(upbeat music)
- Hello, and welcome back to Ask GTN, and today we are
tackling all the feedback, questions and things you've
asked us about running-related topics.
- Yep. We love getting your questions in,
and today we're going to tackle some of those.
Got this one here from Moses_3012, and they said,
"How do you get better from Patellar Tendon Pain,
otherwise known as Runner's Knee?" and this is
a really good question because when we're running,
we are weight bearings with pain, a lot of impact
through some of our joints and our muscles.
And Patellar Tendonitis is quite a common one,
which is essentially that tendon coming off
the bottom of our knee.
I've had it ever so slightly before,
and it is really uncomfortable, so I'd hate to know
what it's like when it's that full blown sort of pain
and inflammation.
- No, it's a sore one for sure, and I suppose that leads us
on to what do you do if you find yourself in that
unfortunate position, and definitely you need to back off.
That's got to be the first protocol.
And then we also need to, not just specific to this injury,
you don't really want any injuries, specifically
lower limb ones, you could take the whole R.I.C.E. attitude.
- What is R.I.C.E.?
- Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
- Took you back to school, that one.
- Yeah, was good, yeah.
- Very good. (laughs) So, also, once we've done that and
got the inflammation down or the injury's starting
to improve, we then want to tackle the cause of that.
So that might be tightness in the muscles,
so I would normally recommend avoiding the actual area
or the site of the injury, and loosening the muscles off
around that point.
The other point to tackle is maybe if it was due to a
weakness or maybe muscles not activating,
so a lot of these injuries are down to sort of the
chain not working right or technique being poor.
So we want to address that so maybe getting stronger in
areas and also making sure muscles are activating and
moving in the right fashion.
- Our next question coming in from Mohdyateem who is saying,
"I would like to ask about my 3K, 5, 10K and half marathon
paces specific for a triathlon as opposed to running race.
Should I take heart rate into consideration as well?"
- Yeah, well, this may depend a little bit on your
previous experience and whether you've
done many races before.
So if you actually have some running PBs or even some
times from triathlons before then, you can actually
sort of use those numbers to predict a time.
If you haven't got those, and actually I'd say
this is a pretty good thing to do for most people
particularly going into the winter time of the year,
is actually to do a Lactate Threshold Run Test.
Now, it sounds scary, and it is actually quite hard, yeah.
It's 30 minutes flat out running, and it's really important
you don't go all out from the start.
You want to really make sure it's a consistent effort
across the 30 minutes.
If you go too hard the first few minutes, you ruin the test.
But what you want to do is record your average heart rate
and your average pace throughout the whole 30 minutes,
and that is essentially your Lactate Threshold.
Because if you make sure that you do that on your own
rather than with others, that translates quite well to a
60 minute effort in a race scenario.
- And then I guess from that we can work shorter, longer and
do the 3, 5K, 10K and then obviously up to the half mile.
- Exactly. Exactly. So, if you take those averages,
your threshold and ping them into apps like
Training Piece, they'll then calculate your Zones.
And if you then take those zones, you can then work out
the paces that you should maybe be running in
for an Ironman, which we would normally recommend
somewhere in Zone 2 region, perhaps even low end Zone 2.
For a half Ironman, we normally say within Zone 3,
but that does depend a little bit on what time you're after.
- Yeah, and then I guess once we get you into sort of
Olympic and then sprint zones, or distances rather,
the zones we're thinking about are certainly 4 for Olympic,
creeping into 5, and I'd say sprint you arguably
would say also in 5 possibly.
- Definitely a very hard effort.
- Yeah, it depends on the level you're at.
- You might still be Zone 4 for that, so, yeah.
Good question on that.
Next one from Asdederichs, and they said,
"How do I get rid of my shin splint quickly?"
- Yeah and I guess that takes us a little bit back
to talking about Patellar issues beforehand.
You know, shin splints are an umbrella term for pain
outside and inside of our shins, outside of
our calves as well.
Again, something thankfully, touch wood,
I haven't ever experienced.
- I actually have. - Really?
- It's my only running injury that I've ever had
when I very first started triathlon.
Just never done any running before.
- Simple as that.
- Wearing the wrong shoes, I started to get shin splints,
and it is horrible, it hurts all day, and yeah.
I was worried it was more than just a shin splint.
But anyway, my actual way of tackling it was to
take time off running, as we said for the first question,
ice it a lot, also massage it.
Cause you get all these lumps on the front of your shin,
but not too much because it can hurt quite a bit
after time.
And then I actually got orthotics for my shoes.
- Yeah.
- Not everyone suggests that.
Actually, I probably, all I need to do is get better shoes,
so I was running in race flats all the time.
I knew no different, which is ridiculous
to think about that.
- But it is a really good point, and that can span
all leg injuries that we might have as you really need
to think about the type of shoes you're wearing
relative to how your foot works.
- Yep. And then, also, when you do come back
into the running, you then want to really make sure
that you do it gradually, and actually,
might be aqua jogging, is a good solution, so.
- Of course, training in general that takes the weight
off of our limbs.
