Adarq.org

16-05-18

Notes

Picked up some looped resistance bands to use for more specific rehab stuff. Have some specific things in mind for ankle work + of course monster walks, etc., for hip/glute strengthening. Felt good + was fun messing around with stuff like that today.

Re ankle -- watching videos of me running + doing some general assessment it's pretty clear that I also supinate pretty heavily on my right side, which is part of the floppy right leg thing. Part of this is the lack of ankle mobility. My right foot has a hard time lying flat even at the best of times, so naturally it'll supinate when running. For an example of what I mean, check out this assessment:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOP9wyn7D3g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOP9wyn7D3g</a>

My left leg is totally fine with this, but my right sucks ass, can barely get past vertical. This is a holdover from an ankle injury from ~8 years ago now, I suspect. So I'm gonna use the bands to strengthen the muscles in the ankle/leg/foot that are responsible for that movement, while working on general mobility/flexibility stuff in the area. What's odd is that the the muscles feel fairly flexible from my fairly regular stretching for gastroc/soleus, but they don't feel like what is responsible for this lack of mobility.

Basically I think if I can improve ankle strength/mobility at the same time as continuing to improve glute function my right leg will get in order well.

15-05-18

Workout

Run --

Easy, mostly on grass, 5x100m strides w/ rest in lane 7 on the bend

Total 4.22mi in 36:33 [8:39 average]

Notes

Hip feeling good. Hopefully things can stick from here. Been like a month since I've trained properly, fuck!

Been feeling somewhat down for the last couple weeks and not being able to run has been a contributing factor for sure. Feeling a lot better after last couple of days and have managed to change my mindset, for now at least, in a positive way.

Saw physio today, discussed whether a scan would be useful and he thinks not. Took recordings of me running short distances (mild pain gone shortly after from this) and that made fairly clear the issue. Left leg moves great, straight forward, sturdy landing, but right leg is just super floppy and lands terribly. He thinks the way to fix that is strengthening, esp glutes. Seems reasonable to me. Right leg seemed to be moving more "correctly" the faster I ran.

Makes me think that just doing regular strides/hill running without any "easy running" for a while might actually be sensible? These things cause minimal pain because they're either low impact or just involve fewer impacts than a proper run, and they seem like the most specific way to improve strength for running. Thoughts? I guess running drills would also be useful?

As part of the general movement assessment the physio asked me to jump. I thwacked my head hard on the ceiling. He was like "Oh shit, no one's ever done that before! Epic jump!"

 

His bro's came 1 and 3 at the 2016 European Championships 1500m. Would be wild if three brothers came 1-3 at a major comp.

02-05-18

Workout

Run -- 5.41mi in 51:53 [9:35 pace] -- including 5 x 100m strides w/ jog back recovery

Prehab + plank stuff after run.

Notes

Run was 90% on grass which was nice. Still quite sore from hip thrusts + lunges the other day. Forgot what running on legs dead from lifting was like. Weird to feel so little power.

Doing strides "properly", i.e. slow accell up to about 70m then slow decel to the end felt really good.

Got to sub-5 pace on 4 of the strides. Agree with adarq, at that point it feels like flying/floating.

Stealing adarq's format to update this for myself.

2018 race list

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k - > 26 Jan
- http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/warpspeed-to-the-new-scenario/msg138860/#msg138860
- 108th OA
- 20:40 official

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k - > 23 Mar
- http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/warpspeed-to-the-new-scenario/msg140174/#msg140174
- 79th OA
- 19:16 official

Edinburgh Half Marathon -> 28 May

Chase the Sun Wimbledon -> 30 May (lol, we'll see)

Oxford Half Marathon -> 07 Oct

Gotta find some more target races for the summer. Will probably for the most part just race by getting in Parkruns, I suppose.

Eric Finan in his HM race comments:

Quote

I feel that 8 miles at HM race pace effort about 10-14 days out is a pretty good indicator of what you should be able to do on race day

If all goes well I'll be giving this a go in 2-3 weeks!