Happy hump day everyone. I had Monday off this week so this week feels a bit odd (but the weekend still can’t come quick enough, am I right?)
Monday was a funny day because I had originally planned to be doing the Ultra 12 event Saturday night so had taken the day after off to recover. However I didn’t go so obviously didn’t need to do much recovering Monday. Unlike my poor husband who didn’t have Monday off and did run Ultra 12. Funny how that worked out really…
I had nothing planned for Monday as I did manage to get my long run in on Sunday (despite the weather being appalling in the morning). I’m glad I got it done because it meant on Monday I could do a quick strength routine in the morning at home and then just do lots of walking instead.
Because I’d taken bit of time off running recently I felt it was stupid to jump straight into a really long run, so kept it to 10 miles. My average heart rate was 162 which was perfect for this run, meaning I was running nice and easy. Not that I really need my HR monitor to tell me that as I can usually feel how things are going. The run felt relaxed and easy. Though I’d stupidly put on a long top because I thought the weather would turn again. It didn’t until 5 minutes after arriving home. *Sighs* During the run I was actually praying for torrential rain I was that hot.
I did manage to get some nice walks in with Alfie, but when out running some errands I badly misjudged the clouds and got caught in a downpour!
Think the shorts might retire soon…
Recently I’ve read a few interesting articles that one of my running friends tweeted. A series of articles caught my eye: How much should you run? There are five parts to it (I’ve linked to the final part with the conclusions). Spoiler alert: it seems that mileage is unimportant in improving marathon times, running higher volumes of miles a week will lead to injuries (40 miles a week apparently leads to a 50% increase in injury rate) and elites are just genetically gifted supernatural beings (sort of).
Further articles talk about how easy runs are rubbish and you’ll still get injured (I am of course paraphrasing a little). By the end of reading a few of these articles I was ready to throw either my trainers or myself out the window. My scientifically-minded running friend (Kate – hello!) however assured me that these studies were very old and the research is therefore limited. But it did make me a little bitter and depressed, I won’t lie. I always feel with running I get so far and then get knocked down again with injury. I am hugely jealous of people who can do stupidly high mileage and remain uninjured.
I’m pretty sure I have a terrible running style but I am improving little by little with strength training and drills (I truly believe with each new injury I learn a little more and work harder to never repeat the same mistake). But I think I’m one of those runners who can’t run every day and trot along without issue. I’m hoping as the years go by I will get stronger but who knows? I’m trying to cycle more than I did before as an effort to maintain fitness but reduce injury with running.
I do think these articles are to be taken with a pinch of salt and that it really depends on the person, their biomechanics, their training, their genes…etc. etc. so I shouldn’t just dive head first into a Dark and Shady place.
Runners, how often do you run? Do you know where your ‘tipping point’ is with injuries?
What do you do to prevent getting injured (in any sport really)?
How often do you get injured (if ever – you lucky sod)?