The weekend proved better than the week. I was able to run 12 miles in 2 "sessions" yesterday, with little problems.
Today I did a "race" of 5 miles locally. The packet pick up was at a township building after you took a bus there, so I ended up wearing my shirt through the race. I didn't bring my ipod and it was nice to just take it all in and listen to the crowd, look around at the nice big houses on the Main Line, run slowly and just enjoy it. It was a challenging course with many steep hills. I walked a few times including through 2 water stops and really didn't push myself at all. It was pretty enjoyable just to be running along with people and not trying to race a clock or trying to beat anyone. I liked that! It is a change. A guy pushing a double stroller passed me around mile 3 :) Hah. But as I was running, I thought, WOW. I declined fast. In the past 2 weeks I hit a wall and I really slowed down my pace, if I can run at all! It is all fine and will be worth it in the end, but I felt like I was still able to maintain a pace that was only about a minute slower than my normal pace - for a while - but then BAM! Time to slow down. Maybe the random cramps that have slowed me down will go away but this is doubtful. I will just go with it and be happy to be running whenever I can.
I made my husband take a picture of me so that I could add a picture to my blog. Aren't blogs more fun with pictures? I'm a big dork. The leaves were really pretty driving home!!
Question for hill running: When you are running up a hill, do you run on the balls of your feet or run like you normally run? I read somewhere to lift up your knees and look to the top of the hill. I think that I run on the balls of my feet but don't sprint hills for sure - I did when I started out, and it takes too much energy away and is hard to recover. What are your hill strategies?
week 23 - Monday elliptical, yoga and lifting, Tuesday - run 8 miles, Wednesday - swim 1700, yoga, Thursday- elliptical, walking 3 miles, Friday - swim 2000, run 4 miles broken up, Saturday 12 miles split up, Sunday 5 mile race. Total - yoga 1:45, run/walk 32 miles, swim 3700 yards, cross train 45 min
