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Tips Archives: Training
 Even the most conditioned marathoner will suffer a blood sugar crisis when he or she goes more than about 15 miles. The only way to win this battle and boost the BSL is to counterattack. Whether you use PowerBars or other foods, here are the principles which have led to blood sugar success: 1. Choose a food that is low in fat (less than 10% of total calories) but which contains significant soluble fiber. 2. Most runners need 200-250 calories about an hour before the long run to keep the blood sugar level sustained until the half way point (of a run beyond 15 miles.) 3. If the food is a solid, like PowerBar, be sure to drink at least four ounces of water for every 100 calories of the food. 4. Cut the food up into small pieces for easier consumption during the second half of the long run. 5. Drink water with each piece Test your eating routine during long runs to find the right time sequence, quantity, etc. for you. Remember: be prepared to give in quickly. Avoid confrontations. It doesn't matter if you were "right" if you get hit. Survival is the goal.
How to Choose a Training Group Is composed of people at your level - not the level you want to achieve
At the crest, the effort required for each step decreases. Be sensitive to this and gradually let the pace increase as gravity allows. Let gravity do the work. Gravity and increased rhythm should pull you downhill, with little energy required. Increase stride length slightly.If it becomes too long your lose control and must expend energy to slow down. Too long a stride can pound your knees unmercifully. Experiment with your stride length going down. Practice will show you the length that lets you take maximum advantage of gravity, yet keeps you under control. Lean slightly forward. It is usually a matter of territory. Your problem is to figure out the dog's boundary lines. If you're in his zone, let him bark to get some of the aggressiveness out, then slow down and make your way cautiously out of his territory. If he keeps coming toward you, bend down and pick up a rock or stick; this in itself will usually scare him off. Throw the rock or stick if he's particularly aggressive and bend down to get another. Carry a stick in dangerous dog areas and if you have to, hit him on the nose. You can also carry dog spray. Some postmen use a stronger pepper solution which will drive a dog away without causing lasting discomfort. The Earlier You Take the Walk Breaks, The More They Help You You've got to start the walk breaks before significant fatigue sets in, at least in the first mile. If you wait until you feel the need for taking them, it's too late. They will give you little help. Even waiting until the two-mile mark to take the first one will reduce their potential effectiveness. The Discount Rule: The earlier and the more often you walk, the bigger the fatigue discount. To put it in shopping terms: You're getting a discount from the pounding on legs and feet when you take walk breaks on long runs. If you walk often enough, start the breaks early enough, and keep the pace slow enough, a 10-mile run only leaves six to seven miles of fatigue and pounding and a 20-miler leaves your legs feeling like you've covered only 13 to 15 miles How Fast Should the Walk Break Be? A slow walk is fine. If you have a type A running personality and want to walk fast, make sure that you don't lengthen your walking stride too much. Monitor the tightness of your hamstring and the tendons behind the knee. If you feel tension there, walk slowly with bent knees to keep that area relaxed. Again, a slow walk is fine. The most efficient way to run is to have your head, neck and shoulders erect. When you run leaning forward, you're always fighting gravity. Note: Good form is something all runners-regardless of ability or experience-can work on. Racers are naturally interested in improving from, for it will help them run faster. But beginners and noncompetitive runners will also benefit from understanding some of these principles, for good form will make anyone's running smoother and more enjoyable.
