Ask the coaches podcast

We are doing a different format of podcast today. You may be used to the standard 1 topic podcast where Jason and I chat in depth about 1 topic but today we are asking YOU to bring your questions & we answer them. We talk about a variety of topics. We ask the audience on IG what questions they have and we answer in a podcast forum allowing for a greater discussion of the question than on an IG story. We love to help runners achieve their goals and grow a better understanding of the sport.

1- IS IT BETTER TO RUN EASY BASED ON HR OR PACE?

Both can be great tools. We want to make sure we get accurate reads on both.

Pace: make sure you have races recently so you know your current fitness and use a VDOT calculator

HR: make sure you have a chest strap and have calculated your max HR. 220-age is not your max HR. Stay in zone 2 for most easy runs

Other things impact HR such as caffeine, stress, recovery, sleep, nutrition, medicines.Sometimes athletes can drive themselves crazy tying to stay in a specific HR zone if any of these variables change, your HR may change on the run.

However, HR changes can be nice to take note of. Perhaps you are not recovering as well as you should OR you are not slowing down enough

2-WHAT ARE SOME RUNNING FORM TIPS?

Running form typically varies a bit from person to person. With time and practice, running economy, or how efficient you are at running tends to improve. Your body naturally wants to utilize as little energy as possible and naturally over time tends to adapt a better running form to become more efficient. However, there are sometimes people who have small running form tendencies that do waste energy and they stick around because of muscle memory or habit.

We want to discuss some of the tendencies that can occur and quick fixes for each.

1- Arms too high

2- Bounding in the air

3- Arm swing across the chest

4- backwards or too much forward lean

3- DO YOU NEED TO RUN A CERTAIN DISTANCE OR TIME TO SEE BENEFITS? IE RUN FOR AT LEAST 60 MIN?

Yes! Research has shown that the sweet spot is between 60-90 min. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6295989/

If you are training for a longer distance race, the long run becomes important. Endurance is built on long runs. On a cellular level, you will develop an increase in capillary networks from the lungs & leg muscles. This means blood & oxygen can be transported better, so you can use the oxygen more efficiently.

2. Increase in mitochondria which power the cells to utilize the oxygen more effectively

3. Body learns how to become more conservative with muscle glycogen and opts to utilize body fat as a form of fuel

4. The fast-twitch convertible muscle fibers can be taught to act like  slow-twitch muscle fibers which allows enabling them to participate more in endurance-related events

5. Connective tissue becomes stronger between muscles, tendons & bones which can reduce the risk of injury.