Targeted training is different for everyone

Targeted training is planned training, the purpose of which is to achieve the individual’s own goals. The main focus consists of realistic training planning, goals and individuality. One and the same model does not fit everyone, everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses and goals, which require a targeted approach. In other words, training is always tailored to everyone’s own needs.

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How long does it take to see training results?

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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What is really needed for physical recovery?

Exercising has become a million-dollar business, dominated by technology, supplements and equipment. What is really needed for physical recovery? Recovery from exercise plays an equally important role as the performance itself because neglecting recovery is directly related to progress.

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Running myths – True or false?

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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One or several simultaneous goals

Setting goals requires careful planning, it is easy to grab many different goals. That is why it is worth thinking about whether one or several simultaneous goals are more profitable, and what should be taken into account. Although the focus here is on physical goals, the same applies to other areas of life.

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Pros and cons: big and small marathons

There are many differences between big and small marathons, which may already affect the choice of race, and where you want to run. Both have good and bad sides, and you should consider them when choosing a race venue.

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Carbon plate shoes pros and cons

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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How to avoid running burnout?

Let’s be honest, goal-oriented training and running can sometimes be really hard, also mentally. Months of training for a marathon, for example, is not always only a joy. There are bad days, the weather is bad for many days in a row, the darkness of winter tires the mind and the thought of running feels hard. It’s easy to burn out, but it can also be avoided.

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The most under-rated physical training tools

The tools of physical training are often seen only as training, and the ancillary tools that go along with it, such as recovery and nutrition. But behind all of these, there are common factors that can help in development. These tools are often underestimated or forgotten. Many runners may also feel that these things are too far away, or only intended for professionals.

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It’s not about motivation, it’s about habit.

It’s not about motivation, it’s about habit. How to build habits that keep you going when the motivation is low. Have you ever wondered why other people seem to be able to do anything? They always seem motivated. It’s not about motivation but about habits.

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Muscle cramps during or shortly after training

Muscle cramps during training or at other times are certainly familiar to almost every one of us. During a cramp, the skeletal muscle contracts sharply. The causes behind muscle cramps are not yet completely clear scientifically, but there may be several possible causes. Let’s go through these causes and what you can possibly do to prevent cramps.

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Hydration – Do you drink enough?

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’m a slow runner” – What do statistics say?

It is again the time of year when many have started or are about to start the race season. In particular, social media are filled with medal images, and many also compare their own times with those of others. It’s easy to think that “I’m so slow runner” compared to others, but what do statistics say?

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Active and passive recovery

Balanced training takes rest into account. There is active and passive recovery, each with its own good points. Passive rest is easier for most and active rest often turns too hard and exhausting.

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Body peace in sports

Every month and a year, body peace in sports raises its head and the subject is repeatedly on the surface. Athletes talk about how their appearance, weight and body are publicly judged, coaches monitor weight and body composition, social media is full of critical comments. At the same time, there is talk of body peace and performance pressures.

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The effect of everyday passivity on exercise performance

The effect of everyday passivity on exercise performance can be huge. The passivity of everyday life affects exercise performance and development. There are slight differences in the weekly and daily exercise recommendations for different countries, and it is not considered here. The passivity of everyday life includes everything longer outside of physical exertion and exercise.

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

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

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

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?

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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Running every day or not?

Should you run every day or not? Some people like to run every day, while others prefer a rest day. Which one is more beneficial and are they something you should consider? There are many factors that should be considered.

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Humans are the greatest distance runners in the world

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

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?

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?

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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Review: Master Your Core – Dr. Bohdanna Zazulak + Giveaway

I got to chance to read Master Your Core: A Science-Based Guide to Achieve Peak Performance and Resilience to Injury by Dr Bohdanna Zazulak. I also have an opportunity to give one paperback copy to some of you, so keep reading.

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Negative, positive split vs. steady pace in a marathon – what can we learn from professionals?

Preparing for a marathon often comes up with a pace, and both the words negative and positive split. Everyone has also heard of the guidelines for an easy start and faster second half what is called a negative split. A faster start pace and a slowdown for the second half, in turn, means a positive split. However, for many runners, a negative split distribution produces grey hair.

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Running shoes: heel to toe drop

The importance of running shoes is increased over the past several years. Especially the materials and heel to toe drop place an important role in the industry. Without taking a bigger stance on it, will you benefit more from some shoe than others? Let’s consider what you need to know about heel drop, when you go shoe shopping.

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Body composition methods – how can benefit?

The scale doesn’t tell everything. What do you need to know about body composition methods? Are they reliable? Who can benefit them and who not? There are several different ways to measure your body composition. They all tell us much more than just a scale number.

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Runners foot and ankle mobility for better performance

Runners tend to look after their legs and train them to stronger, but foot and ankle mobility is often overlooked and forgot. Poor foot and ankle mobility can cause injuries that can appear upper legs. It also affects the running technique and speed. Foot and ankle absorb the shock when we run, the force is transmitted all the up in the back. Poor shock absorption make ankles stiff and cause calf and shin stiffness and other problems.

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What is endurance and how to improve it?

Endurance is maybe the main factor for distance runners. What is good endurance, depends on where to focus. People often think that you are really good shape if you are a marathon runner, but downplay shorter distance like 5km or 10km. You might have heard someone say “I’m ONLY running 10 km”. Well, it’s not only 10 km, as it needs way different speed endurance capacity than a marathon, also it’s often difficult pace compared to a marathon.

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Let’s talk about sports psychology with Janica Järvenpää

I have an amazing opportunity to get an interview with Janica Järvenpää, a licensed psychologist and sports psychology student. She provided a lot of information for everyone how our mind affects us and of course what we can do.

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How much your beliefs affect you?

Our beliefs, values and attitudes are formed over time, through the different influences (family, friends, society…). Sometimes our beliefs can help us and they are positive, but often they can also slow us down. These affect all aspect of our lives, but this post considers sport and training.

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Starting a new hobby – Starting the right order

Maybe you made a new year resolution or you are otherwise new to running and training. You are excited about a new hobby or pick up an old hobby again and have a new goal. It’s easy to do many things “wrong”, and learn “wrong” habits and some point slow down or stop progress.

