DCM 2014 graduates - the next step onwards

ECOLII

smashiner wrote: »

I am finding that since I am coming back from a few weeks of low activity (IT band), that I am struggling a bit with endurance. I had been running slower 10K's over Christmas to build up slowly.
This is why I have gone for the 8K last Saturday at a 'faster' pace, the 10K run tonight at a slower pace to build up a bit of stamina and avoid too much strain / injury and then the last 8-9K on Thurs at a fast ish pace as a last 'prepp' for the race. Plenty of rest and stretching for IT band etc and hopefully all will be fine :rolleyes:

Personally I would say that at best running at this intensity the week of a race will cause you to leave your best shape in training and at worse increase the risk of injury

The week of a race the aim should be to do just enough to keep the legs ticking over without going stale while being as fresh as possible.

I know you are a bit apprehensive about stamina going into the race but any training you do this week won't have any impact on your fitness levels for about 10-14 days.

If it is not a target race and just treating it as a session then training through is an okay approach but you have essential put in 4 very demanding sessions in the week and there is no way your body can recover and adapt quick enough in between the sessions to provide a positive training stimulus.

It's all about training smarter rather than harder in order to maximise race performances.

Bulmers74

smashiner wrote: »

I am finding that since I am coming back from a few weeks of low activity (IT band), that I am struggling a bit with endurance. I had been running slower 10K's over Christmas to build up slowly.
This is why I have gone for the 8K last Saturday at a 'faster' pace, the 10K run tonight at a slower pace to build up a bit of stamina and avoid too much strain / injury and then the last 8-9K on Thurs at a fast ish pace as a last 'prepp' for the race. Plenty of rest and stretching for IT band etc and hopefully all will be fine :rolleyes:

For me it's too much & IMO risking further injury. I'd suggest your race prep was done last Saturday running 8k at 10k pace on ice (5.10). This evening I'd be doing no more than 3k @ race pace with the balance at near 6.00 pace. As for Thursday I'd keep it easy paced (around 6.00 pace) with 5 or 6 strides.

Clearlier

ECOLII wrote: »

Personally I would say that at best running at this intensity the week of a race will cause you to leave your best shape in training and at worse increase the risk of injury

The week of a race the aim should be to do just enough to keep the legs ticking over without going stale while being as fresh as possible.

I know you are a bit apprehensive about stamina going into the race but any training you do this week won't have any impact on your fitness levels for about 10-14 days.

If it is not a target race and just treating it as a session then training through is an okay approach but you have essential put in 4 very demanding sessions in the week and there is no way your body can recover and adapt quick enough in between the sessions to provide a positive training stimulus.

It's all about training smarter rather than harder in order to maximise race performances.

Ecoli is correct and just to expand on one point. Not only will you not gain any benefit from your training this week for the race you'll actually perform significantly below your level because you won't have recovered in time for the race.

I'm not sure that there's any point in trying to peak for this weekend as even just 6 weeks of consistent training will probably see you in much better shape. If you want to do your very best then a couple of easy runs is the best option. If it were me though I would do a normal training week and substitute the race for a tempo run.

Firedance

good luck to everyone running Raheny on Sunday! am super jealous :-) I hope to be out cheering on though, I really enjoyed this race last year, lovely course & great atmosphere.

Mimojo

Hi Guys,

Just posted over on my own log & Dubgal suggesting I post on here for advice from Clearlier, or indeed any fellow boardsie who might be able to offer some nuggets of information!

Wasnt running much after DCM, just tipping along, got back into it xmass week and trying to build up bit by bit. Last week did a treadmill interval run on Wed eve, then a few easy miles Fri eve and a 10 miler on Sat. Think I make the obvious error of increasing the running too much too quickly, and am paying for it now.

Legs felt a little bit tired Sun & Mon but that was to be expected really, nothing to worry about. Decided to do a HIIT class yesterday morning with a plan of running in the evening. A few minutes into the class got a pain in my right knee, and a tonne of squats & lunges didn’t help matters. It is the same pain I got before DCM, nothing to worry about I am hoping, just think it is overdoing it on the running front too much too soon, probably poor running form & in particular heel striking which I don’t know how to stop, & need to continue to strengthen up my glutes, core etc. Anyhow the outcome is laying off on the running for the week to see if it will rectify itself, otherwise might go to the physio.

