Taking it to the Next Level!!!!

  Where to begin?  Let's start with my mileage.  The longs run surpassed a very crucial level this week.... 10 miles.  Only five more miles to my longest training run.... and more importantly only 5km to my goal distance of a half mary!!!!  My speed progressions have even gotten longer (all the way up to 1200km).  Let's talk about speed.  I feel as if I am getting a little faster.  Ten days ago, on the second portion of my long run, I ran 2 miles with the big boys and was able to hold a conversation.  My muscles don't seem as tired as I thought they would, either.
  This leads us to form.  I truly believe that if you improve your form, you will see results.  After my last race, I had the privilege of sitting in on a workshop with Nick Lehecka from Fingerlakes Running Company.  Something he said stuck in my mind, something I've always stressed.  You can only control one set of muscles at a time.  To combat this, he teaches you to bend you knee to get the other leg to drop straight underneath you.  I've been focusing on this and my legs seem to stay more underneath me.  Unfortunately, Nick stopped at that and didn't give us the other tips from his class.  Yesterday, while doing my speed work, I started thinking about getting my other muscles to do what I need them to do to get better at running.  I need to lengthen my stride a little and breathe more efficiently.  Expanding on Nick's idea, I started playing around with arm-swing.  Of course, you can only do so much of that on a speed workout.  On my not so "recovery" run home, I noticed that greater arm-swing opened up my chest (which made breathing easier) and I had more rear leg extension.  So, this week, on the nine miler, I will play with it even more.
     This brings me back to my running plan.  Running only three days a week in unorthodox.  All of my running friends are on the 6 days a week plan.  The three day plan (with two cross-training/strength/core days) seems to be helping me stay injury free.  I actually had to stop running last year because of plantar fasciitis.  Earlier this season, I also took a little time off because of a calf strain.  The plan calls for a day off (from running only) before and after each run.  Although, last week, I did a 3 mile tempo run on Friday, 10 mile long run on Saturday and a 5K on Sunday.  I still felt fine, and more importantly, I feel like I can keep up with the plan.  It also helped me set a realistic goal of 2:10 for my half in October.  I almost think that I could hit 2:05.  Depending on how this form work goes, I will have to assess whether I have an additional five minutes to play around with.

     One final note:  GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THE RUNNERS OUT THERE!  MAY YOU STAY HEALTHY AND HAPPY!!!!