4 Form Changes That Can Boost Your Running Economy
My favorite young running researcher, Bas Van Hooren, has done it again. He has published another insightful paper on running economy (RE). Van Hooren is an elite Dutch 10,000 meter runner as well as a running-focused researcher. He set personal bests last summer and fall at 10,000 meters (29:01) and the half marathon (1:03:37). Running economy is a key measure of successful distance running,
In the new report, van Hooren used an artificial neural network--a deep learning computer model--to analyze the biomechanics of well trained distance runners. He wanted to see how various running movements affected their RE, and also to suss out if weekly running mileage was linked to RE.
The research project included 41 runner subjects, with 19 females. All had their running biomechanics objectively measured in the lab along with their RE. Then each runner’s biomechanics were fed into the computer model to see if it could identify those with better RE, and also those who trained more.
Result: The computer model correctly classified 62% of the runners with better RE, and 71% with higher training mileage.
Running economy was improved by 4 aspects of running form: 1) greater knee extension of the takeoff leg; 2) less flexion of the knee during the stance phase; 3) less hip adduction on landing and stance; and 4) less foot flexion at toe off.
These are all technical biomechanical measures. So here’s what they mean in everyday runner lingo: 1) more straightening of leg after the knee bending that occurs with landing; 2) less “butt kicking” of the heel after toe-off; 3 less inward movement of the knees toward each other; and 4) less foot bending at toe off. This last measure means someone behind you would see little of the shoe outsole at toe off. More of the shoe would remain planted.
Various strengthening exercises improve some of these non-economical movements. So could running more miles. More at Scandinavian J of Medicine & Science in Sports with free full text.
Could Intermittent Fasting Kill You?
There was a big kerfuffle recently over a new report on time-restricted eating (TRE). It amounted to a “dog bites man” story, and provoked many attention-grabbing headlines.
Why? Because it found that, in a sample of more than 20,000 adult Americans, TRE with an eating “window” of less than 8 hours a day was associated with a 91% increase in cardiovascular mortality.
Another weird stat: If you practiced the above 8-hour TRE, your cancer mortality increased by 20%. On the other hand, if you ate foods for 16+ hours per day, your cancer risk decreased by 20%.
WTF? These results seemed to fly in the face of all the good news we’ve been reading about TRE in recent years. In fact, most nutritionists and epidemiologists still support TRE.
Here’s a balanced summary of the report at Yahoo Life. The headline states “Experts aren’t worried.”
Over at “Physiologically Speaking,” Brady Holmer is almost apoplectic. He’s convinced that he abstract, which has not been peer reviewed and published in a respected journal, is almost certainly off base. Among other things, he points out that it’s based on notoriously inaccurate questionnaire responses.
In addition, a recent meta-analysis of TRE found that it “reduced systolic blood pressure, body weight, BMI, blood glucose, and fat mass--all of which are established cardiovascular disease risk factors.” Indeed, the authors of the abstract-in-question hypothesized that TRE would improve risk factors and mortality outcomes.
They must have been shocked by their actual findings. Like others, Holmer believes we need much more research into TRE--a recent and intriguing development in the world of eating and health. More at Physiologically Speaking. Also Dr. Peter Attia called the abstract “virtually meaningless.”
If you’ve tried and enjoyed TRE, there doesn’t seem to be strong reason to abandon it.
Best Post Marathon Recovery Tips. (With Bonus Infographic)
Here’s a simple, handy guide to keep you focused on the most important aspects of recovery after hard training or racing (especially a marathon). It mimics the familiar “pyramid” format often seen in food guides, so it’s easy to visualize and understand.
The author, a musculoskeletal expert, says this should be the rank order of your recovery strategies: 1) sleep & downtime; 2) nutrition & hydration; 3) active recovery, stretching, and compression; 4) massage & hot/cold therapy; and, lastly, 5) fads with minimal evidence. I’m not sure why she bothered with fads; maybe she needed a small tip-top of her pyramid.
For post marathon recovery, she suggests: 1) sleep as the low-hanging fruit; 2) nutrition & hydration, including carbs, protein, and magnesium; 3) active rest, mainly cross-training; 4) and taking plenty of leisure time to enjoy and appreciate your achievement. The infographic-guide is worth printing out for your refrigerator or bulletin board. More at Complete Clinic.
Running Mantras That Can Go The Distance
Recently, I was part of a webcast for some runners entered in next month’s Boston Marathon. Along the way, I heard myself saying, “I didn’t believe in mantras when I was younger. But now I do.”
And that’s a true statement. Running is so much more a mental game than I realized decades ago. And every little mental trick helps you along.
These days I repeat a few personal-favorite mantras in my races, especially marathons. I believe other runners should be prepared to do the same.
This article barely scratches the surface. But you gotta start somewhere. I think all runners should compile a long list of mantras, and then select the ones that resonate most powerfully. Those are the ones you can count on when you begin to falter.
There’s no best mantra for everyone, but the title of Ryan Hall’s book, “Run The Mile You’re In,” is tough to beat. Let’s face it: Nobody can run 26.2 miles--that’s crazy :) . But one mile? Sure, you can do that. So just get to the end of the mile you’re running. And then repeat. Before long, you’ll be home.
Also top of list: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional” from Hariuki Murakami. And this omnipresent line: “The pain is temporary, the pride forever.” I don’t think anyone can take credit for first authorship at this point. But we all know what it means, because we’ve been there.
I also like “You get to do this,” because not everyone can. In fact, few can run a marathon. So when we are out on the road, moving forward, however slow … well, we are the lucky ones. The fortunate few. More at Marathon Handbook.
The Secret To Maintaining A Consistent Training Program
The New York Times says that having an “accountability partner” is crucial to maintaining a consistent training program. I agree. But I also think people are very different.