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Should women train differently than men?

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?

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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Goodbye 2020, Welcome 2021

The year 2020 is almost over, finally! Who would have guessed what this year will bring? Not me! It’s difficult to even describe this year, every plan turned around as the whole world turned upside down. But still, I believe there are some good things also, as I want to believe that everything happens in reason.

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Why have several pair of running shoes?

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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Hamstring movements for runners

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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Interview: registered dietitian Holley Samuel

I have a great opportunity to get an interview with Holley Samuel RD, LDN, CPT. She provided a lot of tips and shared her free guide, so continue for reading. You can find her social media and website end of the interview.

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I wish I’d known these before the first marathon…

We all have been there, the race which wasn’t going as it was planned. Some point every runner experience the bad race, but they are good for learning. There are many things which, can be overwhelming especially for new runners. Many of us might run our first race, without much knowledge and preparation. I did that too, so here are some things which I wish I had known before the first marathon, and points which many runners had said.

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Chimpanzee products reviews

I got an opportunity to test Chimpanzee sports nutrition products. The company was totally new to me, and I don’t normally do a collaboration with sports nutrition products and supplements as the field is so wild and there are many things to consider. But Chimpanzee sounded a different kind of company and their products were interesting.

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Time-based vs distance-based training

There is a difference if the exercise is approached by the time versus the distance. It’s not only training factors that makes difference, but also psychological factors. Depending on the exercises time-based training can be either easier or harder than distance-based. Some runners favour more the other exercise style, but you should mix these both.

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The perfect recipe of running

We often speak certain factors and their importance for running performance. But as often we forget the amount of these factors. Some of the training factors are not as important as others, some provide only minimal benefits or not at all, and still, we use them more than we know.

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How your job affect your training?

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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My coaching philosophy

You might have noticed that I love science and share a lot of tips and information here. For me, science is base to many things, but it’s not determine everything as we all are individual and that’s also my coaching philosophy.

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RUNNING ECONOMY FACTORS – which you can partly affect

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?

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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Running challenges when races being cancelled

Running world turned upside down when Covid-19 hit to the world and all the spring races being cancelled. Now many race organizer also cancels the autumn marathon. That means some runners might not be able to race this year at all and might be lost their motivation as there is anything that to expect. Try to remember, that you should always train for yourself and races are just extra.

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Symptoms of overtraining syndrome

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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Running motivation – how to motivate yourself?

Sometimes we all struggle with lack of motivation. Especially now as the many marathons are cancelled or postponed because of Covid-19. Many countries have total lockdown and some runners don’t have the opportunity to exercise like normally.

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Mental training for runners

Long hours in the outside, sweating and discomfort. Runners know how to push their body to the limit, but do they know how to train their brain.
Mental training is not only for a professional athlete. Mental factors are seen as high self-esteem and confidence, but it’s much more.

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SCIENCE TALK: Training twice a day

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

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

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

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”

OTHER: Feeling pressure?

Do you ever feel pressure? Do you compare yourself to others? Do buy things because someone else has those same?

It’s easy to compare yourself others, especially nowadays as you can see runners everywhere. Social media is one of the worst places to get low self-esteem. Scrolling Continue reading “OTHER: Feeling pressure?”

SCIENCE TALK: recovery enough?

Are you training often? Are your timing your training to be beneficial?

We all know people who train twice a day, or maybe you do that too. Most of the people train once a day or less, but at some point of development, two exercises a day are necessary when levels and goals are increasing. Recovery plays a huge role when training amount or intensity are increased. This is not only considering those who are training twice a Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: recovery enough?”

SCIENCE TALK: Energy systems and strength training

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

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”

OTHER: breaking out of your comfort zone

You may have heard and read thousands of time that nothing special doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. Do you find yourself to struggling in the same place all the time and nothing goes forward, whatever you do? Continue reading “OTHER: breaking out of your comfort zone”

OTHER: runners, nail technician nightmare

Blisters, black toenails, detached nails, basically nail technician nightmare and common for runners. Almost every runner have some experience of these and already find the best solutions to avoid them as good as possible and treat them. Beginners and those you have never get any blister from running, don’t worry your time will come, or otherwise, you are somehow lucky, or are you even run? Continue reading “OTHER: runners, nail technician nightmare”

SCIENCE TALK: recovery- do you even do it?

Recovery that one of the most important aspects of training, but also one of the most least appreciate. We all know that recovery repair damages muscles fibres,  strengthen and rebuild muscles. It’s not only important for physically but also mentally.

Recovery can be divided into two, immediate and long-term recovery. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: recovery- do you even do it?”

SCIENCE TALK: Should you vary the running surfaces

Are you running always the same routes and the same type of surface? When you prepare for the road race, it crucial to run road and get comfortable that harsh and hard surface. The impact for the leg is one of the hardest when running in the road, so you need to get used to it otherwise you will struggle. But you still should vary surfaces sometimes, why? Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Should you vary the running surfaces”

Winter training; tired or dark?

It’s that time again, the sun comes up late and goes down early. There are more dark hours than light, sometimes the sun hides behind clouds. Days feels shorter and sofa and warm blanket look way too comfortable. Training session waits, but you feel difficult to find energy for that. Here some tips to remember and beat this dark season of the year. Continue reading “Winter training; tired or dark?”

VO₂max and vVO₂max, do they matter?

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?”

Isotonic, hypotonic or hypertonic

Stomach cramp, absorption problems? Sound familiar during the running? Unfortunately, many of us have suffered some problems during the running, especially in the long run. Or probably you struggle lack of energy during training or racing. Have you ever thought what you drink or eat during the long run or before the run?

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How to breathe while running?

Do you find yourself out of the breath while running, even in easy pace? Well, you might be out of shape or running too fast for your fitness level. BUT, if you have been running for a while and still battle with catching breath even easy, slow pace, you might use wrong breathing technique.

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My favorite; running books

New part of My favorite series! This time it’s about the books, especially running books. As we know there are soooo many good running books, so I tried to list here some books which include goof information, knowledge, science and stories.
Leave a comment, what is your favorite book!

