Making strides

Close your eyes and imagine this. A runner, passing by you. There is bounce in her step, and her long legs reach out and attack the pavement. Her thighs power her forward, and as she passes you, you turn and see a nice firm butt that barely jiggles.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? It's kind of how I imagine people reacting to me as I run by them (well, on the very rare occasion that it is warm enough to wear shorts so you can actually see my legs). Well, it turns out the reality is quite different.

Close your eyes and imagine this. A runner passing you by. Strangely, her thighs are hardly moving at all. Instead, her legs kick back from her calves, as though she is trying to kick her own ass. Although she appears to be working hard, and her arms are pumping, she isn't covering much ground - almost like she is running in place. As she passes you, you turn and see that her butt is bouncing in time to her little mincing steps, and you marvel that someone who works so hard still has such a flabby butt.

Apparently, that is the reality. After my race on Sunday, Tony (who managed to drag himself there, in spite of getting forty five minutes of sleep the night before) was telling me about my running style, compared to someone who looks like a runner. He said that some runners look like their legs are in charge, and that I wasn't one of them. He suggested that I should take advantage of my long legs, and make my strides longer. What he was saying actually resonated with me, as I have been thinking that my stride was off - as a matter of fact, Gingah and I touched on that on Saturday night at Donna's.

So, when I was running yesterday (10.5K!!), I examined my stride. It was short. Most of the movement was from the knee down. There is no bounce, all the motion is forward. So, I tried changing my stride. I lengthened it. I stretched my legs out to meet the pavement. I let my quads do the work, instead of my calf muscles. I covered more ground! I felt strong! I felt fast! This was what I have been missing! It was really freakin' hard! I couldn't maintain it! I had to go back to my short choppy stride!

And it explained a lot. First of all, I really feel that I was getting to be as fast as I was going to - obviously I could improve, but getting to that 25/26 minute mark where the bulk of the runners are really seemed out of my poor non-athletic reach. I've also been having a tough time with my calves. They seem to cramp and tighten a lot, particularly for the first three or four kilometres of a run, and in a 5K run, they don't ever get feeling fluid. As soon as I lengthened my stride, and let my legs push me forward, instead of just keeping them under me, I felt the difference in speed. And it makes sense. Why wouldn't you use those large muscles, instead of making the poor little calf muscles do it all? I could feel my quads and glutes working, and my calf muscles were relieved. I guess I have finished sculpting my calves, and am now ready to move on and tighten and build those other muscles. I think it will be hard though - it took a lot more energy per stride, and even though each stride was taking me further, I felt much more tired. I think I will start building time using my new stride - maybe 5 minutes at a time at first. And maybe, just maybe, I can be the runner I thought I was.

And the winner is....

Well, okay, not me, but another personal best. I ran in the Lunenburg 5K race today. It was cold (10 degrees!), it was foggy, and it was the hilliest race course I have done. This was the first race that I actually ran, not just finished. It was fun finding my place in the pack - usually people pass me as they settle in, this time, I'm happy to say, I passed probably 30 people getting to the right place.

After that, I pretty much settled in, and although people passed me, it was because they were faster, not because I slowed down too much. Many many people finished behind me. I was still at the back of the pack, but I think I've moved to the front of the back. My time, you ask? Another personal best: 28:26 minutes. Although I secretly hoped to come in under 28 minutes, it is more than a minute faster than my last race, and this course was much hillier and less familiar. So, I'm okay with that. And I did run pretty hard (for me, the non-athlete, anyway!).

So, five weeks of training = 1.5 minutes less. Well worth it, right?

Waaaaaahhhhh!

It was only 9.5K. I thought it seemed too fast (although not too short!). But I am confused, because I ran every single road I have ever run on, and I know I measured out a full 10K run before. It gets time and gas consuming to tweak the longer distances. I don't have a .5K route extender, so I'll probably just use my 1K route extender and run 10.5K. That way, I'll be SURE, and won't have to suffer this crushing disappointment again. So, I have to take back my mental high fives, and hope that no one saw my little victory dance as I slapped my end of run lamppost. (Speaking of slightly embarassing mannerisms, there's this one song on my MP3 player that goes: "Clap your hands to the rhythm one time", and I actually clap.)

And then, to add insult to injury, it was raining cats and dogs, and blowing like crazy this morning. I didn't realize how bad it was. So, after waiting from 5:30 'til 6:30 for Dexter to go back to sleep, I got up to put on my gear only to realize - I wasn't going anywhere. So, no run this morning. Waaaaaaahhh!

Not to worry though. I had a chocolate danish from Tim Horton's, and KFC for supper. I feel much better now. Uh, uh. I do. Yup. Waaaaaaaahhhhh!

I kicked ass this week.

I am on week four of the Taft's 10K training program now. I did not miss a run. I did an extra run. Just for fun. Yep, just for fun. How is that for bizarre? I love it!

Okay, so here is what I did:

Monday: Tempo run - 10 minute warmup run, 22 minutes hard run, 10 minute cooldown run. I hired a babysitter for this one - running is getting to be more expensive these days, I'll tell ya. The only disappointment was that I actually timed the first 5K, and I am not any faster. Oh, well.

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: bonus run. Ran 5K to my fitness class, then did the class. In spite of Karen stopping her car twice beside me along the way, and trying to convince me that I was going to be late for class, I wasn't. And sheesh, you'd think if you were going to stop beside me, you could at least hand me a cup of water. Next time, 'kay?

Thursday: off. The only time I could have run was first thing in the morning, and I figured I needed more recovery time than 10 hours after my big workout of the day before. Plus I didn't want to get out of bed.

