Posted on

Thursday, 29th August

Following on from the story yesterday, and the difficult path the lady in question initially went on, and I am talking about strictly following the ludicrous book called “run a marathon in 26 weeks”.

It should have been retitled “run a marathon in 26 weeks as long as you can put up with severe blisters, a wrecked back, very painful knees and the most miserable time of your life”, but maybe that title is too long, but still the truth for individuals living in the real world!

Back to the story, we got the lady on a twice a week, Monday and Thursday running schedule, with a lot of walk/run sessions to start with. She did the usual inside workout on Tuesday and Friday, the rest were rest days.

Then 15 yard runs soon became 30, 60, 120 yards run, and the rest period of 40 yards soon become down to 10 to 15. Then the elation of being able to run for 5 minutes without stopping was almost uncontrollable. The lady wanted to run different days and more days I mean by that, but we resisted that urge and get the running to Monday and Thursday.

As soon as she was able to run 15 minutes in one go (which took around 6 weeks), we did then start splitting the runs up.

On Monday we kept to the endurance runs meaning our aim now was to be able for 30 minutes, which we got to in the next 6 weeks.

The Thursday session became an interval session, meaning using lampposts for markers. You run for one lamppost, walk for the next, run for the next, walk for the next and so on. You soon become incredibly out of breath with this way of training, but it gets your lung capacity going unlike anything else. The goal eventually is to sprint for one lamppost, jog the next, sprint the next, jog the next and so on.

This way of running brings an awful lot of results very quickly, but is difficult and your sessions wont last very long to begin with. With practice though, you will be surprised how your distance covered lengthens and your recovery improves.

So it was endurance on Monday, the interval session would be on Thursday and its at this exact stage that this lady was really motoring and rapidly improving.

More tomorrow on how she improved greatly from here!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 28th August

Catherine asked a great question about marathons, and how to become a good runner in the first place, or become A runner of some description, run longer than a couple of minutes would be an achievement for many people I have started with the last couple of years.

As I said yesterday, I have one lady about to do a marathon but I have had MANY who have been through the same challenge and each a different story to tell.

Before we get into all of that, and the problems and challenges that the 26.2 miles presents, its vital you start at the beginning. You either do it the proper way or it’s like reading a book and going straight to the back of the book to find out the ending, because you couldn’t be bothered to read the book!

Some people have started off better than others, and doing it your own way is frought with danger.

I remember one lady really wanted to become a good runner, or even be able to run for ONE MINUTE was an achievement, she wasn’t overweight whatsoever and in some disciplines, had a reasonable level of fitness.

The first thing I told her was to buy running shoes, and change them every 500 miles (I tell everyone this).

I then took her out running and the best she could do was run for around 15 yards, then she had to walk until she got her breath back. She would walk for 40 yards, then run 15 again, then walk for 40, run for 15 etc.

This lasted for around 20 minutes and she was really tired, felt more than a little frustrated but explained this was the best way to go. This session was on a Monday lunch time.

I gave her other exercises to do on Tuesday inside, rest Wednesday, and to try the same run/walk Thursday. Inside exercises again on Saturday after a Friday rest.

When I saw her the next Monday, I could tell things had gone badly wrong.

Number one she hadn’t changed her trainers, she was still wearing the thinly supported “fashion” trainers.

Number two she had tried to run EVERY night!

Two things happened as they usually do following this schedule, she had blisters due to poor trainers, she pulled a calf muscle due to overdoing it, and when I saw her she was almost in tears fearing she would never run again.

I asked her why she didn’t follow my schedule and admitted she followed a book her brother had bought her (to encourage her).

It was called “run a marathon in 26 weeks”, claiming you could run a marathon in 26 weeks. This may be technically possible with perfect conditions and support for 1 in a 1000 people, but I can assure you I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT!!!

I soon had it out with her and told her to throw away the book, as its going to permanently injure her if she keeps to that impossible schedule!

