One of my good friends said to me when i was unsure of whether to go onto Twitter that “you can use it intelligently to make yourself more informed” as opposed to just tweeting about your hairstyle! Keeping this advice in mind i signed up and have been very impressed with what i have found. During my travels around Twitter i have come across a number of great pages and people who are great mines of information providing stimulating and sometimes provocative ideas. Twitter is great as it allows you to post targeted snippets of information with links through to other web-sites or blogs. Along with Twitter both Facebook and YouTube also contain lots of useful, interesting material. This has let me to the idea of collating a number of them in one place that other interested people can then use as an information springboard. The obvious proviso i would add before doing this is to be aware that, like the wider internet, these pages/ sites / blogs contain the author’s own views. They are not peer-group reviewed and so should be looked at with a critical eye. However often you can soon tell the caliber of people by who follows them (on Twitter) plus when people write foolishness they are usually told so by other members pretty quickly!
For a number of years i have been interested in the mechanics of running. I see a number of amateur runners and triathletes (some of whom have done Iron men events) in addition to one of my good friends operating a clinic in Hove that has lots of running knowledge Studio57clinic along with it’s gate analysis side Stride. On Twitter a great person to follow from there is Matt Phillips@sportinjurymatt for loads of interesting information. Consequently these first few sites etc are running focused. It is very easy to run and everyone thinks that they can run which is true, but what is even easier is to run badly! Out of the three disciplines in the Triathlon it is running that is potentially most damaging to the body. Swimming maybe harder to do technically but since you are not fully weight bearing it is less likely to harm you as much, ditto cycling.
A great site with some top class information from top triathlete coaches is Kinetic Revolution . You will find both great stretches and running drills as well as programs to ensure that your muscles are working correctly and optimally for running. Check out this Q+A piece for some simple, practical yet detailed answers to some common running questions. They also run workshops around the country that you can go along to to learn first hand. On Twitter you will get all their info through following James Dunne@KineticRev.
I found some more great tips here also Active . The idea that keeping and rotating a few pairs of your running shoes would help reduce injury is an interesting thought for instance.
A site helping you to help you manage small injuries and to help to prevent future ones is Athletes Treating Athletes (ATA) . Obviously the proviso here is that you should have seen your doctor/Physio/Sports Therapist first to ensure that it is indeed only a small injury. In addition please check out my blog on Muscle and Tendon strains outlining the Rice procedure for what to do immediately you sustain any injury. ATA and Kinetic Revolution quote between each other on this next topic to help reduce injuries in runners (or any sport involving a lot of running such as football or rugby etc), namely that the Gluteals are so important in running and that you need to check that they are working, then working correctly and to “light them up” pre run.
I hope that some of this will whet your appetite for checking out some great information that will help with your running in the case of this blog. As i said if you go in via Twitter even simply starting from James and Matt you will soon find yourself speeding through some great stuff. Which reminds me you can check out Professor Greg Whyte on Twitter, Greg Whyte@gpwhyte for lots of Sports Physiology/ Ultra Endurance info too (Greg is the man that helped to support all of celebrity Sports relief people such as Davina McCall, John Bishop and David Walliams etc). I will be back on another blog with another set of great sites for information on a different topic so please keep looking in.