The Running Thread

[Aiel]

dude. 40 below. 400 hill intervals. 'nuff said.

[Powman3]

My personal fitness coach said that working the hamstrings will increase your speed... I believe him, but I'd like to know why it does exactly. Does anyone know?

[Aiel]

My personal fitness coach said that working the hamstrings will increase your speed... I believe him, but I'd like to know why it does exactly. Does anyone know?

I doubt anyone here can explain the physics of running lol. Look at bolts hamstrings though, there [bleep]ing ripped.

[Kenshinjapan]

If your coach was referring to just sprints then yes, it will increase your speed. However, the mechanics change if the distance is further.

[aquariusman]

My personal fitness coach said that working the hamstrings will increase your speed... I believe him, but I'd like to know why it does exactly. Does anyone know?

You're hammies essentially pull your legs back, and when your legs move back, your body moves forward. Not just your hammies, but your entire back chain (Hams, glutes, lower back). So working your back chain (DEADLIFTS), will help increase sprinting speed if it is weaker than it should be, which it will be unless you already work out properly.

 

If you'd like to see for yourself, find a chair, lie on the floor, and put on foot on the chair. Then push down on the chair with that foot, and feel your hamstrings with your hands. You'll feel it flex.

[justcallmedaddy]

I have a Plantar's wart on my left foot. :-|

[sithlord_man]

Anyone got any workout ideas for using my Vibram KSOs? I'm thinking trail running or a track workout.

 

Aside from that, I'm probably going to go to the Nike Store and build my own shoe. My old trainers might have two XC seasons, and will be heading into the second track season. There are already tears on the sides of the show, but I ain't stopping till they become more noticeable/we have spike night.

[justcallmedaddy]

Anyone got any workout ideas for using my Vibram KSOs? I'm thinking trail running or a track workout.

 

Aside from that, I'm probably going to go to the Nike Store and build my own shoe. My old trainers might have two XC seasons, and will be heading into the second track season. There are already tears on the sides of the show, but I ain't stopping till they become more noticeable/we have spike night.

 

I just got a pair of Vibrams for Christmas (lol). Do you have to wear and get used to them, or can you just put them on and go?

[justcallmedaddy]

Anyone got any workout ideas for using my Vibram KSOs? I'm thinking trail running or a track workout.

 

Aside from that, I'm probably going to go to the Nike Store and build my own shoe. My old trainers might have two XC seasons, and will be heading into the second track season. There are already tears on the sides of the show, but I ain't stopping till they become more noticeable/we have spike night.

 

I just got a pair of Vibrams for Christmas (lol). Do you have to wear and get used to them, or can you just put them on and go?

 

Wow I can't even put these [bleep]s on, my pinky toe and ring toe always double up in the ring toe slot.

[sithlord_man]

Anyone got any workout ideas for using my Vibram KSOs? I'm thinking trail running or a track workout.

 

Aside from that, I'm probably going to go to the Nike Store and build my own shoe. My old trainers might have two XC seasons, and will be heading into the second track season. There are already tears on the sides of the show, but I ain't stopping till they become more noticeable/we have spike night.

 

I just got a pair of Vibrams for Christmas (lol). Do you have to wear and get used to them, or can you just put them on and go?

 

Wow I can't even put these [bleep]s on, my pinky toe and ring toe always double up in the ring toe slot.

You'll get used to it, I had the same problem at first. Give it a few weeks and your feet will get used to the shoe and you'll put them on just fine.

 

They said wear em 2 hours everyday for a few weeks. That way your feet are prepared for it, if you don't, you may get some injuries related to it.

 

For me, I didn't have to get used because I'm already walking around barefoot at home for 100% of the time, so I'm guessing I was already ready for it. I did a track workout with them a few days after getting them and pulled a 65 second 400 without warming up or anything. an hour later, I ran a 4:58 mile on the track in spikes.

 

I hoping to get some workouts in them, just because they help muscle strength.

[Aiel]

I went on a 9 mile hill run today, probably the longest run I've been on sense the end of XC (mid October). It hurt.

[Powman3]

I got a pair of FiveFingers... They're amazing to use for running and doing leg workouts.

[stevepole]

I want to do a half-marathon next month and as of right now I'm running 6 miles at about a hours pace. Does anyone have any advice on how to properly train for a half-marathon? I don't run often, today was the second time I'm ran this month but I would say I'm in fairly great shape from cycling daily to campus 2-3 times a day about 3 mile round trip and occasionally doing a 20 mile bike ride once every other week and going to the gym at least 4 times a week doing a well rounded 45min workout.

[pennywise]

So are Vibrams actually worth the money? I was thinking of buying some but I'm not really sure which ones to get and whether or not running on a rubber track would be safe in them. What do you guys who own them run on?

