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To Cool Down or Not To Cool Down?

Should you cool down after running? That is a very good question…and one which has not been satisfactorily answered to date!

Traditionally, the cool down has included some two to twenty minutes of running (or run/walking) at an intensity much lower than the main part of the workout, as well as some stretching of the main muscles groups used.

It’s an established “fact” that the cool down is an important part of your training session. Cooling down, the narrative goes, will help you to recover quickly and get your body ready for your next bout of exercise.

But…

It turns out, there’s not a great deal of evidence to support this. In fact, there’s been very little scientific research done on the topic at all.

What a traditional cool down after running will do for you.

Speed up the rate at which lactate is cleared from the bloodstream. (Note it is lactate which is produced during exercise, not lactic acid)
Reduce the risk of dizziness and fainting
Help to prevent that post-exercise chill
Give you a feel-good factor whilst you’re stretching – it always feels kinds of nice to stretch those muscles
Put a mental punctuation mark at the end of your session, separating it from the rest of your day, and mentally signal you’re ready to get back to the daily grind!

What a traditional cool down most likely won’t do for you

Relieve muscle tightness
Relieve muscle soreness
Improve your performance in a subsequent bout over the next few days, unless it is on the same day.

Let me explain…

Lactate Clearance

Cool downs have been proven to clear lactate from the bloodstream more quickly than stopping moving completely after a run. This has, until fairly recently, been assumed to be a good thing, as lactate (or more commonly incorrectly referred to as lactic acid) has been blamed for the muscle burn you feel when you’re fatigued, as well as the post exercise soreness you might feel a day or two later. It’s now known that it’s not lactate, but hydrogen ions which cause that dreadful muscle pain and weakness whilst you’re exercising at a high intensity.

Whilst a cool down might clear blood lactate more quickly, that’s not going to have an impact on how you feel. It’s also only going to speed the process up by 30 minutes or so. Lactate will clear from your bloodstream within about an hour post exercise anyway. There’s also no evidence to suggest that clearing lactate more quickly after a run will aid in recovery or performance except in specific circumstances (more on that later).

Muscle trauma is the real cause of post exercise pain

Post exercise soreness is not caused by lactate. It is more likely due to the micro tears to your muscles which are caused by working out. These microtears are not something you should be alarmed about. They are how your body adapts and rebuilds to become stronger.

And there’s doubt as to whether a cool down and stretch actually relieves muscle tightness. Studies amongst soccer players found that cooling down after training had no impact on their performance, flexibility or muscles soreness the next day after training.

If you’re looking at reducing delayed onset muscles soreness, a good warm up is the way to go. A study published in the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy showed that you can decreased delayed onset muscle soreness by warming up, but not by cooling down.

Cooling Down can help you perform better in a subsequent same-day exercise bout

One study amongst cyclists did show that using a cool down after a 30 minute time trial gave a performance advantage in a subsequent time trial on the same day over the control group who did no cool down. It seems if you’re planning on competing twice in one day, or doing two quality workouts in one day, then cooling down might be useful.

Preventing Dizziness

One thing a post run cool down will do for you is help to prevent blood pooling in your legs. When you exercise, a lot of oxygen rich blood is shunted to the working muscles to transport oxygen and other nutrients needed for energy production and muscle contraction and relaxation. If you stop still after you finish running, you run the risk of blood pooling in your lower legs, and possible dizziness or even fainting.

If you’re a particularly fit athlete, this could be more of a problem. Your heart rate will return to normal pretty quickly once you’re at rest, meaning it will be pumping less blood back up out of your legs.

Exercising for several minutes at a very low intensity at the end of your workout will mean your heart rate will remain elevated for longer, hence deoxygenated blood will be pumped out of your legs and back to the heart more quicly. The muscular contractions in your legs will also help to get that excess blood back out of your legs to where it should be.

It’s unusual for anyone to stop completely still after a run or a race. Most race finishes are set up so that you keep shuffling through the drinks stations etc for a couple of minutes. You might have a little sit-down after that, but then there’s finding your friends, getting home, going for coffee, so you’re really still moving at a low intensity for quite some time after a race. Same with finishing a run. How often do you have the luxury of putting your feet up and flicking through a magazine when you finish a run? Me… pretty much never. I’m often straight in from a run, getting dinner ready, doing the washing, getting kids out the door…

Post Run Chill

During a race the body is working hard to cool itself. This built in cooling system keeps up for some time after the race, even though you’ve stopped running and are not generating extra heat any more. The more gradual drop in body temperature a cool down encourages will help to prevent the chills.

