I went for my second run today. I headed out on the same route as last weekend, and was quite pleased with how I did. I got further up the last hill before giving in and walking, and when I reached the top, instead of collapsing against the nearest tree, I started running again, and got to the end of the fire trail, turned around, and ran back. While I did chunks of walking on the return journey, I ran more of it than I did last week – which was reflected in the fact I went further, in 5 minutes less.

My calves did let me know almost immediately that they hadn’t yet quite recovered from last weekend’s working-out. This unfortunately did mean the run wasn’t quite as enjoyable as it could have been, as I was conscious of my calves for most of the run. On the other hand, that led to quite focused consideration of my stride, which was interesting.

One particular thing I noticed was that the more like Haile Gebrselassie I ran (or rather, tried to run ) the more comfortable my calves were. The only problem was that after a few km of running, I lacked the cardio-respiratory oomph to do so for very long at all, and so had to revert to slower and smaller strides, not picking up my feet behind anywhere near as much.

I mention Gebrselassie not because he’s unique in his running style, but simply as an exemplar of excellent (and beautiful) running, and one who I have been checking out in videos lately. It was really interesting to me just how much better it felt to run like that – and particularly how much more comfortable my (quite sore) calves felt.

I was pleased to note that when I did walk briefly, my heart rate dropped quicker than I expected – and quicker than I think it did even a week ago. So I do hold out some hope I might be able to sustain the “Moves Like Haile” for longer as time goes on.

Plus, I’m still enjoying it. In fact I’m finding myself breaking into a run at random times, just because I happen to feel like it at the time. 8)