Fartlek.
WU) 20:00/ stretch for 5:00/ 4 X 30" strides on 2' easy.
5:00 uphill at 1/2 marathon effort. 3:00 downhill easy.
Continuous uphill- Fartlek: 2 X (1'/ 2'/ 3'/ 2'/ 1') on 1' jogging (uphill).
Steady and fast pace back to the bottom (20:00).
5:00 uphill at 1/2 marathon effort.
10:00 jogging cool-down.
Drills/ stretch.
Loaded logs afterward and chopped wood for 20:00.
Hilarious post by BMI 30+ .. damn funny. (warning: explicit language and adult content.. awesome)
5 comments:
What happened on Sunday? Monday and Tuesday easy. I love it.
You're killing it, Tim.
Sunday was brutal.. I still feel it. ;)
Lucho,
Can you expand on your stretching a bit? I know you were super oppossed to it before(as was I), but I've since seen the value in it. I just wonder what are good 'runner's stretches'? In otherwords, what parts do you WANT to be flexible and what parts do you NOT WANT to be flexible. I've always gotten injured when I've stretched too much, but I'm trying to resolve some imbalance issues now as my right hamstring is a bit tighter than my left.
Thanks for any info!
Dave
Dave- I got rid of my plantar issues with stretching and very diligent massage with my own tools. I still do deep tissue massage nearly every day, mainly for my calves. Part of the reason I have been opposed to stretching in the past is that I am extremely flexible with out stretching, I can stand and put both my palms flat on the floor with out feeling any stretch in my hamstrings. I also see many athletes stretching too severely and well outside their sport specific range of motion. Stretching gently is the key and keeping it in perspective as to what your goals are. I think yoga is the worst thing in the world- I've been to classes and half way through my last one I walked out knowing that it was going to cause an injury.
I use stretches that target my running range of motion- so calves, hamstrings, gluteus and hips. Still the best stretch (in my opinion) is the ballistic leg swings. Proper hydration is also critical for keeping muscles supple. Dehydration can cause muscles to lose elasticity. The thing to remember in any stretch is to warm-up first with 15:00-20:00 of very easy exercise. Then when you do stretch- never force it. If you're doing a static stretch (or even ballistic) then start very gently and only push to slight sensation. You have to allow the muscle to get over the initial tensing up caused by the stretch. This where I have the biggest issue with yoga- rarely do people properly warm-up before a class and then the stretches are too severe, stretching severely only tears muscles. My #1 recommendation is to use "The Stick" before a run to break up micro fibers and adhesions’, stretching does not do this. What stretching does do is loosen the muscle so that it can move more efficiently during your sport- which is why I think it's most important to stretch with your specific sport in mind. Doing 'downward dog' isn't going to help you do anything in a marathon.
Reading your comments about stretching and yoga, I must say I agree with you. Yoga classes can be terrible places for people to work on "flexibility", especially endurance athletes.
I think the reasons for this are many but primarily come down to some personality differences between people drawn to endurance sports as a primary physical expression and those primarily drawn to yoga and the fact that very, very few yoga poses are actually stretches. At least in the traditional sense. Most poses people come to relate to yoga and stretching are merely preparations for strength and balance postures.
As a practice yoga's purpose is restore the body and clear the mind. I think you make some very good observations regarding your own body and flexibility. Given your experience training at very high levels of fitness, you already posses a body with strong muscle tissue. Strong muscles are typically flexible. So as you indicate you can put your palms on the floor in a forward fold without strain to the hamstrings.
There are several factors that allow this to happen. One of the most important and most over looked is core strength and integration. There is much going on in a forward fold but most essential for deepening the fold is engaging the core properly.
The reason for this is the forward fold is actually a handstand preparation where more and more weight is removed from the legs and placed into the palms until the hips are directly over the shoulders and the legs are lifted from the floor (you can see the same process in Olympic platform divers). The purpose isn't to "stretch" the hamstrings at all but to release them. Downward Dog works in much the same way, encouraging access to the core, releasing the hamstrings, and preparing the body for the forward fold, handstands and "floats" to seated postures or arm balances when done properly. I find this type of conditioning greatly impacts my running and cycling.
I think this is where yoga and stretching part company. Unfortunately a large number of yoga teachers fail to understand or articulate this distinction. Yoga is about creating body awareness and muscular access. These things can make you more "flexible". But this type of work is very, very different from stretching where the goal is merely to lengthen a muscle. Yoga is more about strength and coordinated muscle access.
One of the reasons I started teaching yoga classes specifically for endurance athletes is because I came to realize there are very few yoga teachers that understand what we endurance athletes are asking our bodies to do on a regular basis. The physical, emotional and mental demands are tremendous. Because of this I agree, someone going into a typical yoga class can get injured. But I'd also say that same person could injury themselves stretching as well.
Personally I have found yoga's emphasis on breath and the intelligent interaction between our bodies and our minds that is always taking place to be hugely beneficial in my training. But the benefit to which I refer has nothing to do with how "flexible" I am. The benefit I see is as simple as faster and more effortless swimming, biking, and running. But I suspect breathing and the extensive strength, core work and muscular integration that allowed this to happen came from working on things like headstands, handstands, and arm balances. I didn't really need yoga for this, but it provided a good framework to build in structure allowing me to gain access to this type of coordination.
Post a Comment