Posts Tagged ‘running’
The Ugly Side of Running
Running is not for everyone!
I was recently on a running track alongside a busy highway when I received a spray of abuse from a passenger in a car. It’s not the first time it has happened – actually it’s surprisingly common. Obviously it didn’t hurt me, and I suppose it comes out of the joy within an action that bears no consequence. Whatever. I don’t really get it…but it leaves me thinking every time. In a twisted way it motivates me. I start to think about how I would respond if the abuser actually had the gaul to do it NOT from a car driving 80kph in the opposite direction to me!
So, with tongue slightly in cheek – and without wanting to be labelled an internet tough guy – I leave my response to destiny in the hands of cyberspace.
Here’s why you’re better off undertaking some physical activity than riding shotgun in a passenger vehicle:
Health, Investments and Running Shoes
Do you ever think that you would feel better if you could run 5km’s without stopping? Or 10km? And does your picture of health involve a person who does this multiple times per week, perhaps with the resemblance of a smile on their face?
Are your barriers to achieving this for yourself centred around time, ability or pain? If so, read on, because I’ve got some good news. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s With Carb Loading?
Having recently completed my first official ‘mini ultra’ 50km marathon, one of the most common queries I received was about when I was going to do my carb loading, so I thought I would put forward my opinion on this concept!
Carbohydrates are stored in the body, and unlike fat, storage space is limited. Our muscles are the primary storage site, however our liver has a small capacity to draw upon for various functions. Upon requirement of energy, stored carbohydrate (in the form of glycogen) is converted into glucose and utilised as fuel.
Now, the body uses two primary fuel sources – carbohydrates and fats. For rapid production of energy, carbohydrates provide the bulk of the fuel. This occurs predominantly during high intensity exercise. At low and moderate intensities, fats contribute a greater proportion of fuel as the process for breakdown is more complex and requires oxygen. At any given time the body is using a mix of these two sources but the contribution of each is dependant upon what we are doing.
The average human body can hold somewhere between 1600-2400 calories of energy from glycogen.
Learn to Run: Part 1
So the City to Bay has been run and won for another year. And for many South Australians this event marks the culmination of many months of hard work in preparation, and I applaud all those who acheived this goal for 2011. I too am such a person, partaking in my very first City to Bay. I thoroughly enjoyed it, for more so than just the simple joy of running on a beautful spring day.
To an extraterestrial observer, the sight of this mass of humanity snaking through Adelaide’s CBD and South Westerly suburbs would have resembled a mass migration such as those seen accross the Savannah lands of Africa.
But on closer inspection, one fascinating difference bewteen this lyrca-clad, ear-phone wearing procession, and a herd of migrating Wildebeest would have been observed. In a herd of Wildebeest, in fact in a herd, flock, school or swarm of any creature other than homosapiens, each member of the pack moves in basically the same way as each of its bretheren.
Humans on the other hand- well let me put it this way, there were 34,000 entrants this year, and I reckon there were about 34,000 running styles too!
There was heel-striking, toe-striking and something in-between. There was slouched postures, forward-leaners and straight backers. Head’s were bobbing up and down, shaking side-to-side and some barely moving at all. Some fists were pumping, some were cradled into the body like they were in slings, and some were waving around the hips like a salsa dancer’s. Some legs were shuffling, some were bounding, some were prancing, some were cutting side-to-side like an ice-skater’s, whilst some were flailing around like egg-beaters.
Our alien voyeur would surely find this quite perplexing, and I do too. Why do humans run so differently to one another? Structurally, we are all basically the same. We each have the same muscles connecting the same bones, with the same organs providing the various fuels.
I believe we all run so differently because basically, most of us don’t know how to run. More specifically, I think that we have forgotten how to.
When a foal is born, it’s horsey mummy and daddy don’t teach it how to run. It figures it out by finding the most efficent method, and then it never stops. Human’s are the same. Noone teaches a toddler how to run, they just figure it out and then go 100 miles and hour at it. And in most cases, they do so with great efficiency and speed.