Not cooling down might help to replenish glycogen stores

Lactate is used by the body in a number of different ways, one of which is to fuel your working muscles. Through a series of biochemical processes, lactate is converted to glycogen, which is one of the main sources of energy for muscles. When you finish a workout, particularly one which will have depleted your muscle glycogen stores, you should be trying to refuel your muscles as quickly as possible. One study amongst cyclists came to the conclusion that when the cyclists simply stopped exercising, lactate was turned back into glycogen and stored in the muscles, but when they cooled down, some of the glycogen was used up by the working muscles. It’s possible, that from the point of view of recovery and readiness for the next bout of exercise, cooling down might be detrimental. Of course, you could counteract this by fuelling well after exercise with a good carbohydrate and protein feed. *********link this to the milkshake thing if indeed there is one on our website -might be in a recovery thing

Why a 10 minute run and a bit of a stretch might still be a good idea

Even though there’s no evidence to show that a traditional cool down actually does all that it’s supposed to do, there might be a couple of good reasons to cool down with a lower intensity run. These reasons have far more to do with training adaptations than recovery or preventing muscles soreness.

In a high intensity workout, the body will produce a lot of lactate. At some point, it will be producing more than it can readily use. By running after the main part of your session is over, when you have a high level of lactate in your bloodstream, you’ll likely be teaching your body to use lactate more efficient.

Likewise, you could use a slow 15 minute run after a heavy workout to practice maintaining good form when you’re tired. You’ll teach yourself to run more efficiently when you’re tired, so don’t slump and shuffle through your next cool down. Be mindful of what you are doing.

Confused?

So the good news is, if you really hate cooling down, you’re probably not going to be doing yourself too much harm if you don’t do it, but it’s a very individual thing. If you’re one of those people who swear their muscles ache if they don’t cool down after a run, then keep doing it. It’s not likely to do you any harm.

Your GPS Watch-How to get the most accurate data

Everyone loves a good running app or GPS enabled running “watch” but they can be oh so frustrating when they don’t “work”!!!

Well, according to the Garmin support centre, when your Garmin device sees “degraded performance” this is “normal behaviour”. In most cases, when you’re ready to pull you hair out because your pace readout seems to be jumping around all over the pace, or your stats for a run just don’t seem to hold true with what happened in the real world, it’s not that your device is not working. It’s more likely that your expectations of what your device can do for you, are a little on the high side.

What Garmin Says About GPS Inaccuracy

“When using a Garmin GPS fitness device in an area such as a densely wooded path or in the middle of a city with tall buildings, you may experience a longer time for the device to acquire a satellite signal. Once you’ve acquired a satellite signal you may also see a degraded performance with your GPS track as well as your running/walking pace. This is considered normal behavior since the signal being received by the device is in a weakened state.” (my emphasis)

Why Use a GPS Tracking Device At All?

Whilst I’m a fan of doing a lot of running device free, or at least running without any feedback from your device until the end of your run, there are definitely some good reasons to use a device to track your run.

GPS training devices such as those made by Garmin, Suunto, Polar, TomTom and others can mostly give you a reasonably accurate picture of the pace and distance you ran, particularly when looking at an average pace over a longer run.
Phone apps such as Strava, Runkeeper, Mapmyrun and Runner Up have free versions which you can download to your phone. (but the accuracy of these depend on your smartphone, and occasionally, smart phones can be pretty dumb!)
Feedback whilst you’re running can help if you’re trying to hit a set pace for longer intervals (say 1.5-5km).
You can learn what an “easy” pace feels like. “Easy” is often a lot slower than you realise (think 20-35% slower than your 5k race pace). Using a device to teach yourself what an easy pace feels like can be very handy.
They are great for keeping an historical record of your training, and keeping track of your weekly mileage which you can use for future reference. If you upload data from your watch to a training log and make comments on how you felt, what the weather was like, sickness, stress etc, this info can be amazingly helpful when planning training for your next race. Over time the inaccuracies even themselves out somewhat, so you can still get a good overall picture of what’s what.
They are a great way to quickly (and reasonably accurately) give your coach information about your training
Having a record of your running data can be very motivating – even if all you do is record your data and keep it to yourself, for many people, this can get them out the door when they otherwise might not have. And the sharing options on most devices and apps are seemingly endless.

How Does Your GPS Device Know Where You Are?

Whether you’re using watch or phone, your device uses as its main source of location data the Global Positioning System (GPS)- a collection of 27 satellites orbiting the earth. There are 24 satellites in operation at any one time. They make two complete rotations of the earth every day

The satellites send out signals, broadcasting their location as well as the time. If a GPS receiver, like the one in your device, can locate 4 of these satellites, it can use these signals to work out your relative position to those satellites. The better your device is at picking up these signals, the more accurate the data will be. With seven or more signals, the device can know your position to within a 10 meter area.

