Rate yourself - Getting the best out of your training going forward

Myles Splitz

Dunno if this one is a runner (Hopefully the use of tables might entice) Many people are looking on how to improve for next year and looking at different plans etc I thought it might be a good idea to compile a little check list and see how people stack up in each area.

The aim of this is not ego stroking but rather using as a way to highlight weaknesses which could be holding you back.

I have broken it down into area's with descriptions and aim to give people an idea so that they can rank themselves from 1-10 in all area's and see where they might be able to make improvement

Strength/Power
This is gym strength/ explosive power and speed in relation to how well you cover ground (i.e if you 100m speed is the same as your 1 mile speed you could guess this is probably poor)
Posture and Form
This is your day to day form and how your running form is in relation to niggles/ injuries that have been picked which were postural related as well as how efficient your stride may be (for performance as well as injury prevention
Aerobic Engine
This is where most people will look when evaluating and feel that they were not aerobically strong enough and whether there Marathon stacks up with shorter distance PB's
Focus/Discipline
This goes beyond simply motivating yourself to get out every day but asking yourself, did you drop many days without an honest justifiable reason, did you follow your plan exactly, did you run correct intensities (hard days sufficiently hard and easy days truly easy)
Robustness
While it ties in with the others regarding injury sometimes it can be a way to highlight an issue in training we don't realize we are making


Will start with my own as an example

Strength/Power| 3/10
Posture and Form|2/10
Aerobic Engine|8/10
Focus/Discipline| 7/10
Robustness| 9/10

ThebitterLemon

Strength/Power| 1/10
Posture and Form|2/10
Aerobic Engine|9/10
Focus/Discipline| 7/10
Robustness| 5/10
[/quote]

TbL

IvoryTower

Strength/Power| 6/10
Posture and Form|6/10
Aerobic Engine|4/10
Focus/Discipline| 8/10
Robustness| 7/10


Naturally a sprinter but only getting going with gym work. Long way to go.

Form, I'm told it's good now but it was terrible so ill take that as a 6!

Aerobic - hardest for me to improve

Focus - I missed 1 session throughout whole of last season, I'm eating pretty well, getting ebough sleep is the hard part for me, I do love my xbox. I'd say consistency in training is my strongest point.

Robustness- strong and healthy with no real injuries in my 2 years running so I'm happy with this (assuming I understood the question)

Myles Splitz

IvoryTower wrote: »

Strength/Power| 6/10
Posture and Form|6/10
Aerobic Engine|4/10
Focus/Discipline| 8/10
Robustness| 7/10


Naturally a sprinter but only getting going with gym work. Long way to go.

Form, I'm told it's good now but it was terrible so ill take that as a 6!

Aerobic - hardest for me to improve

Focus - I missed 1 session throughout whole of last season, I'm eating pretty well, getting ebough sleep is the hard part for me, I do love my xbox. I'd say consistency in training is my strongest point.

Robustness- strong and healthy with no real injuries in my 2 years running so I'm happy with this (assuming I understood the question)

Pretty much exactly the kinda stuff I was looking for. I suppose the numbers on there own don't really give context;


Strength/Power| 3/10|


Since marathon gym work took a back seat. While generally I was aerobically strong had no zip in legs and many important muscles that are tight/ fatigued on a chronic level that I will look to rectify in the coming months

Posture and Form|2/10|


Noticed I am rocking from side to side in my stride from recent video's and picks t o the point where I am losing efficiency and power in my stride coupled with muscles which are chronically tight impacting be getting the best bang for my buck in terms of stride. Very much ties in with last point.

Aerobic Engine|8/10|

At moment feel as strong as an ox from the mileage in marathon training and gotta maintain that while adding extra pieces of the pie.

Focus/Discipline| 7/10|


Overall I have been pretty consistent (missing 5 days out of 18 weeks) however there were a few things that did crop up that means I didn't fully stick to the plan (little low mileage/session wise on holidays in relation to what I had planned and missed a few easy long runs early in the plan) Would be happy to sustain that consistency in general though

Robustness| 9/10|


Only one minor niggle within the 18 weeks. Happy with listening to the body to avoid major issues as well as keeping easy days as easy as need be however I think I am papering over some of the cracks through the very easy easy days.

hot buttered scones

Strength/Power|5/10
Posture and Form|2/10
Aerobic Engine|7/10
Focus/Discipline| 7/10
Robustness| 5/10


Strength/power - I'm only going off things like strides here, but going by your criteria, I'd cover approx 100-200m at a much faster pace than I would a mile.

