How 2 Run Fast

Running Through an Injury? Try KT Tape!

If you run long enough, you will get injured.  You can do a lot of things to help prevent injuries, like:

• Wear shoes that are designed for your foot type and your running mechanics
• Don’t run hard every day.  Make sure you have some rest days or easy days between your hard workouts.
• Don’t do too much speedwork
• Don’t increase your mileage too fast
• Do some regular stretching or use a foam roll or other self-massage device

If you do get injured, how you take care of your injury is very important.  There are some injuries that you can recover from relatively quickly.  Others may take months. 

If you have a minor injury and you either want to continue training or racing or you want to make sure that the injury doesn’t get worse, you might want to try KT or kinesiotherapy tape. 

I recently strained my Achilles tendon and made it temporarily worse by running in a pair of new Vibram FiveFingers shoes.  I had a couple of long runs coming up and thought it would be a good idea to try some KT tape as “insurance” to make sure it didn’t get any worse.  I followed the very clear instructional video on the KT Tape website.

The KT tape provided me with some additional support during my run and I finished 16 miles at a 8:00 pace with no problems.

KT tape comes pre-cut in a variety of colors.  It is designed to stay on for up to 5 days. 

Have you tried KT Tape?  How has it worked for you?  Tell me in the comments.

Related posts:

You’ve Pulled Your Hamstring - Now What?

Torn Your Meniscus? It’s Not the End of Your Running Career!

Foam Roll or The Stick - Which is Best?

Tiger Tail vs. The Stick

Do You Need Sunglasses For Running?

I wear sunglasses almost every time I run.  I leave them at home only on very cloudy days or when I am running at dusk or dawn. 

I wear sunglasses when I run for a number of reasons:

• They keep me from squinting in bright light, which leads to tension in my head, neck, and shoulders
• They help me see the surface of the road more clearly and avoid stepping in holes
• They keep out UV rays which could lead to long term eye damage
• They prevent dust and bugs from getting into my eyes

I was running the other day next to a cemetery.  A worker was using a weedwacker to trim the grass around the fence near the road.  Just as I approached him, the weedwacker threw up a small pebble that hit me in the front tooth.  I wasn’t injured, but it could have easily hit me in the eye.

I currently wear a pair of Nike Siege sunglasses with reddish Max Speed Tint lenses that I’ve had for a number of years.  I used to run with a pair of Nike Tarj sunglasses, but I found that they tended to fog up too easily.

If you are looking for a pair of running sunglasses, here are some things to look for:

• Make sure that the lenses are well ventilated to minimize fogging
• Make sure that they have a non-slip rubber nose piece, so they won’t slide down your nose when you sweat
• Get sunglasses with replaceable lenses, in case you damage them or if you want to switch to a different color lens
• Make sure that they block 100% of both UVA and UVB rays

Currently, the most popular brand of sunglasses for running is Tifosi.  They make very good sunglasses in the $50-60 range, considerably less than Nike sunglasses.  Tifosi also has a very nice High Speed Red Fototec lens that changes from light to dark very quickly, as conditions change.

Do you wear sunglasses when you run?  What brands and lens do you like?  Tell me in the comments.

Hate Running Intervals on the Track? There is an Alternative!

I don’t like to run intervals on the track at my local high school.  It’s too far away, it takes too long to drive there, and I don’t want sweat stains on the seats in my car.

Instead, I run almost all my interval workouts on the road.  Here’s how to do it:

• Get on Google Maps and look for a quiet neighborhood close to your house that has a loop that is between 0.5 and 1.0 mile around. 
• Scout the location and make sure that the pavement is in good shape and that there is good visibility.
• Program your GPS watch for an Interval Workout.  I typically use 5 x 1000 m (0.62 miles) with a Rest Interval of 3:00.  I do the intervals in about 3:45. 

If you don’t have a GPS watch, you can measure off a course using your car, a GPS-equipped cell phone, or other device.

Expect to get some strange looks.  I try to do my interval workouts early in the morning, before most people are up. 

Watch out for cars.  They may not be used to someone running at that pace and you may surprise them.  I had one car try to stop me to ask for directions, when I was running at close to a 6 minute per mile pace!

Try running intervals on the road (carefully) and let me know how you make out in the comments.

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How to Become a Faster, More Efficient Runner

A recent study at the University of Wisconsin found that runners who shortened their strides (and increased their stride rate) by 5-10% bounced less, landed closer to their center of mass, and produced lower braking forces against the ground.  The shorter strides also reduced forces on the runners’ hips and knees.

