An approach I can appreciate, plus some physio

I have mentioned a few times on here that I read a lot on the Runner's World forums and I enjoy the banter and posts by a lot of people.  From a running point of view, I think it's fair to say that there are a lot of differing opinions about what is the right or wrong approach to training and I guess it's also fair to say that I am guilty of confirmation-bias!  I.E., I seek to read stuff about running that broadly confirms what I already think....

Over the last 18 months or so, I have come to the firm belief that running the majority of training miles at a steady pace is the way to get faster overall.  I am not saying speed session aren't important because they are, but overall I think running steady is what has helped give me my recent improvements.  By "steady", I mean 60-90 secs per mile slower than marathon pace; I think many people mean steady as marathon pace (or even quicker!), which I think then means people get very tired, which can lead to injury and under performing on marathon day.

Anyway, as part of this confirmation-bias I came across this on Runner's World from a guy who in his time was a very quicker marathon runner.  It is an interesting idea!  He is contactable on Twitter via @gobi_one

When marathon running I peaked at 130 miles a week. 

A simple reality is miles make champions otherwise Paula/Hallie etc would all do 30 miles a week with perfect sessions and be brilliant. 

Here is one for you:
- Benchmark by running 5kms HARD
- Run 40 miles a week all easy with NO speedwork
- Run 5kms HARD
- Repeat until you stop getting PBs
- At this point you have to decide, do I have time to run more?
- If yes repeat the process on 50 miles a week
- If no then start looking at "icing" (intervals/tempo/progressive/alternates) 

It is a journey

Anyway, I have been suffering a bit with sore achilles so I decided to take myself off today for a sports massage which hurt.....A LOT!

Generally he thinks I was in reasonable shape, but suggested some ideas to help:
- cutting down the top of the heal of the shoes I run in to prevent excessive rubbing.
- lots of massage with a golf ball on the sole of my foot.  This will hurt.
- doing a stretch to help with the front of my lower legs/shins, which are connected to the achilles.  I forget the name of the muscle he used now, but I'll look it up.  Basically, the stretch involves kneeling on the and sitting directly on my heals, and then leaning back to stretch out the front of the lower legs.

He did imply that he wasn't overly concerned about my achilles themselves as he couldn't feel much scar tissue there.  In fact, he commented that he would have expected more bearing in mind my age etc.

Other than that, he again reiterated stretching out my hip flexors to help with perceived tight hamstrings:
- squats
- stretching out the quads (lifting heal to bum, holding foot, and pushing out hips).

Hopefully I'll be in shape to run Bideford Half Marathon this weekend.....we'll see,

Exeter Half Marathon

I mentioned in my last post that I had suffered an injury, but the stretching and a couple of days off did the trick.  I also did all my runs at a very easy pace for two weeks, as I was gearing up for a race this morning which is my first "A-Race" of the year, and one I was hoping to do well in.

After the recent very bad weather, this morning was pretty much perfect running conditions.  The sun was out and there was no wind, so all was looking good for the race.  There was some frost on the ground in a couple of places on the lap, but by lap 2 of the 3 lap race that was pretty much gone.  So no real concerns there either.

I had planned to set off at 7:30 pace and I kept that in mind.  During the first 1/3 of the race I was purposefully holding myself back a bit but I went through in 33mins so I was more or less on target.  The second third was a bit tougher, but I was still on target for my sub-1:40, so all was looking good and at this point I was just trying to stay relaxed and concentrate.  It is fairly easy to lose concentration at this event as you find yourself in the middle of a line of runners and I find I end up running at their pace, even if it's a touch slow.  Anyway, I went through the second third of the race and I was feeling good.

The mile markers were slightly out which was worrying me a bit all the way around as it was quite tight in terms of my goal time and my watch has measured slightly over.  I did slow a bit in the last third which is frustrating, but I'm delighted to say I got around in 1:38:54 (this is my watch time so not official yet)!!  I'm really, really pleased as this is over 3-mins off of my previous PB!

