Maquinna's Poop du Jour

Taking It In Stride

I was pretty focused this morning on the mile run I have to do as part of the first week of boot camp - this establishes a baseline for improvement over the course of the camp. My last baseline mile run, in early June, had me coming in at 11:49. Not great, but I was looking forward to some improvement.

And then the ruptured tendon thing happened...and a summer of living like a slug...

I really thought I was running better this morning than I had that first run in June. Back then, I kind of split the walking and running evenly. This morning, I know I did a lot more running than walking. I keep track of these things.

So how is it I came in at 12:30 today?

I was so disappointed. I couldn't figure it out. I knew I'd been running more than walking, and I felt fairly strong. I was so pissed at myself, that when it came time to do the other part of our baseline endurance testing - pushups - I did 25 of them in a row, with an angry grunt punctuating every extension (for the record, back in June I managed 8 pushups before giving up, but since then I've learned how to do them a little better).

I marked my time down on the clipboard and put a :( frowny face beside it.

Through the rest of the workout, then cool down and stretching, I tried to analyze where I'd gone wrong. The improved stamina will come, I know - and even by changing little else I'm sure that better stamina alone will result in a better time three weeks from now, but if I'm really going to improve, I have to start taking a look at what I'm doing - or not doing - compared to those who are running better. What occurs to me is their stride.

Sure, I was running, but my strides were barely greater than I might do simply walking. Part of that I think is nervousness - I'm still a little afraid of overextending my legs and getting injured again. But as I thought about how I watched all the other women in front of me (OK, I wasn't dead last, but the vast majority of the others were definitely in front of me), I realized that I was seeing their legs stretching out further, taking up more and more of the pavement with fewer and fewer strides. I spent all that extra time and energy taking a lot more steps.

I'm going to have a few weeks to test out this theory. During the usual short morning runs at boot camp, I can try taking longer strides and see how my legs react.

Boot camp this morning ended, however, on a far more positive note. I made a photography pitch to all the other attendees, offering free portrait services to help me develop my portfolio. Before I left I had given out at least twenty business cards, which was a far greater response than I expected. Looks like I'll be busy over the next few weeks doing portraits for Christmas cards, more engagement photos, and who knows what else. I expect to have a real trial by fire dealing with small children as subjects, but maybe I can talk one or two people into having some more creative portraiture done.

posted by Maquinna @ 10:18 a.m.