I had a really enjoyable week of running last week. It's been 7 weeks since the Rotterdam Marathon. Whilst I was reasonably satisfied with the marathon, I was very much in need of a physical and mental break. The deliberate strategy of really cutting back the mileage and slowly building it back up has been just what the doctor ordered. Apart from the one week where I was really sick, I've slowly built the mileage each week. Last week I logged 120 km's, whilst not a lot, I'm quite happy with where I'm at. I've been running without injury or pain and to be honest, my enthusiasm for running has increased.
My coach, Sean Williams, scheduled some of my favourite sessions last week. Windsprints on Tuesday, long intervals Thursday and a longer tempo on Saturday (12 km's), all on grass/dirt. I did my longer Wednesday & Sunday runs through the undulating trails near home and the Monday & Friday recovery runs on grass. All up probably only around 20 km's or so on the road (session warm-ups / warm-downs on the way to / from training).
For the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting with Vibram Fivefingers (Bikila's). I've been using these for the Monday & Friday recovery runs and really concentrating on my technique. When I was down Melbourne way for the Victoria Masters 10,000 metre race, one of the girls down there commented that I really hit the ground hard making a loud slapping sound. It got me thinking about my footstrike, which tends to be heel first, especially when I'm fatiguing. The fivefingers are really frcing me to run with a more even footstrike and I've noticed some improvement. I've always ran uphill sections quite strongly. I guess living in the mountains you can't really hide from hills. Despite the solid uphill ability, I'm dead sead terrible with the downhill, especially on the trails. Last Monday I decided to try and do something about this. I usually follow my recovery jogs with 5 relaxed strides. I've been reading a few books & watching youtube stuff on the net and stumbled across some different ideas. The first thing I noticed is that there are various schools of thought. Some advocate, heel first footstriking and others midfoot or forefoot striking. After much research I came to the conclusion that I should just go out and run and do what feels most comfortable to me.
After a few runs in the Bikila's I've sort of adapted to a more midfoot strike without any conscious effort. I have had to make a deliberate adaption though for downhill running. That is leaning a little further forward and inflecting the knee at impact a tad. I've always known that you should lean from the ankles and let gravity do its thing, but it just hasn't felt natural to me. However by relaxing the knees at impact and moving the hips slightly forward, it has made a huge difference to my downhill running/. Instead of running with a natural breaking motion that stresses my lower back (ongoing cause of pain), I actually felt like I had some suspension. The usual pain I get in the lower back wasn't there and I also felt more confident to just let go and let gravity get me down the hill. Last night I crusied quite quickly down a long steep hill that normally scares the hell out of me. It was a great feeling. I'll keep working at it.
Some notes for my own benefit on technique. Others can say it is right or wrong, but at this stage I really don't care. Something to start working on and refine if necessary:
1) Hips forward but relaxed. I'm visualising that feeling of when you do those pelvic floor exercises to work on the TA's. The hips feel a little lower but more forward;
2) Maintain upright posture but lean slightly forward from the ankles;
3) Slight knee inflection on landing. Keeping the hips forward and slightly lower seems to naturally lead to this;
4) Concentrate on firing the hamstrings / glutes on lift-off.
There it is, my work in progress.
Key sessions last week:
Tuesday - 5 km windsprints - 17:02 (90% effort on grass). Floated the curves easily.
Thursday - 3 x 3.55 km's off 2:45 min recovery. Tough session on dirt. Splits: 12:42 / 12:34 / 12:58. Went too hard on the second and struggled on the 3rd.
Saturday - 12 km tempo - 42:24. Solid effort with a negative split and 3:19 final km kickdown. Okay.
Calendar Notes By Date:
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 29/05/2011
Time: 3:40 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: LongRun
Route: Winmalee - School - Bees Nest - Swamp - Winmalee
Distance: 22.50 (km)
Duration: 1:46:31 (H:M:S)
Pace: 4:44 (m/km)
Effort: 6
Notes: Trail run - undulating. 1 longish steep downhill AND 1 longish uphill.
