Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

Superman plays The Tab Game on Wikipedia. He usually starts with a question or curiosity, like "how does one smelt?" As he reads the article, he opens a new browser tab for each linked page that also interests him. The game is figuring out how he got from the effects of nuclear explosions to irukandji jellyfish, in a single session.


When I am avoiding more important things have nothing better to do, I browse the blog lists of my favorite bloggers in a similar manner. I may end up with 15 or 20 tabs open, all seemingly random blogs that caught my attention on my favorite's pages. This is why I have no idea where I found Rick and his post on Steve Magness's running theory.


It being past midnight at the time, I did not read Steve's website thoroughly. I bookmarked it and sent it to Ninja, who is also trying to improve his run. What I did read was Rick's description of Steve's "Science of Running," where you think of the road like a treadmill and let it drag your foot and leg behind you. The idea is you use less energy, because the elasticity of what he called the "hip stretch/reflex mechanism" will then automatically lift your foot and pull your knee forward.

For some reason I believe I ultimately should be running an hour a day every weekday, with a long run on the weekend. At this point I'm not yet capable of running every day, not to mention 5-6 miles a day every day. I had that goal in mind however, as Superman and I headed out for our regular Tuesday run. Having a busy day, I had not gotten back to Steve's website, but as we headed out I thought about Rick's description and tried to put it into practice. 

My splits:

11:00 - I apparently always start out fast
10:43 - a gentle downhill grade
11:17 - feeling the run here, with cramping down the back of my thigh
11:11 - told Superman I had to slow down due to cramping

I knew I was pushing, but I don't know I would have made it 4 miles, pushing that way with my normal stride. I also changed the way I taped my toes, which may actually work for a longer run. 

Overall, I still don't know what I'm doing, but I must be doing something right. Wheeee!