RunningDutch

2011-05-06T09:44:00.004+02:00

Organized by one of the UN organizations and as part of the summergames for children: a marathon in Gaza strip.
The children ran it as a relay and 9 adults completed the entire marathon. Winner of this first ever marathon in Gaza strip is Nader al-Misri in 2:42:47. He is in training for the olympic marathon of London 2012.
Check out the numbers on the runners shirts. Looks like everyone brought his own number along.

Background on this UN initiative on the UN website.

Sorry but the video is partly in Dutch but it gives a nice impression of the event.

Pose Method: let gravity help you!

2011-02-28T12:01:00.003+01:00

Wanna run with an heart rate of 10 bmp below your normal HR? According to this video it is possible with the use of the so called 'pose method'.

Basically it nothing more than keeping your body tilted forward as shown by the picture below. On the left Dr. Nicholas Romanov who came up with this method tiltiign forward, on the right a 'regular' runner with an upright upper body.

With this pose you also alter your step where you don't push yourself forward but simply 'lift' your leg at the end of the stride. And as the still might suggest you probably will use fore foot landing as well as you don't extract your leg that far foreward.
This tip might be useful for a lot of recreational runners as they tend to run with a rather upright upper body. Pay attention next time you go running by looking at other runners but also at yourself. Fore example if your run in an builded area; look in a large shop window for your own reflection.

The picture above is a still from the BBC video below on the pose method.
Dr. Romanov is not just any runner. As a scientist he was part of the 2000 and 2004 British team for the triathlon on the Olympic games.

The guinea pig is this video is tested running at the same speed running regular en running using the pose method. usig the pose method he runs at a 10bpm lower HR.

Stretching:Yes or No? Don't change your habit!

2011-02-27T09:09:00.003+01:00

I've written before on the topic of stretching. Should you do it yes or no and does it help?

Recent research has shown that, with recreational runners there is no difference in the risk your run (nice phrase in this context) on injuries related to your exercises.
With or without strechting one in six runners, in this research experienced an injuries. The risk of an injury was more related to high BMI (overweight) or prior injuries.

The 'test subjects' that changed their habbit and started stretching or stopped strechting ran a risk higher risk. On average roughly one in four experienced injuries.
The researches can not explane this results but to me, of course the disclaimer is in place - I'm not an expert -, is that it has to do with the changed muscle tone after stretching. It will have an effect, even minute, on your running style and every change in style makes you more prone to injuries untill the change has settled in and became the new standard.
So if you want to change; don't or (to my humble opinion) do it gradually....

more details on MedicineNet

Recovery: trust your gut feeling

2010-07-29T21:18:00.002+02:00

How do you determine the duration of the recovery periods during an interval training? On your gut feeling according to recently published research findings published in Psychophysiology.

During the research three groups were asked to do a 5 times 1000 interval at 90% effort. Recovery was done by:

recover for teh same duration as the duration of the interval, the work to rest ration (WR)

recover untill the heartrate is below 130 BPM

recover on your feeling

Result: With the heartrate methode the later interval went slower. Based on feeling or the WR method there was no decline in the duration of the intervals. Howerver the recovery periods were shorter with the gut felling method.
I wonder how far the heartrate sank with the recovery periods but the this is not mentioned in the abstractof the report:(

What to do after retiring from prof marathon running?

2010-05-17T08:06:00.003+02:00

What to do after you end our marathon carreer? Some end up being trainers, coaches, write books on running etc. In other words they stay in field of running.

Some however start something completely new like Naoko Takahashi, the 2000 olympic marathon winner frm Japan, who started a vegtable farm (see Reuters).

Running with earphone dangerous?

2010-04-04T15:23:00.003+02:00

Some people like to run with an i-pod or other musicdevices. This newsreal feature shows that it is not al togehter save to run woth earphones blocking 'outside' noises as you might miss out the odd crashing plane now and then..... It would be funny if it wasn't real....

50 marathons in 50 days

2010-03-08T21:15:00.002+01:00

It has been done before. Running a lot to raise a lot of money. This time it is Hugh Williams-Preece from the UK. He started last week in Portugal and will finish in 50 days in downtown London after 50 marathons.
His aim? Raising 30.000 Pound for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Wanna know more?: click here for the site.
And here to donate your cash.

