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go Sophie go, indulge in those delicious snacks
Did someone mention choc rolls !!
Here you go - I've made some 'healthy' popcorn with a little salt and butter.
I am only repeating what other have said but there is a lot of value in easy runs. 1) they build endurance when done on tired legs 2) they are enjoyable and so keep your running motivation high 3)they 'oil the hinges' and add to the muscles memory of how to run. (not worded particularly well i hope you know what i mean) without over taxing your body.
Walking is a good form of active recovery - but it is cross training - not a substitute for a recovery run or an easy run. Your muscles need to be doing pretty much exactly the same thing that your are training for, to improve. i.e. to improve running you need to run - walking doesn't replicate the running action and so will aid fitness but will not directly improve your running.
Marty - if you never do an easy run - yikes!!
Sophie - John Parker's book 'Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot' ' is worthwhile reading. It really helps to understand the whys and wherefores of 'easy' runs as opposed to the harder runs, and the importance of building up your aerobic base with sufficient easy runs - something I had neglected to do when I first started running. And yes, it does take discipline to stay within the correct zone at times but it does get easier!
Like another poster said...you get to look forward to your 'easy' runs! Well, I do - its a good opportunity for nosing round the neighbourhood. I recently extended a run by running down an unexplored side-road and discovered it led to a nice longish steep hill which has proved to be brilliant for hill-training!
Also, easy runs are nice at this time of the year for blackberry scoffing...plenty around!
Go faster Legs - I am on my third one
Thanks, but choc rolls don't do it for me like a battenburg.
And which evil b@stard came up with the idea of packs of mini ones??
Sorry Bolog - I only choffed the big fluffy bits on the top.
Choc rolls and Battenberg -
Gym addict, OK, I give in, I will try and easy run! I do get the logic but I guess I crave the runners high.
I have tried to run slower, but always manage to speed up without trying! I am quite one speeded, this may not be a good thing but I feel that I have made progress running this way. I have run with the Mrs, but that's quite tedious for me and frustrating for her, if she went a little faster it might count as an easy run. Credit to her, she's doing pretty well and making progress.
As for increasing my aerobic base, i have tried to ease off a bit, but as you get fitter you just compenate by running faster, hence the same speed as before, although the relative effort will be slightly less.
Now, popcorn or easy run! well i'll ponder it whilst I cycle home.
MartyB - I was one-speeded when I started and for two years I got better and better - I thought "hey, this is easy". But then I started to get worse. I trained harder and got worse still.
My point is that it can take quite a while to even begin to understand about fitness and how to train.
Worth mentioning that your aerobic base will not improve if you work above your aerobic threshold - in fact it may be diminished.
There's an excellent exposition of aerobic vs. anaerobic metabolism here. This is what brought me back from the brink and helped me find my running mojo again.
Don't get upset about Zan - you must expect some robust responses if you post on a public forum. OK, so he can be a bit abrasive, but I'm afraid that in truth he does know more about running than you, and you could do worse than hear him out.
There is a wealth of fabulous training info out there - I would recommend www.mcmillanrunning.com - there is no point reinventing the wheel and ending up injured when you can use someone else's hard won knowledge to boost your own performance with less risk
So parklife, what to drink with the popcorn, choc roll & battenburg? And I'm having meat & potato pie for tea, fresh from local bakery. yum. Did 8km easy run today though. Think Sophie might have earned a kit-kat from hers! x
Marty B - hurry up and reply please, need to get on with tea.
There's only one thing to drink with popcorn at this hour:
Chink, chink. Mojitos ahoy!
Oh ZZ, yes, as you said before running is a science, but being a scientist myself I am aware that even science is open to question from time to time, this may be news to you.
Never said must run hard all the time, never said slow running was wimps, never said might as well go out for a walk instead or running in a dismissive way toward running. I actually value walking as an excercise as well as a pleasure, I find the effort required for a run with my partner to be comparable to a good walk.
Oh, an my knowledge is based on my experience and that obtained from other sources like books and people, computers, TV, radio. Similar to most people knowledge pool I guess.
