🏃 Weekly Cadence by Geeks on Feet

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Weekly Cadence by Geeks on Feet

When one crosses the finish line, the feeling in each one of us might be different, however, the accomplishment of completing a task is similar. Also, once we complete the task on hand it suddenly loses the charm and we move to our next target.

It happens more often than not. The reason to mention it today is, our this week's edition has a few record breaking news, and I wonder would the elites be behaving any differently with the tasks on hand?!

I wish you are all staying safe and jabbed. Happy reading.

Work out of the week: Split Jumps

Unilateral power generation is the secret to a strong running stride. The best way to build unilateral power is to incorporate strength workouts that closely mimic our running stride. Split Jumps are similar but are plyometric in nature. Here are the benefits of Split Jumps

They work on the stretch-shortening cycle and make it more explosive
They build stability and balance when landing
They help with awareness of knee flexion, better engagement of glutes, quads, and hamstrings to control the fall when landing

How to do it?

A Split Jump is a combination of lunge and jump.

Get into a lunge position first with your right leg forward.
Lower down till the point knee almost touches the ground.
Raise yourself up explosively, to full extension
While in the air, alternate your left leg forward
With your left leg forward, lower down to lunge position

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72xY37N_Sww (courtesy: Kai Simon)

When to do it?

You can include splits jumps either as part of activation or part of your strength training activities. By nature split jumps are explosive, so ensure you warm up well and gradually build the repetitions. Do split jumps on a level surface, and wear stable training shoes. 4 to 5 sets of 20s intervals is a good workout for beginners.

Highlights from the World of Running

Sifan Hassan smashes women’s 10,000m record by 10 seconds in super spikes

Ethiopian-born Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan broke a five-year-old world record in the 10,000m by 10.63 seconds, clocking 29:06.82 at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, on 6 June. Hassan, the world champion in the 1500m and the 10,000m, took down Ethiopian Almaz Ayana‘s record of 29:17.45 from the 2016 Rio Olympics. She now owns world records for the mile, 5km, one hour run, and the 10,000m. Notably, Hassan was wearing the latest version of the Nike ZoomX Dragonfly spikes, dubbed as the “fastest shoes ever”. Read more here

Just-in: Letesenbet Gidey Breaks Sifan Hassan’s 2-Day Old 10k World Record

Sifan Hassan’s world record didn’t stay for long. Her 2-day old record was broken in less than 55 hours. Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey ran on the very same track and slashed a further five seconds off the world record. She ran 29:01.03 as part of the Ethiopian Olympic Trials. Gidey now holds world records for both 5,000 and 10,000 meters Read more here.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is now the second-fastest woman in history

Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the second-fastest woman in history on Saturday, clocking a world-leading 10.63 seconds for the 100m at the Olympic Destiny meeting in Kingston. The 34-year-old reigning and two-time Olympic 100m champion obliterated the field at the National Stadium to finish several meters clear of her closest rival. Only late US sprinting star Florence Griffith-Joyner, who holds the world record of 10.49sec, has run faster. She will now race at the Jamaican Championships which will also act as the Tokyo Olympics qualifier. Read more here:

Mo Farah fails to make Olympic 10k qualifying time

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah's hopes of ending his track career at the Tokyo Games suffered a huge blow as he fell short of the qualifying mark for the 10,000 meters in Birmingham on Saturday. The 38-year-old finished eighth, behind fellow Briton Marc Scott, in the European Cup, which doubled as a British Olympic trial. Farah's time of 27:50.64 was 22 seconds short of the Tokyo Olympic qualifying time of 27:28.00. He blamed a foot injury for his poor showing, which had prevented him from training over the last two weeks. Read more here

Garmin launches the Forerunner 55 and Forerunner 945 LTE smartwatches

Garmin has officially launched two new smartwatches under its Forerunner series. The models are the Garmin Forerunner 55 and the Forerunner 945 LTE. The Forerunner 55 is a successor to the Forerunner 45 and offers some improvements in the battery life compared to its predecessor. On the other hand, the Forerunner 945 LTE is the LTE-supported variant of Forerunner 945. While the Forerunner additionally 55 packs a lot of features from Forerunner 245 which is new to the price range, Forerunner 945 LTE comes with LiveTrack which lets users share the real-time location and route of their run or ride. The Forerunner 55 is roughly priced at $200 while Forerunner 945 LTE is priced at $650. Availability and pricing in India is yet to be announced. Read more here

Running Technique Tip - Uphill Running

Uphill running is a different ball game from flat running. Our body stresses different sets of muscle groups. So altering the technique slightly can help you be more efficient when running uphills. Here are the few things that you can consider -

Increase your leg turnover (cadence) relatively from what normally you maintain on flat terrain.
Don’t lean too forward. Keeping the upper body straight is very important. Here is where the role of strength training comes into play.
Focus on generating the force from hips majorly, as ankle extension is quite weak because of the excessive dorsiflexion because of the terrain.

Running Quiz

This week we saw Sifan Hassan smashing the women’s 10,000m record at the FBK Games in Hengelo.

Can you guess who holds the men’s 10,000m world record?

The answer to the previous week’s quiz is June 1, 2016, is the date when the inaugural edition of global running day was held

Compiled by Karthik, Aravind and Aditi

Team GeeksonFeet

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