Habits – we all have them both good and bad. When you woke up this morning what did you do first? grab a coffee, go to the toilet & check social media (you know you all have so stop pretending to be horrified), did you brush your teeth before or after your shower?

Back in 1892 William James who was an American philosopher & psychologist stated “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits”. This was backed up by a paper published in 2006 by Duke University that found more than 40% of actions people performed each day were not actual decisions, but habits.

I’ve bitten my nails for as long as I can remember, I remember starting to race at Trafford AC (then Stretford AC) 36 years ago and each week the same starting official coming over and taking my hand from my mouth in an effort to stop me biting my nails on the start line! It’s not a pleasant habit but it’s clear that my habit for exercise started young and that’s not a bad habit.

Ramping down

There are many books out there that try to analyse & understand habits, one I chose was The Power of Habit by Chales Duhigg. It looks at first at understanding then how you can change them. Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort, habits allow your brain to ramp down more often. How many times on a run have you arrived somewhere without realisng how you got there? It’s certainly one of the attractions of running is the meditative nature of it, just switching off.

The habit process is a three step loop. First there is a cue – this is the trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode & which habit to use. Then there is the routine – this can be physical, mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward – this helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.

You don’t have to make massive changes, small changes lead to small wins which lead to habit changes. How often have you said you want to stretch more? So start with just a few mins, don’t make it unmanageable, maybe decide that you will do it whilst watching the news or take a few mins before bed and stretch rather than scroll aimlessly through your phone. One habit I’ve learnt to incorporate is meditative breathing, just a few mins of deep breaths or big sighs even, just to slow down & relax, i’ve found it helps me to switch off if I need a break & calm me if I’m in a stressful situation. It’s taken a while to build the habit but as I saw the benefit (reward) it became easier.

Habits v Behaviours

As I’ve highlighted a habit is something you do repeatedly until it becomes automatic. Behaviours are your actions in coordination with your environment & surroundings. Social learning theory was suggested by Albert Bandura & it emphasized the importance of observing, modelling & imitating the behaviours, attitudes & emotional reactions of others. It considers how both environmental & cognitive factors interact to influence human behaviour & learning.

Children especially learn by observing what’s around them – it could be parents, TV, sports people, their peers, teachers. How the people around respond to the behaviour normally decides whether they continue to do it – punishment or praise. Us adults really aren’t that different. If at training you decide that you are going to be positive about sessions and people notice, it’s more likely you will continue. I guess the difference to a habit is that the habit has more intrinsic reinforcement whereas a behavior has an external reinforcement.

What about your inner chimp? Professor Steve Peters is not only a successful masters athlete but also a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked with a number of sports teams helping them on their way to improved performances. Prof Peters states that the psychological mind is made up of three component parts:- The Chimp – the emotional machine that responds very quickly to a stimulus, it thinks independently to us & can trigger thoughts & feelings that can be either constructive or destructive. The Human – the rational, analytical part of the brain that processes information in a considered, factual way before eliciting an action. Finally the Computer – where information including experiences & learned behaviours are stored for future reference.

He offers ideas on how to best train your Chimp – the most obvious being through positive reward. He also suggests how to develop mind-sets in your Computer. Mind-sets are wired into our brains by consistent repetition of positive behaviours.

Self reflection

What habits do you have that are good? What habits do you have that you would like to change? What about your behaviours? Is there something that you would like to do differently? Can you train your Chimp?

Don’t underestimate the power of habit, it’s a multi million pound business! From us feeling the need to have those latest trainers to the latest food supplement that will boost performance. Companies employ people to look at algorithms to see how best to pitch something.

We are all still in lockdown in the UK as I type & a number of us may have a little more time to spare so how could you use that time more effectively? (Apart from making banana bread obviously). Could you add something into your daily routine that will help your mental & physical health? If you are sat down more now – can you add some hip, hamstring stretching into your day? If you think you are lacking omega 3 in your diet – could you plan a new meal each week to incorporate this?