Posture and From - I being generous here when I give myself 2. I run like a race walker, and suffer from a lot of ongoing niggles in areas like the hips/lower back. I seem to have corrected a bad overstriding problem to some degree, but it appears most of my issues are related to gait and poor biomechanics all down the chain. Upper body strength is appalling. I think I can make serious gains in performance by focus on s+c. There;'s not as much movement through the hips as I'd like, and I don't really use my arms enough. This causes problems further down the chain, with hamstrings and calves being recruited to do work that the glutes and hip flexors should be doing.

Aerobic Engine - Much improved over the last training cycle, but could do better. I surprised myself in DCM 2016 by not really fading until mile 23, which is a big improvement and I'm recovering a lot faster than I used too

Focus/Discipline - During the last training cycle I didn't drop any days without a justifiable reason. There were only 2 sessions I didn't complete. I missed a couple of easy runs in the last week due to niggles. I got a lot better at running my easy days easy, but I probably pushed too hard in some of the sessions. Now that I'm following a plan I seem to be slipping back into the old habit of running my easy days a bit fast. I was wavering between giving myself a 6 or a 7 here because where I really fall down is s+c work, which I think is really important for me. I just really dislike it. Its all exercises given to me by my physio, and I just find it awkward to get them done in the house when everyones around. I might be better off in a gym doing weights.

Robustness - Again not great. Anytime my mileage gets near 50 miles a week I become a big mass of niggles. Again I think this is 90% related to strength issues. I've worn custom insoles (the type that cost about €50) for a while, but I'm not sure if they're doing any good. It's improving though. I'm going to ditch the insoles for a few runs and see how I get on.

Singer

Strength/Power|2/10

I do zero strength work and zero short distance reps other than some strides and hills from time to time, so not too much to go on here.

Posture and Form|5/10

I *think* I have ok posture. I try to pay attention to being efficient on my feet, though I've never had it appraised or had any feedback on it.

Aerobic Engine|6/10

Probably not where it should be, I can suffer when doing MP in a long run etc.

Focus/Discipline|6/10

Decent enough at getting out to run and clocking up the miles, bad at structure and making sure there's enough quality running in there. At some stage (probably around now) this will stop resulting in PBs.

Robustness|3/10

Two injuries this year (still carrying one), and two last year. Probably related to Strength/Power!

Incidentally, I did a VHI health screening thing in work today and I rated myself for 4/5 on physical activity, 'cos I figured I could be doing more S&C etc. Not sure if that's the bar they were looking for.

ger664

Great idea gave me something to think about in this evenings run

Strength/Power| 4/10|


I do regular gym work over the last few years which has helped a lot. More of the same needed

Posture and Form/Flexability|2/10|


This has always been bad. Still remember my mam clipping me across the ear for walking like a hunchback. I suppose this would improve with some flexability work. Considering a weekly yoga class/session to address it.

Aerobic Engine|9/10|

Pretty much as good as its going to get.

Focus/Discipline| 7/10|

As regards Focus I have never had an issue following plans getting out the door. This can be my downfall as some days a rest may serve me better or canning in the middle of a session. Being pigheaded has resulted in my longest lay offs. Diet is probably the discipline I need to really improve on though.

Robustness| 6/10|


Been out with the last 6-7 weeks after some fast work. Relates to my flexibility as tight hammers and calves are the root cause.

Chivito550

Strength/Power| 6/10
Posture and Form|7/10
Aerobic Engine|9/10
Focus/Discipline| 8/10
Robustness| 8/10


Answering these based on the specifics of my current events (100 and 200). Not much point following the long distance definitions, otherwise I'd be a 10 for Strength and Power and a 1 or 2 for Aerobic Engine. That would serve no purpose.

Strength/Power: I've been in the gym twice a week for the last 4 and a half years, so it's fair to say I have built up a lot of strength. If it was just strength I'd probably score myself a 7 or 8, but I need to develop more explosive power. I have improved a lot since the switch from 400 to 100/200, but I'm still slow out of the blocks in comparison to many of my competitors.

Posture and Form: On a scale of 0 being Phoebe from friends and 10 being Allyson Felix, I'd probably have been a 3 in my early days as a 400 runner. As I developed into a much better 400m runner I'd put my form at 5. Since moving down in distance I've come on a lot in this area (according to coach and training partners). The nature of short distance stuff allows you to focus a lot on technique. Always found it very hard to think about form when grinding out horrible sessions of 300m reps when training for 400m.

