running

Training Plans: Match the pace or get in the zone?

OperationMove · April 2, 2014 · Leave a Comment

When you are hunting around for training plans there are usually two kinds – heart rate zone or pace based plans. In essence they are both the same thing – they are just interpreting the information in a different way. A Heart rate zone plan might have a long run in Zone 2, speed intervals at Zone 4-5 with recovery in Zone 2 and a steady run at Zone 3.

Heart rate zones are guesswork (without a metabolic assessment) but a good guide is:

Zone 1-2: Conversational talking
Zone 3: Talking in short sentences
Zone 4: Be able to get out a word or two
Zone 5: Max effort. You can’t talk at this level of effort

A pace based plan will guesstimate what your pace should be for these different levels of effort so it will have a guide for easy, steady, tempo, race and speed.

Generally you can find training pace calculators that will help you with this. It asks you to put in a recent time. So as an example mine would look like this:

Recent run: 10km in 55 minutes (got to love treadmills, right?)

Running pace: 5:30 min/km

Easy run: 6:39 min/km

Tempo run: 5:34 min/km

Max oxygen: 5:01 min/km

Speed: 4:39 min/km

Long run: 6:39 – 7:29 min/km

Yasso 800s: 4:09 min/ 800m

Now my only problem with this is that while I agree with the long run/easy paces I don’t think it quite pushes you on the speed paces. Because it seems to calculate based on training required for a speed you have already run. If you want to run faster, you have to run faster. So I often look at guides to tell me if I want to run 10km in 50 minutes what speed do I need to train at (so long as that goal isn’t a huge leap from what you have already done. For example if I wanted to improve a 55 minute 10km time to a 50 minute 10km run time suggested running paces would be these:

Race pace: 5:00 min/km

Easy run: 6:09 min/km

Tempo run: 5:05 min/km

Max oxygen: 4:35 min/km

Speed: 4:15 min/km

Long run: 6:09 – 6:55 min/km

So which is better?

The answer is that they are both guess-work. There are dangers in not running your easy runs easy enough or in pushing yourself too hard on a tempo run. What both things can help you with is figuring out what is right for your own body.

The benefit of the heart rate over the pace is it measures effort rather than an arbitrary pace, which might be right on one day, but is going to be way off on another day where you might not have had enough sleep or are a bit run down. Conversely, pace can also limit you unnecessarily on speed days. If you are running to feel, you may actually run faster when you are feeling good than if you were just aiming for a pace.

For that reason, if you don’t have a heart rate monitor, rather than using pace as a guide – you are probably better off using a perceived effort approach. So you would aim for your easy and long runs to be 60-70% effort, your tempo runs to be at around 80-90% effort and your speed intervals at 90-100% effort.

If you aren’t a regular heart rate monitor user, using one occasionally to see how your perceived effort and your heart rate match up can be a good thing. I often find if I haven’t used one for awhile my sense of an easy run effort is actually probably more like a steady state effort and it reminds me to slow down on those types of sessions.

But even so, it’s good to keep in mind that heart rate monitors aren’t perfect. They are measuring something that is correlated to effort, but there are going to be discrepancies if you are stressed, if it is hot or if you’ve been unwell, so it’s a great guide but when in doubt go with how you feel.

Baby Jogger Summit X3 – jogging stroller review

OperationMove · March 26, 2014 · 5 Comments

With an increasing number of running specific prams on the market, it can be hard to know what will best suit your training AND your little person.

When looking for a running pram there are a number of factors to consider; Where do you run? How old is your child? How much time will be spent in the pram? Will it fit in your car? Does it need to serve as an everyday stroller as well, or will it only ever be used for running?

The newly released Summit X3 by Baby Jogger has been highly anticipated. Baby Jogger are known for quality products and clever design, and the Summit X3 is no exception.

The jogging stroller (or as we prefer, running pram) has one key feature that is noticeable the moment your child gets in; all wheel suspension. Of course a number of prams boast this feature these days, but even over the bumpiest corrugated dirt road my daughter had a noticeably smoother ride than in our old running pram.

The Summit X3 also has a generous canopy with a three part fold that, when opened fully, provides optimal protection against the harsh Aussie sun. It features a lockable front wheel (which should be fixed for running, but can be released to a swivel for everyday use and walking) which offers greater versatility than its fixed wheel counterparts.

It is an attractive unit which will safely carry a child up to 34kgs, a huge increase on standard single prams . What this means for us is that my 5.5 year old son will outgrow it height wise before he reaches the weight restriction. Being tall for his age he’d probably only have another few months of sitting comfortably in it, whereas my 3yo will have a cushy ride for years to come. When you’re a mother runner and the only way to get your training in is to do it with the kids, it’s good to know that the Summit is a decent long term investment.