Note it down

I’ve found that writing things down tends to help – it helps you reflect, it helps with positive reinforcement. I’ve been journaling for a while & it’s good to look back but just as important to plan ahead.

On the flip side is there a habit you want to break? The book profiled a lady who bit her nails & every time she had the urge to bite her nails she sat on her hands & eventually it worked! if you always set off too fast on your run – could you make a point of observing your surroundings just for the first mile at least?

What do you do on race day? I think we all have a process we go through. If you want to change it why not try writing down different scenarios? Not just of how the race could pan out but what you plan to do that day? For example, breakfast, what to drink, do you want to foam roll, stretch, have a bath or a shower, are you going to walk the course? If you get nervous – could a breathing exercise help with that? If you get overwhelmingly nervous – can you train your Chimp in order to help you feel calmer & more positive?

You build a neural pathway once you keep doing something over & over – it’s why, for example, you should perform drills to help you run better as they encourage better movement.

I’d love to stop biting my nails, I’d like to stop comparing myself to others, I’d like to enjoy swimming & do it regularly…. there’s a long list! I try bit by bit to make small, manageable changes. For me personally I love reading so reading about the theory first helps me to understand what I’m trying to do.

Hopefully the information above has given you some ideas & some motivation. Lets see what we can do in 2021.

Louise Rudd is a multiple world masters winning athlete with Stockport Harriers

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In a recent piece we explored the recovery from injury of multi-world masters champion Louise Rudd. Closely linked to injury is of course the issue of nutrition.

With the ongoing pandemic many risk factors pertaining to nutritional health have been highlighted, one such issue being that of obesity.

Here in the UK, news was recently reported that 25% of our population were obese and 60% were overweight (see also Yang et al. 2020).

More recently highlighted is the issue in endurance sport of RED-S (Relative Energy Deficit Syndrome), which equally has many associated risks.

Testimony from Louise

So how do we the balance between ‘overeating’ and ‘undereating’? The following is a personal testimony from the lead author as athlete rather than nutritionist….

“For me and any athlete I believe carbs are not the enemy. I have found that the ideal amount is 7-10g of carbohydrate per KG of body weight.

My need for carbohydrate will be more if I train more than once a day. What I find helps if you can’t stomach eating more is something like orange juice- don’t forget there can be 10g carbs in 100ml of orange juice.

In terms of my recovery, I have found that the addition of protein (1-2g/KG) to carbs has the added benefit of stimulating muscle protein synthesis and tissue repair.

In generic terms I eat meat, fish and dairy for general but a good nut butter could be a good vegan alternative.

I like to drink good old milk to both replenish protein and re-hydrate myself.

In my experience healthy fats also have a vital role to play in my daily nutrition because I feel they support intramuscular triglyceride stores and therefore provides energy.

The guidelines I follow suggest 70g a day for women and 90g for men, with no more than 30g of that from saturated fat.”

Metabolism

As we age our metabolism tends to slow and so what I’ve come to realise that what I ate 20 years ago may need to change.

I’m not sure about anyone else but my diet especially at university was questionable to say the least!! I have to personally focus on eating a better quality and balance of foods.

Yes of course there are plenty of treats in there as its mentally draining for me personally to restrict certain foods but it’s all about balance! Similarly, I’m well aware that not eating enough can lead to further problems such as osteoporosis due to poor bone health.

A question of balance

It’s important to get a good balance of macronutrients, micronutrients and fluids in your daily diet, but what else can help?

There is some evidence around tart cherry juice being useful for recovery in aiding inflammation. Caffeine has been well documented as an ergogenic aid for sports performance, especially endurance sports. I do have caffeine gum before a race – the recommended amount is 3-13mg per kg of body weight – it’s a big range as we all have a different sensitivity to caffeine – for example – if you drink coffee every day its likely you will need more to get a response. At the moment the studies show a benefit for endurance sports specifically but we all know that a caffeine burst certainly gives you a boost.

