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On Tuesday this week I meet someone, over Zoom, that I have followed on Instagram for a few years. Gary House, an ultra runner and running coach. I decided I needed to seek his expertise on all things running. I booked a “House Call” with him. Just like his social media content, it did not disappoint.
We spoke for over an hour about racing, training, injury, recovery, stretching, mobility, strength, nutrition and more. Gary was very informative and I came away feeling well equipped with knowledge to help me through my calf injury and adapt my training leading up to the Manchester Marathon in April and then the Ladybower Ultra in October.
Gary is a really nice guy. Down to earth, no bullshit and he explains things clearly and with no waffle. There is no hard sell on trying to get you to join his coaching programme, he comes across as genuine and eager to help. It was a pleasure to spend time speaking with him.
Like most people brought up catholic I harbour some guilt for almost anything. Not making the most of my gym membership is just one example. So today I took Gary’s advice and took myself down there to train my legs.
Bless me fellow gym goers, it has been [coughs] months since my last leg day. Since then I have not trained hard enough, I have drank too much beer and wine and eaten waaay to many cakes and biscuits.
I took Gary’s advice and increased the weight and lowered the reps. Not too much, I wasn’t sure what level I was going to be at, due to it being a few months since I last did these exercises.
I started off with a 500m warm up on the rowing machine. I then did a few light reps on the leg press machine. Then I moved onto squats, doing 4 sets of between 6 and 8 reps. I followed this with the same for dead lift. Next it was weighted bent knee calf raises, as prescribed by Gary, to help target the Soleus, the possible cause of my regular injuries. Finally 3 sets of 6 reps of leg extensions, followed by 5 minutes cool down on the exercise bike.
My legs know they have been down the gym and I’m pretty confident that the first steps out of bed tomorrow morning are going to be baby ones, and the stairs will not be my friend.