The Hague goes for a new WR

2010-02-26T22:53:00.000+01:00

The Hagues half marathon, the CPCrun, will have a topfield aligned for the upcoming half marathon according to the dutch newspaper AD.

On my Dutch Blog I wrote on an change in the course that probably will make it a faster course. Now with the fast runner Patrick Makau on the starting grid it looks like we are heading for an attack on the resident World Record. Makaus PB is only 19 slower than the World Record Wanjiru ran 3 years ago in the Hague.
With 3 other runners with PBs under the hour and 5 with a time just above the hour this is a very fast field. According to the article another fast runner is to be expected. We wait!

Like Rotterdam as a marathon city (read my previos post) the Hague is one of the top places to see a half marathon.
Like for the marathon I made the same tables for the half marathon. First we notice that there far more cities are in the top 100 of all times for the half marathon than for the whole marathon. So I limite the overview to those with 3 or more entries in the top 100:

And again we come across Rotterdam!

Looking at the course record the Hague leads the list with its world record:
And the same for the top 10 times ever:
Rotterdam only comes in 7th place but to show taht you can do anything with number: I took the average of the 3 best times ever run in these cities:

And yes our own Rotterdam is back up on place 3 (c:

Running into college

2010-02-26T21:34:00.004+01:00

What do you get when you make college entry troublesome and give extra credits to people good at sports? Cheating! Check out this report on BCC sport.

Students in China can earn extra credit on college entry exams with good sport results. In this case a time below 2:34 on the Marathon. During the Xiamen International marathon 30 people with times below this limit were disqualified either for

carrying two time-recording chips and thus recording not only their own time

using imposters

using transport on some parts of the course.

I think that might be the effect if you add anything else to sport than just plain competition or your own private battle with the distance and the clock.

Top times in Rotterdam?

2010-02-23T21:54:00.001+01:00

In my preperation for Rotterdam this April I was looking back at my Dutch blog and came across this overview with the top ten marathon cities.
This overview is a bit out of date so I started to look for a new overview. Unable to find one I took the top 100 marathon times from the IAAF site.
It resulted in these tabels. First of all I looked at how many times a city is present in the list. This contest is won by London (sorry the tables are in Dutch but I think it is still celar what they show):

Then lets have a look at the track records of the city. Then Rotterdam comes second behind Berlin with its World Record:
Than looking at the top times ever you wonder why other cities still organize marathons as only four realy seam to matter:
Anyhow it is obivous. Rotterdam has a fast track so if I don't succeed in running a personal best I can't blaim the track(c;

Darwin en running?

2010-02-02T21:17:00.003+01:00

No, the title is not refering to all the attention Darwin got last year. It has to do with scientific research from the States. Carry on reading.

Early January I posted an article (and youtube clip) on forefoot or heellanding. This previous article also refered to other scientific research on the effect of the straing on the lower body due to heellandings.
This article on BBC News roughly has the same findings but refers to other research. However this research also suggest that wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run. A kind of evolution and hence the title!

Forefoot
The researchers used high speedcameras. I cannot embed the footage so please visit the BBC site. The footage shows the impact of a heel strike, the effect of the cushioned landing with shoes and the forefoot strike of barefoot runners.

Hammer
The heel strike is compared with the blow of a hammer with htree times your body weight. Thankfully this is softened by the modern runningshoe.

Efficient
Besides absorbing the impact, it seems that forefoot strike also makes better use of the engery stored in ankle and the arch of the foot. So a more efficient style of running.
Is it al positive? No! The straing on calf muscle and achilles tendon is higher. Swithing to a new runningstyle comes with the risc of injuries.

Topspeed for humans? Fast!!

2010-01-26T21:58:00.003+01:00

Last summer every body watched Usain Bolt set two amazing worldrecords. His 9.58 on the 100 meters and his record on the 200 a few days later. His topspeed is around 28 miles per hour. But according to research this is not the limit!

The research from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the University of Wyoming shows that the limiting factor for the top speed in running is the speed of contraction.
The research found that the limbs are capable of applying much greater ground forces than those present during top-speed forward running.
So the amount of force that can be applied during the short contact between foot and ground is limited by the speed of contraction of a muscle.
From these finding teh researchers conclude that the theoratical topspeed for humans is 35 to 40 miles per hour en possibly even faster.

