21/52

Week 21 Recap

Gait analysis and breakdown

This week has been a continuation of last's weeks ongoing, too-busy to do anything kind of week. I saw it coming and I saw it as excuses towards not managing my time wisely to make do with my typical running mileage per week.

As a result, I banked all my long runs and long distances at the beginning of the week in accordance to the week's weather patterns. I knew that I can shift my rest days towards the end of the week with multiple days of rain ahead. Glad I did that.

Speaking of weather and seasonal changes, I will gradually be shifting my running times either super early morning (before the temperature and humidity skyrockets) or during sunset periods (when it is not in sweltering heat and peak UV) I recall trying to tough it out last summer when trying to do 15+ km only to retreat in defeat by hiding out at a gas station.

WEEKLY FEATURE HIGHLIGHT

Last Sunday, I was fortunate enough the catch the opportunity of enrolling a running workshop by Lululemon Toronto in partnership with The Runner's Academy. Today, I went down to the Lululemon Toronto store at Queen St West and boy did I learn a lot. Now the second half of the equation is to apply the key takeaways from today's session:

- Run in a "marching"-like motion, similar to a piston with the foot landing pushing the ground away (as physically demonstrated by using a rubber resistance band)
- The march is essentially analogically parallel to the A-skip exercise
- Leg crossovers (which is left and right legs criss-crossing with each other from one step to the next) is actually bad for you, gap within the legs should be slightly spread out
- Think of your body and your legs as the hardware, and the mental and the brain functions as the software. Sometimes it is the hardware that requires tuning up or vice versa.

With these acquired knowledge in mind, I intend to hold myself accountable by adding them to my stretches when training at the gym - such as the march like motion as well as being more mindful of leg gaps and not crossing over.

This upcoming week is a taper week, leading up to the Barrie Half Marathon for this upcoming Sunday!

​Cheers, M.W.

---