Phones Have Additional Ways to Track You

If you have your settings right, your phone will use the GPS to track you, but it will also have a few more tricks up its sleeve. It can use WiFi location data (so if your device can see a particular hotspot, it knows you’re near that hotspot) and it also accesses Assisted GPS, (A-GPS) which uses mobile towers to keep track of GPS data so that devices don’t have to wait as long or search as hard for signals.

So What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The GPS signals are extremely fast, and require precision detection, so any disturbance to the signal, or slight problem with reception can be magnified when it translates to your reported position.

The speed of the signal that your device sends to the satellite can be interfered with by things such as the earth’s atmosphere, buildings, trees and clouds.

GPS signals can bounce off tall buildings. Your device assumes the signal went in a straight line, but the bounce added by the building adds some distance. This changes where your device thinks you are. Buildings can also physically block the signal from getting to your device.
Tree cover has similar problems in that it can block the satellite signals from reaching the device. The moisture in the leaves can also cause the signals to bounce in different directions. The bounce will depend on the type of trees, how thick the cover is, and the time of year.
Clouds: Whilst Garmin say clouds don’t impact accuracy, I’m not sure that I agree. Perhaps the clouds themselves don’t interfere, but the moisture in the air and the changes in atmospheric pressure and electrical activity often associated with cloudy days may well do so. Many runners report problems with their GPS on overcast days.
If your phone uses ONLY Assisted-GPS to track you, the data may be less accurate. The towers and hotspots the phones connect to are in fixed positions that continuously receive data from satellites above. A smart phone’s sensor receives data from these towers. Your phone gets periodic position updates which are then averaged out, which preserves the battery of your phone, but doesn’t give you as accurate data as a tracking-dedicated device. To fix this, make sure your phone’s location setting is switched to “high accuracy” which will use GPS, Wi-Fi and local data networks to report the most accurate data.

How to Get the Most Accurate Data

There are a few tips you can follow to make your run data as accurate as possible, regardless of which app or smartphone you’re using.

First, try to choose outdoor routes along open, relatively flat areas whenever possible. Dense, overhead foliage, tall buildings and other types of satellite or cellular interference make for greater inaccuracies.
Avoid turns, especially tight ones, particularly if you are using a phone’s Assisted-GPS tracking capability. Because your phone is averaging location signals from cell towers; every time you change course, there’s a chance the device might miss it.
Out-and-back routes are fine, as long as you’re only turning around once or twice, but going backwards and forwards over the same short distance is likely to cause problems.
If you’re using a phone, have it positioned as high on your body as possible. On your arm rather than in your pocket is better. Often, cheaper arm pockets are better, as the material they are made of is thinner and might cause less interference than a thicker more robust model. Apparently issues can also arise if your phone pocket carries a lot of sweat around with it!
Make sure your phone is set to “high accuracy so that GPS, WiFi and local mobile networks are all working for you. Go to settings in your phone. Mostly, the GPS settings can be found under “location”. Sometimes “location” is hidden in the privacy settings.
Make sure your battery is well charged

The Stava blog has some trouble shooting advice for Android and iPhone users when it comes to GPS accuracy. A quick read is worthwhile if you’re having trouble with tracking apps on your phone.

Trouble Shooting for Androids

Trouble Shouting for iPhones

When is a GPS device not going to cut it?

A GPS device (either one you wear on your wrist or one you use to power an app on your phone, is not going to cut it when you need to have accurate data for either training or racing.

To avoid getting inaccurate data whilst you’re racing, use the stopwatch function on your device, and manually check your pace at each km marker. This is much easier if you have a lap timer so your increasingly fatigued brain does not have to figure out your pace all on its own (possibly more inaccurate than a dodgy GPS signal- particularly in the latter stages of the race). Using your brain to figure it out is, however a spectacular way to pass the time!

In all seriousness, you shouldn’t rely on your device in a race. I’ve had too many runners come unstuck relying on inaccurate GPS devices to set their pace for them in a race. Get used to running more on feel, so you know if you are running at a pace you think you can maintain.

Yes, use your device, particularly at the start of a race when adrenalin can overtake reason and send you out way too fast, but do check in at the km markers that what your device is telling you makes sense. After the first few kms, my advice is to switch your device to a stop watch screen and run on how you’re feeling. Use the lap timer to record your splits. If you can run the GPS tracking in the background do so. Use both the GPS data and the manual km splits to analyse your race after the event.

