Here is another weekly video update reviewing the international running and racing scene. Thanks to AthleticsNow.
The first race is the fantastic Dubai Marathon. I watched this one live over the internet while it was being contested. There was a huge pack of runners that eventually whittled itself down as the pace picked up until the final astounding kick towards the finish by a young Ayele Abshero of Ethipia who finished in 2:04:23 (the 4th fastest time in marathon history in his debut race). In the women's race another Ethiopian, Aselefech Mergia, led three women under the 2:20 barrier as she finished in 2:19:31. The winners in each race picked up a cool $250,000.
The next highlighted race was the Osaka Women's Marathon held in Japan. Five hundred elite Japanese females were vying for a win in this Olympic selection race. They went out so fast that a 5 km the lead pack had only 6 athletes in it. A relative unknown, Risa Shigatomo took the title in 2:23:23.
At the Aviva International Match in Glascow, Scottland we get to see Mo Farah defeat Augustine Choge in a 1500m race. On the other hand, at the 1st US Open Indoor Track Meet in New York City we see American Bernard Lagat defeated in a mile race by Silas Kiplagat. We also get to see a few sprint races including a Lolo Jones win in the hurdles.
At the Adelaide Track Classic in Australia we see two sprint wins by Sally Pearson.Who knew there were meets in Europe just for the high jump? Well, we learn about the High Jump Gala in Antwerp Belgium and the Moravian High Jump Tour in the Czech Republic. I guess I should pay attention as my daughter's middle school track coach wants her to try the high jump this spring.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
New Balance Indoor Games
Last week's mileage was nothing (well almost nothing). I spent the week letting my body fight off the nasty cold that everyone else in my family got. I felt run down all week, but somehow escaped without getting hit with it. Last Tuesday my new shoes finally arrived in the mail. I got an extremely comfortable pair of Altra Instincts. I hopped on the treadmill to try them out and only got in 1.3 miles as I was just feeling exhausted. Then I couldn't run from Thursday to Saturday due to another round of trigger-point injections. My left glutes are fine now. They do not seem to tighten up after runs at all.
This week I had 3 shots in my left hamstrings. I had noticed that any stretching (even if very light) I did on the hamstrings on this side was throwing that side off for a day or so. I also asked about my right glute (if the left were so filled with trigger points-why not the right). She found a couple points to inject. It all sounds so mysterious, but you sometime feel these knots immediately release as soon as they are injected. The right glutes were no way as bad as the left side had been, but my right side had become tighter than my left. I finished the week without another run, until I ran the Freeze Your Buns race on Sunday. Despite limited mileage this week, I improved my time from the previous two races finishing in 23:16. I guess the previous week's mileage and weight loss paid off. I never imagined that my recover from hip surgery would take so long after the quick start I got back to running post surgery, but I feel that each week I am slowly making positive changes on various imbalances and biomechanical problems that I am very happy for even a slow recovery. I keep telling myself that it took years to put myself into such bad compensation-filled running patterns, so I should expect a longer time of recovery as muscles and mechanics change for the better!
Saturday night I attended the New Balance Indoor Games in Boston and thoroughly enjoyed all the races. I got to see Jenn Suhr set an American Record in the pole vault (not the first time I have seen her do this in Boston), Maggie Vessey win a photo finish 800m, the Ethiopian greats Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar destroy their competition while avoiding racing each other, an interesting mens mile where Mo Farah got tripped and went down in the first lap and still recovered for 4th place, and other interesting races. Here are a few videos I took with my cheap video camera from my front row position in the cheap seats.
Jenn Suhr one leap before setting the American Record!
Tirunesh Dibaba almost about to lap the entire field in the 2 mile.
Meseret Defar destroying the field in the 3000 meters.
Last lap of the mens mile
.
This week I had 3 shots in my left hamstrings. I had noticed that any stretching (even if very light) I did on the hamstrings on this side was throwing that side off for a day or so. I also asked about my right glute (if the left were so filled with trigger points-why not the right). She found a couple points to inject. It all sounds so mysterious, but you sometime feel these knots immediately release as soon as they are injected. The right glutes were no way as bad as the left side had been, but my right side had become tighter than my left. I finished the week without another run, until I ran the Freeze Your Buns race on Sunday. Despite limited mileage this week, I improved my time from the previous two races finishing in 23:16. I guess the previous week's mileage and weight loss paid off. I never imagined that my recover from hip surgery would take so long after the quick start I got back to running post surgery, but I feel that each week I am slowly making positive changes on various imbalances and biomechanical problems that I am very happy for even a slow recovery. I keep telling myself that it took years to put myself into such bad compensation-filled running patterns, so I should expect a longer time of recovery as muscles and mechanics change for the better!
