mr b's comeback

[mr brightside]

I've had some awful knee pain today, both knees, really annoying at work. I think it has been caused by very poor running technique, the same sloppy technique that is partly responsible for me being in this mess in the first place. I'm going to try another timed Strid Wood this weekend, if possible, and this time focus less on pulling my bag out and more on good, ecomomic technique, and settle into a rhythm before gunning it. If nothing else it will be interesting to see the outcome of a sensible, intelligent approach compared to just fighting the forces of physics with brute force and ignorance.

[mr brightside]

No midweek run this week, right knee feeling tight and sore. Treated it with Comfrey Oil friday night and went ok for a steady 'un at Arncliffe today- 2m/460'. Thinking of a bike ride tommorrow.

[mr brightside]

Today's bike ride- 19.5m/2450'

Felt better than i'd expected, climbed like a girl...i'm blaming Arncliffe.

[mr brightside]

Sun 16th, 8m/1500ish, Thruscross ACW from Fewston car park, good route better ACW i felt.

Sat 22nd, Weasdale Horseshoe, 8.7m/2000', great route from a classic Cumbrian show. People always talk about climbs in fellrunning, but this one is a real feral arsekicking favouring the brave on several sections of the route.

Today's run- new route! Midweek Fartlek, 2.9m/395' A 12 leg fartlek session based on the many variations of 'Midweek XC'. The profile is a bit misleading with the uphills, they look bigger than they are, see the y-axis for details:



Warm up- Calisthenic exercises, joint mobils, basic stretches at home.

Leg 1- Warm up, linear uphill, 0.45m/116', easy
Leg 2- Uphill, 0.26m/86', hard
Leg 3- Downhill, 0.21m/-80', easy
Leg 4- Undulating uphill, 0.4m/65', tempo increasing to hard pace
Leg 5- Flat, 0.1m, easy
Leg 6- Flat, 0.24m, tempo
Leg 7- Downhill, 0.25m/-80', easy
Leg 8- Uphill, 0.28m/80', hard increasing to interval pace
Leg 9- Flat slow walk, 30mtrs
Leg 10- Downhill, 0.18m/-85', fast
Leg 11- Flat, 0.17m, moderate, below tempo
Leg 12- Linear downhill, 0.26m/-73', tempo increasing to hard

I'd love to hear the opinions of anyone who does proper fartlek sessions on this, it's a bit heath robinson but it's a start and noticably harder than midweek XC, might have to alternate.

[mr brightside]

Steady 8m trail run this afternoon around Fewston/Swinsty/Timble. Wasn't going to bother at first but then the mad cat woman started playing tinny 70s folk music at full blast and i was out the door like a scalded cat.

Does anyone want to comment on my fartlek routine? You can say i'm a dick if you want.

[Travs]

I do try to vary my speed when training, but not really in any scientific way...

90% of my running is on a treadmill, so I do 10 minutes steady warmup, then alternating 5-10 minutes of uphill work with 5-10 minutes fast on the flat... usually last about 50 minutes to an hour...

on the nights when I do a steady run, every 10 minutes I do squats with maybe 30kg on my back (as many as possible) .... again usually lasting for about an hour before the squats take their toll. in fact this "steady" run takes more out of me than the hard interval sessions...!

based on no scientific fact at all, your intervals would seem to be really short to me (or maybe mine are really long!!!).... but looking at your ascents/descents, you are obviously running on the fell so I guess it's a lot more hard work than my initial glance would suggest...

as it happens I was reading an article from a 1996 Fell runner magazine today, which suggests intervals should only be 2-3 minutes, so maybe I am overcooking it a bit with my intervals, although I seem to be getting results at the moment...

[mr brightside]

My basic understanding of fartleks is that everything should always be varied, so much so that you never actually settle into your stride and the shocks to your system keep coming; the shocks being both aerobic and lactate based depending on how each leg is 'designed' as it were. I've tried, as far as i can, to integrate this philosophy into an existing network of trails near my house, which bucks the trend that people usually follow- that being integrating terrain and gradients into the basic fartlek philosophy.

Back in the good old days there was a great thread called 'what are junk miles' which dealt very comprehensively with how not to waste your time, with contributions from several notably fast forumites. My personal opinion is that i've made a step in the right direction and that i'm squeezing each mile as much as i can, i'd hate to think i'm wasting my efforts.

[mr brightside]

Local XC loop tonight, 2.5m/290'

Tempo pace. 5 days in Wales coming up.

[Derby Tup]

I'm more worried about junk food than junk miles atm

[mr brightside]

Shelf Moor today, 5.9m/1500', run off was technical and a bit of a pain for someone carrying injuries like mine. Probably shouldn't have bothered, but i was expecting it to be easier.