Another long run today, but at moderate pace. It felt great. I thought back to some of my happiest times running and was out there running with a big ol' goofy smile.
To keep my pace up, I started singing Jingle Bells a la piano student - counting meticulously to keep beat.
Jin-gle Bells (four) Jin-gle Bells (four) Jingle all the way (two three four). Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse opens sleigh, (two three four).
Yeah, I know. It was lame. But it kept me on pace and my legs responded to the rhythm of the song better then they did to my previous attempts at bargaining with them. It went something like this:
Come on, legs! keep going. don't slow down! what do you mean you don't want to go this fast anymore? Trust me, NOBODY calls this fast! Besides, I'm not asking you to go fast, I just want you to keep moving. Maybe I'll sing you a song to distract us both...
Hi, first time to your blog. A comment on pacing. I'm no expert, but I have learned a few tricks on pacing. First, you want to keep an 80-90 step cadence: do this by keeping track of your steps for 15 seconds and multiplying by 4. If you are under 80, you are plodding. Over 90 and you are running too fast. Second, once you have established where your cadence is, to help keep the cadence up you can do 2 things: (1) use your arm swing to keep cadence: keep the arms at a 90 degree angle and move your elbows backward, sort of like you are on an elliptical machine with the arm things; (2) count: left two three, right two three, left two three, etc. You should be able to keep on step. The arm swing and counting will cause your feet to follow. I'm not fast by any means but this does keep me moving forward.
ReplyDeleteWow, great advice. I'll try to remember that next time i'm out running. THX!!
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