Sacramento Running News

A few weeks ago, every non-running friend and relative sent me some version of this story: Fast Running is as Deadly as Sitting on the Couch!

I was immediately suspicious since the findings of this most recent study: 1. Don’t mesh with a ton of other studies, and 2. Don’t seem to mesh with my personal observations.

They report: “A study of 1,098 runners found that those who ran the fastest were nine times more likely to die prematurely within 12 years than those who enjoyed a more sedate pace of around 5mph for two or three times a week.”

Wow! If this were reflected in the world around me, then I’d have a lot fewer people to race than I do.

(more…)

About a week ago, I posted here about an article in the Wall Street Journal that indicated that we were all going to die from all this crazy running.

I remain suspicious about the science behind the article, and it appears that I am not alone.

Alex Hutchison at Sweat Science delivers the mother of all smack-downs on this story.

It’s a great piece you should read because there is no doubt that someone at one of your holiday gatherings is going to start a conversation with “I heard that too much running is actually worse than not running at all.”

(more…)

Proponents of barefoot running often speak of the improved efficiency of barefoot versus shod running, but for some reason we still don’t see many barefoot runners at a competitive level.

Why is this?

A recent study published online in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise worked to minimize the possible confounding factors that have plagued prior research.

To tease out the differences that could be attributed only to the shoes or lack of shoes, the researchers worked with experienced barefoot runners and all the runners in the study were midfoot strikers–with or without shoes.

Then, the researchers added weight to the feet of both the shod and barefoot runners and found, not surprisingly, that people use more oxygen as the weight of the foot or shoe increased.

(more…)

People seem to either love or hate, or love to hate, Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run and fierce advocate of minimalist running.

He recently wrote an article for New York Times magazine about an interesting exercise, called “100 ups,” that he believes will help your running.

In the article, McDougall recognizes the important fact that people can, and do run barefoot and still have terrible form.

Here’s the video. I’d be interested to hear back from anyone who tries the exercises.

(more…)