- Yeah, as we mentioned before, you're running, is that
impact, it's a body weight exercise, so you can do
cross training in the gym, aqua jogging where you put
a belt round in the swimming pool and sort of take
the weight off it, so you're still going through
the same movement technique so that's a
really good, really good way to do it.
- And when you are at a point where you're pain free
and you're able to start loading back up with actual running
out in the road or, you know, on trails,
definitely think about like, a 10 percent increment per week
off of your total amount of training volume you're doing.
Just really stick to that, don't get carried away.
"Oh I feel great. I'll just go straight back up to
pre-injury," you know.
Just take it nice and steady and hopefully that'll be them
gone forever.
- Yeah. Well our next one from Joey C and they said,
"What foot strengthening and stability exercises
are recommended?"
Now I used to do loads of these, and we were actually
only chatting about it the other day because --
- Yeah you told me a really good story.
- Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a great story, but, I used to do
loads of foot strengthening, and I only more lately realised
how valuable it was because I'm not doing any anymore,
and I really feel it when I'm running.
And one I used to do, one of my favourites was actually
toe scrunches.
Now, for this, we used to do it in a sand pit
at an athletics track, but you could quiet easily do this
on a really soft carpet, or put a towel down.
And the idea is, you take your shoes off, your socks off,
and you're using your toes and scrunching through the sand
or on the towel, and you're trying to
move yourself forwards.
Now it's really important you don't bend from your knees
when you're trying to move yourself forward on each step.
You're literally trying to use your toes.
And what that does is it is strengthening through your foot,
and I felt like, for me, coming from a swimming background,
it really strengthened up my feet.
Another thing to do is using a TheraBand.
Now, I've explained a few exercises on this before
which you can see right here.
- [Mark] Okay, place the band around the outside
of your foot, then rotate your foot from the ankle pulling
against the band.
You should feel it down the outside of your ankle
and the lower leg.
Then place the band around the inside of your foot.
Again, rotate your foot from the ankle,
but this time, inwards.
You should feel it down the inside of your ankle
and the inside of your leg.
Obviously, you can attach the other end of the band
around something sturdy, or you can attach it
round your other foot.
On to this next one from Joe Appleny, and they've asked,
"How do I implement a good run/walk strategy for both full
and half Ironman distance races, and what are
some good splits to have to play with before
my full Ironman?"
- In terms of how much running and walking
we're meant to do, yeah. - Yeah, so they suggested,
"what, should I do a nine minute run to a one minute walk?"
- Sure, yeah, I mean I suppose the idea of a
run/walk strategy is, it is that, it is a strategy,
a plan of attack, that you've decided you're gonna have
before you start the race you're doing,
no matter what distance it is,
be it a 5K or a 10K, or, you know,
up to a full marathon. - [Mark] Can I ask?
Have you ever done?
- No I haven't but it kinda fascinates me
because it's so counter intuitive.
- Or have you done one maybe not intentionally?
- Yeah, well, that's a good point.
(laughing)
- Well that actually leads us on because that's a really
interesting part to it because you probably started
that race thinking "Yeah, I'm great," and then it kicked in
that fatigue later on, and you're left having to walk for
a few K or so.
And could you maybe have implemented that earlier on
as they're suggesting.
- And I think that's what is the real key take-home message
with a run/walk strategy is that it's predetermined.
This is what you're gonna do, you're confident with that,
and the walking isn't a defeated, "I'm gonna have to walk
because I can't run anymore," it's more a purposeful,
you know, quick walk with a brisk pace because you know
that you're doing that as an overall goal to
get to the finish line quicker.
- If you think about when you're out training
and doing a run session, you always look forward to
that marker to sort of relax, and use that as the walk
during this.
And say it was a nine minute run and then one minute walk,
it's a mental break, time for you to relax,
compose yourself, maybe allow your heart rate to drop,
and then start again, off you go.
And you could use aid stations.
Now I remember Jan Frodeno actually saying
when he first started doing Ironman racing,
he would always walk the aid stations, which sounded
crazy to loads of us, but he was knocking it
out of the park still, and he just implemented that
from the start, he had that strategy in place,
and he would walk through the aid stations.
- And specifically, in aid stations in triathlons,
that's our go-to place to get our fuel.
So it makes total sense to walk through that aid station
to make sure you get the fuel you need.
- [Mark] So how far would you recommend for a half Ironman
and an Ironman in terms of that run/walk?
- Yeah, I mean -- it's actually -- I think that example
that we started with from Joe is actually
quite a nice ratio.
Nine or 10 minutes to 45, or nine or 10 minutes
of running, with then 45 to 60 seconds
of purposeful walking. - Okay.
- You think about an aid station, you know, 60 seconds
of walking is quite a good amount of time.
It's gonna have to be a pretty long aid station
for you not to have enough time with 60 seconds.
I think that's quite a good ratio to stick to.
- Yeah. Well fantastic question.
