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Lead Stories: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Move of the Day: Fast Feet

Posted December 10th, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Katie Drummond

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

This move aims to increase foot movement and to improve foot function. It also helps to improve reaction time. This is a great exercise to include in your workout to help raise your heart rate between sets and can also help runners to prevent injuries. You should have good balance before trying this exercise.

To begin, stand up straight with your shoulders back and your knees slightly bent.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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Jon Rankin: Discovering my True Identity as a Runner (Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #1)

Posted December 5th, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Jon Rankin

Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star
Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of TheFinalSprint.com’s
Elite Athlete Blog Series. Make sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry.

My name is Jon Rankin and I’m a professional Track & Field athlete for the United States of America. My sponsor is Nike, Inc. My primary events are the 1-mile and 1500 meters. I also compete in any event from 800 meters to 5000 meters on the track, up to 15 kilometers on the road and in the sport of Cross Country.

The end of the 2007 season marked my 10th year as a distance runner and it turned out to be my most significant season thus far. A little over one year ago I sustained a full fracture to the 3rd metatarsal of my left foot during the USATF National Championships. Psychologically the injury was devastating for me. I struggled to overcome the break I sustained to my spirit more so than I did the break in my foot. From the moment my foot broke in June of 2006 until the following June of 2007 I experienced a roller coaster of emotions. It would be twelve months before I got back on the track and competed.
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How To Be An Economical
and Efficient Runner

Posted October 19th, 2007 at 3:26 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

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

For many runners, scoring a faster running time can be a point of frustration. Though you train regularly and your technique may seem impeccable, sometimes your efforts seem to add up to nothing when it comes to improving your speed. In fact, how fast or slow you run often has a great deal to do with your economy of motion.

Economy of motion is a simple enough concept. It refers to the relationship between how much energy you expend when you run and how fast you go. Typically, the less energy it take you to run a given distance the faster - or more “economical” - you will run. Unfortunately, as the New York Times reports, improving your running economy is one task that’s particularly difficult to accomplish, if possible at all.

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Q&A: Will following a low- carbohydrate diet help me run faster?

Posted August 17th, 2007 at 10:30 AM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov

There is no evidence that it will. Runners get fuel for their muscles from fat and sugar in muscles, fat and sugar in the bloodstream and, to a lesser degree, from protein. The key to increasing endurance for racing is to store as much sugar in muscles before you race and keep it there as long as possible. Muscle sugar gives you the most energy for the least amount of oxygen.

Restricting carbohydrates does not stimulate muscles to store more sugar (Sports Medicine, April-May 2007). A low carbohydrate diet may impair performance if carried out for extended periods because a runner cannot train on a low- carbohydrate diet.
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TFS Review: Suunto Running Pack (T3, HRM, and Foot POD)

Posted May 4th, 2007 at 9:23 AM by Paul Petersen

Section: Gear & Apparel, Gadgets & Acces., Product Reviews, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Product: Suunto Running Pack (T3, HRM, and Foot POD)
Price: $269.99
Rating: Good 6.7/10.0
Pros: Accurate, stable HR monitor; POD is non-obtrusive and lightweight; POD works indoors and outdoors in any terrain or tree cover; 15-day training log built into T3 watch; Training Effect is great concept.
Cons: T3 watch is difficult to use with a steep learning curve; Need to continually recalibrate food POD; Foot POD accuracy can be variable, especially if position on shoe has shifted.
Overall: This is a nice concept, as the accelerometer (POD) will work indoor/outdoor and with any sky visibility, unlike GPS units. The heart-rate monitor is among the best I’ve ever used, and is in itself a great product. However, the T3 watch is not user-friendly. In addition, although sometimes the speed/distance readings are extremely accurate, too often they become systematically erroneous. The Suunto Running Pack would be a good buy for those who do a lot of indoor or trail running and/or want a training log within the watch itself. Others may want to consider adding Suunto’s GPS POD and/or just opt for a completely GPS-based training device.