Saturday night I attended the New Balance Indoor Games in Boston and thoroughly enjoyed all the races. I got to see Jenn Suhr set an American Record in the pole vault (not the first time I have seen her do this in Boston), Maggie Vessey win a photo finish 800m, the Ethiopian greats Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar destroy their competition while avoiding racing each other, an interesting mens mile where Mo Farah got tripped and went down in the first lap and still recovered for 4th place, and other interesting races. Here are a few videos I took with my cheap video camera from my front row position in the cheap seats.
Jenn Suhr one leap before setting the American Record!
Tirunesh Dibaba almost about to lap the entire field in the 2 mile.
Meseret Defar destroying the field in the 3000 meters.
Last lap of the mens mile
.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Good Form Running
This comes from New Balance and Good Form Running. Good Form Running breaks down running into 4 elements: posture (running tall), a mid-foot strike, high cadence, and a forward lean. The athlete in the video is Grant Robison who represented the USA at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 1500m race.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Running-The Show
Here is this week's installment of "Running-The Show" a weekly video compilation of races around the world as found on Youtube and produced by Athletics Now. The first race is a Japenese Eikiden relay race held in Hiroshima. What is fascinating about this race is that the teams are made up of a mix of junior high, high school, and elite (even Olympic caliber)runners who hand off the baton to each other over the seven stages. Eikinden races are quite popular and competitive in Japan. Maybe the fans in Japan are more interested in the distance runners due to races like this that mix up athletes of different ages. The race ended with a 2008 Olympian dueling it up with the Japanese 10000 record holder. How cool must it be for the junior high and high school teammates!
The second race shown is another Japanese Eikiden, this one for women, held in Kyoto. The Japanese female runners can really motor! The next race is the De Sao Sebastio in Rio on a very tough and hilly 10K course. The video then moves to Europe and the Lotto Crosscup, 6k cross-country races, in Belgium followed by the International 1/2 Marathon in Santa Pola, Spain. Then it is to Mexico and the International Marathon in Culiacan. The video returns to the USA for the Houston 1/2 Marathon where the winner Feyisa Lilesa beat Ryan Hall's course record and 3rd place American Scott Bauhs and 2nd place Ethiopian Tilahun Regessa (who as a 19 year old won the 2009 Falmouth Road Race and the 2010 Zayed Half Marathon in Abu Dhabi and its $300,000 first prize prize purse). Shalane Flanagan's course record also went down on the women's side as Ethiopian Belaynesh Oljira triumphed over it and 2011 Boston Marathon Champion Caroline Kilel (you know the runner who outsprinted Desiree Davila last year in a fantastic finish! Finally there are recaps of two different races in Barcelona, Spain.
The second race shown is another Japanese Eikiden, this one for women, held in Kyoto. The Japanese female runners can really motor! The next race is the De Sao Sebastio in Rio on a very tough and hilly 10K course. The video then moves to Europe and the Lotto Crosscup, 6k cross-country races, in Belgium followed by the International 1/2 Marathon in Santa Pola, Spain. Then it is to Mexico and the International Marathon in Culiacan. The video returns to the USA for the Houston 1/2 Marathon where the winner Feyisa Lilesa beat Ryan Hall's course record and 3rd place American Scott Bauhs and 2nd place Ethiopian Tilahun Regessa (who as a 19 year old won the 2009 Falmouth Road Race and the 2010 Zayed Half Marathon in Abu Dhabi and its $300,000 first prize prize purse). Shalane Flanagan's course record also went down on the women's side as Ethiopian Belaynesh Oljira triumphed over it and 2011 Boston Marathon Champion Caroline Kilel (you know the runner who outsprinted Desiree Davila last year in a fantastic finish! Finally there are recaps of two different races in Barcelona, Spain.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Two goals achieved
This week took a lot of effort and I hit my goals, so I am happy.
Weekly mileage
Monday = 0 miles
Tuesday = 5 miles treadmill
Wednesday = 5 miles treadmill
Thursday = 5 miles treadmill
Friday = 2 miles treadmill
Saturday = 8 miles outdoors
Sunday = 8 miles outdoors
Total mileage = 33 miles
My goal for the week was to see if I could get in over 30 miles of running. Each mile I ran was hard fought and I kept thinking I should take a day off and rest as the week wore on, but I didn't and I reached my goal. This is the first week I have been over 30 miles since August 2010. I used to think a 30 mile week was an easy week, but this one was real tough to do as I had to keep pushing to hit my goal. Friday, I could only do 2 miles on the treadmill, so to get the 8 milers in was great. There is something about running outdoors!
My energy level for most of the runs was very poor due to my other goal. I went whole hog on starting to lose weight Tuesday. I cut out cereals, breads, pasta, ice cream, snacks, etc. and only ate small healthy meals instead.
