LONG, SLOW DISTANCE (LSD) OR SPEED? Last weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of the 2011 edition of the Wineglass Marathon. Thanks to Sheila Sutton (assistant race director), I was invited to present a couple of lectures during my stay in Corning, NY, and otherwise mingle with the few thousand runners…
Hard or Soft Ground? What struck me so paradoxically, in Gina Kolata’s column ”For Runners, The Soft Ground Can Be Hard On The Body” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/health/nutrition/19best.html?_r=1&ref=personalbest), was not the inconclusive responses to the question at hand – Is it better to run on hard or soft ground? – but rather Ms. Kolata’s comment about her own…
Running Economy In his recent post “Running Economy: Overrated and Misunderstood”, Steve Magness, exercise scientist and newest addition to the Nike Oregon Project team, bemoans the “sad state of a lot of physiology research out there” which has streamlined exceptional running performance into a neatly tied package of running economy (RE), maximal ventilatory intake (VO2max) and…
Ask The Trainer For the past year or so, I’ve been working closely with my friend and colleague Dr. Lee Cohen (www.drleecohen.com). Dr. Cohen is the podiatric consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles, 76ers, Wings and a host of collegiate and high school teams. I met him through the usual “know somebody” network, and he was…
Are You Fit? Well are you? And if so, how do you know? America has long had a fascination with fitness and the customary qualities associated with a “fit lifestyle”: health, vigor, youth. Thinking Jack LaLane (may he rest in peace) through Tony Horton will conjure up images of physical fitness culture that has progressed…
Ritzenhein UNPLUGGED Dathan Ritzenhein is considered the “future of American distance running.” His career, earmarked for greatness, has followed an inconsistent trajectory. Having won championships and setting records in distances from 3,000 meters to the 1/2 marathon (for a complete bio and race results history click on the following link: http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/Ritzenhein_Dathan.asp), Ritzenhein has fought innumerous injuries…
LAB RAT: A Tale in Two Parts ACT 1: I’ve heard a lot about biomechanist Irene Davis and the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Delaware. Dr. Davis’ “research is aimed at understanding the relationship between the lower extremity structure, mechanics and injury.” I recently learned that Davis and her students were soliciting barefoot/minimalist runners…
8 Myths About Running Injuries These are the moments when I’m glad to have an internet voice (read: blog). Without this outlet, I would be sitting at home, contemplating some grisly response to all of the tweets regarding “Running Injuries.” My frustration has reached new heights, seeing more and more articles/posts advocating the surefire way…
Does Stretching Before Running Prevent Injuries? Around the water cooler of “twitterdom” this week, opinions were flying about about the New York Times article “Phys Ed: Does Stretching Before Running Prevent Injuries?” by Gretchen Reynolds in the Well blog of the Health section (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/phys-ed-does-stretching-before-running-prevent-injuries/?src=me). So many people were retweeting this article, I felt compelled to see what…