It seems that getting better is like watching paint dry. The progress is not happening over-night, but it slowly creeps on you. This is what I noticed when running with Russ, this Friday.
This was my 3rd full 10K, plus I run last weekend the 6 miles with TNT, that I interpolated to 10K. My times so far are 55:53, 61:53 and 52:11 for the full 10K and 50:03 for the 6m (approx. 52:08 for 10K). So it seems that last two runs are pretty much the same. But there were quite a few differences. On the last run, Russ was trying to teach me, how to shorten my stride, and make a better, more consistent run. Yes, so far most of my speed came from running a fairly long stride for a marathoner. I knew deep inside, that I can't probably run for long with that stride and the pace I needed, but at the same time, it gave me false hope that I'm improving with every time I run faster. Now I think the reality started to sink in, and I started taking advice from people that are much smarter about running than me. So thanks to Russ, one of the surprises from my Friday run, was that my average heart rate stayed pretty much the same for about 5 miles. What's even more important, is that the heart rate was never over my "age formula" limit (220 - age). One other difference from the previous runs, was that we head on one way almost 20mph head wind. Yes - the wind gave a great cooling effect, but it also felt like I was standing still, and not moving. So overall I'm very happy with that run. I learned a lot (and I still have a lot more to learn) about my running. I also maintained my time from the week before, improving my overall quality of run (lower heart rate, shorter stride, etc.) I'm really looking forward to run more with Russ - he's great instructor, and I'm learning a lot from him!
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