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Falkirk Victoria Harriers

35 watchers

STOOSH Jan 2014 3:45pm, 13 Jan 2014 2,113 posts	0 STOOSH Woop woop.... i missed it last year!!
baz p Jan 2014 4:13pm, 13 Jan 2014 1,648 posts	0 baz p weirdo
Elayne Jan 2014 8:55pm, 13 Jan 2014 229 posts	0 Elayne is that not lung buster?!
LouLou Jan 2014 9:45pm, 13 Jan 2014 6,018 posts	0 LouLou Interesting point Elayne - I imagine for most people it would be lung busting but perhaps Stoosh will find it gut busting as he's a little challenged in that area. So glad I'm imprisoned in the NHS this weekend.
Tizer Jan 2014 9:48pm, 13 Jan 2014 1,107 posts	0 Tizer Cant say I'm looking forward to it much. Any weekend jobs going at the NHS…starting this Saturday?
LouLou Jan 2014 9:52pm, 13 Jan 2014 6,019 posts	0 LouLou I'll give you a quick tutorial Saturday morning - you'll be grand
baz p Jan 2014 3:43pm, 14 Jan 2014 1,649 posts	0 baz p from mcmilland running, always good for tips: Cold Weather Training Tips By Andrew Lemoncello 2008 Olympian & McMillan Assistant Coach This time of year is when training can become very tough, not because your workouts are any harder but because the weather is working against you on many days. Over the last few years of running through winter, I had to adopt new strategies in my daily training and I wanted to share some with you. Apply these to your running this winter and you'll be in great shape, literally, when spring arrives. 1) Increased Warm Up The first thing I do once the temperature drops is to incorporate a longer warm up. I normally jog for about 20 minutes before I go into my drills and stretches and then the workout but during the winter, I'll run the normal 20 minutes and then around 5 minutes of faster running (maybe steady state or tempo pace) to get my blood really flowing around my body. This allows me to feel better as I go into some dynamic exercises to keep that blood moving quickly. I would normally do some active isolated stretching, but it's not the best idea if I'm lying in the snow trying to stretch my muscles so I'll move to doing more drills and strides as it means that I'm constantly moving. 2) Layering This is a simple solution but wearing more layers is always a good option for staying warm. I'll regularly wear 3 or 4 layers and two pairs of gloves when the temperatures are below freezing outside. I've turned up to some runs where athletes are bragging that they are tough because they wear less clothes and I'm simply not one to take the risk of my muscles tightening up and increasing the chance of getting injured for a false sense of manliness. Be sensible and find out what you need to wear to stay comfortable during the run. 3) Heat before the run The lower temperatures outside can lead to having more aches and pains because you're simply not as warm and loose as you would be in the warm summer months. If you wake up feeling like your joints are creaking and it's going to take a few miles of running before you loosen up, then think about using a hot pack on some tight areas so that you can step out the door feeling ready to go. I injured my hamstring tendon a few years ago and even though it feels fine now, I still make sure that I heat it before my runs in the winter as it's more susceptible to injury and tightening up. 4) Use the Gym I know the gym can be incredibly boring for some athletes, as they hate running in one spot for so long. When it's icy and extremely cold outside, I would much rather be inside where I am warm and I'm not going to risk slipping and hurting myself. I'm not a huge fan of the treadmill as I love to run outside on the trails and enjoy myself but sometimes it becomes a necessity. One trick I use when I know I'm going to have a few days of running in the gym is to do a longer run on the first day of using the treadmill. That then makes all the other runs seem pretty short in comparison. I've run as long as 24 miles on the treadmill and even though it felt like an eternity, the feeling of satisfaction was huge because I still got the workout done and didn't let the weather beat me. 5) Footwear options Your footwear choices can mean the difference between a successful run or coming home bruised and sore. When there is ice or layers of snow, you want to make sure that you have something on your feet that is going to keep you as stable as possible. This usually means more than strapping on your trail shoes for extra grip. There are lots of products out now that you can fasten onto your shoes to help to maintain your stability on slippery surfaces. I have found Yaktrax to be great on thinner layers of snow and Kahtoola's micro spikes for the deeper stuff. 6) Running slowly when it's super cold One of the harder things to deal with when training in the cold is trying to maintain normal training paces. It's perfectly okay to run a little slower when Mother Nature is working against you. The difficult thing is mentally accepting that you may not be able to run as fast as you know you can but once you do come to terms with that, you can come away from your workouts knowing that it was still a great workout because the effort level was still high. 7) Sunglasses Being based in Flagstaff, where it is often cold, windy and sunny all at the same time, sunglasses are the one piece of equipment that I make sure I have for every run. Wearing eye protection can be very helpful in the winter months as it can help to keep snow from blowing into your line of vision and will help prevent snow blindness. 8) Hot drink Hydrating well in the winter is always something I struggle with because I simply forget about it. I have no problems with this in the summer because it feels so good to drink a pint of water as soon as I've finished my run. It's a completely different case in the winter so I had to think of a way to look forward to hydrating throughout the day. Hot drinks were the answer. I always have a coffee before I go out to run because the heat of the drink feels great when I first step out into the frozen tundra. Once I finish the run, I step inside and put the kettle on so I can immediately start warming up again. This takes care of two things at once - heating up and rehydrating, all at once. 9) Plan your routes accordingly If you can run in sheltered areas rather than being out in the open then that will usually give you some shelter from the elements. If that's not a choice you have then think about the conditions and how you want to tackle them. Running against the wind for the first half of your run can be a good idea. Although you'll be a little chilly to begin with, you'll heat up quickly and then when you turn around, you don't have to deal with the wind cooling down the sweat that you've lined your body with and you can cruise comfortably to the finish of the run.
HappyG(rrr) Jan 2014 4:39pm, 14 Jan 2014 21,630 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Good one baz. Thanks. He hasn't run in a Scottish blizzard then - sunglasses wouldn't help there, only full on Oakley ski goggles work! Good tips about lengthening warm up, considering warming muscles first etc. But 24 miles on a dread mill. OMFC! :-)G
Tizer Jan 2014 7:36pm, 14 Jan 2014 1,108 posts	0 Tizer I've managed 15 and I was nearly in tears
Hyperboy Jan 2014 3:10am, 23 Jan 2014 1,096 posts	0 Hyperboy Not running the xc at Falkirk but I will be coming along to cheer everyone on and then back to the hut afterwards for a beer or 2 to catch up with everyone:)