Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A le recherce du savoir-faire perdu (In Search of Lost Skills)

I can't remember the last time I had a week when I planned to run two days in a row and actually did it.  Progress!  Only three more to go this week (whoo?).

Today's run was 4 miles.  Yes, I can still run 4 miles, and what is more, I can do so without dying.  Big advantage over trying this in Florida at this time of year.  My time was still meh, although I am not thinking too hard about that.  Right now is not about improving the time, right now is about improving the actually going out and running part.

There are a couple of other things that could stand for some improvement.  For instance, I have zero ability to run up hills.  I did manage to find one today, although it was actually an overpass, not an honest-to-goodness hill.  I could feel that there were muscles, somewhere, that used to be able to tackle things like hills.  I could also tell that those muscles have not had much of a workout as of late.  With any luck, I will be able to locate another hill (or reasonable facsimile) so that I can improve.  Then there is always Pittsburgh...

I also think I've lost the ability to zone out for long periods of time while running.  Instead, I check my Garmin obsessively, counting down 10%, 5%, and near the end of the run, even every 1% (I may have also noted 2.5%, but that's pretty easy when you are running 4 miles).  Hopefully I can get back to the zoning out and not noticing how long the run is taking.  It's a good skill to have when you are a slow runner.

The only way to get better, though, is practice.  Here is hoping that I am back on track.

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