dont think about your feet...

while trying to change your running texhnique inparticular how your feet land

 

on the graphics/text yeah, i could read it fine on my phone, but the text scolling up over the graphic as it animates was slightly annoying. like someone had mis-set the animation timg on the scroll..

Well I tried the recommended techniques and it was illuminating.

Seems I have become a ground watcher over the years and lifting my head for the required running posture made a whole lot of difference to appreciating the run more.

The first two kilometres felt good but it was more difficult to maintain it for the rest.

Stride pattern felt shorter but with a bit more 'rebound' the difference in the actual number of strides taken and time were minimal.

I will stick with it and see where it goes, it feels more correct if you know what I mean.

yeah, i get ya. i felt the same during the experiment the other day avoiding heel strike. but id say the reat of my body was very much wrong. you use way calf running the "right" so need to watch that too, they get goddam sore after a while!

I've found that monitoring running shoes wear gives an insight into my running style.

When I was (considerably) younger my shoes used to wear really fast on  the outside heel and the  forward outer edge. So much so I used 'Shoe Goo' to extend the shoe's life and save some money otherwise I would have been buying expensive new running shoes every three months. 

 

General ageing, arthritic toes and sundry other issues have slowed me down (a lot) and the wear pattern is completely different, with most of the shoe wear now occurring under the ball of the foot and I think that reflects the more 'hunched forward' style I have unconsciously adopted. Shoes easily last me about a year as I run slower, shorter distances and less often, it equates to about 1000 kilometres a pair.

My attempt to get back to a more natural upright stance is challenging my cardiovascular system, but the legs feel fine.

Weather and work have interrupted my running routine this week. Maybe tomorrow?

 

@Gerrycan That really does make sense; for that matter, other people run on their insteps and wear the inside edges of their shoes.

If you want to analyse your suspension you look at the tyre wear (also temperature gradient), for skiing you look at the tracks made by the ski edges, for valgus foot posture you look at wet footprints from bare feet, for running gait the sole wear reveals a lot.

been a few days! 

ive been running, same route, and same general time frames. 

still tryin to work on the heel stoke avoidance and some stuff from that aussie running article.

 

today was a cycle day as its the weekend. up the big hill and w3st to the woods. was a decent time and enjoying it, until i was on the top loop of the woods and i met a man with his dog, all in camo gear, carrying a rifle... who informed ne there was himself and afew other lads out deer hunting.. as i didnt fancy having a high velocity .308 entry and exit hole in my brain box, i turned back to the main trail and baled out. 

annoying though as he said they had all the season signage up at the entrances.... nothing on the east approach i go in, and i didnt see anything out on the main routes in either... the spanners. 

 

Yesterday was ideal for me, overcast, cool and only a mild breeze along the coast.

I managed to maintain my improved stance for the whole run and finished 15 seconds inside my current target time and it did feel good.

Found a four year old photo my wife took of me at the Romford parkrun while on holiday in the UK and my 'now old' forward leaning style looks awful.

I obviously have years of bad conditioning and habits to overcome.

By  lifting my eyes from the ground while running  I'm now seeing dolphins frolicking out at sea and a seal lazing under the jetty which is a real enjoyment bonus, the downside is the increased risk of treading in dog's poo but so far so good  

 

 

its been a bad week... 

Sunday i was up and gone to work for a 12hr site shift at 615am, got home at 930om. 

mon to thurs i was on site at 11am until 800pm every day, not home until 930pm, then eat, and sort out the house stuff, bed and up in the morning to face the breakfast and school prep then go to work again. friday i got home early enough to have dinner with swmbo and the boys, for the first time in a week. 

weather yesterday morning was terrible, and we all had a lie in until 815am! 

today, i couldnt sleep last night.. i think the fact we moved spud jr into a junior bed from his cot for the first time had me on high alert for either a thump or him waking up and goinplaging with his toys m the middle of the night.. neither happened, he slept fine. so i was knackered this morning, and slept after the alarm went off. typically its a smashing morning, would have been a great dawn up the hills 🤦‍♂️

Sometimes life takes over, it does get better.... usually when they've left home 😀

3 hours ago, mac11irl said:

its been a bad week... 

