01 January 2015
I managed to get out of my wimpy mode–with some prodding from my wife–and went out for my first run of the new year, a mid-afternoon run. The weather was chilly (~40°F) with a light, misting rain and very little breeze. I dressed in long, compression tights; a long-sleeved, compression shirt; and a runner’s winter skull cap. By the end of my WU and first training mile, I realized that I had overdressed–I was sweating…quite a bit!
I discovered that the previous two days without running seemed to have a positive effect on today’s running session (at least, for the WU [1 mi] and scheduled training run [12 mi]); in fact, I was able to maintain a reasonable pace–disregarding Mile 2 and Mile 9, each of which included a steep hill (~10% grade)–for ~14 miles before my legs started to complain and I slowed my pace.
Endurance Running – Week 7 of 13 Weeks, Day 2 of 4 Days [My 1st Training Run of 2015]
Several times, I’ve made a big deal of those steep hills–complaining about how much effort is required and how slow my pace is going uphill–and, even though they are not my favorite part of a training run, I have to credit those same hills with strengthening my glutes and my quads. I believe that my pace hasn’t, yet, improved from stronger glutes; but, my running form has improved!
Running those steep hills has strengthened my glutes to the point that my running form, now, makes use of those muscles; i.e., they are activated during running. Previously, my glutes weren’t activated; my running gait resembled more of a walking gait than running and I was overstriding; i.e., my leading foot was landing well ahead of my center of mass and I was leaning forward from the waist.
In good running form, the leading foot strikes the running surface under (or very nearly under) the runner’s center of mass and the runner leans forward from the ankles. Usually, the faster the pace, the greater the forward lean; i.e., sprinters have greater forward lean than marathoners. However, during most endurance running the runner’s forward lean is not more than a few degrees from vertical.
Happy New Year! And, Happy Running!!