So really just looking for any input on how to avoids this in future, in particular improving running form and avoiding heel striking. Dubgal & Bungy girl have offered great advice, just wondering if anyone else had tips of what I should be looking out for. Cheers

Clearlier

Sorry to hear of your injury woes mimojo. If you haven't already I think that the 30 day challenge would be good for you. Don't be put out if you miss a few days - just keep working away at it.

I wouldn't be worried about where your foot hits the ground. What matters is where your weight is. You want it underneath you. If your weight is in front of you you'll be braking, if your weight is behind you you won't be getting any power through your legs.

At a basic level to help with injury prevention do belly breathing! The main thing that you do is to breath so that your belly sticks out. Aside from helping to take in large amounts of air efficiently this action will activate a lot of muscles in your lower back. It will really help with your posture. Start lying on the floor, then standing up, then walking, then running.

Aside from that it sounds like you know the mistakes that you made. It might be worth your while choosing a plan or writing one out. Make your increases cautiously. Your body is only as strong as it's weakest link and you need to travel at the pace of the weakest link or you will get injured. In the plan that I wrote I have increases in mileage once a month. That's often enough especially if you have a history of injury.

A few more general pointers:

• Be consistent,
• Start every run very slowly
• Do 3 weeks of just easy running before introducing any tempo efforts.
• Don't push, just let it come to you

P.S. Lunges and squats are great but make sure that you do them in front of a mirror so that you can make sure that you're keeping your upper body stable.

Mimojo

Clearlier wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your injury woes mimojo. If you haven't already I think that the 30 day challenge would be good for you. Don't be put out if you miss a few days - just keep working away at it.

I wouldn't be worried about where your foot hits the ground. What matters is where your weight is. You want it underneath you. If your weight is in front of you you'll be braking, if your weight is behind you you won't be getting any power through your legs.

At a basic level to help with injury prevention do belly breathing! The main thing that you do is to breath so that your belly sticks out. Aside from helping to take in large amounts of air efficiently this action will activate a lot of muscles in your lower back. It will really help with your posture. Start lying on the floor, then standing up, then walking, then running.

Aside from that it sounds like you know the mistakes that you made. It might be worth your while choosing a plan or writing one out. Make your increases cautiously. Your body is only as strong as it's weakest link and you need to travel at the pace of the weakest link or you will get injured. In the plan that I wrote I have increases in mileage once a month. That's often enough especially if you have a history of injury.

A few more general pointers:

• Be consistent,
• Start every run very slowly
• Do 3 weeks of just easy running before introducing any tempo efforts.
• Don't push, just let it come to you

P.S. Lunges and squats are great but make sure that you do them in front of a mirror so that you can make sure that you're keeping your upper body stable.

Cheers Clearlier for the super advice, your a star! Plenty to go on there, hopefully will sort it out quickly, just need to take all this advice on board now!

smashiner

Bulmers74 wrote: »

For me it's too much & IMO risking further injury. I'd suggest your race prep was done last Saturday running 8k at 10k pace on ice (5.10). This evening I'd be doing no more than 3k @ race pace with the balance at near 6.00 pace. As for Thursday I'd keep it easy paced (around 6.00 pace) with 5 or 6 strides.

Hi guys,
Took on board the good advice and did 5k at a moderate pace yesterday and the legs feel nice and fresh! Going to do a slower run tomorrow evening at 6 mins per km and then rest up until Sunday. Feeling good about my first race back and I am just going to enjoy it and not worry too much about the time and 'see how it goes'.
Cheers

adrian522

Tough Day. 8 x 60 Secs Hill Repeats + Day 12 of the 30 day challenge.

2 Easy days before race day I think.

Clearlier

Good luck to those who are racing in Raheny or elsewhere this weekend. If you do an all out race instead of your long run then do an easy run instead of Tuesdays' session.

adrian522

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow, Are we meeting somewhere afterwards?

Dubgal72

adrian522 wrote: »

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow, Are we meeting somewhere afterwards?

