Running Rollercoaster
Today's run was pretty damn interesting. My emotions during the run were so bipolar start start to finish that it felt like I was on a damn rollercoaster. I think it might have something to do with that route. Pangle showed it to me last weekend and it seemed pretty awesome then. It's down in Palos Verdes and the first half is pretty much uphill the whole way. Granted, it's a very slight uphill climb, but uphill nonetheless. It doesn't seem like much until about 1 to 1.5 miles in when your calves can't take any more and you stop to stretch them but it doesn't seem to do any good. Oh, and I still have shin splints, too (probably will for a while). They aren't too bad, but enough to notice when running. I kept on and around 2.8 miles in, my left foot starts falling asleep. Oh shit. What's that all about. I stop for a minute or two and losen the shoestrings, massage my lower leg to get the blood flowing. All I can think is that I'm 3 miles from my car with no cell phone. Whoops.
I get back up and decide to tell the whiny voice in my head to shut the hell up. "Nerd time is over, bitch. This isn't engineering, it's running. It's time to be manly and buff." Seems to work. The return trip is obviously downhill, which is blessing. About a half mile after turning around I hit my stride. My rhythm. Whatever you want to call it. Suddenly life isn't so bad. In fact, I start lengthening my strides and using my quads/hams more. This is feeling pretty good! I can run FOREVER!
I ended up running the 6 miles in about 1 hour, 3 minutes. That's an average of 10 minutes, 30 seconds. I can deal with that. What I need to figure out is how to hit my stride earlier on. Four miles is a long time to suffer through the doubting voices in your head. No wonder my weekday runs are so painful.
Oh, and I think my natural stride actually lands on the ball of my feet and not the heel. But that could be because my calves get so tight and landing there takes a load off my shins. I'm still trying to figure that all out...
2 Comments:
6 miles in an hour?? WOW. I'm impressed!
Thanks, Moni. Now if I can just keep it up for 26.2 miles. Then I'll be happy.
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