1. Lore of running – Tim Noakes
Quite fat book, but tons of science based information about injuries, training, etc. If you are running just for fun, you might not need all that information, but others I really Continue reading “My favorite; running books”

Running on different terrains

Why should you vary your running terrains? First it gives diversity to your running, but it also prevents injuries, improve stamina and performance. It can help build those little leg muscles which play important role for technique and balance.

TRACK
Track is good terrain for interval training. Even if you are long distance runner, now speaking of marathon distance, you should do interval training. On the track you can easily set the distance, without looking continually to your watch. Track is also flat, Continue reading “Running on different terrains”

Does running ever get easier?

Does running ever get easier? I heard that question quit regularly. Most of them are my customer (in massage business), they go to the gym and warm up in the treadmill or casually go for the jogging. It’s also question that many beginners might think.
The answer is yes and no. It depends what are you doing.

If you are running regularly the same speed and the same length, yes it gets easier.
But if you are running various distance and various speed, no it’s not get easier. Of course you get better, but at the same time you challenge yourself all the time. The Continue reading “Does running ever get easier?”

My favourite; running coaches

Let’s continue to my favourite series today, as the topic of running coaches. I have picked some these coaches as I have followed their job and admire their knowledge and work that they have done. Some of them have written a book(s) and made running training methods which are still in use and well-known. They have different kinds of perspective to training and running, and even if you disagree some of their thoughts and method, I’m sure we can always learn some new things and even modify some of the training method. As the truth is that more you read and gather knowledge and test things you will learn to find ways that work for you. We are all different so, which works your best Continue reading “My favourite; running coaches”

Bad weather on marathon day

As much, the most of us like idea of good weather on marathon, sunny sky, warm weather, no strong wind everything is beautiful. We have been training in months to compete one certain race and picturing everything in our mind. Then race week coming and forecast show, cold, windy and rainy day, we get upset, even little bit scared. What to do?

Of course, running in bad conditions long distance makes running harder both Continue reading “Bad weather on marathon day”

How massage affects the body?

Relaxation and opening muscles knots, are maybe two the most common reason why people seek massage therapist help. But, if we eliminate relaxation and tight muscles, is there are any other reasons to for the massage. Often people wait until something is wrong and they suffer pain, should you wait that long? No!

We don’t always feel muscles knots, or tight muscles, especially if we have suffered them a long time, our body is getting familiar with them and doesn’t complain as it thought it’s the normal state to be. Our body still might send us signals to tell that Continue reading “How massage affects the body?”

Runner’s bad habits

Most of us has bad habits, that’s okay, but if we constantly repeat them, the development and performance start to suffer. As running is not just running, to become faster and better we have to consider every aspect of our life. This doesn’t mean you have to live like elite athlete, but there are many little things which you can do, these also often prevent injuries and improve life quality. Can you recognize yourself any of these bad habits? Continue reading “Runner’s bad habits”

Why coaches want to know about your life?

When you hire coach or buy a personalized training program, coaches ask (or they should) things about your life, why?
Once you find the coach who you want to work with, you meet or discuss in some way with you coach, he/she might send you the form to fill up. You will face the question about your life, and might think why we (coaches) want to know about it as you are just want training program. It’s not just that we are seeking some gossip or anything about your personal life. Continue reading “Why coaches want to know about your life?”

Why to drink water?

As we all know, water is good for us, we should drink it. Magazines and internet are tons of recommendation how much to drink water during the day. The right amount of water depends on gender, size, activity, work, how much do you sweat during the day, etc. Scale is around 2,5-3,5 liters, but as I said there are plenty of factor, so it can be even more.

We also know that we should drink water to maintain good level hydration, why? And what are the other benefits? Continue reading “Why to drink water?”

Different types of stretching and when to use them

Static stretching
Static stretching can be divided to active and passive. In active stretching the position is kept over 30 second, there are no movement only your own pressure. Passive stretching is the same as active, but the pressure is created with some tools or partner, when your own body remain relax.
Static stretching might affect negatively to explosive performance if they performed before the performance. Static stretching increase range of motion so it would be good to do them after performance or day before. Continue reading “Different types of stretching and when to use them”

Foam rolling tips

Foam roller that painful, but so wonderful tool, it can help to ease knots and relax sore muscles, but do you take all benefits from it or do you use it right?

1. Don’t only roll. If you have knots, place roll under these and put pressure on, once these knots starts to loosening, you can start rolling.

2. Roll one muscle (muscles group) 30-90 sec. There are no point to roll several minutes on one area as it can increase injuries. If you feel to need more rolling take a break and Continue reading “Foam rolling tips”

Exercise or meaning of the exercise

Exercise; reps, sets, rest, kilometers, miles, minutes, hours…
OR meaning of the exercise, benefits, focus on the progress, internal locus, number of exercises, benefits, motivation, access to equipment, monitor adherence, self efficacy, daily life…

When training either the own well-being and happiness or to be successful athlete, the training program is one of the major key in the progress. But there are no point to make Continue reading “Exercise or meaning of the exercise”

Racing shoes vs training shoes

I have written about shoes once earlier, where I listed down some main things to consider when picking the running shoes, you can find it here.

What are the differences of running shoes and training shoes, and when to use them?

Like the name say, racing shoes are designed for racing, when speaking the road races, such as marathon, these shoes can be 100-200g lighter than normal training shoes. They are designed for minimal support as all extra cushioning add weights. 100-200g weight Continue reading “Racing shoes vs training shoes”

Should runners do strength training?

Just run, that’s enough? Or is it?
Becoming the better and faster runner, doesn’t only mean tons of running alone. Runners should also do the strength training to improve their running form, endurance, speed and other physiological factors. M. Chatara et al. (2005) show that strength training improve VO2max, whereas Støren et al. (2008) proved that strength training improved time of exhaustion level in maximal aerobic speed. There are tons of studies which show similar results, and no wonder why most of the elite athlete do some strength training. Even though there are variable between training group, for example Nike Oregon project runners hit some heavy weight training once in the while when most of the Kenyan runners Continue reading “Should runners do strength training?”

