Dartford parkrun 42 - the meaning of life, the universe and everything

I'm having a bit of trouble writing at the moment, so instead of going into loads of detail about event 42, I'm just going to make a few notes and add a few photos.

Matilda came over to help set up the course.

matilda placing one of the arrows on its stanchion [photo: 7t]

We took some chalk to decorate the course.

We used the chalk to welcome people to Dartford parkrun.

We also used it to mark some of the kilometre points.

setting up the course [photo: dani]

I was going to wear my parkrun 50 shirt for the run, but it felt pretty hot and I changed into my singlet.

I ran the entire event with Adam.

The run felt a lot harder than the time I ran suggests.

matching strides [photo: dani]

We were going to do a track workout afterwards, but none of us could face it so we postponed it.

I hate wearing my phone on my arm, however it is a necessary evil unless I buy a computer that is compatible with my Garmin.

me and adam were joined by john for a while [photo: brian page]

Thursday 28 May marks four years since my first parkrun so Saturday 23 May closed the four year loop. I've made a note of some stats from my first four years of parkrunning.

208 weeks since my first parkrun
201 parkruns
84 different run venues
212 volunteer tasks at 190 runs
6 different volunteer venues (that have been credited)
27 freedom runs

welcome to dartford parkrun [photo: 7t]

The things above are easy to report on because they are data which is quite cold and hard. The thing that can't be put onto paper are the amount of friends I have made in that time and the amount of great times I have had over this time. Anyway, here's to the next four years!

Pas-ta(the) weights... (Juneathon day 3)

Yesterday, while we were in tescos doing some shopping, we picked up two bags of pasta that were on special offer. When we got home it struck me that they could come in handy for today's Juneathon workout.

Each bag weighs 3kg, which is still fairly light for a workout. However, if I need to I can hold both bags in the same hand at once to give me a 6kg weight. Again, that is still not really that heavy, but it is heavy enough to give me some resistance to do a little training session with.

These are the exercises I performed -

Arm-curls - Hopefully no explanation is required for this one.

Tricep Extensions - Then lift the bags up and let them hang behind your head, extend each arm upwards and there you have your tricep extensions.

Bent over rows - One bag in each hand, bend at the waist until you're almost at 90 degrees (only go as far as is comfortable). Then pull the bags up into your body.

Chest Flyes - Lie down on your back, one bag either side. Pick the bags up and extend arms while bringing them into the centre of your body.

---

Things I  have learned - The bags work really well for the biceps and triceps, and to some extent the bent over rows, but the chest flyes didn't work that well as the bags hang too low, it would be better if I was using a bench. It is probably better to stick to good, old fashioned push-ups to work the chest.

It goes to show that you do not need to go out and spend loads of money on expensive equipment in order to have a workout - the only problem now is that when we have pasta for dinner my weights are going to get lighter!

Day 3: upper body workout - Didn't really count everything exactly, but approx 100 reps each of the bicep and tricep exercises and about 80 of the rows. I gave up on the chest after the first set of 20 because it was not really working out.

500 push-ups in one day challenge

The challenge details are on the tribesports website:

Perform 500 push-ups in a day

After an extremely lame attempt at completing this challenge last Tuesday, I decided to have another crack at it on a day where work wouldn't get in my way.

I started at 11am and worked out that if I stuck to an average of 50 push-ups per hour for the rest of the day, I would be done just before I hit the sack (albeit with burning chest, triceps and shoulders!). Here is how it went:

11:10 - 11:18: 5 sets of 10 (regular).

We then had to go out to the shops to buy food.

13:26 - 13:29: 5 sets of 10 (with pushup bars).
14:58 - 14:59: 1 set of 20 (with pushup bars).
15:14 - 15:16: 3 sets of 10 (with pushup bars).
15:50 - 15:56: 5 sets of 10 (regular with feet raised).
15:59 - 16:05: 5 sets of 10 (with pushup bars).

Half way point!

