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Lead Stories: Sunday, October 12, 2008

Athletes and Other Active Individuals Found to Prefer Athletic Doctors

Posted January 16th, 2008 at 3:33 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

People can be very selective about which doctor to seek. Some seek certain specialties, some (actually many of us) seek whatever our insurance will pay for, and some seek whatever is easiest and most convenient in terms of location. But—as an athlete—would you prefer doctor who is personally athletic? A recent article from the NY Times analyzed this exact question.

While it may not be proven that athletic doctors are better for athletes, a study of 4,000 female doctors found that those who are at least moderately active are much more comfortable giving advice about exercise to patients, and their advice would be more meaningful, since the active doctor sets the example about a healthy lifestyle. Athletic doctors are less likely to take off-the-wall conservative approaches to pain, such as, “Running destroys the cartilage in the knees.”

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What You Need to Know When Starting a Running Routine

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Running & Training, Training Plans

Why run?

Running carries with it the same benefits of all cardiovascular exercise: it helps reduce stress, strengthens the heart and lungs, reduces risk of certain diseases, increases confidence, brightens your mood, helps you sleep better, gives you more energy, and, in general, provides a better sense of well being. It is also a great way to burn calories.

How many calories do you burn running a mile?

Conventional wisdom says that, for every mile you run, you will burn 100 calories. But other factors play into the equation as well, including your running speed and your body weight. Generally speaking, a 135 pound person will burn about 100 calories per mile. A 200 pound person, running at the same speed, may burn 150. Obviously, the faster you run, the more calories you will burn.

Starting to run

Running can be stressful on your body, particularly on your leg muscles and knees. But you can minimize your risk of injury by following a few, simple tips.
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Top running routes in Boston

Posted June 13th, 2007 at 4:15 PM by Warwick Ford

Section: Running & Training, Columns, Fun on Foot

Warwick Ford is a guest contributor to The Final Sprint and author of “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities” and “Fun on Foot in New England,” the books that describe and map the best on-foot routes in U.S. cities. Check out FunOnFoot.com for more information and to purchase the book or maps.

Boston is a city of the young (the region is host to way more than its fair share of the nation’s top colleges) and the young at heart. This makes it a dream city for running, jogging, or walking. There is a massive foot-mobile population, so if you feel like a jog almost anywhere here you will rarely feel out of place.

However, wise choice of route always makes a run or jog more enjoyable and easier to embark upon and finish. For a training or recreational route to be motivating and enjoyable, the Fun on Foot model says it needs to have four attributes: Comfort from both the safety and underfoot perspective; Attractions to make it interesting; Convenience to city center and public transit; and a worthy Destination to help motivate you to finish the route.

In “Fun on Foot in New England” we applied this model to Greater Boston and came up with 13 excellent routes. Narrowing this down, here are the very best routes that are just too good for any outdoor exerciser to miss:
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Does cycling cause impotence?

Posted March 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Running & Training, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The greatest source of discomfort for cyclists is the nose of their bike seat pressing on nerves and soft tissues. For men, this pain brings the additional worry of impotence. Impotence is caused by nerve and artery damage. Exercising regularly helps to keep arteries healthy, so bicycling helps prevent impotence, as long as it does not damage the local arteries and nerves.

Recent studies show that three percent of regular male bicycle riders become impotent, and virtually all of them felt pain or numbness before the problem occurred. When a nerve is pinched or the blood supply is shut off to the penis, a man feels numb.

Men who ride with conventional bicycle seats and do not feel numb are not likely to be at risk. If you feel no discomfort when you ride, keep on riding and stop worrying. If you feel numbness, get a new seat.
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Top three running routes
in Dallas, Texas

Posted February 28th, 2007 at 2:12 PM by Warwick Ford

Section: Columns, Fun on Foot

Warwick Ford is a guest contributor to The Final Sprint and author of “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities,” the book that details and maps the best on-foot routes in 14 major US cities. Check out FunOnFoot.com for more information and to purchase the book or maps.

