Today's Training

[Travs]

This week's club session was to be 20 x 200mtrs. But to make it a little more fell-specific i went off-road. So off to the old mine "pit" and ran the hard reps downhill, recovering on the way back up.

170 metres of downhill, with a nice grassy start, then an incredibly muddy/wet steep bank, then a slippy muddy track that wasn't steep enough to free-wheel, but enough to build up an unnerving rate of speed.

Could only manage 12 decent reps before the legs started to feel the effort, and to do any more would have served little purpose. Although i did manage to find some confidence/recklessness, my first couple being around the 36 second mark, but my final couple of reps being sub-32 seconds.

6 miles total. Hopefully a useful technical session, with the (hopefully) impending Skirrid race coming up next month.

[Travs]

A day of no running today, meant my weekly total was a bit down... 49 miles... but a stonking 15,050ft of climb.

As for next week,,, well club training to resume later in the week. I had hoped to squeeze in a 5km fast effort before then, but a few little niggles have made that less of a priority... will see how i feel in the coming 48hrs.

[Hank]

32k/900m from the house yesterday, out in to the western edge of Bowland. Absolutely filthy underfoot, some of the worst peat bog/mud/swamp I've had the pleasure of negotiating. Legs felt pretty stiff back on the roads this morning.

[anthonykay]

With continuous heavy rain, and the temperature only just high enough to prevent it falling as snow, I took out a very old waterproof fell suit for today's jaunt up to the Outwoods. It has been worn very little, although it must have done many miles in my bumbag in races in the 80's and 90's. It was rather poignant when I noticed the PB logo on the label; I think it was one of Pete Bland's own designs. But it hasn't got taped seams, so hasn't been taken out recently.

The freshly ploughed fields mentioned in a recent post have now been harrowed, but with the soil sodden, the going was even slower than before. 45 minutes for a route that I did in under 39 minutes a few weeks ago (and under 37 in Summer 2019).

[Travs]

We had an internal cross-country handicap today. A surpsisingly energy-sapping 6km over grass and slop.

Managed 24:26 which doesn't sound any great shakes, but finished 5th (out of around 20) and was up with a couple of the 16-17min/5km boys, and had put a good 90secs into those i expected to be around me... (i expect i had a good day, and most of them struggled a little through lack of recent race opportunities).

Still it was very enjoyable, and nice to be back on a start line again.

[Travs]

This week's scores 58.5 miles, 10,200ft.

After a good XC handicap race yesterday, i was full of enthusiasm for the coming week. Yet a pull/strain whilst bench-pressing this morning has left me in a little pain, curtailed today's mileage somewhat, and have no idea if i'll be back all-guns-blazing tomorrow morning, or if i'll be off for a few days.

[Travs]

Club session last night in rather miserable driving rain.

4 x 200mtrs
3 x 1 mile (1 minute rest)
4 x 200mtrs

The mile reps were supposed to be at 10 mile race pace. Having never done a 10 mile race i was a little unsure, but i'd imagine 62-63 minutes would be the aim. However 6:12-6:18/mile is a little too slow for reps for me, and my miles were 6:00, 5:53, 5:51... so possibly overcooked it (if i ever got near 60mins for 10 miles i'd be ecstatic!), but quite pleasing that i could run a reasonable pace without really turning on the gas.

Sadly i seem to have done something to my hip, so no running at least this morning, perhaps longer.

I'm assuming that in the last week the resumption of hard gym work, a tough XC run, and a club session, are the reasons behind a worrying rash of niggles...

[noel]

Why the gym work? I notice you said bench pressing in your last post. Is that general strength fitness or something intended to be relevant to running?

I'm not against gym work, but I've never considered bench presses.

[Travs]

Why the gym work? I notice you said bench pressing in your last post. Is that general strength fitness or something intended to be relevant to running?

I'm not against gym work, but I've never considered bench presses.

I've always done general weight work, alongside more specific leg and core strength work. I do feel it helps on the longer races, ability to keep a reasonable posture etc. It's generally lower weights and higher reps, i'm not looking to build muscle. A fairly basic full body circuit with core work is no more than half hours work in the gym. If i'm already there to use the treadmill for uphill work it's a no-brainer really.

Also i like to maintain a bit of the strength/endurance in the core and upper body that i built up from my Thai Kickboxing days.

With regards to leg strength work, i'm a great fan of squats and leg presses... and will use other isolation exercises (hamstring curls etc) to work on any weaknesses.

Overall i find it's an asset rather than a hindrance to my training... particularly living without regular access to the fells and rough ground.

[Marco]

Why the gym work? I notice you said bench pressing in your last post. Is that general strength fitness or something intended to be relevant to running?

I'm not against gym work, but I've never considered bench presses.

I've always done general weight work, alongside more specific leg and core strength work. I do feel it helps on the longer races, ability to keep a reasonable posture etc. It's generally lower weights and higher reps, i'm not looking to build muscle. A fairly basic full body circuit with core work is no more than half hours work in the gym. If i'm already there to use the treadmill for uphill work it's a no-brainer really.

Also i like to maintain a bit of the strength/endurance in the core and upper body that i built up from my Thai Kickboxing days.

With regards to leg strength work, i'm a great fan of squats and leg presses... and will use other isolation exercises (hamstring curls etc) to work on any weaknesses.

Overall i find it's an asset rather than a hindrance to my training... particularly living without regular access to the fells and rough ground.

I also noted you'd said bench pressing in your last post. Everyone to their own, and all that, but I never did any work on my arms. My feeling was that if I added muscle it would add weight, and blunt my advantage of being skinny.

It is worth saying that muscle burns fuel and oxygen all of the time, so the more you have the more of them you need. In uphill running, where you are restricted by how much oxygen you can use, the thought of having bigger than absolutely necessary arms seemed to me like a way to make me run slower.

As to the lower weights and higher reps approach opinions are mixed; the weight relative to your strength, and the number of reps, seems to be critical.

If the weights and reps are in the medium range there is a tendency towards hypertrophy (building muscle volume and weight).

If the weights are very large, and the reps very small, there is a tendency towards strength improvements. The muscles don't alter in size, but there is an increase in neuromuscular adaptation, which is the efficiency of the brain to control the muscles.

If the weights are small, and the reps high, there is a tendency towards improvements in muscular endurance.

I've mentioned 'tendency' in all of the above permutations as it doesn't work the same for everyone, and there is also the role of testosterone, genetics and diet to consider.