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Podcast: Episode 66 – “Do You Feel Like an Adventure?” – Crewing the 100 Mile Alpine Challenge with Kirsten

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to support someone running 160 kilometres? Kirsten doesn’t wonder, because she did it for Jo recently. You can read all about Jo’s amazing race here.

But in this episode of the podcast Kirsten talks about the other side of the experience. What it’s like to crew for someone, how you can best support them, what you can learn from the experience and how it has helped form her goals as well. And how supporting someone can be just as nerve-wracking and just as fulfilling as running your own race.

It’s a long one, because we aren’t capable of anything else, apparently.

You can follow Kirsten at @shelovestorun

Head over to iTunes to listen (and subscribe! and review!)

You can listen and download episodes in Itunes here.

Podcast: Episode 65 – The Art of Natural Running with Dr Brett Hill

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This week on the podcast, I’m joined by Dr Brett Hill. He’s a chiropractor, a barefoot runner and a coach and you might have listened to him on The Wellness Guys or That Paleo Show. Today he’s talking about all things running form and answers your questions:

  • Should you work on running form, or will it just fix itself over time?
  • If you are going to work on your form, what would you start with first?
  • What is the number one thing that you can do now that will have the biggest impact on your running?
  • Things that you can do when you aren’t running that are going to help your technique.

And, if you jump on it now you can get access to Brett’s e-course with over 5 hours of instruction and access to his private facebook group for only $29, instead of $97. So don’t miss out! You can sign up at the Art of Natural Running.

Head over to iTunes to listen (and subscribe! and review!)

You can listen and download episodes in Itunes here.

The Pyramid Workout

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This workout is demanding but fun and gives you plenty of breaks (my kind of quality work!)

1km Warm Up
1km Easy
200m Sprint
200m Recovery
400m Fast
200m Recovery
1km Tempo
200m Recovery
400m Fast
200m Recovery
200m Sprint
1km Cool Down

This run is a total of 6km, but you can halve the distances if you’d like a shorter run. Don’t skimp on the warm up! You’ll enjoy your run a whole lot more if you take the time to be properly ready to go.

Supercharging your training through sleep.

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If you ask any coach what they would check out if an athlete isn’t progressing, it’s sleep. I heard Allie Keefer talk about her pillars of training the other day and I really loved it. It was character, sleep, nutrition, training, racing. It’s from the book: Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron.

Although training is possibly the more exciting part of that equation, the low hanging fruit for most people is sleep. Here are five ways to supercharge your sleep.

Get as much sunlight as you can in the morning, without sunglasses on. This is going to help your body to know it’s morning time and keep your body clocks ticking along.

Get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time every day. This is a hard one! But often, even a Saturday sleep in can act like jet lag because your body likes routine.

If you are going to nap, keep it short. If you need a nap stick to 20 minutes in between about 2 and 4pm.

Have predictable bedtime routines, so your body knows when you are going to sleep. This can be really simple, but just giving your body cues for what is happening.

Sleep in the foetal position. Sleeping on your back or on your stomach isn’t ideal for quality sleep.

Put down the screens in the evening. Especially phone screens.

Have a small carby snack before bed. Turns out the fact that people often crave carbs before bed is actually backed up by science. A small serve of carbs (fruit or some toast or a bowl of cereal) will help you get a good night sleep.

When you feel sleepy don’t do one more thing – go to bed! It’s tempting to just finish that one thing you were doing, but you could miss your sleep cycle window. It’s nothing that can’t wait until morning.

And finally, never stay up late for something you wouldn’t get up early for. Sleep is important!

 

But, which garmin should I buy?

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In honour of all of the sales on at the moment, I thought I’d come up with a super quick run down on what the main differences are between popular watches.

Vivomove HR vs VivoActive 3
The VivoMove HR isn’t a GPS watch, whereas the VivoActive actually is. The VivoActive does have advanced workouts and has profiles and metrics for running, swimming and cycling.
Verdict: The VivoMove HR is an activity tracker, not a running watch.

VivoActive 3 vs Garmin 235
These are both great options for a runninng watch and although the VivoActive has slightly more battery life, it’s a much of a muchness. The VivoActive has a few additional features like Garmin Pay, a Thermometre, a Barometre, a Compass, Move IQ and allows for a whole lot more activity profiles and rep counting. And it has more options for golfing, swimming and cycling. Where it misses out is on some of the more advanced running features like cadence, recovery time, training effect, audio prompts and manual lap. Plus, it’s only capable of keeping a history of 7 activities.
Verdict: If you are looking for a smart watch which does most things that you need in a running watch, the VivoActive is a great choice. But for full running geek effect pick the 235.

VivoActive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5S
The battery life is similar, but where the VivoActive can only keep a history of 7 activities, the Fenix has memory for a whole lot more. The Fenix doesn’t have Garmin Pay, but it does have all the advanced running features of the Garmin 235 and then some. Some of the additions include training status, training load and performance condition.
Verdict: Again it comes down to smart watch vs running watch. If you want a running watch, grab the Fenix.

Garmin Fenix 5S vs 5
The Garmin Fenix 5 has about double the battery life of the 5S. Other than that the features are all pretty much the same.
Verdict: You can pick the one you like the look of here, unless you are running ultras and the battery life is important.

Garmin Fenix 5s v Garmin 235

In terms of battery life these are similar, and the Garmin 235 has a whole range of advanced features like custom workouts and running dynamics that make it an awesome running watch. But the Fenix builds on this with a whole bunch of extras including: additional activity profiles, training effect, strava segments, virtual partner, training status and load, workout effect and performance condition.

Verdict: The 235 does pretty much all you would need, but if you want a full range of running dynamics, analysis and stats, get the Fenix.