Running Improvement

I have run twice this week, so far, and biked once.  Swimming is out because the pool I use, Barton Springs, is  closed because of the Austin City Limits music festival.  Both of my runs have been good ones and the bike was ok; pretty fast but cut short because of weather. I wanted to go more than 40 miles, in fact 50 miles was the goal, but a torrential rainstorm hit us as I was dashing back home for cover.  I ended up riding about 25.

My running is improving.  My base conditioning is the highest its ever been at this time of year and I've not yet started my base training.  I am pleased with that.  Yesterday I ran 7 miles in about 55 minutes.  That is not a fast time but I was pleased as there was nothing substantially difficult about the run. I am focusing on always keeping form and a high cadence which for me is tough to do.  A one leg turnover of about 90 strides a minutes is the goal and that's hard for me to maintain. I will either lose focus or fatigue shows up and the cadence falls off.  What I am looking to do is keep cadence but shorten the stride when fatigue is building or my aerobic capacity is hurting.  I've found that when I do that I can maintain pace.

I took a very brief rest at mile 5 for some water and then finished home.  It was hot, close to 90 degrees which always just sucks the energy right out of me, but I managed to do just fine.  All of it without my ipod either...what a bummer.  Maybe I should run all the time without one?  Well my hearing might improve, or at least not deteriorate any further!