Tag: physiology

biomechanics

The Role of Biomechanics in Running: How Proper Technique Enhances Performance and Reduces Injury Risk

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Collaboration with Ochy – running biomechanics app

Biomechanics goes together with physiology, combining different areas. Running biomechanics have been studied a lot, but studies have not been able to demonstrate the superiority of one running technique over others. There are as many running styles as there are runners. There are as many differences among professionals as there are among regular runners. One technique is not more optimal or more prone to injury than others.

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cycling, pyöräily

How Cycling Can Improve Your Running Performance.

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Collaboration with Bikemap.

Combining different forms of exercise can be beneficial in terms of improving running performance. Running and cycling are different activities with their own characteristics. One of the biggest differences between cycling and running is the impact force. Cycling doesn’t have the regular pounding of the legs, but incorporating cycling into your training can still improve your running performance and bring many benefits to your training.

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training results

How long does it take to see training results?

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Often when we start training, we have a goal in mind. The goals can be anything from improving general fitness conditions, running a marathon, losing weight, or increasing muscle mass. People often wonder how quickly the training results will be visible. How quickly will I reach my goal?

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running myths, myyttejä

Running myths – True or false?

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Running and training are full of myths. Some of them still live tenaciously, even though they could have been proven wrong by science a long time ago. There are many running myths that can affect people’s training and beliefs about how they should train. Some of the myths can also affect how we see training in general. Here is just a small fraction of common beliefs.

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carbon plate shoes

Carbon plate shoes pros and cons

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Surely every runner has already come across carbon plate shoes. You can see them on every professional, and many amateurs have also switched to wearing shoes. But does anyone benefit from carbon plate shoes? Are the benefits of carbon plate shoes so great that it is worth investing in them?

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water class hydration do you drink enough

Hydration – Do you drink enough?

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Do you drink enough during the day? Hydration plays a significant role in the daily state of mind and endurance. The amount of exercise and different activities increase the need for hydration, but various factors such as temperature and body weight also affect hydration.

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I started strength training, and I’m too sore…

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Roughly speaking, there are two types of runners, those who do strength training and those who avoid it. Sometimes those who avoid strength training start it, but they find excessive body soreness a couple of days after the training session. This often leads to quitting the whole thing. Before you give up with strength training, here’s what you do.

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How to get back in training, if you miss several days of running

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Sometimes we miss several training sessions in a row. The longer the break is, the more adjustment needs to be done. So, how to get back in training, if you miss several days of running. And why you missed those running sessions?

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Running uphill: ascent

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Hills are so beneficial for all runners, and there is plenty of different kind of hill workouts to choose. Long and short hills, hilly routes, even treadmill hills. Ascent plays a big role in hill training. As not every hill has the same effect.

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Running at altitude – how high and what’s happening?

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Many professional athletes go to altitude training camps, some like Kenyans living high altitude all the time. There is a lot of discussions about whether you should live and train at altitude or just live. We will look, what the basic information you should know about altitude training.

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Humans are the greatest distance runners in the world

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We are born to run and we are the greatest distance runners in the world. We might lose with speed to cheetahs and antelopes, but we win every other animal in endurance. How about sledge dogs or horses, who has amazing endurance capacity?

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Failing the performance – Returning after the failing

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DNF, failed performance, struggles during the performance are familiar to most of the athletes. Not only professionals but amateur too. It doesn’t matter how hard we worked, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Returning can be difficult, so what you should do after failing to be able to make a better return?

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Does running ever get easier?

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Does running get easier? Yes. But of course, there are always certain limits. If you are training regularly and systematically, you will become stronger and develop better fitness and physiology.

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What happens to you when running a marathon?

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Marathons are fun, right? We all know that after marathon muscles are quite sore for a couple of days. But, there are happening a lot more than muscles fatigue and soreness. Following things might sound crazy and scary, especially if you are a beginner or just planning to run a marathon. Remember, everything is temporary and overall feelings during the marathon and after crossing the finish line beats everything else.

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Should women train differently than men?

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In a physical perspective, there is some difference between women and men. Women are often described slower and weaker, because of the physical factors, but that’s not necessarily the thing. Women can be stronger and faster than men, like the same way some men are stronger and faster than other men. It depends on the training background and many other things. But in the scientific perspective, there are many differences between men and women. So should they train the same way?

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Sweet dreams… How sleep affects us?

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We all know that nothing is better than good night sleep and how important they are. Unfortunately, nowadays many suffer insomnia and other sleeping problems. Sleeping affects us in many ways. This post does not only consider how it affects us but also evening training and sleeping relationship.

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Why have several pair of running shoes?

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We all know that good running shoes are essential, and you should not use one pair year after year. But why have several different shoes, when you have found a good pair and want to use them? The shoes can affect the running speed, biomechanics and economy, and also injuries.

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Relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S)

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Relative energy deficiency (RED-S) is a result of prolonged insufficient energy intake. It’s common in female sports, repeated weight loss and an eating disorder. But also men can experience RED-S.

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Hamstring movements for runners

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In the case of runners, there is often talk of little tension, which is expected to improve economic running and thus performance. The mobility and flexibility of the core and lower limbs are in a special position. The tension of the core, which limits the rotation and thus the rotation of the leg from the hip, improves economic running. Similarly, lower back, hip, and ankle tensions shift running biomechanics in a more economical direction. So, while a certain degree of tension may be beneficial from a running performance perspective, consideration must be given to how to determine the appropriate tension.

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How your job affect your training?

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How often you feel physically or mentally tired after work? Some people like to go running the end of the day, but can your occupation affect your training performance? Many factors affect our training performance, and people often forget their job until they feel drained or stress out.

