How Slow Should Your Recovery Runs Be?
Hi and welcome to The Running Channel Monthly Show for August brought to you by
our friends at Wiggle. Here's what's coming up.
Time to take a look at some of the racing that's been going on this month and over
10,000 of you took part in the London Landmarks Half Marathon,
and even more of you tackled the Vitality Big Half too.
There was also a week of running festivities over in France at UTMB
Mont Blanc with mountain ultra running
galore. We're now
looking ahead to September in this month's See You On The Start Line and it
is well and truly the start of autumn marathon season.
So after all the cancellations and postponements because of COVID in 2020,
September is a packed racing schedule with the first of the world marathon
majors of 2021 taking place in Berlin on the 26th of September.
I hope to see some of you there. Tell us in the comments
if you're going to be running or cheering on as a spectator.
There's also the Great Manchester Run and Brighton Marathon later this month.
And if you're running that, be sure to check out my mile by mile video
when I took part in 2019.
Don't forget, if you're looking at training for a marathon, or maybe a 5k, check
out T he Running Channel's website for our free downloadable training plans and
turn your notifications on on our YouTube channel too,
as we've got plenty of training guide videos to help you every step of the way.
On to running news for August and was anyone else glued to their TV
watching the Olympics? What an incredible event it was in Tokyo,
even with no crowds. My highlight has to be the equestrian,
the show jumping.
I didn't know you were into horses, Rick? I'm a
big show jumping fan. Do you know Jess Springsteen?
You know, Bruce's daughter? Yeah, yeah, was also taking part? The boss' daughter?
Her horse was called, what was it? Don Juan van de Donkhoeve.
There you go.
There you go. What about you? Well, I mean, obviously we're The Running Channel,
so it's going to have to be running, but it's a tough call to make.
So either the women's 800 metre finals.
So Team GB had three athletes in that racing for the medals and Kelly Hodgkinson
bought home at the silver,
or maybe staying up to watch the men's marathon in the early hours of Sunday
morning and seeing Eliud Kipchoge breeze home.
So it's probably Eliud Kipchoge for me.
He's just so inspirational. Actually,
have you seen the new Ridley Scott documentary? The Last Milestone? I've heard
it's brilliant. It really is. And it goes into so much detail about his mindset,
the training,
and the incredible science that went into his sub two hour marathon in Vienna.
And I might be a little biased,
but you might even have seen a very brief cameo from yours truly. Really?
Blink and you'll miss it though.
I will keep my eyes peeled. Elsewhere and British ultra runner Reese Jenkins has
set a new record for running from John O'Groats to Land's End.
But if that wasn't enough,
Reese also summited each of the home nation's highest peaks along the way.
So Ben Nevis, Scaffell Pike and Snowden.
The Welshman completed the feat in 23 days, 7 hours and 19 minutes,
more than 7 days quicker than the previous record.
He was running in support of the child abuse support charity,
The Lucy Faithfull foundation, after his wife, Charisse was abused as a child.
An epic achievement for an incredible cause.
Absolutely. And finally, we have a new women's world record at parkrun,
Adelaide-based parkrunner Caitlin Adams broke the parkrun global record at
Lochiel parkrun earlier this month clocking an incredible 15 minutes and
38 seconds.
That's 22 seconds quicker than the previous record holder Charlotte Arter. Way to
go Caitlin. Next
up, The Treadmill Challenge with Zwift. This month,
we have Akesha Smith taking it on. Now, if you saw our video this month
where our presenters took on a load of Running Channel community members in the
new Strava group challenges, you might recognise Akesha.
She's a track athlete in the hurdles. So how will she fare on the treadmill?
Okay. And we are starting in 3, 2, 1, off we go.
Who won the men's marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
Games? I didn't even watch the marathon. Um,
I'll just, you know, I'll just put it up, it's okay. Okay. Question two.
How long in metres is the steeple chase at the Olympics?
Um,
is it 10,000 meters? No, it's 3000 meters.
Oh my god. Put the speed up again.
Next question.
Which artist released the song Run to the Hills in
1982. I wasn't even alive. Okay, we're going up the speed.
Okay.
Roughly how many muscles does it take to take a step to
the nearest hundred muscles?
10?
No, 200. Put your speed up. Oh for the love of God.
How many people were reported to be participating in running in
2013 to the nearest million people?
2 million? No, 19 million. Put the speed up.
Next one. Run the Mile
You're In: Finding God in Every Step was written by which
athlete who retired in 2016?
Yeah, never mind. Put the speed up.
Which artist released the studio album titled Run in
2015. Oh God. These questions are horrible.
We're going up again. Okay. Next question.
In what decade was the first Amsterdam marathon?
I don't even know what to say. Have a guess, have a guess.
Nevermind. Put the speed up. Okay.
How long is the Thames River in marathons to the nearest marathon?
10 marathons? Yeah. Did you say 10? Ah, you were so close, it was 13 marathons
so put the speed up. Next one.