[Aiel]

So are Vibrams actually worth the money? I was thinking of buying some but I'm not really sure which ones to get and whether or not running on a rubber track would be safe in them. What do you guys who own them run on?

I own a pair but I dont really ever use them. I'm sure they'd be fine on a rubber track though.

[noble_aloof]

hi guys. been awhile. to add to this conversation i too cannot manage to get vibrams on. i have an indoor meet superbowl sunday :thumbup:

[Aiel]

I am jealous of places with indoor track D:

[Powman3]

hi guys. been awhile. to add to this conversation i too cannot manage to get vibrams on. i have an indoor meet superbowl sunday :thumbup:

 

It gets easier. Trust me.

[Guest Rob]

How should I get better at running? I can run an 8 minute mile right now, and the longest I've ran was 2 miles (Not pushing myself, going at 5 mph). I have access to a school gym. Any advice?

[Aiel]

How should I get better at running? I can run an 8 minute mile right now, and the longest I've ran was 2 miles (Not pushing myself, going at 5 mph). I have access to a school gym. Any advice?

run.

[stevepole]

How should I get better at running? I can run an 8 minute mile right now, and the longest I've ran was 2 miles (Not pushing myself, going at 5 mph). I have access to a school gym. Any advice?

 

What's your goal, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to improve your mile time? Are you trying to increase your running distance?

[Guest Rob]

I want to increase both my speed, and distance, mostly.

[Georgelemmons]

Dear Rob -

First you really should build up your distance a bit. Start running 3 times a week or so, 2 miles each and gradually increasing as you feel. Once you can pretty easily run 4 or 5 miles at once, start running about 5 days a week. After this, you can start building a training schedule. You want a balance of easy, hard, and long to build up your endurance but also keep you quick. Everything is relative to your skill level. A long run might initially be 5 or 6 miles for you, and you may not even want to try up tempos or other running "workouts". You'll never get much better if you always run within your comfort range though, so you should push yourself.

 

One very important thing: ALWAYS STRETCH. It can really mess you up if you don't. Stretch after every run, and be sure to stretch at least a bit after you warm up for a workout. Trunk rotations, the butterfly, individual legs, calves, quadriceps, and hips should all be stretched; if you want more information I can put of list together of everything I do.

 

Workout ideas:

• Up tempo: there are several ways to do this. The basic definition of up tempo is running that isn't painful, but makes it uncomfortable to talk. It make seem weird, but you can always test this just by trying to. The easiest warmup of 10 or 15 minutes, an equal period of up tempo and then another equal amount of a slower cooldown. You can also do a workout where you warm up, then choose a set distance you want to run (from one street down to another) and run it 2 minutes up tempo, 1 minute jogging, and repeat until you finish.
   
  
• Intervals: These are your speed workouts. They can vary from mile repeats at certain times to running 400s on the track. These can be and should be painful and hard to finish. A good way to figure out times to run on the track is to set a goal in a longer distance (say, 6:00 in the mile). Then, calculate the pace you would need to run that, and try to hit that pace for several intervals of shorter distances (a 3:00 half mile, and then two 1:30 quarter miles or something of the sort). This helps you learn the pace and eventually work up to the speed you want. If you want to run longer distances, you'll want to run times that are slower than your goal but hard to reach multiple times in a row.

 

tl;dr - Running is a lot of work, and takes a lot of personal experimentation to figure out. You should actually read this.

 

 

Unrelated news: Second indoor meet of the year last night; ran a 2:07 to win handily in the last leg of our 4x800; came in second in the mile by running a 4:52. I was with the guy until the last 2 (out of 9) laps, and should have stayed with him. Ah well, not a bad first mile.

[sithlord_man]

^ I wish we had indoor track where I live. To bad the weather isn't bad enough for it.

 

Next meet is like...3 weeks from now....

 

Training routine has been hellish, I find it really, really beneficial. We've mainly do tons of interval pacing and tempo-work outs, all 400's with some 200's and 300's. One of those days we did 8 400's all had to be 70-73 seconds for varsity. I'm proud to say I hit those marks while having a viral infection XD (68, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 75, 73, Would translate into a Sub-10 two mile if it was an actual race as my coach says).

 

Other than that, after being sick for a week, I feel/run faster after the illness occurred.

 

Other than that, last meet was rained out. Depressing...

[noble_aloof]

I'm still alive. Training got interupted by a stupid ankle sprain and because of a ski trip I didn't get to run indoor. I got a pair of nike frees instead of vibrams and they're very nice. My season starts in about 1.5 weeks with a scrimmage hopefully it will be decent. whens everyones first meets?