Coaching Tip – Stretching!

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Do you stretch at the end of a run or workout?

Our “what’s the first thing you do post run” theme on the Facebook daily thread recently was most revealing…only two of you mentioned stretching after you run! You’re not alone, stretching is often seen as optional, or done separately as a discrete workout rather than post run (yoga, Pilates, rest-day stretch etc)….but just a few spare minutes a day can make a big difference.

 

Why bother to stretch after a run or workout?

Running is a repetitive movement. It forces your muscles into set positions, creating tension and changing their length over time. Our modern lifestyles add to this – forcing the shortening of some muscles over extended periods of time… sitting at desks, driving etc. Stretching helps release the tension in the muscle and return it to its original length. It can reduce the risk of injury (evidence is a little mixed on this), increase mobility / range of motion, increase flexibility, and promote blood flow to the local area (therefore aiding recovery).

 

 

How to get started in less than a minute a day…

The benefits of a post-run stretch are generally well accepted, the problem is actually getting round to doing it – working out a routine and making it a habit. Here’s some ideas on how to make it practical and make it stick:

  1. Work out the main muscle groups you want to stretch, test out different stretches and stick to ones that are quick and give you maximum benefit. (I’ve focused on hamstrings, adductors, quads and hip flexors in this short video, but you may find your calves or glutes get tight too and may want specific stretches for them).
  2. Keep it really easy to do – the harder or longer you make the stretching session, at least to start with, the less likely you are to stick with it. If you did these four exercises and held the stretch for 15-20 seconds, you would be stretching for just over a minute.
  3. Habits are easier to stick to if you tie them to a trigger. Post run is perfect, get in a door, head straight to your space and do it. Stick a post it note up with the stretches you want to do so you don’t need to look them up.

 

 

Your challenge this week is to do a minimum of two of the four stretches in this video  after EVERY run this week (easy effort ones too!). Put a reminder somewhere so you don’t forget, and let us know how you get on. Share any alternative or favourite stretches you have below.

 

 Safety notes:

– If you already have a cool down / stretch routine, this is not designed to replace it. This is for runners who don’t currently do anything post run except check Strava / eat / jump into the shower (please note, feel free to check Strava / eat whilst doing these but the risk of slipping whilst trying to contort yourself in the shower is quite high…)

– Breathe! Don’t hold your breath whilst you stretch. Breathing is good.

– If it hurts stop! If the muscle is tight, ease off slightly and then repeat more gently, but if it actually causes pain, do not continue. You should be able to feel tension in the muscle that you can hold for 15-20s without pain.

 

– I am talking about static stretching here. Don’t do static stretching pre run (it elongates the muscle so increases risk of injury) and don’t bounce when you static stretch – it doesn’t change the stretch and increases risk of injury.

 

If you enjoy this, try some of these:

More stretches for runners: https://www.nhs.uk/…/exercise/how-to-stretch-after-a-run/ (this has quite a nice calf, ITB and glute stretch you could include in your routine)

More info about stretching post-run: https://www.health.harvard.edu/…/the-importance-of…

For more info on creating and sticking to new habits, try this podcast: https://drchatterjee.com/how-to-build-good-habits-and…/

 

 

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive free Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

I also have a Facebook Club for runners where I post two weekly workout videos, host a live weekly Ask The Coach question and answer session plus a monthly live webinar on a host of running related topics.  This is ideal for those who use free plans but want to have access to a coach and ongoing information.  You can find more information and join here.

 

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

 

Coaching Focus: Breathing

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Following on from a recent Q&A, this week’s coaching focus is breathing. Firstly, to be clear, it *is* a good idea to breath whilst running… Not doing so can cause significant harm! But seriously, improving your breathing is seen as a possible way of increasing oxygen uptake and decreasing the risk of side stitches and cramps, as well as reducing stress before or during a hard run or race.

 

This week, why not think about your breathing whilst you run? Do you follow a particular breathing pattern? Have you tried different breathing techniques? Pick a run this week, focus on how you breathe, and maybe try one of the changes suggested below.

 

Baseline

Start your usual run. When you’re warmed up and a little way in, count how many steps it takes to inhale and exhale. You’re not looking for a particular number, this is just to give you a baseline of how you currently breathe. Then try one or more of the techniques below, or play with your breathing pattern in your own way, and see which feels more comfortable to you. You can also play with deep breathing drills to improve your oxygen intake before or after running, and relaxation breathing techniques to relax before a hard run or race.