For example, my wife is from Venus. I’m from some distant, remote planet that hasn’t yet been discovered.
Here’s what I mean: I don’t have a problem with exercise motivation. In fact, any time I have a few spare moments in my day, I start moving. Sometimes I do pushups and planks, sometimes I take a brisk walk around the neighborhood, sometimes I run 6 miles, sometimes I jump on my recumbent bike for 5 minutes (or 60) of light spinning.
My wife likes an external boost to get moving. Currently, she’s using a large, elaborate poster chart that she createdt. It has boxes where she rewards herself for glasses of water consumed, vegetables eaten, total hours of sleep, minutes of exercise, and so on.
The point is: This chart helps her hit her exercise goals. All those little boxes beg to be filled in with a checkmark every day. Without the chart, things start to unravel.
Accountability can come in many forms: from a chart, a workout buddy, an upcoming race you’ve entered, an app that rewards you with discounts on health-fitness products, and more. If you weren’t born on a faraway planet, find something or someone to hold you accountable. Do what works for you. Because regular exercise is job one. More at NY Times.
Science Reveals How Ginger Can Spice Up Your Health
When nutritionists and epidemiologists ask themselves “What’s the healthiest diet,” they often settle on the Mediterranean Diet, or some close cousin. You know--fish, vegetables, olive oil, fruit, beans, nuts, whole grains. You can’t go wrong.
Recently a group of Spanish health researchers went the extra mile.They asked themselves, “What herbs and spices make the Mediterranean Diet even healthier by reducing blood glucose levels and likely incidence of diabetes?”
That’s a great question, since high blood glucose is a major contributor to many chronic diseases. Also, we see many articles about healthy spices, but these usually aren’t backed by good evidence. This paper moves the field forward
To find answers, the team “conducted a large systematic review with 77 studies, and a meta analysis with 45 studies.”
Result: “Our results showed that cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, black cumin, and saffron significantly decreased fasting glucose,” among Type 2 diabetics. Black cumin actually won the competition, as it was associated with the greatest drop in glucose. Black cumin is distinct from the more common cumin, has a milder flavor, and is used in Middle Eastern and Indian recipes. After black cumin, cinnamon and ginger were the most effective glucose-lowering spices.
Also: “Ginger appears to be unique of the analyzed aromatic herbs in the MedDiet producing a significant decrease in the three outcomes examined--fasting glucose, HbA1c, and insulin.” I happen to like the extra zing that ginger brings to many foods. Now there’s even more reason to add a dash or two. More at Nutrients with free full text.
The Ladies Are Killing It
Just a couple of weeks after Camille Herron’s record-breaking run in the Lululemon 6-day “Further” race, another female ultra runner made global headlines. Running through Frozen Head State Park--not a very appealing name, is it?--in Tennessee, Great Britain’s Jasmin Paris became the first woman to finish the vaunted and mysterious Barkley Marathons. Both she and Herron recently passed age 40--it seems a good time to go looooong.
A Barkley finish demands that runners cover 5 incredibly hilly 20-mile loops of the course in under 60 hours. There are many other challenges, especially the unrelenting ups and downs, that add difficulty. Paris cruised to the finish with a minute to spare (59:58:21), then crumbled to the ground, telling the New York Times that she felt “every fiber of my body screaming at me to stop.” For those who follow the male-female finish gap, as I do, Paris finished just 2% behind male winner Ihor Verys (58:44:59). More at NYTimes.
It’s quite unusual that the NYT would cover this bizarre and excruciating event--there will be Olympic events this summer in Paris (the French capital, not the runner’s last name) that receive far less media attention. This seems to confirm what England’s Guardian newspaper reported over the weekend: “Move over, marathons: the ultra-endurance sports are redefining fitness.” More at The Guardian.
Expert Sports Group Criticizes Olympic Transgender “Framework”
I’ve mostly avoided this big controversy, because it seems more political than scientific these days. However, the cultural impact is huge, and the emerging physiology fascinating. So I keep an eye on the topic.
In this case, some of the world’s top experts have taken a stance in opposition to the International Olympic Committee, so it’s definitely worth noting. Ross Tucker of South Africa has probably been considering and explaining the topic longer than anyone.
The Olympics and most other sports long ago carved out a female “category” in sports to give females a fair chance. Just about everyone celebrates this fairness principle, especially in an era when female sports is challenging male sports in popularity. But it has proven surprisingly difficult to define “female.”
The Olympics has failed and given up on visual inspections, DNA testing, and testosterone testing. Even though much of the public believes that DNA or T must be enough to get the job done, this doesn’t work in practice.
In November, 2021, the IOC adopted a “framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations.” The framework was intended to guide the many sports federations--track, swimming, boxing, etc--to establish rules for their own sports. However, Principle 6 states: “Athletes should not be deemed to have an unfair or disproportionate advantage due to their sex variations, physical appearance, or transgender status.”
The new paper argues that the framework “does not protect fairness for female athletes,”and is unscientific and dangerous. What about boxing, for example? Do we want transgender females fighting born-females? The Association of Ringside Physicians says No, but the current USA Boxing rules would allow such a match.
What should be done? The authors of the paper argue that transgender females shouldn’t be allowed in the female “category” if they have undergone puberty as a male. After all, there is little difference in male and female strength, power, and speed at age 10, but a vast difference after puberty.
Conclusion: “Male pubertal development results in large performance advantages in athletic sports.” Moreover: “There is currently no evidence that testosterone suppression in transgender women can reverse male development and negate male advantages.” More at Scandinavian J of Medicine & Science in Sports with free full text.
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
>>> Go wild: Salmon raised in “fish farms” have lower nutrient levels than wild salmon.
GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn.”
– Helen Keller
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby