Objective: tempo run by time and effort (4.5 miles is a guess). Warm up, 2x20 min at effort which was harder than MP but not as hard as 5K with 5 min. recovery b/t, cool down. 5:15 AM: 42F, rain then occasional light shower, little wind. I found my legs felt worse today than yesterday, the usual DOMS, and I really wanted to bag the plan for a tempo run. But I decided to go by effort level and time and just do the best I could on the theory that this would be better than nothing. As with my VO2 workouts, the biggest problem was oxygen, though my legs were not happy either. An observation: I can turn up the cadence (higher than 185) or I can get better stride length with push-off and heel raising, but I cannot seem to do both at the same time. At a higher cadence, my feet slap the pavement uncomfortably when I add the "better" running form. I do like the feel of the stride length effort better. Up and down hills, the higher cadence with lower foot action seems to work well and on the flatter bits (teensy bits, in my neighborhood) the more powerful stride seems more efficient.
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