Long Hill Run With Paul And Good Running Form!

Had a great run with Paul on Saturday over the hills of Parbold and Ashurst Beacon.
Opened it up on a couple of the climbs and felt very strong :0]
In the evening Paul, Clair, Stevie, Mandy and myself had a good night on the town, ending up in the Fox and Goose for some live rock music! 
Sunday was an easy run with Jon along the sandhill 6 route.
Monday was Brian's last track session of the year, next week we meet at the Ainsdale pinewoods.
Running down to the session I tested myself up Selworthy hill and was pleased to set a new record of 11.9 mph average pace, this compares to 10'8 average pace I achieved back at the start of May!
The session of 8 x 600 m went well feeling stronger on each effort!
Also quite impressed with Pauls running right now!

Is Your Body Fit To Run?

Phil Wharton's recommended self-tests can determine if your body is holding you back!

READ HERE

RUNNING WITH SPRINGS! THIS FEELS SO EASY IT MUST BE CHEATING!

In Ewen's last post he gave a link to Steve Magness's website.
I found a very interesting article he had written on 'learning how to run'. In fact Steve was basically saying everything i thought i knew about correct running form was incorrect!!!
At first I felt a bit annoyed, but I kept an open mind and the more I read and watched his video's the more what he was saying made sense.
basically in simple terms he teaches you to use the 'hip stretch/reflex mechanism' so you can run with less effort.
Think of the road like a treadmill, with the road moving under your feet.
As you land let the ground drag your foot back so your hip and leg are fully extended behind you [see photo above].
Allow a passive toe off, now the interesting bit, keep your leg relaxed as your foot lifts from the ground, now feel your knee moving forward without any conscious effort on your own part,
at the same time your knee will bend letting the heel come up towards your butt and all this happens without effort, no powerful and tiring knee drive or hamstring butt kicking needed!
And even better the faster you run the faster and stronger will be your knee drive and heel lift and I repeat this all happens without conscious effort!!!
'Hip stretch/reflex mechanism'
So how does this work ?
Simple! by letting your foot get dragged back more, which in turn extends your hip and leg, the muscles and tendon in front of the hip are stretched, as the foot leaves the ground after toe off the muscles snap back, like a elastic band, pulling your leg forward!
It took me 2 runs to get the hang of this 'new to me' way of running. It feels much easier than my normal way of running, your just using energy to hold yourself upright in a good posture instead of burning lots of energy driving the knee and kicking your heels up, very very cool :]
now as i look at photo's and video's of elite runners i notice they all have this very extended hip and knee and are using their muscles and tendons as springs!
Steve says; -The key to running is the elastic properties of the body. The body has so many reflexes and such that energy transfer and return should be a focus of training. Many parts of the body function as a rubber band. It really astounds me that more time isn't spent on exploring this concept or trying to improve it. That is one of the reasons for optimizing running mechanics. If you do it correctly then you can maximize this elastic effect, and thus minimize energy loss. Less energy lost, means less work that needs to be done.
So please read Steve's article and video and have a go at turning your legs into powerful springs, let us know how you get on, remember to keep an open mind, it will be worth it in the end!
READ HERE
VIDEO
Oh, and a big thanks to Ewen for the link!

SPEED! Put a Spring in your step

Click on photo
I've been on holiday from work this week, so decided to fit in an extra session.
I opted to run down to the local Rugby ground on a bright and sunny but still quite chilly early afternoon [ I guess the Spring is still fighting it's way through our long hard winter!]. After a good 15 mins warm up I set about 30 mins of 'Diagonals'.
It felt good striding out over the fresh cut grass in my modified 'Nike Free's.
I ended up with 32 stride outs in 30 mins with a max speed of 4.30 pace.
total time = 1.00

COOL TREADMILL

GOOD VIDEO ON CORRECT RUNNING FORM

STRENGTHENING EXERCISES FOR RUNNERS

YOU GOT TO LAUGH! CRAZY, MAD TREADMILL!!!