Some recovery work - stretches, icing, etc. to the achilles on Wednesday and Thursday resulted in me being able to go down the stairs almost normally when I got up today!! There's still a bit of soreness, but mostly the pain has gone.
I took James to the gym this evening and had a light cardio session, all on the upright bike. I started with five minutes warm up (80 rpm) on a medium resistance, then followed this with an intervals session of six 90 second efforts (100 to 110 rpm at the same resistance) with 2 minute recoveries in between. This got my heart rate up to the low 150s (about 85% of MHR) at the end of each rep, dropping to about 135 after the recoveries. By the end I had buzzing legs, was dripping in sweat and very out of breath! Good.
I warmed down over five minutes gradually reducing the resistance and then stretched hamstrings (sitting stretches). I moved on to do the eccentric heel drops and raises exercise. All of these 5 reps each side for 15 seconds hold. The hamstring stretches can be really uncomfortable. Anyway at the end of that my ankles felt pretty much normal, so it may be working a bit... I'll keep at these two.
I'll probably head over to mid-Wales in the morning for a long walk on the hills, and then will have to hold myself down (unless miracle recoveries are in this weekend) and not run at Callow on Sunday. Physio is on Monday!
Showing posts with label Gym. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gym. Show all posts
Friday, 1 July 2011
Friday, 20 May 2011
Cross Training and Programme - 20/05/2011
I've been holding myself down from running still (mostly). I just want to let the heels and achilles have as much time as possible to settle down. I've also decided not to run at Ennerdale on 6th June - there just isn't enough time to prepare properly and I don't want to put myself through it if I'm not going to enjoy it!
On Wednesday I had to go to the mid-Wales coast for a meeting, and found myself in Borth with an hour or so to spare before the return train. Strangely I seemed to have a T shirt and a pair of shorts with me (fell shoes too to be truthful, but I didn't use them). I thought the best use of the time would be to work on my running form a bit, so I got out on the beach, barefoot, and ran very steadly for 20 minutes on the surf line. I was concentrating on some of the pointers in the Chi Running book, and really enjoyed it. I then had a quick swim and stood calf deep in the sea for five minutes to cool down before a very pleasant train journey back.
Yesterday night was gym night again, and I was well up for it! 5,000m in just over 20 minutes on the rowing machine at moderate to high resistance made for a good warm up, then I got on the bike pretty much straight away. I was aiming to get a really good CV conditioning session in with some intensity so I set the resistance to a medium level where I can hang in at around 75% of my MHR, and just turned over at a nice constant RPM for 20 minutes. I find it's better to spin fairly quickly (90 to 100 RPM) at a slightly lower resistance than turn a huge gear relatively slowlty (that hurts my knees after a while). I covered 10km in just over 20 minutes and then eased off to cool down for a couple of minutes. My final exercise again followed straight on - getting on the stepper with a tune with a good beat on repeat on the iPhone, and just monstering away on again a medium resistance. This gets me up into a higher HR zone when I work hard (like a race pace run or climb), and I can ease off a bit to recover, dropping back into the aerobic zone. I held the hard sessions for 4 minutes or so, easing off for a minute to recover. When I got off and finished (after a five minute cool down) I had that brilliant skin tingly sensation you get after a good session or a hard race.
Tonight I'm going to take a rest, and tomorrow I'm going to start getting back into the long runs - I think no more than 12 to 15 miles this week.
I've thought over the Caradoc race too, and in hindsight I'm more positive about it now. I shouldn't really have run, and if I'd done the Streak I probably wouldn't have, but I wanted to get a score down for the Summer Series (this gives me the option of missing one of the remaining four races). I did very well to the top and had a good descent except for hurting my feet again, and I know there's lots more potential there. I should be able to get up to about 80% score in at least one of these summer races - with the long run out Caradoc doesn't suit me as well as say Stiperstones or Pontesford, and the extra distance and steep second climb at Ragleth will help me too. I know now that I'm physically capable of pulling the odd really good run out (Clee, LMV) and Caradoc as far as the lane was of that kind of quality this year... In the end it's pretty daft beating myself up about a performance when I went nearly four minutes faster than last year (I took almost exactly 10% off my time). Caradoc was my best summer series race last year too. So I should be being chuffed.
