weekend update

In case you were wondering, both events went really well. The Pose clinic wasn't really fun (mostly because I was so neurotic about being the only non-athlete there), but it was helpful. I improved my form a lot, and gained some confidence that I can run without injury. At the end of the clinic (5 hours of running drills, with about 3 breaks of about 10 minutes in the AC), I ran 4 minutes with very little pain in my injured knee. Go me! I'm still going to wait a week before I start week 3 of the C-to-5k program, but I'm sure I'll be able to finish it by the end of September if I can keep my form correct.

I'm probably explaining this badly, but the way I understand it, Pose breaks running down to three things--getting into the running pose, falling forward, and using your hamstrings to pull up your support leg. Basically, you're pulling your legs up and always landing under your center of mass, but since you're falling forward, each leg actually lands in front of the other. While reading the book, I couldn't see how that could possibly work, but after the clinic I understand that it does. And after seeing the before/after videos, I see that it doesn't look nearly as silly as I thought it would, either.

However, the one even slightly negative aspect is that the cadence (number of steps/minute) is considerably higher with this method than it is with my former running stride. Even though the instructor said I was actually doing an 11-minute mile, I felt like I was moving mega-slow for the amount of times my feet were hitting the ground. I'm still not entirely convinced, so it'll take me a lap on the track to convince myself that I'm really going that fast.

But whatever--if it makes it so I don't hurt my knees running again, I'm sold on the method even if it takes me 20 minutes to run a mile.

The ride also went well...We got to the starting line late, so we didn't actually get on the road until 7:30. My left calf was majorly sore from the running clinic on the injured knee, but it didn't really come into play with the ride, other than to slow my walking down at the rest stops. The weather was warm but overcast, and there was a 6-7mph wind throughout.

About 10 minutes into the ride, we discovered that my natural pace was too fast for Rob, so we slowed down. We averaged about 11-13 mph until we turned onto FM 529...and into the wind. Oh, sweet Jesus, the wind. Our pace slowed to 8-9 mph. I was still feeling fine, but Rob wasn't doing very well. We had to stop every 30 minutes or so after the first half of the ride, because he was having problems with his feet falling asleep.

Long story short, I finished in about 4 hours, Rob in about 4:15. For the last 3 miles or so, I was by myself, since Rob was having leg cramps and told me to go on ahead (I couldn't really help him anyway, and the SAG vehicles had been by 3 times asking if he needed help whenever we stopped, so I knew that he'd be okay if he got to where he couldn't finish). I averaged 14-15 mph for those last miles, and it felt really good. I'm not sure that I could have gone at that speed the whole way, especially into the wind on 529, but that little stretch did tell me that I was much more fit on this ride than I was on the Biking for Sight ride last September.

Like that ride last September, I pretty much passed out for the rest of the day. I need to find a way to get over that--it's all cool to be able to ride 30-40 miles, but I'd like it more if my body didn't go into total hibernation mode afterward. I have shit I need to get done on weekends. :)

Today, I'm limping pretty badly--my left calf is as sore as it's ever been, I think. I blame the running clinic and my injured knee for that. My thighs aren't sore at all from the ride, though I'm pretty sure my ass would protest if I tried to get on a bike seat anytime in the next few days.

Overall, I'm happy with how my body performed this weekend. Sure, I could have done the ride in less than 3 hours if I had pushed myself even a little, but I wanted to do the ride with Rob, and it was probably more fun at a slower pace anyway.

UPDATE: According to my calculations, I earned 37 activity points over the weekend. That makes me feel less guilty about the burgers & cheesecake.