Wednesday 25 November 2015

Will it work?!


I'm not gonna lie .... there have been a few occasions in the past three months when I've thought "I wonder if this gait change really will make me faster." 


Actually, that is a lie.  What I actually thought, was: "...will this gait change actually make me SLOWER?"!!


My goal, as I explained in the first entry (second sentence!) of this blog, was that "I hope this will lead to an improvement in performance."  That improvement in performance, as I progress from late 40s to early 50s, is probably not so much about getting faster, as not slowing down.  Aside from the incredibly talented (and dedicated) David Heath, my 800m times over the last couple of years would give me a comfortable national medal and possibly European. 


But there is a risk that my old gait worked for me, and I'd spent 7 years perfecting it, and strengthening the muscles that drove it.  Now I'm starting again - will there be another 7 years before I've fully honed this new gait?  It's possible.


Nothing, however, will weaken my resolve.  I'm hooked on this new gait, it feels much smoother, I love running in shoes that weigh 1/3 of what my old shoes weighed, and being completely vain, I know that I look more like Mr Farrah than Mr Bean!


There's a bit of me that wants to fast forward to the end of this film to see how it ends.  I won't truly know until the summer of 2017.  Next summer (2016) will not be a true test, because I'm not hitting enough mileage this winter.  This time next year, winter 2016/17, I will be back up to the 80km/50miles per week, so summer 2017 is judgement day.