A GPS device is also not a great idea for short speed intervals of 800m or less. You’re better off doing your speed work on a track, oval or stretch of footpath where the distance has been measured with a wheel. Time yourself with a stop watch for each effort.

Understanding the limits of your tracking device can take a whole lot of stress out of using it. Be guided by the data, but don’t be a slave to it!

Avoiding running disasters gps device rage gps devices GPS Watches

Lindfield Rotary Fun Run: 7 tips for success

LINDFIELD FUN RUN START for site background

This year sees the 22nd running of the Lindfield Rotary 5K AND 10K Fun Run, and it still has got to be one of the best value fun runs going around. A family of up to 6 people can run a 10km race for $65. That’s one dollar and eight cents per km!

Both the 5k and 10k courses are certified accurate courses, and VERY challenging, which makes it all the more satisfying when you cross the finish line

As well as challenges, the course also presents opportunities. Here are some tips for taking advantage of the course.

Think tortoise, not hare

Whilst slow and steady may not win you the race, it will see you finishing without blowing up. All long distance world records (at least last time I checked) have been set on what’s called a “negative split” – the second half of the race is faster than the first half. That is, the runner is conservative enough in the first half of the race to avoid excessive fatigue, enabling them to maintain running efficiency. Whilst you may not be a world record holder, you will fare better if you keep something in the tank for the 2nd half of the race, especially as there is a fairly substantial hill at the back half of the 4th km (and the 8th km if you are running the 10k).

If you’re running the 10k, divide the run into quarters, and plan to run each quarter slightly faster than the last. This might mean the first quarter feels quite slow.

Hug the corners

The fun run twists and turns along suburban streets in Roseville and Lindfield. Make sure that you are taking the shortest route possible. You want to stay on the inside of the turn. So if the road is turning around to the right, you want to be on the right hand side of the road. Look ahead of you to see where the road is going, and if you can’t see the road up ahead, looking up at the houses on either side of the road ahead of you will give you a clue.

If you doubt that it makes that much difference, look at it this way. Your local athletics track usually has 8 lanes. Each of these lanes is 7.66m longer than the lane immediately to the inside of it. So, the distance around the track in lane one is 400m, and the distance around the track in lane eight is 461.28m. That’s why they stagger the start in 200m and 400m races. Hugging the corners can save you a lot of extra meterage!

Don’t hug the corners

Having said that, hugging the corner is not always the quickest route. Sometimes the inside running can be a lot steeper if you’re going up hill. You can be better off taking the corner a bit wider where it’s a bit flatter. And the inside curb can get a trifle crowded in some fun runs, particularly in the first part of a large race. Sometimes you’re better off running slightly wider so you can stick to your own rhythm and not be jostled by other enthusiasts.

Use good uphill technique

Use good form to help make hill running easy. If you overdo it on the uphill, you can be left sapped of all your energy. Instead, try turning your legs over more quickly, and reducing the length of your stride.

Don’t rest on the downhill

You can gain massive amounts of time if you know how to run downhill well. It’s easier to employ good downhill technique if you’ve got a good level of aerobic fitness, as you need to be able to turn your legs over really quickly, and lean with the hill. A good dose of confidence in your own ability not to fall over doesn’t to astray either!

Watch out for kids

In the 5km particularly, beware of kids who are likely to dart across in front of you, or come to a dead stop right where you were about to take your next step.

Stay off the footpath

The course is on the road, not on the footpath. Taking a sneaky corner cut on the footpath is not only poor etiquette, it also may not help you that much. In many places across the Lindfield course, the incline of the path is greater than the road, so will be tougher if you stay on the footpath. Mostly, you have to leap up over the gutter and across spongy thick grass to get to the path, which will also interrupt your rhythm.

Walking breaks could be a faster option if your training is lacking

If you think you might be a bit underdone for this race, but you want to get the best time you can, then consider walking up some of the hills. It will take a lot less out of you than running, and you won’t lose very much time at all if you take a 100m walk a few times through the race. I’m definitely underdone for this one, but I also like to think I’m “on the comeback trail” so I plan to run it as a training run. I’m planning on running the whole way with a negative split, and finishing strong. To race well, you have to practice racing well.

Neither of these goals (walking some of the run to get the fastest time you are capable of on the day, or running the whole course without walking) is superior to the other. It’s just a good idea to know which way you want to do it before you start.

Here’s a blow by blow of what to expect on the Lindfield fun run course

This is the 5km course profile. The 10km is two laps of the course. You can see the course deserves some respect!

Parts of the run reach a 14% gradient, which is about the same gradient as the steepest part of Heartbreak Hill in the City to Surf.

Start to 1km

This is the profile of the course from the start to around the bottom of Slade Ave.

