Tag Archives: speed improvement

A Need for High Knees

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After finishing 3.01 miles, on my way to the spot where I do my end of run sprint (slightly uphill), the back of my right knee was hurting, stiff, not wanting to move. Like I’d been going uphill a lot, and it was never getting the full range of motion. Because it wasn’t. This is a large part of why I missed my goal of getting faster than a 35 minute 5K: my feet were dragging because I wasn’t using my hamstrings like I needed to. So, I did a little bit of a high knee drill as I walked to my sprint spot. That helped a lot.

And even though I didn’t get my 5K time faster (oh, also there were very few sprinklers to cool me down today, as I ran an hour earlier), I did improve my sprint time:

  • 3.11 miles
  • 38:17
    • my 5K time after accounting for screen unlock time was probably 38:07
  • Best pace 5’32” during the last 0.1 mile
    • A better improvement than the Monday to Wednesday improvement

I might have one more single run dramatic improvement left in me, but I think I’m going to have to start actually training— fartlek, hill workouts, longer distances, sprint drills, etc.—to get better improvements. Losing weight will also help. For some reason a 17 minute 5K wasn’t too hard when I was skin and bone and quadriceps. Well, age may also play a role. Perhaps. Just maybe.

I did an upper body workout yesterday, so after my run I just went to the sauna for a half hour or so.

Losing fluid in the sauna

Oh, and I think I need new shoes. I’ve had these for a while, 4 years or so. They would be fine if I were my ideal weight, but….

Eye Contact

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It’s a song by Aussie band Midnight Oil. It’s great for fartlek workouts. Starts off slow, picks up speed, then just rocks. I was still going a touch uphill when it came up. It got me going a lot faster just knowing it was going to speed up. But it was over before I really got going downhill, so I took some time to unlock my phone, go back, and put the slider about half way through. I was kind of dying when it ended the second time.

I also had issues unlocking my phone at the 3.0 and 3.12 marks. So my time should have been faster. That said:

  • 3.12 miles
  • 38:06
    • 1:17 shaved off of Monday’s run
    • 37:56 was my 5K time (there’s that difficulty unlocking my phone in the dark with my pin)
  • Best pace 5’47” during the last 0.1 mile

After a post-run stretch and a little snack (frozen grapes, havarti, chunky peanut butter and crackers) I went to the gym for strength training. I planned to do a fairly complete upper body workout. (Most people have to be told to not skip leg day; for me it’s the reverse.) But after the torso twists, with a max load of 200 lbs., and the rowing and lat pull downs, I was feeling pretty beat, so I headed to the sauna.

This is my “fatigued smile” in the sauna.

I think for my next run, I’m going to do the same course as these past three, and try to push myself to a sub-35 5K.

By the Light of the Blue Supermoon

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I went for my second run since ’21 tonight, by the light of the full moon. I knew it was a Blue Moon, so I decided a picture was in order after my run was done.

With Samsung S23 Ultra, Pro Mode, don’t remember the settings, 10x zoom 
Same, but with the shutter speed allowing more light in
S23 Ultra normal picture mode, night filter
Appropo that I’m wearing a shirt with an owl on it

It turns out not only is it a Blue Moon, it’s also a supermoon!

[This] full moon is a Supermoon; a Blue Moon; the Sturgeon Moon; the Red, Corn, Green Corn, Barley, Herb, Grain, or Dog Moon; Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi Purnima; and Tu B’Av.

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/the-next-full-moon-is-a-supermoon-blue-moon/

As for my run:

  • 3.11 miles
  • 39:23
    • more than 5 minutes shaved off of Saturday’s run
  • Best pace 5’56” during the last 0.1 mile

I remembered to stretch both before and after my run. I also discovered Dave Brubeck Quartert’s 1961 Castilian Blues is a tad too mellow for the end of a run, but Gaelic Storm’s One More Day Above The Roses works quite alright, and the instrumental outtro that lasts just under a minute is pretty good for my end-of-run final 0.1 push.

Oh, and there was a cat stuck on a chain link fence as I was leaving the park that I helped get down.