RUN UP TO 15 SECONDS PER MILE FASTER, WITHOUT INCREASE IN EFFORT!

GETTING READY FOR THE LOCAL 10K
Thursday Friday and Saturdays runs over the sandhills have been on the easy side apart from a few fast stride outs. Danny Dreyer of Chirunning gave me a useful tip on how to run faster without using your leg muscles, after I complained that I didn't have enough speed in shorter races using the chi method. Danny suggested that i try"rotating my pelvis as my legs swing. This allows you to gain valuable inches with each stride. By keeping your cadence at 90 and increasing your stride length you gain speed. Your speed will increase according to your ability to rotate your pelvis and drive with your hips (not your legs). This will engage your core muscles which are much stronger and last longer than your quads". This sounded a bit strange at first but i was surprised how my stride length increased and I seemed to get an added thrust pushing me forward, yes it really seems to work! My oblique muscles now feel a bit sore, but i guess it just shows I've not been using them before. Danny suggests that I could increase my stride length by up to 4 ins, some quick calculations in my head has me thinking that this could save me up to 15 sec per mile, anyway I'll give this pelvis rotation trick a go in the 10k on Sunday although I'm not sure that I will be able to maintain it for the duration of the whole race, but hell its worth a try! MORE
Sat 18th Another easy run with Tess on the Velvet trail with some fast stride outs, max 12.8 mph, felt good! = 33 mins.
Fri 17th easy run over the sandhills with some fast strides,=35 mins.
Thur 16th easy sandhill run with some fast strides = 37 mins.