But then they stop. And they sit. And they keep on sitting. And after some period of time,they lose the knack for running. When running is taken up later in life it is often assumed that all we have to do is start walking then add a little air time to it and that is running. And whatever it looks like, hey, that is just how I run buddy. The way many people run (or more accurately, jog) is simply an extension of how they walk, and many people walk terribly, but that is another blog. But even if you do walk well, running well is an entirely different movement pattern.
In any given year, 80% of runners will get injured. I believe it is because most runners run badly. It is a simple technique thing and it can be corrected through training. I have been training for a trail Ultra-marathon for the past 14 months. For the first 9 months, my sole focus was on improving my running technique. I have been able to progress in this time, from being able to run perhaps 10km with pain in my shins and lower back the following day, to now being able to run 25km easily, 40km in one day, and multiple 20+km runs in the course of a week with not one injury developing. Not even a slight niggle.
This is of course, a case study of one, so I won’t be publishing anything in Nature just yet, but it has convinced me that running technique is fundamental to running well. I believe there is a single perfect running style for humans that anyone can learn if they devote the time to it, and I will delve into this in great depth over coming blogs.
Get cool to lose weight?
Damn it’s cold outside! This was my thought as my knuckles were becoming numb on a frosty Adelaide Hills’ morning on my regular run!
We are all no doubt struggling through some of these colder months, so I thought this was the perfect time to talk about how our body’s natural warming system could possibly be a way to keep ourselves from putting on weight.
Scientists our now discovering that a type of fat storage tissue called Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) is more important than we first thought.
In fact only 50g of BAT can account for up to 20% of someone’s daily energy expenditure!
So what is this BAT and how do we get more of it?
Barefoot running and shoes
A friend asked me for my opinion on barefoot running, technique and specific shoes. I think that barefoot running is a big and controversial topic (!) so I thought I would post my response on line and get other’s perspective on it!
Here are some of my thoughts: Yes I agree that modern shoe wear is probably to blame for a lot of the foot problems that we now have. But the real problem starts when we started to wear shoes full-time as kids. You would probably know that we should try to let kids run around barefoot as much as possible and for as long as possible so that their foot musculature develops. As soon as we get into ‘stable’ ‘supportive’ shoes our own muscles are no longer required for the role… so we then design and need more supportive shoes to help the unstable foot, and so on…
In as far as our running style being changed due to modern shoes, I’m not so sure. I have not done a lot of reading on this specific topic so the following is just my opinion: I really don’t think that we are actually designed for long distance running. I think that most of our running – from a historical perspective – would tend to be over shorter distances and at higher speeds, ie: warfare, hunting, etc which would favour a style based on the ball of the foot as sprinting does.
However, we know that at slower speeds we do ‘naturally’ heel strike, such as with walking. Also from an anatomical perspective, the foot arches and shape seem to be designed for this function. And to their credit, good shoe manufacturers base their shoe designs on that structure and shape and their understanding of foot bio-mechanics, and try to work ‘with’ it as much as possible. Furthermore, from a clinical perspective we see a number of musculo-skeletal issues from incorrect foot function, especially when sprinters turn to distance running later in life and don’t change their running style! Without going into too much detail we are naturally equipped with a shock absorbing system called the ‘longitudinal sling’, which is based on a chain of structures (ligament, tendons and muscles) designed to absorb shock on heel strike.
In as far as shoes designed to mimic barefoot function, I’m actually a big fan. I am mostly familiar with the popular Nike ‘Free’ range and to some degree with the Vibram Five Fingers range. I like them because they are a great training tool for our foot musculature, but I would be cautious about their application for long distance running due to their decreased shock absorption and the point I made earlier about our running ‘design’. If you wanted to run in them I would then suggest the Nike Free range as they provide more ‘vertical/axial’ cushioning, and I would start with more supportive ones (higher support numbers, ie 7+) and then progress to less support (yes, expensive process I know!).
A great way to start, and this would apply to both types of shoes mentioned is to treat them as a training tool, which is really what they are. As with any training tool, there needs to be an introductory period and then some progressive overload. I would start with just wearing them around the house or gym training, etc, then progress to more hours/walking, and then do some running in them. While there’s people that do big kilometres with them, I would limit that to about 5kms.
Well I hope this adds to an interesting discussion’! I think its a really interesting and important topic. I would love to get some more educated comments on this!
