W2D3 Complete

Last night I completed W2D3 and I'm beginning to notice some improvements both physically and aesthetically. For the last 5 workouts I've tried to focus some of my energy on making sure I went slow and steady which meant reducing the normal length of my strides. I typically wear a size 13 or 14 shoe, depending on the type and brand, but I actually had to go up to a 15 for my running shoes. During the warmup walk, the length of my strides is similar to my normal walking pace I just rebound and move onto the next step quicker than when I'm just strolling along.

Since I'm 6'6", my legs are fairly long so my stride during the warmup walk ends up at about 1.5 shoe lengths so 22 inches; give or take. During the first 5 workouts I shortened my stride down to about 15 inches which may not sound like much but it's actually tough to force yourself to move at the pace of someone a foot shorter than you. Last night, though, I was able to move closer to my normal stride, maybe 2 inches off, while still maintaining a reasonable level of comfort during the run. The strides felt natural instead of forced and my breathing was actually a little bit better. Part of that is due to the fact that my lungs are getting used to the run but I think the fact that I'm not wasting energy focusing on shortening my strides is only helping matters.

At any rate, I'm now 2 weeks into the 9 week program and I'm feeling great. I've gone 14.4 miles so far so, by the end of this next week, I should surpass the 20% mark of my goal of 100 miles by year's end. I'll be out of town this weekend, though, so I won't be starting W3D1 until Monday night after work. This is obviously going to alter my typical running pattern of Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday with two days off before starting the next week. Since I'm slightly anal, I'm planning to go Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week then take just one day off instead of two to get myself back into my normal pattern.

To anyone that's made it through these first 8 posts of my progress, thanks for sticking it out with me. Stay tuned for more posts in the near future.