Running at YourRunning.com - Your Running Community

Can you change your max heart rate?

simon — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:56:58 -0600

Seeing as how I'm running faster now than I was in my 30s, there's not much about the allegedly "inevitable" decline in physical performance that I'm inclined to accept.

One thing I do acknowledge is that my maximum heart rate has declined, as I've got older. It';s now around 170 on a good day, compared to 195 or more when I was younger. But all may not be what it seems.

How to measure any road race course

simon — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:18:22 -0600

In a moment of madness I decided that as I was going to be in England on business, I would take the steam train up north to Lancashire and compete in the British Masters 5k championship road race. Everything went fine until I sent off my entry form; then it all unravelled.

Hamstrings on strike: they've decided they need a rest

simon — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:14:11 -0600

OK, so I overdid it; I admit it.

I was tired, too tired, going into Friday's track session. We adjusted the workout accordingly, but then I felt a little warning twinge in my left hamstring. I jogged it out. Then, on my final 400m, I was on pace for 72 seconds when right on 300m I got a much more insistent twinge and stepped off the track.

54 years ago today Roger Bannister runs the first mile under four minutes

foggy — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:35:19 -0600

Did you run a mile for Roger today? Anniversary of the first sub-four-minute mile

simon — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:29:29 -0600

I was barely two years old when Roger Bannister ran the world's first three-minute mile: 3:59.4 on May 6, 1954, but I remember it as if I was there :)

Are you up to standard? Compare your times with the US and UK marks

simon — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:33:12 -0600

So, up to one mile I rock, from 800 on down I am in serious need of rehab.

That's what the All American Standards of Excellence tell me. These are age group standards based on current world records; as far as I can tell, the UK standards are exactly the same.

Hot running with Durango Motorless Transit

simon — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:35:43 -0600

It's hard to get your workouts in on the road. I'm in Durango, almost as far south-west as you can get in Colorado and stay "civilised". That's in quotes because this area still has that frontier, mountain man feel. Abby and I are celebrating our wedding annivesary with a road trip to Mesa Verde, the astounding World Heritage site where the Anastazi Indians built pueblos into ledges on inaccessible sandstone cliffs.

A lot like flying: chasing Colorado Runner points at the Greenland Trail 8-miler

simon — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:41:17 -0600

Who’d have thought that a set of 100-metre repeats would be perfect preparation for a hilly 8-mile trail race?

But that’s the way it turned out. For the first time since cross-country days in England, I found myself flying past people on the downhill stretches of the Greenland Trail race – and there were a lot of them.

Note from coach: run more slowly

simon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:32:12 -0600

No, not quite what you expect to hear, especially at my age chasing a sub-5 mile and super-fast 5k.

What Ric means is I need to make sure my easy runs are...easy. And yes, the pace has been creeping up again. Even on Sunday's run at Magnolia and especially over the last couple of days, I've been finishing them at a brisk pace. I do start slow, but then finish as if they are tempo runs.

The result: feel-good on the trail; dead-ish legs when I get to the track for my quality workouts.

Working out with Sara Hall: story and video on how to run faster

foggy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:54:50 -0600

Great story and video in the New York Times on Sara Hall's traiing.

Article

Video