  1. Nasal breathing: This is useful for checking you are running at a very easy effort. Oxygen intake is restricted so it’s ideal for stopping you running too hard. One to try on a very easy effort run.
  2. Match your breathing to your cadence: breathe in on each left foot strike and out on the right. Or breathe in on left foot strike and out on the next left foot strike. Which pattern feels better to you?
  3. Try a different breathing pattern. Alter your breathing so you breathe in for more foot strikes than you breathe out e.g. 3:2 – breathe in for three foot strikes and out for 2, or a 2:1 pattern.
  4. Try using breathing to reduce your heart rate whilst running easy. If you feel your heart rate rising, slow down. Then breath in slowly for a count of three steps and release. Repeat 2-3 times, and note your heart rate at the start and the end.

 

Please don’t take this too seriously and if you find that something doesn’t work for you try something else. The main thing with breathing while running is to find something that you feel works for you and that feels natural. Whilst these techniques can help some, for others, one of the worst things would be to have to think about breathing whilst running.

 

Have fun and enjoy this – and don’t forget to post below to let me know what you are planning to do and how you get on.

 

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive free Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

I also have a Facebook Club for runners where I post two weekly workout videos, host a live weekly Ask The Coach question and answer session plus a monthly live webinar on a host of running related topics.  This is ideal for those who use free plans but want to have access to a coach and ongoing information.  You can find more information and join here.

 

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

 

Coaching tip – Cadence. Is higher better?

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Most runners have heard of cadence (the number of steps you take in a minute), and will have an idea that 180 is what they should be aiming for. This originates from coach Jack Daniels’ research into elite runners, and has been popularised over time. But are we worrying unnecessarily if we don’t fit the perfect criteria?

 

Why focus on cadence?

Cadence is probably the easiest metric to measure and control, especially if you have a running watch, which is one reason why it gets so much attention. It’s thought that optimising cadence can not only speed us up (running speed is the product of cadence (stride frequency) and stride length. Increase your stride frequency (cadence) and/or your stride length and you run faster), but also can improve form and change landing to mid foot, which in turn decreases injury risk. A recent study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, found that slight increases in stride cadence led to significant reductions in loading on the knee and hip joints, which, they hypothesise, might help prevent some of the most prevalent running injuries.

 

However, the often quoted 180 spm was an average cadence, so at times, these elite runners will have been running at a faster or slower cadence, rather than a metronomic 180. Your cadence will (and should) vary over time depending on a number of factors – what pace are you running at? At marathon pace, your cadence should be slower than when racing a 5k. Cadence also varies with leg length, height and terrain – trickier terrain like rough trails results in a higher cadence as you will be more stable, for example.

 

And some runners are just outliers – they don’t fit the formula. Take the famous Jim Walmsley, who despite beautiful form, ran 12 seconds slower than the world record for 100k with an average cadence of 161! https://www.strava.com/activities/4670542009/overview. It’d take a brave coach to mess with that! Some sources also quote Kipchoge as running his record-shattering marathons at cadences that were almost always between 190 and 200 steps per minute (spm), well over the recommended 180 spm. Again, I’m not sure I’d be trying to changing his cadence to fit a formula.

 

So what does this mean for us?

We often get stuck into a habit, such as cadence, that our body is used to and has become efficient at, but may not be optimum, so this may be worth investigating if you want to try something new. If your cadence is lower than 180, speeding up foot turnover may speed you up – to a point. (Of course, it may actually be detrimental if it decreases your stride length or if your cadence is already high, so don’t just assume more is better). Whilst I’m certainly not encouraging you to aim for a “magic” number, it is worth experimenting and getting to know yourself better. Your your task this week, then is to

– Note your current cadence (either by counting foot fall for 30s and multiplying by 2, or by using your watch)

– Play with increasing your cadence on one of your easy runs. Does increasing your cadence speed you up? Make your run easier? Improve your form? If so, focus on practising it. If not, put it out of your mind. There may be easier wins.

 

How to increase your cadence:

There are a number of ways to increase cadence:

– Use high beat music

– Use a metronome app

– Swing your arms faster to move your feet faster (see resources below)

– Simply repeat “fast feet” to yourself over and over again whilst running, and observe what happens.

 

How do you feel? Do you speed up? Do you feel comfortable, or do your feet pitter patter (a sign you may have shortened your stride length too much?). Make a note of this self experiment and let us know how it goes. Have you worked on cadence before? Did it make a difference? Share your thoughts on this topic with us below.

 

Some useful resources:

Increasing cadence through arm movement: Form video 2 https://www.facebook.com/groups/mhrunnersclub/permalink/936237400507241/

Should I increase my cadence: Q&A session with Martin on 1st April, Question 1 https://www.facebook.com/groups/mhrunnersclub/permalink/923606095103705/

Great article on why we may be overthinking cadence:

https://www.outsideonline.com/…/stop-overthinking-your…

If you decide you want to increase cadence, McMillan website has a good workout to use to help you: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/cadence/

 

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive free Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

I also have a Facebook Club for runners where I post two weekly workout videos, host a live weekly Ask The Coach question and answer session plus a monthly live webinar on a host of running related topics.  This is ideal for those who use free plans but want to have access to a coach and ongoing information.  You can find more information and join here.