States of running

Angularity – Beginning of the run, when body is cold and its start to warm up, listening who it’s feeling today, what is the rhythm of feet.

Internal awareness – Body is warmed up, rhythm is found, sense of running have found.

Relaxation – Feet moving easily forward, air going lungs and out without any trouble, heart racing faster than rest, but not disturbingly. Continue reading “States of running”

Locus of control and running

Locus of control is the concept of social psychology which Julian B. Rotten (1954) developed to search personality. There are internal and external locus of control.

Internal locus of control
People believe that great results are outcome of their own hard work and determination.

External locus of control
People believe that results are outcome of external sources, what other people do or the Continue reading “Locus of control and running”

Happy New Year 2018!!

New year is just around the corner, many of you might have just done last run for this year and other are about to go.

Some of you might have made a resolution to start running and others are middle of training plan, heading to spring’s marathons. Whatever your plans for next year are, I hope you achieve them!

Enjoy this evening and let’s welcome the new year and better version of ourselves. Enjoy to next year and smile to each other when we meet each others on the road. It doesn’t Continue reading “Happy New Year 2018!!”

New Year resolution – tips to achieve them

New year, New me! New Year resolution time is almost here, gyms are full of people in January, sports shop are selling products fast, fridges are filled up healthy food and plan list are filled up. Many of the people last whole month some quit after a week or two.

How to stick your new year resolution?

Start easy:
Make a little plans. For example if you want to lose weight and get fit, don’t go to the gym Continue reading “New Year resolution – tips to achieve them”

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas time is good time for relaxing but don’t forget to take care yourself. Eating good food and enjoying is okay, but don’t eat yourself sick and lay in the sofa all day long, if you are not going to run or do other training, go to walk with your family or friends. Breath fresh air and give a little movement to your body, so training after Christmas events doesn’t feel as awful.

Enjoy!

xx

WIN free running plan!

New Year is coming! Do you have plan for the next year? Maybe running some marathons or half or shorter distances? Are you looking for the new PB or are you a first timer?

Now you have change to win free customized running program. You can choose one program between marathons, half marathons, 5 km or 10 km plans.

What you need to do? Tell me why you should win and what are your goal(s)! You can Continue reading “WIN free running plan!”

Training and Christmas time

Training plan, running, food, Christmas Eve, family visit, hurry… PANIC!

STOP! Are you panicking how to survive for Christmas and training?
You may have training plan which you want to follow, but at the same there are a lot of happening during the Christmas, family visit, a lot of (unhealthy) food, all the preparations before the Christmas. Here are some tips how to survive over Christmas! Continue reading “Training and Christmas time”

When to run on treadmill?

Last summer I wrote about how to make treadmill running more fun, which you can find here. There are some tips on how to make treadmill running less boring especially for those how to find it boring.

But when you should use a treadmill? There are many cases when running on the treadmill will be more effective than running in outside.

1. Weather. You have to make yourself comfortable in running every weather, especially Continue reading “When to run on treadmill?”

Why I am running

I haven’t running all my life, but I have always been quite sporty and competitive. When I was young I started to dance, which later changed to basketball and then taekwondo and again back to dance. My hobbies, especially basketball included running. Back then I wasn’t massive fan of running, but I didn’t hate it. It was always thought I’m not good runner, but again I didn’t ever practice running seriously.

I saw marathon on TV when I was younger, I think it’s Olympic Games or World Championships and back then marathon seems to be something unbelievable. I said to Continue reading “Why I am running”

Overtraining and symptoms

Overtraining means that body is stressed more than it can handle, when it’s not recover well, which leads weaker performance. It can be divided two; acute and chronic. In acute state recovery takes about 1-4 weeks and in chronic states it takes from 3 months even years. Both elite athletes and non-elite athletes can suffer overtraining. Continue reading “Overtraining and symptoms”

Forefoot – Mid foot – or Heel strike?

You may have heard that heel striking is a bad thing. Isn’t it?

There are tons of opinions and research which arguing with each others. Many studies has shown that forefoot and even mid foot striking is more economic as runners with these style use more thigh muscles (bigger muscle group) than calf muscles (smaller muscle group). So, you are saving more energy and your calves don’t have to work as much, whereas in heel strike.

You might have seen sprinter, how they run almost on their toes only. How about Continue reading “Forefoot – Mid foot – or Heel strike?”

Motivational Running Quotes

Winter has arrived or at least here in Finland, temperature start to be below zero celsius. Some countries spent Autumn and some lucky one heading towards warm summer. Whether you need some motivation during the cold and dark season or just are tired and need some inspiration here are some running quotes for you! Let the comment below and share your all time favourite quote.

The pride in finishing a marathon is much greater than all the pain endured during the marathon – Hal Higdon Continue reading “Motivational Running Quotes”

Long intervals vs short repetitions

There are probably as many different versions of interval training as there are runners. There are short and long intervals, but what is the differences between these two and what to take account.

Long intervals also known as intervals or hard training. Intervals are often measured either time or distance, for example 5 x 2min or 5 x 800 meters. The minimum time that one interval takes is often 2 minutes but it normally vary between 2-4 minutes. In distances it’s normally set between 800m – 1500m. Continue reading “Long intervals vs short repetitions”

Running cadence – does it matter?

Running cadence is how often your feet touch the ground during the running. According to the Jack Daniels’ study most of elite athlete takes over 180 step per minute (include both legs), some takes even over 200 steps. So, how many step are recommended to non-elite runners? Many studies and coaches says 180 steps, and I agree with this.

Why? The faster the speed more steps are needed for smooth and economical running. The less step are taken the more time is spent in the air, while landing to the ground is harder. Your lower body ligaments, joints, bones and muscles receive over three times your body weight each landing. Every time your foot land on the ground your muscles and tendons stretch to absorb energy from impact. Once they return the normal length Continue reading “Running cadence – does it matter?”

Running Community

Running is individual sport and some way we all enjoying that. Making the own progress, see what you can do independently. If you fail or you run marathon slower as you hoped, you can only blame yourself. Whereas in team sport there are always other players who are the major part also, not to mention the opposite team.

