pushing and listening

Today's run was a good one.  Of my eight run intervals (I run/walk equidistance  at this point, roughly 100m by 100m), only one was at 8 minutes per mile (mpm), while the others varied between 7 and 7 1/2 mpm (a minute faster than earlier in the week).  I could feel the extra push aerobically, for sure.  The idea of stressing, then relaxing, the load on the aerobic system using intervals is to condition the system to be more responsive during runs, and recover more quickly.  The speed aspect of intervals is to strengthen muscles and tendons used for running throughout the body (yes, even the upper body).

These early days for me also serve as the opportunity to get my running form corrected.  I remember my old form maladies, and I know that my body will go back to them when pushed and tired.  Now that I know for what to look, corrections can be made more quickly.  This is also the advantage of running completely barefoot right now (even Vibram Five Fingers shoes block at least 80% of the feedback from your feet, in my experience).  I can already tell I am fighting a bit of an imbalance issue, so before I begin each run interval, I check my body alignment and mentally record feedback during the 100 m interval.

All my running dynamics were in the excellent region, though I was high on cadence.  I will replace the battery in my digital metronome this weekend, which will help me bring my cadence down from to 200 steps per minute (spm) to something closer to 180 spm.  That stretching to which I referred in my previous post needs to start this weekend as well.

Tomorrow, I take an LSD, a long slow distance run.  It will be the same distance, but a continuous run at a slower pace.  The LSD run should stay in the aerobic zone for the heart rate, which will be my guide.  I will also be watching a bit of TOFP (top of foot pain) which I was experiencing before this morning's run.  The body must adjust to the strain of running, and one must be careful of TMTS (too much too soon), even when the workout does not seem like much.

Until tomorrow...