09.03.11
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Train while you are strained..

Doctor’s, in this case it was my podiatrist, who has asked me not to run for the next two weeks… its bullshit, I freaked out.. 🙂 ..

Already annoyed at myself for hurting my heels, and the residual pain is not relieving, inspite of new pair of shoes 😦 .. regular icing.. and now am taking anti-inflamatory pills.

Well, instead of sitting on the couch, I have started biking more, hitting the gym for circuit weight training, and just started swimming yesterday. Off all this I feel that swimming is the best to keep the heart rate healthy.

While you are suffering from a running injury, you can utilise that time to give most rest to your legs, and exercise your upper body, and cross train. For a runner nothing can be more frustrating than not hitting the pavement or the trails. But it is always best to respect your body.

Listen to your body, listen to your doctor, read and talk to other runners, and check this out- http://runninginjuryfree.org/2008/09/foot-strike.html

Certain things that one can do at the gym-

  1. Do elliptical
  2. work on the glute muscles
  3. work on the quads  (do the first three depending on the injured area on your leg)
  4. do planks, and side planks
  5. with moderate or low weights do more reps for shoulders, biceps, and chest
  6. Rowing is a great way to keep the heart rate going
  7. spinning and biking are amazing, but again depends on where you are injured
  8. Lastly, swimming is always a great alternative
the upper body is as important for a runner as the lower body, one realizes this with his right hand movements while running uphill. Plus right strength exercise builds motivation during runs, and makes you feel strong.
One thing, I have read, and been told is that always rest the injured area 100%, before starting fresh.
So happy training, and happy running.. !!
08.29.11
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3 weeks of depression

Have to baby-sit my plantar fasciitis for another 3 weeks, that is what my doc says. Consuming pills of Ibuprofen, to subside my inflammation, and no running is gone irritate me.

Reading the running posts, and updates on facebook and twitter, are most annoying and depressing, when you can’t hit the trail :(.

I cancelled my upcoming marathon for this, but it will be hard to cancel another one too.

 

08.20.11
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Runner’s low and Runner’s high

Every runner, from a novice to an experienced, and to an elite one, all have their high and low moments during the run. Low point is when you feel yourself to be an insane being, who is running and running. You feel demotivated, fatigued (even though you would have hardly covered any distance), feel like stopping. A runner’s high is when even after covering the maximum distance, you feel an adrenaline rush inside, that urges you to keep running. You feel no pain, no lactic acid in your calves, and feets are responding at their all time best.

I have experienced both, and numerous times. When I run on the Los Gatos creek trail, I don’t know why, on certain parts of the trail, I always pick up speed. Its amazing, there are few uphills, and flat portions, where I feel my best while running. I love the Rancho San Antonio park trails, because of its tricky curvy trails, which give me immense low and high moments.

Well, the high moments are always good, and I feel that you should just explore your max potential when you feel that


adrenaline rush to just keep running, however for the low moments, everyone has their own way to counter.

I counter the low moments, by not thinking about running. I slow down my pace, just think something good. Think of
 some appreciation that you received at work, think of good family moments, think of how proud your close ones be, when you complete a marathon. May be if there is a nice hot chic running, use her as a motivation to run ;), what if she becomes your girl (no harm in thinking)….. But certainly dont stop running, because once you stop, it will be very very difficult to pull yourself out of the couch the next day.

08.16.11
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Train, but No Strain

true!!

Do not train so hard, that you strain yourself to the extent that you might have to pull out of the event.

With sore heels, or the heel spurs, I am planning to pull out of the full marathon with just a month to go. Have not been able to put enough miles on the legs, for the training.

Injury is so depressing that I run a day, and rest for next two days, further ensuring that I walk less. I have had IT band and knee injuries before, and they rehab process and keeping oneself away from the trails was so frustrating, when that is the thing you most badly want to do.

Biking/swimming/Gym cross workouts are some of the ways to avoid the body fitness level from going down.

 

 

 

08.11.11
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How important are track workouts..

Initially I never felt the importance of track workouts, may be because I was never a sports guy in my school years. When I started running, I used to run long distance, working on my stamina. Even today, I can run farther, than most of my school mates, who were super athletes back then.

Track and field

Image via Wikipedia

 

Advantages of track workout-

1) It pushes you towards speed runs, as you try to time your laps, and mile splits.

  • Always try to be consistent with your lap timings, ensuring that the last lap you run is either faster or at the same speed as the first one.
  • Straight tracks are the best to gain speed, one can always slow down at the curves, one reason also being that at the curves if you try to speed, you may loose balance, strain your IT band, and the ankles.
  • To catch the runner ahead of you, never try to take longer strides, instead shorter and quicker strides are effective. This has worked for me.

2) It increases your leg strength.

3) It gives you a confidence that you can consistently beat a sub 8 min/mile pace :).

4) Helps your core muscles to strengthen.

A good track workout depends on your level of running, and the race you are training for.

I am training for a half-marathon with a group of people, with varied running levels. Yesterday’s track-workout was-

1) 1 mile warm-up, with running the stairs up-down.

2) 2*400m  – 4*400m – 6*400m – 4*400m – 2*400m

3) 1 mile cool down.

4) lunges / planks / side-planks / stretches

5) and I did an extra 7 miles of biking, to commute to the track ground.

 

I have seen improvements in my running, with consistent track workouts. However, if you do not have the luxury of tracks, near your place, you may also do 1 mile split runs, with 400m cool downs on any trail. Distance being difficult to track, a sprint for 1 min and cool down for 30 secs, repeating this for a distance of 4-5 miles can also be a good speed workout.