Standard features include an easy flick foot brake, additional quick grab hand brake and secure quick release five point safety belt for the child.

The renowned Baby Jogger one handed fold requires only that you undo two safety straps before grabbing the handle in the centre of the seat and lifting, and for such a sturdy stroller it boasts a more compact fold than many others. It should fit comfortably in the boot of most sedans with room to spare.

We took the stroller out for an 8km run/walk on various terrains including gravel, dirt, rough track and asphalt. It performed well on all surfaces and my my daughter seemed not to notice the difference in terms of her own comfort, something she has commented on in other prams.

The one handed recline is very handy for children who are likely to fall asleep while you are out running, and you can separately purchase a console for snacks and entertainment items. Also available: wet weather cover, mesh cover, parent console and other options.

At $749RRP the Baby Jogger Summit X3 is an investment item for most families, but when considered against the cost of a gym membership plus creche with the added benefit of getting out in the fresh air with your children, it may be one worth making.

*Please note: whilst a bassinet and travel system option are available for the Baby Jogger Summit X3, it is not recommended to run with a child under the age of 12 months unless under paediatric guidance.

If you want it, plan for it

OperationMove · March 13, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Hope is not a plan.

If you want something, write it down. Research shows that if you actually write down what you want or your goals, even if that’s all you do, you are far more likely to get there than if you don’t write it down. Making something real, has a way of bringing it into your reality.

Full disclosure. I’m a structured person. I don’t particularly enjoy surprises. I’m not that spontaneous. I can’t do Fartlek because what even is it? Pick some object in the distance and run fast to it. How far? And how fast? It’s impossibly confusing. I’ll let you in on a secret. There’s a reason I’m so structured. And it’s because I’m lazy. I have a lazy personality. Path of least resistance. Take the easy option. Take the way of doing the least work possible. At odds with this in my personality is the fact that I am a highly ambitious person. To get from point A to point B there are always certain non-negotiable things that need to be done. Even my lazy self recognises this. At a certain point these two aspects can come to an agreement of sorts. Ambitious person will identify the most efficient manner possible of achieving goal and Lazy person will agree to do those things because there’s simply no other way to get to point B.

The beauty of the plan

The fantastic part about a plan is that it will separate out what you want to achieve into chunks of things that are actually doable. And because it does this you have inbuilt markers for how you are tracking towards your goal. You’ve written it down which isn’t just an act of having something so you can remember it, it’s an act of intention and commitment. That act of commitment will help you get through the days when lazy person shows up and wants to sleep in because it’s a stupid freaking goal anyway and doona. The plan will get you out of bed when you are tired and whiny and have nothing resembling motivation. The plan will show you how far you have come. And the plan will stop that voice in your head that whispers seductively ‘ you could just run 5 today’, BECAUSE PLAN.

You can always change a plan, but only if you have one

It’s not to say it’s completely inflexible, it’s not. Having recently completely stripped my body of all it’s iron stores, I can’t do my normal long runs right now. I’m not going to insist that I stick to the plan there. But I change it. I sandwich medium runs on the weekend instead. And some days it isn’t the lazy person saying stay in bed, it’s your body saying I need a break and you need to listen to that too.

Reach the goal, anyway you can

No matter how you get to your goal, it takes hard work.

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo

I know myself well enough to know that without a plan I would not be capable of that hard work. I wouldn’t have a goal, I’d just have some vague wish off in the distance. With a plan my ambitious self and my lazy self can get along just well enough to agree that there are certain steps along the way that are necessary and that they will take together. Sometimes, I might need to change the plan but I will never change the goal.

You will never know your limits, until you push past them

The cool thing about writing a plan is that you can take something that looks achievable and then increase it to a level you wouldn’t think possible. Not by an insurmountable amount, just enough to test yourself. The brilliant thing is? When you get towards the end of the plan – it is within your reach. And as much as it rewards you to see it done, the ambitious person in your mind only has one word: NEXT.

How I got out of my own way

OperationMove · February 19, 2014 · 7 Comments

In life so many times there are real obstacles. Things that are unchangeable, things that you just have to work around. For the most part though, those things aren’t what hold you back. It’s the little lies that do that for you. Things like you don’t have the ability, or the time, or the strength or the talent.

Come to think of it, I’m not a fan of talking about talent. Because I worship at the altar of hard work. I believe most things can be worked for. You might not get them tomorrow or next week or next month. But most things, if you put in the effort, you will get.

For years I didn’t exercise because I’d convinced myself I wasn’t athletic enough or coordinated enough or I just didn’t have the time. Which was all bullshit really. Just excuses I gave myself. Excuses that I felt like I was entitled to. In part because PE in school was the epitome of all things bullying. It was humiliating. And I spent a whole lot of my adult life avoiding embarrassment or humiliation.