I think that Omega 3 has been shown to help with remodelling & recovery from muscle damage, as has Vitamin D. Vitamin D is also integral to good bone health and government guidelines do suggest taking a supplement of 10mcg a day in the winter months in the UK due to the lack of sun exposure. I personally take Vitamin D, a good multivitamin and mineral, an omega, a probiotic and collagen.

From the research I have done, Collagen is an interesting one – some studies have shown a benefit to taking collagen together with vitamin C (it aids absorption) to benefit cartilage injuries. after what I’ve been through, I certainly thought it was worth a try.

From your mid 20s you begin to lose about 1% of your collagen a year and for women as much as 30% in the first 5 years of menopause.

Probiotics

So what about probiotics? They are living organisms that occur naturally in foods such as yoghurt, sauerkraut and miso and they can be known as ‘friendly’ bacteria.

Any imbalance in the gut can definitely have a knock on effect and personally I’ve found the extra supplements have helped. Most of what you need can be found in a good balanced diet (apart from the additional Vitamin D needed in winter) so my advice is don’t worry about having to buy supplements just make sure you plan ahead with meals.

A cautionary note

Be wary of what you buy and where you buy it from as the supplement industry is not regulated in the same way as the pharmaceutical industry. (Editors note – remember to check the status of any supplement you plan to take on the Global DRO website)

Similarly if you are seeking advice from a professional – check their credentials. A nutritionist can technically go on line do a course and get a certificate, a dietician has to be registered. Clearly that doesn’t define whether they are good or bad but be weary of people advising you to cut out entire food groups or those, for example, that state no carbs after 6pm.

A change should be something that is long term and sustainable, be it for weight loss or weight gain. I try not to compare myself to others as we are all very different in both our needs and our circumstances”.

So what?

The above is a personal reflection from an athlete who has been an elite masters level athlete in bagging global titles. It is not a prescription from a qualified nutritionist or dietician.

As athlete and coach, both Louise and myself as coach/ coach educator would always recommend that for prescription, professional advice always be sought. This being said Louise’s experience as a biologically and intellectually mature athlete indicates she is understandably taking a high degree of ownership in terms of how she approaches nutrition.

So similarly, there is no reason why as athletes, you cannot engage with the same self-reflection questions as well as seeking professional advice:

Now what: Questions for self-reflection

1. How am I monitoring signs that I may be ‘overeating’ on the one hand or ‘undereating’ on the other?
2. How cognisant am I of my nutritional intake in terms of the recording of my consumption, as I would be with the logging of frequency, intensity and volume of my training?
3. In what ways is my nutritional strategy aiding my overall health and athletic performances?
4. To what extent can I take ownership of my nutritional strategy or to what extent do I need the prescription of a professional?
5. Why might my approach to nutrition change as my biological and training ages increase as has Louise’s?

You can keep up with Louise’s rehabilitation and comeback @lulurudd on twitter or @louisenrudd on Instagram. As both Midland Mens Road Running Team Manager and Midland Masters Mens Team Manager, Matt can be contacted for views on this piece through mattlongcoach@gmail.com.

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Back in September last year, we featured the illustrious career of multi-world masters champion Louise Rudd in Rudd-ered for Success (September 10th). In a celebratory piece which took her 2015 W800m Gold in Lyon as its centrepiece, we explored how she had adjusted the volume, frequency and her training in order to account for a progression in her biological, training and competition ages.

Even with the most enlightened of approaches, sometimes things go wrong and its fair to say Louise has had a tough time of late. This being said her struggles with injury in recent months can be used to develop understanding among the collective running fraternity.

Definitional terms

In this piece we focus on two physiological problems which in Louise’s case may have been interrelated. In definitional terms (1) Proximal hamstring tendinopathy or PHT tends to be more popularly referred to as ‘high hamstring’ tendinopathy.

