Last night, I went to absolute war with an extremely hilly 7-mile tempo run in Guilford. My pace was 7:23. My pace for the overall 9-mile run (which included a 1-mile warm-up and and 1-mile cool-down) was 7:44. I've done three other tempo runs during this buildup so far:
8/19/10: 6 miles at 7:53
8/12/10: 5 miles at 7:54
7/29/10: 4 miles at 7:59
I think that the higher mileage, hip and core stuff that I'm doing is finally starting to bear fruit. My legs feel bullet proof out there (lunges and 1-legged squats?), not to mention that my hips are out in front of me the whole time, and that I can feel my hips and core driving my legs. After all, your core is your transmission, and without a strong one, you fall apart pretty easily.
A couple of notes/observations from last night: It's difficult for me to not get excited on the hills and hammer, as opposed to letting them come to me. It tenses me up pretty good. I need to relax and let the route come to me. Although my legs were burning up on the uphills, that didn't prevent me from flying down the other side of the hill. I got a few side stitches last night--nothing some additional core work can't help. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy about the effort.
2 comments:
Nice effort, Ryan. Way to go on the improvement in your tempo. I love single leg squats. Well, love them in a hurts-so-good kind of way.
As for me, I did my second post-baby "run" today. 4 minutes of walking to one minute of "running." I'm trying to stiffle my inner competitve drive and build back up slowly so I don't injure myself. That being said, the weather has finally broken, and I felt really good. Definitely could have run more than I did. Perhaps I should write a blog about this ...
Thanks, Em. I was doing regular, assisted squats with weights, but then someone told me that I should be doing them on one leg without weights, which makes sense, since running happens on one leg at a time. The leg stuff has been key for me.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you're back in the game. I would love to hear about your comeback. Good luck!
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