Running with Others

I think I may have lured another sucker into the web of running. Jerome has been saying he is going to come out and run with me for a couple of weeks now, and he actually broke down and went out on Thursday. It was just an easy timed run (I hate the term junk miles), but man does the time go by faster when you have someone to talk to. We ended up running for about 34 minutes, drove the course afterwards to see how far it was, and found out it was almost exactly 2.5 miles, which was a little farther than I thought it was. I've stopped taking walk breaks on my time runs, by the way. When I am not running all that far, it just seems easier to keep going than to try and get started again after walking. So on Thursday, we ran for about 18 minutes, stopped briefly while I watered someone's yard (a benefit of being a man), and then ran the last 16 minutes with a nice kick at the end. I stopped my watch while peeing in case you are wondering about the math.

The trick now is to work out the run/walk ratio during my long runs. I have a 6 miler planned tomorrow, so I may try something different than the 3/2 ratio I've been using. The question is, do I make a minor change (4/2), or do I try something completely different (8/2)? I'm leaning towards the 8/2. I am also working on trying to vary my running form at times, adding what I've heard called a "gliding" motion. It's almost like a shuffle, with my feet very low to the ground, and it is working pretty well on shifting which muscles in my legs are taking the brunt of the punishment from my usual form.

Did I mention that the run Thursday may have been my best run yet? I never really got winded during the whole run, kicked for approx. 2 blocks at the finish, and felt awesome afterwards. My legs felt better after the run than they did before I started. The race is 2 weeks from today, and I think I am going to really focus on losing weight this week. That way I can eat to train the week of the race, instead of eating to lose weight. I still think that if I can get under 240 pounds by race day, a sub-30 is inevitable. Maybe I am kidding myself, though, who knows. All I know is that I think I am in better shape this year than I was last year, and all 3 of my races last year were in the 33-34 minute range. This year, though, I've done most of my training on the road, where last year, most of my training was on a treadmill. Also, I think my longest run last year was a little over 4 miles (the run where I went either too far or too fast and ended up hurting my ITB). This year I have already done a 5 miler, with 6 scheduled this week and 7 next. I think the over-distance training will be a big help. My only real concern is the heat that evening. I can't really run at 5:30 or 6 at night to train since we have baseball about that same time each night. Maybe I need to get out and run at lunch one day when it is like 105. Or maybe not....