17:07 - 17:13: 5 sets of 10 (arms wide).
18:01 - 18:10: 2 sets of 25 (regular)

That took me up to 350. Time for a longer break while I had dinner. After eating approximately 1kg of roast potatoes and an awesome salad (rocket, spinach, watercress, basil) my body started to feel sleepy. I got down into the push-up position but my arms would not push me up. I gave myself a stern talking to 'you will not come this far and then quit!'. After that I tried again..

19:55 - 20:02: 5 sets of 10 (regular).

400 pushups done, but my right shoulder was feeling a bit tender (maybe due to the extra potato weight it was lifting).

20:40 - 20:45: 5 sets of 10 (regular). The last two reps of the last set were really hard.

The last session..

20:55 - 21:03 5 sets of 10 (regular) - Plus one extra push-up at the end for luck!

500+1 push-ups complete!

7t.

Clinging on (Janathon day 24)

Janathon day 24 was supposed to involve me not running, but......

...as I finished work still having not done anything at all for Janathon so I hit upon the idea of running home from the station. So I jumped off the train (still dressed in my jeans etc) and started my GPS-thingy.

My intention had been to do some body-weight exercise during my lunch break. To keep a short story short. It didn't happen.

The station to home is only about 800 metres. When logging a run I usually say that anything less than 3km is really not worth it, but in these days of Janathon and sore hamstrings I am prepared to log less if required, but not 800 metres.

So I added a few loops at each end of my run jog to make the distance up a bit. I still feel that this is an extremely poor effort. But it is done.

I am now standing in the spare room typing this and doing sets of ten press-ups in-between sentences.

2.1km (twelve-and-a-half minutes)
Push-ups: 10/11/10/10/10..

... then the baby came into the room and pointed at the push-up bars.

I did 10 more. 61 in total.

The hobbit (Janathon day 12)

Janathon day 12 went a little like this...

Lunchtime:

Used my dumb bells to have a quick workout..

Lateral Side Raises
Shoulder Press
Shoulder Press - Arm Curl combo
Arm curls
Tricep extensions

Evening:

I tried to teach the baby how to do push-ups. She did quite well considering she's only one-and-a-half years old.

Push-ups

I didn't count exactly what I did today, but it felt good enough to log.

.. I'm afraid that's all I've got for you today Janathoners.. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting posts over the weekend (I in no way guarantee the interesting part).

Oh, and today's photo has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this post. It's just some buildings near London Bridge.

Steve.

Repetition (Janathon day 10)

Week two of Janathon is going to continue to be a week of less running, but more body weight strength training..

View from the train

Day ten started with a run to the playground to do a body weight workout. I say run, it was more of a jog. As I was going straight to work after the workout, I was wearing quite a lot of clothes and my back pack. Not my favourite way to run, but it worked yesterday, and again it worked today. The route was extremely boring - about 1km (via the long route) to the park, and then laps (approx 400 metres) of some houses until my GPS hit my target time/distance.

The workout was pretty much the same as yesterday. 5 chin-ups - 10 push-ups - 10 squats. Then repeat a few times. Once done with that I headed off for the train station. I missed my preferred train because I got out of the house late, missed my back-up train because people in front of me walk too bloody slowly!! In the end I got on a train that got me into London about 10 minutes late.

I had plans to do some other stuff later in the day, but work etc took over and I didn't get around to doing the rest.

3km run (19 minutes - including stopping to take some photos)

5 x 5 chin-ups
5 x 10 push-ups
2 x 10 squats

7t.

The full moon (Janathon day 9)

Starting week two of Janathon 2012 I decided to change things around a little.

this full moon may be from last month (when I say 'may' I mean 'is')

I started with a warm-up jog, which lead me to the playground. Once in the playground I did the following body weight workout.

5 chin-ups / 10 push-ups (feet raised) / 10 squats

I repeated that sequence five times, then I got on the train to work.

So...

3km warm-up jog (19 minutes)
25 chin-ups
50 push-ups (feet raised)
50 squats

At lunchtime I did a very lame core workout featuring the side plank, crunches and another one where I raise my legs until my toes are pointing at the ceiling and then push up from my hips (I'll try to find the name). I didn't count exactly how many sets I did, but each set contained ten reps.

