February 22, 2008
Ultra-Crazy!
In this newsletter:1. Washington Ultra Series First Race
2. Kyle goes Crazy at Red Hot 50
3. Golden Rules of Running
4. Crazy Tips
- Tie your shoes
5. Past issues and how to subscribe
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1. Washington Ultra Series First Race
The 2008 Orcas Fat Ass is in the books. We were met with sunny skies and what we thought would be an easier course due to snow, but RD James Varner still managed to include a couple of off trail scrambles up moss covered rock and about 6,500 vertical! So most of us got our fat asses kicked except for the 50K winners, Matt Hart of Seattle and Jen Segger from BC. We'll get the series age group points posted next week. See you all at Chuckanut, race #2 of the Washington Ultra Series.
2. Kyle goes Crazy at Red Hot 50
Former NW runner Kyle Skaggs and his friend Tony Krupicka "cruised" to a course record win at the Red Hot 50 down in the Moab Desert. They are taking ultra runnning pacing to new levels with their low sixes at the start and low fives at the finish. Check out the report Here
3. Golden Rules of Running
Sage advice from ALBERTO SALAZAR
1. BE CONSISTENT-Find a training plan that you can stick to long-term. If you can run four days a week, every week, you are going to get 90 percent of the benefits of training seven days a week.
2. TAKE RECOVERY DAYS SERIOUSLY-The day after a tough workout, the most you want to do is jog lightly or do some form of cross-training, like cycling. You need a recovery day after a hard day. No exceptions.
3. INCREASE MILEAGE GRADUALLY-Do not increase your weekly mileage by more than 10 percent every month. No matter how good you feel, be very gradual. You won't know until it's too late that you're overdoing it.
4. STAY ON THE TRAIL-Pavement damages joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. The more you can run on grass, wood chips, or dirt, the better off you are. My athletes run 90 percent of their workouts on soft surfaces.
5. RUN FASTER-It's hard to race faster than you train. However fast you want to run a race, you've got to do some shorter intervals—what we call speed work—at least that fast.
6. STRENGTHEN YOUR WHOLE BODY-Good runners condition their whole bodies. The arms drive the legs. Keep your upper body and core toned with a lot of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and back raises (don't forget that the back is part of the core). Stay away from machine weights and stick to Pilates, climbing, and dynamic flexibility work like yoga.
7. WEAR THE RIGHT SHOES-The second-most-common cause of injuries, next to running too much on hard surfaces, is foot pronation and shoe instability. The more you run, the more support your foot needs.
8. PERFECT YOUR FORM-Every motion your body makes should propel you directly forward. If your arms are crossing or you are overstriding, you're losing force. Your posture should be straight, and your striding foot should land directly underneath you.
9. TACKLE DOUBT HEAD-ON-At some point you're going to push yourself harder, you're going to enter into a gray area that can be painful, and you're going to doubt yourself. Push through it. Never think you are mentally weak.
10. EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY-If you don't have enough knowledge behind what you're doing, you're not going to run well or you're going to injure yourself. With the Internet, GPS phones, advanced heart-rate monitors, and even your iPod, you now can be coached individually, even while you run. I have an antigravity treadmill in my garage. Use the knowledge and tools that are out there.
4. Crazy Tips
- Tie your shoe
Ever wanted to know how to lace and tie your shoe correctly? Check out Ian's shoelace Site. "Bringing you the Fun, Fashion, and Science of shoelaces". The featured knot works great and you can browse his site for other lacing and knots that you may want to try.
5. Past issues and how to subscribe
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