This blog is becoming as slow as my running. I have been back from the Algarve for a couple of weeks and not yet managed to post anything!
The running camp was such a good thing - the weather, people and activity were perfect. Below are a number of posts that describe some of the things I either learnt or observed. It does of course miss out a lot, like the pleasure of drinking coffee in a café overlooking the beach at the end of a run or the taste of the oranges that look manky on the outside but are wonderfully sweet… But then you can have too much information.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
1 - Barefoot Runing
Imagine you are running on the compacted, wet sand of a beach. To your left the sea sparkles in the sun, to your right there are soft pillows of dry sand leading up to crumbly red sandstone cliffs. In front of you there is nothing else except the beach, sea and sky- the scene goes on for miles. You are running easily, barefoot, sometimes splashing in the water and for the moment feeling like a kid again.
This is what I will take back from the week - the sudden understanding of what felt good. It was most peculiar and almost accidental. On Sunday I had run back along the beach for the first time - it was quite pleasant but nothing special but I was running in my trainers. On Monday I started to do the same thing again. Halfway along, seeing others running barefoot I decided to do the same and suddenly everything felt better. My posture improved and I felt more upright, my stride shortened and my cadence increased. Before I had been heavy legged but that disappeared and the pain in my shins, that had been plaguing me, diminished.
It changed my week. I knew I didn't have the fitness to do two sessions a day and I had been wondering what to cut, the morning run or the afternoon training session. It was now clear that the most important thing was to run barefoot on the sand, in the morning
This is what I will take back from the week - the sudden understanding of what felt good. It was most peculiar and almost accidental. On Sunday I had run back along the beach for the first time - it was quite pleasant but nothing special but I was running in my trainers. On Monday I started to do the same thing again. Halfway along, seeing others running barefoot I decided to do the same and suddenly everything felt better. My posture improved and I felt more upright, my stride shortened and my cadence increased. Before I had been heavy legged but that disappeared and the pain in my shins, that had been plaguing me, diminished.
It changed my week. I knew I didn't have the fitness to do two sessions a day and I had been wondering what to cut, the morning run or the afternoon training session. It was now clear that the most important thing was to run barefoot on the sand, in the morning
2 - The People
The great thing about the camp was the people. The whole atmosphere was friendly and positive.
All of the staff were incredibly open and helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
Mike Gratton himself, is warm and generous (as can be deduced from the way he helps people on the RW forum). Sue, the sports masseur said to me that he was immensely and that no one had a bad word to say about him because there was nothing bad to be said. Just by looking at the laughter lines around his eyes you knew that this was the case.
Bruce Tulloh reminded me of a benign colonial administrator from some early British movie - rather shy and diffident in speech but with an underlying strength and great moral fibre. He was someone you recognise as having a quiet virtue and is a great advert for the benefits of running. He was injured this week and it was the first time since 1955 that he had not run for over a week. I think he was born to be a runner. He has a slight build, mostly legs with his trunk being a small proportion of his height. (me I'm the complete opposite).
All of the people were great enthusiasts but Joe Beer gave the impression of being completely wrapped up in his subject. I had a really interesting conversation with him, where he had his laptop open used it to bringing up papers that supported points he was making - just like they were always on his mind.
Sue Wainwright did a great job of massaging my aching limbs but I think the conversation during the sessions was just as valuable.
There was an interesting mix of people who attended for example:
Bedders (of the RW forum) was one of the most positive people I have ever met. Bubbling with enthusiasm, so happy to be out and running all the time and just wanting to share it with everyone. Someone asked him if he had any races planned and then had to sit back and wait as an enormous list was reeled off. If you want to know something of the joy of running you only have to spend a short time in his company.
Two people worked in rural development, one in Malawi another in China. It was thought to provoking to be told about the problem of trying to develop sugar growing in Malawi, where there are enough men to cut the cane at the moment but not in the future because of AIDS.
Joyce Malley is a world champion masters Judo champion and the coach of the GB team and had that inner strength of someone who knows and enjoys what they do. We often chatted when running because we seemed to be about the same speed.