Steve.

My Iliotibial Band Problem (1)

As you may have spotted from previous posts, I have recently developed Iliotibial Band Syndrome in my right leg. In the past it has always been my left leg that has suffered. Somehow I have managed to get over the pain in the left leg but I'm not completely sure what I did that helped.

I am feeling very frustrated as the weather has been great and all I want to do is get out and run. However I am being sensible and forcing myself to take a break from running.



From what I have read the pain comes from the fact that the IT band is 'pulled too tightly causing it to rub over the femoral condyle (bone) and\or the bursa.' - Taken from this helpful post, it also contains links to exercises.

The following 'could' be reasons for the pain. I have highlighted which ones I think are most likely. But this is just what I think is most likely, in reality I really don't know what has caused it.

From Wikipedia:

Training habits:

• Running on a banked surface
  
• Inadequate warm-up or cool-down
• Excessive up-hill and down-hill running
• In cycling, having the feet "toed-in" to an excessive angle
• Running up and down stairs
• Hiking long distances
• Rowing
• (added by me) Increasing distance too quickly
  

Abnormalities in leg/feet anatomy:

• High or low arches
• Supination of the foot
• Excessive lower leg rotation due to over-pronation
• The force at the knee when the foot strikes
• Uneven leg length
• Bowlegs or tightness about the iliotibial band.

Muscle imbalance:

• Weak hip abductor muscles
• Weak/non-firing multifidus muscle
  

Points to Note:

• I have a new pair of trail running shoes. (Although, I haven't had pain while wearing them)
• I recently took part in a 10km race on a very hilly course.
  
• There were a few runs where I may not have stretched quite as thoroughly as usual.
• I haven't raised my mileage in the last few weeks, but have started the year with more miles per week than at the end of last year. (Could this be it? Maybe taken a while to catch up with me?)
• The pavements I run on are not the flatest, but I have been attempting to run on the roads with the least amount of uneven surfaces. I have been trying to make sure it's not always the same leg that encounters the banked/cambered surface.
• Over the last few months I have been trying to run slower, maybe this has had an effect on my running form.
  

What Now?

• Initial Rest Period (No running and Daily Stretching)
• Start Running but keep them short (under 4km to start with)
• Stretch Well
• Use a Foam Roller (awaiting delivery) for Myofascial Release
• Exercises that attempt to strengthen the leg muscles (focusing on - but not limited to - hips, glutes and hamstrings)

As I type this post it has been 4 days since my last run, I plan to start the strengthening exercises from Thursday (just body weight) and to attempt a 3km run on Saturday, that'll be a full week without running. Of course, when my foam roller arrives I'll start rolling too.

7t.

Workouts - Week Commencing 7 March 2011

Monday

Back and Biceps

2km on the treadmill - I was testing the possibility of starting recovery runs on Mondays after my long Sunday run. 2km is really long enough to bother. For now I'll probably stick with Monday being devoted to some kind of strength training.


Tuesday

I had a sudden urge to curl up into a ball just before my planned gym session - So I did just that. But then I had another urge to do something so did some bodyweight squats, walking lunges, pushups and a few things with my dumb-bells - Triceps and shoulders.

Wednesday

Interval Training on the treadmill

7km in total - This week I did intervals of 1 minute (with a couple of 2 minutes thrown in for variation) using 5 min per km as my recovery pace and 4 min per km as my fast pace.


Thursday

Rest Day

Friday

5.1km treadmill run at fairly easy-moderate pace.

Then some strength work

• Dumb-bell chest press
• Skull Crushers

Saturday

Rest Day - Although we did go for a walk, approx 6km. Also played a little bit of football with my niece and nephew.


Sunday

Knole Park 10km Race - Details here


7t

A workout that I fancy trying....

Here is a workout from the Men's Health website that I fancy trying.

They call it.... *drum roll* ..... THE ULTIMATE FAT BURNING WORKOUT - I don't care about headline grabbing names, but I do like the description of the workout.

I will add it to my to-do list (not that I actually have one).


7t