This question is for those who live north of the 39th parallel What do you guys do for winter running? Can you recommend some good items to wear? I've just been using my treadmill to avoid going outside, but i get shin and ankle soreness very quickly if i run on a treadmill, so i only power-walk while i'm on it (~4 mph for about an hour, with a few minutes of 6-8 mph thrown in here and there since that's the most i can do without pain). I want to run, but it's too painful on the treadmill, and...well...it's cold outside! Alternatively, if there is some specific treadmill-style running technique that i'm obviously missing, please tell me! I've had the thing for 2 years and STILL can't run more than two laps without intense pain.
Chas, make sure Make sure it's not your shoes. Old shoes or shoes with poor cushioning may be the source of your treadmill woes, rather than the treadmill itself. It may be time for a new pair of shoes.
I have always been a bike rider and i train for the season by training for a century ride. Very similar to Law5 in intensity. My knees couldnt take the running anymore.
Bluedeviils - If the treadmill is out for you the best options are the nike or the rowing machine in my opinion. If you are getting shinsplints a new pair of shoes is your first step. Also you might ant to investigate your ankle pronation.
Kinda related. I just posted this on Facebook: So, I got to thinking.... For those taking the interval test at an RTS this year: 35 seconds for the 150m section = 6:15 per mile. Not hard.30 seconds for the 150m section = 5:21 per mile. Harder.25 seconds for the 150m section = 4:28 per mile. Hard. Get out there and a. train and b. practice the test. You have four full weeks before the first RTS.
That's a great point, Andy. I think the reason the interval test is hard for some people and easy for others boils down to two main reasons: Pacing and fitness. Some people don't pace the intervals correctly and they burn out pretty quick. From a fitness perspective, the best way to recover nicely during the walk portion is to be in great shape. Practice will fix both of those issues... Download the test to your phone/iPod and hit the track!
That's the true measure of fitness; how fast and completely you recover from a given exercise. And that is what this test tests. Can you "sprint" fast enough? And can you do it repeatedly?
What do you do for the 50m portion? 30 seconds, 35 seconds, less? We ran a 30 sec/ 30 sec trial on Sunday. We only did 20 intervals but I feel like we could have gone a few more. I was just excited to "pass" the first time I ran it.
First practice of the year, I do 30/30 and base what I need to do on how I feel after that AND what races I've got coming up. I've done 25/25 once and it hurt. A lot.
This weekend, I attended a Region IV SRAs meeting. Ryan Mooney (USSF Referee Department) said that a fitness training program would be on the USSF website "soon." In context, I interpreted "soon" to mean "sometime this year." Running 5K and 10K's is great, but it is not referee specific training. I do some distance running (2nd place, 3000 meters and 2000 steeplechase, State Games this year, in my age group), but both on the field and the fitness tests call for more short distance work. It's not just about the legs! Abs, arms, obliques, back, they're all important even for pure running. I've seen Olympic level track & field athletes up close, without their shirts on and they're beyond a "six pack." Try a '12 pack' and that's both the men and the women!
I'm sure Andy will agree, but I think it's important to note that, although you may do something like 25/25 in training, do NOT try to do that on the test itself. It is important to have a pace that will bring you in about two seconds below the required time, and then run that pace consistently, even if you can go faster. There are major advantages to being consistent and the interval run is a team effort. Everybody in your group has to help the other guys pass and you can't do that by hot doggin' it. Over Christmas, my daughter and I did 30/40 for 10 laps and I found it easy. Of course, we were running indoor, so it wasn't like trying to do it when it's 40 degrees out!
Definitely agree with this bit. Kindof agree with this bit. If you are in a group where some are creeping closer to the cut-off, help them in a number of ways; Encourage after you've completed your interval. Get out of the way when you've completed your interval. Jolly them along during the "walk" phase. Let them start at the front of each interval. Work with them so they start running a couple of yards before the line as the proctor says "one" so they get a flying start. But if you're faster, get ahead of them. If you come in first at 33 seconds, there may be a couple at 34 seconds and then you, as a group, may hold the strugglers up. Give them clear track to run into. Run in the outer lanes. I respectfully disagree with this. It is an individual test, but You can't just ditch the rest of the group and run 27s. You have an obligation to help everyone. Which is why I take a weekend's vacation in Orlando in February every year!