 

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

Coaching Tip: Rest Days

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This week’s coaching tip is on making the most of your rest days.
Rest or recovery days are important – you’ve probably heard the saying that training benefits don’t happen when you train, they happen in the downtime you take in between harder sessions. Recovering is essential to becoming a stronger runner, and provides a mental break as well.
How many rest or recovery days you take depends on many different factors and is much art as science (you knew there was a reason for getting a coach!). Some of these factors may include: your current mileage; your goals; your age; your history of injury; if you’re recovering from a race etc. But as a runner, you should take your recovery days as seriously as your running to avoid overtraining and potential injury. Here are some top tips:
1. Avoid strenuous exercise! Sounds obvious but the point of a recovery day is to make sure you don’t do anything that will contribute to muscle breakdown and therefore prevent full recovery (cross-training and strength work springs to mind here, but a lot of runners also use rest days for gardening or DIY, which can lead to poor muscle recovery). Limit yourself to gentle exercise that will facilitate your recovery such as walking, swimming, yoga, or a little stretching and foam rolling. Light, gentle movement may stop you feeling sluggish, but make sure you don’t overdo it – this is not an opportunity to top up your overall walking mileage!
2. Make the most of the time off – a lie in if you are a morning runner, or an early night for an evening runner will also boost recovery. Enjoy it and take a mental as well as physical break.
3. Feed your body well. Rest days are good opportunities to spend a little more time preparing nutritious food that will aid recovery. It’s useful time to refuel and replenish your glycogen stores too.
4. Whilst most rest days are scheduled, if you feel fatigued, don’t be afraid to take an extra one or replace a harder run with very easy effort. Some women also find they benefit from an extra rest day or two just before, or during their period. Workouts feel harder due to high hormone levels so this can help balance your training and body needs better.
Remember – feeling full of energy is not an excuse to skip a rest day! You rest so you feel energetic. Taking planned rest days on a regular basis will prevent the need for prolonged time out due to injury or burnout. Running should boost your energy, not leave you tired and fatigued all the time.
How often do you take a rest day?
Any top tips?
Let us know what you get up to and if it helps or hinders recovery!
If you want to find out more, this is a good read on the importance of rest days.
https://www.trailrunnermag.com/…/rest-days-and-recovery…

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive free Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

I also have a Facebook Club for runners where I post two weekly workout videos, host a live weekly Ask The Coach question and answer session plus a monthly live webinar on a host of running related topics.  This is ideal for those who use free plans but want to have access to a coach and ongoing information.  You can find more information and join here.

 

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

Coaching Tip: Balance

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This week’s coaching tip is on balance. It’s something you probably already focus on if you are a member of the club if you do the Wednesday workouts. These workouts focus on single leg exercises, which of course will work on your balance too. When runners do strength work, they often neglect balance as many balance exercises don’t give obvious strength or aerobic benefits. BUT, they are really important, especially as we age and our balance deteriorates.
Why is balance important to runners?
Running is a series of thousands of alternate single leg hops, which rely on balance and coordination. According to a top physiotherapist, the top 3 most common running injuries that don’t relate to overuse, relate to balance: anterior knee pain, iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome and ankle sprains. They are connected to small movement deviations related to balance and control. A tiny amount of instability can be magnified over all those thousands of steps and lead to injury.
How to improve your balance:
Your first task is to assess how good your balance is at the moment. Do this by:
1. Try to balance on each leg for 30 seconds with your eyes open. Make sure you have good form for this: activate your glute on the grounded leg, keep your hips neutral by drawing in your belly button, bring your knee up to a 90 degree angle, keep your shoulders back and head facing forwards.
2. Now repeat with your eyes closed and see how long you can do it for.
Don’t be alarmed if one leg is worse than the other!
Once you’ve assessed your balance, you can now work on improving it.
This week, your challenge is to pick three balancing exercises that you are going to repeat on a regular basis (every second day will work well). I recommend the single leg arabesque, the split squat (also known as a static lunge) and a single leg hop and hold, but any three balancing exercises will do. You can find loads of variations in the Wednesday workout videos. Try to pick exercises that you don’t already find easy. You can see the hop and hold and arabesque demonstrated in workout video 26 in the MH Runner Club group.
On top of this, it really helps if you get into the routine of fitting balance work into your every day life, for example: stand on one leg and mobilise your raised ankle whilst brushing your teeth, or do single leg calf raises whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.
At the end of the week, repeat the balance test and let us know how you got on. And if you have any favourite balancing exercises, please share below.
Good luck and enjoy!

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive free Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

I also have a Facebook Club for runners where I post two weekly workout videos, host a live weekly Ask The Coach question and answer session plus a monthly live webinar on a host of running related topics.  This is ideal for those who use free plans but want to have access to a coach and ongoing information.  You can find more information and join here.

