Track Drills and Beet Juice

Welcome to the first week of August, friends! It was an awesome weekend for me that was a perfect balance of relaxation and hard work! Friday night was kicked off with a nice hard long run, fuelled by beet juice.

 

I saw my naturopath last weekend and she suggested that in between my hard cycle and long run, I try a glass of beet juice to load up on nitrate, which helps the blood use oxygen more efficiently. This should work for athletes who have digestive issues as well as making the endurance work seem more effortless. I am going to continue playing with it and keep you posted.

Another thing I switched up this time was instead of chocolate pudding (Ugh), I used Clif shot blocks and instead of chewing them, began letting them dissolve in my mouth after an hour and continued this for the rest of my long run. I am going to experiment with gels next week, but I am thinking this may be the way I chose to go.

 

Although this was the tail end of my highest milage week before my marathon, I was able to pull a negative split. Around 15 KM, my legs felt better and I was able to open up and push a bit harder. I always work tempo portions into my long runs and this weekend, I did a 5 KM and a 6 KM at sub marathon goal pace.

I had an awesome sleep in and made a big purchase on Saturday morning (more later), but then I headed to Toronto for Track & Roll. 

 

I met up with some of my good runner friends from Toronto, including the Night Terrors run crew. My team was racing as a part of their crew and it was a fabulous day.

 

Unfortunately, our fourth team member was delayed and wasn’t able to make it, so I ran two laps of the relay. It was a fun experience and I can’t wait to try it next year!

 

We may have crashed a beer mile in the city afterwards. I chose to be the photographer because I have gut issues with running with pizza and pudding – I can’t imagine beer. My team mates were champs though and it was amazing to do so many events that were just about FUN and running.

As a distance runner, I still keep track a regular part of my training and considering I did so many track events this weekend, I’ll leave you with some of my favourite track warm ups for a competition.

High Knees: Stand in place with your feet hip-width apart. Drive your right knee toward your chest and quickly place it back on the ground. Follow immediately by driving your left knee toward your chest. Continue to alternate knees as quickly as you can.

A-Skips: This drill is great for sprint mechanics and to prime your system to be explosive. As one leg skips, the other leg will bring the knee up to a 90-degree angle with the foot dorsiflexed. You will bring that bent leg down quickly and drive with the ball of your foot to the ground. Your upper body is straight and your arms move in a running motion.

Strides: In your best running form, run across the field at at a moderate to high effort.

For additional drills, check out this article. 

What did you do this weekend?

What are your favourite warm up drills?