Re: why does the first mile suck?

On Mar 28, 1:41 am, "Charlie Pendejo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

If the first mile is "killing" you and not just moderately stiff and
awkward, you might want to try it slower.

That's my preference. And I try not to start out going straight up a
hill, although hard to avoid sometimes. If I can keep my heart rate in
the sub 70% range for the first mile, then I'm good to go. When it's a
beautiful day, I just want to bolt from the start, but the legs say
"gah!"

--
Phil M.

"Charlie Pendejo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

determined said:

Almost invariably, the first mile I run just kills me. I start out
feeling stiff, distracted, etc.

It's at least very common if not universal for the first part of a run
to be less pleasant. The concept of warming up didn't come from
nowhere, and if you aren't completely warmed up before a run, you'll
have to do so during it.

If the first mile is "killing" you and not just moderately stiff and
awkward, you might want to try it slower.

I find that doing other things to warm up a little - some self massage
with "The Stick", some Whartonesque dynamic stretching, etc - seems to
help somewhat, as in maybe the stiff and awkward phase is less
pronounced and over quicker.

IMO, you either go for a few miles of warm-up and then try to get on
pace fairly quickly with no discomfort to achieve the best clock time,
or you start off slow and use the first few miles as your warm-up and
don't worry about the lost time those first few miles To come out of
the gate tight is about the worst option as neither you muscles nor your
heart are ready or efficient.

-Doug