Well, Andy says that 'it's an individual test,' which it, literally, is, but then Andy says how and why it is a team thing. He makes some excellent points about how to help other members of your group. I have to quadruple underscore the part about when you finish, get the [dirty word] out of the way! I have a National AR who twice failed the MLS physical last year because somebody else in his group didn't do that! Nobody around here could believe that he failed the physical but he did and that was the only reason. And good luck to all of the guys (and, especially, the gal!) taking the MLS test this weekend.
Practice test complete. 30/30. Not bad for sixth run since mid-Nov, two of which were a marathon and a half!
I'll be checking back on this thread in the future. Generally in very good shape from cycling/triathlons and playing soccer, but I disloacated my ankle playing soccer Friday night. Will be sidelined a while but hope to be back for spring season. Will need to catch up fast.
Not being a track guy (or GPS watch guy) - are there good markings to use to delineate the 150m/50m cutoffs on a standard HS track? I assume the track is 400 meters in the inner lane. So without standard markings, bringing four cones and walking it off seems like the alternative.
Each of the 4 sections (Straight - Curve - Straight - Curve) = 100m. Run your straightaway and half of the curve, then walk the last 50m
aresenal gave you a good estimate and you can also use some of the hurdle markings on the track to guess. For the purpose of practice, I wouldn't get too hung up on the exact measurements. Here is a track marking diagram. The first hurdle mark for the 300m hurdles (small triangles in the lane right, color varies) is pretty close to 150m. Like I said, probably just easier to pace it out. Also, remember that if you are not running in lane 1 you will be running much more than 400m each lap (hence the stagger).
Okay, I'm a track guy. The short answer is, no, there are not 150 M marks on the track. Yes, tracks, with a very, very few exceptions, are 400 M. Here's what I'm going to suggest for you to practice the interval run. Start at the start/finish line, which is the white line at the end of the straightaway section that you will find on one side of the track. Walk, counter-clockwise, to the next white line you find, in lane 1, which will be on the next corner of the track, in the center of two triangles that are 10 M on either side of that white line. Start here for the 150 M run. Run to the middle of the curve at the far end of the track. You can line up the 'middle' with the gridiron football goalposts. Now walk to the next white line, which will also be centered in between two triangles that are 10 M on either side of that line. That's the start for the second 150 M run of this lap. Again, you are now going to run to the middle of the curve at the other end of the track, pretty much in line with where the gridiron football goalposts are. When you walk to the next white line, the one where you started your first run, congratulations. Now do another 11 laps! Timeout for a non-violent war story: A few years ago, a group of us were running the test for practice on a high school track. The girls' lacrosse team was practicing on the turf field during our run. After we finished four or five laps, running as a pack at a pretty good pace (I think we were doing 35 and 40), the lacrosse coach decided that his girls needed some of that, so we've got about a dozen plus high school girls trailing behind us, trying to keep up. After about two laps, they were done.
I agree that those at the front of the pack should move out of the way, or keep running past the 150m so the runners behind them have plenty of room. But your statement -- that the only reason someone failed was because the people in front didn't get out of the way -- really bothers me. First, I just don't agree that it is a legitimate reason why someone would fail the test. There's a 3-yard safe zone from 147 to 150 meters, plus the test is usually NOT administered in a strict manner so people already are getting some advantages to make the test easier than it really is on paper. Plus, the test isn't that difficult anyway. Second, anyone who is fit enough shouldn't be cutting it that close to begin with. If you are fit enough, you could speed up, move out wide near the end, run in lane 2 or 3 the whole time to play it safe, or stay in the front row. Third, anyone who runs into this problem once should NEVER let it happen again. Too many people make excuses about fitness tests. Most of the people who fail fitness tests, fail because they weren't fit enough. Maybe fit enough to pass if everything goes right, but if something doesn't -- weather, energy level, group issues, injury caused by pushing beyond comfort zone -- they fail. It is not as common for someone who is really in great shape to fail, i.e. get unlucky -- falling down, pulling a muscle, etc. -- on the interval test. Yes, stuff like that happens more often on the 40m sprints but not so much on the interval test.