Typically, I ate an apple with a small slice of cheese for a late morning snack (no breakfast), had a light lunch of grilled chicken and veggies, had chicken or steak for dinner with beans and veggies, and then had an apple for a nighttime snack. After a couple of days I got rid of the sugar cravings and got to that place where you feel like you are burning off fat and feeling lighter. The hard thing is running like that. Before the 8 milers I had a small frozen waffle with fruit preserves to try to get some carbs, but I still felt rather depleted on those runs. How did it work? From Tuesday morning until Sunday morning I had lost 8 pounds (Tuesday my weight was a little higher than it has normally been so probably I lost 5-6 pounds in reality). I also hit my target weight and now I am lighter than I have been since surgery in the summer, although lighter is probably not the right term as I have a long way to go. It is good to get started. I figure lighter weight = more miles and more miles = lighter weight.
By Thursday's run the muscles around my hip starting getting really tight and sore. I still worry if I am pushing things, but I am getting tired of being patient. I found this video showing a glute strengthening hip lift and added it to my list. It seemed to work the muscles that were fatiguing and I felt better on the 8 milers.
Weekly mileage
Monday = 0 miles
Tuesday = 5 miles treadmill
Wednesday = 5 miles treadmill
Thursday = 5 miles treadmill
Friday = 2 miles treadmill
Saturday = 8 miles outdoors
Sunday = 8 miles outdoors
Total mileage = 33 miles
My goal for the week was to see if I could get in over 30 miles of running. Each mile I ran was hard fought and I kept thinking I should take a day off and rest as the week wore on, but I didn't and I reached my goal. This is the first week I have been over 30 miles since August 2010. I used to think a 30 mile week was an easy week, but this one was real tough to do as I had to keep pushing to hit my goal. Friday, I could only do 2 miles on the treadmill, so to get the 8 milers in was great. There is something about running outdoors!
My energy level for most of the runs was very poor due to my other goal. I went whole hog on starting to lose weight Tuesday. I cut out cereals, breads, pasta, ice cream, snacks, etc. and only ate small healthy meals instead.
Typically, I ate an apple with a small slice of cheese for a late morning snack (no breakfast), had a light lunch of grilled chicken and veggies, had chicken or steak for dinner with beans and veggies, and then had an apple for a nighttime snack. After a couple of days I got rid of the sugar cravings and got to that place where you feel like you are burning off fat and feeling lighter. The hard thing is running like that. Before the 8 milers I had a small frozen waffle with fruit preserves to try to get some carbs, but I still felt rather depleted on those runs. How did it work? From Tuesday morning until Sunday morning I had lost 8 pounds (Tuesday my weight was a little higher than it has normally been so probably I lost 5-6 pounds in reality). I also hit my target weight and now I am lighter than I have been since surgery in the summer, although lighter is probably not the right term as I have a long way to go. It is good to get started. I figure lighter weight = more miles and more miles = lighter weight.
By Thursday's run the muscles around my hip starting getting really tight and sore. I still worry if I am pushing things, but I am getting tired of being patient. I found this video showing a glute strengthening hip lift and added it to my list. It seemed to work the muscles that were fatiguing and I felt better on the 8 milers.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Top Ranked Running Blogs
There are a lot of good running blogs out there and many of them are filled with information, inspiration, and anything else someone just might jot down. I write my blog because I can go back and remember things I have done or tried as well as a place to find links to things I found interesting at an earlier date. I try to make Recover Your Stride a mix of the personal, injuries and recovery as well as a place to write about training and racing. I do like to focus on all sorts of injuries and finding out how the body works. I also have tried to include the history of running from my point of view having been running since 1972 and I think I have provided lot of good information such as reports on the early years of the Falmouth Road Race. As a fan of the sport I include information on current elite running events and races that interest me. I also review books that I read, videos that I use, or other equipment that I find valuable. If you think I do a lot of these, you should just see how many books I read and running tools I try that I never mention here. I just like the sport of running, so my blog is a big mix of things I enjoy. If someone finds it interesting then I find that encouraging.
On the left side of my blog, I include some blogs that I like to follow. Some are from my local friends and teammates as I enjoy getting inspired by their endeavors. Others are blogs I have found whose authors offer good information on human movement and health.
Rick Kimbal over at Marathon Training Schedule started the new year with a blog post of his picks for the Top 100 Running Blogs of 2012 and I am happy to see that my blog is on the list at number 86, ultimately slotted just two places behind a blog called The Boring Runner!
There is another blog ranking website that lists The Top 50 Running Blogs. Rather than being based on an opinion, Blog Rank uses over 20 different factors to rank the blogs in any category. Some of the factors include: RSS membership, incoming links, Compete Alexa,and Technorati ranking, and social sites popularity. Currently Recover Your Stride is ranked 35th on this site for running blogs.
I guess it is encouraging that someone likes reading my ramblings. Thank-you to all the readers who do check in here. If you are looking for other blogs to read, you might want to check out some of the blogs on either of these two ranking lists.
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