Roughly how many women finished the Boston marathon in
2019 to the nearest thousand?
500? No, 2,000.
Next one: the first
Modern college track meet was held between Oxford and Cambridge in
England in which to year. Oh my God. I have no idea.
Put the speed up. Next one.
Where did the steeplechase originate? I've no clue.
It was Ireland.
Put the speed up. Next one and Olympic female runner Merlene Ottey-Page
of Jamaica has won the most medals at the Olympics compared to any other
female runner. How many medals has she won? 10?
Ah, so close, 9. Put the speed up.
What didn't you ask me about food or about the sprints?
sweet baby Jesus. Oh my God. Not made for this.
Amazing stuff.
Well done Akesha. A time of 3 minutes and 25 seconds puts her in fourth
place. That goes to show, if you're a fast runner,
it doesn't always matter how many questions you get right.
Another one ahead of me. And still we've got loads coming up,
including your chance to win a voucher, to spend at show sponsor, Wiggle.
So don't go anywhere. Now, let's look at the running launches for
August.
First this month, a huge launch from watch brand Coros. The Vertix 2 hit the
market a couple of weeks ago, and it has some big selling points.
It has the largest ever screen on a Coros watch - a 1.4"
touchscreen to be precise.
You can view eight data fields at once and all the maps can be viewed in colour too.
Now the battery life of this bad boy is out of this world. Up to 60
days in a single charge in normal daily use and a staggering 140
hours in standard full GPS mode.
And this is a really nice touch too. The Vertix 2 ships in its own waterproof
hard case. So once the watch is firmly on your wrist,
the case can then be used to keep your phone, keys,
wallet, all safe, nice. Onwards now to On - see what I did there? Yep?
Just love a pun. On launched their brand new shoe
The Cloudstratus is this month.
So it's the second iteration of this model and it has a totally re-engineered
bottom unit to give it the highest level of cushioning amongst all on models.
The shoe is made for road running from 5K up to marathons.
And if you've ever experienced swollen feet on a long or warm run,
or maybe you're like me and have a slightly wider foot,
these shoes cater for that with a wider forefoot for your toes to have a bit
more space. And sticking with On, Rick and
I recently met some of you at the On London lab for some fascinating expert Q
and A sessions with nutritionist Renee McGregor, Olympic performance
psychologist, Charlie Unwin and adventurers the Tempest Two. Now,
if you couldn't make it down to see us there, don't panic.
You can watch all the videos on the Running Channel website and we've popped the
link in the description of this video too.
Sticking with shoes, and it's another launch for HOKA ONE ONE this month.
Their update to the Rincon features an asymmetrical tongue,
thinner pull tab and a vented mesh upper, plus it has an extra light mid
cell and an enhanced rubber coverage for improved your ability. We're yet
to get our hands on these,
but we will report back once we've clocked up some miles in them.
And our final shoe launch for August is the 361 Meraki 4.
Now this is a neutral shoe that claims to be versatile over long distances for
many different running styles and abilities.
If you're a fan of the likes of the New Balance FreshFoam 880v10,
Saucony Ride 13 or the Nike Zoom Pegasus,
then this fits into that kind of bracket.
Our last launch in the spotlight is a brand new running dynamics gadget from
Incus. The incus Nova allows access to detailed running performance metrics that
include running power, cadence and pace. Now,
Anna, you've been trying this one out for a future video.
Yeah, that's right. Now it's a really interesting piece of tech that you can use for
swimming and running.
So it looks a little bit like a computer mouse and then to wear it you've got to
slot it in between your shoulder blades in a little pouch,
that's stitched into the Incus tops,
and then all the data points give you automated feedback to improve your
performance.
So the company is backed by Alistair Brownlee and the lead engineer is a
Loughborough University graduate who has a background working for Dyson. Looking
forward to seeing the results of the testing on that one. Next up, over to Manni
in the Physio Room,
who's taking a look at the importance of core strength for runners,
something that's very close to my heart.
Welcome to the Physio Room with me, Manni Ovola. I'll be answering
some questions from the Running Channel community about the key aspects of
strength and conditioning in relation to running, as well as queries about common
running ailments. If you're struggling with a particular injury,
then you should speak to a medical professional in-person as we cannot diagnose
your individual problems. However,
there are plenty of common injuries that we can talk about and hopefully help you
with. Today's question is about core strength.
How can I work on strengthening my lower abdomen? So core strength.
Core strength is important because it helps support control at your pelvis.
Additionally, it can help with your breathing.
So we should definitely be thinking about doing core strength.
Some of the really good lower abdominal core exercises are the dead
bug,
the long lever leg lift and the hollow hold.
These exercises are great at really trying to get you to engage your pelvis
and squeeze your lower abdominals.
I would advise you to do these exercises to supplement your running rather than
doing them on their own.
Doing these exercises two to three times a week after a session,
as long as you've had a rest after the training session, will be really
important. What that will do is it'll supplement those,
those muscles and increase the contraction of those muscles after the training
