17 miles
Monday-easy pace run 4.5 miles. Felt good this go around. Seems like it takes me about 3 miles to actually get into the right running mechanics. At the start I'm too rigid/contrived and I can't let my body relax and get into a good rhythm. Because of this, the end of my run was significantly faster than the beginning and I felt great right up to the end of the run. This is a phenomenon that I have been aware of for some time, but don't know what to make of it. Maybe if I keep my runs longer, I can become better acquainted with the hard-earned form I attain sporadically.
Tuesday-barefoot 2 miles. Picked up where I left off last night with the form fresh in my mind. Also read some running form advice on Barefoot Ken Bob's Website to see if I could identify what I experienced last night. I realized that reading about running form is pretty useless unless I get out and do some trial and error. If I don't have some experience under my belt, it just sounds like an obsessive-compulsive rant on intricacies of form. But I read something that I experienced, but couldn't quite put into words from the good run I had: "Push the hips forward and down." After running a few miles, my hips tend to slouch forward and down, which seems to maximize the springiness of my legs and bounces me forward with very little effort. I think I'm still in the old paradigm of leaning forward, even though I thought I wasn't. My hips are still relatively behind my feet. So I'll experiment with letting my hips relax forward and down and see how it goes. I've also noticed that it's easy to waste energy when I get tired (ironically). My form gets lax, I get more clumsy and tend to flail, which is a total waste of forward force. I'm on the cusp of finding a sustainable form that is faster than my current style-to be continued...
Wednesday-break. dug into a blister that I shouldn't have. foot hurt. I'm dumb.
Thursday-studying for Pharmacoeconomics
Friday-worked, pooped. Saved energy for early morning run.
Saturday-Long, radical run. Parked on Hutchinson Island (in the middle of the Savannah River) and ran over the Talmadge Bridge and back ~4 miles. Moon was setting and sun was rising. I was looking forward to this not only because of the incredible view, but because I've been running on flat ground for the past 2 years! It wasn't as difficult as I remembered Y mountain in Provo being, the slope was pretty gradual, but it got my heart pumping. After a pit stop at my car, I ran the length of Hutchinson Island and back 6+ miles. The main part of the island is developed with a large hotel and industrial park. After that, there are sandy dirt roads. Greatly enjoyed this run! The trails ended but there was more island, so I pressed on through the brush, a nightmare. First, there were Banana Spiders EVERYWHERE with copious webs. I got a long stick and cleared the way so I didn't get entirely covered with terrifying webs. Another super neat feature of this backwoods jaunt was unnamed thorny vines that shredded my bare legs to a bloody mess. After encountering a hobo campsite, I aborted my ill-fated mission and returned to more developed regions of the island, nursing my wounds briefly before running back. During my labored last 3 miles, horseflies literally chased me, which was motivation enough to pick up the pace and punch/swat at them to prevent vampire action on my cuerpo. I was pooped at the end of the run, my legs were pushed to fatigue. I feel good about how I hydrated and carbed it up on this run. I had good energy and short transient side aches only early in the run. Felt a little nauseated from the Powerbar chews I ate for breakfast.
Great week, had fun and felt healthy. Saturday's escapade was my longest run this year, probably my longest run since my 2005 half marathon.
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