Tight Fight

5k tempo day. Since I was still recovering from the previous night’s hills (curse my tight leg muscles!), I decided to take it easy. It was to the point that not running with a limp took some focus. No injury…just tight, tight, tight in the backs of my legs. Fortunately, we had a mini yoga class afterwards so I knew I would get some good stretches in.

The first km started off nice and easy at around a 6min pace. Then, we slowly picked it up. By the third km, our small group of 6 runners was decidedly staggered. My focus remained on strong effort but a relaxed run (it sounds like an oxymoron, but it is possible to do both), and – most importantly – making sure that my foot stride remained even to avoid causing injury. And I'm happy to say I was able to do negative splits, so I finished around a 5:35 pace.

Success! And I’ve also decided to (again) take up yoga. Specifically, “Yin” yoga, or the kind that focuses on stretching, stretching, stretching. Time to grab those muscles by the knots and stretch that tightness right out of them.