If you're interested in seeing how an old guy trains and runs or walks, take a look at my Old Man Running blog. For now, I'm focusing on running for enjoyment.
Showing posts with label Running Injury Free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Running Injury Free. Show all posts
Your Achievements In Running
Recently completed your first race? Won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in your age group? You've lost weight from running? You've done something you never thought you'd do -- run? Let us all celebrate with you! Tell us about your successes.
A Tribute to Dr. George (Doc) Sheehan
Dr. George ("Doc") Sheehan was medical columnist for Runner's World for several years and was an active runner and writer about running. One of his essays was called "The Basics of Jogging: How Fast, How Far, How Often?". That essay was the first article I read in the running literature, and I received it at the first meeting of the Digital Running Club in Maynard, Massachusetts in 1976. The essay was pure common sense, and I've followed his advice for over 40 years and have enjoyed running with only one minor injury. I'll be eternally grateful to "Doc" Sheehan for his guidance.
As a tribute to "Doc" Sheehan, I've posted that essay in this site for all to read and enjoy (additional essays by "Doc" Sheehan are at georgesheehan.com).
As a tribute to "Doc" Sheehan, I've posted that essay in this site for all to read and enjoy (additional essays by "Doc" Sheehan are at georgesheehan.com).
Click on any thumbnail to read the article.
Running Addiction
I recently read a small book called Positive Addiction by William Glasser. Glasser said there are two types of addiction, negative and positive. Negative addiction is harmful to us. It is based on judgment and guilt and the feeling that we are worthless. Positive addiction, on the other hand, strengthens us and increases the quality of our life.
Glasser gives the steps that lead to positive addiction about an activity, including doing the activity alone rather than with groups, and doing it for the pure enjoyment of the activity. If we run with another runner(s), for example, there is a tendency to compete and to judge. If our running partner is faster than we are, we will probably increase our pace to keep up with the other runner, and in so doing convince ourselves that the other runner is better than we are. If we run because we want to lose weight or to be on a school team, we will be in judgment of ourselves. We judge ourselves as being overweight. We judge ourselves as being slower (or faster) than the runners with whom we compete.
Of course, we should run with others and we should run to achieve goals if those are our needs. Competition has its place in our lives, but we need to recognize that by its nature, competition is negative and judgmental.
In addition to running for competition or to achieve other goals, we need to also run for no other reason than the pure enjoyment of running. If we are to be positively addicted to running, we have to accept ourselves for whom we are, without criticism and judgment. We have to learn to love our running and to allow our running to be a positive, strengthening influence in our lives. We can learn to become positively addicted to running, and by so doing achieve a new dimension of satisfaction in our lives! And, we'll probably increase the likelihood of running without injury, because we'll have less stress in our lives.
Actually, becoming addicted to running can be dangerous, because it can cause one to overdo it. I would suggest that we should become addicted to the good feeling of a healthy body, the good feeling of feeling great during and after we run. Running is just one way to have those good feelings. Walking, swimming, biking are also ways of having those good feelings. Become addicted to the result not the "messenger" so to speak. Such addition is positive and has beneficial influences in our lives.
Running Jargon
Runners, joggers, and walkers seem to speak a different language than other people. Here are definitions for some of the words and phrases that are used.
Fast Twitch
Jog
Personal Best or PB
Rabbit
Wakeup Heart Rate
Aerobic
Training during which your body gets the oxygen that it needs. This usually includes all running except sprinting and possibly 5K races.
Anaerobic
Training during which your body does not get the oxygen it needs. This usually involves sprinting and possibly 5K races.
Back Roads
Using minor city or town streets or country roads instead of major traffic streets. Back roads have less smog from exhaust fumes and fewer traffic lights, and, perhaps, more interesting scenery.
Cadence
Cadence is the number of times a given foot (either left or right) strikes the ground. Cadence is half the stride rate.
Carbo Loading
Eating extra carbohydrates before a race in an attempt to put more energy into your cells. Typically, runners eat a pasta dinner the night before a race. Some runners recommend milder carbo loading that is spread over several days.
Fartlek
"Swedish, speed play : fart, running, speed (from fara, to go, move, from Old Norse". I like that definition, speed play. Speed: training to run faster. Play: having fun doing it.
Fast Twitch
Slow Twitch
The two types of muscle fibers. For example, chickens have light meat (fast twitch) in their breasts, and they can flap their wings quite fast for short periods of time. They have dark meat (slow twitch) in their legs, and they can walk slowly around for long periods of time. Sprinters usually have fast twitch, and marathoners usually have slow twitch fibers. Of course, some runners have mixtures of the two fibers.
Foot-strike
The way that your foot hits the ground. Some runners, joggers, and walkers hit the ground with their heel. Others hit the ground with the mid or flat portion of their foot, and others hit the ground with their toe.
Heavy/Light
One of the principles of running is to allow at least 48 hours, the time your body needs to recover, between runs that cause heavy stress. The 48 hours encompasses two days, and that time is known as "heavy/light" and those terms refer to the stress applied to your body not to your effort in doing the run. The day after the heavy run could include a run of a shorter distance, a run at a slower speed, combinations of the two, or a day with no running.
Hills
Running up and down hills to increase your ability to run hills and to increase your body-strength.
Jog
Jogging
A pseudonym for running, although the words "jog" and "jogging" are usually used to refer to a slower pace.
Kick
A burst of speed, usually a near-sprint, at the end of a race or run.
Intervals
A type of speed training in which you run faster for a particular distance and then you run slower or walk for a distance to recover. This sequence is repeated several times.
Listen to your Body
Observing how your body responds to your training. Are you feeling energetic, tired during and after a run? Are your muscles sore and/or stiff? Have you come down with a cold when you usually don't have a cold?
