I had 2 great days of running, yesterday I ran with a bunch of friends and it was a blast- Nancy Stewart (who is probably the premier women’s runner of her age but has taken a break from it), Julie Collins who is a good friend, Steph Orman, Tuba, and my friend Jim. It was just a great group, everyone gets along and supports each other to run well and race well. We’re all trying to get together for lunch soon, and I hope to run with them again soon! My legs are finally freeing up but I have to be careful because when running with people that are slower than you, your running biomechanics change- when that changes, you increase your chance of injury.

Your body actually runs most efficiently at a pretty steady clip, so what we all have a tendency to do is slow down when we run together… and I am the worst culprit of that because I love running with my friends.  But if I increase my pace, I actually feel better and recover faster.

Remember, the faster you run, the more you’re pumping blood through your vessels and increasing your chances of removing lactic acid, so you want to run just below that anaerobic threshold -  that’s where you’ll get your best recovery miles in.

So today I ran a 6:30 pace for 9 miles and it felt fabulous! this is the first time in about a month where I felt that my legs were beneath me and they were going at a pace that felt comfortable and they were recovering!