 

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

Perspective

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I listen to podcast series called Don’t Tell Me The Score.  I referenced an episode in a previous blog, The Squeaky Wheel Gets Fixed, and I find that I can take something out of most of the episodes.  Last weekend I listened to a recent episode where the interviewee was Ed Jackson, an ex-professional rugby player who is happier now, as a quadriplegic following an accident, than he ever was before. The episode was simply titled ‘Perspective’. I won’t spoil it too much but Ed goes from being told he will never walk again to climbing mountains.  It’s all about his mindset and perspective and if you are looking for some inspiration from an ‘average person’, this is a great listen.

 

A client of mine also listened to this episode and they write a newsletter for their school. Kindly, they sent me a copy of what they wrote and have agreed that I can share their thoughts on perspective.

 

“It got me thinking about perspective… perspective is a strange thing, particularly in these times, where we’re expected to stay in a confined space but take world view. For me, it means coming to terms with the changes and seeing them within the context of wider society, as well as acknowledging our own losses, however minor or major they may be. Last weekend I was supposed to be running the London Marathon. I thought I’d be sad after months of training, and I was surprised when I wasn’t. It did help that this situation has been going on a while, so my brain has had a chance to process the information, and that Manchester marathon was my target race. Manchester was cancelled with only 3 weeks notice… I’d run on average 50 miles a week since January, and had just completed the last of 6 runs over 20 miles. I was looking forward to the taper (and a bit of cheeky carb loading…) when the news came. To many people, mourning the loss of a random race which I stood no hope of winning is bizarre. People are dying, how less important can you get than a marathon? You have probably felt the same about things you have lost, big or small – not saying goodbye to your friends or school, matches, hanging out with your friends, celebrating your birthday the way you want to, missing your exams…. It is important to give space and time to your feelings on whatever you have lost because of lockdown. It doesn’t matter about its importance to anyone else, if it was important to you, acknowledge your feelings about this – are you sad? Angry? Confused? Uncertain? And give your feelings the respect they deserve.

 

But eventually, you need to move on. You need to put things in perspective – view your situation from others point of view, acknowledge the scale of your loss in light of other things going on around you. It is easier said than done, and I know some students are still struggling with organising their life around the new changes. But there are ways to start this process. If you haven’t already got to grips with working from home, or finding a new routine, or dealing with the uncertainty, or managing how much time you use constructively, rather than on social media / games / Netflix etc. here’s some ways you can start:

 

 

  1. Don’t put off the stuff you don’t want to do. You will feel better for tackling it. Get a timetable together. Work out when would be a good time for you to do your work / chores or whatever you’re putting off and get started. Start with half an hour. Then write yourself a little post-it telling yourself what to do next before you finish. This makes it easier to come back to.
  2. Be honest with yourself. This is hard, but you know whether you’ll do something or not. If you’re not going to do it, don’t say you will. Work out why you’re not going to do it and go from there. Are you telling yourself you’ll finish your project by Friday but you know deep down you’ll get distracted? Are you saying you did 2 hours work but deep down know you spent most of it on your phone? Don’t lie to yourself, or you won’t get to the bottom of what’s really stopping you.
  3. Find a new hobby or challenge. Very often if you motivate yourself in one area of life, you can motivate yourself in others. It stems from self esteem… if you feel good about yourself, you will achieve more in all areas of life.  To do this successfully, work out what you need – relaxation? Challenge? Mental stimulation?
  4. Be a squeaky wheel. I know, that’s a bit random, but there’s a saying – the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you are struggling in silence, it may go unnoticed and you may not get the help you need. Speak up, ask for help, and we will do our best to support you.”

 

 

I’ve not really told my personal story to an audience before, but in November 2004 I was widowed when my late wife was killed by someone later convicted of death by dangerous driving.  I went to visit a local charity, Wishes4Kids, to discuss donations at the funeral and as I was walking there, a lorry was driving down the main road towards me. For a split second (and it was only that) I had a thought that if I stepped out in front of it I wouldn’t have to deal with the grief any more. In that split second I also realised how selfish that would be and I’d just be leaving our families with even more grief to deal with. I walked in to the charity office, and met one of the nicest people I’ll ever meet, the late Russell Brickett. He offered to set up a fund within the charity in the name of my late wife which meant that we could keep track of the money raised by any events we did.

 

Obviously, I still struggled for a while and it was only watching the Boxing Day tsunami footage on the news programmes that gave me some perspective. Hundreds of thousands of people had lost whole families, homes, villages. I couldn’t comprehend how that must have felt for them, and I was sat at home watching it. Yes, my life at that point was not in a good place, but it was nowhere near as bad as theirs.

