7 mile run

It took me a few days to recover from my fall last weekend. My ankle was a bit sore and swollen, so I did not run until Wed. Fortunately, I did not get seriously injured.

I ran Wed and Thur, practicing Chi Running by trying to focus on my posture, leaning forward, and lifting my heals. So far it seems a bit easier to run faster with the Chi Running techniques. I have to purposely slow myself down. On Wed, I was getting tired towards the end of the run because my pace was too fast.

I have also been running with a metronome. I'm using a metronome in order to keep a steady cadence. Part of Chi running is running with a steady cadence. Whether you go faster or slower you keep a consistent cadence. My Chi running instructor recommended a cadence of 88-90 strides per minute. Right now, I'm at 86 (working my way up). I think this is what caused me to go too fast on my weekday runs, since an 86 cadence is faster than my normal cadence. Here is an article on running with a metronome.

I had two good runs during the week and then this morning was my 7 mile run. I did not bring my metronome. I wanted to focus on my running form for the longer run and not worry about other aspects of running.

I started off with the 9:20 pace group. We had a very large group today (maybe 25-30 runners). After the two or two and 1/2 mile mark, I went a head of the group. I felt a little closed in. I tried to continue to focus on leaning forward and lifting my heels. I ended up catching up to the 9:00 a mile group. I caught up to them with about 2 1/2 miles to go. It took a lot out of me to catch up to them. I felt like falling back but I pushed myself to stay with the group. This group only had about 10-15 runners. I stayed with them until the end. And, I did not fall!

Next week is an 8 mile run. I'm going to have to consider whether I want to start out with the 9:00 minute a mile group. I want to finish the marathon in under 4 hours, which means I need to have a pace of at least 9:07. Yet, I'm still recovering from my knee injury so I don't want to push myself too much. I guess I'll see how I feel after my weekday runs.

It feels great to start the weekend with a nice run!