Here’s the free but abridged version of the Run Long, Run Healthy newsletter. See the links below to subscribe to the full-text edition with more articles and deeper, more specific running advice. – Amby
You Won’t Believe This! How To Bounce Back From A Marathon-Training Injury
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From 2014 to 2017, Irish marathon runner and big-data expert Barry Smyth had access to a massive amount of Strava runner training data. This data, which included approximately 400,000 marathon runners training for 800,000 marathons, has allowed Smyth to do a “real-life” analysis of important marathon training and racing questions.
Smyth’s most recent paper has gone where no one has been able to go before. He asks and then answers a question every veteran marathon runner has faced.
Here’s the question: “If I lose time to injury in my marathon training buildup, how should I return to training when healthy?”
There are many potential answers to that question. They range from “very conservatively, so you don’t get reinjured” to “very aggressively, so you can go for the gold on race day.”
Ask any coach, exercise scientist, or physical therapist for their answer, and almost 100 percent will select the conservative approach. In running, we just don’t believe in making up for lost time. We believe in patience, slow-steady progress, and staying healthy against future injuries.
Surprise! That’s not what Smyth’s data revealed, and he had a lot of data. He found 103,000 runners in marathon training who missed 7+ consecutive training days, presumably from injuries.
When these runners returned to training, some ran 20 to 25% less than they had been previously. They followed the conventional wisdom.
However, one-third “effectively doubled their training.” They apparently felt nervous about a rapidly approaching marathon race and opted for an all-in approach.
At this point, you’re thinking, “That’s a recipe for disaster.” But it wasn’t. The hard trainers finished their marathon “slightly faster” than those who followed a conservative approach. They also missed fewer training days (from presumed injury) in the rest of their marathon prep than their more cautious peers.
Before I could email Smyth a few hard questions, he responded with answers. “It would be unwise to conclude that it is safer to come back aggressively after an injury, notwithstanding what our data showed,” he wrote. “I think this effect was likely due to runners who were not badly injured and were able to come back strongly.”
Still, the paper clearly showed that it’s possible to get over an injury and jump back into training more aggressively than most have believed. Many running injuries are minor, heal quickly, and allow for continued hard training. Plus, the injury might have given you a good recovery period.
Just remember that familiar cardinal rule: Listen to your body. More at Case Based Reasoning Research & Development.
RELATED ARTICLE: How To Adjust Your Training Plan After Injury Or Illness
Beware Fake Science In Olympics Marketing
I know plenty of high-fit athletes who really enjoy hefting weights in the gym. And I know we all need regular resistance (strength) training.
But there must be many folks like me who want the shortest, simplest program to get their strength work done. That way we can return quickly to our preferred cardio training. Several new papers provide helpful guidance.
The first, a not-yet-published preprint, compared the effects of traditional strength training vs super-set strength training. The traditional routine involved four sets of one exercise, followed by several minutes of rest, and then four sets of the next exercise.
When doing super-sets, subjects did one set of the first exercise, followed immediately by one set of the second, and then took several minutes of rest. Both routines eventually completed sets of the same six popular strength exercises.
Result: Strength grains were equal both ways, but the super-sets took 36% less time overall to complete the full routine. Thus, “supersets appear to be a time-efficient alternative for eliciting muscular adaptations.” More at Sport RXiv with free full text.
The next paper, a systematic review and meta-analysis, compared traditional strength training to “drop set” training. When performing drop sets, the subject lifts a weight to volitional failure once, then slightly decreases the weight and lifts to failure again.
Result: Muscle gains were equal with both forms of strength training, but drop sets took 33% to 50% less total time. Thus, “Drop sets present an efficient strategy for maximizing skeletal muscle hypertrophy.” More at Sports Medicine Open with free full text.
RELATED ARTICLE: What Is A Drop Set? How To Promote Muscle Gain With Drop Sets
99-Year-Old Finishes Peachtree 10K In Atlanta
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It’s a little early for “Runner of the Year” nominations, but Betty Lindberg has almost clinched my vote. She just finished her 35th Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta at the ripe young age of 99. And Peachtree’s hills and summer heat make it anything but an easy run. Lindberg will turn 100 in September. Let’s hope she’s got a fall 5K on her race calendar.
These days, Lindberg trains with “quick strolls” around her neighborhood. Quick or slow, what’s the difference, so long as you’re out there. At Peachtree, she almost cracked the 3-hour barrier. Maybe next year? She’s got a number of family members to accompany her and keep her motivated.
Lindberg is also a regular at several other Atlanta races and has set some USATF national records in recent years. She holds the 90-95 road record for 5K, 55:48.
Here’s a short article about her Peachtree race, and here’s a longer one with much more background, all the way to her birth in September 1924. Check out the joy and energy on her face.
RELATED ARTICLE: How To Start Running At 50 (And Beyond!)
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
HERE’S WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED this week if you were a subscriber to the complete, full-text edition of “Run Long, Run Healthy.” Why not give it a try? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
- Run faster with this ONE simple form fix
- Beat the heat with the “frozen water balloons” trick!
- How to prevent knee pain with broccoli & bicycling
- Your ultimate guide to calf-muscle injuries
- How low-cal diets threaten your immunity
- Pay attention NOW: Teen fitness linked to heart disease 40 yrs later
- Run happy, don’t worry: Running doesn’t have “any detrimental effect on cartilage”
- What Taylor Swift says about following your own true path
DON’T FORGET: I spend hours searching the Internet for the best, most authoritative new running articles, so you can review them in minutes.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby
