Run to Win

In my article about what to do in the week leading up to your marathon, Heather asked if overindulging a little the weekend before a marathon is going to be a problem.

She’s a little worried that she might be dehydrated and might have a little trouble re-hydrating before the race.

I don’t think that there’s really that much to worry about, as I talk about in today’s video:
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How can you teach yourself how to pick up your feet while trail running so that you don’t trip over rocks and roots?

There are two basic methods that I think are the easiest way to get used to the sort of running form you need while trail running.

The first method is to just to get out and do more trail running. The more time that you spend time out there, the more your body is going to learn what it is that you need to do and that you’ll get used to doing it.

The second method, which is especially relevant if you’re a road runner that’s new to trails, is to actually try and practice it while you are on the roads.

Try to count every time that you pick your foot up off of the ground. Instead of concentrating on having a very short footfall you want to just be thinking about lifting your feet up.

Another way that you can do that is by listening for the scuffing of your feet. When you hit the ground, if you’re not lifting your feet enough you might actually hear the bottom of your shoe rubbing against the pavement as you’re running. So just concentrate on just listening and making sure that you have a quiet footfall and that you don’t hear that prolonged scraping of your shoe along the road.

(Download: MP4 -- Photo Credit: Sean Dreilinger)

What is involved in the stretching regimen that was used in the recent USATF study?

There were 3 different stretches that they used (technically 4 since the last stretch had 2 parts.) The subjects that were going to be stretching were supplied with a detailed stretch protocol that included the photographs of the stretch, as well as images of what they were supposed to be doing.

This video demonstrates how to do the full stretching regimen:
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The USATF wanted to find the answer to that very question, so they recently did a 3 month long study of 3000 runners to find out exactly what factors do and don’t play a part in preventing injuries and in getting injured.

The results of their summary can answer that question in two words:

Not really.

Here’s a video explaining the results:
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If you run for any length of time, you are eventually going to need a bowel movement while you are out running. It’s inevitable.

Gastrointestinal disturbance is very common among runners, and while the researchers aren’t sure exactly why that is they all agree it’s a common ailment. Probably something to do with your increased metabolism, blood not flowing through the intestines as it is diverted throughout the rest of your body, and just the general shaking of your internal organs as you run.

If you run marathons or longer races, then you are even more likely to feel a bowel movement coming on just from the sheer length of time your individual runs are.

No matter what the reason, you’ll eventually need to poop on a run. So what should you do? (Click here to continue reading…)

I hope that yesterday’s article about what to do if you hit your head while trail running didn’t scare you onto the roads…accidents happen no matter where you are and generally speaking my injuries have been less serious on the trails than on the roads, and that includes this past weekend’s tumble.

Trail running is a lot of fun and offers quite a few benefits over road running, so I put together this video to highlight some of the differences:

Here is the link mentioned in the video: http://r2w.us/82
[podcast]http://files.marathoning.org/audio/RunToWin/20100817_Benefits_of_Trail_Running.mp3[/podcast]
Here’s a transcript of the video:

Today I’d like to talk about a few of the advantages that trail running has over road running. The biggest thing for me is I just find trail running a lot more fun. You’ll find that that’s a common theme among a lot of trail runners is that they enjoy being out there on the trail a lot more than they do on the roads.

Now one of the other big advantages is that you take a lot less pounding on a trail run than you would on a road run of similar distance. The reason for that is that you’re running on generally softer surfaces. You don’t have the exact same density of surface that you’re running on the whole time and it changes up a lot.
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I took a small spill yesterday on my trail run.

I felt myself losing my footing and tried to roll so I’d land on my side instead of my face (I’d rather break a shoulder than a neck) and while I wouldn’t have been too happy I was doing all right until my head got stopped by a tree stump.

Thankfully, no signs of concussion and a mountain biker came upon me a few minutes later and helped me bandage up my head so that I could run the 2 or 3 miles out of the woods back to the car. He followed me back up the trail until we found my wife and then she ran back with me and drove me to the ER.

So…what should you do if you fall down while you’re running, and you’ve hit your head?
(Click here to continue reading…)

Which sport is tougher, running or cycling?

Here’s a video of a conversation between a runner and cyclist to try and find out:

The truth is, both sports are as hard as you make them.

That said, the comment about Lance Armstrong saying that the marathon was the toughest thing he’s ever done including the Tour de France reminded me of something.

In 2006, when Lance was struggling through his first marathon, my friend John beat him by a good 5 minutes. So when John contacted Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, he figured that if Lance could beat cancer, and he could beat Lance, then he could cancer as well.

And he did. This year John is finally healthy enough to run the New York City Marathon again. If you’d like to help him reach the finish line, he is raising money for Team in Training and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

You can find out more about John and help support his efforts at his fundraising page:
http://beatcancer.johnwtomac.com