Aerobic Engine: Speed endurance has always been my strength. It was when I was a 400m runner, and that 400m endurance has carried into the shorter distances. I tend to close on, pass or pull away from competitors in the closing stages of a race. A 5k time is irrelevant for a 200m runner (still have a couple of sneaky sub 20s ) I'm scoring this as an 8 in terms of endurance required for a 200m. My endurance is nowhere near what it was when training for 400m, but it doesn't need to be.

Focus/Discipline: A couple of years ago I'd put this at 10. But 10 is not healthy in terms of enjoying your running, and having a balance with other areas in life. I'm still very dedicated, and hate missing sessions, but have allowed myself to be ok with missing one or two here and there. With regards to following intensities, I have a coach there watching my every move, so it's never a challenge to do what I am told.

Robustness: I've only had one serious injury, and that was caused by over eagerness and stupidity when taking up long jump. I've never had n injury because of sprinting. Lots of niggles of course like everyone, but the gym work keeps me strong to withstand the hard training. I have issues with calves cramping, although it was less of a problem last year, perhaps due to the lower volume that comes with training for the shorter sprints.

pconn062

Strength/Power| 6-7/10
Posture and Form|5/10
Aerobic Engine|7/10
Focus/Discipline| 9/10
Robustness| 2/10


Good idea for a thread.

Strength/Power: Not bad in this respect, I come from the speedier side of the spectrum as a former sprinter so definitely on the fast-twitch side of things. Gym works helps this too.

Posture and form: Not brilliant, but not bad either and getting better. Have spent a lot of time working on this aspect this year. Correcting a slight overstride as well as a mild cross over gait. Lateral hip stabilisation strength being one of the main issues.

Aerobic Engine: Not bad when I'm in shape but I'm definitely not naturally fit. I know guys who can sit on the couch for weeks and then just go out and jump into training/racing and be back up to scratch in a few weeks. I lose fitness incredibly quickly and seem to drop to a very low level, and it takes me a long time to get fit, usually 3 weeks for every week I miss.

Focus/discipline: I'm pretty good with this, I formulate a plan, train when I have to train and rarely ever have an excuse to miss training (except when injured). This also carries over to supplementary and gym work.

Robustness: Very poor, I get injured very easily despite doing regular strength and gym work. I've lost the best part of the last year with injuries and only now can I think about turning a corner.

kit3

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Dunno if this one is a runner (Hopefully the use of tables might entice) Many people are looking on how to improve for next year and looking at different plans etc I thought it might be a good idea to compile a little check list and see how people stack up in each area.

The aim of this is not ego stroking but rather using as a way to highlight weaknesses which could be holding you back.

I have broken it down into area's with descriptions and aim to give people an idea so that they can rank themselves from 1-10 in all area's and see where they might be able to make improvement

Strength/Power
This is gym strength/ explosive power and speed in relation to how well you cover ground (i.e if you 100m speed is the same as your 1 mile speed you could guess this is probably poor)
Posture and Form
This is your day to day form and how your running form is in relation to niggles/ injuries that have been picked which were postural related as well as how efficient your stride may be (for performance as well as injury prevention
Aerobic Engine
This is where most people will look when evaluating and feel that they were not aerobically strong enough and whether there Marathon stacks up with shorter distance PB's
Focus/Discipline
This goes beyond simply motivating yourself to get out every day but asking yourself, did you drop many days without an honest justifiable reason, did you follow your plan exactly, did you run correct intensities (hard days sufficiently hard and easy days truly easy)
Robustness
While it ties in with the others regarding injury sometimes it can be a way to highlight an issue in training we don't realize we are making

Great idea for a thread although I may not quite get the nuances of the different parts right ! Also, I'm taking the bit in bold above quite literally - this rating is very much warts & all ....

Strength / Power - 2/10 I don't do any gym work at all. However, going on the criteria above my 100m 'speed' would certainly be a bit faster than my mile 'speed' and my core would be strong enough - would that be relevant here ?

Posture and Form - 7/10 My posture would be naturally good - most likely a throw back to my dancing days. This comes with a health warning though because I've never seen myself run or had my running form analysed ! Although I'm currently coming back from injury, I'm not in any way injury prone as a rule.