According to Zissen et al. 2010, tendon degeneration, partial tearing and peritendinous inflammatory reactions may all be associated with the condition as what is contextualised as ‘insertional tendinopathy’ (Cook and Purdam, 2009). (2) A meniscal tear represents an injury to a part of the knee, namely the meniscus. Two crescent-shaped pads of thick, rubbery shock-absorbing cartilage in the knee joint represent the menisci, their being located between the femur and tibia.

Louise elaborates on a long and winding road since we celebrated her career four months ago…

Injury Occurrence

The owner of 6 global masters gold medals remembers that, “It was a cold Saturday morning and I had decided to do a Park Run back in November 2018. I had run some of my biggest mileage in a number of weeks and to be honest I felt pretty good. I have always been the type or runner that would do a session/race in shorts whatever the weather as it is a mindset thing and makes me feel race ready.

I did note however that particular day it was really cold but it was too late to change by the time I’d made my way to the start. Within the first mile, I felt something ‘go’ at the top of my hamstring but I limped on and finished.

My initial thoughts were that it was something to do with my back as in 2015 I stepped out for a run and had a dead leg which after an MRI scan it transpired that I had a bulging disc pressing on a nerve. I had managed this with starting yoga and physio and it felt that it was under control”.

Medical Intervention

The five time European champion continues that, “I went to see my physio as soon as I could and we both agreed that it was likely a high (also known as proximal) hamstring tendinopathy. It is commonly seen in distance runners, sprinters and hurdlers in athletics. What I felt was a deep, localised pain in the area of the ischial tuberosity (your sit bone).

For me, I just wanted to hold the area to support it. It didn’t actually stop me running, it just felt very uncomfortable and I particularly found that trying to do anything fast was out of the question. What did not help was the fact that I’m a rep for a pharmaceutical company so driving while being sat for large parts of the day was agony and there was no respite”.

Injury management

The owner of two British records explains that, “Speaking as an athlete, the key to tendinopathy management is loading. It should be progressive loading whilst monitoring pain. Exercises such as isometric leg curls, isometric long leg bridging with two legs progressing to one leg, bridge holds were what I undertook.

I took professional advice to understand that the key to proximal hamstring tendinopathy rehabilitation is to 1) restore hamstring strength and 2) restore hamstring muscle bulk & capacity in a functional range of movement. In addition, Heavy Slow Resistance (HSR) training is advocated including eccentric and concentric elements.

I am aware enough to know that all rehabilitation should progress and I moved onto Nordic hamstring curls with the aim being to continue with functional training in greater hip flexion. I embarked upon progression to hip thrusts, forward step ups, walking lunges, deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts.”

Setback

With candour the Stockport Harrier acknowledges that, “With the benefit of hindsight, my path towards rehabilitation was somewhat stalled by me not resting as I had a World Indoors Masters Championships in Poland in March 2019 that I desperately wanted to attend.

I should not have gone as training for the months after the November incident had been intermittent. I then ran a 5K race on the roads in April and couldn’t walk a step at the end so at that point I knew it needed further investigation”.

In explaining the process of the MRI scan, she explains that “The results showed a partial tear in the hamstring and the health of my back had also declined so i had two procedures:- an epidural into the lower back (caudal epidural) and a Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injection into the site of the hamstring tear.

Although PRP has been around since 2009 it is still considered experimental and evidence is inconclusive. Basically they take your own blood, centrifuge it so that it separates and then they inject you with your own plasma to try and instigate repair as platelets release growth factors and proteins”.

Pushing through the pain

The 46 years old recalls that, “I started the winter season in 2019 and trained a lot on grass for the xc season. My hamstring was uncomfortable but not unbearable. I had noticed that the inner side of my right knee (same leg as the hamstring issue) had begun to hurt a little, but i just strapped it up and ran on. I actually had some good results and managed a 10K PB at Telford in the December having turned 45 in the November”.

With obvious frustration she articulates that, “After a small break I commenced indoor training for what we thought would be the European Masters Indoors Champs in Portugal but as i tried to put any speedwork in the hamstring was complaining as was the knee.

