Running Longer Faster

Where do fast distance runners come from? It’s interesting to note the development of distance runners. You won’t find many examples of runners who go out running marathons and end up getting faster at all other distances later (unless of course they weren’t in good condition in the first place). You will however find that [...]

Is Aqua Jogging any Good for “Real” Runners?

Aqua-jogging or aqua-running is the term used for running in a pool. It can be performed in two ways: feet touching and feet not touching. With the feet touching you will propel yourself across a pool pushing yourself with each stride. The feet not touching approach is done in deep water with a waist float [...]

Side Stitches/Cramps and Running

There is actually quite a bit written about side cramps or stitches (these terms are used interchangeably). It is a cramping of the abdominal muscles - diaphragm. Most often it is on the right side but most definitely it can be on the left or both sides. You may even get a deferred pain in [...]

Own It

Speaking of running, who runs your life? Do you own your life or does it seem to own you? Do you own your athletic career and conditioning or does it own you? Do you choose the hours with your family, the number of hours you work and spend on your hobbies or does your life [...]

Running Vocabulary

The technical side of running has much jargon. Parting with the usual approach to my usual posts this time I creatively elaborate on a few key terms. Beyond VO2max and anaerobic thresholds we have terms which reflect the pace of running. Everyone has heard of running, sprinting and jogging. The problem is of course that [...]

Body Fat & Runners

Body composition is important and does affect performance. Let’s first get a caveat out of the way. This topic is a slippery slope! Less may be good to a degree and then it is exceedingly NOT good and in fact life threatening.
The recommended ranges of body fat for the general population are 15-18% for males [...]

Do you run faster by yourself or with others?

There are many runners who seem to push their limits only under competition conditions (against another person). There are some who can compete with themselves (against a past time or distance). Some runners never run as fast in a race as their conditioning and workouts would indicate (i.e. choking).
There are different elements to consider about [...]

Recovering from Training

I enjoy sharing research based information I come across. In this posting I’ll briefly cover the research supported methods for recovering from workouts. Since so many of you are now preparing for fall or winter marathons you may not be quite as interested in recovering. However, I think you will find the following information essential to [...]

Competition, Esteem & Identity

To compete: to do something with the goal of outperforming others or of winning something (Webster). Everyone has varying psychological needs for competition. Many of us engage in athletic endeavors to express his or her competitive side. The excitement of competition, testing oneself, challenging oneself or others; feeds our competitive side.
Competing with oneself is one [...]

Destructive Forces of Running

So often, as runners, we hear about how bad running is for our joints (mostly from our couch potato friends). Even runners, coaches and health professionals promulgate the beliefs of too much running on hard surfaces increase injuries due to the pounding. Well, there are a number of studies out that simply counter the idea of [...]