Category Archives: Training

Injuries, Training

Knee injuries and running

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I’m not injured. I don’t think. It’s hard to know. A few of my friends, including Matt the Inept and JKB tell me of injuries or injury-proneness, but since I sorted out my flat-footedness with orthotics (sorted out for me by this guy) and lost the weight that was triggering shin-splints, I have largely been injury free. I think.

The strange thing has been, between the India trip (it was 40 degrees C in Delhi) and coming back to an uncharacteristically hot London (28 degrees here, crazy I know!), I’ve been uncertain as to weather the heat has caused some swelling in my knees, they’re still recovering from the 21k I ran last Thursday, or… nothing, and this is how 30-year-old-run-on-a-lot-knees are supposed to feel. Not hurting, exactly, but popping a bit and feeling a little tender (this discussion suggests minor patellar tendonitis, damn self-diagnosis…)

Needless to say, the Internets holds a variety of “wisdom” – stretching, improving hydration and knee braces are things I should consider according to this dude, this discussion on MapMyRun suggests running on grass to reduce impact, icing the knees, reducing mileage, taking painkillers (surely that’s mental)… and dietary supplements. But that said, most of the people with these “problems” experience real pain rather than minor aches. I’m on a 0 or 1 out of 10 on the pain scale (where ten is agony and 1 is nothing at all…)

I’ve always believed (though not always acted) on the guidance that you should “listen to your body” and I’m just not sure what my body is telling me… “work harder, keep building strength”, or “be careful, injury’s not far away.” I’m hoping it’s the former as tomorrow morning I try my first Runkeeper guided interval training session. Wish me luck.

Any thoughts from other runners out there?

Also: still looking for recommendations of additional (UK?) running blogs to follow, guidance appreciated – and links will follow in the blogroll!

LSR, Running, Training

Half marathon distance training run no 2

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Ouch. I keep forgetting how far 21km is. It’s far.

This morning, ahead of a trip to India for a family wedding I ran the ridiculous distance again – hoping to improve on my previous 20k+ effort. And I think I did – maintaining a split of 6m30 per for the duration of the 2h19 minutes I was running (that’s a LOT of running). The run data is on Runkeeper here.

It was tough going though – the first 10.5k were OK but the return trip got fairly gruelling. I’d foolishly opted for no vaseline as my new running shirts had arrived (needed to apply it mid-run when I hit the 12k mark) and my endurance began to flag then too – having maintained a target beating split of 6m16 per km on the way out, the return trip saw me lose a second or two per kilometer until I finished with the final average split. The voice prompts in Runkeeper continue to be an excellent motivating force.

I crossed the 13.1m barrier (21.1k) after 2h17 minutes or thereabouts – which means that the road to the sub-2-hour half marathon is pretty steep – need to shave a minute off my splits, give or take. But I’ve got time, and am planning on dialling some interval training into Runkeeper to help with my speed training.

Any tips from anyone out there? I’m continuing to subscribe to Sensei Paul’s school of thinking that any miles under my belt will help, even if the training is slightly haphazard, so pleased that I managed to achieve the distance again.

LSR, Training

Long Slow Run in the countryside – 16 May

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The weekend’s training was a bit of a mix – first a relatively gentle 10k on Saturday (although my quickest since I started recording runs with Runkeeper) – and then, whilst staying with Amanda’s family, a 10 mile country ramble on Sunday.

The 10-miler was challenging and entertaining for a number of reasons.

First; hills. My leisurely London route doesn’t really have any. My Hampshire ramble? Did. Very much so. Yowza.

Second; jogging with JKB, my brother-in-law, for the first 35 minutes, was good – but meant I wasn’t listening to the audio prompts from my new £6 purchase of Runkeeper Pro – resulting in my early pace being relatively slow (about 6m50 per km). I also need to warm up better – if not stretch – as it took about 35 minutes to work out the tightness in my shins.

Third; Runkeeper paid edition gave me audio prompts for the remainder of the run, pushing me to hit a target pace of 6m30 per km – great motivation, and will be invaluable in training. Looking like £6 well spent. I made it up to 6m33 by the end of the run – with some decent splits for me for a 10-miler. Overall, though, it was a slow run – 1h50 for the 17k (10.5miles) that I ran. I will need to up the pace significantly to beat the 2 hour target for the half marathon (either that, or get to a point where I can run the final 4k in 9 minutes!).

Fourth; I overlapped with the Hook Fun Run for about 5 miles of the run, which meant a lot of confused marshalls when I first ran the wrong way, and then ducked off on a “wrong turning” around mile 6. Accidentally ran two races last week, ish! Still, running as part of a “race” (even though I wasn’t racing) helped with the motivation and the pace.

I survived the run happily (fitness improving!) and only slightly stiff the day after (although a headcold/hayfever has held me up for a day or so). Hoping to get back into training tomorrow but the rest of this week’s training will likely be minimal as heading off for a cousin’s wedding this weekend (in India!). See if I can find an air-conditioned gym for a treadmill-based run whilst I’m out there…

Running, Training

Today’s long slow run – 9 May 2010

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Because I’m ridiculous, and slightly anxious about the half-marathon in September, to prove to myself I would be OK, I decided to run one today.

Yes, really. I am an idiot.