Track of the week: "There's No Other Way", Blur. London goes to Madchester, Baggy heaven. And unbelievably good for getting you dancing on the stepper!
On Wednesday I had to go to the mid-Wales coast for a meeting, and found myself in Borth with an hour or so to spare before the return train. Strangely I seemed to have a T shirt and a pair of shorts with me (fell shoes too to be truthful, but I didn't use them). I thought the best use of the time would be to work on my running form a bit, so I got out on the beach, barefoot, and ran very steadly for 20 minutes on the surf line. I was concentrating on some of the pointers in the Chi Running book, and really enjoyed it. I then had a quick swim and stood calf deep in the sea for five minutes to cool down before a very pleasant train journey back.
Yesterday night was gym night again, and I was well up for it! 5,000m in just over 20 minutes on the rowing machine at moderate to high resistance made for a good warm up, then I got on the bike pretty much straight away. I was aiming to get a really good CV conditioning session in with some intensity so I set the resistance to a medium level where I can hang in at around 75% of my MHR, and just turned over at a nice constant RPM for 20 minutes. I find it's better to spin fairly quickly (90 to 100 RPM) at a slightly lower resistance than turn a huge gear relatively slowlty (that hurts my knees after a while). I covered 10km in just over 20 minutes and then eased off to cool down for a couple of minutes. My final exercise again followed straight on - getting on the stepper with a tune with a good beat on repeat on the iPhone, and just monstering away on again a medium resistance. This gets me up into a higher HR zone when I work hard (like a race pace run or climb), and I can ease off a bit to recover, dropping back into the aerobic zone. I held the hard sessions for 4 minutes or so, easing off for a minute to recover. When I got off and finished (after a five minute cool down) I had that brilliant skin tingly sensation you get after a good session or a hard race.
Tonight I'm going to take a rest, and tomorrow I'm going to start getting back into the long runs - I think no more than 12 to 15 miles this week.
I've thought over the Caradoc race too, and in hindsight I'm more positive about it now. I shouldn't really have run, and if I'd done the Streak I probably wouldn't have, but I wanted to get a score down for the Summer Series (this gives me the option of missing one of the remaining four races). I did very well to the top and had a good descent except for hurting my feet again, and I know there's lots more potential there. I should be able to get up to about 80% score in at least one of these summer races - with the long run out Caradoc doesn't suit me as well as say Stiperstones or Pontesford, and the extra distance and steep second climb at Ragleth will help me too. I know now that I'm physically capable of pulling the odd really good run out (Clee, LMV) and Caradoc as far as the lane was of that kind of quality this year... In the end it's pretty daft beating myself up about a performance when I went nearly four minutes faster than last year (I took almost exactly 10% off my time). Caradoc was my best summer series race last year too. So I should be being chuffed.
Track of the week: "There's No Other Way", Blur. London goes to Madchester, Baggy heaven. And unbelievably good for getting you dancing on the stepper!
Update - 16/05/2011
"No running since Caradoc" would seem to be the best headline for the period over the weekend to Monday 16th. I'm trying to give a little time for all the various niggles, particularly my heels, to heal. I've not exactly been sedentary, but I think a week off to let everything sort itself out was overdue really. I should have done this after the Three Peaks really...
On Thursday I had to hold myself down, with a meeting in Cromford I'd normally have run on the way back, but that wouldn't have been clever so I settled for a gym session with James in the evening. This was a fairly gentle 20 minute cycle at 60-70% MHR on a relatively low resistance, followed by a session building core strength on the weight machines (generally 3 sets of 8 reps at relatively high loads).
