Yesterday was another great long run. 16 miles with 2x 4 miles at around 5:48 pace. I feel really strong and confident in those. Then I had a good lift in the evening. I'm focusing on higher weight and lower reps for leg strengthing. Deadlifts, squats, single leg squat-lunges, glute bridges, etc.
I saw an interesting video about how the soleus, around the calf muscle, is a huge part of force generation during the push off phase of running. I haven't targeted that muscle in lifting but for years my calves and specifically the soleus have been sore. So that's likely a weakness I can address. Also I think I lack power in general, relative to aerobic fitness. So this could have double benefits of being less sore and also faster.
Today was an easy run. I did a short jog to a nice grass field that's going unused due to COVID but is not locked. One of the pretty obvious realizations I had is that I should do warm up stretches and drills early in every run, not just hard efforts. On easy days I'll save that stuff for the end but often that means I do the whole run feeling stiff and trashy and with poor range of motion. Today would've been one of those days if I hadn't stretched and done strides and drills early.
It's probably a hold over from college when I could seemingly go out the door and start feeling good on any given day. Warm ups were optional. Those days seem to be past. But when I'm on, I'm as good as I've ever been. Excited to see what strengthening my calves can do for me and also continuing to develop speed while also getting in high quality long runs.
I'll try to do daily check ins more often.
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