By admin on February 8, 2012
The recent snow and ice presented the perfect opportunity to try out the Pogu ice spikes I’ve had languishing in a cupboard for a couple of months. They fit over your shoes, with a flexible rubber harness over the top and mean-looking metal spikes under the forefoot and heel. A velcro strap fastens them into place.
My first observation on putting them on was that they felt pretty heavy and cumbersome. My digital scales clock them at 234g each, and the fairly deep snow I was running through initially didn’t really give much of a chance to put their grip to the test (when it’s that deep, your feet simply sink, not slide). I could really feel the weight of them when lifting my feet and I’d pretty much decided they weren’t all that good.
BUT! When I made it across the fields to the country lanes beyond, I found the tarmac was sheathed in ice. I stepped gingerly on to the glossy surface (I’d normally have turned back) and wiggled my shoe – it clung firmly to the ice. I took another step – same thing. Over a mile and a half of hard packed snow and ice, I didn’t lose my footing once. Impressive. Once I hit the snow and ice-free roads, I became aware once again of the weight of the ice spikes and of the metallic thud of each landing. They aren’t comfortable to wear on a clear surface – and of course, that isn’t what they are designed for - but that does make them somewhat inconvenient when the terrain is varied – some icy, some not, some grassy, some tarmac.
In summary, they do what they are meant to do – grip the ice – superbly. But the downside is their weight and limited comfort. 
£50 RRP. www.pogu.co.uk
Posted in News | Tagged latest updates, pogu ice spikes, running, Sam Murphy, winter training
By admin on February 8, 2012
I spoke to dozens of budding marathoners over the weekend at the Virgin London Marathon Meet the Experts weekend – and many of them were carrying niggles, or worse. The question came up time and time again… ‘am I OK to run on this?’ (usually after they’d just explained that they’d done 14 miles on it the day before even though it was really painful…)
It’s a difficult question to answer, because only you can truly know how bad the niggle feels. But asking yourself these three questions can help you come to the right decision…
- Is your running technique compromised or affected by the niggle? (In other words, are you running a bit ‘funny’ to protect the sore area?
- Does the niggle seem to be exacerbated by running, either during or afterwards?
- Has the pain/niggle lingered even after taking a few days rest or trying anti-inflammatory measures such as ice or anti-inflammatory painkillers?
If the answer to any or all of these is yes, then I recommend that you don’t run on it. Try to find a form of cross-training that doesn’t hurt, be proactive about reducing inflammation and keeping the area gently mobile through gentle stretching/movement and consider seeing a sports physio, osteopath or therapist for treatment, and to shed light on the cause. There really is no sense in running through injuries – you are likely to end up out of the game a lot longer than if you take action straight away to resolve the problem.
Posted in News | Tagged injury, injury prevention, latest updates, marathon, rest, running, Sam Murphy, VLM
By admin on February 2, 2012
Sports massage has always been part of my injury prevention and recovery strategy – and now a new study, from McMaster University in Canada, suggests that the benefits aren’t just psychological.
In the study, cyclists rode to exhaustion and then had one leg massaged while the other was left alone. Biopsies were taken from the quadriceps muscles in both legs prior to cycling, immediately after the massage and 2.5 hours later. When the samples were analysed, there was less inflammation in the massaged leg as well as greater biogenesis of mitochondria (the energy-producing units in muscle cells), suggesting better recovery from and adaptation to vigorous exercise.
Posted in News | Tagged injury prevention, latest updates, recovery, sports massage
By admin on February 1, 2012
Rate of perceived exertion – or RPE – is a way of assessing how hard you are working without monitoring physiological variables, like heart rate, or external variables like speed or pace. It simply reflects how hard you feel you are working. Research has already shown that RPE is remarkably effective – it was a study from the University of Exeter that found people’s perception of effort during exercise was closely matched by their actual effort, measured in the laboratory.
But I came across an interesting study today (not new) which suggests that RPE is somewhat transient… fragile even. Researchers from the University of Southampton got runners to run at 75 per cent of their maximum on a treadmill in three different trials, and monitored their mood (known as ‘affect’ in psychological research) and RPE during each.
In the first trial, they were told to run for 20 mins – and did so. In the second trial, they were told to run for 10 mins – but when the 10 mins were almost up they were told to run a further 10 mins. And in the final trial, they were not told how long they would be running for (but it turned out to be 20 mins).
In the second trial, when the runners thought they were about to stop but were asked to carry on, mood (understandably!) took a bit of a dip. But RPE increased, despite the fact that the speed remained constant at all times throughout all trials. In other words, the runners rated their effort as ‘harder’ because of the unexpected extra mileage. This led the researchers to suggest that RPE is not purely a measure of physical exertion, but has an affective component, too. It reminded me of the 10-mile race I ran last weekend – a fellow participant asked me about the hills and I told him ‘there’s one at 4 miles and another at 7 miles but the rest is fairly flat.’ He came and found me, someway between 5 and 6 and said in an accusatory tone ‘you didn’t tell me about this one…’ Oops. I bet his RPE was sky high…
So what does this all mean? I think it means that your state of mind can have a big impact on performance, and that having someone – or something – else in control of your performance is disempowering and likely to make you feel that you are working harder than if you knew exactly what lay ahead. I’ll keep that in mind in my coaching in future - and my mid-race banter…
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged coaching, latest updates, RPE, running, training
By admin on February 1, 2012
If you are training for a spring marathon, my Master the Marathon workshop, taking place on Sunday February 12th 2012 at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre will help you make the best use of your precious training time and avoid injury, so your race-day performance is the best it can be. The full day workshop is ideal for first-timers or marathoners who want to improve their time. For more details of what the day entails, see the Coaching & Workshops page.
Posted in News | Tagged coaching, injury prevention, latest updates, marathon, running, Sam Murphy, training
£50 RRP. www.pogu.co.uk