The splits are 7:23, 7:26, 7:26, 7:24, 7:25, 7:24, 7:28, 7:28, 7:33, 7:34, 7:36, 7:41, 7:49 with the last bit of 1:18 (7:09 pace), so you can see I did slow which is annoying and shows I went off too quickly I suppose?  Interestingly though, according to my Garmin this works out at exactly 7:30min/mile, which was my initial target so I suppose it all came out in the wash in the end.  If you're interested, the Garmin trace is here, and you can see it's as flat as you can get.

This wasn't a Championship race so there weren't that many Trotters there (just 5 in total).  However, one "Trottette" did a massive PB by knocking 5 minutes off her time and went under 1:30, so she is delighted.  Well done her!

Not the best picture but this is me just before crossing the finish line.

The dreaded "I" word!

I've only blooming well got an injury.  Grrrr.

I mentioned at the end of my last post that I had a bit of a tight back.  It turns out that this is actually a hip issue is my left hip.  Reluctantly, I had to concede defeat with it and haven't ran since Monday of this week (I'm writing this on Thursday).  I also won't be running today, but I'm hoping to go get out tomorrow or the weekend.  I thought it had got better, but it's definitely not cured so I needed some time off I think

I have the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies (a good book by the way) and I think it is my Gluteus Medius or Piriformis in the left hip.

Interestingly there is the following at the end of the section I'm reading:

"To take better care of your piriformis muscles, be aware that unaccustomed vigorous activity places them in jeopardy.  At the other extreme, prolonged immobility can set the piriformis up for trouble.  If you find that your job or your lifestyle keeps you sitting all the time, get up on your feet and do something."

and

"Finally, don't let anyone tell you that rest will solve the problem of myofascial pain.  Inactivity is a classic perpetrator of trigger points"

Looks like I need to give up work then....

The recommended treatment is massage with a tennis ball against the wall.  It does seem much better today as I did 4 lots of quite intensive (i.e., painful!) sessions on the hip yesterday, as well as moving around as much as I could at work and it seems to have eased a bit.  I jumped out of bed without really thinking about it today, whereas yesterday I kind of had to fall out!!  

I did go to the club yesterday but only to hand a form in for the club trip.  I did get a pang of jealousy seeing them all there limbering up, but I'm hopeful I'll be back on it soon.

Speaking of the club, it's our AGM soon.  The 'press and publicity' role is up for grabs and I've stuck my name down for that, and have got the 2 required signatures to be nominated.  I fancy becoming a bit more involved in the club and this seems a good way.  The role involves writing a weekly report and sending it to the local press, and writing a weekly report for the news section of the website.  For the content, it involves nagging people for stories and pictures, which I'm quite good at!  Of course, I may not get the role yet, but I'm hoping I will.

Fulfords 5

Having never raced a 5-miler before, I did my first one yesterday.  I was using my 5K PB from Wednesday as the pace target and I pretty much nailed it today as I got 34:03 - McMillan suggested 34:09 from my 5K time.  I did have a "Garmin malfunction" due to human error though.  At the start line I must have missed the start button as I noticed after about half a mile that the time was still on 0.  I could still see my pace though, and I pressed the start button at the 1 mile marker so my Garmin only shows 4 miles.  However, the results have been published and I got 34:03 so I'm pleased.  The splits for those 4 miles are below, and the profile for the whole 5 miles, so not quite as flat I had hoped.

Splits 2-5:  6:48, 6:49, 7:07, 6:34 = 27:30.  So my first mile must have been 06:33

In summary then, I got a pretty big PB on Wednesday at a 5K where my average pace was 6:38min/mile and quite a strong run out yesterday where the average pace was about 6:48.  So, I've got to be pleased with this, and I am hoping that I am on target to get under that 1:40 half target that I've set myself.  The predictors show I should do this comfortably, but I don't want to be greedy!  1:39:59 will be fine with me!

This week it will be lots of very easy miles, and then an easier week the week after to prepare for my first Half of the year.  I was tempted to do a cross country race next weekend, but I've decided that I won't do that as I don't want to risk injury before my first "A-race" of the year.

I have picked up a slight back issue as my lower back feels quite tight.  I'm really wary of my back after having issues in the past, which is another reason for the easy mileage.  I am not sure if the two short races so close together have contributed but I need to be careful with that.