This confirms my personal experience.  I shorted my stride and increased my stride rate a few years ago and it’s made a big difference in my running.  I feel that my running is more efficient and that my shorter stride has helped prevent shin splints.  It may have also allowed me to run marathons, despite the fact that I’m missing part of the meniscus in my right knee.

Try shortening your stride for a week and let me know what you think in the comments.

Related posts:

Are You an Overstrider?  Find Out in 1 Minute!

Top 10 Ways to Prevent Shin Splints

Torn Your Meniscus? It’s Not the End of Your Running Career!

Which Do You Prefer? Gels or Chews?

I’ve tried Clif Shot Bloks and PowerBar Gel Blasts on some recent long runs and I am finding that I still prefer regular gels. 

Both the Shot Bloks and the Gel Blasts are very chewy.  You have to put in a fair amount of effort to break them down to the point were you can swallow them safely.  I’m always afraid that I’m going to accidentally inhale a piece of one of these.  So far, I’ve been lucky. 

My friend Randy doesn’t chew his Shot Bloks.  He leaves them out of their package to dry out and then sucks on them until they dissolve.  I’ve tried this, but I’m not that patient.  I usually end up chewing it anyway.  Besides, the Shot Bloks are pretty big and it looks like I’m running with a plug of chewing tobacco in my cheek.

If you haven’t tried the PowerBar Gel Blasts, you can still get free samples here.  They aren’t as chewy as Shot Bloks and they have a liquid center. 

The other thing that is a little tricky about the Shot Bloks and the Gel Blasts is that you have to eat quite a few of them to get the 250 calories of carbohydrates per hour that are recommended for long runs. 

A package of 9 Gel Blasts contains only 190 calories and a sleeve of 6 Shot Bloks contains 200 calories, so I’m going through more than one package per hour.  The packages also take up more space in my pockets than gels and I have to spend time digging around in them to find a Gel Blast or a Shot Blok and eat it. 

I prefer PowerBar Gels because they contain more electrolytes than Gu Energy Gels.  Since I sweat a lot when I run, I figure I need all the electrolytes I can get.

Which do you prefer?  Gels or Chews?  Tell me in the comments.

Would You Pay $10 for a Teaspoon of Salt?

If you have purchased Gatorade G Series Pro 02 Perform Sports Drink, you already have.  You may have noticed that Gatorade’s G Series Pro 02 costs about $0.40 more per 8 oz. serving than the original Gatorade G. 

You probably figured, as I did, that it must be because of the special electrolyte ingredients in the Pro 02 Perform, which Gatorade claims improve endurance in long events.

When you compare the nutritional data for the two products, the main difference is that Gatorade Pro 02 Perform contains 90 mg more sodium and 60 mg more potassium than the original Gatorade G. 

Since a teaspoon of table salt contains 2,325 mg of sodium, that extra 90 mg of sodium in Gatorade Pro 02 Perform cost you about $10.23 per teaspoon ($0.40/90 x 2325).

If you wanted to “upgrade” your original Gatorade G to Gatorade Pro 02, you could add about than 1/3 teaspoon of salt to a 1/2 gallon of Gatorade G.  You’d boost the sodium content by the same amount (2325 mg/3/8  = 97 mg) and save yourself a bundle of money.

Related Post:

Gatorade Recover - Tastes Great, but Does it Work?

Hungry? Trying to Lose Weight? Try the New Forze GPS Hunger Control Bar

Since reading Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance, I have been interested in the Forze GPS Hunger Control bars, which are mentioned in the book.  The Forze bars are designed to stimulate the production of a hormone called cholecystokinin (CKK), which sends a signal to the your brain telling you that you are full and should stop eating. 

I had some trouble finding the Forze bars locally.  The local store that was supposed to carry them didn’t have them on the shelf.  Recently, Road Runner Sports had a one-day sale on a box of 10 bars for $14.99 (they normally retail for $19.99) and I bought some.

The studies that have been done on the Forze bars indicate that they give you a feeling of fullness for up to 3.5 hours.  After having eaten a few of the bars, I can confirm that it does give me a feeling of fullness for 3-3.5 hours.  Toward the end of that period, I would say that my stomach feels a little emptier, but I still don’t feel any sharp hunger pains. 

The Forze bars taste good and have very few calories, only 160 calories per bar, much less than most other bars.  The technology behind them is designed to provide maximum feeling of fullness with the lowest amount of calories.  They are specifically designed for athletes, but could be a valuable tool for anyone looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. 

