(23-09-2026, 01:10 PM)TheEd Wrote: HI Neil .. how were your legs after the treadmill session, sometimes they can feel a little different after a treadmill session
TheEd
Great question coach, I think it possibly had something to do with the lethargy I felt on Saturdays Parkrun. Having blasted the treadmill session on the Thursday I certainly don’t think that I had sufficient recovery time. Having not run on a treadmill in sometime there were obviously stress areas on muscles that aren’t as engaged on the road. My stride pattern naturally changed with a bouncier action and my breathing was far more rhythmical which meant that I felt that I could go deeper and faster as a result.
I still believe it was an incredibly useful session and am going to be interested to see if it has any long term benefits. I’m amazed that you picked up that there may very well have been a post run effect which obviously there was as can be seen through the rest of the weeks running, but then you are Super coach who’s been doing this for 4 decades. Thanks for the question. Weeks run report to follow.
Monday’s longer run of 10.46 over the top through the Vineyards was probably even more telling in terms of the post treadmill session. Although my time was 1:02’22 at an AHB of 147 BPM was reasonable, it belies that way I felt. I should note also that it was the 1st day that felt like summer with a temperature on top of the farm pushing 30 degrees. I always took pride in the fact that I was a pretty decent warm weather runner, coming out of winter however meant that I was going to require a bit of adaptation. It’s interesting to note that one can lose our ability to perform in certain conditions over just a few months. I had to really drag my body over the course and recognized that the combo of very heavy legs and a bit of dehydration had me completely knackered when I collapsed on the lawn back home.
The most interesting development after the previous week’s treadmill speed session occurred on Thursday. It was my hill run that truly provided the full benefit of the treadmill, feeling that I was now fully recovered a week later I decided to attempt to run the segments a bit quicker. Here are the numbers:
179M in 00’50.6 @ 131 BPM
176M in 00’49.4 @ 133 BPM
179M in 00’51.0 @ 128 BPM
177M in 00’48.5 @ 132 BPM
179M in 00’46.1 @ 133 BPM
The hill run is normally run in a few seconds slower than this in an average of around 51 seconds, today these were run at and average under 49 seconds which doesn’t sound like much but I felt amazing doing the session. I felt like I maintained great posture, running strong through the finish of every segment with a spring in my step. The most revealing bit of data however was my HR around the 130BPM mark. The combination of time, the way I felt, along with the HR numbers I can only credit to the treadmill session. Now to see if there’s a further reveal on Saturday?