Monday 6 October 2008

Uphill training in the rain oh joy

The rain had been falling for quite a few hours on Sunday by the time I dug out my fell shoes and headed out for some off road hill repeats. I've not worn my fell shoes since February and have missed their grip and the usual running through mud in stoating rain that usually accompanies my wearing them.

On Saturday I ran a hilly 10 mile off road run route I do locally in a record 1:22 for me and felt really strong, keeping my form throughout. I think I get a little lazy form wise sometimes and it makes my running less efficient so I am focussing quite hard on this, particularly running uphill.

Mike Mason emailed me this video of Scott Jurek, complete with lovely hair-do, giving some uphill running technique tips. The video doesn't cover really steep or fell terrain but the advice given works a treat for shallow to moderate trail slopes.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid416421194/bctid1453536224

Other than thoroughly enjoying running in the increasingly heavy rain doing my hill repeats on Sunday, I consciously kept my hips neutral, following Scott's advice. I found that I had a tendency under strain towards the top of the later repeats to bend forward but that this actually made my running less comfortable so I stuck with the form. It made my quads and calves burn more but felt more efficient overall. I did 9 repeats of ~130' each vertical climb and will increase this by 1 repeat a week till the OMM.

Anyhoo, well done to all Family Inverness 10k and marathon runners at the weekend and best wishes to John K for a speedy recovery and return to racing.

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