Today’s 17 km was a surprise…
by Administrator ~ September 23rd, 2007. Filed under: For Beginners, Training Notes, Training Runs.It was very hard to keep my heart rate below 140 BPM. I did keep it below for a lot of the time, but eventually I gave up and kept it between 140 and 160 BPM. I’ll tell you why.
Part of the reason it is so hard for me to run slow (and I think this is a major reason) is because my brain and nervous system are extremely lazy. You body wants to optimize itself to run at peak efficiency. Therefore your neuromuscular system memorizes the optimal configuration and muscle recruitment for a specific pace at the expense of all other possible positions for your muscles. Thus when you repeatedly use a certain range of motion for a muscle (which in the case of running is your legs), you are optimized for that particular exercise. In the case of running, it is a very short range of motion, possibly less than 50% of the full range of motion for your legs. If you try to do anything else, your brain has to recruit more and different muscle fibers and that upsets the existing status quo and you have to learn all over again at a different pace or stride length.
This is why one should strive to vary the pace and stride length frequently during training workouts. But not always. Sometimes you want to lock your running into a certain flow and pace for peak efficiency and energy conservation during a race. But after you must do static stretches to help you erase that locked in stride/pace memory. However, static stretching before running is a very bad idea and may lead to injury. You don’t want to exhaust your muscles with static or isometric stretching before or during an exercise. You want to do static stretching after your exercise, not before. Before your exercise, you want to do dynamic stretches, which is basically what you already know as a warm-up. You do the same movements as your primary workout, but much reduced in amplitude and range until your muscles are warmed up. But you absolutely should not do static stretching until after your workout.
Anyway, my calf muscle gave me no grief whatever but although I did not go all out (I am still cautious), I did go a lot faster than I expected to. I am looking forward to my next ART appointment on Tuesday.