In the growing world of athletic speed/distance monitoring, runners are presented with two primary choices: GPS units (ie - Garmin 305, Timex Bodylink, MotionLingo Adeo) or accelerometers (ie - Suunto Foot POD, Polar Foot Pod, Nike+iPod). I have trained with several different fitness GPS units and had variable success, and “foot pods” provide an intriguing alternative because they can be used indoors, under any sky condition, and boast of potentially high accuracy. I had the opportunity to try out the Suunto Running Pack (T3, HRM, and Foot POD), and put it to the test over three rigorous weeks of training.
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How to get the most out of your late race push …

Posted April 29th, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TheFinalSprint.com. Make sure to also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

[After recently discussing a reader’s questions regarding their problems during a late race push], I thought I would offer a few things that I do to help maintain or increase pace in those late stages of a race when your legs and cardio-respiratory system are crying for relief.

There are certain things you can do in training to help prepare you for this challenge, such as increasing the pace toward the end of a long run when you are tired. And making sure that your speedwork is paced so that the last couple of intervals or hill repeats are the fastest, as well as the hardest. But, once you are in a race, it’s too late to deal with training. You’ve got to make the most you can of the preparation that you have.

If you have run the first part of the race much too fast and are in severe oxygen debt with a lot of lactic acid built up in your legs toward the end, you probably blew it and won’t be able to maintain pace. You will just have to accept a slower finish and learn from the experience. If you have run a smartly paced race, or even more conservatively than necessary in the first part, you have a good opportunity to really “go for it” at the end.
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Studies: Caffeine can help athletes in both endurance and sprinting events

Posted March 29th, 2007 at 4:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Supplements

It has been established for more than 50 years that caffeine helps you exercise longer in events that require endurance.

Recently researchers at Christ Church University in Canterbury, UK, showed that caffeine also helps you in much shorter events. Trained cyclists raced one kilometer (0.6 mile) on three times, in random order, after taking 5 mg of caffeine, taking a placebo, or taking nothing.

Their speed, mean power and peak power were more than three percent higher after taking caffeine (Journal of Sports Sciences, November 2006).
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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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TFS Review: Timex IRONMAN Bodylink GPS System

Posted February 15th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Paul Petersen

Section: Running & Training, Gear & Apparel, Gadgets & Acces., Product Reviews, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Product: Timex IRONMAN Bodylink System
Price: $275.00
Rating: Very Good 8.3/10.0
Pros: Accurate; stable GPS; good battery life; intuitive and easy to use; great watch features; good value
Cons: Data-logger & PC upload functionality not included; GPS external from watch; HR monitor unstable at times
Overall: This device is effective because it is easy and it works. GPS initialization is fast and reliable; GPS connection and accuracy is very stable. It’s best for runners who want to hit the road quickly and view results immediately. Analysis and mapping junkies may want to defer to a GPS unit that automatically comes with computer linkage - but otherwise, when it comes to reliability, value and simplicity, the Timex Bodylink is hard to beat.

Out of the box, the Bodylink comes with a beefy manual, the performance watch, the heart rate sensor, the speed + distance sensor (GPS), and an adjustable strap for the mounting the GPS on your arm. Despite neglecting to read any of the ample instruction manual, I had the watch and GPS figured out within minutes and was out the door. Before I even hit the road, the primary strength of the Bodylink System was evident: it’s ease of use.
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Why you should run faster

Posted December 31st, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

If you don’t run very fast in practice, you won’t be able to run very fast in races.

At the University of Copenhagen, Danish scientists studied experienced runners who had been running 60 miles a week at a fast pace. One group was told to cut their mileage in half to only 30 miles a week, but to run a series of around 50 to 100 yard dashes as fast as they could. The other group continued running 60 miles a week at a fast pace. Runners who ran fewer miles at a faster pace had a 7 percent improvement in their body’s maximal ability to take in and use oxygen.
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