Big “D”, Dallas, TX, seems much more a place for automobiles than for pedestrians. If you asked the average person here what was the most important thing he did with his feet, he would say hitting the accelerator and the brake. Nevertheless, Dallas does have a thriving subculture of on-foot enthusiasts. There is a keen running community and a few really good trails convenient to downtown. The DART bus and light rail system can help you get to and from these trails, making it possible to plan exercise outings without using a vehicle at all.

The weather is excellent for running in October through April, with good temperatures and only a small risk of precipitation ruining your outing. In the other months, average maximum temperatures move into the 80s and 90s, meaning you might want to go to extra pains to fit your outdoor exercise in early in the day. In this short article, we shall look briefly at the very best of those local on-foot routes.

For a training or recreational route to be motivating and enjoyable it needs to have four attributes:

1. Comfort from both the safety and underfoot perspective;
2. Attractions to make it interesting;
3. Convenience to city center and public transit; and a worthy
4. Destination to help motivate you to finish the route.

Applying this model to Dallas, we came up with the following three winning routes:
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Top three running routes
in San Diego, California

Posted January 28th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Warwick Ford

Section: Running & Training, Columns, Fun on Foot

Warwick Ford is a guest contributor to The Final Sprint and author of “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities,” the book that details and maps the best on-foot routes in 14 major US cities. Check out FunOnFoot.com for more information and to purchase the book.

San Diego, famous for its beaches, zoo, Navy and Marine Corps bases, sea craft, and golf, is also a winning place for on-foot exercise for various reasons. The main one is the weather, which is recognized by many as the best in the U.S. The average daily maximum and minimum temperatures lie within our preferred range of 40-to-80 degrees every month of the year. Furthermore, on average, there is precipitation on only 42 days per year and 41% of days are brilliantly cloudless. Add to that some gorgeous seaside scenery, historic sites to make runs interesting, and a low violent crime rate, and you have arguably the nation’s most pleasant location for year-round running.

For a training or recreational route to be motivating and enjoyable it needs to have four attributes:

1. Comfort from both the safety and underfoot perspective;
2. Attractions to make it interesting;
3. Convenience to city center and public transit; and a worthy
4. Destination to help motivate you to finish the route.

Applying this model to San Diego, we came up with the following three winning routes:
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Top three running routes
in San Francisco, California

Posted December 27th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Warwick Ford

Section: Running & Training, Columns, Fun on Foot

Warwick Ford is a guest contributor to The Final Sprint and author of “Fun on Foot in America’s Cities,” the book that details and maps the best on-foot routes in 14 major US cities. Check out Warwick’s site for more information and to purchase the book.

There are two things that make San Francisco a place where running outdoors is irresistible. The first is the set of scenic routes resulting from the city’s location on the Pacific Ocean and the enormous natural harbor and associated waterways that constitute the Bay. The second is the weather. The monthly average maximum temperature lies between 56 and 70 degrees year-round and the monthly average minimum lies between 46 and 56. Therefore, weather is unlikely to dampen your enthusiasm for getting outdoors for a run.

For a training or recreational route to be motivating and enjoyable it needs to have four attributes:

1. Comfort from both the safety and underfoot perspective;
2. Attractions to make it interesting;
3. Convenience to city center and public transit; and a worthy
4. Destination to help motivate you to finish the route.

Applying this model to San Francisco, we came up with the following three winning routes.
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Expand your comfort zones; improve “running strength”

Posted December 22nd, 2006 at 6:15 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Running strength isn’t quite as definitive as VO2Max or lactate threshold. It’s a bit ambiguous. However, as I view it, it has two components: physiological and psychological.

The physiological component is related to running economy, but it is also different. I think of both running strength and running economy as sub-elements of a broader subject that I call running efficiency.

Running economy is a measure of how efficiently you use oxygen while running at a specific pace. Improving running economy means that you can physiologically sustain a faster pace at a given percentage of VO2max, or a given pace at a lower percentage of VO2max, for a longer distance.
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