 

These events combined gave me the perspective that I could still live my life. I was here and able to do good things in the name of my late wife.  The first event I arranged was myself and a group of friends running the Stratford Half Marathon in 2005. It was from here that eventually I got a charity place in the 2007 London Marathon and fell in love with the event and then running, which has now turned in to my job and passion.  I still run the London Marathon every year for the charity.

 

Perspective can be tough at any time. We all have things that matter to us at this moment in time. We can think that we are bad people when we focus on our problems when there are worse things happening to others. But we have to take time to look at how we feel and look at how we can change things in our lives to move forwards.

 

Out of seemingly bad things, can come positive change.

 

I hope that you can take something away from this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and I’ve set up a very supportive Facebook Community where like-minded people can share their experiences of life and exercising. Please feel free to join and invite others you know who may be interested.

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

Martin Hulbert

Personal Trainer & Running Coach Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

www.facebook.com/mhhealthandfitness.co.uk

#MHrunners

Obsessed? No. I am Dedicated!

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As runners, we all seem to have some strange obsessions. Some of these can be positive, some have little impact on us, but some can really cause mental stress, physical fatigue and in a fair amount of cases, lead to injuries.

 

When controlled the right way, a bit of obsession can be a good thing as it can help lead us to create positive habits of getting out the door when the weather is bad and to try to drive us to improve.  But, we need to learn how to control our obsessions to get the best out of ourselves.

 

I don’t want this to be a deep blog about overall mental health and well-being, but instead look at some of the stranger things that we do as runners that we wouldn’t necessarily think of in normal daily life and how they may impacts. I will offer a bit of advice in to how we can get out of some of our obsessive habits.

 

What is it that we obsess about?  Targets are often the major focus for runners, with running faster or further the most common.

 

Always getting faster! – It is often seen as a sign of weakness if your next run is slower than your last. Who has been guilty of writing on Strava or social media that your run was slower than last time you did this route and how can people help to stop it happening again?

 

This is often more prevalent in newer, less experienced runners who haven’t looked in to how to run different types of run and the best ways of achieving longevity and long term improvements. At some point you will not beat yesterday and when this happens you view yourself as a bad runner. You are not, you’ve had a bad run. Not every run goes well. That’s a fact of life.  I will be writing a further blog about how to vary your running in order to improve your pace and distance in the near future.

 

My advice would be that next time you go for a run cover your watch and try to run as easily as possible and enjoy what is around you. When you get back home, then look at your watch. It will be tough but it is a gamechanger.

 

Targets. Targets. Targets! – As runners we seem to have to set ourselves targets. And when we have set the target we then have to achieve the target or we disappoint ourselves.

 

Yearly – By far the most dangerous of a runner’s obsession with numbers. “This year I’m going to run 2020 miles as it’s the year 2020”. On the face of it there is nothing wrong with that. However, break it down a bit and it is about 40 miles per week. Are you capable of that? Is it realistic? What happens if I miss a couple of weeks with holidays, family reasons, illness, injury, weather events, etc, etc? The club I run for give out awards for running a certain amount of miles each year. I applaud that as it recognises how far people have run in a year and for many, they have ran further than the previous year and shows great improvements.  However, there are always a few people when it comes to the start of December that still need to run X amount of miles to achieve (for example) 1,000 miles. Unfortunately, the X is often about 150 miles and instead of it being a yearly average of almost 20 miles a week, they now have to run almost double that amount.  They then feel pressured to run far more than they have been, they risk injury and not only missing their target, but also not being able to run for a period of time by overstretching themselves.

 

Monthly – If you are setting yourself monthly running targets then you are getting yourself in to potential trouble if not sensibly done. My advice would be, instead of saying to yourself ‘I’m going to run 200 miles next month’, look at what each week of your running will roughly be and then add them together. That is a rough target, rather than picking a round number out of the sky.  If you have an injury or illness in the first week of the month what happens next? Do you chase the miles you’ve missed so that you can hit the monthly target? I would advise against it. You need to accept that what has been missed cannot be made up in the short term without risking further damage.  Instead, look at any period you cannot run as a chance to recharge your batteries, recover, rehab or deal with what has happened and then come back sensibly and modify the weekly plans you had.

 

Weekly – How is your weekly target decided? Is it a round number (for example, 20, 25, 30, etc)? Often, if you write your own plan you will tweak the weekly mileage to finish on a round number. If that is the case you are not planning your runs for the purpose of the individual runs, but more the weekly target.  When I write training plans I don’t look at the overall mileage of the week in any way other than is it progressively higher than the previous week (unless it is a cutback week in which case it is less). I balance the week of running and the weekly total (not target) is just the total of the runs.  So many people look at the weekly mileage and end up doing more, just to get to that round number (especially where the total is 38 miles and you have to run 40 miles to finish with a round number).

