Posts Tagged ‘running drills’

Ah recovery!  I really needed it, no question.  I thought Monday was the nadir with 8@8:50 but nope, today I whipped out a 10-miler @9:10 on the coolest morning we’ve had in ages, 70 degrees.  I guess yesterday’s fartlek combined with LadyTime was enough to put me in the sludge.  I was planning on doing my hour-at-MP tempo tomorrow, but might wait an extra day.

More drill talk

Tuesday’s 10-miler had a slow start but ended with a few 8:00s for 8:25/mi.  At the end I did a drill/stride session which I’m really getting into for several reasons:

First off, in order to do the butt kicks, high knees and skipping, you’re automatically forced to keep your hips under you; when I run, I often have to remind myself to tuck my hips in so this is valuable.  Also, the exaggerated arm movements relax the shoulders and even affect my hand shape in the following stride.  Then there’s the powering off for your legs (most important) plus forced forefoot landings – it’s like a mini strength workout.

I think I’ll do the drill/stride combo twice a week from here on in.  It takes so little time (2 reps of 3 drills with 6 strides takes about 6½ minutes) and if I’m going to do strides anyway, may as do both.

I also found a wonderful set of drill videos from NYRR.  They’re meant for coaching kids and have the most concisely detailed instructions I’ve seen on the subject.  Excellent production values as well. (Edit: just saw the buttkicks one and the demonstration kid is actually not doing them the best way – she’s kicking too far behind which other buttkick videos, Lauren Fleshman’s for example, warn against, feet should aim directly under the ass, knees go high. Oh well, the rest is good)

Fartleks

Wednesday’s 9-miler contained a satisfying fartlek/interval session.  In last Sunday’s post, I wrote I’d be doing 10x(3min-ons/1 min-offs) but when I did the math (10×3 = 30min with 9min’s recovery), it struck me that this was too much since it was a 10-minute increase of hard running over last week’s intervals with less recovery.  So I changed it to 9 reps (27 minutes total work with 8min. recovery), still a solid work increase but a little more manageable.

I didn’t do any strides or drills preceding since, in keeping with fartlek, I wanted to keep it relaxed and laid-back so the first two were on the slow end, but after that, I got in the groove.  Thanks to the short recoveries, my average heart rate – while still low for a 10k workout (175, 84%HRR) – was closer to where it should be.  7:46/mi for the whole thing.

Heat Heat Heat!
I’ve been saying weather isn’t affecting me so badly this year and I am faring way better, but now that I’m doing more quality work of course I’d love to run the paces as written, not with any heat-deducted approximation.  But as acclimated as you can be, it’s silly to expect to run at top shape when it’s humid and high 70s-80s at 6am.  I know this, but I still chide myself some, just can’t help it.  But here’s what I was thinking about this week:

Most people’s optimal running environment is between 45 and 55 degrees, my fave is 50.  78 degrees is 28 degrees over 50.  Consider the opposite: subtract 28 from 50 and what do you get? 22 degrees.  Remember what that’s like?  All the crap you had to wear?  Did you expect to run your best at 22 degrees?  Nevermind that you’re not losing body fluids all over your shoes.

Even a 20 degree difference (70 sounds so innocuous, doesn’t it?) taken the opposite way, is 30 degrees…still below friggin’ freezing.  So let’s consider this before we blame ourselves for taking a hit on humid 70+ degree mornings (Peggy, are you listening? ). It’s not personal wimpyness, it’s bona fide physiology.

Meat Meat Meat!
I’ve been on a huge meat kick to an embarrassing extent.  In the last couple weeks, I’ve consumed two 2.25 lb pork loins, 5.5 lbs of chicken and 2 or 3 hamburgers, not to mention a handful of eggs (egg salad sandwiches).  It cracks me up that I’ve lived in the Blue Hovel for 2 years and only recently began cooking like a regular person.  Until a few months ago, I hadn’t bought a single package of chicken and had purchased one lone package of beef patties.  Nowadays, my shopping trips look like I’m feeding a family of bears.

I’m big on the crockpot lately and I made this Thai Chicken recipe the week before, liked it so much that I made it again a few days later (first time with breasts, second time w/thighs…both were delicious).  In the meantime, I shared it on FB to rave reviews so if you’re a crockpot owner, give it a shot.

I also make a pork loin in the crockpot that uses a can of whole cranberries and since I’m into shredded meat lately, I shred the shit out of it, then make burritos or eat it with mashed ‘taters and brussels sprouts.  Last week’s version was a little weird though since Whole Foods finds it beneath them to stock cranberries in the summer, but they had canned blackberries so I tried that, which was actually tasty except for the millions of tiny seeds.  Live and learn.

Aside from meat (which I’m one day away from ODing on), my usual diet these days is a bowl of hot 5-grain cereal with PB and Sweet ‘n Low before my run, then when I get back, usually the same thing.  Then around noonish, an egg-salad or tuna sandwich (or as of late…meat!), a small snack around 3pm, dinner around 6 with a huge bowl of fruit for dessert, then before hitting the hay, maybe some crackers with a wedge of low-fat Laughing Cow or some carrots.

