It has been a while since my last post but this topic has been in the back of my mind. It is more opinion than science and was further promoted to the top of my 'blogs topic' list in follow up to a similar article by Rod Cedaro in the recent edition of Triathlon and Multisport Magazine.

Why is it that a large number of athletes spent huge amounts of money of the latest cool equipment when the impact this will have on their performance is minimal. This trend is definitely more evident in cycling and triathlon than it is in running, but there is no doubt it is a trend across all endurance sports.

A cyclists or triathlete might try and justify that their new $5000 bike frame will assist performance with improved aerodynamics; and there is no doubt that it will but........ 

Take an average recreational triathlete who is say 75kg. He could get an 80sec improvement in his 40km TT performance simply by losing 2kg of weight. Or that same athlete, could get the same 80sec improvement by improving power output by only 2%. Lets go one step further, this athlete could save more than 2 minutes by simply improving their riding position. So how much does that new expensive frame save? About 60 seconds.

So there is no doubt that equipment can be beneficial in improving performance, and it is an easy saving, but it is also a very expensive way to enhance performance compared to the other examples given. This is especially the case given that most recreational athletes still have a lot of performance to gain through simply optimising training. The expensive equipment is only really a necessity for elite athletes looking for that extra edge.

It is important to remember that most of us train for enjoyment, and race performance is a secondary priority. So this means that expensive new bike frame is actually more of a cool toy to show your friends, than it is a means to racing faster.

The bottom line, when you are next about to lash out and make that big purchase that will help with your performance, think about it. Are you buying it just so you have the latest toy, or are you buying it as you couldn't be bothered to make the hard changes that will result in even greater performance. 

The discussion about barefoot running is ongoing with many different opinions being continually expressed. In my opinion, there is no clear cut right or wrong as the differences between every runner is so large. However it is worth noting that even the barefoot fans are not generally volume runners; I don't know of many people running 100+ km per week barefoot. Therefore, it may be that a combination is ideal.

Anyway, rather than rabbit on for hours about it, I thought I would refer through to a recent post at The Science of Sport blog. Check it out here.

Just a quick post today as this week has been a bit hectic and I haven't been able to keep up the regular posts.

One thing that every runner, and other athletes, encounter many times throughout the years is injury. While there are many causes of injury there is no doubt that runners are at high risk of overuse injuries due to the endless pounding. But what is an injury, what is a niggle and what is just normal wear and tear?

We have all experienced soreness during hard training blocks or the days after a tough race. So lets not get this confused with injury. You will recover quickly from this soreness and it shouldn't restrict you are several easy training days.

But when the pain continues to hang around, even when it isn't severe, that is when it becomes a concern. While it might only be classified as a niggle at this point, and may not be limiting your ability to train, this is the key phase for sorting the issue out. Left as it is, if you continue to train hard, the odds are it will only get worse. Despite what we all hope, injuries rarely just go away by themselves.

It is at this point where something needs to be done, but what?

None of us like to stop running, but in some cases, easing back the load can have a big impact. This doesn't mean you need to stop training, but instead it might be a good idea to reduce the overall volume and intensity of sessions. Doing this for a week may be enough to get on top of the injury, but in many cases the injury simply returns when full training resumes.

Therefore, my general rule of thumb is to see a physio (or similar) if the injury is still there after a week. At this stage, if it goes untreated, it is likely to get worse and start impacting on training even further. 

So to conclude this short post, the steps after experiencing a niggle are:

1. Reduce training volume and intensity and see if you can shake the niggle.
2. If it continues to persist and is still evident a week later, see a physiotherapist or the like to get some treatment and/or rehab exercises. A good physio will also be able to provide you with a rehab plan that includes training recommendations while you manage the injury.
3. If the injury continues to linger for many weeks, get a second opinion, and consider visiting a sports physician. 

When it comes to the topic of endurance and strength training there are many opinions, many approaches and much research. There is no doubt that strength training can have a beneficial health impact. In recent years the Australian national exercise guidelines have come to include two weekly strength sessions in addition to the aerobic training recommendations that are in place.

Despite these health benefits, lets look at this from a running point of view. Is there any value of completing strength training as a method to improve your running performance?