As we all know in March 2020 the UK went into lockdown so I decided to ease back on my running. Rather annoyingly I managed to sprain my ankle just walking (also on my right leg) and we drove to France for a vacation. I did alot of walking and some cycling but by the end of the holiday the pain in my knee had literally brought me to a halt. It was incredibly painful”.

Surgery

The Northern Masters athlete continues that, “I decided to have another MRI scan which showed a torn meniscus in the knee but also that the hamstring tendon had now become partially detached from the ischial tuberosity. The only option I had was surgery and I operated on by a specialist in September 2020.

Hamstring tendon surgery is still reasonably unusual and the surgeon concluded that it was highly likely that the meniscus had torn due to hamstring detachment forcing a change in biomechanics.

He was also rather surprised how I had managed to keep running on it for such a long time! He performed both operations at the same time as we felt that rehab from one then another wasn’t the best”.

Comeback

Ever the optimist, Louise’s mood visibly lifts when a return to running is mentioned. She enthuses that, “The initial aim of physio was to build up strength again in the hamstring muscle whilst not putting too much pressure on the tendon as the last thing you want is for that to become detached again!

It was 12 weeks from the operation to commencing some light running a few times a week. We tested the strength in the hamstring before I was allowed to run to ensure it was similar to the other leg. Rehab so far has gone well and have been back running a little for the last six weeks”.

One should always seek medical advice where injury is concerned but as athlete and coach, Louise and I can leave you with the following questions for self-reflection which lean towards prevention rather than prescription…..

Questions for self-reflection:

1. When I suddenly increase the volume, frequency or intensity of my training, am I aware that I am more at risk of injury?
2. How is the work I do on foundational and fundamental development assisting me to stand the best chance of remaining injury free?
3. What I can do to change my wider lifestyle demands which will help me stay injury free e.g. driving less or investing in a sit-stand desk to help posture?
4. Why is it important I seek medical diagnosis at the earliest opportunity when experiencing pain?
5. What can I do to ensure that I desist from exacerbating an injury by being unwittingly sucked into pressure to continue to train and compete?
6. When I return to the sport how am I managing my training overload so as to avoid the risk of re-aggravating the problem?

Matt Long is both Midland Mens Road Running Team Manager and Midland Masters Mens Team Manager and can be contacted for views on this piece through mattlongcoach@gmail.com. You can keep up with Louise’s rehabilitation and comeback @lulurudd on twitter or @louisenrudd on Instagram

The post Hamstrung and Torn appeared first on Fast Running.

9th August 2015. Lyon. France.

As eight women go to their marks for the final of the W40 800m, the woman sporting a Team GB masters vest whispers to herself – “If you don’t win the world doesn’t end” and instantaneously feels an inner peace and calmness take over her body.

As the gun goes and the athletes break from their lanes just over 100m into the race, the Stockport Harrier reminds herself, “You are an honest front runner”, so it’s no surprise that she finds herself at the front of the pack. They take the bell and she reminds herself, “Keep running as hard as you can”.

It’s all going to plan and then out of the corner of her right eye, a blue vest appears and the Italian goes past her with 300m to go, much to the animation of the French commentary team in the stadium. To all intents and purposes it looks as if the Northern Masters athlete then has a battle on her hands to come away with a silver medal as the Italian powerfully strides into the home straight.

With 80m to go that voice appears again in her head- it’s the one that told her less than two minutes ago that the world wouldn’t end if she lost. That voice was lying! Nothing else in the world matters at this point as her inner conscience tells her, “I’m not going to settle for silver” and with the crowd on their feet and arms outstretched and eyes looking towards the skies (think Sebastian Coe Moscow 1980), Louise Rudd stops the clock at 2:15.69 and is a world masters champion.

Just four days later a second gold over 1500m is duly delivered at the double and an insight into her sense of humour is that she will go on to rib her work mates about her success in having “Dame Louise Rudd” business cards made much to their amusement!

