nice at this juncture.

Enjoy the pursuit and Run Happy!

That old feeling is back. 

The feeling where my legs are full of run and it seems like I can never get enough of it. Perhaps it's the recent cooler weather, but on the past couple week's runs I've felt this weird kind of energy-deep inside, like I can just accelerate at will...kind of hard to put my finger on, but I don't want it to go away.

It's been a while since I've felt, well, truly strong. Of course, I do not  heed to this sensation since I am now an "older" and wiser runner! But it does feel kinda cool exercising restraint and saving the energy for when it really counts. I have RNR San Antonio coming up in about 5 weeks, and I began my pre-half marathon sharpening phase this week. I'm not doing any full-on speed work for this one, as it is merely a milestone to pass in preparation for early next year-don't get me wrong, though, I'm gonna bring what I have come race day :).

Trust the process....


After a steady diet of base, base, and more base-a building I enjoyed doing-Coach Bill and I designed last night's first official track workout of the season. This is the phase where I start rehearsing goal pace and getting some faster leg turnover going. So how did I do last night? I give myself decent marks-the workout was just enough to be a challenge but still was fun to execute.

For those curious, here's what we came up with:

• 2 mile warmup-making sure to keep it leisurely (feeling that funky energy again after the first mile:))
• 2 x 600/200 jog recovery in 2:15 
• 2 x 1200/400 jog recovery in 4:35
• another 2 x 600 in 2:15
• 2 mile cooldown