Aerobic Engine - 5/10 This is a difficult one. If I was to rate this in August I would have been a lot more positive. However, I've had a calf strain since the start of September so I've lost a lot of running fitness. Only just making tentative steps back now so a bit difficult to judge yet. However, I have been averaging about 70 miles per week on the bike still so all is not lost. In general, I have no difficulty in keeping going, albeit not at any great speed - is this what is meant here ?? I'm going with a tentative 5 but this analysis may be skewed ??

Focus / Discipline - 3/10 This is certainly an area that I could / should improve on. I have no difficulty getting myself out the door in terms of fighting tiredness, weather conditions etc. However, if I'm meant to be running at lunchtime and a meeting runs over I don't always grab the time when I could probably make it. Similarly, I'll always put the kids first (that'll still happen) but sometimes I could use my time better and do both. Definitely a 'must improve'.

Robustness - 7/10 Probably an unfortunate time to be looking at this. Out since the start of September with a calf injury but this is the first time I've been out for any length at all. In general I am healthy & very rarely get niggles. I'm hoping this is just a once off therefore the rating - fingers crossed.

Good thread - good way to focus.

Edit - this sort of analysis would probably be most effective if someone was assessing you. It is very difficult to get self analysis right - some people will tend to over estimate their strengths while others will naturally under estimate.

gramar

Strength/Power 5/10

I do a mix of push-ups, chin/pull ups, dips and front weighted squats a few times a week, nothing major, sometimes as a warm up but mostly on days I don’t run so probably ok in this regard but could improve leg strength.

Posture and Form 4/10

In my head it’s good but I’ve seen a couple of videos albeit only a few seconds and I don’t look very athletic but I try to make sure I do the basics – arms steady, front foot strike, don’t over stride, lean slightly forward from the ankles.

Aerobic Engine 5/10

12/13km is as long as I ever go on a LSR as 5km is my preferred distance so not really too sure. I remember getting back running a few years ago I could only go a few hundred yards and within 4/5 weeks could do 6km so probably not too bad but unexplored territory.

Focus/Discipline 5/10

This summer was the first time I added some structure and targeted certain races. I had no plan other than the one in my head which was basically run every second day and mix LSR’s, tempo runs and hills or speed intervals. I stuck at it so reasonably ok on this one but hard sessions could certainly be harder.

Robustness 4/10

Doing mostly 5km races and training I don’t run far enough for HM or full marathon type injuries and I don’t run fast enough for sprint type injuries so bar the odd niggle I have no injuries to report and I have yet to miss a run because of injury. My hips though are in a bit of a state with arthrosis so the day they decide to kick up a fuss it’ll be curtains.

BeepBeep67

Interesting debate and something I would need to devote some time to before making an assessment.
Myles in your opinion between what limits would you think Irish National / International standard athletes should fall?

jamule

Strength/Power 5/10

i would never go to a gym but I still do a bit of strength work but not enough. I can sprint a lot faster than my 1m time. Leg strength has improved with alot more hill work

Posture and Form 8/10

One of my strong points (or so i'm told, but alot of that is in my head). I can get sloppy when tired but i always try concentrate on posture when doing speed work, which helps.

Aerobic Engine 4/10

a bit ****e, needs a lot of work this winter. disciplinary issues! If I can improve this I'll might try a marathon again.


Focus/Discipline 3/10

Jul 2015 was when I started focusing on training again rather than just running (due to kids I was happy enough just to get out for a run). While I can still bang out the miles, I'm ****e at sticking to a plan, to many days change. I run most days and try get a LSR, tempo run and hill and speed intervals in at least every 10 days. I find getting the LSR done the hardest due to procrastination which leads to time constraints. I just hate tempo runs I can never get them done properly. Speed work is fine.

Robustness 8/10

I've had 2 injuries in the last year all related to Strength/Power, all solved for now! Listen to the body to avoid major problems.

jamule

Strength/Power 5/10

i would never go to a gym but I still do a bit of strength work but not enough. I can sprint a lot faster than my 1m time. Leg strength has improved with alot more hill work

Posture and Form 8/10

One of my strong points (or so i'm told, but alot of that is in my head). I can get sloppy when tired but i always try concentrate on posture when doing speed work, which helps.

Aerobic Engine 4/10

a bit ****e, needs a lot of work this winter. disciplinary issues! If I can improve this I'll might try a marathon again.


