DCM 2017 Graduates: Onwards and upwards!

ariana` wrote: »

You rock dying to hear how it goes!!!

Parkrun comeback for me this morning! 24:57 official time, previous parkrun pb was 26:27 in April so that's a whopping 90 seconds improvement. Thrilled with that and no knee pain - mild DOMS yes, pain/niggles no. Butt is killing me after it though but I'm hoping that's a good sign that I activated my glutes??

Have to go back now and read El Cab's post, I have a feeling it might relate to me.

quickbeam wrote: »

I've been thinking about this anyway, but in light of El C’s excellent post, can somebody tell me more about S&C?

I do zero at the moment.

Do I have to join a gym to do it, or can I do it at home? At home, will this require a lot of equipment? At present I have an exercise mat and some weights (a bit like these: https://d2gg9evh47fn9z.cloudfront.net/800px_COLOURBOX3089836.jpg).

I Googled S&C and found this. But that requires all sorts of equipment that I don’t have like a step, exercise ball and a kettlebell. They also seem pretty complicated (some of them anyway). Is there a more back-to-basics / minimal equipment version that I could start out with?

Also, when and how often to do them? I run (in general) Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings very early, and Saturday at 9.30am for Parkrun. Would S&C on alternate days work, ie, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings? Or would that be too little time to recover until the next run, and would I be better off doing them the evening I’ve done runs?

Baby75 wrote: »

ooh wrap up warm

Kellygirl

off to read that report

El Caballo wrote: »

I kind of want to talk about this as a lot of you guys seem to having issues with reoccurring injuries/Niggles at the minute.

Firstly, I think it's important to realise why they happen. As a lot of people here are newer to running/physical activity or haven't done so in years. Structurely, you're body is going to be weak and underprepared for the rigours of road running. Running is a high impact sport and this can cause issues when there is weaknesses or lack of flexibility issues in our bodies. The issue with this is that our fitness increases rapidly in contrast to our muscles and tendons which take much longer to adapt to the stress of running than our lungs and heart.

So while the capacity to run faster and longer improves quickly, the muscles and tendons lag behind and this leads to what are called overuse injuries which are very common for all runners but especially newer runners who haven't had the years of adaption that training brings. A few examples of overuse injuries would be all the typical ones you hear of like IT band, runners knee, piriformis issues etc etc.

The term overuse itself should be self explanatory i.e too much, too soon. The best way to avoid these type of injuries is through S&C, flexibility drills and a gradual build-up of mileage. You are only as strong as your weakest link so while your cardiovascular strength might be excellent and you feel you could run 80 miles a week, it's not much good if your body can only handle 20 miles a week without getting injured and that needs to be considered when you decide how much training you can do. Ideally, you want to slowly build up this weak point so you can increase the volume of training you can do.

That's prevention but we also need to look at rehab as well when you do get injured. The same applies here regarding S&C and flexibility but rest plays a very important role in this. When you are injured, rest is hugely important in recovery as you have to give your body a chance to recover. If you don't, you are only prolonging injuries which will limit your training or make the injury worse until you start to address the problem. Injuries are hugely frustrating and the R word is not something runners like to hear but they are a part of the sport and how you manage them will go a long way to determining how successful you will be. It might hurt to have to take time off in the short term but it is nearly always the right decision in the long-term. You have to be as proactive in managing your recovery from injuries/niggles as you are towards your training to get the most out of your running.

If you are struggling with an overuse injury, you will definitely have to pull the plug on races/workouts and dial back mileage or take complete rest if nessacary. Would you still like to be feeling like you are during an injury right now in 6 months without managing it or back on the road niggle free in a month if you do address it?

skyblue46 wrote: »

https://marathonclubireland.com/2018-marathons/

There's plenty of choice