Running

[Gareth O Connor]

@Kit_L Are injuries inevitable as a runner?

[Kit_L]

No.

[Gareth O Connor]

I started with the bodyline exercises a couple of days ago stretching the fingers conditioning the elbows.I can't do an l-sit how do you work up to being able to do the exercise

[Kit_L]

Search YouTube for GMB tutorials on this. Ryan Hurst is a friend of ST, too.

[Nathan]

L-Sit Hold Progression: 6 Steps to Rock Solid Core Stability

Scroll down toward the bottom for the videos.

[Matt Chung]

> L-Sit Hold Progression: 6 Steps to Rock Solid Core Stability

@Nathan that article is gold (along with links to other parts of his blog). I really like how he breaks down the progressions and also provide ways for one to self-assess what additional supplemental exercises they may need.

[Nathan]

Yeah, GMB material is always solid

[Gareth O Connor]

Kit you've wrote that you were a middle-distance runner what philosophy influenced the winter training plan of running 100 miles?I think I should have named this thread running for that is where my libido (psychic energy) mainly goes

[Kit_L]

Initially I was a road runner, and I ran with a club called the Harboard Diggers. They are still around. Then I joined a coach, Jack Cross, who trained under Percy Cerutty he was quite a character and he trained a number of very famous athletes in his time, and Jack was his senior student. Jack and Percy were still in contact with each other when I was training under his guidance.

And Percy was really the inventor of the 'long slow distance' approach to training (along with a very famous New Zealand coach called Arthur Lydiard) and you can read all about both of them on those links. Jack used to use the '100 miles/week' goal for his runners, and only in winter, so for that three months. Jack's approach was not to be concerned about how long it took for us to do the long runs that comprised the week's training – it was about being able to support yourself on your legs for the huge amount of time that running 100 miles actually takes – and if you don't injure yourself, it is extremely good conditioning for tendons and ligaments. I was not a massive fan because my perspective was that until you got super fit, your speed across the ground was relatively slow, and poor form was the end result. Jack's reasoning was that your performance over any longer distance will improve if your basic aerobic capacity improves, and the speed comes from doing track work.

Track work was done at Sydney University using their gorgeous facilities, and I was also training with weights in the HK Ward gymnasium which is adjacent to that running track. That training comprised of classic interval training (including fartlek) in all the different ways that plays out, and I was extremely fit in those days. My resting pulse rate was 42, although that's not exceptional among elite athletes these days. The interval work would be done on Wednesday evenings weekly.

I am pretty sure that you can change the name of a thread if you started it – and if you want to call it running, that's fine. If you find the fact you cannot change it yourself, tell me what you wanna call the thread and I will change it for you, or Nathan will.

[Gareth O Connor]

I'd like to change the thread to running please

 

[Gareth O Connor]

Lydiard was a milkman who was influenced by Arthur Newton,he experimented tirelessly running from 300 to 30 miles to see what would fit he settled on 100.Your perspective on long slow distance would be in line with Peter Coe 

We're you Olympic lifting then?.Interval training was created by a German Woldemar Gerschler and Fartlek (speed play) by the Swedes.Interval training built Roger Bannister

 

[Gareth O Connor]

Could you offer me counsel regarding running as I go along?

[Kit_L]

No, sorry—that is simply not possible without watching how you move, in person. When I was working with some Olympic-standard runners, the first thing I would do would be to go out onto an oval with them, and have them run towards me, away from me and across in front of me, and I would watch their movement through binoculars. This is the only way to get a sense of where the body is at ease and where it is not at ease. Any place not at ease is a potential injury in the future.

If you are interested in perfecting your running, I would start looking around for a good coach – but one who is focused on efficiency in movement, rather than performance – this is a massive difference from how most coaches work. With efficiency, performance will come, in time. Plato is said to have said, "Efficient movement is a pleasure to the eye." I believe this is completely accurate. Analysis of running must begin with the global movement of the human when engaged in that activity, then move to analysis of the feet and from there up the body.

[Gareth O Connor]

I agree that "efficient movement is pleasing to the eye".Running should be seen as an art,and the runner is an artist. Franz Stampl Roger Bannister's coach

Arthur Lydiard sent Peter Snell to a sprint coach to smoothen out his technique as he had a tendency to plough the ground

I think you wrote in an earlier post that fast running improves running technique.In training I always finish with a sprint finish,I'm sometimes told it is a bad habit however I think there's a thrill in running fast it is exhilarating 

 

[Gareth O Connor]

The inside of my knee feels sore,I think it might be runners knee,patellofemoral syndrome.How to solve it @Kit_L?

[Kit_L]

@Gareth O Connor: it is not possible to diagnose this kind of thing over the Internet. Sorry, on this matter I cannot be of assistance to you.

You could search here on the term anti-pronation, and read that whole thread. If your ankles pronate under load, then medial knee pain is a very likely outcome. Start there.

[Kit_L]

On 6/1/2025 at 8:37 AM, Gareth O Connor said:

I'm sometimes told it is a bad habit however I think there's a thrill in running fast it is exhilarating 

How can this be a bad habit? And if you are interested in racing, you will have to finish every race exactly the same way and so we have to prepare the Body task as long as you walk around for a few minutes after that final sprint, I see no problem with that technique at all.

[Gareth O Connor]

Did some repetitions of the anti-pronation exercise today...felt it in the calf.Quad wall hip flexor stretch plus seated piriformis were done.Threw in some glute bridges as I read weak glutes can lead to knee pain

[Gareth O Connor]

Is the walking around for a few minutes after the final sprint done to flush the hydrogen ions from the body and to recover from acidosis and oxygen debt?

[Kit_L]

It is to let the body return to its normal steady state after a maximal effort. This is a matter of feeling more than the technical possible reasons you mention. It is one of the many versions of being nice to yourself.

[Gareth O Connor]

We forget to include ourselves when it comes to loving-kindness 

[Gareth O Connor]

Quad-wall hip flexor stretch,bent leg hamstring stretch,floor piriformis stretch (felt an uncomfortable sensation in the knee afterwards)

[Kit_L]

@Gareth O Connor: go easy on the floor piriform stretch, because it does necessitate a strong rotational torque in the knee in order to stretch piriformis. Just go easy on this for a while.

[Gareth O Connor]

Easy as in gentle contractions?

[Kit_L]

On 6/7/2025 at 10:38 AM, Gareth O Connor said:

piriformis stretch (felt an uncomfortable sensation in the knee afterwards

That tells you you went too hard, in some way—it's up to you to decide whether you pushed the stretching part too far or whether the contractions were too strong. In any case go easier next time! Only you can calibrate the variables.