View Workout (Scott Smith)
Mt pleasant
August 14, 2023 (Morning)
Exercise Type: Run
Comments:
Training for mt rainier so I’ve been running up to the mt pleasant observatory from my house to get prepared.
Really interesting how doing different sports, constantly cross training, and taking rest seriously has paid off. I seem to have found my low gear, where I can just go forever without fatigue. It doesn’t even feel like I get tired anymore, I’m not out of breath when I get to the top and i feel like I could do it over again if I didn’t have to drink water. A lot of it comes down to diaphragm control, something that I sorely lacked senior year of high school. That and fueling myself right. It feels really good to conquer a hill I thought was far too difficult in the past, especially since I did this same workout the 13th and still feel fine. Feels like I’ve come a long way.
I guess I used to think that I could dawg it out no matter what, that the harder I pushed myself the faster I would go. This was helpful for a while, but I’m at a spot now that it’s much more about finding my floor and slowly raising it than pushing the ceiling up. It also makes me love exercising more which helps.
Been working on my form a lot too. I keep my head up and locked onto the horizon which was a big problem in XC, and I’ve found that placing my feet on one line in the middle makes my stride even more efficient. It opens up my hips which is crucial for hill runs, and makes everything easier. I did some accelerations and when I was fully loosened it felt like I was flying, I don’t know how fast I got but my cadence was 120 so my strides were super long. That’s the way I like to run, I don’t care about what people tell me is the right cadence.
Going up the hills was a big form change too. I’ve found a really wild way to climb, I throw my feet to the opposite side of the body, so that my right foot lands under my left shoulder and vice versa. This really activates the hips and core and keep my stride length super short meaning I can power up any hill without getting tired.
Aight that’s all.