It turned out to be the best thing she ever did, and she went on to reach an incredible standard which I will fill you on tomorrow!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 29th July

Due to various questions and requests I have had over the last couple of years writing this thing, I have decided to start uploading videos and showing some demonstrations on how to do certain exercises.

There is often a variety of ways to do the same exercise, and I wanted to take that doubt away from many of you on how exactly you need to be doing certain movements.

Then there has been a lot of questions about all the outside activities we do outside the gym.

I am talking about all the speed and agility we do with ladders, and what variations are best to use to get your speed improved greatly.

Then what are the benefits of running with parachutes and how to use them?

How do we use bungee ropes to their full benefit, and what combinations should you use?

Why do we use so much variety with those big tractor tyres?

What about those big girders weighing 60kg per hand?!!

What’s the correct way to sledgehammer? How high do you need to go, and which tyres do you smash them on?

What about the new Prowler 2 that everyone seems to be setting new records on? How beneficial is it and what exercises should you do on it?

What about the work on swiss balls? What are its true aims and what is the complete exercise range?

These questions are just the start so look forward to video guidance as soon as we can get it together!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 23rd July

Now that the very warm weather seems to have subsided a little bit for the moment, its time to focus on your own personal best’s and standards you have in training.

For example, if you have managed to train through the extreme temperatures, then the first thing you will notice now is your ability to work a lot harder than usual.

I had several sprint sessions last night, and everyone seemed to be performing better than ever, even though it was hot but not quite so hot as it has been, and there was a lovely breeze last night which meant conditions were far better than at any time for the last 3 weeks or so.

The weather has cooled down a lot today, with the threat of flooding! You should look at this as a further opportunity to get back to your highest standards, and start hitting your big numbers again.

In most cases, the last 3 weeks of extremely warm weather has been about simply “surviving” the weather, now is your chance to feel the boost to your body that a period like that will give to your body is done sensibly. As I said at the time, many top athletes in the winter purposely seek out warm weather destinations so they can actively boost their performances by training in very warm weather.

When they come back, they not only feel invigorated, but they feel that their performance level has been raised considerably.

Warm weather can be a benefit and a nightmare.

It’s a benefit when you hydrate properly, be sensible about training in extreme heat, and generally get through it steadily rather than going over the top.

It is a nightmare for many when they don’t drink enough water, don’t eat enough food and do over the top efforts in extremely hot temperatures.

So see the last 3 weeks as your very own warm weather “camp”, and you should begin to see the benefits very soon in your own personal performance level.

Twitt
Posted on

Monday,15th July

With a slight cooling temperatures this morning (although temporary), it gives us a chance to see if training through the warm weather has had a positive effect on our fitness or not.

Those of you have got through the last two weeks and performed your usual workouts will have benefitted immensely from that effort and tonight you are very likely going to be able to put in a top performance tonight. The relief in temperature will give your body’s internal temperature a breather too, meaning you don’t get as hot internally when exercising as you would in extreme heat.

Warm weather training for around three months has long been used by professional athletes. California, Australia and Florida used to be the main destinations for training camps, along with Tenerife and Lanzarote becoming more and more popular very recently with the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky Cycling, along with the England rugby team.

Former rugby union and league player Jonathan Davies was asked yesterday about the league game in Warrington being brutally hot, he agreed but said it used to be far hotter in Papua New Guinea and Townsville in Australia, when temperatures frequently soared well over 100 degrees! He did say though that it took him many weeks to get used to it.

The lesson is that you can train in warm temperatures, but take your time to get used to it, drink plenty of water throughout the day, never do more than you think you can, don’t train any longer than usual (in fact train for less in terms of minutes) and always stop if you feel dizzy or unwell.

So if you have been sticking with it all, then you will find yourself in great condition going into this week, and achieved a period of warm weather training of your own in preparation for a renewed period of progress coming your way!

Twitt