Triathletes - these people are really insane going for huge long cycle rides up hillsides and then going for runs. They have so much gusto.
Positive enthusiasm was everywhere.
All of the staff were incredibly open and helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
Mike Gratton himself, is warm and generous (as can be deduced from the way he helps people on the RW forum). Sue, the sports masseur said to me that he was immensely and that no one had a bad word to say about him because there was nothing bad to be said. Just by looking at the laughter lines around his eyes you knew that this was the case.
Bruce Tulloh reminded me of a benign colonial administrator from some early British movie - rather shy and diffident in speech but with an underlying strength and great moral fibre. He was someone you recognise as having a quiet virtue and is a great advert for the benefits of running. He was injured this week and it was the first time since 1955 that he had not run for over a week. I think he was born to be a runner. He has a slight build, mostly legs with his trunk being a small proportion of his height. (me I'm the complete opposite).
All of the people were great enthusiasts but Joe Beer gave the impression of being completely wrapped up in his subject. I had a really interesting conversation with him, where he had his laptop open used it to bringing up papers that supported points he was making - just like they were always on his mind.
Sue Wainwright did a great job of massaging my aching limbs but I think the conversation during the sessions was just as valuable.
There was an interesting mix of people who attended for example:
Bedders (of the RW forum) was one of the most positive people I have ever met. Bubbling with enthusiasm, so happy to be out and running all the time and just wanting to share it with everyone. Someone asked him if he had any races planned and then had to sit back and wait as an enormous list was reeled off. If you want to know something of the joy of running you only have to spend a short time in his company.
Two people worked in rural development, one in Malawi another in China. It was thought to provoking to be told about the problem of trying to develop sugar growing in Malawi, where there are enough men to cut the cane at the moment but not in the future because of AIDS.
Joyce Malley is a world champion masters Judo champion and the coach of the GB team and had that inner strength of someone who knows and enjoys what they do. We often chatted when running because we seemed to be about the same speed.
Triathletes - these people are really insane going for huge long cycle rides up hillsides and then going for runs. They have so much gusto.
Positive enthusiasm was everywhere.
3 - Easy Pace and Tempo
One of the key messages from Keith Anderson was the value of tempo runs. He said that intervals and other speed work was all very well but it did not build up speed endurance in the way of tempo runs. At his prime he was running for 60 minutes at his lactate threshold and put his success down to these sessions.
The soft-core runner in me was internally saying yes but no but yes. That sounds hard.
Afterwards I was talking with Joe Beer and he was saying that you actually don't need to do too many hard sessions. Research with successful athletes showed that they did a surprisingly high proportion of their mileage at an easy pace. If you think of an 80:20 distribution and you do 30 miles a week then you should only by doing 6 miles hard (and even that was not strictly necessary - certainly not at my standard).
So yes threshold work will do me good but it is probably more important to get in a good base.
The soft-core runner in me was internally saying yes but no but yes. That sounds hard.
Afterwards I was talking with Joe Beer and he was saying that you actually don't need to do too many hard sessions. Research with successful athletes showed that they did a surprisingly high proportion of their mileage at an easy pace. If you think of an 80:20 distribution and you do 30 miles a week then you should only by doing 6 miles hard (and even that was not strictly necessary - certainly not at my standard).
So yes threshold work will do me good but it is probably more important to get in a good base.
4 - Nutrition
Probably the part of Joe Beer's talk that caused most interest was the idea that it was better not to eat before morning runs, well any run up to an hour, because it helped train the body to use fat as a fuel. As an example professional cyclists tend to train fasted, using just water, for up to two hours.
There was a certain amount of resistance to this from some people I was talking to as they said they felt cranky if the did not eat first thing. One girl was completely adamant and we could not persuade her to try it even once as a trial. That is fine because we all know what works for our own bodies and should stick with it. I know I like to run before eating and do it on all of my holidays where, because you have time to enjoy and feel you have earned it, the delayed breakfast is even more enjoyable. However I had no idea I was doing it for any good scientific reason!