5 years later, the proud owner of 6 global masters gold medals, 5 European titles and two British records joins me to unpick her philosophy of training.

Chronological, Biological and Training Ages

Any masters athlete worth their salt will tell you that, “Age is but a number”. Louise, who turns 46 in November is no different but she is perceptive enough to realise that chronological age is not necessarily correlated with biological age. Whist she jokes that, “I feel 70 odd some days with the knee niggles”, she asserts that she assesses she, “feels much younger- more like a 30 something year old, most of the time”.

Of course it’s equally naïve to say, “You are only as old as you feel”. Whilst matters of cognition are indeed important, there is a physiological side to the ageing process- call it nature if you will- which simply cannot be denied. Louise has always been active in terms of sports of some kind. Post University and looking to get back in shape, for instance she kick boxed (attaining junior black belt status) in her early twenties and this would have had tremendous gains in terms of her agility, balance and co-ordination. She also kept herself biologically ‘young’ through regular flexibility and circuit based training.

As well as the difference between her chronological and biological ages, its worth reflecting on her training age. Commencement at the age of 7 in track and field at first points to a training age of 40 odd years but closer scrutiny reveals a nine year break from track and field between the ages of 18-27. This means that she effectively has a training age specifically in athletes of three rather than four decades.

Significantly, thanks to the kick boxing in her twenties, she was healthy and ‘fight fit’ if not race ready in track and field terms. She enthuses that, “The kickboxing has stayed with me because they really honed in on your flexibility. Working the transverse plan of movement is good and something us runners tend to traditionally neglect”. This may in fact mean she can continue to compete as a masters athlete for longer than some because she has avoided the wear and tear of pounding the pavements for ten years, whilst maintaining a different kind of fitness.

In terms of her long term athlete development. Louise played both netball and basketball alongside her childhood foray into track and field. These two sports would have got her used to using all three energy systems as well as twisting, turning and jumping.

What is also significant about Louise’s training age is the fact that she was a late event group specialiser. Indeed when she dipped her proverbial big toe into the world of athletics courtesy of Sale Harriers, at the age of 7, she spent three years as a sprints based athlete, before moving into a middle distance based group at the age of 10. This will have been significant given the considerable alactic demands of the shorts sprints- typically 80 metres at her young age. This will have helped her to habituate some key biomechanical movement patterns which would have a transferable value much later in her middle distance track and field career.

Critically, even when she moved on to the middle distance training group at Sale and won a silver medal over 800m at the Northern championships as a U13, she still long jumped and ran in the 80m sprint final. This is long term athlete development at its finest and it’s not dissimilar to someone like the great Moscow Olympic 800m champion Steve Ovett, who could still operate effectively as a long jumper and 200m sprinter whilst running national age leading times over two laps.

 

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V40 European Champion 1500m #stockportharriers #fasterasamaster

A post shared by Louise Rudd (@louisenrudd) on Jul 30, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

Injury management

Like many masters athletes with a significant training age in our sport, Louise has had and continues to struggle with persistent injuries. “I struggle with my back”, she confides, before clarifying that, “It all stems from an upper hamstring injury which seems to have a degree of permanency”. Perceptively she acknowledges that causation may not be related to her athletic activity but to the demands of wider lifestyle.

“I’m a rep for a pharmaceutical company”, she adds, “so I can spend all day sitting in a car, which doesn’t help”. As well as nurture, she believes some of this is down to nature as her father was a semi-professional football and she believes she has inherited his mesomorphic body type.

“I’m short and muscular like he was”, she says, before adding, “it does tend to make me a heavier runner so I have to be careful about impact injuries”. How does she manage these injuries? “I always do so kind of mobility drills, sometimes using hurdles before every run”.

Louise regularly sees her physio Chris Bramah at MHIP whether injured or not as this keeps her in one piece. Chris also sets her S&C based on what hers needs/weaknesses are.

