Friday, 4 February 2011

Extreme Sports: One Legged Ironing

Three runs down this week and we've already covered 20 miles!  Seeing the Tuesday and Thursday sessions split into 15 minute or less 'blocks' rather than as 7 and 8 mile runs helped psychologically. I do tend to split longer runs into sections of about 7 miles in my mind, as that makes it seem less daunting.
I'm at the stage now where any aches or stiffness start to worry me and I head to the internet for a diagnosis.  My outer calves were tight on Wednesday during the day (before the evening run) and felt the same yesterday morning.  I don't have any aches whilst running and they feel okay today.  I'm covering a lot of miles now so some aches are bound to crop up but I want to try to ensure they don't develop into anything more serious than general tiredness aches.
If I'd sat down yesterday afternoon, I would have been asleep immediately.  Luckily I had lots of other jobs to get on with.  That's not to say I can't exercise whilst doing the housework!  One way to improve your long distance running is to strengthen your core (your body minus the arms and legs).  Having a strong core improves your running technique and helps you run more efficiently.  One of the ways to strengthen your core is to work on balance.  I do this whilst ironing, by balancing on one leg and changing legs on each item of clothing. Balancing on one leg with your eyes closed is even better, but I can't manage the ironing then!

No comments:

Post a Comment