The course starts on a slight downhill and after a couple of hundred metres kicks up to a reasonably sharp uphill of about an 8% grade. It’s roughly 75m, so you don’t notice it so much. At the top of this little hill, you make a sharp right turn, so you’ll want to position yourself towards the right hand side of the start area if possible.

Most of the first km is downhill. Unless you’re at the front of the pack you won’t be able to make the most of the downhill at the very start of the race, as there’ll be too many people around you, but once your through the first 500m or so, the pack will start to thin out and you can put in a good downhill spurt to the bottom of Slade Ave.

1km – 2.3km

Bottom of Slade Ave to cnr Northcote Rd and Nelson Rd

Your 2nd kilometre is where you’ll meet the first of the big hills. Slade Avenue reaches a gradient of 14% in parts. It runs into Northcote Rd, twisting and turning for about 500m of uphill. As you run up the first part of Slade Avenue, you should be towards the right hand side of the road. The first turn is a right hand turn, closely followed by a left hand turn. This second turn, the left hand turn is an example of the inside running on the corner being a lot steeper than a couple of metres out from the curb, so you’ll probably stick to the middle of the road for that corner.

You’ll enjoy a short downhill reprieve when you turn into Dangar St If you get your downhill running right here, you can make up quite a bit of ground on other runners. The course flattens out into Smith St, before climbing up another 500m along McKenzie St and Northcote Rd to the corner of Nelson Ave. This hill is a 3-6% gradient, so not nearly as severe as Slade Avenue.

2.3km -4km

Nelson Rd to corner of Trafalgar Ave and Clanville Rd

Personally, I don’t think Trafalgar Ave (that’s the steep bit at the end of this leg) is nearly as challenging as Slade Avenue. The steepest part is between Chelmsford Ave and just pastMarjorie St with a gradient of 6-8.5%. The kicker is the 200m after that. You’re still looking at a 5% gradient for 100m or so, and then another slight rise of about 3% gradient till you get to Clanville Rd.

Before you get to the bottom of Trafalgar Ave, you need to negotiate the downhill running of Nelson Ave. As you turn left from Northcote Rd into Nelson Ave, stick to the left hand side of the road. There is another left hand turn about half way down the hill, which then goes quickly into a right hand turn, so you can pretty much run in a straight line across the road to take the shortest route. Make sure you take a quick glance around you so you don’t trip anyone over who may not be expecting you to cross the road.

You’ll take another steep little uphill before turning out of Nelson Rd into Tryon Rd, followed by a right turn into Short st. I took the right hand footpath along Tryon Rd when I was running this route the other day and it was a very sharp turn into Short St, so I’d advise against the footpath option. Stay on the road a couple of metres out from the curb, and take the turn a bit wider.

After Short St, you turn right into Valley Rd, which can give the uninitiated a nasty surprise. This is just a short stretch of road, but the gradient reaches 11%, in parts.

4km -5km

Corner of Clanville Rd and Trafalagar Ave to finish

It’s a slight downhill run along Clanville Rd (about negatvie 2%-negative 4%), it’s a kilometre to the finish line, which you’ll find is further than you hope! Once you turn left out of Clanville into Cranbrook Ave, you still have 400m to go. The finish line is on the oval, so you’ll have about 150m of grass to the finish line.

10k turnaround

If you’re doing the 10k, you’ll turn left off Clanville Ave into Gregory St, before repeating the 5km course. Gregory street is a steep little service road which runs next to the tennis courts. It’s a bit of a goat track, so watch your footing. As I write (2 weeks before the race) there is an enormous pothole in the middle of the road, just near the speed bump at the bottom, as well as many smaller holes in the road further up. Take it easy up this stretch and push the downhill of Marjorie St at the start of your second lap.

If you take these tips on board, you’ll find it relatively easy to run one of the most challenging fun runs in Sydney. And if you do find the going is tough on some of those hills, remember there’s no law saying you have to run the whole way. You can enter the Lindfield Fun Run here.

9 Tips for Wet Weather Running

We’re in the middle of our rainy season here in Sydney. It seems to be getting wetter and wetter each year. For that matter, it seems to be getting hotter and more humid, and colder in winter each year as well. Not sure if it’s the climate changing or my perception changing as I get a bit older! Here are a few tips to keep you as happy as these rather damp runners.

Look After Your Feet

Firstly, there’s your shoes. When it’s raining, your shoes get wet, and stinky. If you’re looking for ways to take care of wet shoes and get rid of the stink, you should take a look at this video.