I think that the point of fasted running was made to balance all the attention paid to refuelling and how we can get carried away with different sports products. He was for example sceptical about recovery drinks, saying we were much better off with real food. However he was very insistent about the need for gels during long races and made the point that a bad race might just as easily have been the result of bad fuelling as inadequate training.
The key point was however trying everything several times so that everything we did was habitual. He made the point that training is mostly regular and you don't do new things just before a race but with nutrition there is a temptation to change the normal pattern. Don't - stick with the food you like and get used to your gels at ever 30-40 minutes.
It is however one of the great paradoxes - we should be trying to combine running with a good healthy lifestyle by eating healthy wholesome foods, yet we are encouraged to consume quantities of these expensive chemical concoctions during racing and training. Ho hum.
There was a certain amount of resistance to this from some people I was talking to as they said they felt cranky if the did not eat first thing. One girl was completely adamant and we could not persuade her to try it even once as a trial. That is fine because we all know what works for our own bodies and should stick with it. I know I like to run before eating and do it on all of my holidays where, because you have time to enjoy and feel you have earned it, the delayed breakfast is even more enjoyable. However I had no idea I was doing it for any good scientific reason!
I think that the point of fasted running was made to balance all the attention paid to refuelling and how we can get carried away with different sports products. He was for example sceptical about recovery drinks, saying we were much better off with real food. However he was very insistent about the need for gels during long races and made the point that a bad race might just as easily have been the result of bad fuelling as inadequate training.
The key point was however trying everything several times so that everything we did was habitual. He made the point that training is mostly regular and you don't do new things just before a race but with nutrition there is a temptation to change the normal pattern. Don't - stick with the food you like and get used to your gels at ever 30-40 minutes.
It is however one of the great paradoxes - we should be trying to combine running with a good healthy lifestyle by eating healthy wholesome foods, yet we are encouraged to consume quantities of these expensive chemical concoctions during racing and training. Ho hum.
5 - The Long Run is a Medium Session
That was what Mike Gratton said - you ought to do the run at an easy pace so that it does not feel like one of your hard sessions.
Hmmm I think the reaction of my body on a Sunday shows how far short I am of proper conditioning.
Hmmm I think the reaction of my body on a Sunday shows how far short I am of proper conditioning.
6 - The Trouble with Housework
The accommodation was quite austere. I had no problem with that, in fact I quite enjoyed the feeling of living like a monk.
I got into a simple domestic routine of keeping my few possessions in order, washing running kit, preparing simple meals mainly of bread, cheese and olives (and eating out at night). There was a pleasure in doing these small tasks. Because there was not much to do it was easy and I enjoyed the simplicity.
It gave me an insight about the pressure of housework at home and why it is a chore - there is just too much of it. No matter what you do there is always a lot more that could be done. Partly this is because of the amount of stuff we have (or have accumulated over the years). You not only own possessions they own you and need your attention in different ways.
It just reinforced the importance of this years resolution to get rid of unnecessary stuff.
I got into a simple domestic routine of keeping my few possessions in order, washing running kit, preparing simple meals mainly of bread, cheese and olives (and eating out at night). There was a pleasure in doing these small tasks. Because there was not much to do it was easy and I enjoyed the simplicity.
It gave me an insight about the pressure of housework at home and why it is a chore - there is just too much of it. No matter what you do there is always a lot more that could be done. Partly this is because of the amount of stuff we have (or have accumulated over the years). You not only own possessions they own you and need your attention in different ways.
It just reinforced the importance of this years resolution to get rid of unnecessary stuff.
7 - People Just Keep Coming Back
These camps have been run for 25 years. Norman is in his 70's and has been there from the beginning. So far he has been to 17 camps others also keep coming back. It says a lot about the week.
8 - Winter Breaks
I don't like the dullness of winter - going to work in the dark, coming back in the dark and the continued grey coldness is depressing. There is nothing like a burst of sunshine to raise the spirits. However it is a mighty shock when you come back and find it is still cold.
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