Running with Raynaud's

I have problem with circulation in my fingers which means that they can get very cold rather easily. This is a condition known as Raynaud's syndrome. As the pictures in the wikipedia article shows it can look rather alarming when all the blood goes from your fingers.

During long runs in the winter it can be difficult to get warmth back into your fingers once they get cold, so the key to avoiding problems is ensuring that they things do not get to that point in the first place. Having had a couple of nasty cold-finger experiences whilst out on long runs, I have now figured out how to avoid problems. Shorter runs are less of a problem - since you will be home soon and can immerse your hands in a bowl of warm water, which always works for me to get things warm again.

Keeping your whole body warm is important. When it is cold I wear running tights. If it's very cold I wear shorts over my tights. I've given up trying to keep my feet dry, but nevertheless I find that they stay a little warmer with good quality wool hiking socks. Your shirt should have long sleeves - keeping your arms as well as your hands warm is important. Normally I wear a technical running shirt, although I find that a merino wool base layer also works well when it is particularly cold. A running jacket is fine in most weathers, it acts as a wind-break and helps to keep you warm. When it is very wet a good quality goretex hiking jacket is preferable. Significantly heavier, but will prevent you coming soaked through when it's raining heavily. I take two hats - a synthetic beanie style hat for warmth and a peaked hat to keep the rain out of my eyes. Finally I take two pairs of gloves, thing synthetic or merino base layer gloves under wool or synthetic mittens.

That's a lot of clobber, but you don't have to wear it all - just have it with you in case you need it. Gloves and hats can go in a jacket pocket or be tucked into the waistband of your tights or shorts. The jacket itself can be tied around your waist.

I have noticed that if I wear a watch the hand with the watch can get colder than the other hand. To avoid this do not strap the watch directly onto your skin. Put it over the sleeve of your shirt or else the cuff of a glove. Do not tighten the watch strap excessively - keep it as lose as you can bear. Alternatively just put the watch in a pocket or leave it behind. I like to have mine with me as it's also a gps unit that records my route and pace and so forth.

Be warm and properly dressed before you step out of the door. If it's cold, wet and windy your fingers can get cold very quickly - spending a couple of minutes with bare hands whilst you tie shoelaces or fiddle with your GPS can be a real problem, so make sure you're set to run as soon as you leave the warmth of the house. Similarly, if you feel cold before you set out on your run take time to get warm before you leave.

On longer runs take something to eat - running low on fuel can exacerbate problem with keeping warm.

Some of this advice might seem over the top - but if you've experienced the problem of all the blood leaving your fingers when it very cold, wet and windy and you are miles from home then you seem come to appreciate the value of avoiding the problem.

5k Training

5km is a popular race distance, and here in the UK we have the excellent parkrun organisation providing free weekly 5k races at many venues around the country.

As with many things to do with running it is important to experiment. Every one is different and has strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless there are some basic building blocks that should be present for anyone trying to run a faster 5k. Very experienced will have their own ideas about how to train, so this article is mainly aimed at people who have run a bit, but do not have a clear idea how to train.

Racing

Getting the best out of yourself takes practice, and racing is no exception. 5k is short enough that you can practice quite often without compromising your ability to train well (longer distances can be problematic - a race can take a lot out of you so you need time off to recover). The optimal strategy for a fast 5k is an even pace for about 4.5km and then to kick hard. You might need a few iterations to find the right pace. The first step is to run a race to establish a target pace. A good target is about 15 seconds faster than your recent best (this is probably too aggressive for highly trained, fast runners - but realistic for many of us). So suppose you have recently managed to run around 20:15 - then breaking 20 minutes is a good target. Obviously the average pace is 4 mins/km. However you should go out slighty slower than this. For the first 4.5km you should run at around 4:05 min/km.

The biggest mistake than inexperienced racers make is starting too quickly. Learning control in the first half of the race is an important skill.

With around 500m to go you can afford to speed up significantly. If you have been running at 4:05 min/km for 4.5km then obviously you will have taken 18:22.5 to get to that point, so you need to cover the last 500m in 1:37.5 to make 20 mins - so you need 3:15 min/km pace for that section. It's hard to get useful feedback about your pace over such a distance - so again it's a question of doing it by feel and getting used to what that pace feels like.

Many world record 5k performance come off rather even pacing. So why recommend kicking? In my experience many people end up doing this. Maybe it is a failure of pacing but if so it is still worth training for this eventuality. Certainly if you can accelerate in the last few hundred metres then you should. In any case the speed training is worth doing.

Consider buying some racing flats for your races if you do not already have some. But do not be tempted to use them all the time - reserve them for your races and interval work. Doing too much running in flats risks injury if you are not used to them.

Aerobic development

5k is an primarily an aerobic event, doing well relies on your heart and lungs being able to deliver plenty of oxygen, and for your legs to be able to utilise it. 

Easy running

Aerobic conditioning comes from doing lots of easy running. Easy runs should not feel hard, exact pace is unimportant. Guard against working too hard - you'll compromise your ability to put in enough miles and risk injury. As a rule of thumb you should be running no faster than 50% slower than your 5k pace. So someone running a 20 minute 5k is doing 4 min/km at race pace, therefore easy runs should be no faster than 6 min/km. But do not treat this as a target - slower is fine!

You should do as much easy running as you can make time for; but do not increase mileage suddenly - gradually build things up and listen to your body. If your legs feel very heavy then you have done too much - cut back a bit until you feel better. In any case you should have a lower volume week every 3 or 4 weeks. It is often not necessary to explicitly plan this out - for most of us real life will intervene so that  it becomes difficult to fit in your usual running from time to time.

It is good to mix up the distance of your easy runs. The minimum should be about half an hour, and the maximum about 90 minutes. If you are in training for a marathon you might do longer, but for a 5k is little point. But you can run more than once a day so long as you are not overdoing it.

Tempo runs

Once a week you should get used to running for a sustained period at a pace that is closer to your race pace. These tempo runs should consist of 15 minutes easy running to warm up, then 20 minutes at about your 10km race pace, and then 15 minutes of easy running to cool down. 10km race pace will probably be around 10 seconds per km slower than your 5k pace.

Speed development

In order to run fast your body needs to get used to running fast. For a 5k you need to spend some time running at the pace that you will in the race. There are two paces to practice. The pace for the first 4.5km, and the pace for the kick.

Strength intervals

Once a week you should do some intervals at race pace. These sessions should consist of 10-15 minutes easy running to warm up then a set of intervals that add up to about 5km - for example: 6x800m, 5x1000m or 3x1600m, followed by 10-15 minutes easy running to warm down. Walk or jog slowly between each interval for about 50% of the time it took to run the interval.

Speed intervals

Finally you should practice the speed that you need for your kick. Many inexperience runners, or even runners that have trained for longer distances are not used to running this fast. These sessions need not make up much total distance, the idea is to get used to the feeling of running at speed. So a session might look like 10-15 mins easy warm up and then 10x200m at your kick pace with 200m walk/jog recoveries or 5x400 with 300-400m walk  or slow jog recoveries.