Calling all runners in Winchester!

Just in case you’re reading this and you live in or around Winchester, you might be interested in this.

I’m an endurance running coach at Winchester & District AC (WADAC) and we’re about to make a real effort to attract a broader range of runners to the club. We want to make sure everyone feels they have a place there - whether they’re beginners or if running for 30 mins is their limit.

The great thing about being part of a club is the camaraderie (and WADAC’s very good at camaraderie!).  It’s wonderful having someone to run with around the dark streets in the winter or over the downs on a balmy summer evening. If you enter races it’s lovely to travel there with friends or at least see some friendly faces on the start line. And if you’re wavering about whether to go out for a run at all, knowing that you’ll see your friends there or not wanting to let any of your friends down, is a great motivator. And we all feel better after a run however rubbish we felt before!

We have some amazing runners that help us to win local cross country and road running leagues.  We’ve got national and international team members. But there’s lots of room for ‘normal’ runners who just want some company or new routes to run… and if they eventually decide they’d like to train more seriously or do a 10k or half marathon… or a marathon… they’ll be in the right place for lots of help along the way.

So - if you know anyone who runs a bit and who you suspect might like to run a bit more … tell them to email me.  We’ll make sure they’re looked after.

Tags: club membership, joining a club, running, Winchester & District AC

Cramp - youch

I’m still smarting from another failed attempt at going sub 4 at the Amsterdam marathon last month.

Conditions were perfect.  I was uninjured, had dropped about half a stone, had been strength training at the gym once a week, doing weekly pilates for that essential core strength and had had a great training period hitting all my target paces. Even the weather was even kind… or was it? It was very warm little warm for mid-October but I wasn’t worried because I’d done lots of long, hilly training runs in the the heat of the summer (and there were some hot days this summer!).

The weather might have contributed to my downfall - cramp. I was having a lovely time, bang on target and running well within myself and feeling rather smug that I was sticking to my 9 min mile target pace so metronomically. But at 15 miles I felt cramp threatening at the top of my hamstrings and by 17 miles it was pinging away throughout both calves.

I ignored it but started taking on the supplied energy drink whenever possible because I knew it contained electrolytes… but the drinks stations were only every 5k and it was all in cups which is useless. By 20 miles I couldn’t ignore it and I felt I was running like John Cleese doing the silly walks sketch. At 23 miles I admitted defeat and resigned myself to getting over the finish line anyway I could even if it was at a shuffle.  I did 4.05. It’s not fair.

So what caused it? Don’t know.  Never suffered before. No one seems to be able to offer much insight, although enter ‘cramp’ and ‘marathon’ into Google or a running forum and you’ll get plenty of posts from people who have had their marathons ruined because of the sudden stabbing agony.  Interestingly, three other people from my running club who did the same race also suffered for the first time.

The obvious problem perhaps was that it was a warm day and I wasn’t able to drink as much as usual; and that makes sense. However, my ultra-running doctor friend pointed out that the electrolytes mainly involved in muscle function are calcium and phosphate, whereas we sweat sodium chloride. She also added that many of her patients have significantly disturbed salt levels and they don’t all suffer with cramp.

Another thought is that perhaps I drank too much water the day before and diluted my salt levels. I’m not  a doctor but I can’t think that I drank that much. Also it was a cold day; I wasn’t sweating or eating anything unusual. However, one or two club mates don’t drink any water the day before a long race. Instead they drink some sort of sugar/electrolyte-replacement drink instead just to make sure they’re topped up with water, carbs and salts.

Long distance running is cruel… but that’s why achieving a target time or distance is something to shout about and be proud of. But I’ll add ’salts’ to the growing list of things to get paranoid about in the days before my next long distance event.

On the upside - all that gymming and pilates-ing paid off.  In that last six miles I used my arms and upper body in a big way to keep my legs vaguely pointing in the right direction. So all is not lost; and I’ve learned a bit more about my body in preparation for next year’s Big One - an ironman.

Tags: Add new tag, carbo loading, carbohydrate loading, cramp, electrolytes, marathon, salts

The wonders of ice

Am tiptoeing round my niggly knee at the moment. I’ve officially started my Amsterdam Marathon training programme - but have started it with a dodgy knee which isn’t great.  I’ve put the problem down to stomping round a conference last week for a day… wearing heels.  Not very high heels, but by the end of the day a perfectly good knee was feeling fragile. After a few days’ rest and lots of ice it’s almost fine again. Am back training, but icing religiously several times a day, particularly after training.

I also find dunking my legs in cold water after a hard run or race helps recovery, too. The jury’s still out on whether it actually does any good but after the initial gasp-making shock, I can feel my leg muscles sighing with relief.

One of my clients is an ultra runner who doesn’t believe cold water helps them but confessed that a dunk in the sea refreshed them at the end of a long day in the Namibian desert towards the end of a multi-day stage race.

Try it!  My top tips for a cold bath are to part fill the bath (up to hip level, say) with water mainly from the cold tap.  Wear a hat and clothes on your top half if you’re cold - just roll the clothes up your midriff so they don’t get wet. And don’t let anyone near you with a camera.   Then get in quickly.  It’s hideous for a few seconds then, as long as you sit still it isn’t too bad.  This is the stage at which you can add more cold water… or ice.

But even if there’s no firm evidence around the efficacy of ice baths, there’s plenty that advocates ice on an injury or sore bit.  As well as bags of frozen veg, you could try the paper cup method.  Fill a polystyrene/paper cup with water and freeze it.  Then peel a centimetre or so of cup off the top rim so that you’ve got a layer of ice exposed.  You can then ice away with this, then put it back in the freezer for next time.  Just peel off a bit more cup to reveal more ice as you need it.

Tags: cold bath, ice, injury, training