Running

That might work, let me think about it

Cant run. Played 5 games of 7s over the weekend. Picked up a dead leg or two in every game. Played through the pain, untill things losened each time.

Havent been able to walk properly since. Both legs are wrecked.

Think my macho foolishness has finally broken me :(

So tempted to head out for a run and keep going till the losen again. But that sounds stupid, even by my standards.

How on earth do you find the time to train for a triathlon?

Just trying to work out how you'd fit in Tiswas' "45 minute 10K" plan, along with a similar thing for cycling and one for swimming, all at the same time.

Clip into the tubo trainer, and have someone through you and it into a lake.

Where does the circular saw come in?

How on earth do you find the time to train for a triathlon?

Just trying to work out how you'd fit in Tiswas' "45 minute 10K" plan, along with a similar thing for cycling and one for swimming, all at the same time.

you spend your time a continual spiral of anxiety , sorely neglecting at least one discipline. then you think "fuck it, it's supposed to be fun" and go to the pub neglecting all three. then you just turn up and hope you make it round. about half way though the run you swear blind you're done with this madness and are going to quit for good after this one. then you make it over the line and feel relief and elation. you go to the pub again, inspired and convinced that if you can make it round with so little training, imagine what you could do if you REALLY trained. then you go back to the start of the cycle.

^this

yep.

Can someone sensibly and dispassionately summarise the barefoot/minimal footwear/forefoot striking distance debate for me please?

I am trying to improve my fucking woeful running by developing more of a mid/forefoot strike and feeling like it's starting to pay off. I have read a bit round the subject including the ubiquitous "Born to Run" book and several vehement anti-barefoot pieces... some in the dark depths of this thread I'm sure.

I'm currently doing 5-8k three times a week in normal running shoes with a forefootish strike (just about landing on the ball rather than flat i'd say). My chunky calves protested for the first few weeks after switching from an unthinking heel strike for the last year or so. But I took it gently and stretched a lot and I'm starting to feel more natural with it now.

So I'm wondering if anyone here might offer a pithy summing up? Is there any reason a plodding 13 stone man with a 36" waist shouldn't try forefoot striking in minimal normal or footwear?

Thanks

Where does the circular saw come in?

Motivation for the run should you survive the lake.

Can someone sensibly and dispassionately summarise the barefoot/minimal footwear/forefoot striking distance debate for me please?

I am trying to improve my fucking woeful running by developing more of a mid/forefoot strike and feeling like it's starting to pay off. I have read a bit round the subject including the ubiquitous "Born to Run" book and several vehement anti-barefoot pieces... some in the dark depths of this thread I'm sure.

I'm currently doing 5-8k three times a week in normal running shoes with a forefootish strike (just about landing on the ball rather than flat i'd say). My chunky calves protested for the first few weeks after switching from an unthinking heel strike for the last year or so. But I took it gently and stretched a lot and I'm starting to feel more natural with it now.

So I'm wondering if anyone here might offer a pithy summing up? Is there any reason a plodding 13 stone man with a 36" waist shouldn't try forefoot striking in minimal normal or footwear?

Thanks

Your knees will explode.

/Joke.

I'd guess running effiecency is more important than weight. I'd be tempted (and am very) to try light trail running with some Five-fingers etc. Less impact on the knees, and a more varied stride.

I have massive calves that, as far as I can tell, are only massive to transmitt maximum pain when they cramp. Playing fast sports (7s rugby, 5-a-side football) does this very often. My attempts to mid/fore strike do the same. So they must be working hard. Is it mad to assume the calves are working to absorb more impact. I feel calve muscles would be a far more advanced impact control system than shoe foam.

^Hearsay and guesswork.

(BTW I'm well over 13stone)

Just been on a running forum and the replies on a thread from 2007 alternate between, "Go for it!" and "DO NOT DO THIS YOU MAY NEVER RUN AGAIN"

Fucking internetz.

Try it Dooks, if only for the change it brings to running it's good fun.

If I'm heading out of the door to go fast I take my "standard" running shoes, if I'm heading to the park to run for fun I'll wear the Fivefingers.

I cannot actually run as far wearing them as my calves pump up, but as Smallfurry intimates, that is (I think) a sign that my calves are absorbing the shock that otherwise is absorbed by foam+knees.

Most people seem to be saying Just run naturally and if you're a heel striker go with that, after all nearly all of the top distance runners are heel strikers".

But my point is, i'm not a natural athletic type, I have no natural comfortable style, everything i'm doing is wrong, painful, inefficient and unnatural to me. Surely it would be better, as I still class myself as rank hopeless beginner, to try and find something that works better for me?

I'm also trying to impove my form, shorten my stride etc. I'm going to strick with it for now I think. As mentioned, by SFurry and Dammit, by calves to start to tighten up after a while but I too take that as a sign that they're working properly to absorb that impact.

found the "original" discussion here. It starts on page 16 of this thread with lots of input from ewanmac. *re-reads.

I tend to work with the theory that while an exactly repeated stride allows for greater distance/speed. It is also one of the major reasons behind running specific injuries. If you're running for fun'n'fitness, mix it up. I already mix road, trail, and proper off-road running. Some bare foot running can only add to the variation. Dont go out in your socks and try to run a marathon, of course. But why not mix some in. I currently use two subtle techniques. Run like a lump for long distances in supportive, and cushioning Kayanos. Run for short distances with a more forward strike on DS-Trainers. (I'm still not sure I could barefoot run on tarmac).

As for learning a better stride. Feck knows. I've heard people talk of training stride. But if a well trained shoe fitter can decide how much support you need, to a large extent, from foot geometry. It cant be straight forward.

Maybe with some circular saw - foot arch enhancement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/sports/caballo-blancos-last-run-the-micah-true-story.html?_r=1

American journalism is seriously fucking awful to read.

Do not do triathlons you may never run again!! *CAPS

I didn't read it. Just looked at the pictures. The Born to Run book which was the cause of his celebrity is *appallingly *written.

sorry but all this ultrarunning and free running is just marketing bollocks to people who dont do them, and read magazines, and the internet more than they run, another marketing hole,
improve your 3 k times, or whatever you run, get better at what you do
dont start saying yeah Im getting into this free running and ultradistance

I'm a complete noob when it comes to running.

Want to take it up as I've noticed that my weight is going up. Looking to lose around 30 to 40lb. Does anyone give any useful tips to a beginner?

Get a GP once-over if you have any concerns then get out there and run. Slowly and short distances, then eventually increase. Learn to stretch after each run. Breathe easily. Enjoy, or try to :0).

All the best.

So true.

Haha! Never saw that. Bang on. Annoyingly I tried tackling it right after after having read Waterlog which is beautifully written and instantly became one of my favourite books of all time. It's so eccentric, thoughtful, insightful, gentle, subtle and quintessentially English that to go straight into an extended US Men's Health article padded out with page after page of sledgehammer hyperbole wasn't easy.

The guy who lent me Born to Run keeps asking if I've finished it yet and how I'm getting on? I've been carting it around for weeks announcing to anyone within earshot every couple of pages "Oh GOD This this is HORRIBLY WRITTEN".

10.45 - and did it non stop - though I did slow down a bit about 2 third through recovering from a bit of hill.

I think my concern now is that - having been faster every single day I've run in the past couple of weeks, (10 days out of 12) I'm sooner or later going to have run a rubbish time and then feel bad.

Bottle of red wine, DVD of Dirty Dancing on standby then?