But, is it running as individual sport as it seems?
Depending where you live and own interest, many runners training with group, they have coaches and running buddies. For the many people it’s more encouraging to work with someone than alone. Image dark and cold early morning or late evening after work day when you are tired and want nothing but lay down, you have agreed to go for the Continue reading “Running Community”

Beginner; When to start build the speed?

Are you beginner, have you started to running lately? Maybe looking for taking the place for half marathon or marathon next year. Or want to improve your running and speed. You might have been thinking when to start to build speed.

Often, when people start running, they run about couple weeks and notice how their endurance are developing, little by little they can run farther. They might have reached 5km and now they want to run it faster and faster. That’s it the normal way to think, but Continue reading “Beginner; When to start build the speed?”

Checklist for autumn running

Autumn is here, or depending where you are living. The season that some of the people love and others hate. Days get shorter and colder. People start speaking about Autumn fatigue, how tired and lazy they are, how they would rather spend evenings inside wrapping themselves in cozy blanket. But, if you are runner, you know that you have to hit the road, even though the warm bed is more comfortable. So, here is the brief checklist for the Autumn running: Continue reading “Checklist for autumn running”

What limits you?

“No human is limited” – Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge has run by far the fastest marathon ever recorded and it’s about the start Berlin marathon just now when this post coming out. So within two hours we will know do he managed to break the new World record.
Everyone how following him running career knows he is incredible strong runner both physically and psychologically. If you have watched Breaking2 documentary even scientists were amazed his strong mentality. Continue reading “What limits you?”

Recovery day or rest day?

Recovery is a massive part of the training, but often forget or underrated. Lack of the rest and recovery could lead injuries, tiredness, bad workouts, weight loss, dehydration, etc. The amount of your weekly recovery depends on your training amount and fitness level.

You have might have seen runners who have two rest days during the week and runners who have none of them. Runners who have more rest during to week have often lower weekly mileage and are less fit. And then there are runners who don’t have any rest days during the week, they might have couple during the month. These runners weekly running amount are often high. So why they don’t spend rest day as they are training so Continue reading “Recovery day or rest day?”

Why off season is important?

It’s about that time of the year, within the couple next months many runners start their off season. What is off season and why is it so important?

Off season is one of the most important cycle of your training. Once you have finished your training and race season and before you start new training cycle, you should spend off season. Off season usually last two to three weeks.
Many of the runners don’t know how spent off season or what is it actually means, should you still go for the run or not? Let’s image that you have run couple race during Continue reading “Why off season is important?”

How to increase weekly amount of running

There are many reasons to increase weekly running amount, for example when you have been training for a while and need to new challenge and develop your running fitness or start training for marathon. Often during marathon preparation program mileage/kilometers amount increases gradually, this increase depends about your fitness level and how long your training program is.

There are different ways and method to do this. And for sure you can also mess this process totally. Too fast increase may lead to overload and injuries, which no one want.

Continue reading “How to increase weekly amount of running”

What to do; lost the love of running

That has happened almost each one of us at the some point of our life. You might have been running in years, and once suddenly you are not interested in to lace your shoes and hit the path. Back of your head you are going through internal struggle, either to keep going or just stop and figure it out something else than running. You probably have tons of great memories and experience from running, you might have got new friends, so giving up all of these is not easy.

Step back and think, is there any reason why you feel like that. Are you bored with training, whether your competition has gone worse than you expected, are you injured Continue reading “What to do; lost the love of running”

Sudio TRE earphone reviews

Few days ago I got Sudio Sweden TRE earphones for testing. They are in-ear models, and are designed for an active lifestyle. The purpose of the headphones is to ensure the studio level sound, but at the same time you are able to hear traffic and friends speak, which makes running safer. The wireless feature is good because I like to freedom of feeling, without getting tricked into wires. Headphone fit in the ear very well, and stay even during harder training session Continue reading “Sudio TRE earphone reviews”

Raw basic how to split your weekly kilometers

Either you’re running 30 or +100 kilometers per week, you need to split your runs sensibly. I have seen way too many awful training plans and training diaries. Some of the most common mistakes are that all of the kilometers are covered during two days and rest of the days are rest or each runs are the same distance with the same speed. These increases change to get injured and they don’t develop you as a runner.

Continue reading “Raw basic how to split your weekly kilometers”

Goals vs dreams

Are you dreaming? Or do you have goals? Which phrase do you use more often, my goal is or my dream is?
Using certain words determined are you really working on to achieve things in your life.

Dreams
Dreams are just dreams, we see dreams in the night. We are dreaming to get something or to achieve some things in your life, but in the reality we are not ready to work to get them, dreams are just free imaginary.

Goals
Goals are something that we are working on to get them. Goals aren’t free, they need sacrifices and plan. You might have heard of that goals without plans are just the dream, which is true. To be able to achieve something we have to work towards to them, and Continue reading “Goals vs dreams”

Things every runner should do

Rest/Sleep
Proper night sleeps are the one of most important things for the every athlete. If you are waking up early, make sure you go to the sleep early. Quality of the sleep is more important than the amount, of course you have to get good amount the sleep, but if your sleep quality is poor, the long sleep do not necessarily help.

Healthy food
The healthier food the better. Diverse and healthy food is the key for the good training. Junk food don’t give your body what it needs, it might only give your mind the short pleasure. Eating the same food all the time, might increase cravings to eat junk food, also Continue reading “Things every runner should do”

What to take account when picking running event?

First of all there as many opinions as runners about how to choose running event. I will cover some good tips and points which are good to consider either running on marathon or half marathon.

Profile and terrain
If you wish to new PB or fast marathon. Check the route, often marathon organizers’ show profile in their website, the flatter the better, as the every hill reduce the speed. Also prefer more city run where the ground is asphalt as they are often more flat and not soft which makes running slower. Of course if you more adventurous and want Continue reading “What to take account when picking running event?”

Coach’s psychological role

Sports psychology and athlete-coach relationship are both massive subject, I can easily spent hours to speak about them and I don’t even everything.

