Today began my second run through week 5. I first did week 5 back in mid August, right after the camping trip/hike that put me on the sidelines for several weeks . You can read about that ordeal here. From a health perspective, I'm feeling really good right now. I've not had any knee pain in several weeks. In addition, I'm making stretching a top priority and I'm working on my form to help ward off any future injuries.
My calves have been quite sore since my run on Friday. I'm guessing it's a result of trying to change up my strike. Striking on the ball as opposed to the heel gets a different set of muscles involved. I worked on the same thing this morning. Even though my legs are sore, striking on the ball of my foot as opposed to my heel definitely makes a difference in the stress on my lower legs and probably the rest of my body. I can definitely tell a difference in the way my shins and knees felt after my run. I normally have a little minor pain in my shins and my knees feel a little stiff after a run. After my last two runs, my shin pain has been practically zero and my knees feel completely normal. On the other hand, it was difficult to maintain the ball strike through the whole run. My calf muscles started to tire out toward the end and I found myself falling back into heel strike mode. I allowed myself to run like that for a few seconds, but then forced myself back into what I know is better form.
Today's run felt really good. It was cold and I really felt it during my warm up walk. Once I started running, though, I was thankful for the cold. I get really hot when I do any kind of physical activity and the colder air was really refreshing. I was really glad to wake up to daylight today. I'm not sure how long it will last, because the days are only getting shorter. I'll definitely enjoy it for now, though. I went out expecting to either be slightly slower today or to run a shorter distance because of the change in routine but I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the halfway point according to the clock and found myself right at my regular turn around.
Today's stats:
I did my 2.48 miles today in 30:20 for a pace of 12:14/mile. It wasn't as fast as Friday, but still well better than my average. I don't know if that was due to the colder air, my change in running form, improved physical conditioning, something else, or a combination of some or all of the above.
Next up - Week 5 Day 2!
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