Now that is much better

So after getting good sound advice from other runners and from people whose advice I trust very much I took all of yesterday off.  No weights, no bike, no exercise period and boy it paid off.

This morning I rose at 5 am and hit the bricks.  I changed my route slightly to eliminate a short but extremely steep hill and that helped.  I ran 2.25 miles in 27:26.  That would be a personal best pace for me of 12:11.  So I think this new  2+ miles route is a bit better.  there are still hills, but just not that one that I dread.  Lets put it this way.  from one house to the next on the block that this hill is on I would say there is a 10 incline.  So maybe 10 ft incline over 70 ft or so.  I am sure I could figure the grade, but what I know is that it is killer for me.  But I learned something else today.

During the last 2 tenths I started to lift my knees a bit more.  This created more speed and longer strides at about the same cadence (not sure if that is a running term, but I am using it anyway).  So I get away from the straight leg shuffle and look more like I am running.  The other thing this does is keep my breathing under control because when I run things move (my excess girth) and if they to quickly breathing becomes extremely labored in a big hurry.  So I will try to lift my knees a bit more on tomorrows run of 2 miles.  then Monday will be an off day with some lifting.

Tomorrow I will do my run and weigh in to see if I made my 299.8 goal.  I will post tomorrow afternoon to let you know.  And maybe I will take a picture or two.  I think I can safely say that the progress is not going to vary to much over a few tenths of a pound if I don't make it.

Question for the runners.  You run and that conditions your legs for sure but if you lift do you ever do any strength training for your legs?  I have been just working on upper body strength training and not doing anything with my legs.  What do you guys do?