You’d think I get to eat like a pig with all the running I do but alas, no.  I haven’t had cookies, candy, cake or even low-fat ice cream for a few months.  But what’s changed is that if I make a quesadilla, for instance, I don’t measure out a little portion of shredded cheese, I pull a few handfuls out of the bag…just like a normal person would.  Instead of being miserly with the peanut butter in my hot cereal, I have a generous-sized dollop.  It’s those little things that are different.  But if I want to lose weight for better racing, I’ll have to pay more attention.

Somewhat related, I was thinking about meal times the other day and realized that the reason I get so much hungrier in the winter, besides the usual winter chill/food connection, is that I go to bed at 12:30am in the winter but eat dinner around 6:30.  That leaves 6 hours between dinner and sleep, whereas in the summer, I eat at 6pm but go to bed at 9:30, so that’s only 3.5 hours between.  That’d be like eating dinner at 9pm for a 12:30 bedtime – a little too Continental for my tastes, but I think a 7:30 or 8pm dinnertime sounds like a reasonable idea for the Fall/Winter so I’m going to try that out when the season changes.

No Sunscreen? A-OK!
My friend Todd shared a really cool page yesterday that gives you a UV Index forecast for your location – just change the zipcode in the URL to reflect your own.

Every summer, I have a constant, low-level buzz of guilt for never wearing sunscreen on my early morning runs; I hate dealing with it and feel it compromises my sweatability.  But even though I leave the house at dawn and return before 9am, I have a pretty good tan, so I still manage to get a fair amount of sun.

But according to the UV Index page, I’m not in danger without sunscreen since the UV risk remains low here until 10am (and I imagine that’ll get pushed farther out now that sunrise is getting later).  Low risk means “Unless you are especially sensitive to UV radiation generally no protection is needed.”  Yay! One less thing to feel guilty about.  That just leaves 1,352,034 more.

My, What Excellent Shoes You’re Wearing
Geoffrey Mutai, currently the best runner in the world, just set a course record in the Half at Bogota last weekend with a 1:02:20 beating out 2nd place by 2 minutes and 27 seconds…huge!  Recognize his shoes?  Adidas Adios, baby!  The kicks of champions.

Afternoon Edit…An Online Interview
The nice people at Digital Running did a little interview with me, which might not tell you anything you don’t already know, but what the hay (hey?), check it out.  Thanks Brian and Raffi, I’m flattered to be a part of your website.

A year ago, after seeing those horrible Clean Air pics and how shriveled and small I was, I made an effort to improve my running form. I got lots of books on form, did what I could on my own and never really stopped thinking about it. Without a childhood history of sport, I really don’t have a clue about what my body should be doing or look like, except from what I read.

I thought I’d made good progress, but Saturday’s race was yet another eye opener in that it became clear to me that I’m a constant overstrider, my shin comes straight out in front of me, ensuring a heel landing. Not what I thought I was doing! I thought I was a mid-foot runner, lol.

But having these photos is like a treasure and I hope all of you get the opportunity to see yourself in pictures or video, because there’s really nothing better (save hiring a coach, which will eventually be my next step) than seeing yourself objectively and from afar.

For any disappointment I may have had in realizing I’ve been running inefficiently (overstriding is like running with brakes on), I’m kind of thrilled actually, because when I fix it, it’ll be a speed/economy freebie. Plus my running photos will look tons sexier.

So it was very timely that on the evening after my race, a fellow forumite, Moth, posted a link to a NYT article on Sara Hall complete w/video and illustration of running drills. Just what I needed! So Sunday night I played around at home with the drills and yesterday went out on a run concentrating completely on landing forefoot/midfoot. What an important difference (for me).

The byproduct of keeping my feet underneath me, besides the lack of “braking”, was that my posture was more upright, less leaning at the waist (as you can see me doing in the photo above), so I didn’t have to think about pulling my shoulders back to straighten up.

It was also interesting to revert to my old way for a few strides than the new way and compare the difference. Afterwards, as I cooled down, I did some of those drills again, to reinforce the feeling and to scare the people walking around me on the sidewalk.

I’m lucky to be without any calf pain today, as that’s the usual price you pay for switching landings and I ran this new way for 7 miles (you’re supposed to be more gradual when you do that sort of thing, but you all know I’m a freak). Anyway, I plan on working on it for as long as it feels comfortable and today’s a 9-miler.

Other than that, the next race is Broad St. and while I thought that was my goal race at the beginning of the season (at Coach Ladd’s suggestion, the coach I had one session with last Fall), as Winter dissolved and my training kicked up, I knew that the Clean Air 5K was my one true Spring goal, since it had so much importance to me in terms of first race significance and improvement.

That said, of course I’m looking forward to Broad St. but the potential of it being a big ole cluster-fuck (with 16,000 finishers last year) is making me think “go with the flow” and just have a good time. It’ll be an automatic PR since it’s my first 10-mile race and of course I want to do well, but I don’t have the butterflies I had before last Saturday’s race and it’s a relief not to be all freaked out about sticking in speed sessions between now and next week.

In fact, speedwise, last Saturdays’ race is my speedwork for the week, so I’ll do a tempo, but no intervals. Next week I have 4xmile on tap and then the race. In the meantime, I want to take it easy and work on this forefoot/midfoot thing, so hopefully, my updated form will be ready and waiting for my slither down Broad St. Sunday after next.