Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Tread lightly

I saw the results of the Bull Canyon 10k today online. I finished 4th in my age group-4th. 2 minutes faster and I would have been in the medals. This is how a runner's mind works: I saw the clock when I crossed the finish line; I read my garmie which pretty much confirmed the clock. And yet I still hoped against hope that somehow the official time recorded online for all eternity would be under one hour. Maybe the clock and garmie were both wrong-don't laugh, it could happen....the good news is that next year this race will be chip timed. They really need to do this since there are close to 1000 runners participating in this race and I know I wasted precious seconds just getting to the start line while the clock ticked away.

I'm really focused on improving my form. Hubby got a good picture of me starting the race and my form is terrible. The best way to approach this is to identify the problems and correct them one at a time-if a runner tries to correct everything at once, it gets overwhelming; it can be too many things to think about at the same time. So if I can address one problem and focus on correcting it for 2 to 3 weeks, then hopefully it will become a habit and I can then move on to the next problem.

So my current issue is to run lightly-to try to hit the ground gently rather than pounding the pavement. This seems to be the easiest problem to resolve. I ran 8 miles yesterday and about every 1/4 mile or so I reminded myself to run lightly rather than heavy, trying to make the sound of my running dissapear. I wasn't entirely successful but I'm convinced I can do better. I don't want to continue to be one of those runners you can hear coming from miles away!

6 comments:

Bob Hazen said...

Great race - I know you'll break that 1 hr mark soon. Most likely you'll do it on a training runs with no one around and you'll wonder why if felt so easy....
Keep up the good work!

The Running Bob said...

Whoot! Whoot! Way to go! Once again, not a last place runner! Truly awesome.

robison52 said...

I find I can run more softly if I shorten my stride a tad and focus on midfoot strike and then lightly lay down the heel. I just can't run softly if I land on my heel first.

The way you're progressing a sub one hour will undoubtedly come soon! Eventually you're going to need to change the name of your blog...being last place is quickly becoming the thing of the past.

Sherri said...

you definetly don't want to pound the pavement. Nice of hubby to take photos. glad you had support. You may not have gotten under 1 hour this time, but there is always next time. At least you did it! And not a bad time at all! good for you

greentigress said...

Wow, what an amazing thing to come 4th in your age group!!
I can't run naturally if i'm being photographed, I don't know if i know enough about running to correct my form from a photo anyway!

WendyBird said...

Sorry you missed your goal, SO CLOSE!! You will get it soon. If you want to find a realy good feel for treading lightly, go for a short run (100 yards) barefoot, I was really shocked at how it made me aware of my form