Sunday, August 19, 2012

What's a Good Warm-up Before Intense Speedwork?

Before beginning a speedwork session, it is imperative that you prepare your body with a good warm-up.  Easy jogging followed by dynamic stretching will help warm and loosen up your muscles.  It has been shown that while elite runners have normal joint flexibility, they have more dynamic flexibility when running.

Start with easy jogging anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 miles to get you moving more freely.  You can then do some dynamic stretches, which are movements similar to (but more exaggerated than) the way you will move during your more intense running.  These movements will help your agonist muscles (the ones doing the work) perform optimally by  allowing your antagonist muscles (the muscles opposing the working muscles) to relax. 

Some dynamic stretches you can do:

Lunge Walk - Take exaggerated steps forward with each foot, stepping forward as far as you can in a lunge and letting your knee come close to the ground.  Repeat 10-12 times.

Lunge Walk
Lateral Lunges - Standing, take an exaggerated step with one foot to the side, lowering yourself into a squat position. Stand back up immediately and lunge to the other side.  Do 5-6 times each side.

Lateral Lunge
Tilt Walk - Start walking and as one foot comes down lean forward and balance on that leg (with knee slightly bent) and lift other leg straight back so that your body is parallel to the ground. Come back up swinging back leg through to step forward on that foot and repeat action.  Do this for 30 seconds or so.

Tilt Walk
Zombies - Start walking and extend both arms straight out in front of you as you kick one leg up toward your hands as high as you can and then the other leg.  Do not bend forward; keep your back and head aligned vertically.  Do for 30 seconds or so.

Zombies
Leg Swings - Find a wall or tree to lightly hold onto for balance.  Standing on one foot, swing your other leg back and forth as high as you can in a controlled manner.  Do 10-12 leg swings on each leg.

Leg Swings
Lateral Leg Swings - Facing the wall or tree, both arms extended forward lean lightly toward it to hold yourself, swing one leg from side to side passing in front of your body, going as high as you can in a controlled manner.  Do 10-12 leg swings each leg.

Lateral Leg Swings
Trunk Rotations - While standing, lift both arms straight out to your sides and twist your torso to the right then to the left as far as you can in a controlled manner but without stopping.  Do 10-12 times.

Trunk Rotations
When you have completed your dynamic stretches, begin running again easing into 5 or 6 20 - 40 second strides before beginning your actual speedwork session.

Intense running brings your body systems close to their peak performance rate so it's important to gradually return them to near normal with a proper cool-down.  As you did for your warm-up, 1 1/2 - 3 miles of easy jogging will accomplish this and you can continue the recovery process by following up with some gently stretching.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Ashton Eaton - World's Greatest Athlete

U.S. Olympian Ashton Eaton won the gold in the Decathlon yesterday.  Click here to watch a nice video from NBC.  And from SB Nation's Dan Rubenstein:


Monday, August 6, 2012

The Olympics! So Much Fun!

I am having so much fun watching the Olympics!  I love it, I love it all--the swimming, the diving, the gymnastics, track and field, even the table tennis and beach volleyball!  I watched the women's marathon Sunday morning with my two little grandsons, Jack and Michael. They spent the night with Grandma Joy so their parents could join in their neighborhood fun of "beer Olympics" on Saturday night. I was happy to have them--love my boys!

Each of these athletes' dedication to their particular sport is so inspiring. And listening to the back stories of some of them, how they practiced what they do for hours and hours and hours and years and years...    yes, they all have talent, but it takes more, a lot lot more, than just talent to be a champion.

I believe we all have that in us, the ability to develop and be a champion in whatever it is we like to do, whether it's sports or music or cooking or our job or whatever.  A little willingness..   a little willingness..  to get out of bed at 5 in the morning to get your run in, skipping that party (or going home early) because you're meeting your running buddies in the morning for your long run, doing one more interval on the track because you're feeling so good, and you know the training is working...

Training, practicing, resting, recovering, rejoicing in victories large and small. Not stopping when we fall down or make a mistake, but picking ourselves up, evaluating what went wrong, maybe get some advice..   and going back out there.  And starting again. 

Because it's what we do. And in the end, it's all so worth it. 

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Thank you for visiting… Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by!