Sports & Fitness The Running Thread (All Abilities)

Just saw this thread pop up, good to see some people getting out and enjoying some kms. Sorry about the ongoing struggles @Propagate.

My two big runs got cancelled or delayed which was kind of a blessing as I had been running right on the edge of an injury to try and get race ready. By not shooting for an event there has been no reason to take things so close and I have stopped running and started doing a few easy spins just to keep a little fitness. In the last week I have tried two runs and felt good after the first, the second there was just a little niggle in my calf so another week or two of no running and then hopefully will get back to regular easy runs once or twice a week. All in all there was no major injury sidelining all activity.

Been picking up some HIIT sessions on youTube to mix things up a bit and try and build some all round strength which will hopefully pay off when I get back to running.

Really looking forward to been able to get back into some serious sessions as I miss the intensity and distance sessions.

 

I’ve been running distance for 8 weeks now in the track and field off season, and because of the Covid situation.
Have never built an aerobic base in my life because I only do short sprints but will aim to focus more on the 400m and even have a good crack at the 800m in sub 2 mins in the next season or two.
For the past 8 weeks I’ve only been doing easy 8-10km jogs to build up a base, no fast “long” runs.
Today was the first time I actually pushed the pace for a 5km on the roads and did it in 21mins flat, definitely not an endurance athlete....It was hard.
Maybe another few years can get me down to 18mins for the 5k, but I probably won’t race anything past 1,500m/mile consistently, and even they feel like death....
Might just go back to 200/400’s if it doesn’t work out.

 

My 10-year-old boy is doing 800m in 3:16 and 3km in 16:50.
12-year-old girl is doing 800m is 3:36 and 3.5km in 20 min. She isn't improving. If anything declining a bit.

I want them to be balanced in both running. Based on these stats, should they improve sprinting or long-distance first?

 

@devank , 800m and 3.5km are two very different distances and training programs need to be tailored for each of those distances.

Generally, if you want to improve speed, you will need to teach your body to run faster for longer. Just doing a long slow run wouldn't do much for you your speed. You will rarely find any short distance athletes doing anything longer than a few kms.

For 800 m, i think the best way to improve is to do 400m repeats with rest between intervals. The quicker and fitter your kids get, the shorter the rest time.

As for the 3.5km, i would think that a longer slower run (say around 7km max at tempo pace) can help as it's not really a short distance but i would still emphasize on doing longer repeats fast repeats, like 800 *4.

 

12yo girl is probably having a growth spurt and limb length ratios, leverage power, etc getting all messed up, it will pass.

The kids' 3km and 3.5km times are virtually identical, allowing for the extra 500m.
5'37s/min for 3km v 5'42s/min for 3.5km
However, the 10yo boys' time is much faster for the 800m being 3'16 vs 3'36.
Genetics plays a big part to, training can only get you so far.
Both distances are predominantly aerobic rather than anaerobic, so sprint work will be less rewarding than aerobic work.
But it doesn't hurt to throw in some faster paced work once in a while.

They will develop at whatever rate they do, you can't force the results and there is rarely balance unless you neglect one area to drop down, but that will limit potential.

At this age they can start general strength training which will help.

 

I've been running up and down that hill next to my house. Fitbit tells me my resting heart rate is now down to about 62bpm again, so that's great.
Today I've also discovered I can unicycle down that hill too! (Using a brake to help on the descent).
I can't unicycle up it though. I will work on that.

 

More running up and down that hill. Today I did 4 ups and downs, followed by a 60-90 sec break, another 2 ups and downs followed by a ~30 second break and another up and down, a ~40 second break then a final up and down. And a ~15 min break, and another 3 laps

My resting heart rate is now back to 60bpm, which is what it was pre ankle injury.
Very happy

 

How’s everyone’s running going at the moment?

Ive just passed 4 months of consistent running since Covid started, up to about 50km/week now and so far so good.

Strange thing is that my sprint speed is at an all time high with only a few max velocity training sessions during this past 4 months, which is a pleasant surprise

 

I’m still running!

It’s just the hill next to my house, and it’s not a massive run by any means, but I’m still doing it!

 

I'm slowly getting some base back. Been hammering the bike, using a Zwift indoor set up, got my cycling FTP up from 252 to 297 over 5 months. Strongest I've ever been on the bike but can't go anywhere to use it.

Knee rehab has been going great, I'm almost pain free! Started light 5k's again about 5 weeks ago using the carbon blades for the toe arthritis that I got made in the States. Great for the toes, horrid on the feet, ankles and knees as they restrict movement of the feet so much. Very hard to run outdoors in them. I did maybe 5 runs on the treadmill in them and gave up, suffering through the toe pain instead (which incidentally continues to improve).

Back up to regular 10k's from about 3 weeks ago, not putting the volume in that I was before as want to keep up with the bike training too.

Got an optical speed sensor for the treadmill to calibrate the treadmill and smashed a 10k PR last night on it at 42:20, very happy, knee held up great and minor toe pain. For the first time since December I actually feel hopeful I'll be able to get back to some long trail runs again! Intersting that my shorter distance speed is almost up, if not better than it was before but I've only put 120k in since December. The bike training has improved my VO2 Max massively I think, so need to get some endurance back in the legs for the long runs.

