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Consider the following scenario: Your training schedule includes a weekly track or hill workout. One week, you hit your workout targets right on. You are brimming with confidence. The following week, the identical workout is awful with no apparent reason why. You feel bewildered and discouraged.
Knowing where you are in your menstrual cycle can provide valuable insight into your performance. Let’s examine why and how to use this knowledge to your training and racing advantage.
Any active adult over the age of 40 can attest to requiring more recovery time from training and injury.
Progressive training causes muscles to break down (on a microscopic level), repair and grow stronger. As we age, muscle fibres decrease in number and shrink in size. New muscle fibres are generated at a slower rate than in a younger person, resulting in a slower buildup and strengthening of muscle in response to the demands of training or the incidence of an injury.
I know this fact of life from personal experience. When I was 44 years old and my daughter was 12, we both suffered mild ankle sprains…………on the very same day. As our sprains were of similar severity, we both underwent identical treatment programs, consisting of physiotherapy and strengthening and balance exercises. Ten days after spraining our ankles, she was hopping and I was hobbling! Nothing beats experiential learning for driving home a fact of life.
Why does running a half or full marathon increase susceptibility to colds?
There is a large body of research that shows that moderate exercise reduces the incidence and severity of a cold or flu but intense or prolonged exercise increases the risk and severity of infection.
The research we found most relevant to runners and endurance athletes was conducted by noted exercise immunologist, Dr. David Nieman, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University. (Lance Armstrong has worked with Dr. Neiman and has been tested in his lab. If he’s good enough for Lance, he’s good enough for us). Dr. Neiman found that running or cross-training 30 to 90 minutes a day several times a week strengthened the immune system. However, exercise longer than 90 minutes increased risk of infection.
by Rachel Le
I’ve always said that I wanted to run a marathon by the time I turned 25, but truthfully, I never believed it would happen. I’ve always been a “jogger”. I’d go out and run short distances, maybe 2-3 kilometres, but I never thought that I’d be able to run long distances. I don’t have the small lean build of distance runners and I never understood putting myself through that pain. Last year, things changed; I found my motivation!
In April 2010, my 26-year-old brother, Brad, was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Initially, he was in excruciating pain and lost a tremendous amount of weight. I almost didn’t recognize him: my big, healthy 6’3” brother weighed less than I did, couldn’t get out of bed on his own, and needed a walker to get to the bathroom. My family’s life was put on hold as we rallied around him. It’s hard to describe the 6 months that he went through high doses of chemotherapy. The emotions, the procedures, the setbacks, the generosity and support of others, and finally the waiting…waiting to see if “it” will come back. If you’ve ever been there, you understand. If you haven’t, I pray that you never do, that we first find a cure for this terrible disease called cancer.
Hip pain is a very common problem for runners. Occasionally, there is a specific injury that causes the pain. Slipping on a slick surface or stepping in a hole may traumatize the hip. Overuse injuries are a much more frequent source of hip pain in runners. In order to understand hip pain, a brief anatomy lesson is in order.
The hip moves in 3-paired directions – forward (flexion) and backward (extension), inward (adduction) and outward (abduction), and internal and external rotation (rolling the leg in and out). Specific muscles are responsible for each of these movements. Certain muscles, such as the hamstrings and rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps) originate above the hip and attach below the knee. Because these muscles cross two joints, they are more susceptible to injury.
Many runners have experienced a beautiful run that was brought to a sudden painful end by a side stitch. This sharp stabbing pain in the upper belly just underneath the rib cage, usually on the right side, begins without warning. With each step, the pain worsens, subsiding only when you stop running.
Until recently, the cause of what the scientific community call Exercise-Related Transient Abdominal Pain (i.e. the side stitch) was not clearly understood. Some of the hypotheses to explain this annoying run-killer included not waiting long enough after food or liquid intake before running, lack of oxygen to the diaphragm, spasms or cramps in abdominal muscles and the build up of abdominal gas.
Today’s Featured Article, “Twelve Tips For Better Sleep”, is the second article in a two part series on how sleep affects running (and vice versa), how much sleep is enough and how to improve the duration and quality of your sleep. The first article appeared in last week’s issue Run More Sleep Better or Sleep More Run Better?
How much sleep do we need?
James Maas, Cornell University psychology professor and sleep expert states: “Most adults function best on 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep, but runners – especially those training intensely – can benefit from more.
Yet, many North Americans are sleep-deprived. Recent American research indicates that 71% of Americans get less than the 7.5 hours nightly, with one third sleeping less than 6 hours on average.
Are we runners better than the general population at getting adequate sleep? Unfortunately, no. A poll published in the September 2009 issue of Runner’s World showed that 68% of 6,212 respondents got 7 hours of sleep or less.
Jane has a very hectic work schedule and often finds herself training when her energy level is at a low point.
Jane: Like many women, I have a crazy, busy job. I commute at 6:30 AM every day and get home around 5:30 or 6:00. I have two challenges:
Today’s Feature Article is the first of a two part series on the relationship between sleep and running performance. Next week’s article will examine how much sleep you really need, as well as how to improve both the duration and quality of your sleep.
Getting adequate sleep is not just “a good idea”. It is critical in giving body the opportunity to regenerate, repair itself and to adapt to the stresses of training. More importantly, research shows that adequate sleep enhances immune system and reduces probability of contracting serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes or experiencing a heart attack.
Yet, sleep is an often neglected aspect of running’s training and recovery cycles. Many training programs pay no more than lip service to this topic.
My recently sprained ankle served as a nasty reminder of the importance of improving both strength and balance to avoid repeated ankle sprains. In addition to being very painful, chronic ankle sprains repeatedly hinder a runner’s training plans.
Why does spraining an ankle once increase your susceptibility to future sprains? Depending upon the severity, an ankle sprain can damage muscles, ligaments and proprioceptors (PRO-pri-o-CEP-tors) – specialized nerves that control your balance and sense of position. Proprioceptors are present in muscles and tendons. Proprioceptors in a properly functioning ankle sense when your ankle is about to roll and instruct your tendons and muscles to fire and take corrective action, i.e. prevent the sprain. When these nerves are damaged during the initial sprain, they often do not regain their full functionality. Their ability to control the necessary firing of muscles and tendons is compromised. It is this phenomenon that is the major contributor to chronic ankle sprains.
Bennett and Gail with Kathrine Switzer (centre), the most influential women runner to date. Not only was she the first women to enter and run the Boston Marathon, she has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities and equal sport status for women.
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