Yes the title comes from one of my all time favourite movies Top Gun, but speed is also important for runners too.
Once you’re able to run a set distance, most people’s next goal is to run it faster.
As you run longer or your body gets fatigued you’ll find your running form may start to falter which can lead to poor running mechanics and injuries.
The 5 areas to focus on are:
When do you choose to exercise?
Don’t Let Your Asthma Stop You
I was diagnosed with asthma as a teenager. I was so active and playing sports daily, I couldn’t understand why I was getting out of breath so easily and struggling to recover compared to the rest of my team mates.
Whenever we need to move, our body needs to balance. This can be made harder if your ankles are unstable.
Summer is my favourite season; I don’t know about you. But I’m embracing the winter, after the last year – the hats, woolly jumpers, and of course my birthday. But I’m not looking forward to the cold - the rain - and the dark mornings.
Your feet are the start of the movement chain in your body. Any issues you are likely to have in your feet, especially your arches collapsing in (over pronating), will in turn lead to other problems elsewhere. For example knees dropping in (valgus position), or hip drops and rotations. If you link this to exercise it will give you problems when you squat.
I have spoken in the past about aiming to run three times a week and then you other sessions can then be based on resistnace work, stretching and active recovery.
We’re half way through the year now and it got me thinking about why I train and exercise and what I’m training for now.
Previously all of my training was building towards races and focusing on different obstacles that would appear on a course.
Any level of runner should be looking to incorporate cross training into their weekly sessions.
With the current government guidelines and only exercising from your front door this might mean the routes your run have changed or the distances your doing have altered to take into account the current climate.
Doing any type of exercise is going to help build your physical fitness. Most people often forget the benefit exercise and training can have on you mentally too.
Exercise and training releases endorphins in your body which stimulate your brain, often know has the happy chemicals, which is why you feel better once you’ve trained.
It might be hard dragging yourself to the gym or going out for a run when the weather isn’t too appealing but you always feel happy and when you’ve finished.
Running helps you mentally in other ways too.
Its' important to perform running drills if you're wanting to become a more efficient runner. By doing them you'll find your improve your running speed.
Running drills help to improve the communication between your brain and your legs, strengthen your muscles and joints, improve your coordination, agility, balance and proprioception.
I always like to praise my clients for the accomplishments they achieve, no matter how big or small they are.
A number of my clients this year have wanted to take on new challenges and for them in meant upping the distances they were running to include marathons and ultra-marathons and events.
I’m sure most of you in the Obstacle Racing scene will have over the last few weeks been hearing non stop about the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships.
If you haven’t and wonder what it is all about, it’s an amazing event where countries from all over the world come together to celebrate and test themselves amongst some of the great OCR athletes out there.
Some of you may have seen my training videos and making the most of training outside and using the boys swing frame in the garden to practise my pull ups and grip strength work.
I’m sure loads of you think this is crazy training in this weather, but for me it marks the start of my next goal.
It's Gemma here From Fundamental Sports and Fitness. In this video, we're just going to go over and cover what running pace is. I know that it can be quite a confusing topic, so it's really thinking about the time it takes you to cover a specific distance, whether that's 5K through to a marathon. Your pace will vary differently depending on what distance you're running. If your 5K pace is going to be a lot quicker, than your marathon pace because of the distance that you're going to be covering.
As many of you know my Auntie and Uncle were running the London Marathon this year for Children with Cancer UK. They had set themselves a mammoth challenge of raising £8k for them, this was smashed on the day the total had already exceeded £11k which is amazing.
They had put in all the training and hard work building up to The London Marathon and sometimes the plan going a little off track as everyday life, work and families often decided to throw a spanner in the works but come to think of it, whose plan ever goes 100% successfully.
This is such an open topic and there are lots of different varients that you need to take into consideration.
A lot of it all settles down to what goals you're wanting to achieve. Whether thats to increase your energy levels as you run, or are you running for weight loss.
This is a great question and one that loads of clients ask.
Its like the holy grail of training, everybody wants to know how long you can Plank for.
Lots of you know the my story of why I became a PT after seriously injuring my back and being told I would never play football again by a consultant.
Fortunately for me, my Physio at the time was amazing and helped me to see a silver lining to it all and we changed the way I trained and found different sports for me to do, gradually building up the strength in by back and whole body.
This is the approach I take with a lot of my clients.
We always have extremes of weather in the UK and coping with running in the heat can be a challenge.
This winter was freezing and for everybody that knows me, will be fully aware I wrap up warm and have a million layers on in the winter.
Compared to the Summer, when its shorts and t shirt weather and being outside for as much as possible.
As a runner it can be your worst nightmare about getting injured, especially if you have a race coming up or it's the only time to get to yourself away from day to day life, so in this blog we're going to chat about 'How to avoid injuries when you're running'.
Your greatest fear might be getting painful knees and pulling a muscle, this can happen as you start increasing your training and the distances that your running.
With the weather finally getting nicer it's heading into busy race season. Clients are racing most weekends now, the weekend just gone saw Cheryl take on her first OCR of the year at Reaper. She's worked hard over the winter in our Blast Programme to make sure her shoulder has recovered and her injuries from last year are well and truly behind her.
The Effects of Sports Massage on Training and Recovery
12 people this weekend came to my SOLD OUT workshop, and left with exercises they could take into their training to get the fitter and stronger. Most of them had come of the back of being injured or were worried they were going to get injured as they increased their training over the next few months as they build up to the bigger distances.
Who has seen the exciting news yesterday, when it was announced that the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships is going to be held in the UK for 2018!
This week I'm going to share with you how to increase your pace when you're running.
Ever felt like you've been hit by a train after a race?
I took part in Mud7 at the weekend, what an amazing event and boy does my body know about it. I eyed up this race last year and had it on my radar as a goal to complete this year.
What’s one of your biggest fears when you’re out running?
This week I'm going to tell you a story, all about whether you perceive yourself as being strong or weak.
Wow its been a scorcher the last few days.
There are many pieces to the puzzle when it comes to running. You think you have it all sussed and making progress, then all of a sudden you’re halted in your tracks and struggling to see any progress.
If you are a runner, you have possibly trained almost all the muscles you need to achieve speed, power, and endurance while running. However, do you know that your butt also plays a very important role in your movement? Yes, it's not only there for aesthetic purposes! Before we talk about the function of the glutes, it is only prudent to know their basic structure.
What Are Shin Splints And How Can You Treat It?
Knee Pain From Running
Interestingly enough, most people who complain about knee injury caused by running are not runners themselves. They usually make it seem that knee injuries are inevitable for runners and that runners are literally running their knees to the ground with every step. However, knee injuries are not inevitable, though they are common and can be easily corrected. Knee pain should not cause you to automatically quit running.
A few weeks a go I put a video out on Facebook. Did you get a chance to watch it?
Here's How To Avoid Cramps When Running And Exercising
If you have seen a runner stop dead in their tracks, taken completely by surprise by a jolt of pain, chances are that the cause is a muscle cramp. A cramp occurs when a muscle suddenly contracts violently and remains balled up in a tight knot that is very painful. The contraction is so strong that you will most likely feel sore at that point the next day. It happens to runners, swimmers, and cyclists mostly and most endurance athletes have experienced a cramp at least once during training.
If you are a runner, you have probably asked yourself what else you could possibly do to enhance your running. Also, if you are stuck in the house and you do not have access to a treadmill, you may be one very unhappy runner. Well, you should supplement running with strengthening and conditioning exercises. These have several benefits such as: