Saturday, March 12, 2011

Run From The Core

Well, after a distracting week of work my mileage dropped oh so close to the couch potato level, only running three times so far this week.  The good news is: it was a recovery week (my body does feel pretty rested) and I got in two quality workouts this week, one of those being my cut down/predator run (whatever you want to call it). 

I was pleasantly surprised that the weather had taken a turn for the better by Saturday morning after the white knuckle driving snowstorm yesterday (I am with the majority of Cleveland -- I'm done with this winter), so I happily dressed for a 50 degree run.  I overdressed with my arm warmers, but it took me less than a minute to strip them and tuck them in the waist of my capris around mile 2.  After 5 miles at a lazy pace, I started the cutdown with a good effort for the first mile.  I didn't look at the Garmin, but just ran somewhere around 10k to half marathon effort.  I could feel my legs adjusting to the intensity over the first mile and mile 2 went by with minimal discomfort.  The course I run has a lot of loops and turns as it goes through my 'hood, so often I found myself having to regroup (fixing my arm swing, not overstriding and keeping my core engaged, while exhaling deeply).  Surprisingly, the focus on my core really helped me relax.  Usually, I focus on my legs or arms, but today it was all about my core.  It was fantastic for me and while I was certain the fatigue was partially due to the continued effort I was putting out, I was hoping some of it was because I was pushing the pace a little too.  Hit the driveway just as mile 10 beeped on my Garmin.  I walked the cul de sac for a cool down and reviewed the splits (8:04, 7:52, 7:46, 7:46, 7:27).

Cut down run success!!!

1 comment:

Janet Edwards said...

Everyone needs those recovery weeks and look at the fabulous run you proceeded to pull out. Looks like you are going to have a nice strong spring!