Sunday i was up and gone to work for a 12hr site shift at 615am, got home at 930om. 

mon to thurs i was on site at 11am until 800pm every day, not home until 930pm, then eat, and sort out the house stuff, bed and up in the morning to face the breakfast and school prep then go to work again. friday i got home early enough to have dinner with swmbo and the boys, for the first time in a week. 

weather yesterday morning was terrible, and we all had a lie in until 815am! 

today, i couldnt sleep last night.. i think the fact we moved spud jr into a junior bed from his cot for the first time had me on high alert for either a thump or him waking up and goinplaging with his toys m the middle of the night.. neither happened, he slept fine. so i was knackered this morning, and slept after the alarm went off. typically its a smashing morning, would have been a great dawn up the hills 🤦‍♂️

I  have given a 'like' for your post purely because there is not a 'sympathise' option. I remember life with young children and demanding workloads and sometimes it was real hard to get some personal time. These days the children have left home and I am grateful I no longer have to run or ride first thing in the morning and especially in the dark at night. My night vision is nowhere near as good as it used to be

 

My revised running style is becoming more natural and I am seeing some benefits. I will take 30 seconds off my circuit target time since I have bettered my old one a couple of times now.

If I get the time tomorrow between appointments, home chores and a late evening shift, then I will pop up the hockey field and do a 'beep test'. Not the most enjoyable thing to do but it is quick and does give a different perspective of personal fitness levels. The last two or three laps is as much to do with psychology as fitness.

Should probably stop hijacking your diary and start my own.

11 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Should probably stop hijacking your diary and start my own.

 

hijack away, or start your own, it doesnt matter either way

 

water water everywhere.... what a ****ty morning

 

Jr woke up at 540am... eventually went back asleep at about 645am, i got out his room at 705.. at 720 i was standing in the shed, putting on my runners, still undecided about run or cycle in the absolute downpour rain. 

i picked bike, as at least my feet would be up out of the puddles.

 

how was it? hilariously awful. no way i was going to try the hills, it wouldve just been swamp. so i planned on a riverside 20k. had to divert after 2.5k as the blueway paths were flooded, my runners were full of water after the first flood i didnt see in the dark. i fell off going around the corner just after coming off the blueway🙄 both tyres just slid on a 1inch thick layer of wet leaves on the path and that was that. felt it start, knew i was gone and just accepted it on my shoulder. managed to twist the saddle about 30° out of line when it landed on my thigh, and scratched the bejaysus out of my water bottle in my pocket (had the wrong one leaving to fit in the cage). got up and straightened the saddle as best i could and kept going, out onto the main road and did a lap of the town instead. 

 

bottle damage

 

either way it was lovely to get out, with work going the way its been last week and start of this week i hadnt been out since Saturday last week..

Just one of those days, we all get them

5 minutes ago, olduns said:

Just one of those days, we all get them

yup! 

but the weird thing was it didnt bothered me. none of it did. i just went along with all the ****e and was laughing through the spray coming up off the front wheel into my face. id say the people in traffic going the other way mustve thought i was an utter nutter laughing away cycling up the bypass in a status yellow rainfall warning

 

well, the last couple of weeks gave been pretty messy. 

this whole moving Spud jr to a bed from the cot is breaking my will. i havnt had a decent nights sleep in a month now - the 1st week was leading up to a massive project in work thay i was 98% unconfident about delivering my bit of properly, week 2 was that project. then we moved him to the new bed. and since then i have been woken up at least twice each night and then spent the rest of the night half asleep on his 4ft long 2ft wide 3inch thick cot matress beside his bed afraid to leave in case a creaking floor board wakes him up again.. its torture.

 

So, given the above.....

