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Lead Stories: Sunday, September 7, 2008

Study: Fewer Intense Workouts, More Recovery for Maximum Performance

Posted January 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 PM by thefinalsprint.com

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

How much time should you spend working at your maximum level in your sport, compared to miles or days spent going at a relaxed pace?

Researchers at the University of Madrid in Spain divided competitive distance runners into two groups. One group did frequent intense workouts and fewer slow recovery miles, while the second group did fewer intense workouts and more slow miles (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, August 2007).

At the end of five months, the runners who did fewer intense workouts and more recovery miles improved far more than those who ran fewer miles and spent a lot of their time trying to run very fast.
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Exercise May Speed
Healing Time

Posted December 29th, 2007 at 4:21 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Animal studies suggest that exercise may be even more important for older people than for younger ones. A report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that exercise significantly decreased wound size and increased healing rate in older mice. However, exercise had little effect on the rate of wound healing in young mice. (American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, November 14, 2007).

Mice ran on a treadmill at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day for eight days. They then were given four full-thickness skin wounds and the rate of wound healing was checked daily for 10 days. Compared to age-matched non-exercising mice, the older exercisers healed faster.
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At what intensity should endurance athletes train?

Posted October 3rd, 2007 at 7:35 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

One question that some endurance runners ask themselves is how much of their training they should be dedicating towards higher intensity runs and how much of their training is better off at low intensity. The common thought would be that since they are training for endurance, they should train in a similar manner. Some coaches and professionals however believe that training at higher speeds will help to improve their total body conditioning better and thus simply transfer over to a better performance during endurance related events.

Some researchers recently set out to run some tests on just this. The study was designed to compare the effect of two different training programs on endurance performance, one that comprised a great portion of training time in a lower intensity zone and a second that comprised more time in a higher intensity zone.

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Explaining Runner’s High

Posted September 25th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Ever feel unusually cheerful after hitting the gym or increasingly confident after finishing up laps at the track? You’re not alone. This state of happiness after exercise is known as “runner’s high,” and has been a point of interest for researchers and athletes for years.The question is, what exactly causes runner’s high? Turns out, it’s all about endorphins.

Quite simply, endorphins are hormones that your body manufactures during exercise that are found mainly in the pituitary gland and nervous system. The interesting thing about endorphins is that they are renowned for having morphine-like qualities. In other words, they act like naturally-produced painkillers and sedatives. And, as exercise is a form of stress on the body, by participating in physical activity you are helping to release surges of endorphins.

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Prevent injury and improve performance by increasing the intensity of your warm-up

Posted March 6th, 2007 at 10:37 AM by Jeanie Rebb

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

Warming up before you exercise helps to prevent injuries and lets you jump higher, run faster, lift heavier or throw further.

Your warm-up should involve the same muscles and motions you plan to use in your sport. For example, before you start to run very fast, do a series of runs of gradually-increasing intensity to increase the circulation of blood to the muscles you will be using.

Muscles are made up of millions of individual fibers, just like a rope made from many threads. When you start to exercise at a very slow pace, you increase the blood flow to muscle fibers, increase their temperature, and bring in more oxygen, so the muscles are more pliable and resistant to injury.
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Will cross-training
make me more fit?

Posted December 30th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Fitness refers to your heart, and the harder you exercise, the more fit you become. But every time you exercise vigorously your muscles are injured, and the harder you exercise, the longer it takes for your muscles to heal. Muscle biopsies done the day after a person exercises vigorously show bleeding into the muscles and disruption of the Z-bands that hold muscle filaments together. You are not supposed to exercise vigorously again until the muscle soreness disappears.
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Shin Splints: What a pain in the leg!

Posted November 29th, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Jonathan Faccone

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

One of the most common nuisances for athletes, and especially runners, is having to deal with shin splints. Anyone who has experienced pain in the front part of their lower leg, possibly some swelling and/or other shin-area irritation has likely had the unfortunate (albeit very common) experience of shin splints. They can be incredibly irritating, painful and can even impede on your performance and/or training regimen.

The scientific term for shin splints is traction periostitis and they occur when the legs are subjected to constant pounding (often from running on hard surfaces such as asphalt or concrete sidewalks). Shin splints are even more common for new runners or runners who have recently increased their weekly mileage, running surface or training intensity because their legs are just not used to the stress. That’s why it’s important to remember to take such changes slowly. This will help to prevent shin splints and a myriad of other common running injuries. Read the rest of this entry »

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Marathon Training Tips: Increasing Intensity, Speed & Preventing Injuries

Posted October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Training Tips

Many runners have the mistaken impression that they have to run a lot of miles every week to be able to run fast in a marathon. Most will find that running too many miles slows them down.

To run fast in races, you have to run very fast in practice. However, on the day after you run very fast, your muscles will feel sore. If you run fast while you are sore, you are likely to injure yourself and not be able to run at all. Take easy workouts until your muscles feel fresh again. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Runner’s High . . . and Higher

Posted August 23rd, 2006 at 10:39 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Motivation, Training Tips

A note from the TFS: We are pleased to welcome Jim Fortner as a guest contributor to The Final Sprint. Jim is an extremely knowledgeable runner and talented writer. Make sure to also check out “Jim2’s Running Page”, his own personal running and advice site.

Below you will find his latest post about runner’s high. Enjoy.

The runners high is real. It isn’t a myth. I’ve been there……briefly. I think it’s very elusive for most of us, although it seems to be easier for women to find.

There were several discussions about the Runner’s High on the Forums a few years ago, mostly by women. As a result of those discussions, I gained some different perspectives on the subject from listening to the experiences of some female runners, who have a much better grasp than I of the philosophical and psychological aspects of running. I used to think that the “Runner’s High” was simply a state that you either experienced physiologically or not. I’ve now come to the conclusion that, much like depression or the emotions of joy and sadness, the feeling or intensity of a Runner’s High is not the same for all people….and not always the same for any one person. I’ve come to think of it as having an emotional component, as well as a physiological basis.

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