Progressive 4 Miler – Where Have My Legs Gone?

Posted by Steve ()

December 27, 2007

Well the main aim of tonight’s run was simply to get out of the house and log a few miles – simple as that! No excuses, no reasons to “wait until tomorrow” and definitely no “I’ll go later”….

It’s been 6 days since my last run and with only 5 days to go until the Hair of the Dog 5k on New Year’s Day, I seriously need to get into the habit of running again. I guess you could say I’ve had a somewhat lazy Christmas.

Anyway, on to the run. It turned out to be a pleasant one, almost 5 miles in length in cool, dry conditions. After a not-so-easy first mile in 7 minutes 34 seconds, I tried to pick up the pace and recorded a 6:57 second mile. Maybe a quick surge as I ran past several agitated geese helped me dip under 7 minutes for the mile?

At this stage in the run I started to wonder whose legs I was running with. My coordination was terrible and it felt like my arms and legs were everywhere. Nothing was in sync and I just felt like I was bumbling along. What happened to the smooth style of my summer runs? Where did my fleet feet go?

I was determined to make this a progressive workout and tried to quicken the pace some more. I felt like I was emulating the bobbing, unorthodox style of Paula Radcliffe, but without the speed! Somehow I managed to run the third mile in 6 minutes 53 seconds, and with my legs finally starting to feel my own, I finished off the progressive 4 miles with a 6:42 mile.

It felt good to slow down and be able to concentrate on my form, but it’s obvious I have a lot of work ahead of me. Not too many months ago I was able to run 18 and 20 mile Sunday runs at this pace in the blistering summer heat of Virginia Beach. Tonight was a real eye-opener and it’s back to basics before I can start moving forward.

Now, if anyone’s seen my running legs, please let me know….

Mile 1 – 7:34
Mile 2 – 6:57
Mile 3 – 6:53
Mile 4 – 6:42
Total – 4.7 miles in 33:19 (7:05/mile)

Posted in: GPS, forerunner 305, garmin

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Friday Double Day
Morning Run/Afternoon Swim
Morning Six Miler
Progressive 4 Mile Run

Comments

Comment by cyberpenguin on December 28, 2007 @ 8:51 pm

Hi Steve,

Good for you for getting out & there just doing your run! Can totally relate to what you wrote about those periods of time when days seems to slip by without a run, & you know it’s time to start it up again, so you can do your best to hold onto even a modicum of fitness! Hahahaha, well that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Sounds like you were finally able to get your running rhythm back after a few miles of discombobulated running. It’s kind of like riding a bike after not riding for a while, or perhaps a more apt analogy would be attempting to get back onto a unicycle! Going back to basics is always a humbling experience, eh?