I took the day off from running yesterday (not really by choice - crazy busy at home) and started my run today fairly refreshed. After the 9:20 per mile performance from Wednesday, I felt pretty good. As on Wednesday, I was looking forward to bettering my previous time, but not by anything significant. Big improvements come over time and not overnight. Or so I thought.
I've been reading some articles about distance training and one of them talked about how short distance runners, when slowed to marathon pacing, do far better than runners whose training is focused mostly on endurance. The reasoning is that the short distance runners develop better lung capacity and a more efficient running stride. The end result is that if you include lots of speed training along with the regular endurance training, you will see a shorter marathon time.
I've always had a very short running pace, which isn't really efficient. Tonight, I tried altering my running stride. Instead of short and fast strides, I took longer and slightly slower strides. I noticed an immediate improvement. Halfway through the run, I continued with the long strides, but I picked up the pace a bit to something a little closer to my usual pace. It was an intense struggle to maintain that pace through the last mile, but I managed.
The end result? 3 miles in 26:38. Woo!
Now that I know I can do it, I'm going to focus on perfecting my stride and slowly increasing the distance. My next milestone is going to be 5 miles in 45 minutes. I suspect it'll take me a few weeks to reach.
- Mike
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