Long Slow Distance or LSD
Running at a comfortable pace at which you can carry on a conversation with a running buddy. You aren't huffing and puffing during and after the run. LSD is used to build endurance for long distances.
Loop
Running a continuous path that returns to your starting point without doubling back on itself. A school track is a common example of a loop. When I lived in Massachusetts, I would run loops around small lakes, and I ran to the next town and back via a different path giving a big loop.It is possible to have Out/Back segments in loops, and loop segments in an out/back paths.
Negative Split
A run or a race in which the last half is run faster than the first half.
Out/Back
Running from your starting point to your destination and then returning to your starting point via the same path. "Out" to the destination and "Back" via the same path.
Overstride
If a runner overstrides, he or she is taking abnormally large steps. Overstriding can lead to injury because it stresses muscles in unnatural ways.
Perceived Effort
The amount of effort needed to complete a run, from the viewpoint of the runner. A faster run in cool temperatures and a slower run in hot temperatures could seem like the same effort to the runner.
Personal Best or PB
Personal Record or PR
The shortest time that you have completed a particular distance, such as a 5K race.
Positive Split
A run or a race in which the last half is run slower than the first half.
Pushing
Striving to run farther and/or faster. Increasing the intensity of your workouts.
Rabbit
A runner who sets the pace for another runner. For example, in a marathon a rabbit might set the pace for a runner who is considered likely to win. After 23 or so miles, the rabbit would drop out of the race, and the favored runner would finish in a blaze of glory.
RICE
An acronym describing the initial treatment of injuries. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
Runner's High
A psychological "feeling of wholeness and peace and contentment [that] came over me. I loved myself and the world and everyone in it. I had no longer to will what I was doing. The road seemed to be running me. I was in a place and time I never wanted to leave." (Dr. George Sheehan). Not all runners experience this, and those that do usually don't experience it often.
Second Wind
The time during a run after your body has warmed up and running has become less awkward and stressful and more enjoyable.
Speed
Training to increase your running speed.
Stride Rate
The number of times both feet strike the ground. An easy way to measure stride rate is to count the number of times your left foot strikes the ground in a minute (your cadence) and then double that number. Well trained runners typically have a stride rate of 180 or more.
Strides
The running of short bursts of speed to help you develop better form. Slower recovery jogs are done between the strides.
Taper
A period of reduced training before a race. Typical tapers are 3 weeks for a marathon and 1 or 2 weeks for a half-marathon.
Tempo Runs
Runs at a pace that is just below the point where you would go from aerobic to anaerobic running. Tempo runs are a form of speed training. They put a lot of stress on your body and aren't done for long distances.
Total Body Strength
Developing strength, through lifting weights, in the total body, i.e. the lower, mid, and upper sections of the body.
Wakeup Heart Rate
Resting Heart Rate
Your heart rate or pulse when you first wake up. Your waking up is the one time in a 24-hour day when you have the same conditions existing in your body (assuming you get proper sleep each night), and this allows you to compare your heart rate from day to day to get a general view whether your body is rested or not.
Walking Breaks
The mixing of walking and running. Typically, a walking break will be about 10% of the distance, but some people might walk more and others might walk less. Running and walking affect our muscles differently, and walking breaks give rest to your muscles and conserve energy that can be used later on during the run.
Wall
The point in a long distance run at which you've used up all of the energy that is stored in your cells, and your body starts burning fat. Usually, the runner doesn't suffer pain, just a lack of energy and starts walking/jogging. Typically, the wall occurs around 20 miles.
If you think of words or phrases that need defining, please give them in a comment to this post.
Running Myths
Thanks to ongoing research, some beliefs about running that have been accepted as fact in the past are now considered to be myths. I thought it would be interesting to collect these myths. If you know of other myths, please send me the links so I can investigate them and add them to this page.
Calories, Running and Walking
I've been telling people that running and walking both consume about the same number of calories. Wrong! The net calories burned or NCB is higher for running. NCB is the actual calories burned minus the calories that would be burned if one were just sitting.
Thanks to the Syracuse researchers, we now know the relative NCB of running a mile in 9:30 versus walking the same mile in 19:00. Their male subjects burned 105 calories running, 52 walking; the women, 91 and 43. That is, running burns twice as many net calories per mile as walking. And since you can run two miles in the time it takes to walk one mile, running burns four times as many net calories per hour as walking. Runner's World, 7/18/2005
Lactic Acid
I learned as a new runner reading the literature that stiffness after a run was caused by a build-up of lactic acid in ones body. Recent research has shown that the stiffness is caused by damage to muscle tissue not by lactic acid. "Lactic acid does not exist as an acid in the body: it exists in another form called 'lactate', and it is this that is actually measured in the blood". Research has also shown that lactate can be used by the body as fuel. The following pages discuss this in more detail.
Marathon Running Prevents Heart Attacks
Back in the 1970s, when I first started running, it was commonly believed that if a person ran a marathon, the person would never suffer heart attacks. Some running books and articles made that claim. The subsequent deaths of marathoners shook up the running world. Medical researchers are now learning that persons who run marathons but were improperly trained may suffer damage to heart muscle. An article in the Boston Globe gives the details. In addition, this article discusses the physiology of marathon running.
Races should always have a Sprint or "Kick" at the End
Up until recently I advocated that a race end with a sprint (kick) to the end. I recently read a comment from Jeff Galloway that kicks that are sprints have a relatively high risk of injury, and I've changed my attitude about kicks. I still recommend that the pace be increased for the last 200 feet (61 meters) or so, but I recommend that the pace during the kick not be greater than the fastest pace you're accustomed to. That is, don't sprint or go "all out" during a kick.
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