T3 beginners welcome sprint and OLY = Closed (Page 2)

Chris -- I'm hoping the speed gain wasn't some kind of placebo effect of having a new bike, but my HR was the same as usual! Glad you are feeling better and looking forward to reading your race report from this weekend. I enjoyed reading your blog about your April race despite its logistical frustrations -- this weekend will be my first race in years so it will be interesting to see what silly mistakes I make in setting up my transition!

Dave/all -- ??I tried your running technique described earlier while I was out today. Before I do, some history: lately I've been struggling with foot numbness issue running -- later in the week, when I'm relatively fatigued from a long week of training, my feet have been going numb while running. It usually kicks in around mile 3 or so and won't go away unless I completely stop moving altogether (i.e slowing to a walk won't help). I originally thought it might have something to do with extremely high HR as I have never been able to run (even at a light jog) without my HR approaching 90% or more of max*. Another factor I suspected is that although I haven't put a lot of miles on my shoes, they're starting to get older. I've been told while getting fit for running shoes that I over-pronate quite a bit, so perhaps I don't have enough arch support.

ANYWAY...today I was working on incorporating two changes into my form. First -- focusing on faster cadence/shorter stride and HR management. Some articles I've been reading suggested I could take some stress off of my body (particularly my feet) but progressing towards a mid/fore-foot strike. I also read an article saying the majority of power derived from running comes from when the foot is even with and behind the hip. Additionally I focused on an upright posture, particularly with "open" hips. My core is pretty strong from crossfit and I also am very familiar with what "open" hips feel like, so this was an easy change. I am happy to report that I was FINALLY (seriously, for the first time EVER) able to control my HR and keep it in Zone 2. This is a major breakthrough for me because prior to this, my extremely high HR would make long-distance running extremely exhausting, stressful, and not fun at all. I still developed foot numbness, right at mile 3, but after resting for 2-3 minutes and stretching my calves, I was able to stave it off for the rest of the run. This is also an excellent change from my norm as before this, after I got some feeling back in them and tried to continue running they would go numb again almost immediately. So, two major positives of today's training run!

*Calculated using 220-Age. I realize this is a poor man's method of deducing Max HR but it seems close enough for my purposes right now when I compare it to perceived effort and with HR data from training.

tacetman,   great job on the run.   I would check your running shoes that might be the issue,  and an easy thing to fix.    

clouddog, that sould like some very positive steps forward in training.   Most people do focus on the bike portion of training it is most peoples weakness and takes the longest in a race, so you can gain time from focusing here.     Keep up the good work.