Still, I did it, and feel pretty good about it (the achievement, not in general. My legs are jelly). The furthest I’d run before today was a 14km run a couple of weeks ago, so this was 50% on top of the previous best. I managed it in 2h11 minutes, which I am happy with – hopefully in 4 months I’ll be able to shave 15 minutes off that and come in under 2 hours. Although today’s run was pretty gentle – mostly flat, good conditions, no traffic to contend with…

I need to get some better t-shirts, though, as the chafing (I know, I know, too much information) got uncomfortable after kilometer 4, so I ended up running barechested (calm down, people) for most of the remainder of the run. Which on a blustery, drizzly Spring day raised a few eyebrows, I can tell you…

Runkeeper went a bit mental after about 16km so I don’t have proper stats on the run, but I was going at what felt like quite a gentle pace of about 9.5-10km/h (a split of 6m30s per km), which was sustainable. That said, the last 3-4 km were really tough – at the limit of my current level of fitness (if not endurance). My legs are slightly wobbly now and I think I’m going to take a few days off… especially as I’m considering entering “beat the banana” (it’s not as rude as it sounds) on Thursday. Anyone fancy joining for the 5km sprint against a man dressed as a banana?

Running, Technology, Training

Running technology (or Nike+ vs Garmin vs Runkeeper)

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I’m not a naturally fit person. Exercise has never been an easy thing, and I’ve never really ‘trained’ as such. Talking to Sensei Paul about his marathon training, it became incredibly apparent how aware he is of things like his own pace, heart rate, the distance and time he’s trained for, his energy levels… well, there’s an app for some of that, I discovered.

Nike+, a combination heart-rate monitor (HRM), wireless pedometer and reasonably clever iPhone app seemed a sensible first port of call. It was relatively cheap (about £40), it would help work out pace, duration, etc., and there’s a HRM with the sportsband. By working to improve my pace and trying to get my training heart rate up, I’d gradually improve. However… after reading a couple of articles like this one it became apparent that the Nike+ tool isn’t massively accurate. Worse, there were mixed reports on the (non-replaceable) battery life of the sensor, some saying it lasted as few as 30 miles (other saying it lasted for 2 years). And worse still… I gave up Nike shoes about 5 years ago, so would have to use it in a shoelace pouch… which according to fellow B2L runner Susannah makes it less reliable.

So that got scratched off the list.

Next up was the Garmin Forerunner 305; £133 worth of giant-ass GPS watchery. Now; other than cost and the fact that the watch face was the size of a small heli-pad (you should read some of the Amazon reviews), this seemed like a better idea. Runners loved this; even Sensei Paul, who only got a mobile phone about 6 months ago (seriously, its true!), thinks this is a good idea. Everyone wanted me to get one so they could play with it… but, I’m saving up for a house and an iPad, and it was a lot of dosh… so I decided to try an iPhone app first and see if it matched the features in any way without draining my iPhone’s battery down to zero.

Enter RunKeeper Free. It is, erm, free, uses the iPhone’s GPS to track your pace, duration of run, route of run, elevation and everything else.

And it is awesome – amazing for something that costs zero pounds and zero pence. It does drain the iPhone battery quite quickly – I run listening to music and a 30 minute run takes off about 15% of the battery life of my 3GS. A 50 minute run took out 25%, so there’s some proportionality. But given that my longest run is going to be a couple of hours, and the iPhone charges up hella fast, I don’t think its going to be an issue. The GPS lock is quick (assuming you turn Wifi off, which apparently interferes). The app keeps tabs of all of your previous runs – here’s one of mine.

The only problem I have with RunKeeper is that the iPhone needs to be out in hand… so I’ve had to invest in an armband – we’ll see how much difference that makes when it turns up.

I’ve used RunKeeper three times and its proving effective in motivating me to improve my efforts (my slightly obssessive personality kicking in again, trying to beat my previous paces on similar runs)… I have been followed on Twitter by the makers of an App called SprintGPS which I might try out as it supports other exercises too (cycling etc). Will keep blog-readers posted on progress…

Do you use running technology? What’s your view?

Running, Training

Stretching

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There are a lot of things I want to write about on this blog – as with everything I do, I have added a layer of geekery and obsession to my new running habit. Expect posts on running technology, clothing, New Balance trainers, iPhone apps, music choices, route planning, fitness development, muscle tone, core stability and more… but the one that’s really getting me at the moment is the simple stretch.

I really suck at stretching. I lack the patience and the self-awareness to feel the stretch in the relevant muscles, and so I tend to spend a couple of minutes making what could only be called a token gesture towards stretching before jogging off, and another minute or two at the end dealing with whatever cramps or tightness I’ve acquired.

This week, it went a bit wrong after a 5-mile pre-work jog a couple of days ago, and so now I find myself, cramp-calfed and in search of a stretching routine.

This chap maintains that pre-run stretching is pointless (true?) but does have a number of tips for cool-down stretches that I will try tomorrow after a 10k run (I’m going to shoot for 15k on Sunday, my longest distance yet). I’m hoping that introducing a ‘routine’ to it will give me something to work through…

Anyone else got any good tips? It feels like my muscle tightness, not my overall aerobic fitness, is the biggest barrier to my speed at the moment, and if I have any hope of completing the half marathon in under two hours I’m going to need to sort this out…