Running Form

I am a stickler for form. In order to maximize the muscles you are meaning to target, you must have perfect form. When running, the best way to conserve your energy, last as long as you can, and enjoy the workout, is to have good form. I found this article on the Runners World website and thought it was very useful.


The Perfect Form Running better, from head to toe.
By Jane Unger Hahn From the August 2004 issue of Runner's World

Head Tilt How you hold your head is key to overall posture, which determines how efficiently you run. Let your gaze guide you. Look ahead naturally, not down at your feet, and scan the horizon. This will straighten your neck and back, and bring them into alignment. Don't allow your chin to jut out.

Shoulders Shoulders play an important role in keeping your upper body relaxed while you run, which is critical to maintaining efficient running posture. For optimum performance, your shoulders should be low and loose, not high and tight. As you tire on a run, don't let them creep up toward your ears. If they do, shake them out to release the tension. Your shoulders also need to remain level and shouldn't dip from side to side with each stride.

Arms Even though running is primarily a lower-body activity, your arms aren't just along for the ride. Your hands control the tension in your upper body, while your arm swing works in conjunction with your leg stride to drive you forward. Keep your hands in an unclenched fist, with your fingers lightly touching your palms. Imagine yourself trying to carry a potato chip in each hand without crushing it. Your arms should swing mostly forward and back, not across your body,between waist and lower-chest level. Your elbows should be bent at about a 90-degree angle. When you feel your fists clenching or your forearms tensing, drop your arms to your sides and shake them out for a few seconds to release the tension.

Torso The position of your torso while running is affected by the position of your head and shoulders. With your head up and looking ahead and your shoulders low and loose, your torso and back naturally straighten to allow you to run in an efficient, upright position that promotes optimal lung capacity and stride length. Many track coaches describe this ideal torso position as "running tall" and it means you need to stretch yourself up to your full height with your back comfortably straight. If you start to slouch during a run take a deep breath and feel yourself naturally straighten. As you exhale simply maintain that upright position.

Hips Your hips are your center of gravity, so they're key to good running posture. The proper position of your torso while running helps to ensure your hips will also be in the ideal position. With your torso and back comfortably upright and straight, your hips naturally fall into proper alignment--pointing you straight ahead. If you allow your torso to hunch over or lean too far forward during a run, your pelvis will tilt forward as well, which can put pressure on your lower back and throw the rest of your lower body out of alignment. When trying to gauge the position of your hips, think of your pelvis as a bowl filled with marbles, then try not to spill the marbles by tilting the bowl.

Legs/Stride While sprinters need to lift their knees high to achieve maximum leg power, distance runners don't need such an exaggerated knee lift--it's simply too hard to sustain for any length of time. Instead, efficient endurance running requires just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting) energy. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.

Ankles/Feet To run well, you need to push off the ground with maximum force. With each step, your foot should hit the ground lightly--landing between your heel and midfoot--then quickly roll forward. Keep your ankle flexed as your foot rolls forward to create more force for push-off. As you roll onto your toes, try to spring off the ground. You should feel your calf muscles propelling you forward on each step. Your feet should not slap loudly as they hit the ground. Good running is springy and quiet.

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic

Have you heard people use these terms a lot when referring to the mode of exercise they are going to do and had no idea what they where talking about? It is easy to get these two confused. Plain and simple this is how I remember:

AEROBIC = WITH OXYGEN
ANAEROBIC = WITHOUT OXYGEN

The fuels for these different modes come from different sources. Anaerobic is mostly fueled by the ATP-PC system which is depleted quickly. An example of this would be the 100 meter dash. Aerobic exercises are mostly fueled by ATP. An example of this would be a marathon.

Click on the image below to get an idea of the differences between Anaerobic and Aerobic.

How to train your AEROBIC system

As in all training regimines, in order to improve a specific stress, you need to target and train that specific energy system. To train your aerobic system, there are three methods used by many athletes: 1- interval training 2- long, slow distance (low-intensity) and 3- high intensity, continuous exercise.

Interval Training

Interval training involves performing repeated exercise bouts, with brief recovery periods inbetween. The intervals should generally be longer than sixty seonds to maximize the usage of ATP production. Utilizing interval training will also help increase your lactate threshold and improve running (or cycling, whatever mode you choose) economy. One advantage of interval training over continuous running is that you are able to perform large amounts of high-intensity exercise in a short time. To change up your workout you can then either alter the number of sets you perform or the intensity at which you perform the set.

To plan an interval training workout, consider the following:

1. Length of the work interval - distance to be covered during the work effort.
   
2. Intensity of the effort - can be monitored by heart rate or how hard you feel you are working on a 1-10 scale (ten being the hardest).
   
3. Duration of the rest interval - consists of light activity, such as walking. Do not immediately halt all activity. You want your heart rate to gradually go down.
   
4. Number of interval sets - a set is defined as a "specified number of work efforts performed as a unit" (powers 454).
   
5. Number of work repetitions - a repetition is defined as "number of work efforts within one set" (powers 454).
   

Here is an example of an interval workout for running.

