Weekly Workout Recap: Training in the Park & Running with an Olympic Athlete

May 12, 2013

A great week which started with my first ever 10k, and finished with a run around Hampton Court Park with Olympic elite marathon athlete Scott Overall! (at Write This Run, recap to follow…)

Monday – She Runs Windsor 10k
Tuesday – Walk 2miles
Wednesday – REST
Thursday – #teamnaturallyrun training session
Friday – REST
Saturday – Walk
Sunday – Write This Run 2.5miles

The #teamnaturallyrun training session on Thursday was great! It was organised by Leah as part of the lead up to Nike We Own The Night 10k next Saturday, and we all met at the running track in Regent’s Park for a drills and circuits session with Coach Gil (Cramer).

Photo courtesy of Leah

He put us through our paces with some leg strengthening exercises interspersed with laps of the track incorporating butt kicks, sprints and high knees- my glutes were definitely feeling it the next day!

Photo courtesy of Leah

It was really great to meet some more of the runners who are taking on We Own The Night, and to train in a social group- I do love running by myself when I can just zone out, but working out with other people definitely makes you push yourself more!

Photo courtesy of Leah

I’ve been struggling with my knees recently and they’re still complaining a bit, particularly the right one – I wore a knee brace for the 10k on Monday, more as a precaution and it felt fine afterwards, or at least no more achey than you’d expect from running your first 10k!

I believe the problem is related to muscle imbalances in my quads, where the muscles on the outside of my leg (vastus lateralis, iliotibial band and lateral retinaculum) are too tight and the one on the inside of my knee (vastus medialis oblique (VMO) is too weak. This causes a patella tracking issue whenever the knee is bent or straightened, as the knee is pulled out of alignment, and will eventually cause damage to the surrounding tissues. The problem seems fairly typical for runners, so much so that it’s often called “Runner’s Knee”, or more properly Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS).

I stress that this is not an official diagnosis, nor have I any medical training. I have been doing stretches and leg raises every day based on the online/magazine (Runner’s World) research I have done, as well as a quick assessment by my Pilates instructor friend- thanks Rach 🙂