Obstacle Mud Runner - issue 6

the sun has got his hat on... 01732 452404 ForEliteAtheletes to FunRunners 33 RACE : TRAINING Hit the trails... HARD With the summer holidays in full swing, most of our days are filled with glorious sunshine and lovely light evenings. But don’t be fooled! This won’t last long. In fact, before little Jimmy has even learnt his ABC it’ll be all over. Back to the school runs, the dreary weather and it’ll be dark by dinner time. Your beach holiday will feel like a distant memory and you’ll be looking at planning your next one. Our advice is to hit those trails while you still can. And do it hard. Not only will the run itself release those all important endorphins but by doing your absolute best you’ll be on that natural high for hours after. Nothing beats returning home absolutely done in. (in a good way of course.) Add to that the health benefits, the calories you burnt or that slice of cake or glass of wine or beer you just earned yourself. How often do we really push ourselves out of our comfort zone during training? Or even during a race? If you’re like me in a race, I tend to always hold something back, not knowing what is still to come. Which is sensible on course but when you finish and realise you could have, should have, would have run faster here or there or given that carry a bit more oomph up the hill instead of constantly conserving energy, it could be the one thing that’s keeping you off that podium. (something to consider maybe.) However, today we are on about our training runs. Any wise old owl will plan his or her route before setting off, unless of course they get lost and find themselves in a field surrounded by cows. (Yes, I do know someone who has done that.) Bearing in mind you should know your route, you can decide exactly how much you need to conserve to get you through it. Make sure you are fuelled, watered and well, before you set off. Any hard and fast run will knock you for 6 if you’re not feeling your best. Sometimes if your body just says no, it’s best to listen to it. That said, assuming everything is hunky dory, get your warm up done and then start off hard. Keep as fast a pace as possible for the majority of your run but at one you can maintain. You don’t want to be stopping at all. Stick to an almost uncomfortable pace but not too uncomfortable, you don’t want to be in pain, feeling faint or unable to breathe, nor do you want to be in your nice comfy zone where you feel you could just go on forever, push yourself out of that and start stretching your boundaries. Then, when you have about 1-1.5k to go, really step it up, if you peak a little too early, you might have to reduce the pace down just a touch momentarily but as soon as you have recovered enough, step it back up again. You want to finish hard, you want to finish exhausted, you want to push yourself to be the best you can be. And before you know it, you’ll be clock watching, every 10 seconds or so you’re counting down the time until you finish and then a huge wave of elation, satisfaction and sheer happiness washes over you, your heart still pounding through your chest, breathing heavy and beads of sweat forming on your brow, dripping down and stinging your eyes. WOW! I bet you feel amazing! Try to finish before the end of your route so you allow time to cool down and stretch off, bringing your heart rate back down to normal. The sweat eventually subsiding but drying on your face leaving a slightly crusty, salty aftermath until you burst through your front door, so so proud of yourself and hit the shower. However far or fast you run, make sure it was a worthwhile one. Decide what you want from it before you start and don’t ever give up on your goal. Share your runs with us, join us on strava @ Obstacle Mud Runner