I liked walking and hiking. That was a pretty safe zone for me. I loved the idea of finding as many mountains to climb as I could. But you know what? I never did.

You could say life got in the way. And that’s certainly what I told myself, but really it was just a matter of taking my eyes off the goal. And when you do that, all you see is obstacles.

Then one day I decided to work for it. My initial motivation was pretty simple. I had baby weight and I was in the horrifying position of realising that unlike in my twenties, in my thirties it had a nasty habit of sticking around and I actually had to work to lose it. It’s a strange mix of leaps of faith and baby steps. Going to the gym was a leap of faith because I was terrified of exercising in public. Making the switch to running outside was another leap because I was scared about how hard it would be. The baby steps were committing to it. And the more you commit to the process, the more it gives back to you.

At first I could only run for 400m. The idea of running even a kilometre without stopping was unimaginable. But then you do. And then you run 2.5kms and then 5. And suddenly you are running 20kms OUTSIDE. And people say to you I could never do that. I found myself saying things like, yes you could. If you can run 1, you can run 5. If you can run 5, you can run 8. If you can run 8, you can run 12. If you can run 12, you can run 15 and if you can run 15 you can run a half.

Then one day you find yourself contemplating this: a full marathon ascent of about 1,250 metres even though you have never completed a full marathon.

All of those leaps I have taken and baby steps I have moved forward with have led me to this place. The place where I have a training plan which calls for about 5 training runs per week and 3 strength and conditioning sessions. Training which I have committed to and I don’t cancel on. It’s something I have worked at for two years. That person who wasn’t athletic enough, now has the resting heart rate of an athlete.

Once you commit to the work, it rewards you by continually proving that you can do things that you never thought possible. Less than six months ago I would have thought it impossible to run a kilometre in under 6 minutes but I recently ran one in under 5. When you are doing the impossible, there aren’t that many obstacles – there is just the work you need to do to get you from where you are to where you are going.

And now? Now I’m looking for some mountains. Goals change. Now I don’t want to walk up mountains, I want to run.

Do what moves you most.

OperationMove · February 12, 2014 · 13 Comments

For as long as I have known her, which is a pretty long time now, my best friend has played netball.

For about the same amount of time I have considered her completely insane. You’d think, with my relatively newfound love of fitness, that I would have embraced her netball playing ways. But I haven’t, and I still think she’s a little unhinged to enjoy copping elbows in the ribs and being pushed around by scary women wearing initials that I’m pretty sure stand for ‘Gut Shover’ and ‘Woman Attacker’. But hey, that’s why she plays it and I don’t.

And in fairness, I’ve spent an awful lot of my life thinking that all those runners were pretty loopy too. I’d see them sweating and panting and wonder what on earth could drive a person to do such a thing.

Turns out, feeling COMPLETELY BLOODY AWESOME is a pretty good motivator, and when I’m in the car and see people running now I just want to wind down my window and hit them with some Eye of the Tiger and a big thumbs up. I’ve yet to actually do that, and my husband often tells me to stop staring at the runners, but one day. One day.

But here’s the thing. My bestie has taken up running in the past six months and I keep waiting for her to love it like I do. And she just doesn’t. She likes how she feels after a run, but the actual running isn’t her favourite. Because we aren’t the same person.

Huh.

I see people raving about their personal trainers, and how much they love bootcamp. I think to myself if I want people to yell at me to do stuff I can just get out of bed in the morning. My kids totally have that covered. But some people thrive on it and that is their thing. If it gets you moving and loving it, then that is awesome!

Other people are mad keen cyclists. I have been trying to embrace the bike, but you know my bum still says no. It is a fun thing to do now and again with the kids, but I’m never gonna be the one out there punching the air because I rode up a mountain. Because I am never going to ride up a mountain. I’ll leave that to people who don’t mind feeling like their legs might fall off.

I will however run. And when I can’t run I will walk, because that makes me feel really great and happy too.

The biggest secret to going from a ‘fitness kick’ to a lifestyle change is liking it. It is that simple.

Some days I just cannot be bothered, but because I know that even the junkiest run will leave me feeling like a million bucks I will do it anyway. If I had to get up and play netball I might never get out of bed again. Running is my thing. It makes me feel strong and grounded and amazing.

Maybe you haven’t found your thing yet?

Try something new.

Go for a walk. And tell us every time you head out the door, because the best props come from people who get it. Trust me on this.

Learn to run. We all started with the first step, and maybe you’ll love it and maybe you won’t, but you’ll have given it a go.

Check out Crossfit, or a local gym, or book a session with a personal trainer. Or call my house at 8.15am any given morning and I’ll put one of my kids on the phone to yell at you. Mates rates.

Just give it a go. Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What moves you?