Friday, February 20, 2009

Friday easy recovery.

My long run- followed by maul work- has warranted a recovery run day. I found 2 car tires by a dumpster yesterday and am going to use them as part of the core workout I have been doing every other day.. it involves pounding the car tires with my 8 pound maul repeatedly as fast as I can for 1 minute alternating between low side swings and high over head swings. It almost puts me on my butt... exhausting from ankles to head. It sounds kind of crazy- this is part of the Javorek complex conditioning routine, since I don't have a gym I'm trying it. It's the hardest strength exercise I've ever done.
I found a new road this morning- interesting.. below is the profile. This is the very definition of "rolling"...

7 comments:

Dave said...

Do you think this "strength" training is having a positive or negative effect on your running? I often woner about just this type of training because it's what I used to do before I got into triathlon. I still have my clients do this type of work (generally moving the greatest amount of weight possible quickly for a given period of time), but I've personally stayed away from it from fear of it having a negative effect on my training.

Also, obviously you're getting your heart rate pretty high in doing the 'maul work', what do you think could be the positives/negatives of that?

And finally, with your new workout and those aviators, maybe you can grow back the moustache and become a 'maul cop'! :) (ok that was a horribly cheesy joke!)

Lucho said...

Dave- Part of why I'm doing it is that I don't want to be weak and useless when I'm 70. I look at some very fast runners and I wonder how they will stem the slide of their bodies as they age- they have no support or functional strength. Since I'm not over eating and am running a lot- I won't gain a pound... remember the First Law of Thermodynamics? Will core work help my running? Absolutely! Will this help prevent injuries? Absolutely!
And even if it did hurt my running a little- as I said before- I'll be able to wrestle with my grandchildren when I'm 70. Besides- I'm not making my living from running, I'm far from being elite.
HR schmartrate.. it's swinging an axe. Will it hurt my marathon time? Unlikely..
Good questions, thanks!
Witty joke! Nice!

jameson said...

how about a video dude?

Anonymous said...

Man, you are Rocky in Siberia!

Matt said...

the core w/o sounds kinda crazy.

Lucho, what are some of your thoughts on cycling as part of the running program? I'd think on some of your routes you could really build fitness/strength without beating yourself up too much.

I'm fighting a little injury and targeting 50k later in the year. It's gotta be worth my while regardless of injury, no?

Lucho said...

Matt- It's debatable as to how much benefit it would be if you were healthy. If you have an injury then it is beneficial. If you can run the mileage needed to perform well then do the running. The more I read about and experience the small details of building very solid running fitness the more I lean away from the idea that you can replace running volume with cross training. Even doing recovery runs rather than a recovery bike will benefit your running more. You can develop good running economy by running on fatigued legs, this goes both ways though- if your economy isn't deeply ingrained or you have poor mechanics- then it can hurt you. This is possibly where cycling or elliptical could be useful.
I think it really depends on how much you are able to run with out breaking down. Low mileage guys might want to supplement their running with cross training to stay healthy and burn calories.
As I said before though- if you can run the appropriate number of miles to get very fit for a running race... then run. My opinion..

wende said...

RunColo, I was thinking the exact same thing! Tim, I can here the music playing.....