Coach job is to observe, develop athlete and help athlete to develop their skills. It matter who is your coach, especially if you have certain goals. Your coach can be very talented, but if your thoughts and characters don’t meet up, you mind find difficult to work with your coach, also this might eventually affect your own motivation to train.

Coach need to be good listener and observer, he/she has to be able to read athlete. Continue reading “Coach’s psychological role”

How to find time to run?

I know there are plenty of people who have family, jobs, schools, etc. which taking most of our time of the day. Sometimes it might be difficult to find time for the running or is it that only excuse, like “I don’t have time”, “I’m too busy”… You might have busy days, but how often those words are just excuse and you don’t use your hours effectively?

Some studies have found that average people have 5 hours spare time during the day, which most of the time we spent front of TV or social media. Now, if you can include yourself to this group, I ask you to think. Think what are your goals, are you dreaming to get better shape, take a part of your first marathon, whatever it is, just think are those goals more or less important than TV or social media. What if you go to do something with yourself rather than follow soap operas or how others spend their life Continue reading “How to find time to run?”

Why runners need training plan?

Do you have a training plan? If you answer is no, why should you consider to get one. You might have heard seasonal training, how runners first build their fitness level, then race and then take time off before starting everything again. Training plans are designed to help runners to develop, break PBs and prevent injuries. There are many modifications of training plans as each person are different, but most of them follow quite similar procedure, which are scientifically tested and used many years and found to be workable.

First runners need to set their goal, long term and short term. Plans are designed to meet goals and help achieve them. Long term goals can be even goal that runner wished to be happening in a couple year time while short time goals are smaller step which support Continue reading “Why runners need training plan?”

How to cure shin splints

Shin splints or Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS) is a common injury among runners. It is usually the result of overuse of tibia muscles, especially the tibial anterior. When the muscle undergoes heavy stress, it swells, but the fascias around the muscle it is not able to stretch fast enough to provide space for muscle to grow, and it starts to cause pain and inflammation. In shin splints, the pain is directed at the internal parts of the thigh, sometimes to the external parts. Pain appear usually at the beginning of the run, it may disappear during the run, but the more advanced shin splints cause pain throughout the running. There are several theories how shin splints develop, many of which are related to running, such as a sudden increase in amount of exercise, running on a hard surface, running technique, or certain muscle weakness. Continue reading “How to cure shin splints”

How to make treadmill running more fun?

Some elite runners and triathletes place their treadmill in the corner where they have to stare plain wall during the whole running exercise. This is quite rough way to train, but it’s where good mental game, as you are alone with your mind. Harder the exercise harder the mind have to work against the quitting, this develop runner’s mental ability and make it stronger. If you are not fancy to do so rough exercise and struggling every time you have to run on the treadmill, here are some tips how to make it more fun or at least less bored and more effective.

Music & TV-show/documentaries Continue reading “How to make treadmill running more fun?”

Cross-training for runners

Cross-training is sport that support the athlete’s main sport. For runners that usually mean swimming, water running, cycling, elliptical exercise, stepping or cross country skiing in winter time.

Running is high impact sport, which is consumptive for lower body’s bones, muscles, joints and tendons. For injured runners cross-training could offer the opportunity to exercise and it can also prevent injuries. Cross-training should be sport that use different muscles group than running, so muscles which are used while running can recover and while other supporting muscles working on and getting stronger. Continue reading “Cross-training for runners”

Bad run

You might feel tired before you are even outside, but at least when you are running you feel miserable and tired, you feel like you don’t move forward even if you are trying. Besides of tiredness you are getting angry and frustrated. Only thing that you really want is to go back home. Familiar feeling? Yes, every runner has faced this feeling.

Your run might feel difficult if you are stressed out or tired. Think your life, do you have hard and stressful period in the work/school. Is there something else, which keeps you busy and thoughts elsewhere. Try to minimize all those factors, get a little bit more rest and relax. Continue reading “Bad run”

How to predict your marathon time?

Signing in your first marathon is exciting thing. Filling up your details, you will come across question; What’s your predicted finishing time? If you haven’t run marathon before or there’s been a while since you have run one and your fitness level has changed, you might wonder what to put on that section. Organizer often want to the predicted finishing time, as there are number or color coded starting section. Each section presents certain finishing time, for example all runners who wish to finish under 3 hours are in the first starting section, then runners who wish to finish 3:01-3:30, and so on. Section are often divided every 15 or 30 minutes. This ensure that faster runner start at the Continue reading “How to predict your marathon time?”

What does it need to make elite runner

Elite runners make running look easy and effortless. There are many factors which play a role to becoming an elite athlete.

Lifestyle / living environment
Where you live and how you live, how you spent your days? Whether you are living the busy New York or calm Iten, Kenya you can become an amazing runner, but living in Iten will give you huge advantages. In western countries people wake up, eat processed food for the breakfast, such as sugarcoated cereals, use buses or cars to get school, sit still a few hours a day, come home, watch TV, go to movies, hang out with friends, maybe training couple times per week. While for example in Iten, people wake up early in the morning, eat healthy breakfast, walk or run to the school, help with house work, spend their days doing more physical work. This active lifestyle develop kids already in the early age. While western kids are surrounded by all the easy options they need to work harder later on to catch up the others. Continue reading “What does it need to make elite runner”

DOMS – what it really is?

One of my client asked me another day, why her muscles feel sore day or couple day after training, why not immediately? Simple answer is because it DOMS, but in the reality what is DOMS or what cause it?

DOMS means Delayed onset muscle soreness, it normally appears 24 to 72 hours after exercise. You might notice how your muscles feel sore, and sitting down or climbing the stairs feel difficult, day after the exercise. This basically DOMS.

My muscles are sore, so they are building more muscles, right? Actually no, DOMS can improve muscle growth, but not to a large extent. Muscle hypertrophy mechanism increases muscle, its most central mechanisms are mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle damage. Although DOMS causes muscle damages, it can also be Continue reading “DOMS – what it really is?”

Running documentaries and books

Who love to watch documentaries and/or read books, even more when they are about running? If your answer is yes, stick around as I will tell couple my favorite documents and books. It interesting to see other runners world, how elite runner life and train, get some tips and most of all inspired.
There are tons of books and documentaries which I would recommend, but here are few. All the documentaries can be watch in YouTube.

