Wednesday, January 11, 2012

How is the Body Supposed to Work?

Yesteday, I got up, ate my breakfast, and headed out for my now "normal" run, an easy three miles.  I start out at an easy pace and since I did a trainer ride yesterday (40 min at 21.78 mph - I'm getting faster already!!) as well as a short strength training session on my break at work, I decided to take it easy; just a breezy three miles at maybe 8:30 pace to keep my body moving.

Do you ever think "Hey, that's not how my body's supposed to work!"?

Well, I'm running, I'm running, I'm running.  With less than a mile to go I start feeling some fatigue.  I'm still VERY early in my training, so it's to be expected, right?  The odd part is that the fatigue is nowhere near my legs or my cardiovascular system.  It's my arms!  My arms are tiring out from RUNNING. 


I start thinking Ok, I know that my sport is pretty lower body dominant and that I don't spend that much time on my upper body, but this is just sad!  It doesn't stop once I'm in shape though either.   Remember the Providence and Vegas 70.3s?  I had cramps in my biceps & shoulders during the run.  CRAZY!!

Oh, and remember how I was going to take it easy today?; "just a breezy three miles..."  Yeah, I finished at 23:00, 7:40 pace.  I knocked off another 14 seconds per mile by just 'taking it easy.'  I wish it was that easy all the time. 

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Questions
1.  When you run, do you ever feel fatigue in your arms?

2.  Do you ever decide to not push the pace and then find out that your body did it anyways?


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.  

4 comments:

Chelsea said...

My "nice and easy" runs often turn out to be my fastest.... No idea why.

Re: your arms. You know what Mona would say.... Drop your arms and relax your shoulders. Although I did a 6 mile tempo run yesterday and my arms were sore too, so who knows?

Chelsea said...

My "nice and easy" runs often turn out to be my fastest.... No idea why.

Re: your arms. You know what Mona would say.... Drop your arms and relax your shoulders. Although I did a 6 mile tempo run yesterday and my arms were sore too, so who knows?

CupCake@ Bigger Girls Can Run Too said...

I haven't had any fatigue in my arms while running, but this past week I have noticed some fatigue in my abs and neck. I realized while running this morning that I was tilting my head back (maybe in an attempt to keep myself upright... not sure).

Coy Martinez said...

I've never had upper body issues from running. Well, I take that back, on the treadmill I can get a little stiff but I have a friend who gets shoulder aches and in one 13.1 we ran together I ended up having to massage her shoulder. Was weird but she was in some odd pain. Hmmm.