Don't Get Mad...Get Cross

This morning I ran to the local shop and back, a distance of about 100m each way…

Nothing amazing about that, but when you consider that it is the first time that I have run anywhere or any distance in 7 weeks now, you might see how it holds a much greater significance to me…

It is when you are told that you cannot do something that you find that you really really want to do it…

Having run about three times a week for the last three years or so, being on a strictly no running period has frankly been a lot tougher than I thought it would be.

Stopping myself on a daily basis has made me notice that I actually ran a lot more than I thought, to the shops and back, to the car park at the end of the day, and lots of little sprints here and there…

But seven weeks of resting that little Sesamoid and its related soft tissues has brought a strangely helpful discovery…

Turns out that running is not just about legs and lungs…

Who Knew?

When it comes to running well, and in my case hopefully running fast, It turns out that your core

 (that’s your abdominal, and mid to lower back muscles) 

are very important, as are your arms, chest and shoulders.

The main job of your core is to hold you upright, and running tall allows you both to keep balanced and to allow enough air into your lungs.

Your arms are actually your accelerators… You will be familiar with the fact that your arms and legs move in unison when running and walking, well it turns out that the movement is connected both ways, so if you move your arms faster, your legs move faster too…

Then of course is the chest, being able to hold your chest wide with your shoulders back

 (not too far back though) 

allows your lungs to be used to a greater volume.

So not being able to run has not halted my training,..

In fact, I have never trained so hard!

Cross Training and Cross Fitness

Not that kind of cross!

Cross Training is where you perform a different exercise or activity to the one that you are training for in order to work complimentary muscle groups whilst still maintaining fitness. So for instance, when training for running like I am, good cross training activities are things like cycling and swimming…

Cross Fitness is a bit of a trend that is currently doing the rounds, it was the brainchild of a guy called Greg Glassman back in 2000, (he made a company out of the idea and got quite rich by all accounts)

 Now this isn’t going to turn into an advert for Crossfit inc and I have had no experience of the whole crossfit gym thing , but I have been introduced to cross fit circuits by my trainer(s) at the gym which is basically a series of “Functional Movements” without a break in between , but with a short rest period at the end of each circuit. 

(For functional movements read; squats, deadlifts, jumps, viper drags, cycling etc)

It is physically exhausting and I often finish a session in a big pool of sweat staggering slowly to the showers.

Nothing can help training for running like actually running, so I wait with stifled frustration for my appointment with the podiatrist, hoping that he gives me the all clear to start running again…

But for now I will keep training hard in the ways that I can, and as soon as I am up and running again I will give you some news on Mile times ( I guess we will see if all this other training has actually helped)…