Focus/Discipline 3/10

Jul 2015 was when I started focusing on training again rather than just running (due to kids I was happy enough just to get out for a run). While I can still bang out the miles, I'm ****e at sticking to a plan, to many days change. I run most days and try get a LSR, tempo run and hill and speed intervals in at least every 10 days. I find getting the LSR done the hardest due to procrastination which leads to time constraints. I just hate tempo runs I can never get them done properly. Speed work is fine.

Robustness 8/10

I've had 2 injuries in the last year all related to Strength/Power, all solved for now! Listen to the body to avoid major problems.

Myles Splitz

kit3 wrote: »

Great idea for a thread although I may not quite get the nuances of the different parts right ! Also, I'm taking the bit in bold above quite literally - this rating is very much warts & all ....

Chivito550 wrote: »

Answering these based on the specifics of my current events (100 and 200). Not much point following the long distance definitions, otherwise I'd be a 10 for Strength and Power and a 1 or 2 for Aerobic Engine. That would serve no purpose.

FWIW the descriptions that I mentioned were not intended as a definitive criteria but rather give people of an idea of the kinda attributes I mean. This will be very much subjective very much in how people view the attributes but also how they rate themselves in it's regard. This will also be influenced by the persons personality (some are grafters, confidence levels varying etc) but it should help act as a barometer of aspects which could be looked into in terms of developing training approach and working on weaknesses etc. Some may be happy with how they are at the moment both performance and effort put in and may mark highly as that is abouts as much return as they want for what is put in.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Interesting thread and something I would need to devote some time to before making an assessment.
Myles in your opinion between what limits would you think Irish National / International standard athletes should fall?

IMO I reckon that International level probably should be in around 45/50 for these topics with robustness being something that has been overcome on multiple occasions. The actual values may vary a little (more innately talented runners might not have same level of drive but make up for it in technique etc) but I think an 8 should be a fairly general entry level for International status personally

RayCun

I has thinking about this on my run home yesterday, and I find it impossible to put numbers on any of those. I don't think anything is a 1 or 2, or a 9 or 10, and where in the middle they fall depends on what I think is a 1 or a 10...

Strength/power
Gym strength - legs are okay, upper body is weak
Explosive power - I'd say on the ATP system, one-off actions like a jump or throw, or exit from the blocks, I'm poor. 5-10 second sprint is much better
What I'm doing about it - we're getting a coach in to improve our gym sessions. Still thinking about if/how to fit in a second gym session each week

Posture and form
being in a club with theboyblunder will always make you feel better about your form
Generally okay. Still feeling stress in my ankles though, which I take as a sign that my feet spend too long on the ground, and tend to waggle around in the air for some reason :rolleyes: Trying to use my arms to help drive foot pickup these last few days.
What I'm doing about it - I think this is always going to be a work in progress

Aerobic engine
being in a club with theboyblunder will always make you feel worse about your aerobic engine
At my best, not bad. But I haven't done regular runs over 90 minutes in a long time, I'm running in the 50-70 minute range now.
What I'm doing about it - slowly building up distances

Focus/discipline
Something else that can always be improved.
I'm good at getting the runs in, haven't tried doing any hard sessions on my own in a long time. Will need to start on a second session a week sooner rather than later

Robustness
I remember someone asking me on my log a few years ago how come I never get injured :pac:
What I'm doing about it - regular strength and conditioning work

RayCun

not to derail the thread, but this reminded me of a self-check from Marathon Talk a few years back.

At the start of a training block, you rate yourself from 1-10 in each of these areas -

Sleep level
Nutrition status
Injury
Mobility
Equipment
General fatigue/immune system
Emotional state (work/life/training balance etc)

Anything from 1-5 is a problem you need to address before you get into a training block

and any scores of 6, 7, or 8 you have to reset to 1, because they are also problems that you need to address because they will be exacerbated by training

kit3

RayCun wrote: »

not to derail the thread, but this reminded me of a self-check from Marathon Talk a few years back.

