Wednesday, October 26, 2011

After the Half

A lovely morning it is this morning. And with a relative lull in my teaching duties, I decided to go out on a run. I went up out of the neighborhood and into Grove Hill, then left on Moore's Mill, and up to Dean Road. Then back down Dean to University and home. I felt pretty good. After a half marathon and a couple of days' rest, five miles is feeling like not very much. I feel like a key to getting my speed up is using my thighs more and my calves less. Since I started running again a few years ago, my main goal has been aerobic exercise to improve cardio health. I had read that speed wasn't important, and was in fact counterproductive, as it puts more stress on joints and muscles, etc. So I adopted a technique of running with mostly just lower legs.
But I like trying to improve upon my speed as well, and I think to do that a good start would be using my thighs more. After all, they are bigger muscles and have more swing in them. We'll see how this goes. I don't want to hurt myself.

Playlist- leftovers from the Half Marathon playlist plus
Cool It Down Velvet Underground
Monkey Matthew Dear
Driving South Jimi Hendrix
Evil Urges My Morning Jacket
Sex On Fire Kings of Leon
Pop Muzik M
Tougher Than It Is Cake
Search and Destroy Iggy and the Stooges
Once In A Lifetime Talking Heads
Fat Bottomed Girls Queen
Smile Lily Allen

Times
L1 23:35 (home to end of Grove Hill)
L2 18:16
L3 0:43 (sprinting with my thighs, not my calves)

Distance 5.0 miles
Cumulative distance 32.9 miles. 6.1 to go for October's goal.

No comments: