Not certain how to phrase this but I’m injured by sprint training encourage by the NRC application.
My running journey has been an enjoyable one of gradually increasing distance and never particularly concerned about pace.
Having run a handful of park runs, the distance was never in question, but the competitive child in me quietly asked the question. How/can I run faster?
I thought the solution would be use a training program. Enter the NRC application with that nice Mr Bennet.
I’d settled on the beginners NRC 5k training program as it sounded the least taxing. It was an eight week plan which I thought would fit in nicely with my own training plan. Maybe it was a mistake but I tacked the week one sessions on to my standard running routine.
All was going well during week one a mixture of longer runs and faster ones. The faster ones where huge fun as I hadn’t sprinted before so it was something new.
Not wearing a smart watch, the NRC application told me what period of time I should be running for.
Enter week two, longer distance running was never a problem, but the sprinting caused a niggle in my Hamstring which stopped me in my tracks.
Leaving it a week and just walking for a couple of hours every other day, eased the situation.
Enter my Thursday’s run. A slower than normal longer run, didn’t even try to sprint.
I tripped on a stone and jarred my Hamstring again, resulting in walking the rest of route. Back on the injured list!
Foam roller on order, so no running for the rest of the week maybe my loss but Park run’s gain. My first session as a Park run volunteer which turned out to be huge fun.
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Unclesteve2004
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Oh no! Injuries are so frustrating. Hope it heals soon. Sending sympathy! I’m sure you were well appreciated as a volunteer.
I’m a bit confused by what you’re doing with your runs. Are you saying you did the whole five runs of the first week of the 5k plan on top of your regular runs? Apologies if I’m reading that wrong. If you have increased your run volume, perhaps that’s the underlying cause of injuries and niggles. Maybe you could have been a little more vulnerable to injury when you started trying the sprints-does that sound like what might have happened to you?
I’ve haven’t done that plan but I’ve done other NRC plans. What works for me is to either make a week last longer than a week so I can do all five runs over a longer time, or just select a few and move on without finishing them all. They’re really great and I especially love the speedier runs.
Hopefully it’s just a bit of over enthusiasm at the start of a new plan that’s twinged something and once you’re recovered, you’ll be back on track. I can highly recommend the NRC comeback run when you’re ready! It’s a coach Bennett classic!
Hi, thank you MissUnderstanding for your thoughts on the NRC application. To try to clear up my running process I simply tacked on a speed session onto a longer run. That way I am fully warmed up before Mr Bennet’s speed session starts. I thus run two days a week (combo long run then a speed session) plus Saturday parkrun. There isn’t anymore time in my week to do more. I suspect it’s enough.
I thought with all my longer distance running would have equipped me stronger tendons, apparently not!
Once I have recovered then I’ll restart the NRC session plan again as I thought they were very good. Might just run the sprints, but not at max effort. Lesson learnt.
When you are running intervals it is best to treat them as gradual intervals in speed. So say you run normally at around a 6:45 min/km pace and you want to aim for a sub 30 min parkrun, then your intervals should be below your goal pace, but not too much.
So you could run for 1K at 6:45 minutes per km to warm up and take a 2 minute break. Then run 1K at a 5:50 min/km pace, break for 2 mins, and repeat 5 times followed by a 1K slower pace to cool down. Follow this by stretching. You will prevent injury. Full all out sprints are not necessary. And they will cause injury unless you are properly warmed up and have properly stretched. Best wishes and hope you get better soon.
Ah, eek! Injury happens to the best of us. Plenty of stretching exercises and rest will hopefully get you back on your feet soon. Doing speedwork: its not recommended that you sprint, instead its more an 8/10 effort. Focus on your cadence - even use a metronome (free ones on your phone). The faster your legs can turn over, the faster you'll become. So, try a cadence drill before speedwork to activate those muscles.
Sorry to hear about your hamstring - go carefully with increasing speed: it is one of the major causes of injury, I think …although we all want to get a little faster!🙄🙂
I've been incorporating short sprints at the end of my runs recently. Nothing excessive, just 200m for about 40-50 seconds. However, I have also found I've had hamstring discomfort in my longer runs (over 5km).
Thank you everyone for helping me you are a super group.
With your advice I have now reflected more logically on my approach to Mr Bennett and the NRC application. Much reading about hamstrings and technically I am now much wiser about the body’s biomechanics. Practically I’m back to walking rather than running at the moment. My knowledge of the foam roller has also improved exponentially.
Mr Bennet talks of running at your 1 mile pace, 5km and 10km pace with little breaks after each run. The paced sessions only last a minute, so not a great amount of time. I forgot the last of the series was celebration pace which I interpreted as ‘run like the wind’, huge fun!
I’d used the NRC application as it laid out a specific period of time to run rather than distance. As I have no idea what my actual mile 5km or 10k pace were I estimated what they would really feel like. Correction I do know my time to complete a 5km race. A.k.a. Parkrun.
For the moment I’m back to walking a mere couple of hours every other day which is easily accomplished until my hamstring repairs itself. Once that phase is complete, I intend to move back to my longer steady state distance runs before attempting to work on my speed again, but this time I’ll use the advice (cadence & tempo running) given (thank you) here. I had to look up what cadence and tempo running meant.
I also suspect there is a need to strengthen my hamstrings, so additional strength exercises are required to progress there.
Apologies for taking so long to reply, but there was a lot of info to digest and apply and for me to accept I was injured and develop a new plan on how to go forwards.
Wow, love the idea of using the beat of music to dictate my cadence rather than just listening to music as I run…..obvious but brilliant in its simplicity.
I did manage a 7km jog yesterday, Achilles did grumble a little and I was considerably slower than normal, but running slowly is still running. It will be my next run after a day off which will dictate whether my hamstring is improving or not.
I’ll keep you posted on progress, but either way thank you all for your advice.
I'm following an NRC plan and find the speed sessions to be quite demanding and enough on their own., although I normally use the 15 minute recovery run as a warm up. They normally give some guidance as to what they mean by 5K pace or mile pace, mile pace is 9 out of 10 effort, 5K is 7 or 8 and so on, that's your effort not necessarily based on speed.
Yes fixed cadence podcasts are great, you could try Podrunner.com, loads of good stuff there, and all free, or why not try actually following an NRC plan properly? I'm sure you'd get benefit from it. XX
I’ve learned to trust the plan. I’m following the NRC HM plan at the mo. This comes after lots of thought provoking ‘conversations’ with the inimitable yet cheesy Coach B about if a run always has to be 5k or 30 mins 🤔 I used to do speed or interval runs at the start of a 5k then wonder why I was struggling at the end. I’ve learnt that I can run fast or long but not both. Now I trust the professionals. If it says a 30 min interval run, I do a 30 min interval run- no more no less, and I feel that my body is coping with the carefully managed increases well. It also makes me adapt my routes to make them longer or shorter. You’re right about the interval runs, they are fun 😁. Good luck with your running journey.
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Better training run today, I think!
You have run 10K!!! 😊 What next???
Park Run! Love it! 😁😁👟👟🏃♀️🏃♂️🌞
What distance should I be running? 2 weeks until my first 10k. 