I got out on Monday morning, after being awake from 525am, and went full ninja stealth to escape at 630am.

didnt really have time for a decent cycle so it was a heavy tough bash up to the top of the cross hill - the off road trails were in ****e after the rain. had to get off and push it up the steep bit, less than zero traction on the grass, even pushing was hard. but i got there. took a lovely photo of the early dawn light, the bike sitting under a sliver of a moon... corrupted sd card its gone.

took 32min to pedal up there, slowest in months on that route.... 

on Thursday i managed to sneak out and get a 6k run in, after spending 15mins at Jr's door after i escaped, because i only made it over his bedroom door gate and he started making wakey up noises behind me 🤦‍♂️ i wont lie, i may have nearly cried a little, but he re-settled enough for me to run away (literally).

it was an alright run all things considered and was badly needed.

and... today, after another 1/2 night on the pretend mattress i woke up about 615. alarm was set for 630 (a lie in lol)

and so went ninja again and escaped. geared up and went for a run. 

 

and.....

 

was it a blistring pace? god no.

but at my 6k route turning point everything just felt good so i kept going, knowing i had the time on a saturday morning if it all went wrong and i had to crawl home. 

8k is longest ive run since the january knee pain issues started. nothing today except sweat and being extra knackered when i got home

delighted is an understatement....

Bonus all the domestic and work demands have allowed a niggling problem the time to heal without too much conditioning loss.

oooo catchup...

 

nov 8th a reasonable run 6k by the river. bloody windy morning though.

 

nov 10th a middlin slower 6k, after a sgite night sleep i just needed to get out. pace was all over the shop. that was last week.

 

got out yesterday morning on the bike. couldnt face going up the hills given how crap the weather has been, so heaed ong the river. no floods etc so kept up an alright pace. 

happy with it so i was, fairly chaffy ass though courtesy of me jocks having rolled up me crack. longest cycle on strava (by about 10yds...) and the longest constant pedal( no downhills) on the Sentier.

 

and today...

got a nearly decent bit of sleep last night. so trekked out and made myself keep a pace up as best i could.  

30mins 54sec for 6k. really happy with that pace, all things considered.

need to do another catchup here...

 

ive been out as many times as i can with spud jr waking up. 

ill post deails tomorrow though. times are pretty good at the moment though.

Right so, since the 15th of November when i last updated this, ive been running as many mornings as the previous nights' sleep will allow and also the early morning weather. i dont mind a bit of drizzle, but if its pelting down... feck that.

my pace is staying reasonably consistent with some some improvements. and i added in a little extra twist. there are 2 sections about 100-200m long that i have started to use as "sprints" on my return leg. i need to strava them Into segments, havnt had time yet to see what my all out mid run pace is like. 2 reasons for it - total time drop and also a good lung burster to get more out of the run.

its working, as i got down to 30m 4seconds for a 6k on Monday! 

then didnt get out again until friday morning..

Right today was a tough morning. 

i made the mistake of letting swmbo tell me some of the details of that horrific case in the UK with the 6yr old boy. i couldnt sleep! at all.. everytime i started to drift off i just got more visions of him and the utterly sadistic suffering. he was same age as spud sr and i just couldnt shake it out of my head. 

i think i slept about 90mins. 

got up and went for a run to clear my head, ended up running my 8km route, because i didnt want to stop... (and im man enough to say this) i had tears in my eyes 3 times when it came back i to my head space again. but i kept going and was handling the route quite well...

 

until....

 

about 800m from home.... 

I was traffic checking, all clear and then went to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing, which i hardly ever cross at, only to be intercepted by an unlit bicycle.

Wiped out the 2 of us, ive a cut up shin, knee, elbow, hands and dirty one in the middle of my forehead, (thankfully just on my hairline so i can cover it up so spud sr doesnt see it.) where i ended up banging my forehead on the kerb  while rolling away from the collision to spread the impact. not hard enough be a concussion concern or anything but broke the skin nicely. 

i was rather displeased with the lad on the bike, and told him that i was.. only after i got home and had a wash i started to think the poor guy was probably on his way to work, likely feels really bad about it, and is just as sore as me, and i dont think i even asked him if he was okay.

 

 

i soldiered on home, a bit a slower and did my 8k in 42mins 14sec. and im feeling achey now!

Get well soon, Mac. Sounds like a hell of an incident.