Pose Method: let gravity help you!

Wanna run with an heart rate of 10 bmp below your normal HR? According to this video it is possible with the use of the so called 'pose method'.

Basically it nothing more than keeping your body tilted forward as shown by the picture below. On the left Dr. Nicholas Romanov who came up with this method tiltiign forward, on the right a 'regular' runner with an upright upper body.


With this pose you also alter your step where you don't push yourself forward but simply 'lift' your leg at the end of the stride. And as the still might suggest you probably will use fore foot landing as well as you don't extract your leg that far foreward.
This tip might be useful for a lot of recreational runners as they tend to run with a rather upright upper body. Pay attention next time you go running by looking at other runners but also at yourself. Fore example if your run in an builded area; look in a large shop window for your own reflection.

The picture above is a still from the BBC video below on the pose method.
Dr. Romanov is not just any runner. As a scientist he was part of the 2000 and 2004 British team for the triathlon on the Olympic games.

The guinea pig is this video is tested running at the same speed running regular en running using the pose method. usig the pose method he runs at a 10bpm lower HR.

Stretching:Yes or No? Don't change your habit!

I've written before on the topic of stretching. Should you do it yes or no and does it help?

Recent research has shown that, with recreational runners there is no difference in the risk your run (nice phrase in this context) on injuries related to your exercises.
With or without strechting one in six runners, in this research experienced an injuries. The risk of an injury was more related to high BMI (overweight) or prior injuries.

The 'test subjects' that changed their habbit and started stretching or stopped strechting ran a risk higher risk. On average roughly one in four experienced injuries.
The researches can not explane this results but to me, of course the disclaimer is in place - I'm not an expert -, is that it has to do with the changed muscle tone after stretching. It will have an effect, even minute, on your running style and every change in style makes you more prone to injuries untill the change has settled in and became the new standard.
So if you want to change; don't or (to my humble opinion) do it gradually....



more details on MedicineNet

Gloves for your foot

During last Rotterdam marathon I saw a more senior participant running on some kind of gloves instead of the regular running shoe. I realised that enables you to run kind of bare foot in city environment.

I just came across some information on the 'gloves' from the brand Vibram with the fitting name FiveFingers.
A video review:

Recovery: trust your gut feeling

How do you determine the duration of the recovery periods during an interval training? On your gut feeling according to recently published research findings published in Psychophysiology.

During the research three groups were asked to do a 5 times 1000 interval at 90% effort. Recovery was done by:

recover for teh same duration as the duration of the interval, the work to rest ration (WR)

recover untill the heartrate is below 130 BPM

recover on your feeling

Result: With the heartrate methode the later interval went slower. Based on feeling or the WR method there was no decline in the duration of the intervals. Howerver the recovery periods were shorter with the gut felling method.
I wonder how far the heartrate sank with the recovery periods but the this is not mentioned in the abstractof the report:(

What to do after retiring from prof marathon running?

What to do after you end our marathon carreer? Some end up being trainers, coaches, write books on running etc. In other words they stay in field of running.

Some however start something completely new like Naoko Takahashi, the 2000 olympic marathon winner frm Japan, who started a vegtable farm (see Reuters).

Running with earphone dangerous?

Some people like to run with an i-pod or other musicdevices. This newsreal feature shows that it is not al togehter save to run woth earphones blocking 'outside' noises as you might miss out the odd crashing plane now and then..... It would be funny if it wasn't real....

50 marathons in 50 days

It has been done before. Running a lot to raise a lot of money. This time it is Hugh Williams-Preece from the UK. He started last week in Portugal and will finish in 50 days in downtown London after 50 marathons.
His aim? Raising 30.000 Pound for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Wanna know more?: click here for the site.
And here to donate your cash.