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RUNNING ECONOMY FACTORS – which you can partly affect

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Running economy (RE) means runners’ energy utilization when they are running at aerobic intensity. There are multiple factors, which plays the role of the running economy. The most direct method to measure the running economy is oxygen consumption. Runners who consume less oxygen while running at a given velocity have a better running economy.

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Running with narrow stride width or toe-out?

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Each of us has individual running style and foot pattern, but sometimes they can cause more harm than good. Runners often observe their foot stride length and cadence but forget stride width or feet position. We have spoken cadence earlier, you can find it here. Are you running like a duck or like more hit the catwalk?

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Symptoms of overtraining syndrome

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Overtraining syndrome can happen to everyone, you don’t need to be an elite athlete. There are many signs and symptoms which might indicate overtraining or overreaching syndrome. These symptoms are easy to ignore as we all sometimes feel tired and fatigue. So, when it’s the right time to stop and consider things again?

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Do you need a cold shower after a workout?

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We all have seen athletes using an ice bath or hear them speaking about a cold shower. After a workout in hot weather, you might want to take a cold shower to cool down. Or just refresh yourself. Is there really any benefit for it or can it be even harmful?

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SCIENCE TALK: why nutrition matter?

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How important proper nutrition is for you? There are roughly three types of people; eat what they like and don’t really care about nutrition, eat rich nutrient food and cares about nutrition and people between these groups.

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OTHER: training books must-read list

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Let’s continue the must-read book list, now it’s the turn of training books. This category is so wide. There are biographies, guide book, different sports, etc.

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SCIENCE TALK: cool-down, do we need it?

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I have written about warm-up earlier, you can find it here. It contained benefits and importance of warm-up, the excellent warm-up protocol to follow. Now, let’s talk about cool-down. How easy it’s just end your work-out doing nothing afterwards? You have just spend around an hour hard exercise you don’t have interest or energy for cool-down. Hands up, if you can recognise yourself?

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SCIENCE TALK: the truth about lactate and lactic acid

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Everyone’s favourite subject lactate or lactic acid! The topic that rises up regularly, with plenty of mistakes and misunderstanding. You might have heard athletes, even coaches speak lactate soreness. Even you might have feel lactate after heavy exercise? Did you know that lactate or lactic acid doesn’t cause soreness? Nor fatigue? Not even pain? If not, keep reading…

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SCIENCE TALK: Neuromuscular training in runners

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There is a post about weight training benefits for runners, you can find it here. That post considers why runners should add strength training in their program, energy system and different types of strength training such as strength, power and endurance.

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SCIENCE TALK: stretching or not?

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Most of us do some stretching regularly, or at least when they feel muscle soreness. Is it really necessary, or benefit at all?

Common reason why people stretch:

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OTHER: nutrition books must read

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There was a post about sports science books a couple of weeks ago. Some of those books contained nutrition too, but these books are only a nutritions based. These books are all science-related and many of them are also used at the university level. However, these books don’t make you a professional. I always recommended consulting a registered dietitian (not nutritionist) if you have any problems with diet.

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SCIENCE TALK: foam rolling, beneficial or not?

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Foam rolling has gained popularity in recent years, and various foam rollers have been developed. Almost all gyms have at least one foam rollers and also many have a roll at home too. Foam rolling has been considered an easy way to self-massage and myofascial release. Some people have even replaced stretching with foam rolling. Is the foam rolling really useful?

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SCIENCE TALK: warm-up, do we need it?

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First, lace your shoes and then start running, maybe slower at the beginning so the body will have time to warm-up, that’s enough? Right?

Warm-up…What? Why it’s essentials for runners?

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SCIENCE TALK: Training twice a day

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Running twice a day is something that only the elite athlete does. That’s the big myth in running and training. You don’t need to be an elite athlete to train twice a day, there are many benefits for regular people too.

When to run twice a day and why it is beneficial?

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OTHER: Sports science books must read

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Do you want to know more about sports science, or how the human body works? What happen inside us during rest or activity?

Whether you are not a sports scientist or not seeking a career in sports, but you are training and want to understand more about the human body. Some (or well all of these books) dig deep inside of body, in the cellular level and if you are familiar with this kind of stuff, give it shot. You might learn new things and get new aspect of your training. Also, understanding even the basic mechanisms of the body will help you to read more critically all those “how to get fit”, “get sixpack in 5 weeks”, and other topics.

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SCIENCE TALK: training and pain

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No pain, no gain! Right? You can’t develop your physics without experiencing some pain? NO and NO!!! Pain should not be a part of the training, fatigue and discomfort should be and they are a totally different thing. Experiencing pain during or after training is the body’s way to tell something is not okay.

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SCIENCE TALK: The consist of distance running performance

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Roughly speaking running performance can be divided into three sections; psychological factors, biomechanics and physiological factors. Each of these section contains several sub-concepts, let’s see some of these factors. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: The consist of distance running performance” →

SCIENCE TALK: Energy systems and strength training

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There are three energy systems in human body. I’m not going to explain how they break down, to avoid making this post extra long. I’m going to briefly introduce them and explain their relationship to strength training especially for distance runners and why runners should vary strength training types. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Energy systems and strength training” →

SCIENCE TALK: Uphill and downhill running technique and benefits

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Life is full of uphill and downhills so is running. Expect that in running downhill are nicer than real life.

Correct form to run uphill Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Uphill and downhill running technique and benefits” →

VO₂max and vVO₂max, do they matter?

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What’s your VO₂max? The questions that almost all runners hear at some point? The number that runners look and try to improve. But what does it really mean?

VO₂max is the maximum oxygen uptake capacity, it is described in ml/ kg/min. In practice, it means cardiovascular and circulatory systems ability to carry oxygen in the Continue reading “VO₂max and vVO₂max, do they matter?” →