Listening to My Body

Everyone always talks about listening to their body…what if your body suddenly wants to sleep in all week?

I had a very hilly 7 mile long run on Sunday. I wasn't intending the run to be so hilly, but that happens sometimes when you just follow a trail, not knowing where it is going. It was one of the hardest runs I have had in a while, and I had to walk way more than usual (typically only 2-3 very short walk breaks during a long run…usually after a big hill that I was determined to make it up). However, the good thing is that I finally think I learned how to run down a hill! I just never even put much thought into it, I mean down is a no-brainer, right? Turns out…not so much. As I was running up and down all these hills (sans headphones), I realized that my feet were awfully loud when I ran downhill. So, I started to pay attention to my form. It kinda felt like I was leaning back a little bit (in actuality, I was keeping myself vertical to a flat surface, so yes I was leaning back compared to the hill). The great people on RWOLBF explained to me the whole 'center of gravity' theory and that I need to be actually leaning into the hill (lean forward at the ankles for both up and down hill runs). I tried it out on my very short (1 mile) recovery run on Monday and what do you know…it works! I felt much more at ease (easy running instead of stopping myself from falling down the hill) and I wasn't nearly as loud. It is going to take some practice to get use to the feeling of leaning into the downhill, but it definitely works better than my old technique!

So anyway, I don't know if it was that hard run on Sunday, or just a little burnout, or some sudden lack of motivation, or just that I need to go to sleep earlier…but I have had a hard time getting up early enough to actually make it out for my runs this week! I had a little time Monday, but only enough for a couple times around the block for that 1 mile recovery - to try out the hills. But yesterday and today, I pretty much had to jump in the shower and head out to work. I used yesterday as a rest day, but I really need to get my butt out for a run tonight. Hopefully I won't be too worn out from that to run again tomorrow morning. I wanted to at least get in a speed workout before my 10K this weekend.