Published in:
Bundle, M.W., (2009). Mechanical limits to human running speed. Paper to be presented at Symposium on Training Running Speed: A Critical Consideration of Contemporary Practice, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.
and on dailycalaxy

Trainingschedule of an Olympic Gold Medallist

2010-01-23T14:02:00.003+01:00

In the Polish Magazine Bieganie (translated: Running) was a nice historic fact. The 1908 Olympic Marathon winner Johnny Hayes trained as follows:

every day a 3 mile run
a longer run was followed by resting the first day en just a walk the second day and a 3 mile run on the third
this was completed with long marches

As an example of one of these marches....during the Games in London they were bored waiting for the day of teh marathon. The team went on a 30 mile march. An extreme example of a LSD ( Long Slow Distance) run.

He won the marathon in 2:55. Not realy a time for medals nowadays but I would be very proud with a time near the three hours.

If you want to learn more on the history of teh 1908 marathon and the tale behind the marathon distance of 42 kilometer and 195 meters I refer to a nice article on Times online. For example: Hayes wasn't the first to finish but got the gold medall anyway. Why? read on....

Barefootrunnning, Forefoot or heellanding?

2010-01-08T22:09:00.002+01:00

Found on Youtube. A video comparing, side by side, running on barefoot and on shoes.

I would say a great add fore barefootrunning.

Better still, the findings from a more scientific appraoch to the subject:

TITEL: The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques
link to the full article

Objective: To determine the effect of modern-day running shoes on lower extremity joint torques during running.

Results: Increased joint torques at the hip, knee, and ankle were observed with running shoes compared with running barefoot. Disproportionately large increases were observed in the hip internal rotation torque and in the knee flexion and knee varus torques. An average 54% increase in the hip internal rotation torque, a 36% increase in knee flexion torque, and a 38% increase in knee varus torque were measured when running in running shoes compared with barefoot.

Conclusions: The findings at the knee suggest relatively greater pressures at anatomical sites that are typically more prone to knee osteoarthritis, the medial and patellofemoral compartments. It is important to note the limitations of these findings and of current 3-dimensional gait analysis in general, that only resultant joint torques were assessed. It is unknown to what extent actual joint contact forces could be affected by compliance that a shoe might provide, a potentially valuable design characteristic that may offset the observed increases in joint torques.

I am almost sorry it is to cold outside a the moment to go running barefoot (there is snow and a freezing wind with a chillfactor bringing down the temp to minus 12 dergrees centigrade)

Running with a New Year''s Eve hangover

2010-01-01T21:48:00.004+01:00

A new year!

May it be happy and a good year for running!

Get an early start and run right away on the first day of the new year. The first training of the year down the pocket! ...or not?
Did you have a few drinks to many last night? Do you suffer from a hangover from all the bubbles? You might think of skipping a training. Your hangover headache is one of the results from the dehydrating effect from alcohol. Kind of the same effect as a exertion headache.
Anyway, if you do have a hangover, consider skipping the training as starting a training while dehydrated is not very sensible. Actually, getting a hangover is not so sensbile to start with. So start being sensible. 1) Skipp the training today, 2) drink plenty fluids without alcohol, 3) do your training tomorrow and 4) If you realy are a runner: stay away from to many alcohol next time so it won't interfere with you running;-)

And...lets hope that compare to 2009 I am more productive on my english blog in 2010. But that shouldn't be to hard;-)

Running beats Nintendo's Brain Academy

2009-11-02T20:35:00.004+01:00

People who want to exercise their brain can choose the game "Brain Academy" on the Nintendo Game Console. On the other hand you could consider to go out for a run! You not only train your body but make your brain fitter as well.

Researcher at the University of Pittsburgh made two groups of rhesus monkeys workout each day for three months. One group just jogged and one group ran. A third group of monkey was allowed to relax.

After these three months they were treated with an injection killing the cells that produce dopamine. The same cells that die in patients with Parkinson's disease. Official title of this research: "Impact of exercise on caudate and putamen in a non-human primate model of Parkinson's disease"

But now the results: The monkeys that had to run for three months were "resistant" to this injection. The lazy monkeys were no longer able to use the arm related to the half of the brain that was injected. The running monkeys still had control over their arm.

