Running Legs Returning.

(Standard 10k run - not on flat, 330ft vertical)

10k run – almost 9 minutes faster than the previous effort at 50’05”. Intended to run yesterday but got caught up in travelling and entertaining guests. Suspect that it worked out well having two days of full recovery from the bike race – my legs felt it more on the second day off. Unusually I even felt a slight amount of DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) which usually doesn’t happen in even very hard cycling.

This is the first time since returning to running recently that I actually felt like I was running. Still another 8 or 9 minutes to drop to return to my previous best form – but I don’t see that happening unless I lose a similar number of kilos of fat. No doubt that such a dramatic increase of pace will give me another significant DOMS tomorrow. Tried to run with mostly mid-foot landing and working on all the positive aspects of mechanics – allowing the leg to stretch a little behind, lifting the heel high, ankle loose, pulling knee forwards with foot directly behind, dropping the foot down vertically to land/strike, keeping the center of mass slightly forwards (falling), tensing lower abdomen (protecting back), avoiding over-reaching with the stride even on the descents – compensating by increasing cadence. Used standard trail running shoes with cushioning. Didn’t run at all with forefoot strike this time – although it feels good when I do it over short distances , I have to make that change a very long term goal.

Feel s like the bike race really helped to blow away some cobwebs. I found myself wanting to accelerate and push hard when running – just like in competition on the bike. It’s easy to see how you just get stale training on your own. Competition seems to activate some sort of unconscious drive and leave it switched on for a while.