Adjustments to frequency and intensity of training as a masters athlete

As recently as five years ago, Louise concedes, “I rarely took rest day and did lots of double days. That’s changed somewhat as I force myself to take days off and really only tend to do one double day per week”.

In terms of the intensity if her training she comments that, “My easy runs are ‘easier’ than they used to be as I’ve learned to ease back and I think terrain is important. I find running round grass like football pitches to help in terms of an active running recovery rather than pounding the pavements”. She effects specific S&C sessions twice per week as well as cross training through spin classes on the bike and then there’s the continued focus on flexibility with the yoga.

Louise offers significant insight when it comes to talking about her approach to training the specific energy systems, pointing out that, “I focus less on the lactate energy system unless it’s during the pre-competition or competition phases of the periodisation cycle. I’ve learned to time this much better over the years”.

She says that when she came back into the sport at the age of 27, she learned the importance of building her aerobic base before embarking on this kind of speed endurance work. It was the allure of the 2003 BUPA Great Manchester Run which caught her eye and she would go on to record an impressive 3hr 37mins in a London marathon, undertaken on four days a week training.

Regular attention to maintaining a solid aerobic base was maintained through the parkrun scene and through joining Wilmslow Running Club. So when did she make the decision to come back into the track and field fold?

“It was around the time of the Athens Olympics and Dame Kelly’s Holmes’ magnificent double that I began to hear of the masters concept and I really got a taste for it back then, I knew I was capable of running 800ms in just over 2m20s so at that point I joined Stockport Harriers because I wanted to run on the track once more and I hooked up with coach Dave Turnbull”.

So whilst the 800m has significant lactate energy system demands, Louise is careful as to when she stresses this system but points out that regular alactic work throughout the periodisation cycle is not uncommon. She concurs, “I do 6 x 15s strides a couple of times per week to help with leg turnover”.

Her aerobic base nowadays is developed typically through winter work involving tempo running. Typically she may start with 2 efforts of 3 miles and is progressed on to continuous runs of up to 8 miles.

In terms of competition, unlike a significant proportion of middle distance athletes, Louise tends to undertake cross country in the Greater Manchester League. This work which has obvious aerobic and strength endurance benefits is then superseded by a short indoor season on the boards between January and March, lactate predominant work in that pre-competition and competition phase of the periodisation cycle might involve sessions like 8 x 200m or ‘reverse pyramid’ work commencing with 1k and moving down to 800m/ 600m and so on. Even when effecting these mode of sessions, it would not be more than twice a week.

In addition she adds that, “Because the focus is on the quality of the work I’m undertaking in speed endurance terms, I tend to allow myself more generous passive recoveries between repetitions these days so pace can be maintained”.

So what does the future hold for Louise Rudd? “Well I’m not getting any faster!” she says with a laugh. Records and titles, however, still motivate her. “I’ll be focussing more on the 1500m and I can see myself moving to the 5000m eventually but ultimately enjoyment and health are the main focus”. She is now working with the duo of Eilish McColgan and Mike Rimmer and looking forward to getting back racing towards the end of the year.

Questions for self-reflection

1. Do I fully understand the differences between chronological, biological, training and competition ages and how these will impact my performance as a masters athlete?
2. What am I doing as a masters athlete to continue to work on my foundational and fundamental athlete development?
3. How, like Louise, am I continuing to work on my agility, balance and co-ordination?
4. Why might it be pertinent to revise both the frequency and intensity of my training as a masters athlete as Louise has?
5. Where and why does rest figure in my schedule?
6. What is the root cause of my injuries and how am I actively managing them as Louise does?7. Why might it be smart to think more deeply about when to training the three different energy systems as Louise does at specific points of the periodisation cycle?

Matt Long is a Midland Masters Men’s Team Manager and an England Athletics Coach Education Tutor. He welcomes contact to discuss these ideas further at mattlongcoach@gmail.com

You can keep up with Louise’s training and racing @lulurudd on twitter or @louisenrudd on Instagram

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