Documentaries:
Born To Run: The Kenyan Secret
Former World Champion Eamonn Coghlan travels to Iten, Kenya to see how world best runners train and life. It’s interesting document which give a sneak peak about Kenyan’s training. The most interesting thing is that they make it look easy, as everyone knows in reality it is far from easy, especially in Kenya where the competition is real. For example 340 Kenyan athlete qualified to London 2012 Olympics, so who get the place to represent Continue reading “Running documentaries and books”

Tips for the summer running

Summer is around the corner and weather is about the get warmer. There are several things to consider when the heat wave hits on.

1. Hydration
Increase your water intake, as the during the warm weather body tend to sweat more.

2. Salt
Make sure your food contains good salt, for example Himalayan pink rose salt. While sweating body lose sodium, so warm weather and lack of sodium can cause muscles cramps and tiredness.

3. Run early in the morning/late in the evening
Go run early in the morning or late in the evening when weather is cooler. Continue reading “Tips for the summer running”

Running motivation

Do you feel tired? Do you suffer lacks motivation? Lacing your running shoes seem to be an impossible task? Did you know that’s all okay? We all have motivation problems sometimes. You might have also heard that once you go to out and start running it’s easier. I collected some of the tips which might help increase motivation.

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1. Pictures/quotes
If you have some motivational quotes place them to somewhere where you can see them. If you are training from certain marathon, print the picture of event and do to Continue reading “Running motivation”

Why you should do to the drills?

Have you done drills ever? Or Do you do drills regularly? If your answer is no one of the question, read the rest of the post to find out why you should include drills to your training program.
You might think that drills are just silly looking hopping and bouncing around. But there are reasons why many runners perform them.

Drills are designed to improve running form, technique and performance.
As some of the drills are built to use similar movement than running and also strengthen and open the muscles that are uses during the running. You can get strength by going to the gym, but it’s a different kind of movement. Gym training is of course good, but it’s often stationary (statistic) movement, while drills are more dynamic movement. That’s why drills improve your coordination, agility, balance and communication between Continue reading “Why you should do to the drills?”

How to recover after marathon?

Recovering after marathon is as important as tapering and training for the marathon. Without proper recover you increase the risk of injury or overtraining symptoms.
During the marathon, body is pushed to its limit, muscles, tendons, ligament, cell, etc. are pushed to the maximum. Each step your lower body joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons receive your body weight three times bigger. So repeating that force over 42 kilometres distance you can imaging how much destroy it can cause. Also you have higher risk to get flu as your immune system is weaker.

What to do after marathon?
Immediately after the finish line rehydrate, try to get your body back to the normal hydration level, but avoid overhydration. Don’t stop moving, as amazing it would be just to go lay in the ground, move forward, walk! So your heart rate can come down evenly. During the first hour after the finish line, eat something light, bananas, fruits, etc. Eat Continue reading “How to recover after marathon?”

Plyometric training for runners

What is plyometric training?
Plyometric training is often perceived as explosive jumping exercises, even if it means short, mostly of own body weight performed explosive interval style exercises. Training is based on the “stretch-shortening cycle” method. Leg muscles is stored in a large number of human energy stocks, for example, when we jump we are able to take the energy for next jump from the previous ones impact, when landing on the ground. This makes it possible to jump even higher.

Why you should do it?
Quick conclusion is that this type of training must be good for sprinter, but Turner et al. (2003), actually found that it also help improve running economy for longer distance. It’s also prevent injuries as it’s strengthening ligaments and muscles. To have speed and specially able to maintain speed, runner need to train both speed and power. When these features are development not only running speed but also contact time on the ground accelerate. The less feet spent time on the ground while running the less human use energy.

Including plyometric exercise to your training plan
Before you start to do plyometric exercises, you should have a good base condition already. Do not do the exercises year-round. Do exercises on your speed and power development training cycle. It’s not good to do the exercises in the same week when you have running race.

Squat jumps, tuck jumps, lateral squat jump, lunge jumps, side hops, bounding, power skipping and diagonal obstacle jump are just a few examples of plyometric training. Before you start to do plyometric training, you have to warm up. You can do 10-20 repetitions, 10-20 times depending on your fitness level. If you are not familiar with these kinds of training start with lower reps and pay attention to your technique especially when landing on ground to avoid any injuries.

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Running injuries: calf and shin pain

This time we will look common injuries and reasons which can cause pain and irritation to calf and shin area. As always if you feel any uncommon symptoms or have any injuries I recommend consult your doctor or other professional.

Tibial stress fracture
There are two bones in the lower leg, tibia and fibula, of these two tibia is the bigger one and its role is bear weight. Tibia can fracture when it’s under the continues stress, where muscles contract continuously for example during running. Also sudden change of the running terrain, overweight or fast increase of training load can cause stress fracture. It causes pain lower part of the leg and sometimes swelling too. It’s not often can see on the x-ray, that’s why there are often two x-rays, one at the begging and other later on (about 4 weeks later) where can see that bone is start to heal. Rest is the only way the heal the fracture, during that time is possible to do other types of exercise which are not weight bearing, for example water running. Continue reading “Running injuries: calf and shin pain”

Tapering for a marathon

How long should you taper for the marathon? When should you start the tapering? What is tapering?

Every marathon runner should include tapering for their marathon preparation. WHY? Physiological adaptation will take at least 6 weeks so there’s much you can do anymore for your fitness during the tapering period. However doing too much can instead ruin your running performance. So, what tapering means and when to start it? Tapering means reduced training load, more recovery, sleep, and proper nutrient rich food. It Continue reading “Tapering for a marathon”

Running injuries: ankle and foot pain

Pain in the ankle or foot is common symptom for runners. Here’s some of the most common injuries, if you suffer any kind of pain I recommend rest and consult your doctor.

