Sacramento Running News

Your brain is in charge.

There is a growing body of evidence in support of the theory that your brain is the limiting factor in your running performance. This article from the Globe and Mail, sent to me by alert reader Chris, describes yet another study that reinforces this theory.

What was intriguing to me about this study is that it gives some indication that not only can you trick your brain into increasing your VO2max, but that the effects are apparently enduring.

Researchers took several athletes and tested their VO2max using a traditional protocol–slowly ramping up the pace of the treadmill until the athletes oxygen uptake hit a plateau.

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All you need to know in one image!

Everyone knows you slow down and get weaker with age, right? In fact the data shows that 37 percent of senior citizens have disabilities.

Well, how much of that is simply due to the unavoidable effects of aging, and how much of that decline is due to sitting around on our butts?

To answer that question, some smart scientists at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study of masters athletes and discovered that there was a huge, enormous even, difference between older people who had been training diligently as they aged and those that did not.

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Most of us who like to train have been asked from time to time by our non-running friends or relatives, “Isn’t all that running hard on your body?”

We assure them that no, it’s great. We might even confess that if we weren’t able to run, we would likely find some less healthy way of shaking off the bad moods, anxiety, and general craziness.

The fact is, that while there is good science showing the benefits of high volumes of exercise in general, the data regarding the impacts of ultra-distance training is muddled.

You now have the opportunity to help inform the debate with your in-laws about the impact of all your running.

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Pistorius in 2007 (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

While on this very day, Oscar Pistorius will be running in the 400 meter semi-finals of the World Championships, over at the Science of Sport, Ross Tucker continues to dig into the research on whether those’ prosthetic lower legs give him an unfair advantage. (Hold onto your hat! Tucker posts five lengthy and interesting analyses of the science and politics.)

While Pistorius won the right to compete in the World Championships through a legal appeal, I have my doubts about whether he (or anyone else on these prostheses) will be allowed to compete in open competition for very much longer.

I have always viewed cross-training as something to help prevent injury. Some claim it can make you faster. The science on this has been sketchy at best, and some new studies (as reported by the New York Times) do not really clarify anything.

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We’re all waiting for Skynet to become aware and enslave the humans, but they still need to work on the design for the bipedal robots to do their dirty work.

Here is an early prototype that is capable of running 6.8 miles per hour. The fusion power source is still in development, so it can only run in circles–so far.

Look for it at a 10K in your neighborhood–soon. Better start training!

This past week, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius ran 45:07 for the 400, which was fast enough to make him the first amputee to run a qualifying time for the World Championships.

It was an inspirational feat, and the video is worth watching.

I have no doubt that he has worked very hard to achieve amazing things. But part of me wonders about the technology involved.

There are some pretty serious scientists who are quite confident that Pistorius has benefited unfairly by the use of these high-tech, carbon fiber wonders.

(Scientists) Weyand and Bundle said the lightweight blades allow Pistorius “to reposition his limbs 15.7 percent more rapidly” than five of the most recent world record-holders in the 100 meters.

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Here’s a nice video from the Wall Street Journal about interval training.

If you read this website regularly, you’ll know that while I do like to make fun of barefoot running zealots, I’m actually supportive of some amount of barefoot running.

What I’m nervous about is the lack of solid science about what it’s good for and what it’s not going to help.

Thankfully, in large part due to the enthusiasm engendered by Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, there is a growing body of science regarding the ins and outs of barefoot versus shod running.

There is also a growing body of medical anecdotes about injury rates and barefoot running zombies who are ready to shout down any nay-sayers. (Of course, there are also anti-barefoot running zealots, too.)

The New York Times Well blog has a nice wrap-up of current science. Here’s the money quote: (more…)

There is a persistent bit of conventional wisdom about how athletes continue to burn more calories after they are finished exercising.

The usual reasoning is that our metabolisms are turned way up for hours after we are finished working out.

The science behind this has always been a little sketchy and a new study sheds a little light on why the data has been inconclusive so-far. It turns out that this effect has a lot to due with how hard or how intensely you work out.

In other words, you’ll enjoy the after-burn from a tempo run or set of intervals, but you won’t get it from an easy run. I guess this explains why I always lose more weight (or get hungrier) during a speed-training phase.

Read about it in the Charlotte Observer.

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In the very popular book Born To Run, author Christopher McDougall describes how humans were evolved to hunt by simply outrunning the animals they were hunting. In the book, he tells of a researcher who was able to join a hunter gatherer tribe and run down wild game in Africa.

Sadly, this has never been duplicated in the US, even though it would likely be the premise of a wickedly popular reality television program. This could be because of inadequate hunting and tracking ability on the part of those individuals who have tried. It could also be because the runners weren’t hungry enough.

In this month’s Outside Magazine, they describe the experience of a group of very fast marathoners attempting to chase down a pronghorn in New Mexico.

Entertaining reading. You should check it out!.