Now on to the next one, and this is from Ali Yadzi
and they said, "What is the best running cadence
for long distance?" and there's also another question
following up from -- this is from Tristan Maubec,
and they've asked, "For your long, slow runs, do you stick
to a fast cadence? I often naturally keep my cadence
very high, even on a long slow run, but this automatically
makes it harder to get a good slow pace."
And that is a good question actually cause I can really
sympathise with that.
As I tried to increase my run cadence I often found
that I was just trying to run faster.
- Which doesn't necessarily help if you've got a really
long run to go.
(laughs) - No.
But actually, what you're really aiming for
is a quick foot contact time rather than trying to
just increase your leg turnover cause that is
gonna make you run faster.
You want to just be quicker on the ground.
So, yeah, that just takes a little bit of practise,
I'm afraid to say.
- And we have, sort of, heard a magical 180 or 90
for one foot and the other foot talked about,
and I would say when I'm running, probably I aspire to that,
but don't I actually often ever hit that.
- I think for a long steady run, I'm probably around
the 165/67 mark.
What do you reckon for yourself?
- Maybe a little bit higher, but certain not closer to --
no more than 175.
- This study on the 180 steps per minute's coming from
elite runners during a marathon race.
I probably have a higher cadence during a race.
During a long stead run, no way, so don't aspire to the 180.
It's a great number to think of, but don't worry
if you're not at that.
Next question is from Amarcello73.
- And he's asking "transitions from bike to running:
do you have any tips on how to avoid or reduce the pain
in the backs of the legs? I only start to run at
my usual pace after a K or so, and this kilometre
is excruciating."
- Yeah, well it's not uncommon to feel a little bit
uncomfortable in that first kilometre.
- I mean, there's all sorts of uncomfortablenesses.
There's the whole jelly-leg feeling that we get when
we jump off the bike and have to start running
and that's no fun.
- But I'd say that excruciating pain in your hamstring
is not so common and actually maybe there is something more
going on here.
And that could be a couple of things.
It could be sort of a weakness or something
in that hamstring, or also the position on the bike.
Now I've experienced this, a similar sort of pain
in my hamstring before, and it's been down to
both of these, and what I've done is a little bit of
strength work on the hamstring.
It tends to be when I've come back after a break.
I don't know if you've experienced anything before.
- Not so much hamstring pain but definitely, like,
think about where the hamstring inserts up into the glute
in our backside.
That's definitely an issue I've had before and,
like you say, it can be so debilitating.
I've definitely found myself on the bike unable to peddle
effectively, and like you're saying, for me that was
position orientated, that was a new bike,
and although I thought I had it as it was
on a previous bike, it just wasn't quite right.
So once that was rectified and I kinda got to the bottom
of that underlying issue, it thankfully was okay.
- Yeah and it tends to actually be when people
slam the saddle right forward, and it just tends to recruit
the hamstring that little bit more.
Although I'm not suggesting you go and rip your
bike position apart and change anything drastically,
do make sure that you head into a bike shop,
get this done professionally, and get some advice on that.
Okay, our next on from Taras Stanko, and they said,
"How slow is really slow? 65 to 75 percent
of max heart rate, question mark."
- Yeah, I'd say sort of 60 to 70 percent of max heart rate,
that would be... - Yeah, I'd say
that is super, super slow.
That's very nice and easy, but then --
- And then upping it up to maybe sort of 75 percent for
- Yeah. - general running?
- I'd say so, so spot on there.
- Next one from Robert Gundry, and they've asked,
"How much slower can I expect my run split to be during
a 70.3 distance race?
I run a 13.1 half in 1:37.
- Two points, I guess, is how good a runner are you
and how much biking are you doing to cope with the run
in the race that you're doing?
In this case it's 70.3 so, you know, you could be
a really good runner and have your run time you've done
in a standalone marathon and that's great, and in this case,
we're talking about a 1:37 which is a good time.
But if you've got no biking experience behind you to cope
with then running off the bike in a half marathon,
which is a long way in a 70.3, all of a sudden
things could be totally different.
- That is a really good point.
I actually had a friend of mine who amazingly has run
a sub-four-minute-mile which is a massive achievement,
and you'd think he blitzed us on the run.
We came off the bike and absolutely crushed him.
- Really? - Yeah.
Which is amazing. Just shows that he wasn't used to that
running off the bike.
So, yeah, that's a very good point, making sure...
- So, I suppose, to answer, let's say you are a really good,
strong biker, you're comfortable with how much you're doing
in training, you're coping with it, you might manage
to be running quite comfortably under, say, 145.
Even as quick as maybe 142/143, so only really a five minute
differential, but, if there isn't that biking behind it
to back it up, then we could be talking 10 to 15
minutes slower.
So that's sort of something worth thinking about, I guess.
As always, we've really enjoyed receiving all your
questions and feedback, so please keep them coming
in the comments below for us to keep answering.
If you've enjoyed the video, please give us the thumbs up.
Do remember to click on the globe to subscribe and get
all our other videos, and if you want to see one about
seven resistant band exercises, click here.
- Yeah, and if you'd like to see how to pace an Ironman,
which we discussed a little bit earlier on, then you
can just click up there.