If somebody names a place after the race... +1 to the good luck, looks like conditions will be good so let's run our socks off

smashiner

adrian522 wrote: »

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow, Are we meeting somewhere afterwards?

Not too familiar with Raheny, but I think that I am going to 'The Station House ??' afterwards with a few running buddies from the job for a medicinal pint of stout :-) .......all welcome

laura_ac3

Dubgal72 wrote: »

If somebody names a place after the race... +1 to the good luck, looks like conditions will be good so let's run our socks off

There's the station house as S has said - but if there's some post race refreshments would that be the best?

Dubgal72

laura_ac3 wrote: »

There's the station house as S has said - but if there's some post race refreshments would that be the best?

For me, that would work best. I'll have the kids so don't want to inflict them on a pub

laura_ac3

Dubgal72 wrote: »

For me, that would work best. I'll have the kids so don't want to inflict them on a pub

Grand so. Suits me too. Think there might be something in the school/gaa club, I'm sure it'll be clear tomorrow. You'll have to hang around for me

chickey2

Best of luck to everyone running raheny tomorrow! I won't be there but I'm looking forward to your reports.

JohnDozer

Best of luck everyone! PB's a plenty I'm sure...

adrian522

A few of us are inside the door of the gaa club. Drinking tae.

Dub13

I decided to do Raheny today as a bit of a tempo run and not go flat out. I messed up my preparation by having to much to eat this morning anyway and got a bit of a cramp for about a km. Its mad how a change in race time messes with your head, I have never raced in the afternoon so thought a decent breakfast was ok. I had 2 eggs, followed by a scone and 3 slices of Apple tart a while later.

That's what I am putting the cramp down to anyway, lucky the plan was not to go for a PB as I would be kicking myself if eating to much was to blame for missing out.

Its my local area so nothing was unexpected but again its a well run race and 3 of the kids took park in the kids race before hand. I clocked it at just over 38 min so still within a min of my PB so fast enough for myself anyway.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/682521622

adrian522

2 eggs, a scone and 3 Slices of apple tart? #breakfastofchampions

I went with Porridge, a bagel with jam at around 10:30 and a banana at 1pm and that worked ok for me.

Dub13

adrian522 wrote:

I went with Porridge, a bagel with jam at around 10:30 and a banana at 1pm and that worked ok for me.

As most races are around 10 am I am used try o just having a bowl of porridge and maybe a banana. I also had a large cappuccino this morning you know to wash it all down...!!. maybe I am reading to much it the start time, but I don't normally get cramps. in saying that I do 95% of my running on empty and then eat after.

smashiner

Did the Raheny 5 today in 39.19.....sub 40, not too bad as a comeback race from an injury. Love this race, and I didn't crash and burn on the last hill either!!
Legs felt fresh by not gunning myself earlier in the week......thanks to Boardies advice.....chuffed :-)

adrian522

So back to it I guess. I filled in a few of the times on the round numbers spreadsheet. Anybody have any race recommendations for February or March?

Dubgal72

Hi Adrian, can you post a link to the spreadsheet please?

adrian522

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar6olCTLXB5ndFcta1g0aGVhZmtRczdEWkZwV0VmTWc&usp=sharing#gid=107

aquinn

Well, what news from Rahney? Everyone have a good race/day?

Dubgal72

adrian522 wrote: »

So back to it I guess. I filled in a few of the times on the round numbers spreadsheet. Anybody have any race recommendations for February or March?

Well done, three nice boxes nicely ticked there Also to Chickey2, hadn't seen your HM time, well done!

My race targets are: February, Enniscorthy 10k and March, Ballycotton 10. Means travel, are you looking for more local races?

Dubgal72

aquinn wrote: »

Well, what news from Rahney? Everyone have a good race/day?

Yes thanks Conditions were perfect, we even had a tail wind along the notorious coast road! Lots of PBs (including myself) achieved by the sound of it.

adrian522

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Well done, three nice boxes nicely ticked there Also to Chickey2, hadn't seen your HM time, well done!

My race targets are: February, Enniscorthy 10k and March, Ballycotton 10. Means travel, are you looking for more local races?

Not really sure to be honest, I'll take a look at those though.