Coming shortly on fat to fit diaries:
1) summary of the first lesson of a new series of Hillseeker Wednesday night group running sessions
2) review of tonight's trial lesson of Crossfit with Hillseeker Fitness
3) review of a half day Chi running workshop that will be held this weekend in Zurich
So stay tuned my friends. Words and photos will follow shortly, but first comes a well deserved rest zzzzzzz
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Cure for heavy legs - run more?
Last night I was reading up on overtraining, fatigue and heavy legs, and I came across the following interesting article on runningtimes.com Cure Quad Pain, Calf Pain, and Heavy Legs. Rather than suggest to take a prolonged rest from running to cure "heavy legs", the author even goes so far as to suggest that you run more.
The key however is the intensity. He suggests that you do long, easy paced aerobic runs until you feel better. This remedy was originally devised by Arthur Lydiard, the legendary New Zealand coach.
One of New Zealand's distance running stars to embrace the "Lydiard way" was Rod Dixon. Whenever he woke up feeling as fatigued in the morning as he had when he went to bed, he would go for a run. "A long, slow aerobic run would always correct me", Dixon said. "And this was in the middle of my European track season!"
The article suggests that if one long run doesn't fix your dead legs, then you should do two, and if not two then you should do three. Sooner or later it says your legs will feel refreshed, and you won't have sacrificed months of training by taking a prolonged break.
It is an interesting deviation from the standard advice that coaches give, which is to take a complete break from running when overtraining is suspected.
What do you think - can running more actually help you to recover, or are you just making the situation worse than it already is?
The key however is the intensity. He suggests that you do long, easy paced aerobic runs until you feel better. This remedy was originally devised by Arthur Lydiard, the legendary New Zealand coach.
One of New Zealand's distance running stars to embrace the "Lydiard way" was Rod Dixon. Whenever he woke up feeling as fatigued in the morning as he had when he went to bed, he would go for a run. "A long, slow aerobic run would always correct me", Dixon said. "And this was in the middle of my European track season!"
The article suggests that if one long run doesn't fix your dead legs, then you should do two, and if not two then you should do three. Sooner or later it says your legs will feel refreshed, and you won't have sacrificed months of training by taking a prolonged break.
It is an interesting deviation from the standard advice that coaches give, which is to take a complete break from running when overtraining is suspected.
What do you think - can running more actually help you to recover, or are you just making the situation worse than it already is?
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Nike Tempo 2 in 1 running shorts review
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| Me wearing the shorts in the Marathon des Sables 2012 |
The Marathon des Sables is a 7 day race through the Moroccan Sahara in scorching heat, with competitors covering on average just under a marathon a day on rough terrain and sand. You need a pair of shorts that will keep you dry and prevent chafing, be comfortable and ideally not smell terrible after a few days of continuous use. I only took one pair of shorts with me for the whole 7 days, and although they did not smell fresh, I was surprised how little they did smell.
Some running shorts are very brief, leaving you rather exposed to the world, but these shorts offer ample coverage. They consist of a compression short underneath and a second layer overtop for increased coverage. The compression short feels nice and silky and does not rub. It keeps all your tackle in place and the experts say that compression shorts aid performance by keeping the muscles warm and improving circulation. In the Marathon des Sables the compression short managed to keep out the sand, which tends to get everywhere. As with most proper running shorts you do not need to wear separate underwear beneath the shorts. The compression short serves itself as underwear.
The short uses Nike DriFit technology to wick moisture away from the skin. This helps you to remain comfortable and dry and prevents chafing. I would highly recommend these shorts to fellow runners and sports people, and I will be wearing them myself in Trail Ticino and in any other ultra races I do in the future.
Overall verdict 5*
If you do wish to purchase the shorts you can do so from the links on the right hand side of my blog. This will earn me a referral fee from Amazon. Please note that I will never recommend products that I do not like. For me, my moral integrity always comes first.
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