Getting Used To Heat and Humidity Stay away from heat most of the time. Most of your exercise sessions should be done in the coolest time possible, usually just before and just after dawn. Make sure you've received a doctor's clearance for exercising in hot weather. Almost no one is excluded, but you want to make sure. Pick a doctor who thoroughly knows the effects and benefits of exercise. Be sure to drink water often during hot and humid weather. Keep a container of water with you all day long and drink small amounts regularly - about 6-8 ounces per hour if you're indoors. If you're sweating, increase the amount of water. To get an exercising body used to the heat and humidity, exercise during the warm part of the day once a week. At first, go only for about 4-5 minutes. Gradually increase the amount of warm exercise by 3-4 minutes each week until you can do 20-25 minutes in the heat and humidity. Beware of heat disease. At the first sign of heat problems, ease your effort and cool off. Heat disease symptoms include but are not limited to the following: hot and cold flashes, cessation of sweating, clammy skin, loss of control over muscles, and extreme heat buildup - particularly in the area of the head, and nausea. The resistance of the hill will strengthen the lower legs through repetition. Bouncing, high push-offs, and long striding are counterproductive to marathon hill form. Many runners aren't reminded about their form imperfections on the flat, but the extra effort required going up will aggravate form flaws. Your goal is to find the way of running which is easier, lighter on your feet, and which requires less effort. By increasing leg and foot turnover, you can often run faster while you run easier. On a long run: How do I know if I'm running two minutes per mile slower than I could run on that day? You don't. Even veteran athletes have to guess when invoking the Two-Minute Rule. When you guess on the conservative side, you win. You'll recover faster, feel good that evening, and reduce the chance of aches, pains and injuries, while receiving all the endurance bestowed by the distance of that run. The "huff and puff" rule may help: If you're huffing and puffing so much during the last two to three miles of a long run that you can't carry on a conversation, you went too fast at the beginning of that run. On the next run, significantly slow down, take walk breaks more frequently, or both. The Benefits: The Dangers: I'm not qualified to comment on any possible damage that endurance running might do to joints, bones or vital parts of a growing body. I've never seen evidence of sensible training in children leading to any problems, but if you are in doubt you should contact your pediatrician or family physician. One of the real dangers for young runners is psychological burnout. Most child running stars or top high school athletes never reach their running potential because of the "too far, too fast, too soon" syndrome. Well-meaning but overzealous parents or coaches naturally want to get children involved in healthy activity and may influence them to train too hard, and race too often. Without the sense of pace and restraint bestowed by maturity they are driven until they are bored, disillusioned or discouraged. Start by Walking. Walk Briskly. Insert a few jogs. Increase the Running as Desired. Step It Up! You cannot improve if you cannot run. The single greatest cause of improvement is remaining injury-free. If you're like most runners, you push it to the limit, and then mother nature steps in and forces you to rest. This slows your progress, for you must rebuild after each "down" period. But if you build rest into your training program you can avoid injuries and interruptions in your progress Overstride: Puts You Outside Your Mechanical Efficiency Even a slight overstride of an inch or so will push your running motion beyond its most efficient alignment and aggravate the mechanical action of the legs, knees, and joints. At first, the main driving muscles have enough resiliency to give you a false sense of smoothness, enhanced by the action of the muscles running strong. But this extra burden brings on fatigue more quickly. Once the calf and hamstring muscles are fatigued, the joints, tendons, and ligaments take extra abuse, and running form becomes insufficient and rough. The longer the distance of the run, the more muscle resiliency will be retained by a shortening of the stride length early in the run (and staying lower to the ground.) The Push-off, or light touch-off The ankle is the most important bio-mechanical construction which can aid running. When your body is lined up and the ankle moves into the right position, it will 'lift-off' almost automatically as the body moves forward, and the back leg gets into position. 1. Don't force the push-off, let it happen. You don't have to consciously push and use valuable energy. The most common result of pushing too hard is an extra bounce off the ground, which causes other problems. 2. The light touch of the foot. The ankle is programmed to respond quickly, with an efficient push forward. Because of the way your tendons are wrapped around the lever provided by your bone structure, you will receive this push with little or no cost in muscle energy. If you try and maximize the light touch of your feet, and don't force it, you'll receive a continuous flow of quick pushes throughout the run. 3. Forward motion. If you allow the ankle motion to be your main source of running motion, your movement will become more direct and forward. This helps to cut out extraneous motions of the foot and leg which will not just slow you down, but can lead to injury. 4. Your form accelerations will encourage a quick, efficient push-off, and will teach your ankle to become even more effective in controlling foot movements. Try to do these accelerations at least twice a week, every week. 5. Visualization helps! During any run, and particularly in the form accelerations, get a clear vision of your ankle moving through a very light quick yet effective forward push. Your vision includes the reduction and then the elimination of extraneous motion in the ankle area. As you work in this vision between accelerations, your form will improve. 1. Even the better running companies are using gimmicks in their designs: some of the gimmicks work, some don't. 2. There's always a reason why the catalog offers a dramatic discount on a given shoe. 3. The same shoe may be made in different factories - making each significantly different in the way it fits, and in the many subtle ways it works when you run. 4. Only people who are really into running shoes can keep up with the gossip on running shoes-due to constant feedback they receive from hundreds of customers each week who really use the shoes for exercise. 5. Only experienced running staff people can look at you in a shoe and tell whether it really fits-and works with your foot in the right way.
Three tips on running form: CHP 1. CHEST UP. 2. HIPS FORWARD. 3. PUSH OFF Running while you're on vacation or if traveling for business can be tough. It could also be a very worthwhile experience. A change of scenery can rejuvenate your running or let you get to know a new city or town. The tips below were taken from John Bingham's "Rules of the Road" article featured in Runner's World Magazine. 1. There's always a place to run and something to see. Do I need to take walk breaks on the short runs during the week? If you can run continuously on shorter midweek runs, you don't have to take the walk breaks. If you want to take them, do so. Walk breaks on midweek runs will ensure that you recover from the long ones at the fastest pace.
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