Educawhat?

Warm-up and more

Nadia had warned me that she would do her homework before coming to the running club, that is, be able to run 20 minutes continuously. You should know that Nadia's warnings look like threats. So I knew that if she showed up at the club one day, it meant that she was able to run the famous 20 minutes continuously, but also, it implied a commitment on my part. In other words; zero bullshit on upcoming training at the risk of having my head ripped off. She would have done it, I know, because she is Beauceronne (I speak knowingly; my mother was Beauceronne). Anyway, during Nadia's first training at the club, Nadia had a surprise: the 20 minutes nonstop was going to repeat itself a few times...So after a warm-up of about 15 minutes, Nadia almost thought she would go to bed in 5 minutes when I told him that we had about 10 educational minutes before we started (I think I had said the "before we started" very quickly) the training. What??? I think the word "educational" saved my skin because she stumbled on that rather than the rest of my sentence. Nadia knew very well what educational courses were (she was in athletics when she was younger) and as she already felt at the end of her rope, the prospect of going to play on this ground did not delight her. For my part, the fact that Nadia saw educational as another effort to deliver rather than a boring obligatory passage made me happy; it meant that she used to put her heart into what she undertook. The running club would therefore not be for her a dating agency or a topic of conversation to slip in during happy hours (or an excuse to avoid said happy hours or late meetings), but a place of overcoming. Ye! So, to surpass herself, Nadia was going to surpass herself that evening (and in the year that was to follow, what am I saying; in the years that were to follow).

You should know that a good running session is preceded by a warm-up (a slow run which generally lasts between 10 and 20 minutes; the more difficult the session, the longer the warm-up should be), followed by stretching dynamic (note: not post-race muscle stretching, but jumping on the spot, swinging legs, pelvis, etc.), a series of educational exercises and some progressive accelerations. Then, we begin the heart of the work, that is, the intervals or the specific paces.

Educawhat?

The technique being one of the most important guarantees of performance, well that goes through education. The more you master the technique, the more ammunition you have to run fast and for a long time (long on an outing, long in life…), and the less you will hurt yourself. The technique is the equivalent of your budget, it is one of the most important tools to reduce fatigue, in short to save your energy. Do you want to improve your stride or correct a defect? Educational.

We call educational the exercises, the "drills", the routines to be repeated before attacking the main body of work for a given activity. If we take running, a variation of educational exists for each part or stage that we wish to develop. We can easily find 5-6, even 8, educational aimed at improving our technique for each part studied. Done diligently, these exercises will become more and more natural and will permeate your body's memory when you go for a run. For example, there are educational exercises to develop amplitude, to reduce vertical oscillation and the resulting loss of energy, exercises to save stride, to have a better foot attack, to make the foot attack in the right place, so that the knees or arms work efficiently, to improve propulsion, etc. In other words, the educational ones are a kind of caricature of a running movement that we dissect in order to improve it, to be more efficient and to avoid pesky injuries.

I would tell you that the educational ones are always important to do, even when you're short on time, even before a bloody marathon. And yes, warming up for 10 minutes and doing some dynamic and educational stretching before a 42.2km can ensure that the enthusiasm of the start does not compromise the rest of the race too much (you know, when you start too fast... ) and that the muscles and joints are ready to open the machine. Well, it's your ears.

Do you sincerely believe that a boxer showed up in the ring for a fight without having practiced his education? Never! Boxing training is, essentially, educational. These are the main tools used to develop the skills of the athlete. When you go for a run, your main opponent is you, and believe me, you don't want to pat your body unnecessarily. Think of the boxer, and act as a winner, therefore, work on your case beforehand, your technique, your body, your stabilizing muscles; minimally, you will gain in confidence, energy, incidentally, you will save time and a beautiful style! You can't lose.

Sometimes it sucks

Well yes, sometimes it's fun to do educational. We have the impression of wasting our time or even having so much trouble doing some of them well that we look more like a sumo at the ballet than an athlete in preparation. Yes. For now, there may be some educational ones that don't pass the style test well, but that's coming. Me neither, you know, I don't always feel like doing or talking about it. I'd rather talk to you about Nadia or even Julie, Fanny, Alexia, Laurène, Marianne or Arianne (not my fault, there are almost only girls around me, all of them beautiful as well), but I take my pain in patience because I know that it bears fruit. I even do my education before my races and before my triathlons. Well, almost always. You know, I haven't just done bloody marathons (read " The cursed marathon coat “), I also had good races, and I assure you and repeat to you that even before a marathon, if you take the time… Finally!

But do you know just a little that it can be kidding? You speak! Especially in swimming. Ah, if you're in a group, it's fine (another good reason to join a club, read " The group effect “), but alone, you arrive in a corridor at your speed and then there, you start making antics that delay the other swimmers or downright scare them. There, I admit, we sometimes have to skip them if there are too many people in all the corridors, but don't jump too quickly at the chance (all excuses lead to the sofa in the medium term; no shortcuts easy s-t-p), because often the educational swimming is as (if not more) important than the set major. This is where you catch something, something that will move you forward. It is during the educational that we have the most clicks and revelations, it is there, if we compare with a learner driver who tries out the manual gearbox, that we understand how to play with the pedal clutch for efficient shifting. On a bike too, it is sometimes difficult to do educational exercises, but not if you find a good playground. However, you have to accept being passed by Mario or Claudine (guys don't like being passed by Claudine, I know) who don't know that you are working on your pedal stroke, but they will see the results the D-Day…

Attendance

You know. But if you don't know, I'll tell you: if education is part of the engine, attendance is the key. So, you have to be diligent in your discipline and diligent with the educational ones. You can buy yourself a personal trainer, a nice plan or join the friendliest club in town, you have to do your homework. In a club, it is obvious. Someone is absent for 3 weeks (without doing the training and education on his side) and when he comes back, well, he's in the thick of it... The others have progressed and it shows like the nose in the face; you no longer overtake Julie as before and Arianne, well, Arianne, don't even think about it anymore, you won't get close to her, she's in a separate category (you who thought you were doing your 70.3 in the shadows of her steps, well, you missed it, she will have already taken her shower when you cross the finish line…). And now Arianne smiles even more than before when she finishes. It's simple, you have to be diligent in the big weeks of training as well as in your rest.

Commit they said

I said it from the outset, there is a notion of commitment in sport. It is a discipline. Nadia has prepared for a minimum time of continuous running, so she has committed, the least I can do is commit to accompanying her. Have you prepared a workout? Do it. Not for your coach (a bit anyway, if you want him to feel respected for his work…), but for you, for your body. Especially if you are tackling big business (read Anything is possible…really?). I say it often: you don't have to do a marathon, but if you decide to do it, keep the commitment to the mythical distance and to your health, so be prepared or choose a more modest challenge for the instant. The day when we commit ourselves correctly is often a day of revelation, a day of new glasses. We are no longer surprised (or assaulted) by the training load or by the intensity, no, it is rather the opposite that occurs; we feel that we are giving ourselves, for a determined period, the means necessary to practice our sport in happiness and overcoming (all relative and personal, overcoming). Commitment starts with yourself first.

Do you know what you have left to do? Go see the videos on YouTube or others where we talk about the education that concerns you, you'll see, it's sometimes as addictive as a TV series.