if you want to target just the hamstrings put your heel on a chair, bend the knee and bend forwards from the hips. by bending the knee you take out the gastrocs (part of your calves) and also you won't be stretching the fascia quite so much....so it's more targeted to the hamstrings. bending at the hips and pelvis is key, due to the fact your hamstrings attach to the pelvis, so if you don't move that, you won't get the stretch.

hold stretches for 15-20 seconds and 3-5x. you can also do self-PNF but it's a little tricky if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

i've read lots of research about stretching, it's interesting to say the least. all i'll say is doing 3 lots 15 seconds for 1 or 2 muscle groups per day or a few times a week is all but pointless.

i can EASILY do a 20+ minute stretching routine and still have more to do, it's a very time consuming thing. main muscle groups really for runners to target in the lower limbs are hamstrings, calves, adductors, glutes (especially glute medius), iliopsoas and quads....but doing your ITB won't do you any harm, neither would trying tibialis anterior stretches and also working on the plantar fascia etc.

trust me, you can stretch to your hearts content....

keep the supporting leg straight, bend the leg you're stretching. kinda like this but with the heel on the chair and leaning forwards



i said 3-5x 15-20secs.....in an ideal world doing that once per day is the minimum amount for any noticeable benefit. you should be doing that 2-3x daily ideally. it takes a lot of home stretching to get any actual physical changes. some state that the ability to "stretch further" after doing some stretching is more likely due to changes in perception (hard to explain simply, but you can google golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle apparatus) and not physiological changes in the muscle.

where are you based again Halb?

I see. I'll give it a whizz twice a day. It is quite difficult to see/feel if I am getting benefit.

I am also trying to get round these.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/ASH...

I'm in Warrington.

Man Vs Horse event today. all i can say is that it's an EPIC, simply EPIC event. 96 relay teams (which we won!!) and over 350 runners doing the full 21-22 mile course. almost all off road and over 1000m of climb. the down hills (on my leg at least) were largely rocky, uneven and very tricky.....which the horses didn't like at all but as soon as it got even and either flat or up they soon went round you. i think 3 horses beat us.

when i mean it was muddy and hilly....it really was. had to cross streams etc, at one point i went to go into this puddle expecting it ankle deep (water was muddy so couldn't see how deep) and it was mid-thigh on me so nearly fell straight over!!)

i did 2nd leg, the first hill went from 220m elevation up to 502m before staying pretty much up that height before dropping back down through very muddy, rutted and uneven, beaten tracks to about 350m before rising again VERY steeply to about 450m again (by this point my legs were fked) before a big descent to hand over to the next leg.

awesome event, watching the horses try to beat the runners. a while after we finish we witnessed a man outsprint one of the horses (which looked well and truly beat). thoroughly enjoyable but i was absolutely beaten.

put it like this for tough....i rested before hand and my leg was around 11k; on flat road i'd be averaging somewhere around 5:40-5:45/mile. today, my average was about 7:35/mile. i overtook 4 runners on my leg and gave us a tidy lead.

amazingly though....despite being the first relay team in we were beaten by a runner who did the whole run. incredible. a horse won it today though.

it was indeed. he was some way off the horses today, mind. between 5 and 10mins if i recall. he's a quick chap.

Thanks for the advice fellas, I am utilising it.

Yes, I used to go along to that run when I could.

Anyone else take part in this years Blaydon Race?

Happy but disappointed at the same time, official time is 49.53 which is a 4minute improvement over last year. However I was in the final group to set off and we were held for a minute (more like 2 in reality), but the times do not seem to have been corrected.

My Garmin had me at 47.53.

Great run again though with loads of atmosphere, inspite of the torrential rain!

Having watched the video link, Man vs Horse may be a rather different setting to my preference of the track, but it's managed to get on my 'to do' list of races, either as a relay team or on my own. Looks like a lot of fun, though I'm no fan of hills!

My season continues to go well - now up to 10 weeks of training, averaging 74 miles per week and haven't missed a day.

I ran as a guest in a local track 5km over the weekend which by chance featured all 3 Surrey county medallists. It was a windy day which made for a slow, tactical race but a very fast last mile helped address the slower start which resulted in a very pleasing 15:30 for 2nd place, only losing out to the Surrey champ in the final 300m. That's an 18s SB and left me with a feeling there's a lot more to come in a more evenly paced race; My harder training sessions are starting to look very similar to those in the weeks prior to breaking 15 mins.

man vs horse is superb. you'd have to be very, very fit with good endurance to do the whole thing and enjoy it properly; i did just one leg (admittedly quicker than i'd run doing 21 miles or so) and it was really hard work. there is over 1000m climb in the race and if it's been raining it's very, very muddy and boggy. put it like this....it was actually only 21 miles on the nose for the full race.....some 5.2 miles shorter than a marathon. it took huw lobb a fair bit longer to complete it than he can do a marathon in....