 

Daily – We get up with the intention of running a certain distance. If we don’t get to that distance then we have failed. Have we? What caused us not to reach the distance? Was it more sensible to shorten the run (injury, illness, toilet issues, etc)? Did we give up mentally?  Some things you can’t control so don’t worry about them. I would much rather someone shorten their run than try to complete it if they think they will make something worse. My advice is to write down 3 positive and 3 negative things about the run and learn from them for your next run (when you write things down you’ll probably also realise it wasn’t as bad as you thought).  I’ve got the MH Health and Fitness Online Community where people post their daily exercise and give support and perspective to one another as members are at various points of their running journeys. Please feel free to join our supportive community.

 

Rounding – Have you ever purposely finished a run on 4.99m? No? I didn’t think so! The majority of runners are guilty of rounding up their runs by running up and down the street until they hit that magic round number. That’s fine (apart from the weird thoughts the neighbours have about you). But, how many of you have to keep going to the nearest round number (ending with a .5 or .00)? It’s a bit like the competition we had with ourselves at the petrol pump trying to stop on a round number (anyone? Just me?). My advice to get out of this habit is to try, on your next run, to stop before you hit the next mile. It’s liberating!

 

Run Every Day – My first question for those who try this is how long are you planning to do this? Is it for a month for charity? If so, and you pitch the daily mileage to what you are capable of, then go for it but realise that if you get ill or injured it may not happen.  Are you doing this forever? Ron Hill, ex-GB athlete completed at least one mile every day for 52 years and 39 days (he defined this as ‘completing a distance of at least one mile at any pace’). That is an amazing achievement but what pressure was he putting on himself every day to go out and complete that mile. How would you feel when that came to an end? When his streak came to an end in January 2017 he wrote “after 400m my heart started to hurt and by the time I got to the one mile point I thought I was going to die. I was in such pain and I thought in respect of my wife, two sons and friends I need to stop this”. So he nearly risked his life for his running streak.

 

For me personally, challenging yourself is great. I love to set myself goals and targets. However, I am no longer obsessed by monthly and yearly numbers and I can leave my weekly mileage at 59.8 miles and not run the extra 0.2 miles. I can run slower than last week and not start researching faster trainers online. And I can run without looking at my watch.

 

I like to swap the word obsessed with dedicated. Instead of focusing purely on numbers, focus on the process of getting out and getting as close to your goals as possible, while accepting that you cannot hit your targets every time.  Not hitting your goals is not failure, it just gives you more to learn about yourself and your running.  Look long term and think that by doing less one day means you can improve another day.

 

When it doesn’t go right, just think of these words from a popular Disney song that I’m sure a lot of you have on your playlists “let it go”.

 

So stop obsessing, get dedicated and start enjoying

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

Martin Hulbert

Personal Trainer & Running Coach Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

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Exercise Snacking

Snacking. Is It Any Good?

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Exercise Snacking! Please get that in the right order; it is not snacking as an exercise!

 

Exercise snacking as a concept isn’t a new idea. It is basically a different way of getting in your required amount of exercise (the NHS recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise plus some strength training per week).  Gyms have both the equipment (aerobic and weight training) and the convenience (if you can fit a session in around your working life) to make them seem like the obvious choice for reaching that NHS target. What many people don’t realise is that taking one or two sessions of exercise a week can’t make up for the damage done by sitting down a lot in between.

 

The idea that joining a gym is the best way to get fit has been challenged by scientists for many years who have studied the benefits of a range of non-traditional exercise regimes. A well-known is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which may offer similar or even superior effects on health as traditional endurance-based training but in much shorter exercise times.  But what if you are unable to do the really intense workouts that the HIIT requires to be beneficial? High intensity isn’t high intensity if you cannot get yourself to work hard enough.

 

Another form or exercise that has emerged in to the public domain is exercise snacking. This form of multiple bouts of brief, “snack-sized” portions of exercise has been shown to control blood sugar better than a single, continuous workout. In a study examining the benefits of exercise snacking, researchers compared blood sugar in participants who exercised for 30 continuous minutes and, in the same group, when they broke their exercise up into three small portions performed shortly before breakfast, lunch and dinner. This “exercise snacking” lowered blood sugar for about 24 hours and did so much better than the 30-minute exercise.

 

Exercising around mealtimes also appears to be beneficial for people with diabetes. A study showed taking a 10-minute walk after each meal can significantly improve the control of blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes compared with a single 30-minute walk each day. These studies collectively highlight the importance of making sure we keep active throughout the day and increasing the amount of energy we use up in non-exercise activities that we normally do during everyday life, from walking up stairs to cleaning the house.

 

I believe that exercise snacking can be the way forward for people who sit down a lot during their normal daily life. I remember when I worked in an office but ran for an hour a day plus I did about 30 minutes a day in the gym. That meant I was exercising for 90 minutes a day on average. It sounds a lot (and to most people it is), but when you work out that it was only 6.25% of my day, meaning that usually 93.75% of my day was spent sitting or lying down; suddenly it doesn’t seem much.