Friday: the dreaded intervals. I almost bailed, but after trying on several excuses, none of them fit, and off we went. I did what I supposed to - 3 half mile sprints, alternating with a short recovery period, plus a ten minute warm up and cool down. It was very hard, but it felt good to actually do what I had planned. It's the first time I have succeeded with the interval run. Now, as long as I pretend not to notice that I should already have added a fourth sprint, and be moving to a fifth this week, I can continue to glow with pride over this.

Saturday: early morning distance run. 9K. Felt great. Sun good.

Sunday: mid morning distance run. 10 KILOMETERS! I'm there! And it was just fine. I definitely could have run farther. The only thing that is nagging at me is that I did it in 1:07, and that is a few minutes faster than I would have predicted, based on my other runs. I'm going to measure today to confirm, but assuming my memory is correct, it really was 10K. A whole lot of hills, too.

Grand total for the week: 36 kilometers.

Run to the hills

As I am running longer and harder, I am growing to hate the hills. There are just too many of them. Extending my route from 8K to 9K added two more uphill segments! Could some one please come by with a big hill squasher, and flatten them all down? Or, maybe someone could volunteer to be my route planner? I know there are probably places close by that I could run to that would be flat, but the time and gas it would take me to develop the routes I would need (6K, 7K, 8K, 9K, etc) is daunting. Or maybe someone could just give me some really good legs, and a pair of super lungs.

I finally tackled the big giant hill that comes up to my subdivision. It is about 2K of running uphill, which I did at the end of my 8K run. I was just barely moving by the time I hit the top - but I was filled with pride at finally conquering my fear of this hill. The next day, I was running down the same hill ('cause there was no way I was crazy enough to try that again), and there was a man running up the hill. He was running. Up the hill. He looked like he didn't even notice that he had just run up hill for more than a kilometer. He smiled, and mouthed something - I assume it was "Hello", although it could have been "You wish you were as good as me" - that I couldn't hear because I had the music cranked.

I was trying to decide what was the differenct between him and me. Well, aside from the penis, of course. Was it conditioning? Am I lacking some kind of athletic gene? If I keep on the path I am on, and actually go up that hill over and over again, will I be able to act like it's nothing, too? I finally decided it probably is conditioning mostly. As to the rest - I am pretty sure it's attitude. And mine needs an adjustment.

But I still hate them.

Playing catch up

Oy vey. Too much to post about. First: here is a post I started at the beginning of May:

I am a fraud. Part 1

You probably all think that what you have just experienced is me not blogging. It's happened before. It wouldn't be the first time. But, unfortunately, that is not the case. What you are experiencing is me not running.

I thought I had things set up well to go on a tear. I finished my first goal of the season, researched training programs for a 10K race to start working on my second goal. I had Pam here for a week and a half, and then, after two days of sitting on my butt driving, I would be at my parents for a few days. I thought between Pam and everyone at my parents, I could run at will. Nope. Not me. I ran twice while Pam was here, and two shorties in Ontario. Then, I got back here, and nope. No running. So, I feel like a fraud. All those people who have started running since I have - Karen, Alena, Julia, Sue - they're all running. Me, I am a fraud. I think I need the title of runner taken away. I might have to go back to being called a "runner". I might have to start going on "runs". I am

And there the entry ends. Which brings us to the next blog entry I should have made:

I am a fraud. Part 2

Now, you probably think that you are continuing to experience me not running. Not so. I have dropped the quotes, and reclaimed the title runner - no quotes. I have implemented this training plan. And I am currently about to start my fourth week. So, obviously, I am a blogging fraud. I am sure you would have all loved to have shared in my growth as a runner over the past three weeks.

You've missed out on my first run with another person - Julia, of the strong mind. You've missed out on the distance increases - I am running 9K now on my long runs. You've missed out on my speed increases - my tempo runs have really surprised me. I can carry on a pretty speedy pace for the allotted time (20 minutes last week) - as long as you don't put any hills in my way. You've missed out on how hard I have worked to avoid doing intervals - man, they suck. The last set (okay, really the second set), I did at the track, and with reasonable success, I thought. But nope, I just looked at the training plan, and I only did 1/4 mile intervals, not 1/2 mile intervals. And man, they sucked. You've missed out on all of the bitching I would have done about the weather - almost everyday it has rained, poured, misted, fogged, and been cold. And man, that's sucked. However, I have only missed one run due to the weather. I bet you can guess which one. So in summary: distance and tempo runs - great! Intervals and weather - sucky. That's what you've missed.

Which brings me to the next blog entry:

I am a fraud. Part 3

Just kidding. You'll probably have to wait a day or two for a real entry. And really. I have already admitted to being a fraudulent runner, and a fraudulent writer. What else do you think I could possibly have to admit to?

Ah, the irony

I had the interesting experience of running home last night. We were out for the girls' recital dress rehearsal, discussing when I would be able to squeeze a run in (it was about 7:00). Cam suggested that I just run home from where we were. Since I had put my running clothes on hours ago, waiting for that right moment, I was actually dressed for the occasion. My MP3 player was in the car, so I had everything I needed.

It was kind of cool running as a mode of transportation, rather than just for recreation. I started to imagine doing it regularly. Going to the library - returning home with a backpack full of books and DVDs. Okay, maybe not so practical. Going to the grocery store - oh, wait, same problem. Where else do I go? School? Nope, not unless I want to run pulling a wagon, pushing a stoller, or carrying several children. Fitness class? Well, if I ran there, Karen would never make it, since I think the only reason she goes is because she has to drive me. ;) I came to the realization that my life was not suited to running as transportation, however enticing it was. And perhaps that I should get out more.

And where did I run home from you ask? The ice cream parlour. Ah, the irony.