Puffing Billy…Did You Beat The Train?

The 34th Puffing Billy run yesterday was completed by over 3000 runners in beautiful conditions through some stunning scenery in the Dandenong Ranges.  The runners were all united in one common goal…to beat the train….so how can this be achieved?

Racing a train appears to be no mean feat.  It requires speed and strength to race a hilly course, with a particularly intense uphill section from 6-8km on trail, followed by some pretty testing steep down hill sections.  So how is it that some succeeded, and some may reflect on how they can improve their speed and efficiency for next year?

Racing isn’t all about our cardiovascular fitness.  It requires solid base foundations of both stability and strength.  In particular our pelvis and hip control, and core stability need to be super schmick.  Then on top of that we need strength, which will create power, which in turn will create speed!

It is important to have very good glute max strength.  This muscle has a big surface area with lots of muscle fibres that are designed to provide power at the propulsion phase of running.  Then there are hamstrings – good hamstring strength helps to lift the heel up toward the bottom at push off, thus creating a shorter lever of the leg when swinging through.

We require good drive through the calf muscles. It is common to have weakness in the inner aspect of the calf muscle, which leads to runners pushing off through the outer aspect of the foot instead of through the big toe aspect; therefore decreasing the ability to generate optimal strength at push off.

Our Physiotherapists at Pure are highly skilled in running assessments as well as specific muscle testing to determine areas of weakness that may be present, explaining how this impacts our actual running technique and form, and how this can be improved to help with speed, power, and ultimately to be able to beat that train!!

For an assessment and program feel free to contact us to learn more, and to keep improving!