6 weeks until my next half marathon. Starting to feel good about my pace again. I took way too much time off after the last one and was dropped by my running buddies. Still using the Hal Higdon Novice plan. But due to the hill climb within the first 5 miles I have added some light sprinting just one session during the week.
No problems any more with calf soreness after making the changes in my stride and running posture.(see previous posts)
Update***
Finished the half in about 2:10. It was great cutting 10 minutes off of my last time. The course was much harder as well. It had one huge climb and many smaller hills. The last 3 miles of the course was flat but by that time I had not gas in the tank to take advantage of it. Shooting for under 2 hours next time. But with my wife in graduate school now it may be hard to find time to train for the next event.
Will be looking for some 10k runs to do instead.
Showing posts with label running technique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running technique. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Half Marathon Update/fore foot strike
Well,
Jon and I participated in the Mississippi Track Club half marathon a few weekends ago.
It was a blast. You would be surprised at the different types of people that show up for one of those events. My favorite was a man with a pot belly running with what looked like a fat dog. Never caught 'em. Most people just seemed like ordinary folks with only a few looking like "runners".
We took it real easy the first 10 miles or so. The goal for this event was simply to finish. I did stretch my legs a bit at the 10 mile mark to complete my first event in 2:21 for 152nd place. Not bad. It was a solid middle of the pack performance. To be "competitive" I need to shave almost an hour off of that time...maybe sometime in the future.
Since last weekend I have been stuffing myself and not running at all. I gave my self a week off to just relax. To be honest I was a little worn out and it took the whole week to recover. Christmas is this weekend.
My running goals for the next month are just to put some more miles on my new stride and slowly start making the conversion to the puma's that the Pose Techniques prefer. It seems like a good compromise for huarachis. My initial running shoe was a New Balance trainer. Well, It was not a running shoe per se. I picked it because the heel was not much thicker than the pad on the front of the shoe. It was a compromise between the flat Puma and traditional Nike style running shoe.
I'll buy a pair of the Puma's after Xmas and start doing my shorter runs in them. Want to be fully transitioned by next summer. The tendons, bones, muscles of the foot take a good bit of time to strengthen esp. after a lifetime of modern shoes.
After running my first half with the forefoot strike I was left will some simple calf tightness and of course some muscle stiffness that was gone after 2 or 3 days.
Jon and I participated in the Mississippi Track Club half marathon a few weekends ago.
It was a blast. You would be surprised at the different types of people that show up for one of those events. My favorite was a man with a pot belly running with what looked like a fat dog. Never caught 'em. Most people just seemed like ordinary folks with only a few looking like "runners".
We took it real easy the first 10 miles or so. The goal for this event was simply to finish. I did stretch my legs a bit at the 10 mile mark to complete my first event in 2:21 for 152nd place. Not bad. It was a solid middle of the pack performance. To be "competitive" I need to shave almost an hour off of that time...maybe sometime in the future.
Since last weekend I have been stuffing myself and not running at all. I gave my self a week off to just relax. To be honest I was a little worn out and it took the whole week to recover. Christmas is this weekend.
My running goals for the next month are just to put some more miles on my new stride and slowly start making the conversion to the puma's that the Pose Techniques prefer. It seems like a good compromise for huarachis. My initial running shoe was a New Balance trainer. Well, It was not a running shoe per se. I picked it because the heel was not much thicker than the pad on the front of the shoe. It was a compromise between the flat Puma and traditional Nike style running shoe.
I'll buy a pair of the Puma's after Xmas and start doing my shorter runs in them. Want to be fully transitioned by next summer. The tendons, bones, muscles of the foot take a good bit of time to strengthen esp. after a lifetime of modern shoes.
After running my first half with the forefoot strike I was left will some simple calf tightness and of course some muscle stiffness that was gone after 2 or 3 days.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Running the Half Marathon
This post is for the friends that I have that follow this blog. But some of you know that I am training for the half marathon. A long distance running event is something that I have always wanted to do. Hal Higdon has a novice schedule that seems to be working well. It has been relatively easy increasing the miles.
Running has never really been my thing. It has always been hard for my frame to deal with...that is until I discovered some of the natural movement people out there. Later I want to add some links to a few sites that I draw inspiration from.
These natural movement principals are found throughout the martial arts that I teach and practice. Applying them to running is just something that I never thought of before.
Instead of a chore that hurt my back and was difficult to do, running has become A LOT easier. My back does not hurt and the knees are pretty much pain free as I build up the miles.
My favorite alternative running technique is the Pose technique.
I changed my stride to fit more of that model instead of a classic heal strike that sent pain into the back. Also, I incorporated a lot of the standing principals from Sun style Hsing I Chuan that have helped make running more effortless. Now the only thing that is holding me back is the conditioning of the lungs/O2 uptake.
Later, i am going to write on my experiments using the breathing techniques from the internal martial arts that I have been using to help me get in shape.
Although my personal martial arts practice is taking a back seat at the moment I still get to learn about my art by applying the principals to another form of exercise.
Talk soon,
Chuck
Running has never really been my thing. It has always been hard for my frame to deal with...that is until I discovered some of the natural movement people out there. Later I want to add some links to a few sites that I draw inspiration from.
These natural movement principals are found throughout the martial arts that I teach and practice. Applying them to running is just something that I never thought of before.
Instead of a chore that hurt my back and was difficult to do, running has become A LOT easier. My back does not hurt and the knees are pretty much pain free as I build up the miles.
My favorite alternative running technique is the Pose technique.
I changed my stride to fit more of that model instead of a classic heal strike that sent pain into the back. Also, I incorporated a lot of the standing principals from Sun style Hsing I Chuan that have helped make running more effortless. Now the only thing that is holding me back is the conditioning of the lungs/O2 uptake.
Later, i am going to write on my experiments using the breathing techniques from the internal martial arts that I have been using to help me get in shape.
Although my personal martial arts practice is taking a back seat at the moment I still get to learn about my art by applying the principals to another form of exercise.
Talk soon,
Chuck
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