Set 1: 100 meters, 80% of max intensity, walk 100 meters, perform 2 times.
Set 2: 200 meters, 70% of max intensity, walk 100 meters, perform 2 times.
Set 3: 100 meters, 90 - 100% of max intensity, walk 100 meters, perform 1 time.

Long, Slow-Distance Exercise

In general, this method of training involves performing exercise at low intensity for durations that are greater in length than the normal competition distance. When training at long distances, you are targeting specific muscles and fiber types (to be discussed later). Your body is learning how to take on the demands of the lengths and adapt to them. Be careful not to overtrain. Overtraining can cause adverse effects on the body. When planning your weekly workouts, switch up your training with other two modes.

Example for training for a 5K (3.106 miles):

Run at 70% for 4 miles.

High-Intensity, Continuous Exercise

Again, high-intensity exercise helps improve lactate threshold (how long you are able to workout before your body "hits the wall"). The objective during high-intensity, continuous training is to exercise at a heart rate near your lactacte threshold which is about 70%-80% of max effort, for about 25 to 50 minutes, depending on your fitness level.

TRAINING TO IMPROVE ANAEROBIC POWER

Events lasting less than 60 seconds depend mostly on anaerobic production of energy. Training this energy system (ATP-PC) can happen through short, high intensity intervals (5-10 second duration), using the muscles you want to become bigger, stronger, and faster. Since the activity is so short in duration, little lactic acid builds up, leading to a faster recovery. The rest interval should last between 30 and 60 seconds.

Example for wanting to run faster:

Repeated 30 yard dashes with thirty-second rest period OR 10 weighted squats in a rhythmic manner, 3 sets. The list goes on and on.



I hope this gives you a better understanding of aerobic vs. anaerobic. In order to achieve certain fitness goals, it is important to target the main energy system being used and train that system.

Where am I getting a lot of this information? Refer to links to the right.

Fuels for Exercise

It is true the body utilizes your food differently when exercising then when at rest. The body uses carbohydrates, fat, and proteins to provide necessary energy to maintain cellular activities both at rest and during exercise. However, during exercise the primary nutrients used for energy are fats and carbohydrates. Protein contributes a small amount of the total energy used (one of the many reasons I don't support high protein diets, like Atkins).

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The stored carbohydrates provide the body with rapid availability of energy. Every 1 gram of carbs yield 4 kcal of energy. Carbohydrates exist in three forms:

1. monosaccharides - glucose (referred to as blood sugar) and fructose
   
2. disaccharides - sucrose (ex. table sugar)
   
3. polysaccharides - starches (when ingested, broken down to form monosaccharides and used as energy, or stored to use as energy later)

Glycogen is the term used for polysaccharides stored in animal tissue. Glycogen is stored in both muscle fibers and the liver. Glycogenolysis is the process of using glycogen for energy during prolonged exercise.

Fats

Stored body fat is an ideal fuel for prolonged exercise beacuse fat molecules contain large quantities of energy per unit weight. One gram of fat contains 9 kcal of energy, more than twice the amount of carbs and protein!

Fats can be categorized into four groups:

1. Fatty acids
2. Triglycerides
3. Phospholipids
4. Steroids

Proteins

Proteins are composed of amino acids. There are at least 20 types of amino acids needed by the body. Nine amino acids, called "essential amino acids" cannot be synthesized by the body, and therefore must be consumed in foods. For every 1 gram of protein there are 4 kcal of energy. During exercise protein is the last fuel source to be used, which is why protein is not a good preworkout food. Proteins main function is to rebuild and repair tissues after exercise.


It is very important to understand the basics of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. This is going to be especially useful as I start posting more about how to target each source when your goal is endurance exercise, losing fat, building muscle and so forth.

Vitamin C (this is it!)

I think I have stopped writing on here 1- been a crazy month 2 - bored of typing about vitamins! This is the last one I'll post about for a while, so we can move on to more INTERESTING topics (in my point of view).
Vitamin C:

Functions

• Also known as ascorbic acid: acts as a co enzyme that is needed to synthesize and use certain amino acids.
• Needed to make collagen - the most abundant protein in your body. Needed to maintain healthy bones, teeth, skin, and blood vessels.
• Acts as an Antioxidant, so it helps lessen the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
• Helps absorb the iron in plant foods.
• Breaks down histamine (the component behind inflammation in allergic reactions).
• Boosts your immune system by enabling your body to make white blood cells which fight infections which is why many people believe vitamin c can help cure the "common cold".
  

Daily Needs

• Women need to consume 75 milligrams daily
• Men need to consume 90 milligrams daily

Food Sources

• American meet about 90% of their vitamin c needs by consuming fruits and vegetables. One serving of orange or grapefruit juice will just about meet an adult's daily needs.
  
• Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, broccoli, oranges, and cantaloupe

Too much?
Consuming too much vitamin C (over 3,000 milligrams daily) can cause nausea, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. The upper limit for adults is set at 2,000 milligrams. Too much vitamin c can also cause kidney stones.

Where am I getting all this information? I am getting it mostly from a book titled "Nutrition and You" by Joan Salge Blake.