At the start of a training block, you rate yourself from 1-10 in each of these areas -

Sleep level
Nutrition status
Injury
Mobility
Equipment
General fatigue/immune system
Emotional state (work/life/training balance etc)

Anything from 1-5 is a problem you need to address before you get into a training block

and any scores of 6, 7, or 8 you have to reset to 1, because they are also problems that you need to address because they will be exacerbated by training

Can't read your spoiler on the phone but I would rate very low on most of those categories - interesting list

IvoryTower

mobility is one i like to ignore and may regret it one day, I think the strength training is helps a bit

RayCun

kit3 wrote: »

Can't read your spoiler on the phone but I would rate very low on most of those categories - interesting list

the spoiler is - anything you rate 6, 7, or 8, you should bring down to 1.
6,7, or 8 means you know you have a problem, but you don't think it is important enough to do something about. But a marathon training block (or any hard training block) is going to make any problems you have worse. You shouldn't ignore a problem on the basis that it is not too bad, any problem needs to be addressed.

kit3

RayCun wrote: »

the spoiler is - anything you rate 6, 7, or 8, you should bring down to 1.
6,7, or 8 means you know you have a problem, but you don't think it is important to do something about. But a marathon training block (or any hard training block) is going to make any problems you have worse. You shouldn't ignore a problem on the basis that it is not too bad, any problem needs to be addressed.

Thanks - I was rating the opposite way (1being that I am bad at it !). Could do with taking note of sleep, nutrition, general fatigue etc Definitely can see how work/life balance can have an effect too.

RayCun

kit3 wrote: »

Thanks - I was rating the opposite way (1being that I am bad at it !).

that's right, 1 is a big problem, 10 is no problem.
Anything you rate 1-5 you already know is something that has to be fixed.
The spoiler bit is that anything you rate 6-8 also has to be fixed.

dna_leri

Strength/Power - 6/10
With background in sprints moving to middle distance, my strength/power is quite good but has probably dropped a bit recently as I have done fewer strength and power workouts. Hope to bring that back up again in next few months.

Posture and Form - 8/10
Posture and Form are good, coming from the shorter distances. Probably not very economical for longer distances.

Aerobic Engine - 6/10
Although traditionally my weakest area, my aerobic engine has improved through recent marathon training cycle and hopefully will translate to shorter distance.

Focus/Discipline - 7/10
When I set a target, I can focus pretty well. Without a specific target, discipline falters.

Robustness - 6/10
Robustness is lower due to couple of knee injuries. Age is a factor here that can't be ignored. Surprised myself in last training cycle by being more robust with increased mileage that I expected would cause problems.

The numbers are all a bit arbitrary but above reasonably reflects my current state. It is a good way of self-assessing and ensuring we are working on our weaker areas, especially in a base phase of training. Generally in a specific training phase one or more areas will get neglected but a good base phase should be about (re)addressing these weaknesses not just the traditional aerobic base.

HigginsJ

Strength/Power| 3/10
Posture and Form|5/10
Aerobic Engine|2/10
Focus/Discipline| 6/10
Robustness| 5/10


Strength/Power: I used to be fairly strong/lift weights but apart from doing a 100 push up challenge for 4 weeks about 2 months ago I have not done any since starting to run. In terms of speed/explosiveness I don't think I would rank very well.

Posture/Form: Not a donkeys notion to be honest, I have improved since learning to relax my shoulders, haven't gotten any pain in back, joints etc. I'm sure if someone saw me run it would beflawedd but generally I would think I am ok, I do think I have good posture.

Aerobic Engine: Running the bones of 7 months so gone from nothing to running for an hour and a half is a good achievement for me. Obviously no-where near a decent level, some days feel great, others horrible so I will say I am a low level here but improving.

Focus/Discipline: Have hit most of my goals since I started running, ran twice while on holidays, have 2 very young kids (one of whom is teething) so lack of sleep but still have done most of my runs. I know I should be doing more core work & foam rolling but pretty tired after work most evenings so tend to skip it, will have to start to focus more on it when I start marathon training in the new year.

Robustness: One injury, was well behaved and have overcome it fine.

Working class heroes

Speed, surely?

HelenAnne

Strength/Power| 3/10
Posture and Form|4/10
Aerobic Engine|4/10
Focus/Discipline| 5/10
Robustness| 5/10



God, I'm awful at ALL these things!
Strength/Power: I'm not as weak as I used to be, but that's not saying much. I do a Pilates class once a week and practise a bit in between, but 20 push ups would still be a real, arm-trembling struggle and I'm not fantastic at one-legged squats etc. Rarely touch my weights, though I might do the occasional half-hearted weighted squat. My speed reps don't show any power either. I probably do 400m reps in about 90 secs, which I think is slower than my best mile (5.55, and I'm usually around 6-ish).

Form: I look like I'm walking briskly instead of running. At least I don't hunch over too much, so I'll give myself 4.

