Harder Effort

I read and heard somewhere before that leaning forward when you run, especially for heel strikers, improves your stride and essentially makes you faster. I tried it before, a few strides at a time but found it uncomfortable. I tried it this evening on a 7.7 mile run as it is a technique (falling forward) for improving stride advocated in the book I am currently reading. The run was essentially the same 6.7 mile loop I ran most days last week with a 1 mile diversion on the return leg. I wore tights, long sleeved top, woolly hat and gloves as it was colder than usual - this warmed me up more than usual. While leaning/falling forward certainly increased my pace I wasn't all that sure it was improving my stride and it certainly wasn't improving my economy as my heart rate had risen to match the pace. At times it felt uncomfortable, like the pace was controlling me - I felt like a runaway train. Perhaps it is something I could get used to. While I had no specific reason to run at a faster pace I maintained a steady effort throughout finishing in 56:57 (07:24 Pace @ 157 HR) HR still higher than it would have been a month ago before the marathon.