Hmmm...

so maybe there is something to this running cadence thing after all. Sunday normally isn't a training day for me, but with all the golf and fantasy football drafting on Saturday, I missed my workout. I ran 3 miles yesterday afternoon - concentrating on my cadence the entire time. I counted my foot touches about once every 2-3 minutes and I was always at either 29 or 30 - right where I need to be. The result:

3 miles in 22:04 = 7:21/mile

This is without a doubt the fastest that I have ever run three miles, and I felt like I could have continued to run at this pace. For reference, my time in the Anthem 5K (3.1 miles) back in March of this year was 24:28 (7:53/mile) and I was pushing as hard as I could on this race, with nothing left at the end.

So I'm now a believer. Increasing your cadence is truly the best way to become a faster runner. The goal is to eventually get to the point where I don't have to concentrate to run at this new cadence, to where it's my natural running style. This will take lots of training, but there's no better time to do it than now - after all, this is technically my "off season".

For those keeping track, I did spin class (45 minutes on the bike) at the gym this morning. I didn't push it too hard, I'm still a little tired from my 3:45am wakeup call yesterday morning!


Speaking of Ironman, I checked this morning and 2345 people completed yesterday's race. The last guy crossing the line in 16:57:13 - 2 minutes and 47 seconds before the cutoff! Congrats to everyone that competed...even the 104 that started, but were not able to finish. Hopefully they will train harder and try it again!