Now I've got hoovering to do, call it tonights cross training
Wow!!! It's amazing what happens in the period of an afternoon!!!
Talking of periods...There are two people on this thread that are acting like the fairer sex the week before theirs....
On a serious note - thankyou for the answer to the slow run/easy run question, whoever it was. Sorry forget now.
If somebody starts asking about the difference between an easy run and a recovery run, will we need another tub of popcorn?
ZZ, would you like to tell us your previous running guise and I will remind you of something you said to me that was 100% unmotivational and totally wrong. You seem to advice people prepared to run 50-70 miles a week to achieve their goal, but not someone like me that one believes that half that mileage is a feasible amount to achieve the same or similar goals.
Yes their is proof, by my results. Probably a good way to learn, especially when it comes to the human side of things. How we react mentally is not an exact science and cannot be learnt from a book. if someone is demotivated by easier runs then they have every right to question the benefits of them. By doing this I am not talking shite as you so kindly put, merely questioning if they (or some running schedules) are for them, or maybe there room for manipulation or deviation. Unlike the principles of the physiology of running, the psychology of runners is not so easy to understand and is far more subjective. Why are so many running plans published anyway? maybe down to different experience and recommendations.
You have utter disdain for the likes of me that doesn't want to be an olympic athlete or even serious club runner, but whom set goals that I believe are still rewarding achievements.
Why would I post my schedule? you already said you want laugh at it? I have already mentioned this before and have only changed / adapted slightly over the two years yet have remained injury free and still improving.
I like how you stated that you don't want to get personal yet say I know nothing, talk shite, say I am an average club runner at best (well this is an achievement in my books), funny way of not getting personal isn't it? I have never mocked your running achievements have I?
I have no respect for people that pick up one of two comments and try to pick holes in them yet ignore the other 99% of what is said. No respect what so ever.
PhilPub, that is a good question, but not sure i'm in the mood for it now!
Hi SophieM (I presume you're the SophieM I know?!?!)...
Ignoring the arguments, slow runs are definitely a key part to training - as long as you incorporate other types of run into your training.
When I was a beginner, I used to rag myself to bits on every single training run. I'd be the moron at the gym who'd be gripping the sides of the treadmill just to be sure that I wasn't slower than the previous training run.
The result was I got injury after injury and didn't improve for nearly a year.
In late 2006, I started to run everywhere at a slower pace. For me, this was 8:30m/m pace. I was allowed "off the leash" to race cross country, but all my other runs were slow. I soon broke 20 minutes for 5k, following by 40 minutes for 10k.
I've now done a sub-18 min, a sub-37 min 10k, a 60 min 10 mile and an 80 min half, but the majority of my running is still done between 7:30m/m and 8m/m pace. I incorporate interval sessions and tempo runs, but by mixing these up with easy runs, I find I get the recovery I need and am still making improvements.
"The truth is, you're not actually running long enough, or frequent enough to need a regular easy run. Try running 50+miles/week, 6 days/week and you might understand the reasoning behind an easy run"
Yes, I agree with this. The main reason being an old ankle injury from football prevents me running too often. So given my predicament I have excluded the so called easy run, although I agree that there is some confusion over the definition of easy and recovery runs. But I was told that I wouldn't get sub 40min 10k on my training regime, well this is discouraging and was not what i wanted to hear. So I tried my best and achieved this, but maybe not using the standard approach. When option are limited we need to try other variations. I don't really think posting my own experiences is bad just because it is different. I know my ultimate mileage will always be limited, I have to work within these boundaries without messing with me health but with results I find satisfying. Now I don't think that what I say above is shite or that of someone with no knowledge as you previously stated, I read this forum to learn many things that I don't find readily in books, but still opinions vary significantly, I try to take this into account. Some times we need to test theories ourselves.
If I do get injured with my current shedule I would post this as a warning to others than maybe my approach has not been a success. But so far so good. I have learnt to listen to my body and rest when I feel tired or the odd niggle.