So here you are: Just another great reason to start running! Asics new it already many years ago: "Anima Sana in Corpore Sano”, a sound mind in a sound body.

And of course there is still this book I wrote about some time ago.

For those who still don't want to run: Trian Your Brain online

Iron in Kelloggs Special K

2009-10-24T21:29:00.004+02:00

It is some time ago since I posted on my English blog.
In april I wrote (on ym Dutch blog on the benefits of iron. Of course you don't eat iron but as a pure substance. When you consume iron it is in the shape of minerals. At least so I thought untill recently.

On dutch TV we have programm that investigates the origine of food. It is called 'Keuringsdienst van Waarde'. The episode from last week addressen iron in food. More specific in Kelloggs Special K.
What did it show? Kelloggs contains iron in it pure form. In very small particals but pure iron nevertheless.

In its pure form and in this size of particals it is not very likely that it has any use. Besides most people eat cerials with milk. The body absorbs the calcium from milk far better.
Below the episode (of course in Dutch). If it is not working go to the site of hte programm.

By the way: This product is not allowed on the market in Danmark by the local food and health authoroties.

Trainingschedule taking you to a 5k run!

2009-10-14T21:48:00.003+02:00

This posting is for visitors hitting this blog trough a Google search. Google analytics showed a large interest in 5K runs. Usauly experienced runners are interested in schedules for half marathons of even a whole marathon. So people looking for a 5K run schedule are starting runners. So, new runners: Welcome to the legion of runners and this blog.

You have decide to start running. Very well! It does not matter if you started to feel fit, lose weight or just to get outside (I asume you are not starting in a ~~stinkhole~~ gym on the belt) doesn't matter. What does matter? Have ~~some~~ motivation. Because you might experience some setbacks. for example now in autumn with the dark evenings and rain outside. It might help to join a group. Social pressure might help.

What can help as well; set a goal. For example tot take part in an organized run. Or run without pause to a certain point in your neigbourhood. once you have reached your goal award youself somehow. Again social pressure might help: Tell anyone who wants to listen about your goals. No doubt they will ask: "How about...?"

Now you have tackeled the motivation part of starting: It is obvious you won't run five kilometers (5K running terms) in one go. Build it up gradually. Below is a training schedule for a nice relaxed speed of about 7km/hour. This speed shoud enable you to talk with your running partner. If you cannot complete the distance indicated in the schedule. Divide the training in five minute intervals with 1 or 2 minutes rest in between. You´ll notice you can skipp the intervals in not time.

The ´codes´ are:
CT = Cross Training, take up some other sport like cycling or swimming on this day.
EZ = Easy, even more relaxed than the other training days. Try to focus on your surroudings, listen to the birds or in a city environment count yellow cars for that matter
Rust is Dutch for Rest
Maandag, dinsdag and so on are the days of the week

And yes, if you look closely, you´ll see you run you first 5k after 7 weaks. Time for a reward!

If you start running to loose weigth? Don't get you hopes up to high. First of all you start burning fat after some time running so you have continue after this schedule. Second you might be building up muscle tissue. this means extra weigth. Upside of this all: your metabolism will increase so you use more energy the rest of the day as well!

Stretching yes or no? A poll

2009-01-31T20:16:00.004+01:00

The University of Nevada has done some research on the effect of stretching before running. Google for articles or follow this link for one of them. In general the message is that static stretching has no use or even might weaken your muscles before an excersies. I myself, although I write about it on this blog, I usually stretch only after running and mostly just my lower calf muscles. I have published a poll on the right of this blog. As Dutch is the default language the button 'stemmen' means 'vote' and 'resultaten weergeven' means 'show results'. I will also post this poll on Running in Business at LinkedIn for more results.

Running a marathon indoor

2009-01-21T20:42:00.003+01:00

If you want to avoid the cold try running a marathon indoor. Why they have chosen to run around an icerink? I don't know. Maybe to lower the contrast between indoor and outdoor?
If the embedded player is not shown properly follow this link):

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T14:34:00.001+01:00

Many happy runs in 2009!

Stretching: Gluteus Maximus a.k.a. butt

2008-12-31T13:59:00.003+01:00

It has been somewhile ago that I addressed stretching in this blog. So today, to make it up, stretching the Gluteus Maximus or otherwise know as your butt!