Aerobic - the year I did the marathon it stacked up v poorly against shorter distances. Now that I'm not doing marathon training, I don't know. I missed the only ten-miler I'd signed up for last year, so my longest races have been 10ks, and they're not a terrible drop off in pace from the shorter distances. So, middling.

Focus - I generally don't miss many runs, but I don't really plan either. I do my sessions with the club, and my LSR, and if I do a hill I run at the pace of my running companion. So my inclination to get out and run is fine, but I don't really run specific sessions on my own.

Robustness- I've been running since 2010 and I only had one injury plagued year (2014, after the marathon). This year I've been staying under 40mpw mostly and I've had a niggly ankle and a freak hip / groin thing I did when out walking, but nothing that's kept me off running for more than a day or two. So robust-ish.

I'm scoring really low, but my aim for the last year or two has been mainly to be running consistently and injury free, so I'm scoring quite high on that!

spaceylou

Strength/Power| 2/10
Posture and Form|3/10
Aerobic Engine|4/10
Focus/Discipline| 4/10
Robustness| 5/10


Strength/Power: Not my best area for sure and to date I've not done very much about it. My intention is to change that in the coming weeks so hopefully when I revisit this mid-2017 I'll have improved.

Form: Again, not great here and related to strength when I am tired it gets worse. I've scored myself slightly higher than strength on this one because I already do a tiny bit to stop myself degenerating further but still an area that needs to be addressed.

Aerobic - I am not sure about this one. I've always associated aerobic with my lungs but I guess its also how efficiently my body uses the oxygen they pull in. My recent marathon time shows a steep cliff like fall in performance when compared with shorter distances and while some of that was down to poor pacing and idiocy on my part, my HM times also suggest that I just don't have the endurance (yet). I feel this is strongly linked with my strength though so hopefully will improve as that improves as well as continued running.

Focus - I can be a bit dithery on this one. I'll go through streaks when I do every planned run, keep up with my stretching etc and then it all goes to pot and takes me a few weeks to get back on the wagon. So when I am good, I am very good BUT and a big but, I think I get put out too easily if my routine changes at all.

Robustness- Well I've come through a marathon cycle injury free with minimal niggles so that is good. In saying that given my lack of attention over the past few months to stretching, strength, form etc I feel I am on borrowed time with regard to remaining injury free so need to address those issues above to ensure I stay in one piece.

In a nutshell - room for improvement across the board!

HelenAnne

HelenAnne wrote: »

Strength/Power| 3/10
Posture and Form|4/10
Aerobic Engine|4/10
Focus/Discipline| 5/10
Robustness| 5/10


Strength/Power: I'm not as weak as I used to be, but that's not saying much. I do a Pilates class once a week and practise a bit in between, but 20 push ups would still be a real, arm-trembling struggle and I'm not fantastic at one-legged squats etc. Rarely touch my weights, though I might do the occasional half-hearted weighted squat. My speed reps don't show any power either. I probably do 400m reps in about 90 secs, which I think is slower than my best mile (5.55, and I'm usually around 6-ish).

OK, I checked my 400m times and I'm not QUITE as bad as I thought - when we were doing them on the track, I was more like 80-81 seconds rather than 89-90 (the 90-ish is the last few weeks on grass) so I suppose the track would equate more to my flat road mile time, and maybe the reps on grass would be more comparable to my XC times? So then my 400m reps are at about 5.20 pace, which is a good bit faster than my best road mile pace.

Also, should we be comparing how fast we can run a shorter distance ONCE to our mile times, because maybe that would be a tiny bit faster, I've only ever done anything under a mile as part of a series of reps.

ETA: Oh my God, at Pilates this morning we had to do five push ups with one foot in the air and then five with the other foot in the air. I was AWFUL at it - I only did 4 on one side and I know I wasn't going down far enough in any of them. So I add that to my 'I'm not very strong' proof :-)

IvoryTower

IvoryTower wrote: »

Form, I'm told it's good now but it was terrible so ill take that as a 6!

I got a new pair of luminous yellow runners and straight away a coach noticed my feet swing outwards like this fella :mad: im revising my 6. should have got dark runners. I've seen a video of me racing 400 where it was fine so I reckon after a few months of track training it corrects itself, i hope

Maximus Alexander

Strength/Power| 2/10
Posture and Form| 5/10
Aerobic Engine| 5/10
Focus/Discipline| 9/10
Robustness| 4/10


Strength/Power: I never do any gym work, primarily because I'm clueless on that front and wouldn't have a clue where to start. It's something I'd like to do, because I can see the deficiencies, but it's completely alien. Starting is the hard part.