And then there are your feet. After the first couple of hundred metres of your run, you’re likely to have wet feet, and wet feet can lead to blisters. To prevent blisters you can use body glide which is an anti blister product. It comes in cream or balm form in an easy to rub on stick. Rub it on areas which you know are likely to rub, and prevent blisters before they happen. You can also use Vasoline petroleum jelly, though it is more messy. As an experiment I once rubbed petroleum jelly all over one of my feet, then put my shoes and socks on and went for a trail run. I was expecting it to feel pretty yucky when I put my sock on, but it was fine, and I didn’t really feel any difference when I was running. And no blisters. Body glide can be used on any areas of your body where chafing might be an issue without wrecking your clothes, which does give it an edge over Vaso! You can get hold of it in sports stores and chemists.

A good pair of socks will go a long way towards keeping your feet dry as well. Try Drymax for a sock which will move the sweat away from your foot, in an apparently superior manner to wicking fibre socks.

Pay More Attention

Roads, footpaths and parks can be slippery in the rain. If there’s been wind about as well, you’ll likely come across other hazards such as seed pods and sticks which you can turn an ankle on. Wet leaves and petals can be particularly slippery, as can metal manhole covers and the white markings on the road.

Electronic Devices

Most wearables will be at least water resistant, but check with the manufacturer before you take your device out into heavy rain. I know it’s blasphemy, but you could also try running without your device when it’s raining! Keep phones and iPods in inside pockets of wet weather jackets. If you really want to be sure of keeping your phone dry, you can fork out the $$ for a waterproof case, or seal it inside a ziplock bag before you put it in your inside pocket.

Start Your Run During a Break in the Weather

It’s so much easier to get out the door if you’re able to sneak out between rain showers. If you’re doing this, it’s a good idea to run in a closed loop so that you’re never too far from cover if it buckets down, or if there is an electrical storm. If you run a 3km loop from your home, you’re never more than 1.5kms from home. Try reversing your direction each loop to make it a bit more interesting.

Never Run in an Electrical Storm

It simply isn’t worth risking your life to run in an electrical storm. Check the weather forecast, check the radar BEFORE you go out, and if a storm looks likely, jump on a treadmill, or put your feet up till the storm passes.
Find out more about what to do in an electrical storm.

Make Yourself Visible

Black is very slimming. So slimming in fact that on dull overcast days, wearing black or dark colours can make you seemingly disappear altogether. You blend in with your surroundings, which is not great when you want drivers to see you out on the roads! Wear your brightest coloured clothing on rainy days, it’ll cheer you up and make you far more visible to drivers (it’s not called hi-viz for nothing!) Avoid light colours in cotton fabric on rainy days, unless you’re up for the next wet T-shirt comp at your local sleazy bar. Surely they don’t still run those things, do they?

Wear Less, Not More

The more clothing you wear when it’s raining, the more clothing you have to get wet. Wet clothing is uncomfortable and heavy. Wear lightweight moisture wicking clothing, and wear less than you think you’re going to need. The first half to one km might be a bit on the chilly side, but after that, you’ll be glad you haven’t over-dressed.

Headwear

Wear a hat or visor to keep the rain out of your eyes. Especially important if you wear glasses! Some people prefer visors for rainy days as it stops their heads from sitting under wet fabric, but if the UV index is high, a hat is better as it protects your scalp from the sun. If you wear glasses, using an anti-fog lense cleaner will help stop your glasses fogging up (as the name would suggest)

Welcome The Challenge

Lastly, you should see running in the rain as an opportunity to train for a wet race day. Getting out amongst it will help to build mental toughness. You don’t skip your shower because you might get wet, so don’t skip your run either!

Water falling from the sky is a fact of life, and if you missed your run every time the weather was less than perfect, well… you wouldn’t be a runner for long.

Running and Electrical Storms Don’t Mix

Lightning can contain 100 million to one billion volts. That should be enough to make you wary of running in an electrical storm (or doing any other outdoor activity for that matter).

Here are some of the non lethal effects of being struck by lightning, just in case you need further convincing.

Short term Effects

Impaired eyesight or blindness
Ringing in the ears
Ruptured ear drums
Hearing loss
Unconsciousness
Seizures
Paralysis
Burns to the skin
Burning to internal organs

Long term effects

Memory problems
Problems with sleeping
Headaches
Irritability
Fatigue
Balance problems affecting gait
Joint stiffness
Muscles spasms

The three second rule

Count the number of seconds between seeing a flash of lightning and hearing thunder. For every three seconds, the lightning is one kilometre away. And just because you don’t see lightning, don’t assume it’s not around. Apparently, you can’t have thunder without lightning (but you can have lightning without thunder)

What to do if you’re caught outside in a thunderstorm

You should always check the weather forecast and the weather radar before you head out for a run, even if it’s a bright sunny day. If you’re planning a long run, much can change in a couple of hours. If you do get caught out in a storm there are some precautions you can take.