 

Now I am a Personal Trainer I am constantly on my feet, but rarely actually exercising (apart from my one hour of running per day which I still maintain).  What I do differently now is that after each client I train, I try to do between 5-10 minutes of lifting weights or doing some other form of exercises (bodyweight squats, single leg balancing, some core exercises, etc) and when I am in my ‘admin time’ I try to get up as much as possible for 5 minutes at a time, even if that is just to make a coffee.

 

When I train clients, I know that most are inherently lazy when it comes to their time away from our training sessions. Now that isn’t that they don’t want to do anything, it is that their time is precious and they cannot all afford to spend 30-60 minutes at a time working out. Instead, I give them workouts that they can do at home with minimal or no weights (whatever they have available to them). These workouts can be done in whole if they can, or in part so that they make up the 30-minute workouts over the course of the day.

 

Invariably, a fair few end up doing more than 30 minutes a day once it is broken up into small chunks as they enjoy the little and often approach, meaning they don’t notice the time spent exercising (plus the non-exercise exercise such as gardening, dog-walking, shopping, cleaning, moving things, etc).

 

So, if you want to improve your fitness and think that you don’t have the time, you do! You just need to enjoy the benefits of snacking!

Do you want structured training to keep you running after your marathon?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

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Martin Hulbert

Personal Trainer & Running Coach Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

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2017 London Marathon – Race Day!

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The morning of St George’s Day, 23rd April 2017. And, after 945 miles of running over 16 weeks of training, it was all about the Virgin London Marathon.

After a great first 6 weeks of training I have only managed to complete two fully planned training weeks since the middle of February. This, as I have said in previous blogs, has really messed with my confidence.

I started off with three targets:

Under 2:55 would be a very good day (but probably unachievable)

Under 3:00 would be great for my personal pride as that would be 7 years in succession under 3:00

Under 3:15 would be worst case scenario as that gains me a Good For Age place next year.

 

As we left the hotel, which overlooks Blackheath Common, for the pre-race group photographs, we got a lot of attention as everyone running for Wishes4Kids were wearing fairy wings and tutus, plus 4 of us were also painted purple. We got extra attention and were asked to pose for photographs by various strangers on the walk over to the Red Start. This is where we leave most of the other runners and I head over, with the supporters, to the Fast Good For Age start. This start is virtually exclusively for men aiming to run under 3 hours. I had a wander around to see if there was anyone I recognised, before dropping my kitbag onto the baggage lorry and heading out of the start area and onto the warm—up field. I did a couple of half-arsed jogs around the field, before joining my wife and the other supporters from the charity by the start line barriers to kill a bit of time. After a few adjustments to my wings I headed off to the starting pen, waiting for the off.

As the start time neared, I was chatting to various people in the starting pen, comparing target times, training and how and why I run in fancy dress. You could see that most people were nervous or pumped up. I seemed to be relatively calm, which I always think means that I am going to enjoy the run as I am not putting any pressure on myself. My only fear was that the quality training runs I had missed may come back to bite me in the latter stages. However, only time would tell.

We were let off at just after 10:01 and due to the number of runners on this start, I didn’t cross the start line for 2 minutes. I was then away and running; a quick look and wave to the right to see my wife and the rest of the charity supporters and off in to London we headed.

The first 3 miles of London are fast as they are nett downhill. I decided to settle into an effort that felt easy and sustainable, knowing that the pace would come out slightly faster due to the downhill. I completed the first 5km in 20.24. I don’t check my splits by kms but as the marathon tracking app does, it is easier to use these in my blog instead of my mile times.

After the 5km mark the different starts merge. As they do the space gets a fair bit tighter and it is often harder to follow the racing line, blue stripes painted on the road. Also, at this point I was more focussed on running along the edges of the road, high-5ing kids and generally playing up to the crowd. I knocked off the second 5km in 20.52 and then settled into a more comfortable rhythm. My next splits were: 21.04, 21.04 and 20.55 to just after halfway. By this point Tower Bridge, probably the highlight of the race with the wall of noise hitting you as you cross, had been ticked off and I was still feeling good and running at a consistent pace. The injury I have had for about 10 weeks now wasn’t causing any issues and I probably didn’t feel any adverse effects during the whole race. I passed the halfway mark in 1:27.57 meaning that I was comfortably stuck between a 2:55 and 3:00 finishing time, as long as I could maintain a similar pace for the second half.

Running towards Docklands and on to Canary Wharf I still felt good and was still trying get the crowd going, knocking off 25-30km in 20.44 and 30-35km 21.05. From about 30km my quads started to tire and for the first time in the race it started to feel like hard work. I had passed local runner Ash Payne, well on course to break the world record of running the fastest time dressed as an Elf. I also found that although my pace was slowing a little, I was still passing people.