Posture/Form: I don't think it's terrible, but I'm not a good judge. I think I'm fairly balanced, I wouldn't say I'm light on my feet but I'm not hammering the pavement either. I tend to stand tall, back straight, arms relaxed etc.

Aerobic: I'm only a bit over a year running so I've a long way to go here, but I've been pretty happy with the progress on this front. Marathon training left me feeling that I could run for days if my legs didn't get tired.

Focus/Discipline: Best attribute I think. If I have a plan and I know what I need to be doing, then I will do it. The only thing that will stop me is my body not functioning correctly...

Robustness: I'm pretty much always nursing some sort of niggle and have already had a handful of injuries that have forced me to stop running for days to a couple of weeks. I reckon this is related to strength and conditioning.

tailgunner

Strength/Power| 1/10
Posture and Form| 4/10
Aerobic Engine| 5/10
Focus/Discipline| 7/10
Robustness| 8/10


Strength/Power: This couldn't be much worse. I haven't done any real speedwork in months, and I haven't seen the inside of a gym in years. I want to get back into speedwork over the next few months, but I don't see the gym situation changing in the near future.

Posture/Form: This always feels like it's okay when I'm running, but any pictures I've seen of myself are fairly desperate. Really need to start doing core work.

Aerobic: I'm still new enough to running, so plenty of room for improvement here. Happy enough with the progress I've made though.

Focus/Discipline: Hard to answer this one. I'm basically useless if I'm not following a structured plan towards a goal, but I'm very focused when I am. I was really disciplined about training for the Berlin marathon this year, but now that it's done and dusted, I'm struggling with motivation.

Robustness: I seem to be very lucky in this regard. I had one minor knee injury shortly after I took up running last year that kept me off the road for about two weeks. No issues since. I get the odd niggle every now and then, but nothing major.

Dubgal72

nice one MS, thanks

Strength/Power
I haven't done any gym work or weights since earlier this year but I think I have good strength and still some remnants of explosive power relative to my age so will score 7/10 for this.
Posture and Form
Crap but getting better. I have an officially-diagnosed lazy arse and heel strike. Doing lots of resistance band work, running taller and extending stride to remedy this. 3/10 soon to be 10/10
Aerobic Engine
improving, I hope. When I was keeping track of these sort of things in 2015, my aerobic engine was not keeping times on a par as I moved up the distances. I put this down to not enough cycles of training laid down. Am going to give a cautious - and unsupported - 6.5/10 for this.
Focus/Discipline
9/10 here. I am an addict, so what you call focus and discipline, I call getting my fix. I am even currently addicted to my rehab regime. That's easy too, because without it, I simply won't be able to run.
Robustness
Leaving aside the form and postural-related niggles above, I would say I am reasonably robust in that I tend to recover well. Including the niggles.....well, my recent and not so recent running history reads like a litany of crockism. So...5/10 ?!

Murph_D

Interesting. This exercise seems to be telling me to get to the gym.

Strength/Power
Skinny as a rake, little visible muscle mass of any description. But was deceptively fast In my prime and can still occasionally get the skates on. Could do with some more strength from an endurance point of view, I think. 4/10

Posture and Form
"Textbook arm carriage", according to a knowledgeable coach. Heel striker, but not a particularly heavy one. But need to address this more as the knees will hardly hold up to being locked on impact forever. Crushing those oranges whenever I can, or whenever I remember. 5/10

Aerobic Engine
Plenty of miles in the bag, but this year I've improved more over the shorter distances and my marathon time no longer lines up. Need more endurance. 6/10

Focus/discipline
I love to get out and run. I stick to the plan, and can vary when necessary. Racing is a buzz. But I struggle with stretching and strength work (for "struggle with", read "don't do"). Nothing in my performance screams "exception to the rule". But I'll still say 6/10.

Robustness
I am reluctant to tempt fate, but have been injury-free since Feb 2014, through seven marathon cycles. 8/10

I'd give myself average in everything...but a 10/10 in sheer bloodymindedness.

I think others in my bracket train harder, are more focussed about diet, do more gym work, have better form and so on. Saw someone refer to "ability to take pain" in another thread here before, and that's the one where I'd pat myself on the back.