When Stage 3 restrictions came in I went out on the bike and did a "Burbing", rode from the house and rode up and down, in and out of every street within two blocks of our front door, by the time I got back I'd done over 60k and 750m of climbing and surprisingly wasn't boring! (helps that most of the two blocks are acreage properties on hilly dirt roads, plus got to intimately know every nook and cranny of those two blocks and all the little cut throughs. Amazing what's right on your doorstep when you take the time to really look.

Stage 4 now, so planning on doing my version of "The Hour Record", our street is 2k end to end and about +40m vertical top to bottom, going to hit it on the bike for a solid hour and see how many K's I can get in. Anything just to keep some sort of motivation up.

@Ace in the Hole interesting hey? I found the same thing, when I tried to train for speed (one of my goals was to go sub 20 minutes 5k), it didn't seem to make a huge difference. I did get faster but not enough and found I was injuring much more easily doing the speed work. When I went the other way, slowed down and maxed volume (ran for 100 days in a row for a minimum of 10k per day, weekends were HM's and 30-40k trail runs) but all at lower HR and efforts, biggest weeks were over 100k per week. Toward the end of that I was beating my 10k times almost weekly finally went sub 20 minutes on a 5k and felt indestructible on the long runs.

 

Great post!!
Regarding cycling.... I rode with road clipped pedals for the first long ride ever on Sunday. I fell 5 times in just over 40km. All from different reasons. Worst fall was the first though... scrapped skin off my knee (was wearing short sleeves and shorts cause the weather was nice). I'd expected the gal in front of me to go at an intersection but she didn't. So the lesson of that is, if in doubt, unclip.

I was having unclipping issues too, left ankle isn't strong after surgery especially in pivoting outwards and a fall was due to the inability to unclip that ankle (even though the pedal strength was at it's loosest setting)

SPD-SL pedals are annoying too, being one sided. So, I decided, if I ride with locked in pedals it's going to have to be some mountain bike pedals (2 or 4) sided instead.

 

@Gockie I've been riding clipped in for 25 years and I still can't do it without falling over, which when you're on very technical MTB terrain is not pretty!

I'm similar to you I think. I have limited rotation movement in my ankles/knees so I can't kick my ankle out far enough to unlicp.

BUT there's a solution, not many people know about, get rid of the cleats on your shoes and swap them for the "Multi Release" versions - link below, (assuming you're running mountain bike clip-less and not road style?

It's hard to explain, but these ones have an extra chamfer on them which lets you unclip by sort of rolling your ankle to the side perpendicular to your bike rather than having to rotate your heel outward. Very hard to explain, but it means that you're clipped in for push/pull but they are far FAR easier to unclip from especially in an emergency! So much so that you'll automatically unclip without even thinking about it if you fall off.

In the mean time, do you know hoe to wind off your pedal spring tension? There's a tiny allen head screw behind the spring in the pedal, if you loosen that off a bit it makes un clipping easier, but still nothing like as good as multi release cleats, i'd really suggest getting some. Like I say, I've ridden for 25 years and used to race mountain bikes, always in multi release cleats.

I've never had a clip incident in all the years I've been using multi's and I try and get anyone I know onto them whenever they mention a falling over at an intersection ;-)

https://www.bicyclesuperstore.com.a...poH192z_lV8LlrsRaIKFsgSC3ii0FhFRoCzrcQAvD_BwE

 

Another very good post.
Ps. Yes, I know about the spring tension too, and it was all the way down to the lowest (easiest to unclip) setting.
I could generally unclip the left ankle pivoting inwards, but even that needs a certain amount of force and on that occasion, I just couldn't do it. And the previous time I pivoted inwards to unclip my ankle/shoe ended up hitting some part of the bike frame quite solidly.
I'll have to try the mtb clipped pedals instead, or just ride with free feet. Suits me as someone who unicycles a lot.

 

Yeah, sorry, I missed the bit in your post where you'd said you'd wound the tension off already.

I can't recommend enough the multi release cleats, MTB pedals and Multi Release cleats, clipped in without having to think about it.

 

....just to add too @Gockie if you do get some multi release cleats you'll have to wind your pedal tension back on a bit, they unclip so easy that with too loose a tension you'll be bouncing out of the cleats, the spring tension needs to be tighter than what you need for single release cleats.

 

I just did my best running today. Powered up the hill and shaved about 30 seconds off the usual time
Re: clipped in bike pedals. Never going to use these ones ever again.
Anyway, due to skinning my knee from the bike ride and from an aerial tissue “tissue burn” injury, I missed 2 consecutive weeks of aerial tissue classes. So I did a class yesterday and another the night before. Last night I was struggling due to the class the night before (Cause you really work out your core and upper body doing the classes) and my triceps and abs are really feeling it today. I call it a good thing, but I should never skip so many sessions! Or I should do comparable “classes” at home.

 

avg'd 150km/ week this year hope my speed can come on as quick as yours though!

 

Massive! Nice work.

 

Anyone entered in UTA? sounds like they are still looking to hold the event with correct approvals and restrictions etc blah blah blah

I'm keen to go still so hopefully it's on. But my training has been lacking riding and on the go but not enough running. Doing about 60km/wk to work and a 10km run if I'm lucky.

Have entered a group online run to raise money, Run Against Violence. Broken Hill to Sydney. That should get my act together and I'll book the bike in for a service so I have no choice to run commute.

 

I don't believe it's going ahead, despite what they say. I'm going to move my entry to next May, might have a chance to get the training in as I'm just getting back after an injury.