The run along the Embankment was tough. From 35-40km my 5km time slowed to 21.34. I was still trying to wave my wand to the crowds as much as possible, but it was getting harder to smile to the supporters.

As I got to Big Ben and turned right onto Birdcage Walk I knew that my wife and supporters would soon appear on the right side of the course. As agreed, when I reached them I took my GoPro camera from my wife so that I could video the final 800 metres. Providing a bit of waffled commentary while trying to rouse the crowd for the last time I headed towards Buckingham Palace, under the 400 metres to go sign, turning right towards The Mall to be greeted by the 385 yards to go banner (26 miles completed). As I turned into The Mall I could see the finishing gantry and at this point I decided, while still talking to the camera and waving to the crowd, to have a final sprint finish.

I crossed the finish line, looked up and waved to the cameramen in front and stopped my watch. 2:57.04 and a very happy fairy. I slowly walked forwards and collected my medal, the women giving them out very appreciative of my outfit and make-up. After collecting my medal, it is a long, sore walk along the rest of The Mall to collect my bag from the final truck. The logistics of the day never cease to amaze me, getting bags from almost 40,000 runners from one side of London to the other, hardly ever any delay in getting your bag when you get to the lorry and every single volunteer smiling and chatting when they get the chance.

After chatting to a few local runners, comparing times and experiences (and having water tipped over my head – thanks Chris Langham) and being interviewed by London Marathon TV and the race commentator (good charity publicity) it was wandering back across the park to my wife, posing for further photos along the way.

The London Marathon never disappoints. The camaraderie amongst runners, the volunteers, the crowds shouting encouragement to random strangers for hours on end; it makes you feel that the world is a good place. Roll on next year. I’ll be back!

 

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London Marathon Training – Week 16

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And now, the end is near………

I’m writing this after completing my final London Marathon training run. 945 miles of running so far this year (I’m sure that is more than I have driven), injuries, lack of confidence and now feeling stuffed with all of the carbohydrates I’m consuming; why do we do it to ourselves?

Because we love running and want to push ourselves that little bit further? Or are we just fools as my wife likes to put it?

 

On Monday I ran 6 miles, including 3 miles at my marathon pace heart rate. The MP miles averaged 6.30 pace and my legs felt spritely after less running recently. It was a good run.

 

Tuesday was similar, with a 5 mile run with 3 miles at marathon pace heart rate. This time the MP miles averaged 6.28 pace. Now these two runs suddenly get you thinking that is this pace sustainable for the whole marathon as my HR was actually lower than usual for marathons. My answer is a cautious ‘no’. With my missed runs and leg issues I think it would be dangerous for me to start out at anything quicker than 6.40 pace. If I still feel good at 18-20 miles then it gives me something to push on from, but starting quicker than 6.30 pace leaves me open to a whole world of pain in the latter miles.

 

Wednesday was a single Running Buddy session of 5.01 miles at an easy effort around Knighton Park, further helping my legs taper. It was my client’s furthest run for over 3 years so a successful session for both of us.

 

Thursday was a planned rest day. I was finding the hardest part of my taper was consuming the necessary carbohydrates. I work on a basis of 10g of carbs per kg of bodyweight. Most people would think that this is bliss, being able to eat loads of extra carbs, but as a 70kg male, it is really hard to consume 700grms of carbs each day. I have to make up my carbs with fruit juice and sports drink. By the end of the day I was stuffed and uncomfortable.

 

Friday has been a double day, as I ran a 5 mile Running Buddy session first thing followed later in the morning by my final training run. I ran for 5.30 minutes at a steady pace before running 1 mile at my marathon pace heart rate. This came out at 6.10 pace (totally unrealistic for 26.2 miles). I finished with 5.20 minutes of easy running. Once again my legs felt spritely, even though I felt sluggish due to too much food (I stop carb loading at Saturday lunchtime so that I have digested everything by the start of the race).

 

And that is it. My next run will be around the Good For Age start on Blackheath Common on Sunday morning. I am not sure if I would class myself as ready, but there is nothing more I can do physically or mentally to make any difference now. I have had the most disjointed build up to any of my previous 10 marathons, which has messed around with my confidence as I don’t know how my leg is going to react to the distance and I don’t know what pace is sensible.

 

But, I have no choice now but to get on with it, and as my main target now is to run under 3-hours again (personal pride only) I will set off at about 6.45 pace and then revaluate at around 16-18 miles (unless that feels unsustainable). I want to enjoy it, but as my leg still isn’t 100% and I have a few twinges every now and then, I have resigned myself to a potentially sore run, but I cannot honestly defer my place as it is not that bad.

 

‘Que sera’ as they say!

 

Week 16 Totals: 23.7 miles covered over 5 runs, loads of stretching, rolling and sitting on hockey balls.

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

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