I wore compression sleeves to work today.

Workouts: 

Monday: Total body workout that was entirely too glutetastic the day before speed work.
Tuesday: Speed work - 3 x [1 x 1200, 1 x 400]

I really did wear compression sleeves to work today.  Under my dress pants.  Check the sexiness out rightcheer:

That's because I did some intense (for me) speed work this morning.  The workout itself wasn't long (3 x [1 x 1200, 1 x 400]), but I accidentally ratcheted up the pace for those repeats.  Instead of running them at 8:15 (for the 1200s) and 8:00 (for the 400s), I stayed down in the 7:50s and 7:10s for the most part.  I write that almost casually, as me running those speeds isn't a big deal.

But it's a HUGE FREAKING DEAL.  Why?  Because a) I ran them too fast and last time I kept running my intervals too fast I got this thing called an "injury" and b) I have never ever run 400s under 7:30 (that I can remember) so even though I am frightened to death of injuries I am also over-freaking-joyed.  That is, if I don't injure myself.  Which is why I am wearing my calf sleeves to work all day to get the goodness that is recovery from compressing your muscles all day.

I am also wearing them because I have been using my new Mizuno Wave Sayonaras which, if you didn't know, are a much more minimalist shoe than my typical Mizuno Wave Riders.  To me, the Sayonaras have just enough cushioning without all the bulk or heaviness.  The toe box is also really wide, which allows your toes to splay outward, supposedly giving you a much more realistic stride.

They are the lightest and most minimal shoes in which I have ever run, and I can tell that I am running differently in them due to the band of soreness that runs medially up both shins.  They don't feel like full-on shin splints--it's a deep muscle pain that hurts the most when I squat.  But, after I squat, the muscles seem to get stretched out and the pain disappears.  And that's exactly what I did during my recoveries this morning-squatted and stretched out those muscles, and I am not feeling any pain whatsoever right now.  I just wanted to wear the calf sleeves as an extra-added insurance policy, as it were, against that pain.

But the pain doesn't make me love my Sayonaras any less than I already do.

In fact, I'm considering these as a potential marathon shoe for my October marathon.  I know I can't train in them all the time (especially with that "pain" thing), but I want to wear them for some type of speed work at least once a week.  That is, if the pain goes away and doesn't get worse.  If not, I guess I'll just have to wear my compression sleeves to work a tad more often, eh?