The key point here is that if you want to run well, then you have to run. No amount of strength training will help your running if you arn't completing enough running sessions. To further this point, running is your priority and that means you can't have strength sessions causing fatigue for your key running session. It would be better to start your strength sessions fatigued as a result of a hard running session than vice versa. This means your weekly training structure must be well thought out. An example might be:

Monday - Day Off

Tuesday - Intensity Session in the morning; Strength training in the afternoon

Wednesday - Aerobic Run

Thursday - Intensity Session in the morning; Strength training in the afternoon

Friday - Aerobic Run

Saturday - Intensity Session

Sunday - Long Run

Now to look at the impact of this strength training. Lets break it into three categories:

1. Weight training - this is what most people refer to when they think of strength training. While benefits are associated with running, it is important to ensure these sessions are not leaving you sore and overdone. They should be focussed on high rep strength endurance. One of the keys to this type of work is the eccentric loading associated with lowering a weight. It is this type of eccentric muscular activity that results in post-session soreness when you run. It is most prominent when running downhill, running fast or running when fatigued. Thus strength training is especially important for the marathoner. Additionally, it is difficult to get enough of this training from running alone, so strength training can assist.
2. Stability and Basic Strength - this is the type of work you can do at home and the type of exercises your physio will give you during injury rehab. These sessions arn't focussed on strength gains as much as stabilisation. The main goal here is injury reduction. The benefits of this type of training are less direct; their aim is to keep you injury free and out there running. At the bare minimum, I would recommend all runners complete this type of training on a regular basis.
3. Plyometics and explosive training - Plyometrics are a type of power training focused around jumping activities. The research has shown that this can be very effective in improving running performance by reducing ground contact time. Foot strike during running slows us down, so if we can reduce the contact time we can run faster. This benefit is largely driven by improvements in the stretch short cycle which aids us in getting some spring off the ground after ground contact. So there is no doubt that it can be beneficial, but it is also demanding on the body and therefore increase injury risk. For this reason, it is recommended you have a solid running background,  or even better, a strength training background.

So what does this mean for the runner? Strength training can be beneficial, when not overdone. The challenge is fitting it in. Don't sacrifice a run to fit it in, but at the very least aim to complete 2 stability sessions at home (or at the end of your runs) each week.

Over the years, one aspect I have felt that is not well understand by those new to running is the warm-up.

It is generally well accepted that the aim of the warm-up is to prepare the body for exercise and reduce the risk of injury. Traditionally this takes the form of some easy jogging, some stretching and then into the main session we go. The main issue I encounter is that this traditional approach is often still used, and it isn't effective.

The research has never shown stretching prior to exercise to be beneficial for injury reduction. Actually, some research has shown that pre-exercise stretching will actually impair performance by reducing the speed and force of muscle contraction. 

One of the key goals of the warm-up is to increase core temperature, however if we follow that traditional warm-up approach, we may not actually achieve this. We start with the easy jog which warms the body up; we then stop and stretch which in turn starts bringing us back to our resting state. By the time we start into our session our body is back close to it's resting state.

So what better way could we approach this?

My recommendation would be to start out easy, even walking if required. Then gradually lift the intensity to a comfortable aerobic pace for at least 8-10 minutes. This achieves our initial goal of getting the body moving, loosening up and increasing core temperature.

Secondly, we want to stretch our body out a little, but rather than stopping and having a stretch, lets try and achieve this dynamically. The goal here is to increase the range of motion around our joints. This is best done through completing suitable running drills and some dynamic stretching; examples include high knees, butt kicks, leg swings etc.

The third aspect of our warm-up then needs to specifically prepare us for our session and the intensity we will be running. If we are going to complete some high intensity efforts, then we need to undertake some warm-up efforts in preparation for this. At some stage most of us will have had the experience of a poor warm-up where we start our first efforts and after a few hundred metres the intensity really catches up with us and we slow dramatically. This is definitely something we want to avoid and thus we need to include some intensity in the warm-up so the body is ready for the session. To do this, I recommend some short surges, starting at ~10seconds and building to ~30seconds. 

Ultimately, everyone will have different variations of a warm-up that suits them, but as a guide I would recommend starting with something like this:

1. 8-10 minutes of easy jogging.
2. 3-5 minutes of drills and dynamic stretching with jogs between (keep moving throughout)
3. 4-6 short surges with a full recovery between.
4. A couple of minutes of jogging, then off you go into the session.

When preparing for an aerobic session such as a long run, there is no value in completing this thorough warm-up as the speed will not greatly exceed your warm-up speed anyway. For these sessions just start out easy, then build the speed gradually over the first 10-15 minutes.