One method is to lay on your back and pull your knee into your chest (see poststamp on the right). For me this method does not deliver the result I was looking for.
I prefer a bit more complicated method which works for mee. THe first couple of times I did this kind of stretching in noticed the next day that it worked every time I wanten tot get up from my chair or was walking up the stairs.

Here how you strethc your right butt, I expect you to figure out how you can do your left one....

Sit down on the floor with both legs straight in front of you and a straigth back
Placea your right foot on the left (outside) of your left knee and grab with your left hand just below your left knee. With this take care of passing your right leg, with your left arm on the right hand side (still with me?). Your elbow of your left arm will psuh your right knee to the left
turn your upper body to the right place, if need be, your right hand behind you
push your right knee to the left with your left arm you will feel the tension build in your gluteus maximus a.k.a. butt

Maybe it is a puzzle the first time around but for me it works. Maybe this picture will help. maybe the orange in the back ground hides it a little but he is not holding his leg with his hand but for the rest he shows perfectly how to stretch the left side

googling for this image I came across this method as well:
Just as an extra option to try although for me it doesn't work...

Headache after running: exertion headache

2008-12-29T17:44:00.005+01:00

Headaches after running or exertion headache: Aparantly an interesting topic as it is the most read post on my Dutch blog. I found out it is not one of the blog translated so let me set this strainght today.
I wrote my first post on this topic in May 2007 when I forwarded a request from a trainer who wantend to learn from others experience on this topic. This today is my most read posting. In response to its popularity I added a second post.

In general you can bring back the cause of headache after running to three categories of causes.

Muscle tension: When running you virtually use all muscles of your body including those in the neck and shoulders. Some people pull up their shoulders or are tensed when they run for other reasons (f.e. stress at work). This tension will lead to pain and strain on the muscles. This pain can radiate into the head leading to headache. This strain can also lead to the build up lactic acid in the neck muscles (just as will happen with the build up in you leg muscles while running). This acid will dehydrate the brain(cells) causing tension on the meninges which casues the headache just like with an hangover. Other casues of pain (for example problems with the cervical vertebrae) can also lead to this kind headache. If you think it might be the strain of your neck muscles: try to relax while running, let your shoulders hang or do some relaxing exercises before of during the training.
Dehydration: When you run you loose water through perspiration. Of course you can compensate this for the large part by drinking during your exercise. You also loose electrolytes which are harder to replace. Both causes a disbalance of fluids in your brain and just like above this will cause a headache. Secondary: the loss of water can also result in a heat stroke / hyperthermia when it is no longer able to produce enough sweat to cool the body with perspiration. Here you can find advice on staying hydrated during running. And here the symptons and again some prevention tips of which the most important is, of course, drink!
Bloodvessels expanding en narrowing: When starting and exercise the boody widens the bloodvessels to enhance the transport of oxygen and nutriants to the working muscles. After the exercise the vessels narrow again. A good cooling down will slow down this process reducing the risk of a headache.
"......a headache occurring after running or other similar exercise is more likely to be caused by the increased speed at which the blood is circulating..." [http://www.brainandspine.org.uk/]
And if you already have a headache during the exercise and not just afterwards the sudden widening of vessels and increase of bloodflow might cause it so do a relaxed warming up so your body slowly can get used to the increased pace it has to addept to.

So I hope this helps as a start if you are looking for some answers on this topic. Otherwise just google around a bit more on exertion headache. It is always a good idea to consult an expert (doctor) preferable someone with understanding of running.

Train the brain while running

2008-12-08T21:12:00.003+01:00

I like to read books on running. It is less tiring and jet you are busy with your sport. Just joking, nothing beats a good workout with training kilometers.
But I do like to understand how the 'mechanics' of running work. Something to doe with my background as a aerospace engineer?
On Complete Running Network a review of the book"Brain Training for Runners". First I thought it had something to do with a Nintendo game for on the road but it is something else.
From the review I learn it has to do with training the mind, focussing on the mental aspect of running. Training is not meant to strengthen your body but to strengthen your mind so that te body will follow. The review is positive but some of the reviews on amazon are more critical.
The reviews made me curious enough to read a view paragraphs on Amazon (it is a "look inside" title) and I might decide to order it for further reading.

Sprint

2008-11-27T20:18:00.001+01:00