Wow, looks like I’m sticking with the whole running twice a week thing.
It’s a strange thing: 80% of me is totally fit and saying “hey, let’s go! This is easy! 30 minutes, I could go all day!”
And then 20% of me, namely all those muscles that stabilize everything while running, are saying “Oh my god!? What are you trying to dooo? Kill yourself? Stop this right now!”
Those muscles get tired fairly quickly, although they’re holding out longer and longer (I haven’t yet increased the volume). It’s hard to pay attention to this, I was really struggling to concentrate on my form today. Once those muscles go out, I could easily recruit some other ones to stabilize everything… but then my form would be off, aggravating my IT band again, and I’d be back where I started. So I could probably run 5 miles right now, but my knee would likely explode, and I don’t really want that.
So, form, it’s all about form. It’s nearly impossible to tell if I’m keeping my form well, especially since the park I’ve been using as my course is very hilly. I think as part of my re-formating as a runner, I will start running one day a week at the track, as boring as that is. I’m not sure how to go about increasing my mileage, if I should start filling in the walking gaps with running, like (run 1, walk 1) x 3, (run 2, walk 1) x 2, eventually working up to 3, 4, 5 minutes etc. Or maybe I should just increase the number of intervals (instead of 30 mins, work up to 60 mins). If this were biking, I would use one day for distance (longer intervals), and one day for speed (faster intervals), however, I’m just trying to train my form and not aggravate my IT Band. So I’m not sure on this one yet. I think I will keep doing what I’m doing, slowly increasing both, until I feel pretty comfortable with my hip/glute/core strength. Perhaps I will be forced to go run on a treadmill and try to get one next to a mirror so I can actually watch myself run. blah.
Doing yoga today I noticed the enormous knots on my quads have mostly disappeared. Amazing what a little rest will do. I also am constantly reminded how weak my abs are (thank you, Shakti-something, or whatever your “yoga name” is). Although they must be stronger then they used to, because I used to get aches in my lower back from cycling, and they’re pretty much gone (might also be that I haven’t been doing as many super-long rides). When I do upward dog and all those fun back bending poses, my back feels pretty strong. So that’s good.
This weekend will be a killer (80 mile death march with the team + some track racing) , and then a few more Tabor / track races here and there, and then…Elkhorn. In 2.5 weeks. poopy crap. That’s really all I have to say about that: poopy crap.
