Would it be bad or good to end every easy/recover run with some strides?

Does anyone know? Should I put "Obama" in the title to get more clicks?

This forum is WORTHLESS.

Geez people, another 4 minutes has passed without a legit answer? You people are the WORST.

I vote yes. I think it's good to end with them.

I would recommend to wait 1 hour before expecting a response. Also you should work on patience.

Strides! I LOVE strides! They help ALOT!!!! Though I do think 100m is a little long. When I ran I would do 5, 10s strides after all easy runs. I felt so much better after doing strides.

I've never understood why they're called strides. And if it's because you're striding out, isn't that a bad thing since your center of gravity should be over your foot plant?

2343w43 wrote:

I've never understood why they're called strides. And if it's because you're striding out, isn't that a bad thing since your center of gravity should be over your foot plant?

I'd say you have the wrong vision of striding out. You can stride out behind yourself, as the stride lengthens as you increase speed.

As for the origin of the name, it's probably tied to doing them to improve your stride, or focusing on your stride. Our coach called them accelerations when we were kids.

dont do 'em. Let the nervous system rest.

i do 6-8 strides in the middle of my recovery runs. loosens me up & makes the second half of the run feel SO much better, espcially after a really hard session the day before.

better idea wrote:

i do 6-8 strides in the middle of my recovery runs. loosens me up & makes the second half of the run feel SO much better, espcially after a really hard session the day before.

+1

Everyone wants to do these exotic workouts or try new things. Not that it is bad, that is how discoveries are made. But anytime people want to try new things I ask why...

What is the purpose? How will it help you? How does it fit into your long term plan?

Answer these and get back to us.

The Animal Within wrote:

Everyone wants to do these exotic workouts or try new things. Not that it is bad, that is how discoveries are made. But anytime people want to try new things I ask why...

What is the purpose? How will it help you? How does it fit into your long term plan?

Answer these and get back to us.

How are strides new or exotic?

It's an absolute "yes" you should be doing strides. How many, when, how often, how long, what surface, etc are all different variations that are worth discussing. A lot of runners incorporate them in different ways and I don't think there is only one "right" way. There are reasons for doing them at different times.

When JK was coaching me for the half/full marathon he'd always have me do them on the second easy day when I had two easy days in a row. I'd also sometimes do them during or after long runs and then obviously before workouts/races.

If you're training for shorter track events, you'll probably want to do them more often. Jim Spivey says milers should do them everyday except for the long run:

He also apparently considers a long run 45-minutes so I don't know what to make of that. I guess maybe 45min for high schoolers in the last 4 weeks of their season might make sense. Some high schoolers are doing 30 mpw, others are doing 100, so there's a big range.

Yes, but please don't be one of those guys who shows up at the track, does a few strides and leaves. Tracks are for races and workouts not end-of-run striders.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Yes, but please don't be one of those guys who shows up at the track, does a few strides and leaves. Tracks are for races and workouts not end-of-run striders.

And why not? If the terrain outside is uneven he may want to do the strides on the track to maximize form and speed and avoid injury.

What do you know about the proper use of tracks?

Typically in a base phase I will stride out 5/ week. During higher intensity phases I'm still striding out 3/ week and that isn't counting when I use short variations of strides for warming up prior to a workout.

If you feel totally run down then it may be wise to leave the strides for another day, but keep in mind that striding out is also important when tired so as to learn to keep your form when it matters.

Easy day after a hard track session I like to do a 5x80m hill repeats, plus a few shakeout strides on a slight downhill on compact dirt. Gets my legs set back into fully engaged recovery.

Not every day. Maybe 2-3 times a week. They increase muscle tension and you don't want an elevated muscle tension 24/7. +1 to the guy that said let the neuro system rest.

I would suggest the last 5 minutes of a long run doing 10s pick ups/strides, easy for 50s.

On top of that, the day before a workout or race. So, twice a week. In base it's alright to do 3x a week if you're adding mileage/doing typical base work.

wyuuu wrote:

What do you know about the proper use of tracks?

I know that tracks are not for walkers, joggers, interval repeats of greater than 600 meters, bicycles, tricycles, unicycles, baby buggies, little kids, dogs, cats, goats, soccer balls, disc golfers, flocks of ducks or geese, footballs or baseballs, people standing around talking, elves, ogres, Martians, or anyone who thinks colliding at 20+ mph is no big deal.

I know that recovery and any clockwise running should be done in or outside the outermost lane, you should always look both directions before stepping on the track, and you shouldn't take over a lane someone else was using first. When you use hurdles you damn well better put them away, and if you leave one on the track facing backwards you should have both your legs broken. Rake the sand after you jump too. When you're doing starts on the home straight, pay attention to whoever might come barrelling around turn 2 and smash into you. Don't exceed the spike length limit. Pick up your tape. And no striders without doing a workout.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Yes, but please don't be one of those guys who shows up at the track, does a few strides and leaves. Tracks are for races and workouts not end-of-run striders.

So says the douchebag.

Bad Wigins wrote:

wyuuu wrote:

What do you know about the proper use of tracks?

I know that tracks are not for walkers, joggers, interval repeats of greater than 600 meters

Say again?

Bad Wigins wrote:

And no striders without doing a workout.

OK guys, don't do strides on a track or else Wiggo will throw a tantrum.