I've been thinking about warm ups, and what the optimum is.
It's clear that the first 500m is actually quite hard work! At the moment, I'm very stiff, particularly in the calves and ankles (especially if I haven't rolled my feet on the spikey ball for a couple of days).
After 1km things have loosened up considerably. At this point, I usually pause the run and do some dynamic stretching, particularly leg swings across the body. There is a marked improvement in flexibility, and how comfortable the run is, after this.
But still at 2km, and even 2.5km, there's yet further loosening, and much more of a feeling of "floating" across the ground. It feels like most of this is down to the calves being fully warmed up.
I think I've said in this blog before, but it's easy to see why the Kenyans take time to warm up, then pick up the pace after a few km.
Also
I've now got some Vivobarefoot Stealth shoes, which make the New Balance Minimus look and feel like padded monstrosities!! I ran with the Vivo's in the woods tonight, and despite the near-slick soles, with a vertical foot landing beneath the body, there was very little slipping going on, even in the stick mud sections.
This weekend it really dawned on me that I will never be wearing the Asics Kayanos ever again. All three pairs are up at the 700km mark, so near end of life anyway, but still...
Excellent! BTW - the warm-up I give to clients is just basically to start bouncing up and down with the whole foot landing and let the speed naturally build (a very very slight tilt forward to start but hardly moving) - as the muscles warm up they fly further and as they fly further they are going faster and as they are going faster the leg gets left further behind and stretches more ... Easy - interestingly it takes only about 800 m for me to be going quite fast (4min/k without trying) that's BF on grass. with very thin vibrams it's about twice that - with anything thicker ... I don't have anything over 3mm :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks - great advice. Ensuring that enough time is included to warm up at the start of each run has become more important.
DeleteI must have a look at those Vivobarefoots. I don't like them for running generally as they don't hug the feet under the arch and are a bit 'floppy' - They are okay for the odd bit of training with clients but not be my training. However, That's all Heidi and I wear for working and going out - some cool leather shoes and boots ;-)
ReplyDelete