Seek shelter, not under a tree or other tall pole-like structure. Lightning has a tendency to strike taller structures within reason, and if you’re next to a tree when lightning strikes you can either be injured by the falling tree, or be felled by the electricity conducted through the earth.
Pop into a shop or a service station until the storm has well and truly passed. A bus stop, porch, verandah or other non-enclosed structure won’t cut it. It’s recommended you wait till half an hour after the last lightning flash before you venture out again. More than half of lightning deaths occur after the storm has passed.
If you’re close to your car, you can take shelter in it, but be careful to stay away from the sides of the car. Sit in the back seat, or on the floor in the back. Keep the windows and doors closed, and make sure you are not parked under a tree!
If you can’t get under shelter, crouch over into a ball with your chin tucked in. Have two feet on the ground, as close together as possible. This makes you a single point of contact. Don’t lie on the ground.
If you’re in a group, stay several metres from each other.
Keep out of puddles, as water conducts electricity
Don’t put up an umbrella. And if you have an umbrella with you when you’re running, you have other issues!

Some other points about electrical storms

Lightning does, and often strikes twice.
Someone who has been struck by lightning will not contain a residual charge from the lightning, and you can safely perform first aid on them
If you’re inside, stay away from concrete walls or floors which may have metal bars inside them
Do not have contact with anything that can conduct electricity (e.g., electrical equipment or cords, plumbing fixtures, corded phones)

Running in wet weather

If you’re sure there is no electrical activity about, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get out and run in the rain. Here are some tips for wet weather running.

References

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/resources/OSHA_FS-3863_Lightning_Safety_05-2016.pdf

https://www.australiawidefirstaid.com.au/lightning-strikes/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-07/how-to-protect-yourself-from-lightning-strikes/8099570

Runner Gives Birth To Neuron

Anyone who’s ever done regular physical exercise, whether that be running or something else, knows how good exercise can make you feel. But did you know that vigorous aerobic exercise actually triggers the birth of new neurons in the brain. And what’s more, to date, vigorous aerobic exercise is the only known trigger for the birth of new neurons!

Vigorous aerobic exercise such as running has been shown to have positive effects on the structure and function of the brain, namely generation of neurons in the hippocampus, the part of the brain important for learning and memory. By vigorous, I don’t mean flat out. You’re looking more at something that makes you puffed without feeling like you can’t continue.

Changes have also been seen in the frontal lobe of the brain of people who have been long term exercisers, with an increase in blood flow to this area. This is the part of the brain which is associated with clarity of thought – stuff like planning ahead, concentration, time management, goal setting and learning. This area is also linked to the regulation of emotion, hence, going for a run just seems to make you feel good.

Aerobic training more effective than HIIT and resistance training

A study by researchers at the University of Jyväskylä looked at the effect of sustained running exercise, high intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training on the production of neurons in adult male rats. The study also looked at groups of rats that had either a genetically high response to aerobic training, or a genetically low response to aerobic training. Groups of rats were put on an exercise program for 6-8 weeks, and a control group sat on the couch in their regular cage.

The highest number of new neurons in the hippocampus was found in the rats on the long distance training program, and who also had a genetic predisposition to benefit from aerobic exercise. Compared to the couch potato rats, the runners had 2-3 times more new neurons at the end of the experiment period. The body building group of rats who were put on a resistance training program showed no improvement in neurogenesis, and the HIIT group showed only minor improvement.

Marked cognitive decline in old age is not inevitable

The decline in our ability to think clearly is commonly considered to be a characteristic of aging. But not everyone experiences cognitive decline to the same degree. There are vast individual differences in the ability of the brain to function in old age. Could aerobic exercise be what’s allowing some people to maintain good cognitive function, whilst the brain function of others fades, sometimes dramatically?

A study published in the Journal of Gerontology in Nov 2006 randomly assigned older adults to an aerobic exercise group or a non aerobic exercise control group for six months. The subjects who participated in the exercise program had an increase in both grey and white brain matter mostly located in the regions of the brain which show substantial age-related deterioration ( the prefrontal and temporal cortices)

Neurons are found in the grey matter of specific brain regions, whilst white matter enables the communication between brain regions. They work together to enhance brain function, so the fact the aerobic exercise benefits both grey and white matter is the main reason it ranks so highly as a way to keep your brain young.

What’s going on inside your noggin to produce these changes?

