I've officially changed my stride from a heel strike to a mid foot strike. Although in sub-elites this hasn't been proven to make a difference I think it can help my efficiency. I feel that the sub-elite class has become fast and efficient at heel striking due to their experience. All the elites mid to forefoot strike so why not? Anyway, it feels more natural now and as of yet any injuries are still holding off. My calves and achilles' have taken a beating though, sore, and seem to be awaiting injury. We shall see.
Been damn dark out in the mornings. I don't run with a headlamp normally, I just let my eyes adjust. The other day I scared the shit out of a woman walking, she didn't see me until I was face to face passing her! Weather hasn't been too bad, strong winds yesterday knocked down some trees over the canal impeding the boats but not too much rain.
So I'm trying something new, and fun I guess. Some guy over here in the UK has an unofficial "personal challenge" he set up. I think it's been going on for a few years and seems to have most of the participants from Scotland, so I'm assuming he hails from up north. It's called The Marcothon, named after him, and is the challenge to run everyday in December. Minimum of 25 minutes or three miles each day. There is a web page with activity from last year, a post-less Facebook page, and some activity on twitter, but nothing big. I'll just keep to my self versus being "social" anyway but interesting to see how many other people are chasing it.
Essentially I need to run on my normal two days off. So far so good despite it being early in the month. However I am on day 8 since I ran the final two days in November, but they don't count obviously for the challenge. I think I should be ok unless injury rears it's head. The only tough part will be having the flexibility to take a day off if something "feels" like an injury developing, such as the tight calves and achilles I've got going on from the gait change. A total day off can work wonders. I guess this will force me to be more diligent in stretching, icing, and general maintenance that I should do more of and I don't!
I'm considering focusing on a road half (March) and maybe a full marathon (April) this spring just to see where I'm at. All these trail races are fun but knowing I can run a 1:24 half marathon on hilly muddy trails really means absolutely nothing. So what does that mean for training? Well basically I'll add in a fair amount of speed work. I'd like to break 2:40 in the marathon, and think I can, and I'm not sure what I can do in a half since I've never raced a road half. Either way going fast is fun and if I go through with it I think it will be pretty cool. Besides I miss putting on a racing singlet and lacing up racing shoes!
Yeah I know I said more photos! Sorry, but it's still too damn dark out when I run, I almost pulled out my crappy phone camera to snap a photo of a tree over the canal today but I had a bike bearing down on me and I hate passing bikes. Could have been a good photo with my camera, I always tell myself to carry it no matter what but then get lazy!
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