I was "up north" for a meeting early on Friday, and when I got back I went over to Wales for a weekend at Borth. We had a nice 4 mile walk along the beach to the pub and back on Saturday, and just chilled on Sunday before driving back to Shropshire.
When I got back I headed out on the road bike for a recovery ride, covering 14.4 miles around Muxton, Chetwynd Aston and Lilleshall Hall in 1:08 (so 12.7 mph on average). The route was fairly hilly with climbs from Donnington Wood up to Heath Hill (on the farm track which is just about OK on the roadie) and then up to Lilleshall Hall from Chetwynd Aston, so I was reasonably pleased with the speeed and it was just nice to get out for a moderate workout.
On Monday I did another gyms session with James. A bit heavier this time, with 20 minutes on the bike again to start off with, at a higher resistance but keeping to 60-70% MHR again. My core strength session was virtually identical to Thursday's. I did a couple of 500m sprints on the rowing machine to get some anaerobic work in, and then warmed down with 10 minutes on the cross trainer. I have a slight twinge in my left IT band after and I think this is from the cross trainer - better stay off that!
Anyway, stomach upset permitting, hopefully I'll make the Tuesday night run at Stretton (better take it easy though).
On Thursday I had to hold myself down, with a meeting in Cromford I'd normally have run on the way back, but that wouldn't have been clever so I settled for a gym session with James in the evening. This was a fairly gentle 20 minute cycle at 60-70% MHR on a relatively low resistance, followed by a session building core strength on the weight machines (generally 3 sets of 8 reps at relatively high loads).
I was "up north" for a meeting early on Friday, and when I got back I went over to Wales for a weekend at Borth. We had a nice 4 mile walk along the beach to the pub and back on Saturday, and just chilled on Sunday before driving back to Shropshire.
When I got back I headed out on the road bike for a recovery ride, covering 14.4 miles around Muxton, Chetwynd Aston and Lilleshall Hall in 1:08 (so 12.7 mph on average). The route was fairly hilly with climbs from Donnington Wood up to Heath Hill (on the farm track which is just about OK on the roadie) and then up to Lilleshall Hall from Chetwynd Aston, so I was reasonably pleased with the speeed and it was just nice to get out for a moderate workout.
On Monday I did another gyms session with James. A bit heavier this time, with 20 minutes on the bike again to start off with, at a higher resistance but keeping to 60-70% MHR again. My core strength session was virtually identical to Thursday's. I did a couple of 500m sprints on the rowing machine to get some anaerobic work in, and then warmed down with 10 minutes on the cross trainer. I have a slight twinge in my left IT band after and I think this is from the cross trainer - better stay off that!
Anyway, stomach upset permitting, hopefully I'll make the Tuesday night run at Stretton (better take it easy though).
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Update (no running) - 27/04/2011
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| Pitchcroft Lane, between Church Aston and Lilleshall Hall. |
I went out on the bike on Sunday morning for a bit (photo above), and went to the gym early yesterday evening, instead of going over to Church Stretton for the usual Tuesday night run. I switched from high reps (12-20) of lowish weights to lower reps (sets of 8) of heavier weights tonight as I've heard that I should really be training for core strength in my upper body and not for endurance. We'll see how it goes... I also wonder whether the gym sessions have had any bearing on the injury, but I think not because generally I only work my legs on the CV machines. The other theory I've heard is that this is my physique (that's a joke) trying to catch up with the improvement in CV fitness I've made over the winter - perhaps improved VO2 max means I can push my legs harder than they can cope with yet?
Today I'm intending to do a few gentle miles on the Wrekin whilst marshalling or photographing the Wrekin Streak fell race. I need to hold myself down, be disciplined and not actually race because the Streak has very hard stony paths and fast running, and is exactly the kind of ground I'm likely to set off some problem in my leg again. I'd rather make the startline on Saturday in reasonable shape than risk it logging what would probably be a below par performance in the Streak: I'd only be going easy to try to make sure I can run on Saturday. I think it's better just to focus on some key events and try to do them well...
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