I had a decent long run today. It was a cut-back week and I always seem to struggle with those. I think I get it into my head that it's *only* 10 miles and I expect it to be a lot easier than it is. Even though I felt like I was not at my best, my pace for the 10.09 miles was 10:46/mile, which is my best trail time yet.
I played around with stride today. I've been having issues with my right hip and my self-diagnosis is that as I've worked on getting faster my stride has gotten longer instead of my foot turnover increasing. I don't watch a lot of running on tv but when I have I always notice that the marathoners who are doing 5-minute miles never look like they're moving fast. They are incredibly efficient runners making their stride and footfall work for them to conserve energy. I would like to think that when I run I look like a graceful gazelle but, in reality, I'm probably closer to this:
So today I worked on shortening my stride and letting my foot turnover do the work. It was a weird feeling, I felt like I was scurrying like a bug, especially on the downhills. I didn't quite know what to do with my upper body since I wasn't running like my usual spastic self. I felt like I was holding myself straighter with my arms more stiffly in position. I guess that's good, I wasn't wasting energy flailing my arms around. I'll have to experiment with it more, I suppose. I don't want to get crazy trying to reinvent the wheel, not with the rest of my training on the line. It would be nice to emerge from this process as a better runner though, not just one who struggled through it.
My toenail count is 3.5. I was painting my nails the other night and realized I no longer had a pinkie toenail. So I just dabbed some nail polish on the skin where the nail would have been. It will wash off but I just didn't know what else to do. Flip-flop season is almost over anyway.
Off to enjoy the rest of the day!
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