Hey running comrades!
The comrade who started these threads seems to be taking a break, and I've been slack, so apologies for the interruptions to these threads. I've still been running though, and I hope you have too! But if you haven't, please don't beat yourself up about it, none of us here are going to win an olympic marathon so it's pretty low stakes stuff, and breaks can be good for letting the body recover anyway
Anyway I thought I'd talk briefly about fartleks (it's named after the Swedish for "speed play" rather than the intermittent speed boost from jet propulsion). Assuming you're doing the vast majority of your running at an easy pace like you absolutely should (you ARE doing that, aren't you?), this is a safer and more fun way of adding some intensity/speed without doing brutal sets of intervals. The basic idea is to go on a fairly normal easy run, and then just add in bursts of higher intensity as you go. Some people do it structured, but the "intended" way of doing it is just to spontaneously decide to "run hard as far as that tree over there" or whatever and then return to normal pace, and do that a bunch during the run. However you do it, the key is just to mix up your pace a number of times during the run, potentially at a few different paces (not just "slow" and "sprint"). Not rocket science, but it's fun to just let loose and go fast once in a while, and it's good to get some speed in - especially when this way of doing it ensures you warm up and cool down properly and don't go too hard, helping reduce injury.
Anyway it's been waaaaaaay more than a week so please feel free to share all your running ups and downs from the last month or so!
I was out in the countryside on the weekend, had an amazing run on the higher ground above these beautiful mist-filled valleys, but the hills were incessant and brutal and my legs are very upset with me now. Very encouraging that I'm in half decent shape for the hilly event I'm training for though so I'm definitely calling it a win
Damn I'm getting addicted to this running stuff. Probably my longest streak yet, 2-3 times per week for somewhere around a month or two. I already ran once today, but I want to run again! Maybe it's time to put in an extra day a week...
What are good ways to prevent or avoid injury? I feel better running on grass for example.
That's awesome, it's so much better and easier once you can get yourself into a routine like that!
Okay, best way to avoid injury is to do the exact opposite of what I've ever done. There's no guarantees, and you can pick up weird removedles even when you're super careful, but here's a few things that everyone on nerdy running forums seems to agree on:
Big long loping strides where you land hard on your heel (with your foot in front of you when you land) are bad. Try and aim for shorter, quicker strides. If you have a fancy watch that measures these things, I'm told a cadence of 175 or over is good for casual runs (may be higher for racing)
Decent running shoes make a big difference for injury, especially shin splints etc. If you're getting serious about it, could be worth trying to find a specialty running shop nearby (the good ones will do gait analysis etc) and get a decent pair. And also the consensus is to replace them every 800km or so. From my own experience, I think this is legit and not just shoe industry propaganda to make you buy more shoes.
Concrete is brutal on your legs. Bitumen is much better, dirt or grass are great. Grass will slow you down a bit and make you work a bit harder, and it's also good for the balance muscles
The general rule of thumb is not to increase your distance or intensity by more than 10% per week and take some weeks to consolidate rather than constantly increasing
I'm really bad at this, but core strength is good for preventing injury (and good for pace too). There's a Runners Standard Core Routine or something (sorry I cant check or find the video right now), it's 7 exercises you do in a row for a minute each, that is quite good
Be really careful when running hard. General advice is at least 80% of your running should be slow and easy anyway, but just be extra conservative when starting on things like hill sprints or intervals etc. And try to be a bit careful running down steep hills too
Don't run through an injury. It's so tempting but believe me, it always just makes things worse. If your body is telling you that you probably shouldn't be running, you should probably listen to it.
Stretching is actually something people are divided about the benefits of for running, so I'd say it's not the #1 thing, but it won't hurt and if you find it feels useful then why not
Thanks for the advice! I've had the same shoes for like 10 years haha, probably haven't reached 800km though. I'll stay on the grass then.
Would wide-grip pull-ups be a good core strength exercise?
What got removed? I'm guessing a technical term?