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Aug 2012
11:44am, 14 Aug 2012
13,203 posts
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sheri3004
How's it going, Ultracat?
I've been reading this book on holiday. I was quite impressed, some of what he says seems genuinely fresh. I am *almost* convinced to try running twice daily...
I was running on holiday (lots of hills!) and trying to remember to put into practice what I had read (cadence, arms, etc). It's quite difficult to remember to keep it going though. My cadence is usually around 176/178 but increasing it even very slightly feels different and I find it hard to keep going for long. Fast feet/slow pace is quite hard as I automatically run faster (sometimes a good thing but not always!). I've never been a heel striker so I'm OK on that front but trying to be more aware of my arms. Also doing loads more stretching 
I liked what he said at the beginning about how when he starts coaching someone he always asks "what stops you from running faster?" (eg in a race) and often they find it hard to answer. It sounds obvious but it's not a question you are usually asked. Considering the answer to this question made me think about my running in a different way.
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Aug 2012
5:54pm, 15 Aug 2012
593 posts
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IanRunner
Hi everyone.
I've got the Kindle version of this book. It's really good. I have started to concentrate on my cadence more. Not sure if it's making any quicker at the moment but legs feel much fresher. I have added a hill session once per week as well.
It's a much a different book to anything else I have read. A lot of it is very true as well, especially for me. Not doing enough hard sessions, and obsessed my mileage etc. I think a lot of it is about toughening yourself up.
His times would have got him gold in 5000m Olympics this year as well.
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Aug 2012
6:50pm, 15 Aug 2012
13,238 posts
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sheri3004
I agree Ian, I have read a lot of running books (not that they have done me much good, I'm still slow) and this one feels new and different. I'm definitely guilty of doing too many easy runs.
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Aug 2012
8:40pm, 15 Aug 2012
7,383 posts
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Bintmcskint
I bought this book after reading this thread and am loving it. I was already working on many of the things he talked about and am concentrating on cadence for the moment.
I tried his advice about cadence on hills on a very hilly off road race last weekend and it worked like a charm. Felt much easier. Calf muscles ached afterwards mind
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Aug 2012
8:46pm, 15 Aug 2012
9,946 posts
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Ultracat
Hi folks, I too am concentrating on cadence at the moment, finding I slow around 10 steps per minute on hills so have added a hill session and started to do weights and cycling in the gym to strengthen legs to get up those hills faster. I also put in some faster feet bits when doing steady runs and planning on going back to club speed sessions.
Glad some folks are finding it interesting.
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Aug 2012
9:14pm, 15 Aug 2012
2,460 posts
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Red Squirrel
I'd be interested in knowing the benefits of twice a day running. I do it up to 3 times a week out of necessity. 4 miles in to work then 6 home.
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Aug 2012
9:15pm, 15 Aug 2012
17,361 posts
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SPR
"His times would have got him gold in 5000m Olympics this year as well." - LD races in championships are rarely won in PB performances...
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Aug 2012
9:40pm, 15 Aug 2012
13,242 posts
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sheri3004
I'm just back from five miles as per Julian (well.... trying). I was concentrating on cadence and also throwing in some fartleks (short ones). I found it quite hard work keeping up the higher cadence - even at a slow pace - though it did get easier towards the end.
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Aug 2012
9:42pm, 15 Aug 2012
13,243 posts
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sheri3004
I think the idea of running twice daily is that you can throw in more variety of sessions while keeping up the same mileage - which helps you improve more.
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Aug 2012
7:27pm, 16 Aug 2012
434 posts
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Canute
I think I might be making some progress towards recovering a little bit of the speed of my younger days, despite a schedule that has been disrupted by travel in the past few weeks. At the risk of being a bit tedious, I will describe the details in case it is of interest to anyone.
I have recently added three resistance sessions per week while continuing with my current moderate-volume preparation for a HM in September. In the resistance sessions, I do squats (targeting core and leg muscles, especially quads and low back), press-ups (mainly arms and abs) and dead-lifts (hams, glutes, & low back etc). On account of recent serious problems with arthritis, I am building up the weights very gradually. Currently I am lifting 70% of my body weight in the squats (5 sets of 6 reps). Because I avoid max effort sprinting at present to minimise risk of injuring my cronky old legs during the final weeks of HM prep, I assess progress by doing 300m strides down a 4% grassy slope at 75% max perceived effort (corresponding to reaching 90% max HR at 300m). Six weeks ago, my average pace during 6x300m was 3:57 min/Km (I am afraid that in the later years of the seventh decade one comes face to face with the frailty of age). Today my average pace during 6 x300m at 75% max effort was 3:28 min/Km. That is roughly the pace I used to maintain for a marathon forty years ago – so still in the tortoise range, but I am delighted that there is some evidence of progress. I think this is because the resistance work is re-awakening some atrophied fast twitch fibres.
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