I have Runnervals “Cheetah Fast” DVD. It’s a killer treadmill workout for sure! I have never actually made it through the whole thing without jumping off the belt for an unplanned rest. One of the things Coach Troy shouts out during that workout is “drive with the arms“. I never really thought much about that. Until today.
I always carry a palm holder water bottle when I run. No matter how short the run is, I need to have water to sip. I carry it during races, too. I prefer to sip water continuosly, rather than gulp down cupfuls at the aid stations.
Today I ran 12.5 miles on the American Tobacco Trail in Southern Wake County. I planned the run as 1 hour out, and 1 hour back. I wasn’t sure if there were any water fountains along the trail, so I carried my 20 ounce palm holder bottle as I normally do, in my right hand. Plus – a 10 ounce disposable bottle in my left hand.
Whenever I run – always – I am concentrating on my form. I was thinking fast feet, good posture, yoga breathing, short stride, butt running, stuff like that. At one point, I was chanting “fast feet” in my head. Then I asked myself, “How can I make my feet go faster?”. Then I remembered Coach Troy’s “drive with the arms“…by that he means to swing your arms at a faster rate, and your feet will naturally follow with a higher turnover.
BUT – holding two heavy bottles of water in my hands made it really hard to swing my arms faster. It almost felt like I was doing a strength training workout, swinging my arms with handweights! I never noticed this before when just holding the Palm Holder bottle in one hand. It became glaringly obvious today with two bottles!!
Now I am wondering if I have been limiting my run cadence by carrying water this way on every single run. Or am I just grasping at straws in my quest to run faster? Icould switch back over to my fuel belt, which I don’t really like because it’s just too many bottles to mess with. Or maybe buy a camel back? Or, I’ve seen folks running with this sort of hydration belt. Anyone have one of these???
Workout notes:
2h 00m 21s 12.42 Mi 09m 41s/Mi Avg HR: 145 Max HR: 161
2 hours on the ATT trail. Actually went beyond the trailhead to get to the 1hour mark, then turned around. Really faded the last couple miles. Wish my pace was closer to 9 m/m since this was all flat. My excuse is that I started out with trashed legs from yesterday!Next week, I will start at the Olive New Hill end, and run north. That way, I won’t run out of trail.
Legs felt trashed the whole time. Mentally hard to keep focus on fast feet and good posture and butt running and all that crap. Ate boost + banana before workout, and 3 Gu’s during. Next week, I’m going to try Gu Roctane. Used that at Rev3 and I think it helped. Damn expensive tho.
I like having my arms free too so I use a similar style belt as you have pictured with a carb flask. It’s great on long runs esp. trails where there are no water fountains. I can also clip my camera to it. I have used the camelback but it chafes the neck. If I’m at the track I can just take it off and set it aside.
I run with a camelbak. yea as a dude i have big broad shoulders and upper body strength for days, so carrying an extra 4 lbs of water on my back isn’t a big deal. but i take in a LOT of water on long runs (2 bottles an hour minimum) and it holds enough to get me through. just my thoughts.
wow, thanks everybody for the great comments!
I use a water pack by ultimate–the access plus. It works great. On long trail runs I use my nathan intensity water vest. It does not bounce at all.
I notice I use my arms the most when I’m running up steep hills.
As for the water bottle, I was always a bit suprised to see you running with one. I’ve always noticed that anything in my hands (even my keys) really messes up my form and I notice it in other runners too. I would try going back to a fuel belt and see if that makes a difference for you!
Oh, and I agree with driving with the arms. When I want to speed up, I find that consciously speeding up the arms does the trick. Also when climbing hills “pushing” with the arms seems to make the legs push off stronger as well.
I use a camelback for biking and love it. However, I would never run with it – far too bouncy. I also run with a palm water bottle (just one). I don’t think one is slowing but 2 definitely could be…
I recommend the 4 bottle Helium Fuelbelt. Have one, love it. The one bottle belts bounce and also tend to pull your shorts up in the back making you have to pull them constantly to keep your bum covered.
I did a half marathon with friends once and we came up on a man whose one bottle belt had pulled his shorts up to the point where you could see the entire NEON GREEN liner of his running shorts. We decided he should know so as we came up beside him, I whispered to him what had happened. He said.. “well I heard some giggling back there”, I told him we would have wanted to know if it was us, and he reponded with a wry smile and “I dont’ know if I would have told y’all.” 🙂