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All the gear, the right idea (5 posts)

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Simon Freeman said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I am going to be cautious about what I write here – Nick has been known to stalk around this forum watching for runners to admit that they are doing extra sessions or eating junk food – but I sometimes find that I run my easy or recovery runs too fast. And I think I know why… at least in part I think it is because it is so flippin’ cold at the moment. I prefer to run in the minimum kit I can get away with so if it is really cold I might wear a long-sleeve top, gilet, tights and gloves but not usually more. The intense cold of the last few months tends to spur me on a bit to get warm.

Last night I had a recovery run after a hard run on Sunday and I decided to make myself a little more comfortable – long-sleeve top, jacket, thickest tights, gloves, hat and a buff around my neck. And I ran slowly.

So does anyone else consciously pull on more gear when it is cold to encourage themselves to relax on slow recovery runs? Or is it just me and my lack of discipline?

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Nick said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Simon, you are so right……….I am always watching you!! Its my job mate.
If you want to watch the experts at easy recovery running, head out to Kenya or London’s Bushy Park in the summer. Watch the Kenyans running in full tights, warm up suits and slowly. Yep its painfully slow and idiots like me feel very guilty speeding past with my ipod on when there are mutli world record holders and medalists in the groups. Yes it might be my only run of the day and they are going to run again once or twice, but whats the message here.
Very simple – slow down and give your easy run/recovery run some real purpose. The aim is to run at 60-65% max heart rate, use fats for energy and chat all the way easily. You are literally re oxygenating the body, flushing out toxins and should come back feeling much better than when you set out. Get this running right, and wear the right clothes, and the faster stuff will seem achievable.
Suddenly the body has recovered and you are ready to push hard later in the day or week again.

So the real secret to better tempo/threshold running, sessions and racing can be to focus more on better rest and easier recovery runs. Read about Chris Thompson and one of his key reasons for success over the past 18 months has been better volumes of running and slowing his easy runs down.

So think Kenyan guys………they are quite good you know!

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Simon Freeman said 1 year, 2 months ago:

See! I knew Nick was watching! Now I feel guilty about my easy run this lunchtime… I’m sure it was too fast

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lornawinter said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I love my easy/recovery runs as I use these sessions to go running with my dogs. It forces me to slow down and actually take in the scenery and world around me at the same time. Sadly-I can’t do this type of run all the time as I’d not get very far in marathon training So-I just make the most of the ones I do have-and yes-I layer up for the slower ones as I hate being cold!

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indielee said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Nick – I can second what you are saying. The Kenyan girls on our team here will go out in a full warmup suit and a thick fleece to do their runs on a fairly mild day, and can run painfully slow sometimes. Most of the team get irritated by running so slowly, but I have learnt to embrace it – every Wednesday I run with Betsy (who has run a 32 minute 10k…so cant be doing much wrong) and we can go very slowly sometimes. Our hardest session of the week is normally on a Tuesday, so Wednesday is a vital day for recovery – so makes sense to make sure we recover by not nailing a 10 miler, but taking it easy and turning the legs over. You need to run slowly to make sure you can run fast when you have to – when it matters in sessions and races.

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