The bars come in four flavors: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Caramel Chocolate, Chocolate Decadence, and Cranberry Nut.  They are made by Pacific Health Labs, the same folks who make the Accelerade and Endurox products.

If you can’t find Forze bars for sale locally, they can be found at Road Runner Sports and they are currently on sale (Aug. 13, 2010) on Amazon for the incredible price of a box of 10 bars for $1.75, plus shipping.  At that price, they won’t last long!  I bought three boxes.

Related Posts:

What is Your Best Racing Weight?

How to Lose 20% of Your Bodyweight

Should Young Runners Use Heart Rate Monitors?

Following up on my recent experiment with letting my wife borrow my Garmin 305 GPS watch and heart rate monitor, I rigged up my 14 year old son, who is planning on running on the freshman cross country team this fall, with the same equipment. Again, the findings were interesting.

My son is a beginning runner and tends to run fast for a mile, gets winded, rests for a few minutes, and then repeats the cycle. Before today, he had never run continuously for more than a mile. Running on hilly, dirt covered backroads in Northern Michigan, his heart rate climbed quickly to around 190 beats per minute, higher than my max HR of about 185, and stayed there for the entire run. He completed 2.26 miles without stopping, by far the longest he has run. Since his freshman cross country races are 1.5 miles, this should boost his confidence.

Again, using a heart rate monitor provided some key data that we can use to adjust his pace and measure his progress as his training progresses. Although a Garmin 305 costs about $145 and might be a bit too much to spend for a high school student, the older, chunkier Garmin 301 costs under $125, and inexpensive heart rate monitors like the Polar FS1 can be purchased for under $50.  

This small investment will certainly pay dividends by helping to avoid overtraining and preventing young runners from getting frustrated by providing them with some clear, objective measures of their training progress.

Have you used heart rate monitors on high school runners?  What have you found?  Tell me in the comments.

The Benefits of Heart Rate Monitor Training for Beginners

I had the chance to run with my wife recently.  She’s a beginning runner and although she is otherwise in good shape, she finds it difficult to run for distances much longer than about a half mile.  She gets winded and feels she has to walk. 

I decided to lend her my Garmin 305 and see what her heart rate was during the run.  To my surprise, when she ran, her heart rate was quickly shooting up to over 160 beats per minute.  Even though her running pace is only a little bit faster than her walking pace, the impact on her heart rate was dramatic. 

To get better at running, you need to be able to run continuously for longer and longer periods of time.  The run-walk training programs like the Couch to 5K program or Jeff Galloway’s training programs assume that you can run for at least one minute at a time and alternate running and walking for 20-30 minutes. 

If you are a beginning runner and are having trouble finding a comfortable pace, a heart rate monitor may give you some valuable feedback about your level of effort and help you to adjust your pace to one that you can sustain for longer periods of time. 

With some experience using the heart rate monitor, you can establish a training range for your heart rate when you are running and a recovery heart rate at which you can resume running after walking. 

How have heart rate monitors helped your training?  Tell me in the comments.

My Bad Running Habits - What Are Yours?

I have a few bad running habits:

• I do my long runs at a pace that is way too fast.  The fastest marathon I’ve run is 3:29, an 8:00 minute per mile pace.  I sometimes do 20 mile runs at that pace or under. This probably reduces my endurance and prevents my body from burning fat efficiently.
• I do my tempo runs a near-race pace (are you seeing a trend here).  This probably causes me to build up too much lactic acid during these runs, causing me to slow toward the end of some of them.  I also tend to finish most of my runs fast, leaving nothing in the tank at the end.
• When I start to feel tired during a run, I tend to try pick up the pace and “muscle through it”.  This sometimes causes me to “crash and burn”, dramatically slowing toward the end of my run. 
• I hate carrying a lot of water, gels, etc.  I don’t like the extra weight.  Sometimes I underestimate what I need to bring and end up getting dehydrated or “bonking” from lack of carbohydrates. 

I’m getting a little better at taking it slow on long runs, but I still find them boring.  Monitoring my heart rate helps. 

I’ve started to focus more on my form when I get tired, not on trying to finish the run faster.  This seems to help me run more efficiently.

I’ve made a pact to not run out of water and gels this season.  So far, so good.  It’s been really hot lately and I need to take more fluids with me.  I lost a little too much weight through sweat on my last 15 mile run. 

Those are my bad habits.  What are yours and how are you trying to fix them?  Tell me in the comments.