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[ascender]

I'd have gone out anyway. A bit of rain never hurt anyone Training through the winter (especially a Scottish one) makes you stronger. Every mile in winter is worth 2 in summer.

Mind you, it's snowing here. If the roads are icy tomorrow then I'm going to have think carefully about my tempo run.

Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression I was wimping out! I love running in the winter although I'm not a fan of the high winds we had last week, not much fun. Did a rain-soaked five miles and came home covered in mud and the dog had turned black.

I've used the cold water thing on my calves after long runs before. I read a very good explanation of it once but can't remember why it works, it just seems to help, that's all.

[Commander Marklar]

Regarding cold showers/ice baths...

TBH, I'm not entirely sure but it does work. The theory is along the lines that it helps clear lactic acid from the muscles, or something like that.

I think it works because it closes the blood vessals in your legs. After you have been running for a while, there will be all kinds of minute damage to them, they'll be nice a wide with all the blood pumping around. Make 'em cold, shuts 'em down and shrinks/closes/pulls together the areas that are damaged.

Tried to beat 7 minutes/2k on the rowing machine. 7'02.7 was my time, damn. Must try harder!

[Matt]

I thought the cold was to take down swelling, before applying heat to "expand" the muscle. That's probably more lifting than running so don't pay me any attention.

[Rossco]

We dont pay you any attention normally anyway.

Done a good workout today on legs and tri's. 90kg calf raises are a bitch! And I really need a belt for squating, dont want to go any higher than 90kg as I feel my back going slightly when I do.

In tomorrow for chest and bi's and my mates coming so I'll have a good spot to go for some super high weights!!

[MonkeyWrench]

I've got up today and my legs are aching a little bit, if they're still aching tonight is it wise to still go running or should I give it a miss and let them recover an extra day? They've had a day to recover and they weren't that bad yesterday, the only aching I got was standing up after sitting down for a while.

[Spagoli]

I've got up today and my legs are aching a little bit, if they're still aching tonight is it wise to still go running or should I give it a miss and let them recover an extra day? They've had a day to recover and they weren't that bad yesterday, the only aching I got was standing up after sitting down for a while.

I'd say its all personal choice. For me it would depend on the pain, if I waited until I was pain free then probably I'd never run. My legs hurt every day in fact most days I hobble out of bed legs and ankles are very painful, once up and about they free up some though, until I sit still for any time when they seize up and hurt again. They hurt when I run too but I know what just hurts because I am doing stuff and what hurts because I have damaged them, as longs as its just pain from use its ok. In general aching isnt too bad, pain should be ok as long as the pain stop when you do. Last week my shins were in agony, not splits but soo painful I had to hobble, running slow hurt a lot and made me wince but running faster with longer strides was better and after an hour the pain had gone (ish) and the next day was easier.

That said the sensible answer would be if in any doubt dont run unless you are confident you are going to be OK, no point in causing damage or putting yourself out of action unnecessarily. I always run on recovery days nothing too mad, 8 min/mile for 8-9 miles gets the lactic acid out of the legs but keeps them moving. I find the more time I have not running the more they seize up and the worse it is when I finally start again

[ascender]

I've got up today and my legs are aching a little bit, if they're still aching tonight is it wise to still go running or should I give it a miss and let them recover an extra day? They've had a day to recover and they weren't that bad yesterday, the only aching I got was standing up after sitting down for a while.

Sometimes its two days after which is worse for aching muscles. I'm sure someone will come along and explain why that is.

I often find that if my legs are aching a bit its quite good to go for a run as it helps loosen them off. Doesn't have to be a long or fast one, just a really short, slow jog will do. But conversely, if you're just starting out with this running lark, maybe its a good idea to leave it another day. The last thing you want to do is to over-do things and end up pulling a muscle or something.

I found with running that over 6 months of it, you learn a lot about your body and how it reacts to exercise. So you'll get to the point where you can judge for yourself if its just general soreness or if you need to take a break. But definitely don't try to do too much too quickly or you will get injured.

How about going for a swim, or something else non-impact even?

Oh, and apparently pineapple juice is really good at preventing this sort of soreness.

[MonkeyWrench]

Ahh pineapple juice, I'll give that a try. It's only my thighs that are aching, but saying that they weren't too bad after I had walked into work so I'll see how I feel after the walk home.

[Nijo]

Tried to beat 7 minutes/2k on the rowing machine. 7'02.7 was my time, damn. Must try harder!

I'm just starting on the old rowing machine so I'm still around 9 minutes. Does the difficulty make a difference to your speed? On the bikes you go faster for the same rpm if you up the level...

Might try it this afternoon.

[recipher]

Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression I was wimping out!

Good man. I've got to do my tempo run this lunchtime but I've a feeling it's going to be snowing. Not too keen but it needs to be done.

My legs hurt every day in fact most days I hobble out of bed legs and ankles are very painful, once up and about they free up some though, until I sit still for any time when they seize up and hurt again

Maybe you should stretch more Seriously though, I'm a bit stiff in the morning but nothing like this. You sound like an injury waiting to happen

Sometimes its two days after which is worse for aching muscles. I'm sure someone will come along and explain why that is.

There isn't really an explanation for this, but it's called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

[Paradigm]

I'm just starting on the old rowing machine so I'm still around 9 minutes. Does the difficulty make a difference to your speed? On the bikes you go faster for the same rpm if you up the level...

Might try it this afternoon.

I don't think so, no. Just increases resistance.

Presume we're talking about the Concept 2 here.

Getting under 7 min for that would be very impressive - I could get it under 8 but then I might die after - I tend to clock in at 2 min per 500m when I'm doing it ordinarily, I could probably go a bit quicker especially if I was fresh...

Got manflu so not going to the gym. Sucks

[recipher]

The (really bad) weather seems to have avoided my neck of the woods today. It snowed yesterday even though it was forecast for today. All gone today.

Anyway, the upshot of that was that my run was in merely bad weather (windy, cold, damp). 7 miles, with 5 miles tempo. Target was 7:25 pace, ran 7:15. Never really had to work too hard to keep the pace up, even into the wind. Happy days.

Weights this morning before work, still working on 3 set of 6 reps at a high weight. Going ok. I was tired though, always am at that time of the day. Finished up with 20 minutes in the pool, working on my swim. I only covered 400 metres, but that's not too bad for me. At some point in the next couple of months, I'm going to have to ramp that distance up, but it won't be in my gym's 18m pool, I'll have to use a bigger, public pool and fight it out with the hoi polloi.

[Commander Marklar]

I'm just starting on the old rowing machine so I'm still around 9 minutes. Does the difficulty make a difference to your speed? On the bikes you go faster for the same rpm if you up the level...

Might try it this afternoon.

Nah, just increased resistence although sometimes I can get the timing better with a higher setting. Like it doesn't spin down so much making the initial pull that little bit easier. But then you're f**ked half way through when you'd normally be pulling for England

[Nijo]

Finished up with 20 minutes in the pool, working on my swim. I only covered 400 metres, but that's not too bad for me.

That's a very relaxed swim!
You should go swimming without having knackered yourself on the previous exercises some time... if you're sapped of strength to begin with it's really hard to get going in the pool.

[MonkeyWrench]

Gave the run a miss. Due to the weather the trains were cancelled so I just ended up going to the pub for a bicep workout My legs are now fine so I'll go for a run tomorrow instead.