Ankle sprain
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Ankle sprain happen when ankle ligaments which are connected to the ankle bone torn or stretch suddenly. For example land the foot in the wrong position. This often causes swelling and bruises and need R.I.C.E treatment (rest, ice, compression and elevation), it’s recommended see doctor that there is not any other damage and as they often put Continue reading “Running injuries: ankle and foot pain”

Mental preparation

Training mental strength for the race is as important as training your body. Many runners don’t achieve their goals and PB because they are not mentally prepared.
Why prepare?
Going with the flow and enjoying the running doesn’t seem bad at all, right? But when you have run third of your marathon and your leg start to feel tired and then you see hill front of you, you might say couple swear word inside you Continue reading “Mental preparation”

Pacing – negative split

You may have heard of how elite runners run they race using negative split pacing strategies. Why should you also use this? Negative split means that you run first half of the race slower than second half. Mostly starting at comfortable pace at the beginning and gradually speed up and the last few kilometers run as fast you can. Many of the runners start they race way too fast, and after halfway they are exhausted and dragging themselves further slowly. Continue reading “Pacing – negative split”

Knee pain – exercise and prevention

Last post we looked couple most common knee injuries and what cause them, now we will take closer look how to prevent them.

Strength training:
Side-lying leg lift

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Lay down on your other side, keep straight line from head to ankle. Lift your upper leg and bring it back down. Do 15 reps. Repeat 3 times. Remember do both sides. Continue reading “Knee pain – exercise and prevention”

Running injuries: knee pain

Knees are one of the most often injured part of the runner. There are tons of the reasons which can lead knee pain/injuries, such as shoes, running terrain, posture, technique, etc. I’m always recommending take any abnormal feelings and pain seriously, denying it or lack of treatment (prevention) may cause long symptom and/or recovery period. Here are some most common “muscles” related pain producers.

Patellofemoral pain syndore- also known as runner’s knee

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Runner’s knee is a repetitive stress injury, where the pain located in the under the kneecap (patella) or front of the knee. It occurs when pressure between patella and femur increases, as the knee flexes and extents patella glides trochlear groove, end of the femur. Normally the bursitis which are the lateral side of the knee reduce the friction, but if Continue reading “Running injuries: knee pain”

Buying running shoes – what to take account

Walking in store and buying your shoes aren’t always as easy as you wish for. There are some many things to consider that sometimes it can be frustrated. Except if you have found so good running shoes or brand which you are stuck with it every time, you are the lucky one. For the others there no need any panic, especially if you are relatively new runner and heard all kinds of technical information about shoes and brand. You don’t have to know all that, but there are a few steps which help you to beginning.

Näyttökuva 2017-03-15 kello 11.33.10 Continue reading “Buying running shoes – what to take account”

What is pronation?

You might have heard flat foot; other word pronation, where foot rolls inwards while standing. It’s normal to foot pronate or supinate (opposite to pronate) in certain points during gait cycle. But when pronation happens during stance phase where most of the body weight is right above the foot, problems might occur. Pronation is foot’s triplanar movement, so this means if pronation occurs it affect three cardinal plane; subtalar eversion, dorsiflexion of the angle and forefoot abduction. Also as the foot is rolled inwards it increases rotation of the tibia, when it causes pressure to joint and ligament which can lead many other problems.

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Pronation often cause knee pain, medial tibial stress syndrome know as shin splints, calf, shin and foot muscles soreness and pain as the muscles are pulled wrong position. When muscle is pulled wrong position long period of time it shortened while its opposite muscles lengthened. Often the lengthened side start to show symptom of pain as it Continue reading “What is pronation?”

Tight hips – exercises and prevention

Does your legs feeling like they weighting tons while running? Is your running posture more like sitting in the chair than upward? Do you have knee or other leg pains? If you answered yes even one question, you MIGHT have tight hip muscles or/and muscle weakness. If you don’t suffer any of these I still recommend to you take care of your hips to prevent any problems to the future, for example those that we spoke at running injuries: hip and thigh pain post.

In hips area we have many muscles and muscles’ insertion and origin which rotate, flex and extend our legs. These muscles are also one of the basis for our running. If these muscles are tight or weak they pull our body down when space between our upper body and legs shortened as muscles are short too. This of course lead that our legs don’t have Continue reading “Tight hips – exercises and prevention”

Running Injuries: Hip and thigh pain

When runners experience more pain than just sore muscles, there can be some kinds of injuries in the background. Running injuries series we will go through some of the most common injuries different parts of body, what factors are behind them and how to cure them. First we will look hip and thigh areas injuries. Remember always consult your doctor if you doubt you might suffer any of these.

Groin pull

groin
Copyright: Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.

A groin pull, groin strain or groin tears are common for runners, it appears when too much stress and force put to the thigh and groin they can torn or over-stretched. Also quick change of direction in the fast speed can cause groin pull. It can be graded 1,2 or 3 depending on extent of strain. Symptoms are swelling, pain and tenderness inside the thigh especially the adductors, struggle to bring legs together or raise the knee up. Doctor can make physical examination such as x-rays or MRIs. For a treatment used P.R.I.C.E protocol (protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation) during the first 72 hours of injury. There are five adductors muscles; pectineus, gracilis, adductor brevis, adductor longus and adductor magnus, their weakness or tightness, biomechanical factors like Continue reading “Running Injuries: Hip and thigh pain”

Energy gels -what, why and when?

Taste, gesture, content, brand, amount, such a few things which divide people when speaking of energy gels. New runners hearing about them and how they should use them during marathon. I often heard asked; which I should use and how many, should I take?

There are two simple rules:

  1. Try – Try which brand and flavor you like. Don’t blindly listen what others say, something might work with them, but not for you. Don’t go to run your first marathon expecting that organizer will offer gels during the route. Start testing different types of gels early beforehand, take some gels with you when heading out for long runs. By doing this, you might avoid unpleasant stomach issues and sickness during the race.
  2. Study – Read and research. There are a lot variety details how often you should take gels. There is not one golden rule. Again something might work for others and something not. Also your speed and training background affect the intake, if you are slower runner you might need more than faster runners. But that still doesn’t mean you have to consume one gels every water station or every 30 minutes. Take account all other intakes such as sport drinks, jelly beans, bananas, etc. Study yourself, learn the listen your body how much you need.

Continue reading “Energy gels -what, why and when?”