...is perhaps an apt indication of my athletic prowess after my 3 week injury hiatus; so much for muscle memory L I am not quite back to being a ‘huffer and puffer’, but after enduring a muscle-sapping, lung-bursting, short but fast run, including 10 reps. of interval hill starts, in what felt like blistering heat (18 degrees – OK not exactly desert iron-man conditions, but still...), I regretted not embracing my physio’s advice to power walk until I could run again. In my defence, power walking always looks silly – FACT.
Although the landscape around Frome is dotted with tors, peaks and braes, so I don’t have much choice but to try and master the art of hill running, ‘bounding’ hill training needs to become a regular fixture in my training schedule – once a week. For the uninitiated (myself included), ‘bounding’ hill running, according to my physio’s training plan, involves: ‘springing from foot to foot with an exaggerated vertical body motion, bringing your knees up high and stretching the Achilles tendons fully as your feet hit the ground’. To do this I must land on my toes with each foot-strike and rock back onto my heel before springing upwards and forwards again. After 5 reps. of this I began to see the dignity in power walking :/
Although the landscape around Frome is dotted with tors, peaks and braes, so I don’t have much choice but to try and master the art of hill running, ‘bounding’ hill training needs to become a regular fixture in my training schedule – once a week. For the uninitiated (myself included), ‘bounding’ hill running, according to my physio’s training plan, involves: ‘springing from foot to foot with an exaggerated vertical body motion, bringing your knees up high and stretching the Achilles tendons fully as your feet hit the ground’. To do this I must land on my toes with each foot-strike and rock back onto my heel before springing upwards and forwards again. After 5 reps. of this I began to see the dignity in power walking :/
From now on though, I need to combine regular running with strength training. Hill running should not only improve my overall running form, but hep to strengthen my weak ankle tendons and ligaments, thus reducing the risk of future injury.
My heel-heavy running technique (or plodding) is likely to be a hard habit to break and I need to work on landing on my ‘mid foot’ and not ‘heel striking’ slowly but steadily to avoid stiff calf muscles. I wouldn’t say that my run today amounted to the start of overtraining syndrome, but 'slowly' and 'steadily' are virtues I find hard to master. I am sure that you can guess the rest? Yes, very stiff calf muscles!
The need for anti-inflammatory medication aside, it is great to be back running again and especially now spring is here. You can’t beat running in April, when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. Thank you Charles Dickens.
The 'rag-doll' post run look!
The 'roll-in-horse-poo-that-was-too-easy' post run look!
2 months and 12 days to the Torbay Half Marathon!
What's on my iPod?
Music-motivation-mega-mix track for today: Kylie - Can't Get You Out Of My Head (See you on Saturday night, Ms Minogue!)
