Experimentations

I went out for a quick run this morning.  I arose from bed 5:20 and got out of the house by 5:40 AM.  I walked-jogged my way to UP Acad Oval for roughly 5 minutes, did basic stretching, and began my run.

I had initially planned to do a 5K.  My bigggest limitation in doing morning runs is time  as I would need to be back in the house before 6:30 so that I keep my day job and keep my boss smiling. 

In actuality, I just finished 3K – okay, it’s what you call the very, very short run.  There’s one thing I did today that I don’t usually do.  I EXPERIMENTED WITH EVERYTHING -  the length of my stride, my pacing, my form, breathing…  And now I realize this is what happens when there is hardly any science in your training –  that is, you go for the only approach you know how to do, which is TRIAL and ERROR. 

The Bara-bara runner does it her way again.  And after running 3K, with plenty of these experimentations in between, I got side-stitches which suddenly got me lazy to go on running and so I started walking back home at around 6:20 AM.

The target “fix” I had been wanting to make is how to lengthen my stride –  just to take advantage of my longer limbs -  and make it my comfortable pace in training runs and in actual races.  I have gotten used to this other “comfy pace”  (which keeps my breathing stable)  that takes short strides but greater emphasis on higher running cadence.   In the past, my goal was to get a quicker feet despite the shorter step. 

But a friend of mine tells me I still could lengthen my stride as my legs are longer anyway.  And seeing her run faster with longer strides (and she would run past me in races!) made me grow envious, and I thought I should take her advice.  But then, from this morning’s experimentation, I realized my comfy pace still works better for me as I’d grow so easily tired with trying to run with longer strides.  I feel I’m not cut out for that as I had ended up short of breath and whining of side-stitches -  instead of getting improved running performance. 

I feel I have to revert to my old comfy form and pace.  At least for now that what’s I know I should do…

On running forms

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”   I get a selective amnesia in recalling things learned from workshops and seminars so what usually stick in my head are a few catchy remarks I find relevant to my personal situation.  Call me egotistic, and just who isn’t anyway.  Hahaha.   From the Running Aid 3 clinic at ROX about three weeks ago, it’s one of those lines a doctor-speaker repeatedly uttered that stuck to my head:  “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”    And he’d often say it while critiquing, rather politely, on people’s running forms.

 

My running form is far from perfect;  in fact, it probably is so bad that my friends comment on it even without my asking. 

>  The ‘Hippy Form’:   Defined as ‘running with catchy but unintended hip sways that can be potently distracting, enough to slow down possible opponents’   (at least that’s how my friends put it)

   Look, I am not at all happy about it :  highlight on UNINTENDED.   Am not even aware that’s how I run!  Bwisit!  Ayoko kaya ng ganyan!   So, yep, I’ve been trying so hard to be consciously controlling the hip sways.  But during races, I couldn’t care less about my form as I have enough worries to attend to -  and on top of it is how to stay running and keep myself from walking.

 >  The ‘Weird Right Foot Stride’ :  And again, they all agree my right leg moves weirdly.  First, Maricel (my althlete friend who’s a staple winner in races)  commented on this when she saw me running in ULTRA.  She said, “alam mo, okey yung kaliwa mo diretso ang landing nya sa ground, pero yung KANAN, parang lumiliko, basta hindi diretso ang bagsak… dapat diretso lang…”    Surprised at the comment, I just said, “Ahhh… Talaga?…”  That’s when I first became aware of it.  

Then in Clark, when my officemates saw me run, they said there’s some “arte” effect in my running and that my right leg does the “arte” thing -  that it’s too “pa-girl”.    I, being aware of it already, told them it’s a defect I need to solve.  And one of them replies, ” Ah talaga?!  Akala ko ganun talaga dapat, ‘kala ko technique yun!”   NGEKS!  It’s not a technique okay – it’s a DEFECT.  Ahahaha!   During my birthday run-and-eat celeb, the MPG runners verified it.  My right foot is weird.  FINE THEN, it is.  Now you guys tell me how to fix it.  Hmp.

Then again, I wonder if I’m broken – if my running form is – and if I needed the ‘fixing’.  The thing is, I’ve been running regularly and I feel strong, I’ve trained for and successfully finished my first two 10K races injury-free (now I’m not really sure if people should be injured in running just 10K distances, hehehehe!), and I don’t feel weird pains after doing long runs (or are my runs isn’t really ‘long’ in the first place?… owww).

Anyway, I think I need ‘fixing’ because I’m darn SLOW (!) I couldn’t even do a sub-75 minutes for 10K runs.  Gee, I have such bad time record in races I shouldn’t even be writing about it.  Sheesh.