Running can be a Spiritual experience

Yesterday was my Long Slow Run and I had planned on going for 12 miles. Mike couldn't run with me this time (it has been several weeks since our last run together due to schedules), so I was a little bummed and not necessarily looking forward to it. But it was on my training plan, I wasn't injured or tired, so I had no excuse but to get my "Grrrrr!" on and get out there!

The run turned out to be really nice! I took the Prairie Path (my usual LSR route) down to the Dairy Queen (6 miles) and turned around to head back. All winter, the path has been bare trees and brown but today, it was green and filled with birds singing, squirrels, geese, and life! It was about 37 degrees outside so there weren't a lot of people on the path yet (it was 6:20am) so it was peaceful. You can feel God at work on days like this.

As I ran along the lakes, I had to stop at one point to take photos of the steam rising above the water. It was amazing! I was listening to a podcast about the TV show "Once Upon a Time" (love that show!) but I only used one earbud because I wanted to ear what was going on around me.

It was so serene and calm, it made my running feel smooth and light. I was wearing my Newtons again (this was my longest run in those shoes so far) and they felt great on my feet. I was trying to focus on my running form and keeping a good cadence going. I got to the Dairy Queen pretty quickly it seemed.

The return home was equally nice. I finished with a hard run for the last 1/4 mile, running at a 7:30/mm pace to the end of the path. That was fun! My overall pace for the 12.46 miles was 10:45/mm which included the warm-up/cool-down walks. I like to keep my LSR pacing at around 11:00/mm so I was a bit too fast but not complaining. My heart rate was about 50/50 in Zones 2 & 3 so that is acceptable for me (my coach however would prefer most of it be in Zone 2).

Today, I planned on a 10-mile Walk early in the morning before going to church for Easter Services. So at 5AM the alarm went off, and I got up and got ready. I left the house at 5:35AM and decided on a route that would take me to my son's middle school, then to the Dole Mansion, passing Crystal Lake (the actual lake), and on to my church. Then from the church, back down the main road and back to my home eventually. Total miles: 10.13 at a 14:53/mm pace.

The walk started off in the dark so I had my trusty headlamp on. But after about a mile, the run started to peek out and the world began to brighten. The sunrise was awesome -- my first Easter Sunrise while out on a walk. Gorgeous! The birds were singing, geese were out flying, and practically no one was out (a few people walking dogs and a few runners. Almost no cars!).

I brought music with me, starting out with the soundtrack to Godspell (I love that musical). It seemed fitting for Easter morning. And then I just listened to random Christian music tracks (put the iPod on shuffle mode). It was pretty amazing that most of the music played fit the Holy Week/Easter message of sacrifice and renewal. I was truly in a spiritual zone during that walk in a way I hadn't experienced before.

I came home relaxed and centered. Church services today seemed more poignant to me today as a result of my walk earlier. It was just a great Easter morning! I won't lie though -- by 2pm, I was really tired and took a nice nap before our family dinner. :)

So the week ended on a marvelous note for me. Total mileage for the month of April is 51 miles so far! That's ridiculous, right? LOL But the kinda cool thing is, I feel fine. My legs feel fine. I feel like my body is finally getting used to all this running stuff! I can remember back last April and May, when just running in a 5K race would leave me with tired/sore leg muscles for several days afterwards. So I guess training really DOES matter!

Think about your Stride Frequency (Cadence) to improve your runs

Today started with a good speed work run using a metronome to maintain a cadence of 90 (180 beats per minute). I ran my intervals of 3x500m at a 9:00/mm pace (with 1-minute recovery runs at 10:30/mm pace). I added 5-minute easy runs at 10:00/mm pace between sets.

Maintaining a cadence of 90 made things feel 'different' because I had to work on a new breathing rhythm. That is still a work in progress. But I could see how the lack of a steady breathing rhythm really affected my heart rate. But, I did the whole run in about 42 minutes which was excellent. It was a nice way to wake up, and start the day with 4 miles in the books.

Tonight I had another Natural Running class and it was awesome! We spent a good amount of time talking about Stride Frequency (cadence) and Stride Length to manage speed and running efficiency.

After we did some warming up, we went out for a short run as a group, with the coach running along to watch, make suggestions, and direct the flow. The objective was for us to get used to running at a cadence of 90.

So what is Cadence? Cadence is the number of steps you take in one minute. I usually calculate this by counting the number of steps of my right foot in 30 seconds and multiply that by two. So taking 90 steps in 30 seconds means your steps per minute is 180 (which is where you want to be). At least that is what my trainer tells me.

Some interesting things about cadence. You increase 'speed' by varying your stride length, not your stride frequency (cadence). My trainer told me that the faster your cadence, the less 'air time' you experience. The slower the cadence, the 'higher' you are when airborne, which increases the landing forces on your body, which can cause injury. A faster, consistent cadence can result in a smoother, more efficient running form that lessens impact forces on the body.

It also can make you faster. My trainer got on a treadmill and proved to us that she could maintain a cadence of 90 while increasing/decreasing her speed by adjusting her stride length. Even as her stride lengthened and she sped up, her cadence stayed at 90. This is what the elite runners do. The energy to increase your stride length is much less than the energy it takes to increase your cadence -- hence more efficient running.

In my Natural Running class tonight, we worked on cadence while doing acceleration drills. We sped up and slowed down, but kept our cadence at 90 (using a metronome to help keep us at the right stride frequency). It was awesome! My fastest running pace tonight was 6:30/mm!!! Granted I was only at that pace for maybe 30 seconds but still, that was fast!!

You can read more about it at this site, which talks about cadence and how the elite runners use it for speed and to reduce injury due to excessive stride lengths and impact forces. I am still working on getting comfortable with this whole thing since my usual cadence is between 84-86. But I can see/feel the benefits of getting to 90.