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 28/05/2011
Time: 5:00 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: Recovery
Distance: 3.50 (km)
Duration: 0:20:00 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:43 (m/km)
Effort: 2
Notes: Warm-down
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 28/05/2011
Time: 4:56 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Redfern - CP
Distance: 3.50 (km)
Duration: 0:17:24 (H:M:S)
Pace: 4:58 (m/km)
Effort: 3
Notes: Warm-up
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 28/05/2011
Time: 8:05 AM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: QuickRun
Distance: 12.00 (km)
Duration: 0:42:24 (H:M:S)
Pace: 3:32 (m/km)
Group Run: YES
Effort: 9
Notes: Felt sluggish, but managed to run a negative split and kick down for a 3:19 final km.
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 27/05/2011
Time: 3:30 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: Recovery
Route: Parramatta Park - X/C
Distance: 5.80 (km)
Duration: 0:30:00 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:10 (m/km)
Effort: 3
Notes: Ran in vibram's and concentrated on foot-strike.
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 26/05/2011
Time: 5:40 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: Recovery
Route: CP - Central
Distance: 3.50 (km)
Duration: 0:20:15 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:47 (m/km)
Effort: 2
Notes: Warm down
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 26/05/2011
Time: 4:45 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: IntervalTraining
Route: CP - White Fence
Distance: 11.20 (km)
Duration: 0:43:55 (H:M:S)
Pace: 3:55 (m/km)
Group Run: YES
Effort: 9
Notes: 3 x white fence (3.55 km's) - splits 12:42 / 12:34 / 12:58. Short recovery - 2:45. Good pace 1st lap / a little too quick on the second lap / struggled on 3rd lap but maintained even pace.
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 26/05/2011
Time: 3:50 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Central - CP
Distance: 6.20 (km)
Duration: 0:30:16 (H:M:S)
Pace: 4:53 (m/km)
Effort: 3
Notes: Warm-up
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 25/05/2011
Time: 1:55 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Winmalee - Ridge - Swamp - Winmalee
Distance: 23.10 (km)
Duration: 1:50:46 (H:M:S)
Pace: 4:48 (m/km)
Effort: 6
Notes: Trail run. 2 loops of the Swamp AND Ridge. Rolling hills over the Ridge then long steep downhill followed by relatively flat section through the swamp and long steep hill back up to the Ridge. 8.9 km's each loop. Remainder of run along footpath between the National Park and home. Average H/R 134. A little leg heavy on the second loop. Finished run with 5 x 100 m relaxed strides with jog recovery. Last 3 downhill on grass focusing on technique. In particular placing more weight forward from the ankles and using gravity.
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 24/05/2011
Time: 5:10 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: Recovery
Route: CP - Central
Distance: 5.60 (km)
Duration: 0:31:52 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:41 (m/km)
Effort: 2
Notes: Warm down
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 24/05/2011
Time: 4:45 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: SpeedWork
Route: Mackay Oval, CP
Distance: 5.00 (km)
Duration: 0:17:02 (H:M:S)
Pace: 3:24 (m/km)
Group Run: YES
Effort: 8
Notes: 5 km straights AND curves session. 90-95% effort on the straights. Floated the curves at around 80% effort. Average H/R 165
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 24/05/2011
Time: 4:15 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Town Hall - CP
Distance: 5.60 (km)
Duration: 0:28:00 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:00 (m/km)
Effort: 3
Notes: Warm-up
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 23/05/2011
Time: 1:00 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: Sprints
Route: Track - Fairfield (Grass)
Distance: 1.00 (km)
Duration: 0:06:00 (H:M:S)
Pace: 6:00 (m/km)
Effort: 7
Notes: Strides - 5 x 100 (1) - Relaxed
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 23/05/2011
Time: 12:00 PM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Track - Fairfield (Grass)
Distance: 12.00 (km)
Duration: 1:00:00 (H:M:S)
Pace: 5:00 (m/km)
Effort: 4
Notes: E 60
-------------------------------------------------
Date: 22/05/2011
Time: 8:35 AM
Type of day: Workout
Type of run: EasyRun/Jog
Route: Winmalee - Ridge - Swamp (x2) - School - Winmalee
Distance: 24.60 (km)
Duration: 2:01:33 (H:M:S)
Pace: 4:56 (m/km)
Effort: 5
Notes: Trail run with 2 tough hills.
No comments:
Post a Comment