To be fast, be tense: manipulating your tension for optimal performance

Get fast, find your tension.

Recently a very good article was published in Running Times magazine. This article written by Steve Magness, breaks down the essentials of learning your optimal muscle tension.

What you can do to enter your optimal tension zone for the goal of the day. Are you running a recovery day? A track session? Tempo, hills or maybe racing? These different efforts all require something different from your body, obviously. But these requirements extend beyond your cardiovascular system. The impacts of skeletal muscle, over your entire body will have a great impact on performance and recovery of your total body running system.

I have found the kind of information found in this article very useful in my running career. I was first exposed to this kind of thought when running collegiate cross country at Fort Lewis College. I was able to make the connection with performance and muscle tension, the biomechanics of running. With this information I PR'd at every distance we competed in, running 27:08 for 8k and 33:29 for 10k. Knowing your body is the only way to get the most out of it!

Know what works?
This past weekend I was feeling lethargic and weary, prior to a 10k race. It is customary for me to become extremely relaxed prior to a race. If I don't concentrate on having a calm  mind, then I tend to get anxious and waste a great amount of energy before a race. Either I warm up to hard or too early, rather than do what works best for me.

Don't be afraid to chill out... a little

I have tried many ways of prepping for a race and it wasn't until I tried  sitting down, laying down, chilling out  that I found what works best at this stage in my running life. All this relaxation can be somewhat counterproductive though- essentially I can become too relaxed and feel flat and slow which is the norm...

Have you ever had that heavy legged sensation? Basically have slack in your muscle fibers. Just as if you had a tow strap too loose, you are doing work without the work getting done. Your wheels are moving but there is little response until the proper tension exists in the lever system. Increasing your muscle tension can solve this issue, if you know what to do...

Find your tension equilibrium
I find that a 15 minute easy easy easy jog serves to break a slight sweat about 30 minutes prior to racing. Then I like to do a few sustained surges of up to 60 seconds at marathon effort or so, so I feel like I am working, I give my body a chance to catch up to the effort I demand and then resume slow jogging. As race time approaches I will toss in some faster striders (3-5k) and perhaps some explosive hops to fully prime the muscles for the work ahead depending on how I feel. If I am tight I will skip these hops, already primed.

Find your sweet spot to you best running!

In the recent 10k race, despite feeling so flat during my warm up, I was able to implement a few tension increasing mechanisms and wound up running a fantastic race. Not because I became anxious or stressed, I was still relaxed mentally, but my body was tuned for performance, like Jimi Hendrix's guitar.

With some practice your PR's won't be accidents anymore and feeling great won't be like chasing the wind. So, I urge you to pay attention to your body during all of your runs. Whether your run feels free and easy or laborious and boring, you can usually pin it down to less than optimal muscle tension (or over training, in which case back off or rest). This technique is useful any time: for hard, easy, and maintenance running, even rest days... which are all about recovery and best done when relaxed. Incorporate your own relaxation methods as well. So go read those articles and you might find your running gets deeper and wider. For even more ideas check out Running Within and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

As you learn more about your body you will develop a deeper understanding of what you are capable of and your running will create a sense of empowerment within you. Your mind should always be engaged while running- there is truly a world of wonder to discover!! When you can blend these elements well, you will transcend your perceived limits and enter new realms of satisfaction and hunger.

Happy running!

Loopy Tuesday- prerace

Today is Tuesday, and even if it is cold, which it is; and wet with soaking rain, Tuesday means getting in the work. With the Marathon on Saturday this session is just a sharpening opportunity... I will just go out and get in some turnover for the mechanical efficiency benefits.

Today will be something like 3x800m at 6 min pace and then a couple of 400s slightly quicker, like 10k effort. I am not getting too hung up on the actual particulars. Today I will run relaxed and flowing allowing my mind and body to come together for a couple of miles. The pushing the limits stuff will have to wait until Saturday.

Finishing up at the Reindeer Fun Run 5k; 16:25

I find that after a cycle of speed work when we head into the taper, that the body begins to crave this particular sort of running and when it is deprived the body becomes restless, then lethargic... so you have to find balance. In this case, for me, I have discovered that teasing myself with a hint of hard work is enough to get the spirit wanting more.

Once this is established all that is left to do is wait and run with patience on the big day... and not fall off of anything in the meantime!

What is this running all about?

A week of high intensity training this week after last weekend's dress rehersal for the Chattooga 50k. Did a few days of long, tempo-paced running and today I am reaping the benefits of the hard work by sitting down and laying down.

The dogs got out for a bit and we had a nice walk in the the spring rain, beautiful. It is dark out now and drizzly, maybe we'll go and meander in the yard. The point of this entry though-

... just the little bit of jogging with the dogs revealed a level of fitness that I am so grateful for. There have been times when I never thought I would reach this point again as a runner (as a person) and now, with experience as it is, I enjoy this running so much more, take each step and breathe it in for the amazing thing that it is.

Though I strive to run better, that doesn't not necessarily mean faster... just better. This means never running in a hurry, always running relaxed and simply allowing my body to do its thing... to let the mind settle into what it wants as well. When these two things connect, the body and the mind... and they do so in a relaxed state then great things will happen... you will feel these things deeply and know that this is what you are meant to do.

All of the miniscule moments tic away adding up to this tiny moment. But this moment is markedly different. There is no anxiety, there is no worry, there is nothing else but to maintain that momentum. The soaring feeling in your soul that effortlessly allows you to float on by your surroundings while being fully emmersed in them. These are the types of moments that I run for.

I learn from many other moments for sure, all important when payed their due attention. Still, these kinds of moments are the ones we search for each day we enter into our running ritual. We enter the domain of the run, our domain of vulnerability, adversity and victory, we wait for this state to meet us somewhere in our miles and we know that life is sweet.