Housebound by the weather

Well, what a couple of weeks we have had in the UK and especially here in Scotland. Snow, snow and more snow with temps. at up to -20 c has not been great for trying to maintain any training schedule. I should have been looking forward to the BUPA Great Winter Run in Edinburgh on the 8th Jan. but now will only be an onlooker. This is where a trip to the local sports centre is necessary to get any training done. That is providing you can get out from home and make it to any nearby. I have never liked treadmill running, but it is better that not doing any running. Hopefully a great thaw will come and melt everything away, although with outside temp right now of about -8 c that does not look likely.

Surfaces to Run on

With most mass participation runs these days being run mostly on roads, the greater part of your training will be on roads. However, if all the training is done on roads then I think the chances of injury become greater. Roads are a bit harder on the joints than the other types of surfaces you can train on. Other types of surfaces are, canal pathways, grass, sand, running track, and treadmill. A favourite of mine is the forest path, it is firm but has a kind of bounce in it that you will not get on the roads. It is good to try a variety of surfaces as you train for a race, remembering of course that the race will probably be on road surface, so most of your training will be done on that. One thing worth noting is that if a lot of running is done on the road, it is good practice to run using both sides of the camber on the road. This will prevent your gait from being constantly over to one side due to the camber, which can lead to strains and injury.