Scientists at the Harvard Medical School isolated the specific molecule which improves cognitive function and protects against brain degeneration. The molecule, which has been named irisin, is produced in the brain during aerobic exercise through a chain reaction.

Firstly, a molecule called FNDC5 becomes elevated. Irisin is a byproduct of FNDC5. Increasing levels of irisin in the blood forces irsin to cross the blood brain barrier. That then increases the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Increasing levels of BDNF stimulates the growth of new neurons.

How much do you need to run to get the benefits?

Firstly, you probably don’t need to run. Any aerobic exercise of a moderate to intense nature will do it. One study conducted by Justin Rhodes at Oregon Health and Science University found that the BDNF concentration in mice increased by up to 171% after 7 nights of wheel running. Initially, the more running, the more BDNF, the greater the neurogenesis.

After a while, Rhodes found that his ultra-marathon mighty mice, who crazily ran all day and all night, eventually were unable to navigate a maze successfully. He found the best performing mice ran two to three miles a night. As they say, “everything in moderation”.

( I’m not sure what that equates to for humans, but in the course of trying to find out, I did discover that “mice miles” refers the amount of time one spends at a computer).

If you’re not already doing some at least moderate aerobic exercise, and you want to improve your thinking power, then start moving. Long easy runs, faster tempo runs, fartlek, interval training will all help to improve your brain power. (Note high intensity interval training -short bursts of all out effort, will do little to improve your cognitive function, but the the sub-maximal efforts more commonly part of a distance running program will)

Do Compression Tights Really Work

A lot has been said about the benefits of compression garments (largely by the manufacturers). For example Asics compression gear will make your “run further” and “recover faster”, and Under Armor gear is “not just for looks. These things make you better”

If you’ve ever pulled on a pair of compression tights, you’ll know they do make you feel kind of “good”. They seem to get your muscles ready for action. Perhaps that has something to do with the amount of effort it takes to actually get the things on!

Compression gear amounts to more than just an ordinary pair of lycra tights. They are made with tighter elastic, which for starters, mean they hold their shape better over time. Most compression tights will also deliver graduated pressure – they are tighter around the ankles and the knee, which helps to improve circulation from the calf.

What started the compression trend?

It’s probable the idea of wearing compression gear for improved sporting performance started in 2001. NBA player, Allen Iverson had a big game when he was wearing a compression sleeve which was being used to treat bursitis in his elbow. There’s no evidence that the sleeve made any physical contribution to the player’s performance, but as often happens in these situations, other players followed suit, and the compression garment industry was born.

Will compression gear actually make you run faster?

The theory is that compression garments increase blood circulation which helps to deliver more oxygen to your muscles whilst improving the removal of metabolic wastes which are the by-product of physical activity. This then enables you to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or at the very least run a bit faster, and recover from exercise more quickly.

Most studies agree that athletes experience improved blood flow through their muscles when wearing compression gear. But when it comes to improvements in performance, the results are a bit more ambiguous.

There are some studies which suggest lower limb compression garments “may” be of benefit in improving performance in more explosive events which require movements such as jumping, and may be of less benefit in endurance events.

Interestingly, recent research is showing this improved blood flow may have an effect on your cognitive ability, so in sports where decision make plays a big role such as cycling, soccer, rugby, hockey), compression gear may make a real difference, however more research needs to be done in this area.

The placebo effect

It’s very difficult to account for the placebo effect with compression garments. Anyone who has ever worn a true compression garment will know there’s no fooling yourself into thinking you’re wearing the real McCoy, if what you’re actually wearing is the latest lycra tight from Big W. So, having a control group who actually believe they may be wearing compression gear is highly unlikely. In the real world however, it doesn’t really matter if improved performance is a result of a placebo effect does it?

Effect of compression gear on recovery

One area where compression tights do appear to come into their own is during recovery. One study on rugby players found a reduction in muscle soreness when the players wore the compression garments for a full 24 hours immediately following their exercise bout. Another study amongst weight lifters found similar results when full body compression garments were worn for more than a day following a bout of exercise. (It all sound decidedly lacking in hygiene!)

The Verdict

When it comes to recovery, compression gear can have a real benefit, if worn for 24 hours post event, but if you’re looking to boost your performance substantially, you’re better off relying on a smart training plan than on a pair of compression tights. You’re unlikely to see an improvement in performance simply as a result of the physiological effects the tights have on your performance whilst running.

Given you have to wear something when you’re running, why not go for compression? They hold their shape better than your common everyday garden variety lycra, and are more likely to hold bits in which you’d rather didn’t hang out.

(And gentlemen… please realise tights leave absolutely nothing to the imagination and can be extremely un-nerving)

compression gear running equipment running performance